Author's Saving Throw: Difference between revisions

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An especially brave idea is set forth to turn a character on his head and [[Wham Episode|change the status quo in a big way]]... and the [[Ruined FOREVER|fans revolt.]] The writer then does a [[Retcon]] which seems openly apologetic. This is the saving throw. It assures the fans that the character either was not in control of his actions, or he was [[Actually a Doombot]] or events were not as they seemed.

An especially brave idea is set forth to turn a character on his head and [[Wham! Episode|change the status quo in a big way]]... and the [[Ruined FOREVER|fans revolt.]] The writer then does a [[Retcon]] which seems openly apologetic. This is the saving throw. It assures the fans that the character either was not in control of his actions, or he was [[Actually a Doombot]] or events were not as they seemed.

Some "brave ideas" that have caused popular fandom backlash resulting in a saving throw have been depowering a [[Superhero]] for dramatic purposes and turning [[Face Heel Turn|a good character evil]]. [[Women in Refrigerators|Depowering super-heroines]], in particular, is a brave idea that is nearly always good for causing a fan revolt.

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*** There's a reason they decided to call Volume 5 "Redemption".

* During Elisabeth Rohm's time on ''[[Law and Order (TV)|Law and Order]]'', her character (Serena Southerlyn) was often used as a Liberal counterpoint to Arthur Branch's staunch Conservative. Problem was, when she wasn't basically arguing the defense's case for them, she came across as a [[Fox News Liberal]] so frequently whiny and petulant, it was a wonder how she kept her job. So when Rohm left the show, the writers used Serena's frequent petulance as the reason for her firing (She was acting more like a defense attorney than a prosecutor). But then they had to crap on things with those six infamous [[Suddenly Sexuality|last words]].

* The ''[[~~Doctor Who (TV)|~~Doctor Who]]'' [[Doctor Who ~~(TV)~~/TVM the TV Movie/Recap|1996 TV movie]] included a scene in which the Doctor says that he is half-human; this was widely disliked and subject to [[Fanon Discontinuity]]. However, in the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]] comic ''Doctor Who: The Forgotten'', the Doctor notes that he said that just to screw with his enemy's head.

* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[Doctor Who/TVM the TV Movie/Recap|1996 TV movie]] included a scene in which the Doctor says that he is half-human; this was widely disliked and subject to [[Fanon Discontinuity]]. However, in the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]] comic ''Doctor Who: The Forgotten'', the Doctor notes that he said that just to screw with his enemy's head.

** [[Steven Moffat]] has stated, when asked about the [[Canon|canonicity]] of this, that the Doctor did indeed utter those words, very carefully not specifying whether they were ''true''. After all "The Doctor lies".

*** He has gone further, arguing that "a television series which embraces both the ideas of parallel universes and the concept of changing time can't have a continuity error--it's impossible for ''Doctor Who'' to get it wrong, because we can just say 'he changed time--it's a time ripple from the Time War'."

** There was an earlier attempt at Saving Throwing the half-human line by some of the [[Eighth Doctor Adventures]] writers. Unfortunately other EDA writers ''liked'' the half-human idea, but had their own radical interpretations of it; there was an [[Armed With Canon]] war; and the whole question became a [[Continuity Snarl]].

** A smaller-scale saving throw took place after "[[Doctor Who ~~(TV)~~/NS/Recap/S2 E8 The Impossible Planet|The Impossible Planet]]"/"[[Doctor Who ~~(TV)~~/NS/Recap/S2 E9 The Satan Pit|The Satan Pit]]", in which the [[Happiness in Slavery]] depiction of the Ood as a happy servitor race and the Doctor's acceptance of it as unproblematic were seen by many fans as gross breaches of the series's and the character's usual moral positions. Two years later the "[[Doctor Who ~~(TV)~~/NS/Recap/S4 E3 Planet of the Ood|Planet of the Ood]]" story returned to the same setting and revealed that the slave Ood were only happy {{spoiler|because the evil humans had been lobotomising them}}, and that the Doctor only accepted their servitude because he was a bit preoccupied with a planet orbiting a black hole and Satan trying to kill them all.

