Disney Death: Difference between revisions

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** The bonus features on the DVD show an alternate ending where Gepetto is the one who seems to die, but the Blue Fairy revives him along with making Pinocchio human. Interestingly, this version of the ending was used for the ''[[Disney On Ice]]'' adaptation.

* In ''[[Lady and The Tramp (Disney)|Lady and The Tramp]]'', Trusty gets crushed by a wagon after freeing Tramp. Jock is seen mourning his "death" and such. However, it is revealed that the only injury he received was a broken leg. It's worth noting that Trusty ''was'' originally marked for death; however, Disney changed it at the last minute to Trusty merely getting injured in order to avoid a repeat of the ''Bambi'' hullabaloo (see the '''Disney exceptions''' section).

* In ''[[~~One Hundred and One~~ Dalmatians (Disney)|One Hundred and One Dalmatians]]'', one of the initial litter of puppies (Lucky, although in [[The Hundred and One Dalmatians|the original book]] it was Cadpig) appears to be dead, but soon turns out is not. Yes, a Disney Death moment for a character ''that's only just been born''.

* In ''[[101 Dalmatians (Disney)|One Hundred and One Dalmatians]]'', one of the initial litter of puppies (Lucky, although in [[The Hundred and One Dalmatians|the original book]] it was Cadpig) appears to be dead, but soon turns out is not. Yes, a Disney Death moment for a character ''that's only just been born''.

* Played for laughs in ''[[The Jungle Book (Disney)|The Jungle Book]]'': after Baloo is knocked unconscious by Shere Khan, Bagheera gives him a touching eulogy. Turns out Baloo was alive all along and enjoying all the nice things Baggy was saying about him. "Don't stop now. There's more, lots more!"

** Disney seem to be fond of doing this to Baloo. He had a Disney Death in the live action adaption as well and at least a couple odd times in the ''[[Tale Spin (Animation)|Tale Spin]]'' series.

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* In ''[[Mulan (Disney)|Mulan]] 2'', Shang takes a terrible fall and everyone believes he is dead, but he turns out to be just fine. One of the tracks on the film's soundtrack is even called "Shang Lives."

* In ''[[Lilo and Stitch]] 2: Stitch Gets a Glitch'', Stitch dies because of his body being unstable. He gets better. The movie even admits that this is technically impossible.

* In ''[[Tangled (Disney)|Tangled]]'', Flynn gets stabbed by Mother Gothel and gives up his chance to be healed so he can cut Rapunzel's hair, [[No Immortal Inertia|killing Gothel]] but losing his chance to be healed. Luckily it turns out [[Eleventh Hour Superpower|that Rapunzel's tears can heal too]]. Cue emotional kiss and "Happily Ever After" ending montage!

* In ''[[Tangled (Disney)|Tangled]]'', Flynn gets stabbed by Mother Gothel and gives up his chance to be healed so he can cut Rapunzel's hair, [[No Immortal Inertia|killing Gothel]] but losing his chance to be healed. Luckily it turns out [[Eleventh-Hour Superpower|that Rapunzel's tears can heal too]]. Cue emotional kiss and "Happily Ever After" ending montage!

* ''[[Gnomeo and Juliet]]'': Gnomeo {{spoiler|and the racer. Averted with Gnomeo's dad}}.

* Happens to [[Cars|Mater]] in the [[Pixar Shorts|Pixar animated short]] ''El Materdor'' as a result of the bulldozers (resembling bulls) burying him in the sand at one point, as if they were burying him in a grave and sticking a piece of wood with a poster of him on it, giving it the appearance of a tombstone.

