Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
116,064
edits
Gateway Series: Difference between revisions
standardized sections, TVT->ATT, fix redlinks, replaced redirects, markup, moved miscategorized example, added text, added subexample
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (added text) |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (standardized sections, TVT->ATT, fix redlinks, replaced redirects, markup, moved miscategorized example, added text, added subexample) |
||
| (9 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown) | |||
Line 16:
Gateway Series must be good in some sense, and must not have much more squick than normally comes with the genre. Otherwise, you would be [[Genre Killer|turned off.]]
Contrast [[It's Popular, Now It Sucks]]. Not to be confused with [[Frederik Pohl]]'s ''[[Heechee Saga
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Virtually anything aired on [[Toonami]] and/or [[Adult Swim]] has been a gateway anime for many viewers. Of course, [[Cartoon Network]] seems to have been pretty careful about selecting shows with mainstream appeal—and clearly they've been successful. This makes it even more alarming that both daytime CN and Adult Swim have drastically decreased their amount of anime programming over the last year or two. Many have pointed at Cartoon Network's...[[Network Decay|controversial changes]] [[Screwed by the Network|as the reason why]].
** [[Toonami|And we're]] [[Uncancelled|back.]]
Line 33:
** One would think that the ways in which the series extensively plays with—and brutally subverts—anime tropes, the notoriously confusing plot, the highly divisive characters, and the all-around weirdness of the show would make it less than ideal viewing for someone unfamiliar with the medium. A whole new generation of ''Eva'' fans has arisen ever since the series was broadcast on—you guessed it -- [[Adult Swim]].
*** Actually ''Eva'' was first aired in the US by KTEH, a ''[[PBS]] affiliate'' in California uncensored in Japanese!
** Despite this being the case for many mecha fans in the late 90s and early 2000s, most of them argue ''Eva'' is no longer a good Gateway Series for the genre, given it relies ''heavily'' on influences from previous anime to do - more or less - its own thing. The generational shift in the fandom also didn't help things, as most active ''Eva'' fans do not have a healthy relationship with mecha as a whole. In fact, most people who watch ''Eva'' as their first mecha anime get sidetracked into ''hating'' the genre, partially from not understanding a damn thing and partially from the fandom feeding the newcomer with highly-ingrained lies and [[Epileptic Trees]] about the series.
* The pilot anime for [[Adult Swim]] was ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'', a series great for getting people interested in the medium.
* One of the first well-dubbed series imported into the United States was ''[[Ranma ½]]''.
Line 38 ⟶ 39:
* The films of ''[[Studio Ghibli]]''.
* Not all shows like this have to be absolute masterpieces. Preteens who watched ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' in the late 90s went on to watch ''[[Dragon Ball|DBZ]]'' in their teen years and, in some cases, find themselves watching [[Adult Swim]] and beyond now.
* Genres inside a medium do it too. ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', ''[[Kanon]]'', ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi|The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'', ''[[Clannad (visual novel)|Clannad]]'', and ''[[AIR]]'' have converted many a [[Shojo|shoujo]] fan to the [[Seinen]] series they once dismissed as [[Fan Service|fanservicey]] junk.
* ''[[Akira]]'' is widely credited with introducing the anime feature film to the West in the late 1980s. Alas, Manga Entertainment capitalised on this by releasing a tide of unmitigated pap straight to video which left the general impression that all anime was ''Legend of the Overfiend'' and ''Violence Jack''.
** The tide of pap had some examples of its own, though. ''[[Guyver|The Guyver: Bio Booster Armor]]'', ''[[Ninja Scroll]]'', the ''[[Street Fighter]]'' stuff, and ''[[Cyber City Oedo 808]]'' all helped to get people interested in the medium.
Line 81 ⟶ 82:
** Heck, this is perhaps [[4Kids! Entertainment|4Kids']] sole redeeming grace, via their dubs of the Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh anime. It helps that both franchises were wildly successful fads as well.
* Over the years, ''[[The Castle of Cagliostro|The Castleof Cagliostro]]'' has been used by anime fans as a jumping-on point for the [[Lupin III]] franchise. This can get very ironic considering [[Characterization Marches On|the titular character's actions and personality in the movie]] [[Casanova Wannabe|don't quite match up with any of his other incarnations]].
* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' is the Gateway Series for the audience in [[The New Tens]], [http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Spa_Weekly!_2011-07-19 its sheer popularity gets it noted people with intellectual creds].