** A smaller-scale saving throw took place after "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S2 E8 The Impossible Planet|The Impossible Planet]]"/"[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S2 E9 The Satan Pit|The Satan Pit]]", in which the [[Happiness in Slavery]] depiction of the Ood as a happy servitor race and the Doctor's acceptance of it as unproblematic were seen by many fans as gross breaches of the series's and the character's usual moral positions. Two years later the "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 E3 Planet of the Ood|Planet of the Ood]]" story returned to the same setting and revealed that the slave Ood were only happy {{spoiler|because the evil humans had been lobotomising them}}, and that the Doctor only accepted their servitude because he was a bit preoccupied with a planet orbiting a black hole and Satan trying to kill them all.

** The show's first example of this occurred with ''The Daleks'' and ''The Dalek Invasion of Earth'': in the first, Terry Nation killed off his malevolent creations, but when it came time to bring them back for a sequel, he said: "the trusty TARDIS came along and took me to a point in time ''before'' they were exterminated!"

** There are some fans who have shown distaste for the Cybus Cybermen from "Rise of the Cybermen" and "Age of Steel". When "The Pandorica Opens" aired, the Mondasion Cybermen make their return ([[Word of God|Steven Moffat]] confirmed that these were the Mondas Cybermen; they just didn't have the budget to change the costume.), and also being much more frightening and dangerous.

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** Speaking of Kingdom Hearts, ''[[Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep]]'' and ''[[Kingdom Hearts Re Coded]]'' both feature [[Bonus Boss|additional bosses]] that, gameplay-wise, turn out to be [[Expy|close enough]] to the ones previously exclusive to the ''Final Mix'' version of ''[[Kingdom Hearts (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts]]'' and ''[[Kingdom Hearts II (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts II]]'', and therefore [[No Export for You|confined to Japan]]. So, the "Unknown" [[It Was His Sled|(Xemnas)]] gets an expy through the ''new'' Unknown in ''[[Birth By Sleep]]'', thus covering KHIFM territory, while Terra's Lingering Will from KHIIFM+ gets his expy thanks to ''Vanitas''' Lingering Will, still in BBS. About Roxas, upgraded from a cutscene (KHII) to a full-fledged boss (KHIIFM+), the fact he was still a storyline boss instead of a bonus boss allowed him to be used as a [[Final Boss]] instead, in ''Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded''. You can basically see [[Tetsuya Nomura]] saying "sorry, western fans".

* ''[[The King of Fighters (Video Game)|The King of Fighters]]'' had this in the ''2002'' edition. After '''98'', the gameplay was changed as there would be four characters being selectable for the fight, with one (or more, in ''2001'') being a [[Assist Character|Striker]], a supportive character that would be called to perform a move in order to stop an opponent or open his guard for your attacks. This, of course, didn't work well, with several bugs and infinite combos as result. In ''2002'', the game went back to 3-on-3 fights with no strikers, like '''98'' and the titles before it.

** Also, there's one involving the storyline. See, most fans were unhappy (euphemism) about [[Creator's Pet|Ash Crimson]] taking the role of protagonist previously covered by Kyo and K', just as much as they were unhappy about him {{spoiler|[[Brought Down to Normal|stealing]] both Chizuru and Iori's Sacred Treasures powers}}. Come ''XIII'', Ash {{spoiler|enacts a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to stop the [[Big Bad]] of that [[Story Arc]]}}. Mind you, he doesn't {{spoiler|die... [[Ret Gone|he is erased from existence.]] [[Cosmic Retcon|Retroactively!]] So he never really existed in the first place!}}

** Also, there's one involving the storyline. See, most fans were unhappy (euphemism) about [[Creator's Pet|Ash Crimson]] taking the role of protagonist previously covered by Kyo and K', just as much as they were unhappy about him {{spoiler|[[Brought Down to Normal|stealing]] both Chizuru and Iori's Sacred Treasures powers}}. Come ''XIII'', Ash {{spoiler|enacts a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to stop the [[Big Bad]] of that [[Story Arc]]}}. Mind you, he doesn't {{spoiler|die... [[Ret-Gone|he is erased from existence.]] [[Cosmic Retcon|Retroactively!]] So he never really existed in the first place!}}

