It's a Wonderful Plot: Difference between revisions

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== [[Film]] ==

* ''[[Richie Rich (film)|Richie Rich's Christmas Wish]]'' has the entire plot of the film based on this, as Richie wishes (with a [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|wishing machine]]) that he never existed.

* ''[[Bedazzled]]'' is maybe an unconscious parody - a poor shlub is tired of his nowhere life, tries to end it all, the Devil (an angel of sorts) intervenes and offers the chance to wish up an alternate existence (not once, but seven times) which gets him to see his old life is better than the alternative. The Devil was a [[Jackass Genie]], that's why the alternatives were so bad.

* ''[[Bedazzled (1967 film)|Bedazzled]]'' is maybe an unconscious parody - a poor shlub is tired of his nowhere life, tries to end it all, the Devil (an angel of sorts) intervenes and offers the chance to wish up an alternate existence (not once, but seven times) which gets him to see his old life is better than the alternative. The Devil was a [[Jackass Genie]], that's why the alternatives were so bad.

* ''[[Mr. Destiny]]'', an '80s comedy starring Jim Belushi, Linda Hamilton and Michael Caine in the Clarence role, subverted this trope a little; Jim Belushi's character always bemoaned the fact that he blew a game-saving play in high-school baseball, and Caine changed history so that he made the game-saver instead. Belushi then sees his life changing; he's now the Vice-President of the sporting goods company he's working for, and married to the boss's daughter, but it turns out he's having an affair with a psychotic temptress, and his real wife from his old life (Hamilton), the one woman he truly loved, is married to someone else.

* This is the plot of the fourth ''[[Shrek]]'' movie, ''Shrek Forever After''. Shrek is tricked by Rumplestilskin into signing a contract that gives him a day as a real ogre in exchange for a day from his past. Unfortunately, the day taken away is the day he was ''born''.

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** Something of a [[Chekhov's Gun]] to boot, since a later episode has Lex contact his mother via new age means, and she's angry that he ignored her [[Wonderful Life]] warning.

* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Turn Left" did this, with an alternate history where {{spoiler|Donna never met the Doctor, so he was killed beyond regeneration by the flooding of the Racnoss tunnels when the Thames broke through. In the following couple of years, every single alien menace that the Doctor had thwarted hit home with full force, reducing the Earth to a [[Crapsack World]].}} Things got downright awful. It's also (in part) set over ''two'' Christmases.

* If you take this theory of ''[[Supernatural]]'''s "What Is And What Should Never Be" episode, then things tend to get a bit vicious. [[It Makes Sense in Context]] but the message to Dean is basically "Be thankful for all your abuse and parentification because without it, you would be worthless with no good qualities." Ouch. And also subverted in the fact that it's pretty clear at the end of the episode that Dean would have rather stayed and, in the next episode, things go even more to hell and his mental state gets worse.

* If you take this theory of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'''s "What Is And What Should Never Be" episode, then things tend to get a bit vicious. [[It Makes Sense in Context]] but the message to Dean is basically "Be thankful for all your abuse and parentification because without it, you would be worthless with no good qualities." Ouch. And also subverted in the fact that it's pretty clear at the end of the episode that Dean would have rather stayed and, in the next episode, things go even more to hell and his mental state gets worse.

** Season 4's "It's a Terrible Life" showed that even if the boys weren't Winchesters, they'd still end up as hunters somehow, which is pretty awful when you think about it. {{spoiler|Zachariah}} serves as their Clarence-figure, {{spoiler|disguised as Dean's boss}}.

* ''[[The Facts of Life]]'' had an episode in which Beverly Ann wished that she had never come to town to become the girls' house mother. In a dream, Santa appeared to show her what would have happened without her. Jo was killed in some kind of accident, and bad things happened to all the other girls as well.

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* An episode of 80s [[Britcom]] ''[[Sorry]]!'' had this plot. Notably, the library was a less welcoming place without Timothy's influence, and his mother was a lonely old woman who kept talking to her lapdog, Timothy.

* Lampshaded in the series finale of ''[[Quantum Leap]]''. When Sam expresses a desire to stop leaping to the Bartender (a character who is strongly implied to be [[God]]), explaining that he did not intend to make the world a better place by improving only one life at a time, the Bartender replies that the lives Sam has touched in his journey have [[One Degree of Separation|touched others]], and those lives in turn have touched others; by traveling through time, Sam has done a large amount of good simply by helping individuals in need.