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*** Subverted in the [[Digimon Savers|fifth season]]. When Digimon are destroyed, they revert to Digi-eggs, {{spoiler|but the show's [[Big Bad]] develops a way to destroy the resulting eggs ''with'' the Digimon, killing them permanently. Cue Digi-genocide.}}

*** There's also [[Double Subversion|one more]]: After Masaru goes berserk and evolves ShineGreymon into [[Deadly Upgrade|Ruin Mode]], Agumon reverts back into an egg. Masaru is told that {{spoiler|although he is still alive, Agumon will have no recollection of him once he is reborn due to the misuse of the Burst Mode. However, once he hatches, he has no memory lapses whatsoever. Cue ass kicking new evolution.}}

* In ''[[Sonic X]]'', the Robot Disney Death is applied to Dr. <s>Robotnik</s> Eggman's [[Mecha-Mooks]] Decoe and Bocoe in Episode 48. Somehow, [[~~Four Kids~~ Entertainment|4Kids]] manages to [[Bowdlerize]] this into a plain Disney Death by removing the scene where the other characters are mourning them and saying that they "pulled themselves back together" rather than being repaired by Chuck Thorndyke.

* In ''[[Sonic X]]'', the Robot Disney Death is applied to Dr. <s>Robotnik</s> Eggman's [[Mecha-Mooks]] Decoe and Bocoe in Episode 48. Somehow, [[4Kids! Entertainment|4Kids]] manages to [[Bowdlerize]] this into a plain Disney Death by removing the scene where the other characters are mourning them and saying that they "pulled themselves back together" rather than being repaired by Chuck Thorndyke.

* In ''[[Kanon]]'', both the 2002 and 2006 versions {{spoiler|Yuichi remembers near the end of the series that Ayu fell off a high tree and presumably died seven years ago. However, by the very last scene of both versions, Ayu is shown to be alive after coming out of her coma, though the 2006 version ends with her in a wheelchair while she recovers.}}

** Of course, {{spoiler|Makoto doesn't come back, although there's a suspiciously familiar fox in the background of the last shot.}}

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* Subverted amusingly in the movie ''[[Little Big Man (Film)|Little Big Man]]''. Cheyenne chief Old Lodge Skins, Jack's blind mentor, has finally grown tired of life. He and Jack ascend a hill where Old Lodge Skins prays for his death and lies down with his eyes closed. It then begins raining. Old Lodge Skin blinks, then sighs. "Sometimes the magic works. Sometimes it doesn't." and they both go back to their village.

* The heroine of ''Whale Rider'' nearly drowns in the climax (and her narration informs us she "was not afraid to die", since she's rescued the pod), but she is found and recovers in the hospital.

* In ''[[ET the Extraterrestrial (Film)|ET the Extraterrestrial]]'', the title character appears to have died from an illness.

* In ''[[E.T. the Extraterrestrial (Film)|ET the Extraterrestrial]]'', the title character appears to have died from an illness.

** See also the climax of the infamous ripoff ''[[Mac and Me]]''. Not only do Mac and his family seem to perish in an explosion when they get into a shootout with the police, but their young human friend Eric dies as well, as the kid was near the explosion. The filmmakers work ''hard'' to jerk the tears here, culminating in his mom arriving on the awful scene by helicopter (she'd been searching for him). But the aliens emerge from the flames unharmed, and use their powers to revive him.

* Toward the end of ''[[Crocodile Dundee]] II'' the hero appears to have been fallen off a cliff, but we later discover that {{spoiler|he and the villain had switched clothes}}. The characters figure it out before the reveal.

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* In the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Moving Pictures|Moving Pictures]]'', Gaspode the Wonder Dog apparently makes a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save the Disc from the Things from the Dungeon Dimensions. In the first draft he was [[Killed Off for Real]], but this was rewritten following reader feedback, and Gaspode went on to become a recurring character. And, given the theme of the book, and the method used to revive Gaspode... possible [[Lampshade Hanging]]?

** In ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Lords and Ladies|Lords and Ladies]]'', it looks like Granny Weatherwax has given her life to help defeat the Queen of the Elves. When Nanny Ogg and Magrat go through Granny's personal affects, they find an envelope with a piece of card in it: Granny's old "I ATEN'T DEAD" sign. Nanny realizes this means Granny wasn't dead, but off Borrowing (in this case, a swarm of bees).

