Back for the Dead: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

 

* In ''[[Super Dimension Century Orguss]]'' Sley, the protagonist Kei's rival in love, is presumably lost in battle about mid way through the series, with it left unknown whether he survived or died. Some time later, Sley reunites with the crew and, within that same episode, performs a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to allow the heroes to get away from the enemy.

** Ironically, the first "death" was only shown in the beginning of that film. If they hadn't "killed" him to begin with, he wouldn't have been anywhere near to be killed again later. And then the expanded universe immediately resurrected him, putting him in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Next Generation]]'' / ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Deep Space Nine]]'' era stories that he couldn't have appeared in if not for his temporary death in ''[[Star Trek Generations]]''. Bringing him back only to kill him actually revived his career and popularity.

*** It should be pointed out that the Kirk "return" novels were written in part by William Shatner himself...

* Pegasus and Yugi's Grandpa in the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh Tenth Anniversary Movie]]''. Good thing that this is a story about time travel.

* Clear Rivers from the original [[Final Destination]] was intended to survive to the third installment, but due to legal issues she appeared in the second movie and was killed off.

 

 

** There's also the Cigarette Smoking Man, who was killed off at the end of the seventh season. Two years later he was revealed to still be alive in the series finale, and then proceeded to get blown up by a missile.

* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' gave Tasha Yar a pretty crummy death in Season 1's "Skin of Evil". The character returned in the alternate timeline episode "Yesterday's Enterprise" [[Sacrificial Lion|to die in a]] [[Heroic Sacrifice]], which would reset the timeline to the one in which she was dead anyways. She actually survived the intended [[Heroic Sacrifice]] and had a [[Half-Human Hybrid]] daughter Sela with a Romulan before being executed for trying to escape. Sela surfaced as a villain and [[Uncanny Family Resemblance|looked just like Mom,]] other than [[Pointy Ears|being half-Romulan]].

* In ''[[Stargate Universe]]'', everyone who was left behind on Eden suddenly showed up with bodies that had been "improved" by [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]]. It turns out that the improvements were only temporary. One by one, each person reverted back to the state they were in when the aliens found them, i.e., dead.

* Charlie DiSalvo from ''[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]'' falls into this. Charlie gets sort of [[Put on a Bus]]: he falls in love with a revolutionary and leaves everything to fight for her cause. He returns for one episode, where he describes how they were set up by an immortal arms dealer who intentionally sold them defective weapons and killed his girl. Charlie comes hunting for revenge, but as he doesn't know about immortals and his opponent is one, he winds up dying.

** The return and subsequent death of Milo Pressman in Season 6 has oft been referenced as an example of this trope, though he did survive for almost the entire season.

** Additionally, the character of Tony Almeida was injured in an explosion that left him in a coma for the first half of season 5. He was brought out of it midway through only to get killed off an episode later. {{spoiler|Although eventually subverted in that he was later revealed to still be alive two seasons later, he was dead for all intents and purposes for the rest of the fifth season.}}

** This did serve to give her a good send-off, and allow her to work as a [[Mentors|mentor]] one last time.

* Arguably, Bryce Larkin from ''[[Chuck]]''.

* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'': Adam Monroe, former immortal, was [[A Fate Worse Than Death|buried alive]] at the end of season two, but he was let out briefly in the following season apparently for the sole purpose of being [[Killed Off for Real]] in a rather egregious manner. Maybe they were saving him for this. (His death basically created the new [[Big Bad]].)

** A variation happened earlier in season two for DL. The second season starts by skipping months ahead, and we're told that DL is dead, presumably from his gunshot wound in the season one finale. But no, he appears in a flashback only to get killed [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|by some random guy who was hot for his wife.]] The entire exercise seems completely pointless.

** Done with Emile Danko at the beginning of Season 4. As the [[Big Bad]] of Season 3, he survived that season only to be brought back for two episodes for a somewhat contrived reason during Season 4 only to be killed off immediately by the new villains.

* Chloe Richards returned to ''[[Home and Away]]'' in 2005 in the lead up to the show's 4000th episode after leaving in 1999. Meanwhile, promos for the 4000th episode promised that [[Tonight Someone Dies|a beloved character would die]] as a result of events happening in that episode. Who died as a result of that episode's car accident? It was Chloe of course.

*** The deaths of the other characters was left deliberately ambiguous so that they could return if the series was extended.

* In ''[[Foyle's War]]'', Milner's estranged wife reappears after an absence of several seasons, and has just enough time for a blazing row with Milner before being found dead in an alley.

* Keith from ''[[One Tree Hill]]'' leaves after his disastrous wedding. He comes back more well adjusted and marries Karen only to be killed by his brother Dan. At least she has [[Someone to Remember Him By]].

* Joyce Summers, in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''.

* Alicia in ''[[Smallville]]'' is slightly different from the usual version because she was a one-shot character. In season 3 she was obsessed with Clark, but she was presented as having had a breakdown and being somewhat sympathetic, and some viewers liked her as a love interest for Clark. She was brought back in the next season just to be killed off, permanently ending the possibility of being a love interest.

** Whitney also qualifies: We see him die on-screen [[Not Himself|before the shapeshifter shows up]].

* ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' had a [[Yank the Dog's Chain]] example of this. Shawn's father reappears for the first time in about a year and a half and promises that he will stay around this time. He prompty dies from a heart attack.

* In ''[[Farscape]]'', Jool leaves the regular cast four episodes into the fourth season. She reappears (with a rather different [[Jungle Princess]] characterisation) in the [[Wrap It Up]] miniseries "The Peacekeeper Wars", and is fairly rapidly killed along with a whole lot of other people to give the Scarrans an extreme [[Kick the Dog]] moment.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[Marble Hornets]]'' entry 51 combines this with [[Anachronic Order]], jumping back years in the series timeline to reveal the fate of a minor character from the first season. It ain't pretty.

* In ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', Achyls was a minor character in V1, working as one of the technicians for the terrorists. However, he vanished inexplicably afterwards with no explanation. He returned for V4, and seemed set to have a bigger role from before, then was abruptly killed not long after his redebut.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** In a season 14 episode, Pip, who didn't have any speaking line at all since season 6, came back, only for him to deliver a [[Sedgwick Speech]] and be killed by Mecha-Streisand moments later.

*** According to southparkstudios.com, he may not be entirely gone.

* ''[[Speed Racer: The Next Generation]]'': In "The Beginning", Speed Jr. and his friends find and restore the long-disappeared Mach 5, but it ends up truly totaled after a vicious race.

* In the DCAU, Professor Milo was a minor recurring villain on ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]''. He shows up again 13 years later in an episode of ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' only for Doomsday to kill him offscreen.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Death Tropes]]