** The problem is it's definitely [[Decon Recon Switch|not a good representation]] [[Magical Girl|for its genre]]. In fact, ''Madoka Magica'' has the same problem as ''Evangelion'': it stands on the shoulders of the genre it belongs to, so understanding it leads to better enjoyment. Like ''Eva'', it also has a problem with it's fandom actively trying to brainwash newcomers into hating other magical girl shows. Unlike ''Eva'', the arguments that it's simply not a good Gateway Series (despite bringing in a lot of fresh blood into the mahou shoujo fandom) were heard practically from the beginning.
* ''[[Mariasama ga Miteru]]'' is probably ''the'' [[Girls Love]] gateway series.
Line 93 ⟶ 95:
* ''[[Maus]]''
* ''[[Persepolis]]''
* ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)|Preacher]]'' to Vertigo Comic Books.
* Or simply pick a comic meant for young children, such as ''[[Donald Duck]]'', the sort that parents subscribe for their children or help to choose at a library.
* [[Fan Vid|AMVs and fanvids]] in general.▼
== [[Film]] ==
Line 109 ⟶ 114:
* The ''[[Scream (film)|Scream]]'' series did a lot to introduce young people in [[The Nineties]] to all the older horror movies that it referenced/parodied, to the point where it's credited with singlehandedly [[Popularity Polynomial|reviving the genre]] after having been [[Deader Than Disco]] for the better part of the decade.
** And [[The Fifties|decades]] [[The Sixties|before]] [[The Seventies|that]], late night showings of old [[Universal Horror]] movies by TV stations did the same for the baby boomers. To an extent, they still serve as great gateways for younger or more squeamish viewers, since the [[Hays Code]] meant that the violence and sex was often minimal.
== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[Harry Potter]]'' is a big gateway to fantasy novels, especially [[Urban Fantasy]]. According to [[Moral Guardians]], it is also [[Everyone Is Satan in Hell|a gateway series to witchcraft]], so [[You Can Panic Now|watch out]]. It has also famously served as a gateway to ''books in general'' for people (children, teenagers and adults) who wouldn't normally read.
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''
* [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'' and [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Gaunt's Ghosts]]'' novels are good introductions to the ''[[Warhammer
* ''[[Chronicles of Narnia]]''
* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''
Line 123 ⟶ 127:
* ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' does serve as a Gateway Series for many young readers to [[Vampire Fiction]] or even reading in general.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' can be a gateway series for non-Brits to introduce them to British Telly, or British culture in general. They may then move on to ''[[Life On Mars]]'' or something similar. Generally anything shown on PBS stations.
* Similarly, ''[[Downton Abbey]]'' might be to British Costume Drama what ''Doctor Who'' is to British Sci-Fi. ''Downton'' has become something of a surprise sleeper hit on American PBS stations. While ''Doctor Who'' might lead people to ''Being Human'' and ''Merlin,'' ''Downton'' might lead them to the new ''Upstairs, Downstairs'' and ''The Hour.''
Line 138 ⟶ 141:
* ''[[Iron Chef]]'' was a gateway series on two levels, one for the [[Cooking Show]] genre and two, for Japanese Game Shows in general.
* ''[[Firefly]]'' can be this for those who don't know or didn't pay any attention to [[Joss Whedon]], particularly those who were a little too young to be into ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' in its heyday.
* ''
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' seemed to attract a certain segment of viewers who weren't otherwise sci-fi fans.
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
* If you're a wrestling fan under 30, with very few exceptions, you started out watching [[WWF]] or [[WCW]]. As well, chances are you still watch WWE.
== [[Music]] ==
* With the help of [[YouTube]], Straight No Chaser and their [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28GUU1YbP_E humorous renditon of "The 12 Days of Christmas"] make a nice gateway into ''a cappella'' groups such as the Clef Hangers.
** Not to mention Rockapella's appearances on ''[[Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?]]'', probably the first exposure many had to ''a cappella'' groups in the 90s.
** Since [[Woodstock]] and through much of the
** In the 60's and early 70's it was The Swingle Singers.
** And in the 2010s/2020s, it's [[Pentatonix]] and their often [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MteSlpxCpo stunning] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRP8d7hhpoQ videos].
* The music composed for shows such as ''[[Doctor Who]]'' or ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' can be a gateway for more classical music and famous composers.
* For many, [[Daft Punk]] have been a gateway into the world of House Electronic music.
** Similarly, [[Aphex Twin]] is one of the most well-known electronica artists in the world, and is often the first one people listen to before exploring others.
Line 167 ⟶ 169:
* [[Pink Floyd]] could be this for [[Progressive Rock]].
* [[Red Hot Chili Peppers]] are a gateway into funk for many people.
* [[Bob Marley]] &
* [[The Clash]] are a gateway into many genres such as punk, rock and roll, reggae, dub, rap, dance and ambient.
* [[Jamiroquai]]'s early work in the acid jazz style is a gateway into latin jazz.