** Maurice and Dangerous Beans both die in the finale of the first ''Discworld'' children's book, ''[[Discworld (Literature)/The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents|The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents]]''. Maurice survives because [[Cats Have Nine Lives]], and Dangerous Beans survives because Maurice offers ''two'' of his lives to [[Balancing ~~Deaths~~ Books|Balance Death's Books]].

** Maurice and Dangerous Beans both die in the finale of the first ''Discworld'' children's book, ''[[Discworld (Literature)/The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents|The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents]]''. Maurice survives because [[Cats Have Nine Lives]], and Dangerous Beans survives because Maurice offers ''two'' of his lives to [[Balancing Death's Books|Balance Death's Books]].

* In ''[[Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows]]'', Harry is struck by a Killing Curse, but {{spoiler|does not really die due to unknowingly becoming an extra Horcrux. However, his friends back at Hogwarts do not know this at first and fear that their hero is gone for good.}}

** {{spoiler|Hagrid}} also gets one in the Battle of Hogwarts - he appears to succumb to an acromantula attack, but later turns up with the Death Eaters in the Forbidden Forest as a prisoner.

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** At the end of season 3, {{spoiler|Locke gets shot and thrown into a hole full of bodies}}, but later gets up out of the pit after seeing a vision of Walt telling him to get up. He later mentions that he didn't die because {{spoiler|[[Artistic License Biology|the injury location was where his stolen kidney would have been and if he'd still had that kidney, he would have died]]}}.

** Plus there's the man in the eyepatch who survived all sorts of various fatal incidents. Including impaling.

* The robot version happened to K-9 in the "School Reunion" episode of ''[[~~Doctor Who (TV)|~~Doctor Who]]'', although it is unclear if this is the same robot rebuilt (with the same personality and memories) or just another robot of the same model.

* The robot version happened to K-9 in the "School Reunion" episode of ''[[Doctor Who]]'', although it is unclear if this is the same robot rebuilt (with the same personality and memories) or just another robot of the same model.

** Also in the ''Doctor Who'' original series serial ''Survival'' {{spoiler|The Seventh Doctor}} has a head on collision on a motorbike with the enemy, resulting in a huge explosion which we see nobody escape from. Ace begins to mourn his death after she finds {{spoiler|his hat}} and {{spoiler|his umbrella}} laying on the ground. We soon after find out he's somehow just ended up face first in a pile of rubbish with his backside in the air.

** In the finale of series 5/season 31, there are ''two''. {{spoiler|In 1996, Centurion Rory is presumed dead from pulling the Pandorica out of the fires of the Blitz during [[World War II]]. He's actually the night watchman of the museum holding the Pandorica. The Doctor also gets one. He travels back in time a few minutes faking his death from a partially powered Dalek raygun. He uses this as a diversion to travel back to the Pandorica to jump start the universe in a [[Title Drop|Big Bang]] Two. Geronimo indeed.}}

** In "The Doctor's Daughter" {{spoiler|Jenny takes a bullet for the Doctor near the end of the episode. After the Doctor has accepted that she won't regenerate, he leaves her body with her fellow soldiers and goes off in the TARDIS. Suddenly she pops back to life, apparently none the worse for wear (seemingly due to the [[Terraforming]] process that was still ongoing), and takes off in a stolen spaceship ([[Like Father Like Son|like father like daughter, apparently]]). The Doctor, however, is unaware that she came back to life.}}

** In "The Doctor's Daughter" {{spoiler|Jenny takes a bullet for the Doctor near the end of the episode. After the Doctor has accepted that she won't regenerate, he leaves her body with her fellow soldiers and goes off in the TARDIS. Suddenly she pops back to life, apparently none the worse for wear (seemingly due to the [[Terraforming]] process that was still ongoing), and takes off in a stolen spaceship ([[Like Father, Like Son|like father like daughter, apparently]]). The Doctor, however, is unaware that she came back to life.}}

** Technically, whenever the Doctor is about to regenerate in front of a companion who doesn't know what he's about to do counts, as they have no idea he's going to be alright, if a bit different.

