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Line 1: {{trope}} [[File:Afbeeldingen.jpg\|~~frame~~thumb\|350px\|[[Visual Pun\|Long Bus]] [[Memetic Mutation\|is Loooooong!]]]] A [['''Long Bus Trip]]''' is when a character is [[Put on a Bus]] in such a way that arranging a return would be simple, but then the character never actually comes back. This is most striking when the audience only learns of it retroactively, especially when the character was intended or hinted to be returning. It may also occur as the result of a series being [[Left Hanging]]. [[Character Outlives Actor]] is a form of this enforced by [[Real Life]]. When it's the result of [[Author Existence Failure]], that's [[The Character Died with Him]]. Line 7: When this is done to a character in-story as a coverup for execution, it's [[Released to Elsewhere]]. Compare [[~~Brother~~ Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]] and [[Put on a Bus to Hell]]. Contrast [[Bus Crash]] (which kills the character outright) and [[Back for the Dead]] (when the character returns briefly, only to be killed off), and [[The Bus Came Back]] for that one single return. {{examples\|Examples: }}▼ ▲{{examples~~\|Examples:~~ }} == [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] == * In ''[[Pokémon (anime)\|Pokémon]]'', Ash promised that he'd come back for Pidgeot when he returned. Twelve seasons later (including 4 returns to Kanto), he still hasn't come back for it. Line 23: == [[~~Comics~~Comic Books]] == * Two sets of ''[[X-Men]]'' dove into what was essentially Hell to rescue their version of seven year old Illyana Rasputin from a demonic wizard named Belasco. One set got her out safely but were trapped themselves (the lucky ones died), the other set escaped but their Illyana spent seven years stuck there as Belasco's student while getting her soul sacrificed piece by piece before she overthrew him and returned to earth a heartbeat after Kitty lost her grip. A few years later, after Illyana's apparent [[Heroic Sacrifice]], her eldritch armor was torn open to find a seven year old and wholly uncorrupted version of her. It was over twenty years before the X-writers were permitted to account for what was obvious to most readers at the time... it could ''easily'' have been the other Illyana. ** Let's face it: for the X-Men, death is essentially being [[Put Onon ~~the~~a Bus]]. * The title character of the newspaper comic ''[[Robotman and Monty]]'' was written out of the strip, at the request of the comic's syndicate (tired of fielding complaints from readers confusing the absurdist humor strip with the [[Tastes Like Diabetes\|much more kid-friendly "Robotman & Friends"]] toys and books). It would be easy to bring Robotman back (he's alive and well in space), but that's unlikely. * Elscol, a guerrilla leader who joined [[X Wing Series\|Rogue Squadron]] in the first arc of the comics, quit at the end of the arc following that. She knew that what she was doing was making a difference, but she knew any other good pilot could do as well, and she chafed under orders. She left without malice towards the squadron, hinting that she would try and talk Sixtus Quinn into joining the Rebel Alliance. But although plenty of other allies showed up again during the series, including a commando leader from that same issue, Elscol and Sixtus didn't. Not until the novels, anyway. == [[~~Fanfic~~Fan Works]] ==▼ ▲== [[Fanfic]] == * A pretty common way for the unwanted part of a [[Love Triangle]] to be removed from the competition without going straight to [[Die for Our Ship]]. Line 40 ⟶ 39: == [[Live -Action TV]] == * On the series ''Becker,'' the character "Reggie" (Terry Farrell) was put on a [[Long Bus Trip]] when Farrell was booted from the series under suspicious circumstances (she has told interviewers that it came as a complete shock to her and that she is unsure of exactly why it happened, although she reportedly led a strike among the show's cast). Farrell was even fired before the episode was filmed, and thus never even ''appeared'' on the episode where she was placed on the long bus trip, but was dismissed in a rather unflattering way where Farrell herself herself vanished but Reggie's continued presence was inferred (i.e. it was simply ''related'' that she slept with Becker, and it made her realize that she needed a change ''immediately''). This was all done in a ''very'' implausibly slipshod way, obviously trumped up at the last minute: i.e. it was inferred that Reggie was popping in and out without Farrel ever being on-camera during the entire epsisode, and finally Reggie said good-bye to the cast in a phone-call that was ''dictated'' to them all by a complete stranger (don't ~~ask-- I~~ask—I ''said'' it was implausibly slipshod). * ''[[Power