** ''XIII'' itself counts as an example. ''XII'' was labelled as a [[Dream Match Game]], but it ''[[In Name Only|really]]'' was an [[Obvious Beta]] released to earn [[SNK]] Playmore some quick cash in order to alleviate the production costs for [[Art Shift|redrawing the]] [[Loads and Loads of Characters|large cast of characters]] [[Art Shift|in high-definition]]. The end result? ''XII'' was crawling with bugs and infinites, not to mention a drastically reduced roster total from previous games. ''XIII'' addressed these complaints by ironing out most of the gameplay problems and bringing back several fighters who skipped out on the last few titles. Also, while the ''[[Fuun Series|Kizuna Encounter]]''/''[[Marvel vs. Capcom]]''/''[[Neo Geo Battle Coliseum (Video Game)|Neo Geo Battle Coliseum]]''-esque Tactical Shift system in ''2003'' and ''XI'' was actually well-liked by most fans, ''XIII'' assumes the traditional 3-on-3, round-robin format from the series' inception.

* In ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'', [[Final Fantasy IX|Kuja]], originally an arrogant, cunning, cruel, and poetic mage was reduced to what was essentially a child throwing an eternal temper tantrum, throwing fits when his plans failed, being mocked by the other villains and having his arrogance and faux-Shakespearean dialogue exaggerated heavily. Then ''Dissidia 012'' was released as a prequel, and it reveals {{spoiler|that Kefka set Kuja up to be killed in the 12th cycle of the war, and used this time to implant [[Fake Memories|false memories]] in him that twisted him into the Kuja seen in the 13th cycle of ''Dissidia''. The "real" Kuja seen in ''Dissidia 012'' unaffected by Kefka's manipulations is much more affable, calm, and collected, and even tries to help the heroes before the other villains catch onto his ruse. This both made him a much deeper and sympathetic character and brought his characterization back in-line with the redeemed Kuja glimpsed at the end of his original game.}}

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== Western Animation ==

* "Janine, You've Changed" from ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'' is generally considered to be one of the most tragically hilarious attempts at this ever made; the show's former writer, [[J Michael Straczynski (Creator)|J Michael Straczynski]], is asked to come back and try to explain all the design changes made to a member of the secondary cast over the years. The end result... was actually fairly funny, had a pretty era-relevant Aesop for female viewers and had a bit of [[Ship Tease|payoff]] for long-time watchers. That it needed [[Executive Meddling|to be done at all]] is where the tragedy lies.

* "Janine, You've Changed" from ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'' is generally considered to be one of the most tragically hilarious attempts at this ever made; the show's former writer, [[J. Michael Straczynski (Creator)|J Michael Straczynski]], is asked to come back and try to explain all the design changes made to a member of the secondary cast over the years. The end result... was actually fairly funny, had a pretty era-relevant Aesop for female viewers and had a bit of [[Ship Tease|payoff]] for long-time watchers. That it needed [[Executive Meddling|to be done at all]] is where the tragedy lies.

* In ''[[Teen Titans (Animation)|Teen Titans]]'' Cyborg was always shown firing his sonic [[Arm Cannon]] from his right arm, until one day he used his left. Fans pointed out this apparent plot hole, and some time later, during a crucial fight, he simply converts ''both'' arms to cannons. It's hard to tell whether it was planned or this trope, since it makes perfect sense that he can convert both arms, and is simply right-dominant.

* The [[Fully-Absorbed Finale]] for ''[[Batman Beyond (Animation)|Batman Beyond]]'' had it revealed that {{spoiler|1=CADMUS had overwritten Warren McGinnis' genetic material with that of Bruce Wayne, making him Terry and Matt's biological father}}. According to [[Word of God|the creators]], this was due to a realization on their part that the boys' black hair is genetically improbable given Mary's hair is red and Warren's light brown.

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