* Many rap musicians who sample from groove and jazz records find this, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Grand Puba, Digable Planets and A Tribe Called Quest for instance all sample from Funk and Jazz records which often leads to people finding the origins of the samples.
* Japan (the band) and their solo work are known for introducing people to piano music such as Erik Satie as well as Japanese music such as [[Yellow Magic Orchestra]]. Sylvian's solo work also is a gateway into the ambient and new age genres.
Line 175 ⟶ 177:
* Due to the band's brief American pop radio success in the mid-2000's, [[Modest Mouse]] were a gateway band into the world of indie rock for many future fans of the genre.
* For listeners who don't remember the 1960s (for reasons other than drugs), [[The Beatles]] can function as a gateway band for music of that decade and "oldies" in general.
* Any time a song is used in a movie/TV show/game/etc., [[Revival by Commercialization|it gets people into that song or band.]]
* Mumford & Sons is a gateway to the British Folk genre, and in turn indie music. [[Coldplay]] can also be considered a gateway into indie music.
** Perhaps the best example of the last
== [[New Media]] ==
* [[
* [[
▲* [[Fan Vid|AMVs and fanvids]] in general.
* [[The Spoony Experiment|The Spoony One]], and his review of ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' in particular, introduced a lot of people who came in late to internet reviewers, and specifically the critics on [[That Guy With The Glasses]]. (Given the amount the reviewers cameo in each other's videos, someone who starts with one will soon be aware of most of the main cast.)
== [[Radio]] ==▼
▲== Radio ==
* The hobby of [[wikipedia:Shortwave listening|shortwave listening]] can eventually lead to the hobby of [[wikipedia:Amateur radio|ham radio operating.]] It can work the other way around, too.
== Software ==
* Mandriva Linux and Ubuntu are meant to be easy-to-set-up, easy-to-use gateways into the world of Linux, as reflected in Ubuntu's slogan, "Linux for human beings", and with people often switching to more complex distros such as Red Hat, Fedora or openSUSE, and some of them later graduating to technical distros such as Debian, Gentoo, Slackware, Arch, or even leaving Linux and switching to BSD or OpenSolaris.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Dungeons
** New editions of ''D&D'' in general seem to do this. Much the same thing happened when 3rd Edition came out, and the gaming scene in general saw a big boost in the wake of the open-content d20 System.
*** With a few exceptions; Jonny-Come-Latelies joining at the height of 3.5 (Or now since 4th edition groups are rather rare) would probably find themselves ''swarmed'' with dozens upon ''dozens'' (if not even a hundred or more) of the various kinds of books, including but not limited to the player's handbook, monster manual, magical items, expansion books, class-detail books (Like ''Complete Divine''), update books, and more.
Line 202 ⟶ 199:
* ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' of the ''[[Old World of Darkness]]'' has been a more recent gateway game.
** Particularly its simplicity compared to ''D&D'' and its modern horror setting has meant that its attractive to a lot of people who otherwise might not be interested in role playing. It also is pretty much focused on letting the players be anti-heros (or outright bad guys) which is definitely more attractive to the angsty teens.
* ''[[
* Board games such as ''HeroQuest'', or the ''Fighting Fantasy'' and ''Lone Wolf'' books often serve as a gateway to Tabletop RPG gaming.
* ''Tunnels And Trolls'' was explicitly designed as a simpler, easier-to-play clone of ''D&D'', in an attempt to bring in new gamers. It never did achieve the popularity of ''D&D'', but there is a sizable group of tabletop gamers that cut their teeth on ''T&T''.
* Western Computer RPGs
* The ''[[
* The ''[[Pokémon (game)|Pokémon]]'' and ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (Tabletop Game)|Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' card game led eventually to ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' for lots of players. Helped by the fact that a lot of sanctioned tournaments of the former shared venues with tournaments for the latter. Also, the huge media presence (straddling many years) and child-friendly image of both ''Pokémon'' and ''Yu-Gi-Oh'' practically guarantees that these will be the first CCGs people get into.
** And, in turn, a number of ''Magic'' pros who become accustomed to making high-stakes probabilistic decisions end up transitioning to poker (most notably David Williams).
* ''[[The Dark Eye]]'' is the Gateway system in German-speaking countries, despite beeing the deepest system around.
== [[Theatre]] ==
* ''[[Rent]]'', ''[[Les Misérables (theatre)|Les Misérables]]'', ''[[Avenue Q]]'', and ''[[Wicked (theatre)|Wicked]]'' for [[The Musical|musicals]].
* [[Cirque Du Soleil]]'s various shows have introduced a lot of people to the contemporary circus genre.
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
▲== Video Games ==
* After [[The Great Video Game Crash of 1983]], people thought gaming was dead... but then enters ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' bundled with the NES...
