Cut Short: Difference between revisions

Even more frustratingly, often shows create [[Myth Arc]]s haphazardly, stringing viewers along and never really intending to offer any conclusion to the story [[arc]]s they tell the first 2/3s of, or answering the questions they raise. This is called [[The Chris Carter Effect]], and it typically occurs when [[They Just Didn't Care]].

 

 

Compare [[No Ending]], in which there is a deliberate decision to end a work abruptly. Can also happen to [[Curse Cut Short|curses]]. If it doesn't deal with the major plot issues, a [[Gecko Ending]] will include this. See also [[Left Hanging]], [[Orphaned Series|Orphaned Ser]]

{{examples}}

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''Yamato Gensouki''.

* The anime version of ''[[Ranma ½]]'' abruptly ended about two-thirds of the way through the story. The manga continued to [[No Ending|the Grand Non-Finale]].

* ''[[Final Fantasy Unlimited]]'' was cut short from the original 52 episodes to 24, resolving the latter parts with voiced dramas, books and a web novel that [[No Export for You|never see the light outside Japan]].

* ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'' can't help it, since the manga source material shows no signs of [[Long Runners|proceeding to a conclusion]].

* OEL manga got hit hard with this around 2005. One example is ''[[Off Beat]]'', the third and final volume of which has yet to see the light of day. Not many people read it, but those who did thought it was great.

* The ''[[Aoi Hana]]'' anime cuts off right at the crucial moment at which {{spoiler|Fumi realizes Akira was her first love}}. Originally more seasons were planned, but due to disappointing DVD-sales it's highly unlikely any more will be produced.

 

== Comic Books ==

* [[Cross Gen]]'s entire [[Myth Arc]] was cut short due to financial collapse, and even the [[Wrap It Up]] mini series was nipped in the bud. Especially ironic for fans who were leery over getting involved due to having experienced the same thing with Valiant, a few years earlier.

** The [[Cross Gen]] characters are now owned by Marvel and a revival of some kind is in the works.

 

== Film ==

* "Woody's Roundup," the show-within-a-show in the [[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] franchise.

 

* [[.hack|.Hack//Zero]] A series of novels set in the main .hack canon that tells the story of a (female) Heavy Axmen named [[Gender Blender Name|Carl]] and her encounter's with Aura and Skeith/Sora. The series abruptly ended with no real resolution after it's first volume relegating Carl's story to side materials (She ends up Data Drained by Skeith apperntly) and since the .hack series as a whole has moved on a good number of years in the timeline(Being on the 3rd version of The World no) it shows no signs of ever being finished. It's also a case of [[No Export for You]] likely due to it's unifinished nature.

 

* ''[[Dear John (British series)|Dear John]]'''s star Ralph Bates died in 1991, so plans to continue the series were scrapped.

* ''[[American Dreams]]''

* ''[[Drive]]''

* ''[[My Name Is Earl]]''. While it was a comedy and therefore didn't have a huge [[Myth Arc]] or anything, it did have Earl's karma list. Also, for four seasons, viewers had never known who Dodge's father was (though Earl was ''not'' a likely candidate for several reasons) and had assumed that Darnell was the father of "Earl Junior" (given that they're both black, while Joy and Earl are white). The last episode suggests Earl may in fact be Dodge's dad, and proves that Darnell ''isn't'' Earl Junior's dad. The episode ended just as Joy was about to begin explaining, and then the series got canceled. We don't even know how far along on his list Earl was, or what all he had left to do.

* ''[[Lois and Clark]]'' ends with them finding a baby that does not belong to them. There was going to be more explanation of the baby's origins had the show continued.

** This was the same episode where they were told that Kryptonians are genetically incompatible with humans (or, at least, Clark and Lois aren't), destroying their hopes of starting a family.

* ''[[Hotel Babylon]]'': While not having many, if any, continuing story over the show the finale episode produced a huge amount of development and a rather cruel WHAM episode. This left the main character with a decision {{spoiler|chosing between two potential love interests and overall what will happen to the hotel}}... and no ending was ever given because it was cut short due to low ratings.

* The 1970s UK scifi show ''[[The Tomorrow People]]'' was cut short due to a strike at ITV. It was meant to end properly with an epic two-parter, but plans had to be scrapped.