Rangers]]:'' What became of Trini and Zack after that trip to Switzerland is unknown, and is especially mysterious since Jason came back for ''Zeo'' and two guest appearances after. A better example would be Rocky: he didn't even leave Angel Grove, he just stopped hanging with the Rangers. * Per [[Word of God]], they tried to get Steve Cardenas to come back for "[[Milestone Celebration\|Forever RED (film)]]", but he didn't respond in ~~time -- and~~time—and even if he had, Rocky would have just been Tommy's butler, rather than being given the unused-in-America ''[[Gosei Sentai Dairanger]]'' costume as fans believed. ** And though bringing them all back would naturally be problematic production-wise, there are many past Rangers whose powers still exist, so you'd think they'd drop by for certain global catastrophies. In particular, Countdown to Destruction could've benefitted from a few "stock footage shoots at other stock footage" type scenes from the Zeo Rangers and the (never stated to be in continuity, but why not?) [[Big Bad Beetleborgs\|other]] [[Masked Rider\|Saban]] [[VR Troopers\|shows]]. * The departure of David Caruso from ''[[NYPD Blue]]'' was an example of this trope. Detective John Kelly doesn't even resign from the force. He simply moves to another precinct, leaving the option open for potential guest appearances in the future. There were even some hints later in the same season of his character coming back to be the best man at Detective Sipowicz's wedding, but a handwave was used to explain why it doesn't actually happen (in real life the actor simply would not have agreed to return, even as a one-shot guest appearance). Line 54 ⟶ 53: * ''[[Shining Time Station]]'' wrote out Ringo Starr's Mr. Conductor by having him accompany Santa Claus to the North Pole. A relative, also called Mr. Conductor (and bearing a resemblance to [[George Carlin]]) took his place, and the original Mr. Conductor was never seen or heard from again afterward. * In episode one of the final season of ''[[The Basil Brush Show]]'', Molly tells Basil that she is going to get the milk and that she will be a long time. She shows up again in the [[Christmas Episode]], with the milk, leaving Dave to comment that she took a long time getting it. * When ''~[[Mama's Family~]]'' transitioned from NBC to CBS, and the actors for the two characters were no longer available, Buzz and Sonja were said to have gone off to college...and were never heard from again. Not even at Christmas. * On ''[[The West Wing]]'', Sam Seaborn left the White House in order to run for Congress, which would have made him an excellent candidate for future cameos in the series. Although {{spoiler\|it is finally revealed at the end of the series that he lost the race}} there seems to be little good in-universe reason for why he completely vanished. ** Especially since they decided in the episode "Inauguration" to promote him to Senior Counselor to the President if he lost. This was just another subplot that was dropped entirely when [[Aaron Sorkin]] left. * On ''[[Dallas]]'', Barbara Bel Geddes (who played the matriarch of the Ewing family, Mrs. Ellie) left the series in 1990 because she was quitting acting. The official reason in-show was that she was leaving to go on a tour of the Orient, and (off-screen) deeded the Southfork ranch to her son, Bobby. Despite her appearances in several of the Dallas reunion specials, she never appeared in either of the two television movies (''J.R. Returns'' and ''War of the Ewings'') made in the 90's. * Alex (who literally gets on a bus), Darcy, Mia, Ashley, and many other characters on ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'' end their runs on the show this way. It's actually pretty funny that Peter's last two girlfriends, Mia and Darcy, both took long bus trips straight to The CW to star in other teen dramas. The Execs are not unaware of this bit of humor, and commented when ~~18ToLife~~''[[18 to Life]]'' got an airtime on The CW, it was the first time a ''Degrassi'' ~~Alum~~alum got a CW series without dating Peter. Then talked about doing a ''Degrassi'' Mini where [[Retcon\|Peter and Ellie date]]. * Dr Goodman from ''[[Bones]]'' went on a "six month sabbatical" on the second season opener and that is literally the last time we've ever heard of him. He didn't appear, or even get ''mentioned'', on the show's 100th episode which was specifically a "before the pilot" flashback. * Alice from ''[[Soap]]''. {{spoiler\|She moves out of Jodie's apartment when Carol's mother said she isn't happy with her granddaughter (Jodie's child) growing up with a lesbian - the show was made in the 70s. She chose to move out so Jodie didn't have to make that choice but she never turns up even as a friend