** Related to it, practically everyone got into [[Platform Game]]s due to ''Mario'' and ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]''.
Line 252 ⟶ 247:
** Tetris for older tropers.
* Many gamers' first [[Real Time Strategy]] game was ''[[Warcraft]] II'', and for good reason, too. The graphics are nice to look at, the mechanics are fairly simple compared to other RTS games, and most importantly, it's a lot of fun (including against your friends, even if they do kick your butt in 95% of the games you play with them).
** If your first RTS wasn't ''Warcraft II'', then it was probably ''[[
*** Or you may predate Warcraft II and have actually played Warcraft: Orcs & Humans for your first RTS.
**** Someone forgot ''Command & Conquer -- Tiberian Dawn'' and ''Red Alert''
Line 268 ⟶ 263:
* Although two games predate it (in America, at least), ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' was the Gateway Series to ''[[Tales (series)]]'' for a lot of Western fans. It being one of the better RPGs on the GameCube meant that it drew a lot of attention from people who had previously dismissed the previous games in the series. Also, ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'' to an extent, purely because it was for the PS2.
* Quite a few people have been introduced to either the First-Person Shooter genre, PC gaming, or both by way of ''[[Team Fortress 2]]''.
* Sakevisual, the artist of ''[[RE: Alistair]]'', wants her game [http://sakevisual.blogspot.com/2010/06/eight-reasons-why-you-should-plug-re.html to become a gateway series] for fans who don't yet know about [[Romance Game|otome games]].
* [[Interactive Fiction]] started the [[Adventure Game]] genre, but many felt it to be too inaccessible. The move to graphic adventures was fairly rapid, but despite some awesome games like ''[[King's Quest]]'' and ''[[Maniac Mansion]]'' they remained a niche genre for several years. Then [[
* ''[[Persona 3]]'' and ''[[Persona 4]]'' are good start for those interested in the [[Shin Megami Tensei]] series, seeing how they're generally considered the most accessible of SMT games. In fact, the original ''[[Persona (video game)|Persona]]'' was designed to be a more easier SMT.
* [[The Sims]], with its broad market appeal, was many people's gateway to videogaming in general.
* ''[[Poker Night At the Inventory]]'' got a lot of ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' fans into ''[[The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police|Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'' and ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]''.
* The guest fighters of ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' have introduced ''MK'' players to their original franchises and vice versa.
=== Visual Novels ===▼
▲== Visual Novels ==
* A main gateway series to [[Visual Novel]]s is arguably ''[[Tsukihime]]'', and in a broader sense, the ''[[Melty Blood]]'' fighting game series. While some eroge can surely bring with them a great story and be classified as [[Porn with Plot]], it usually isn't [[Fetish Fuel|marketed]] or [[Porn Without Plot|seen that way]] in the West. Many a Visual Novel has been consumed since then, and since something as broad as Visual Novels is rather variated, rather guiding newcomers to ''[[Planetarian]]'', and from there:
* Those that may be averse to 18+ material to ''[[Ever 17]]'' or ''[[Kirakira|Kira Kira]]'' (the all ages version)
* Those with a unique taste to [[G Senjou no Maou|anything by]] [[Sharin no Kuni|Looseboy]], [[Saya no Uta|Urobuchi Gen]], [[Tsukihime|Kinoko]] [[Fate/stay night|Nasu]], or [[Kana: Little Sister|Ro]][[Family Project|meo]] [[Yume Miru Kusuri|Tan]][[CROSS†CHANNEL|aka]]
* And those looking for gameplay or humor (or both) to ''[[Galaxy Angel (video game)|Galaxy Angel]]'', the ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' series or ''[[Sengoku Rance]]''.
** ''
* ''[[Katawa Shoujo]]'' is one partly because it is English Language [[Freeware]], partly because its relation to [[
**
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In 2000, ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' linked a new
▲* In 2000, ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' linked a new webcomic they found, which caused ''[[Megatokyo]]'' to have an almost instant fanbase.
** ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' in general is a Gateway Drug, since [[Colbert Bump|many of the things that Tycho links to in his blog end up getting hit by a surge of readers/viewers]]. This happened with both ''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog|Doctor Horrible]]'' and ''[[Minecraft]]''.
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* Disney Animation, and perhaps [[Looney Tunes]] serve as a gateway into the widely varied world of animation.
* ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'' serves as an introduction into the DCAU, and to the overall Batman mythos.
* As with the film adaptations, animated TV adaptations of comic books often introduce many people to the characters and the setting.
Line 298 ⟶ 291:
[[Category:Audience Reactions]]
[[Category:Meta Concepts]]
[[Category:
| |||