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'': One of the lucky ones. The Ori [[Arc]] is concluded with ''[[The Ark of Truth]]'', a direct-to-DVD movie.

* The HBO series ''Luck'' had good enough ratings to renew it early in its first season, but they were forced to cancel it when three horses died during production.

* Being a [[Sketch Comedy]], ''[[The Amanda Show]]'' itself didn't suffer from this after its abrupt cancellation, but [[Show Within a Show]] ''Moody's Point'' had ended the final season on a huge [[Cliff Hanger]] in which the main character learned that she'd been [[Switched At Birth]] and that she wasn't who she thought she was. Even creator Dan Schneider doesn't know what would have happened next, because he never got a chance to write it.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* ''[[Little Orphan Annie]]'' ran as a serial strip in newspapers for 86 years until it was unceremoniously cancelled in 2010. The final strip inexplicably did not resolve the ongoing plotline, but instead [http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/06/14/little-orphan-annie-ending/ ended on Annie being held in South America by a serial murderer and Daddy Warbucks staring hopelessly into the distance believing his beloved daughter to be murdered by gangsters.] The sun ''won't'' come up tomorrow in this universe...

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Shenmue]]''. The second installment ended with Ryo finally meeting Shenhua and discovering that the mirror he's been carrying does indeed have some sort of supernatural power. Then Yu Suzuki got the plug pulled on his series, so we'll never know the significance of this, nor Lan Di's ultimate role in the story. Then Suzuki quit at Sega, guaranteeing that we'll ''really'' never know how it all would have turned out.

* The 1999 PC [[Survival Horror]] game ''Nocturne'' ended on a positively agonizing cliffhanger, which over a decade later has yet to be revisited thanks to the game's storyline morphing into ''[[BloodRayne]]''. All is not lost, though: an interview with the developers stated that ''Nocturne'' is not [[Canon Discontinuity]], and that they created ''Bloodrayne'' specifically to have an intellectual property they could relinquish to Majesco if and when they severed ties with the company. They still hope to release a true sequel to ''Nocturne'' someday.

* It would be easier to list multi-part modules for ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]''/''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' that managed to finish their plot than ones that don't.

 

 

== Web Original ==

* Many roleplays on ''[[The Gungan Council]]'' end short of the planned climatic grand finale.

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Samurai Jack]]''. For that matter, pretty much ''every single'' Western animated series with a series-long plot arc. It'd be easier to just list those that ''weren't'' Cut Short.

* ''[[Spider-Man Unlimited]]''

* ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' seems to have fallen victim to this. Due to its abrupt cancellation, it ended with many unresolved plotlines and unexplored characters. The final episode itself only resolved a ''fraction'' of the many plot points introduced earlier in the season.

* ''[[Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!|Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go]]'' ended right when the [[Big Bad]] had been resurrected and the Hyperforce and [[Gondor Calls for Aid|all of their previous allies]] where about to go at him.

* ''[[Wolverine and the X-Men]]:'' The last episode ended with a scene in which Apocalypse rules in the future leaving no clue as to what's going to happen next. The show only lasted one season.

* ''[[Invader Zim]]'' Due to [[Executive Meddling|those pesky Nickelodeon execs]], the [[Too Good to Last]] show was cancelled right when the plot was about to surface. [[Internet Backdraft]] abounds. Still, fans cling to the hope of it being [[Uncanceled]], and the possiblity remains.

* Obscure 1980s cartoon ''[[The Bluffers]]'' centered around a [[Gang of Critters]] trying to find out the secret of a villain named Clandestino. It got canceled before they could say what his secret was.

* ''[[Hey Arnold!]]!'' never did explain what happened to Arnold's parents on their final mission, all because the show's creator couldn't agree with Nickelodeon over the necessary contract extension. Result: no extension at all. There was going to be a Jungle Movie which would have resolved practically everything - Arnold goes back to San Lorenzo to find his parents, and he probably hooks up with Helga. Sadly it never got produced.

* ''[[King Arthur and the Knights of Justice]]'' was unexpectedly cancelled after two seasons and 26 episodes, with its premise (collecting all the [[MacGuffin]]s and freeing the original King and Knights) far from resolution.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Ending Tropes]]

[[Category:Depressing Tropes]]