* The ''[[ALF]]'' episode "Stairway to Heaven" had this plot device. At one point he wishes that he never crashed into the Tanner's garage, then is knocked unconscious. Then ALF enters a world where the Tanners never met ALF and ALF never met them. The Tanners are rich, snobby people who own the entire neighborhood and have the Ockmoneks be their servants, but are also bored out of their minds and dull. ALF landed in a cosmetic factory where some blue fluid from his spaceship turned out to be great perfume and he became a very rich CEO and has no fear of the Alien Task Force. ALF decides he likes his new life, until the Angel tells ALF in order for him to go through with it, he will have to forget all about his previous life. ALF doesn't want to forget about the Tanners and decides it's not worth it. But then he wakes up. It is never stated whether the whole thing was a dream or a vision, but as Alf and Kate learned the hard way, the blue stuff in his spaceship DIDN'T make great perfume.

* The ''[[ALF (TV series)|ALF]]'' episode "Stairway to Heaven" had this plot device. At one point he wishes that he never crashed into the Tanner's garage, then is knocked unconscious. Then ALF enters a world where the Tanners never met ALF and ALF never met them. The Tanners are rich, snobby people who own the entire neighborhood and have the Ockmoneks be their servants, but are also bored out of their minds and dull. ALF landed in a cosmetic factory where some blue fluid from his spaceship turned out to be great perfume and he became a very rich CEO and has no fear of the Alien Task Force. ALF decides he likes his new life, until the Angel tells ALF in order for him to go through with it, he will have to forget all about his previous life. ALF doesn't want to forget about the Tanners and decides it's not worth it. But then he wakes up. It is never stated whether the whole thing was a dream or a vision, but as Alf and Kate learned the hard way, the blue stuff in his spaceship DIDN'T make great perfume.

** ALF's guardian angel tells him, "Anyone who wants a new life gets one. It's the Capra Amendment," a refernce to the Trope Namer.

* A famous episode of Australian soap ''[[Home and Away]]'' featured long-standing character Alf Fisher having a near-death experience whilst on the operating table. He met up with his dead wife who took him on a tour to show him what their town [[Crapsack World|would become]] if he gave up and died now.

** Repeated later with Sally and the ghost of Tom, her foster-father.

* The final episode of ''[[Dallas]]'' showed what the world was like without J.R. Ewing. It had a twist ending:

* The final episode of ''[[Dallas (1978 TV series)|Dallas]]'' showed what the world was like without J.R. Ewing. It had a twist ending:

{{quote|'''Adam''' (the guardian angel): {{spoiler|Angel? Who said I was from Heaven?}}}}

** {{spoiler|We were left with the impression that J.R. shot himself in the end.}}

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== [[Web Original]] ==

* The short video [http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/184/its_a_wonderful_game It's a Wonderful Game] by [[Loading Ready Run]] is a silly take on this trope. The protagonist, in a rage about not being able to defeat the original [[Super Mario Bros.]]. for NES once he ran out of new games to play, wishes that Mario had never been made. The result? "Bring him back! Bring Mario back!"

* The short video [http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/184/its_a_wonderful_game It's a Wonderful Game] by [[Loading Ready Run]] is a silly take on this trope. The protagonist, in a rage about not being able to defeat the original [[Super Mario Bros. (video game)|Super Mario Bros.]]. for NES once he ran out of new games to play, wishes that Mario had never been made. The result? "Bring him back! Bring Mario back!"

* [http://www.viruscomix.com/estar.html ''Captain Estar Goes to Heaven'']—A young woman who leads a hellish life finds a world that may actually be Heaven. She is offered a "Wonderful Life" that she never had ... can she deal with it?

