Bus Crash: Difference between revisions

A character is removed from the series in a polite way that leaves the door open for them to come back in the future. That is, he was [[Put on a Bus]]. And then, a season or so later, he does "come back" -- [[Came Back Wrong|dead]]. [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|A bridge fell on him]] while he was off-screen. Or, as happened in the case of ''MASHM*A*S*H'' below, [[McLeaned|the character is put on a bus (or to be precise, a helicopter) and killed in the same episode]]. The character has died in a '''Bus Crash'''.

* In ''[[Naruto Veangance Revelaitons]]'', Orochimaru is the initial main antagonist until he, like in canon, gets replaced by Madara. Unlike in canon, Orochimaru disappears without explanation, until much later, when {{spoiler|Sasuke reveals that he has absorbed Orochimaru's remains}}.

* Madame Thénardier in ''[[Les Misérables (novel)|Les Misérables]]''. She's put in jail after the Gorbeau robbery, never seen again, and mentioned much later she died. Bear in mind she was a big, healthy, middle-aged woman.

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==

* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the Eighth Doctor, played by Paul McGann, was never seen again after the 1996 TV movie (aside the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]], which continued unabated, even using Paul McGann in the audio dramas); the 2005 series begins with the Ninth Doctor having apparently just regenerated (he sees himself in a mirror for apparently the first time about halfway through the episode),. andEventually, the circumstances of his regeneration havewere notaddressed beenin addressedthe special ''The Night of the Doctor'', {{Spoiler|where McGann was basically [[Back for the Dead|brought back to dateregenerate]] into a character that ''wasn't'' the 9th Doctor.}}

** The Eighth Doctor's regeneration was intended to be shown in the official comic series, but [[Executive Meddling]] resulted in it being canceledcancelled when the writers were refused permission to show the Ninth alongside any companion other than Rose Tyler.

* Jenna in ''[[Blake's 7|Blakes Seven]]''. Launched out of the spaceship in an escape pod at the end of the second series and never reappeared, although reported to be still alive. Then reported to have died in the series's final episode (though there is a possibility the report was part of a test.)

** In ''[[Stargate Atlantis|Atlantis]]'', Ford becomes addicted to Wraith enzyme at the end of season one and goes AWOL. He returns in season two, helping the team off a Wraith Hive ship, but stays behind to buy them time. Sheppard however, remains confident that he survived (given that his enemies always seem to consistently do so). Ford never appeared in the show ever again save for an [[Imagine Spot]], but is never confirmed as killed either.

* In ''Greys[[Grey's Anatomy]]'', {{spoiler|George}} gets hit and killed by the bus that he was going to take to leave the hospital and go join the Army. His character wasn't coming back anyway as the actor ended his contract, hence the in-universe result of him wanting to join the Army, but this is still a pretty harsh way to go.

** Talia Winters, played by Andrea Thompson, is kind of a complicated one. Herself a replacement character for an actress who waswasn't firedavailable after the pilot, Thompson became very dissatisfied with her lack of screen time, despite a slowly building subplot of Talia developing powerful telekinetic abilities that would clearly have paid off soon. She was written off by having an evil "sleeper personality" become activated and effectively kill the real Talia, which was originally planned for ''another'' character thatwho had been replaced after the pilot, but NOT''not'' the one Talia replaced. This still left the opportunity for Thompson to return as an antagonist, like Denise Crosby in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', but the next season, it was strongly suggested (though by a character known for his dishonesty and enjoyment of jerking others' chains) that she had been killed and dissected off screen. And after all that, her replacement character was actually the same character Talia herself had replaced, and who then required a [[Touched by Vorlons|Vorlon upgrade]] to match Talia's implied new power level. Whew!

*** This is questionable, since [[JMS]] stated on Usenet that Talia was intended to have the sleeper personality from the time her character was first introduced (prior to her introduction, Laurel Takashima had been planned to have it). Also, the first season episode "Deathwalker" had Kosh apparently making a copy of Talia's personality on a data crystal, and in the episode in which Talia's sleeper personality is revealed, Garibaldi recalls Kosh's backup and a flashback is given, but it is never followed up on. Presumably, this backup would have been used to restore Talia's original personality had the actress not left the show, and then we would have found out where JMS was going with Talia's telekinesis arc.

*** Allegedly, an episode of the canceled spin-off ''[[Crusade]]'' would've revealed via flashback that Lennier died alongside Lyta Alexander during the Telepath War. The telepath war movie 'teaser' verifies this time.

* Subverted (What isn't?) by ''[[Shameless]]''. Debbie Gallagher left to join the army at the end of series 6, and later sent a letter saying she was in Afghanistan. In the first episode of series 8 an army officer tells Frank that Debbie was killed in action, but it turns out to be a malicious prank by his ex -wife.

* In ''[[Being Human (UK)]]'' the werewolf who turned George, Tully, appears in one episode in the first series, and is then not heard from again until an important piece of graphitigraffiti by him in the finale of the second series, in which one of the characters mentions him as dead.

* ''[[Two and A Half Men]] ''{{'}}s Charlie Harper, was revealed to have died when he was hit by a Metro train after moving to Paris with his my new wife Rose... who pushed him in front of said train.

* Aiden Burn on ''[[CSI: NY]]''. Sort of. It was half this and half [[Stuffed in The Fridge]], since she *''did*'' die offscreen, and then her charred corpse was found by her former colleagues in a burned -out car. Bonus points for the TV Guide description of "Aiden returns to help the team catch a serial rapist." Except, you know... as charcoal.

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

** Amber, the Vegas showgirl [[The Simpsons (animation)|Homer Simpson]] was accidentally "married" to, was later said to have died off screen in a later season. The family attends a funeral service for her at the beginning of an episode.

** In ''[[The Simpsons]]'', [[The Scrappy|theThe much-hated third character]] from the''The Itchy and Scratchy Show'', Poochie, is to be removed through [[Executive Meddling]] because the viewers hate him. After a passionate speech by Homer (Poochie's voice actor) to save the poor dog, he is nevertheless literally pulled out of the cartoon with the deadpan "I have to go, my planet needs me," followed by a scribbled note that "Poochie died on the way to his home planet" ''and then'' a lawyer comes up stating that they have made a legally binding contract never to return Poochie.

*** A lot of good that did. In the [[Edited for Syndication|syndicated version]] (at least in the United States; some overseas airings may have this), the part where Krusty mentions the legally-binding contract stating that Poochie can never return was cut. And let's not forget that Poochie appeared on two other ''Simpsons'' episodes featuring "Itchy and Scratchy": the Halloween episode where Bart and Lisa get sucked into the TV (Poochie is the one who gets hit by the police car as he's skating down the street) and another episode where Poochie was at Scratchy's funeral.

** And before we get off the subject of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', it's worth mentioning that Dr. Marvin Monroe was believed to have died in this manner (disappeared from the series, a 'memorial' hospital named after him, a tombstone for him shaped like a psychiatrist's couch), but he suddenly reappeared alive and well at a book signing, much to Marge's surprise.

* Bill's ''entire extended family'' (except for one survivor) met this fate in ''[[King of the Hill]]''. In one episode, we learn that Bill is of New Orleans ancestry, and his family turns out to be a colorful bunch of backstabbing rich Cajun layabouts. Bill gets caught up in their intrigues a couple of times, and then they aren't heard from again until the final season, when Bill's cousin Gilbert turns up to rather casually inform him that they all caught bad fevers and died. Their deaths are given little attention and essentially just serve to set up a plot where Bill worries about his own mortality.