*** The same applies to Jack Harkness. {{spoiler|And that guy from US Torchwood.}}

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** [[Joss Whedon]] LOVES those teeth-kicking subversions.

** This one was fairly obvious in advance, though; we'd already learned that the body was cold, so the (very short) back-to-life sequence was confusing but obviously not "real".

** It's actually played straight in the Season 1 finale, when Buffy drowns... only to be brought back to life by Xander's [[CPR Clean Pretty Reliable|CPR]].

** It's actually played straight in the Season 1 finale, when Buffy drowns... only to be brought back to life by Xander's [[CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable|CPR]].

** In the [[Series Finale]], this happens to Robin Wood.

* ''[[Heroes (TV)|Heroes]]'' has two characters (Adam and Claire) whose power is essentially to always have a Disney Death: they come back to life, assuming that something isn't preventing them from regenerating, and even then if the thing is removed they regenerate as normal. This also allows Peter and Sylar to gain similar powers, from their abilities to absorb powers of others. To make matters ridiculous, it's revealed that if anyone is given a transfusion of Claire's (or Peter's) blood, they regenerate as well. This allows characters that have been definitely killed off to come back if needed (it may be that you can receive this transfusion even if you're dead -- HRG must have been cold before he got his transfusion).

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* Partially subverted in ''[[Babylon 5]]''. After calling down a nuclear bomb on his own position and jumping down a huge hole, Captain Sheridan really is dead. However, he's frozen at the moment of death by Lorien, the first living being ever to come into existence, who tells him he can "breathe on the remaining embers" of Sheridan's life. This means he gets to live for the remaining two years of the series, but Lorien's action only bought him twenty more years, so that he'll die at age 66.

* The first season finale of ''[[Robin Hood (TV)|Robin Hood]]'', where {{spoiler|Marian is mourned, avenged, and then discovered to be still alive.}} (Setting the scene for a major audience shock when {{spoiler|she was [[Killed Off for Real]] in the second season finale.)}}

* In the series finale of ''[[~~Battlestar Galactica Reimagined (TV)|~~Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'' of all places. {{spoiler|During the battle in the first half of the episode, Helo is shot and severely wounded while rescuing his daughter Hera from the Cylons. His wife Athena tearfully leaves him behind to save Hera (and at that point she wasn't the only one shedding tears), at which point he doesn't appear for the rest of most of the episode...only to turn up alive on Earth at the end of the episode, living happily with his family. He even had the standard Disney Death walking stick to at least acknowledge that he was injured earlier. Strange to see this trope in such a dark [[Anyone Can Die]] [[Crapsack World]], but if any couple deserved a happy ending on that show it was them.}}

* In the series finale of ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'' of all places. {{spoiler|During the battle in the first half of the episode, Helo is shot and severely wounded while rescuing his daughter Hera from the Cylons. His wife Athena tearfully leaves him behind to save Hera (and at that point she wasn't the only one shedding tears), at which point he doesn't appear for the rest of most of the episode...only to turn up alive on Earth at the end of the episode, living happily with his family. He even had the standard Disney Death walking stick to at least acknowledge that he was injured earlier. Strange to see this trope in such a dark [[Anyone Can Die]] [[Crapsack World]], but if any couple deserved a happy ending on that show it was them.}}

* ADA Alexandra Cabot from ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]'' is shot and declared dead in Season 5. At the end of that episode, Stabler and Benson are brought out to a secluded spot, where they meet Cabot, who has only been injured and are informed that she is going into Witness Protection. They are the only ones who know, creating some trust issues with Cragen when she reappears.

* In the episode "Doppleganger" in ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' {{spoiler|1=Rodney Mckay }} dies from a entity that kills people in their sleep, while {{spoiler|John Sheppard}} is trying to save him. Turns out, the whole thing was really {{spoiler|John's}} Nightmare, and the character wakes up in the real world, perfectly fine, minus a technical cardiac arrest.