* The 2010 [[The Nostalgia Critic|Nostalgia Critic]] [[Christmas Episode]] ''You're A Rotten Dirty Bastard'' parodies this plot. The Critic quits his job due to being angry about there being nothing to review for Christmas. Roger, his guardian angel, comes in to show how other people on the [[That Guy With The Glasses]] Team live without his existence, only for everyone to be much better off without him. [[The Cinema Snob]] is a giant porn star, [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara]] owns both Marvel and DC Comics, [[The Nostalgia Chick]] is married and is a major director of films such as ''[[Take That|Twilight: The Good Version]]'', [[The Angry Joe Show|Angry Joe]] is the president of the United States, blows up the evil Canada ([[Running Gag|naturally]], killing [[Phelous]]) {{spoiler|and publicly executed Tom Green}}, and [[The Spoony Experiment|Spoony]] has taken the Critic's job, gives positive reviews to ''[[Last Action Hero]]'' and ''[[Junior]]'', and is loved even by the trolls. When Roger discovers {{spoiler|he could have been God's greatest angel and successor without the Critic, he tries to kill him, only to learn that God lied about angels being [[Immune to Bullets]]}}. The Critic realizes [[Jerkass|he improved his own life]] and goes back to his old self. All narrated by Santa Christ.

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== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''My Friend Martin''. It featured a group of kids who want to prevent Martin Luther King's assassination. So they go back in time, kidnap him as a child, and bring him back to the present day... only to find segregation and racism still in full force, and many of the main character's best friends are affected. Young Martin, who guesses that the changes the others observe are [[For Want of a Nail]], bravely decides to return to his own time. The end of the show featured the animated King time-lapse aging as he walks through the portal, while in the background a montage of his achievements plays.

* A subversion of the trope can be found in an episode of the cartoon ''[[Little Shop]]'' (an [[Animated Adaptation]] of ''[[Little Shop of Horrors]]'' from 1991); capping it off is the following exchange of dialogue:

* A subversion of the trope can be found in an episode of the cartoon ''[[Little Shop]]'' (an [[Animated Adaptation]] of ''[[Little Shop of Horrors (film)|Little Shop of Horrors]]'' from 1991); capping it off is the following exchange of dialogue:

{{quote|'''Seymour:''' Hey, this isn't right! You're supposed to show me how miserable everybody is without me!

'''Junior:''' Hey, if ''everyone'' made the world a better place, it'd be perfect! }}

* ''[[Rugrats]]'' did this for Chuckie, where Angelica took over the town.

** This was actually a surprisingly dark, almost disturbing episode (yes, of a show involving talking babies). Even if you just included what happened to Chuckie's father, it's rather bleak. He ends up unemployed, sitting alone in his house, surrounded by ''tons'' of empty pizza boxes he's been hoarding, a sock-puppet his only friend.

* ''[[Scooby-Doo]]'' did this in the "Thirteen Ghosts" series. The impact of Scooby's refusal to answer the [[Call to Adventure]] was shown to him by Vincent Van Ghoul.

* ''[[Scooby-Doo (animation)|Scooby-Doo]]'' did this in the "Thirteen Ghosts" series. The impact of Scooby's refusal to answer the [[Call to Adventure]] was shown to him by Vincent Van Ghoul.

* A rather subversive treatment of this story was ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'' episode "It's A Wishful Life", where everyone's shown as being better off without Timmy Turner, even though he's a decent kid (and this drew flak from many viewers).

** It should be pointed out that the whole thing turned out to be a test being given to Timmy by Von Strangle, even if he was pretty sadistic about it.

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'''Jimmy:''' Come back, zinc! COME BAAAACK! }}

** Also, in "Grift of the Magi," Moe sees what the world would have been like had he never been born ([[Hero of Another Story|offscreen]]) and stops his suicide attempt.

* Parodied on ''[[Robot Chicken]]'', where Wimpy (from ''[[Popeye]]'') is shown how much better the world is without his existence. Incidentally, hamburgers are free in that world. {{spoiler|Seeing this, his guardian angel then kicks him off the bridge himself.}}

* Parodied on ''[[Robot Chicken]]'', where Wimpy (from ''[[Popeye (cartoon)|Popeye]]'') is shown how much better the world is without his existence. Incidentally, hamburgers are free in that world. {{spoiler|Seeing this, his guardian angel then kicks him off the bridge himself.}}

* The ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' episode "Phineas And Ferb's Quantum Boogaloo" involves the boys traveling through time 20 years to the future, and {{spoiler|running into future Candace, who, after some crazy antics, goes back to the ''events of the very first episode of the series''. The roller coaster is terminated, and the boys get busted. Future Candace returns to the future, only to find everything [[Bad Future|industrial and bleak.]] In this world, everyone is named "Joe", and Doofenshmirtz is the ruler.}}

** What Candace didn't learn was that, because of her interference, it was Perry, not Doof, who got harmed by the huge ball; and that Doofenshmirtz became the ruler because Perry didn't recover on time to stop him.

