Aborted Arc: Difference between revisions
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* In 2010, the ''[[Transformers Timelines|Transformers Collector's Club]]'' dropped their "Nexus Prime" plotline which had been running for about five years across [[The Multiverse|various continuities]], after Hasbro ''themselves'' took charge of stories regarding the thirteen original Transformers.
* In ''[[The Death of Superman]]'' arc, Doomsday was originally supposed to be an escapee from an intergalactic insane asylum. You can see hints of this origin in his first few panels, where he commits random acts of violence with maniacal laughter drawn in. When mental health advocates caught wind of this and protested the treatment of the mentally ill as dangerous lunatics,<ref>Where were these people when every [[Batman]] villain ever was introduced?</ref> this explanation was dropped and Doomsday was treated as a [[Diabolus Ex Nihilo]]. He was later given an origin as a Kryptonian-created [[The Juggernaut|juggernaut]].
* As a [[Long Runner]], ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' gets this a lot, but two memorable aborted arcs include the mystery of [[Kid Appeal Character|Tails]]' destiny as the "[[Chosen One]]" (a prophecy of him being a bigger hero than [[The McCoy|Sonic]] or [[The Spock|Knuckles]] combined that faltered several times, due to arguments over exactly ''what'' that was supposed to mean), and the Eggman-backed Dingo invasion of the Echindas' homeland (which petered out when the story shifted to an equally-aborted arc regarding a civil war in the Dark Legion). Both stories were hyped up something fierce, but disappeared so quickly and completely that even the ''writers'' have no idea [[The Chris Carter Effect|how exactly they were supposed to end]].
* In ''[[52]]'' the original Booster Gold/Skeets arc involved the duo fixing the time-stream after it had been damaged during the [[Infinite Crisis]]. Several issues into the series, after Skeets had already noticed discrepancies between events as they happened and as they were recorded in the future, the writers decided that this plot was overused and too generic. They switched to a new malevolent threat that intended to manipulate time and reality for its own gain {{spoiler|and this leads to the return of Mr. Mind, who had appeared in the early issues}}.
* Happened entirely too often with Rob Liefeld's creator-owned work. Most quarter bins will have issues from series that never went past the first couple of issues, set-ups for crossovers that never actually happened, storylines that were abandoned mid-plot... the list goes on. Some of the most prominent examples include:
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* The fourth season of ''[[Charmed]]'' where Phoebe becomes impregnated with the [[The Antichrist|Son of the Source of All Evil]] had such potential for exploring the morality of killing a child (albeit a [[Fetus Terrible|psychopathic killer baby]], which is such an awesome plot point in itself: imagine them attending school) to prevent future evil, or even an [[An Aesop|Aesop]] about redemption (or lack thereof). Instead the child is disowned, [[retcon]]ed into a surrogate child, casually dispatched and never mentioned again—all within the last few minutes of the penultimate episode of the season. It could have been such a cool [[Big Bad]].
* ''[[Highlander the Series]]''' first season made frequent mention of The Gathering as in the films. It was the very reason Christopher Lambert's Connor came to see Duncan in the first episode with that very title. The murder of Darius and the Watcher/Hunter storyline took over from this, and the emergence of new Immortals in later seasons seemed to belie a final battle being close at hand.
* The disjointed, episodic nature of ''[[Sliders]]'' made it easy for them to follow up good ideas or drop bad ones with each new reality. They could even tease an interesting idea by giving a glimpse of it in an upcoming world or one our heroes just escaped, but never have to flesh out the details. Many abortive arcs came from [[Executive Meddling|the network shooting down]] creator Tracy Torme's attempts to inject continuity into the show—and being [[Screwed by the Network|shown out of order]], they lost what little continuity they had.
* ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' ended its second season with Lister (a male character) falling pregnant to his female ''[[Alternate Universe]]'' counterpart. The writers had planned to spend an entire episode on it, but found their proposed script was misogynistic and—more damningly—not very funny. Season 3 wrapped up the storyline with a ''[[Star Wars]]''-style text opening that scrolled so quickly it was literally unreadable unless viewed in slow motion on tape/DVD. This text also halfheartedly explained the sudden recasting of the characters Holly and Kryten. (Neither case was inconspicuous: the former gave himself a [[Gender Bender|sex change]]; the latter was an obscure one-off character "rebuilt" into to a permanent cast member, acquiring a new look and personality in the process.) This gave the distinct impression of missing several episodes of major [[Character Development|character developments]]; perhaps even an entire season.
* ''[[Seinfeld]]'''s transgression had Jerry and Elaine get back together at the end of Season Two, then started Season Three with them apart (with no explanation). Creator/executive producer [[Larry David]] had always hated the idea of the two of them being together, and had only written that episode that way because he thought it was going to be the series finale.
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