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* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda a Link To T He Past (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda a Link To T He Past]]'' {{spoiler|Link's uncle gives a speech about his and Link's time together before he passes out. During the end credits it shows that he's alive and well in the house}}.

** Well, Link ''had'' just {{spoiler|been granted unlimited wishes by the Triforce, and bringing his uncle back from the dead wouldn't be a surprising choice for one of them}}.

** Let's not forget {{spoiler|Midna}} in ''[[The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess (Video Game)|Twilight Princess]]''.

** Let's not forget {{spoiler|Midna}} in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Video Game)|Twilight Princess]]''.

** Or, hell, {{spoiler|Zelda herself}} in that one.

* Played with in ''[[Monkey Island 2 Le Chucks Revenge (Video Game)|Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge]]'', when one puzzle with a time limit will cause Guybrush to die if he runs out of time...until the player is reminded that the entire game is told in flashback to Elaine, who doubts Guybrush's claim that he died and gives the player another chance at the puzzle.

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* In the one [[Sega Genesis]] ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' game, Data was the most useful of the command staff for this reason -- it was very hard, if not impossible for him to get severely injured and taken off active duty. He would just get repaired, as opposed to others who have a good chance of getting that injured. All of the other command had a [[We Cannot Go On Without You]] as either Picard is injured (he always seems to be severely injured) or he [[My God, What Have I Done?|resigns in guilt over causing them to get hurt.]] Thus the player could send only Data and his death wouldn't matter.

* In ''[[Metroid Other M]]'', {{spoiler|Anthony Higgs}} is slapped into a pit lava by {{spoiler|Ridley}}'s tail. At the first ending of the game, {{spoiler|Anthony}} comes out of nowhere to escort Samus back to her starship, accompanied by a flashback showing how he escaped certain death.

* In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (Video Game)|Sonic '06]]'', after {{spoiler|Sonic dies}} and everyone is gathered around the body, they realize that [[The End of the World As We Know It|all hope is lost]]... suddenly, out of nowhere, [[Save the Princess|Princess Elise]] senses his spirit in the wind... and you spend several levels collecting the [[Plot Coupon|Chaos Emeralds]] just to revive him, [[But Thou Must|which could've easily been done off-screen]].

* In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (Video Game)|Sonic '06]]'', after {{spoiler|Sonic dies}} and everyone is gathered around the body, they realize that [[The End of the World As We Know It|all hope is lost]]... suddenly, out of nowhere, [[Save the Princess|Princess Elise]] senses his spirit in the wind... and you spend several levels collecting the [[Plot Coupon|Chaos Emeralds]] just to revive him, [[But Thou Must!|which could've easily been done off-screen]].

* In ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'', {{spoiler|Sonic defeats Perfect Dark Gaia}} and then {{spoiler|dies of exhaustion}}, but is {{spoiler|revived by Chip/Light Gaia}}.

** {{spoiler|He didn't die, he fainted, but he was 'Near' death.}}

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== Films -- Animation ==

* Near the end of the ''[[Animaniacs (Animation)|Animaniacs]]'' movie ''[[~~Wakkos~~ Wish (Film)|Wakkos Wish]]'', Dot gets hit by one of King Salazar's cannonballs and [[Died in Your Arms Tonight|dies in Yakko's arms...]] then she says "I'm feeling better now" right when Wakko reaches the wishing star. Yakko says her acting lessons must really be paying off....

* Near the end of the ''[[Animaniacs (Animation)|Animaniacs]]'' movie ''[[Wakko's Wish (Film)|Wakkos Wish]]'', Dot gets hit by one of King Salazar's cannonballs and [[Died in Your Arms Tonight|dies in Yakko's arms...]] then she says "I'm feeling better now" right when Wakko reaches the wishing star. Yakko says her acting lessons must really be paying off....

* ''[[Kung Fu Panda (Animation)|Kung Fu Panda]]''

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[[Category:Writer Cop Out]]

[[Category:Disney Death]]

[[Category:~~Trope~~]]

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