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*** That's those wacky Planeteer villains and their [[Anvilicious|utter obsession with the evil that is polluting for you]].

* At first, Wade Duck's take on this plot in a ''U.S. Acres'' episode of ''[[Garfield and Friends]]'' looks like a standard parody, as he learns that if he hadn't existed, everyone else's life would be ''exactly'' the same. But in the end, this becomes even more subverted: he comes back in time to prevent a robbery, using knowledge that he only gained ''because'' he had been a bodiless observer at the time!

* The ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' cartoon had an episode with the same name in which DK gets everybody upset with him and decides to run away, but falls unconscious during his trek. He has a dream where Eddie the Yeti, as his guardian angel, shows him a Kongo Bongo Island where he doesn't exist, in which Diddy is an evil dictator, Candy's married to Bluster, and K. Rool is protecting a papier-mache lilypad.

* The ''[[Donkey Kong Country (animation)|Donkey Kong Country]]'' cartoon had an episode with the same name in which DK gets everybody upset with him and decides to run away, but falls unconscious during his trek. He has a dream where Eddie the Yeti, as his guardian angel, shows him a Kongo Bongo Island where he doesn't exist, in which Diddy is an evil dictator, Candy's married to Bluster, and K. Rool is protecting a papier-mache lilypad.

* Played straight with the Christmas special of ''[[Kappa Mikey]]'', where Mikey never visited Japan and everyone's life is worse. This coincides with a [[Yet Another Christmas Carol]] subplot. To elaborate, because Mikey never won the contest, someone else became the new star of ''Lilymu!'', the overweight and past his prime [[Speed Racer]]. The ratings tanked and the show was cancelled. Guano became a chimney sweep with a stupid accent, Lily married Yoshi the cameraman and adopted several kids (Becoming very cranky and ugly), Gonard, because the show was cancelled during a take and no one yelled "Cut", terrorizes the city as his ''Lilymu!'' role, and Mitsuki tried to be a serious actor, but quickly became a [[White Dwarf Starlet]].

* Parodied in an episode of ''[[Space Ghost Coast to Coast]]'', where after a tribute episode to Zorak gone horribly wrong, Zorak wishes he was never born, prompting his nephew Raymond from the episode "Hungry" to appear as a wingless angel to show what life would be like without Zorak: ''[[Diff'rent Strokes]]'' would still be on the air, Lokar would be the bandleader of ''[[SGC 2 C]]'', and Space Ghost himself would find huge success on his show, going on to become governor of California, then president of the universe. Upon this revelation, Zorak wants to live to make Space Ghost miserable, and Raymond gets his wings.

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* A particularly awesome example in the ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'' episode "Over The Edge": {{spoiler|because of a Scarecrow-induced nightmare, Batgirl actually dreams she gets killed during costumed adventuring. Commissioner Gordon discovers then that Batgirl was his daughter Barbara, and actually orders a manhunt on Batman. [[It Got Worse|Things go downhill from there]]. Gordon goes so far as to enlist BANE to help him hunt Batman.}} A surprisingly dark episode, and probably one of the best of an already excellent series.

** Another is "Perchance to Dream", in which Bruce wakes up to discover his parents are alive, he's [[Dating Catwoman|engaged to Selina Kyle]], and there's even a Batman to fight crime. Sounds like a perfect life, huh? {{spoiler|Of course, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|like it says in the title]], it's [[All Just a Dream]] and he's been put in a [[Lotus Eater Machine]] by the Mad Hatter.}}

** And then there's ''[[Justice League]]''{{'}}s "For the Man Who Has Everything".

** And then there's ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]''{{'}}s "For the Man Who Has Everything".

* There was a pretty good episode of ''[[Superfriends]]'' called "The Krypton Syndrome" where Superman falls through a portal, winds up on Krypton, and manages to save it. He returns to the present, but finds Earth a burning ruin, with Robin one of the only survivors. After realizing what happened, he [[Tear Jerker|goes back and ensures Krypton's destruction]].

{{quote|'''Superman''': When Krypton was saved, my father never sent me to Earth. So, to this world, there never ''was'' a Superman.}}