again}}. * "[[Doctor Who/Recap/20th AS the Five Doctors\|The Five Doctors]]" notwithstanding, Sarah Jane from ''[[Doctor Who]]'' was left on Earth for 30([[wikipedia:UNIT dating controversy\|ish]]) years before [[Doctor Who/Recap/~~NS/S2~~S28/E03 School Reunion\|resurfacing in 2006]] and getting her own [[The Sarah Jane Adventures\|spinoff show]]. The reason that it was a bus trip rather than simply been written out was that [[Doctor Who/Recap/S14/E02 The Hand of Fear\|Sarah Jane was forced to leave]] because [[Doctor Who/Recap/S14/E03 The Deadly Assassin\|the Doctor was summoned to Gallifrey]]. ** Jenny, [[Doctor Who/Recap/~~NS/S4~~S30/E06 The Doctor's Daughter\|the Doctor's daughter]], was shown to have revived and left the planet she was on to follow in her father's footsteps. [[Georgia Moffett]] has expressed interest in reprising the role, as well, but it seems doubtful now that anything will come of it. * ''[[The A-Team]]'': Col. Lynch (Bill Lucking) is put on a long bus trip, after appearing in the first season. He's replaced by Col. Decker (Lance ~~[[Le Gault]]~~LeGault), who in turn was [[Put on a Bus]] and replaced by General "Bull" Fullbright (Jack Ging). Decker returned for the A-Team's court martial in Season 5. * This was done to Brooke Smith's character Erica Hahn on ''[[Grey's Anatomy]]'' for no apparent reason whatsoever: they spent several episodes building up her relationship with Callie, including an excellent scene where she tearfully declares that Callie "[[Coming Out Story\|is glasses]]," only to randomly fire her because the writers stopped liking their own story. Erica and Callie get in a fight about the Izzie LVAD-cutting debacle and about how Callie "[[No Bisexuals\|can't be]] ''~~[[No Bisexuals\|~~kind of]]'' ~~[[No Bisexuals\|~~a lesbian]]," and she walked off into the parking lot...''forever.'' She was then more or less replaced with perky [[Lipstick Lesbian]] Arizona Robbins. Further proof of Shonda Rhimes' ridiculous and fickle casting habits. * [[Neighbours]]' Marlene Kratz went on a three month cruise in 1997. She's due back any day now. ** Also Connor, who was either killed by Paul Robinson's [[Evil Twin\|crazy son]] or went on a [[Long Bus Trip]] overseas. * ''[[Spin City]]'' ~~has~~had a knack for dumping characters without acknowledging this. So when, towards the end of season three, Mike gets a temp secretary assisted to him because Stacy Paterno was sick, you'd expect the character to return. ~~Que~~Cue episode two of season four, in which James becomes Mike's new assistant because he still hadn't got a new one and James would be out of a job otherwise. In between, no statement whatsoever is made about Stacey. * Sergeant Scott of ''[[Midsomer Murders]]'' was mentioned as having called in sick in one episode. That was the last mention of him. == [[Web Original]] == * Tariq Bhartti of ''[[Kate Modern]]'' left abruptly for India and never returned. * In ''[[Cracked.com]]'''s "[http://www.cracked.com/article_23654_6-hidden-reasons-why-every-website-eventually-sucks.html 6 WTF Reasons Websites Go From Being Awesome To Terrible]", we learn that the [[Cracked\|predecessor magazine's]] janitor mascot had been fired some time before March 2016. == [[Western Animation]] == Line 106 ⟶ 104: {{spoiler\|Likewise, Valve is directly invoking this trope for [[Portal (series)\|Chell]], so as to stick to their desired plan of using a different protagonist in future games. Chell was only brought back for [[Portal 2]] by playtester demand.}} {{spoiler\|However, [[Word of God\|Gabe Newell]] has said that Chell will have some importance in the Half-Life universe, so who knows?}} * [[One-Scene Wonder\|Marine the Raccoon]] from [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] is one of the few characters that's most likely to come back. Yet as of 2011, we haven't heard from her since her [[Sonic Rush Series\|first game appearance]]. However, she was briefly mentioned in the DS version of [[Sonic Colors]] as well as a costume in [[Mario ~~and~~& Sonic Atat ~~The~~the Olympic Games\|Mario & Sonic at The London 2012 Olympic Games]]. ** Also on the Sonic bus: [[Sega Sonic the Hedgehog\|Ray the Flying Squirrel]], [[Knuckles Chaotix\|Mighty the Armadillo]], [[Sonic Triple Trouble\|Fang the Sniper/Nack the Weasle]], [[Sonic Championship\|Bean the Bomber, and Bark the Polarbear]]. At least they got cameos on [[Lampshade Hanging\|wanted and missing posters]] in [[Sonic Generations]]. * The elemental mask, Zem, Zam, Rusty Walrus, Pasadena Possum and Von Clutch from the [[Crash Bandicoot]] series. Line 114 ⟶ 112: [[Category:Characterization Tropes]] [[Category:Characters and Casting]] [[Category:Long Bus Trip]]▼ [[Category:Tropes on a Bus]] ▲[[Category:~~Long Bus Trip~~{{PAGENAME}}]]