Make a Wish: Difference between revisions

Wishing has power in fiction; it's one of the main sources of [[Applied Phlebotinum]]. No matter what you want, from a new car to [[Overnight Age -Up|a sudden age-up]], you can get it by wishing. Of course, you have to [[Be Careful What You Wish For]] and make sure that if you want to be [[I Just Want to Be Special|special]], [[I Just Want to Be Normal|normal]], or [[I Wished You Were Dead|want someone out of your life]], that you actually mean [[Be Careful What You Say|exactly what you say]]. Good or evil, the wish-granter is almost always a [[Literal Genie]] who will gladly [[Reality Warp|warp reality]] for the heck of it.

The best known wish-granter is probably the [[Genie in Aa Bottle]] (or other similar [[The Fair Folk|magical creatures]]) who generally grants [[Three Wishes]]. If he's lucky, the hero will get a [[Benevolent Genie]]; unlucky ones will have a [[Jackass Genie]].

After the wish has been granted, the wisher may discover they don't like the way things are going and will use another wish to hit a [[Reset Button]]. Big wishes may end in a [[Wishplosion]]. The final shot may reveal that the wish story was [[All Just a Dream]] ([[Or Was It a Dream?]]), but some stories are much more subtle and leave it up to the audience whether the "wishes" [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane|really came true or were just a string of marvelous coincidences]].

Subtropes include [[Wonderful Life]], [[I Wish It WereWas Real]]. Also see [[Mundane Wish]] for the comic version. Often involves a [[Reality Warp]].

* Any story that features a genie (''[[Aladdin (Literaturenovel)|Aladdin]]'', many tales in the ''[[Arabian Nights (Literature)|Arabian Nights]]'')

* In "[[The MonkeysMonkey's Paw]]", the wishes made by the poor couple [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane|may or may not]] have been granted other than the first one which definitely was ...but not as they hoped.

* This is the whole point of ''[[DragonballDragon Ball]]'': Goku (and everyone else in the series) is looking for seven dragon balls, so they can make a wish.

* ''[[The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer]]'' has its [[Mentor Mascot|Mentor Mascots]]s offering a wish in exchange for service in becoming Knights to battle an being that wants to destroy the world. The wish itself is granted in good faith, but it is possible to squander it.

* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' has [[Weasel Mascot]] Kyubey also offering a wish to turn girls into [[Magical Girl|Magical Girls]]s to fight Witches. While he's not technically a [[Jackass Genie]]; he has shades of [[Literal Genie]] (but he won't go out of his way to misinterpret) and the wishes have a [[Deal Withwith the Devil|price]] that he [[You Didn't Ask|doesn't elaborate on.]]

* The Jewel Seeds in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (Animeanime)|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' were able to grant the wishes of the [[Muggle|Muggles]]s who gets a hold of them. Of course, they [[Jackas Genie|tend to grant these wishes by way of a new]] [[Monster of the Week]].

** ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White]]'', in a wishing well

** ''[[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Pinocchio]],'' on a star

** ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', with a genie in a lamp

** In ''[[Enchanted]]'', the villainess lures Giselle to the portal between her world and ours by saying it's a wishing well. (A [[Shout -Out]] to ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White]]'', where the Witch tricks Snow White into eating the poisoned apple by telling her it's a wishing apple.)

** ''[[The Princess and Thethe Frog]]'', both the heroine and her best friend make wishes on the evening star, although it's left ambiguous whether it's really the power of the star granting the wish or not. Also, one of the movie's messages is it's not just wishing, but hard work, that makes your dreams come true.

* In ''[[James and Thethe Giant Peach]]'' (the movie, can't recall the book), James sends out a balloon wishing for help to take him to New York. Help appears in the form of a strange man with a bag full of magic glowing alligator tongues.

* The film ''[[Thirteen Going On Thirty (Film)|13 Going Onon 30]]'': Wishing powder transports the protagonist into the future

* Towards the end of ''[[The Magicians]]'' the protagonist captures a [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Questing_Beast:Questing Beast|Questing Beast]] which then grants him three wishes. His first wish is impossible, as is the next one and the one after that. The Beast still counts them as his first wish.

* In one of the dialogues in Douglas Hofstadter's ''Gödel, Escher, Bach — an Eternal Golden Braid'', the main protagonist Achilles finds<ref> technically, this only happens within ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]) an Escher etching inside a dialogue within the dialogue</ref> a magical lamp whose [[Benevolent Genie]] grants him three wishes. Achilles tries to wish for more wishes, only to find out the genie can't do that for him; a wish about wishes is technically classified as a metawish, and in order to grant such wishes one would need a metagenie in a metalamp, whereas Achilles's genie merely is of the base variety… {{spoiler|Luckily the genie happens to have a metalamp with a metagenie in, and even petitions GOD to grant Achilles a typeless wish (that could be about wishes, or metawishes, or metametawishes…), but Achilles still manages to mess it up.}}

** [https://web.archive.org/web/20101222020403/http://www.luvthat.com/entertainment/funny-entertainment/what-would-your-first-wish-be/ More genies!]

* The premise of ''[[I DreamofDream of Jeannie]]''.

* Disney had a three-part crossover event called--guesscalled—guess--"Make a Wish Weekend," which had the stars of three shows wish on a shooting star and get their wish to come true. It backfired horribly, of course, and everyone [[Reset Button|rewound]] by the end of their episode.

* In [[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]], Jiminy tries everything he can think of, including [[Deal Withwith the Devil|dealing with]] [[Dragon -in -Chief|Rumplestiltskin]] in order to escape his family's thieving ways, {{spoiler|and accidentally kills Gepetto's parents}}. In desperation, he wishes on a star for a chance to escape and atone, gladly trading his humanity to become a cricket and serve Gepetto.

* ''[[Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (TV)|Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger]]'' - {{spoiler|The "Greatest Treasure in the Universe" the team have been looking for is revealed to have this power. Not only could it stop the Zangyack Empire, it could make it so Zangyack never existed in the first place. Unfortunately, doing so would take the power of all Super Sentai, erasing ''them'' from the new universe as well. After some agonizing, they decide it's not worth it and they'll stop Zangyack their own way - something they underline by ''blowing up'' the Treasure.}}

* Subverted in ''Sword and Fairy'' when the three main characters make various wishes on a falling star--nonestar—none of which come remotely true.

* ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' has the spells ''wish'' and ''miracle''. The 3.5 versions of these spells have very specific things they can do without risking [[Literal Genie]], [[Jackass Genie]], and/or spell failure. (Well, ''miracle'' can fail if you try to do something against your deity's nature.)

* The opening words of Stephen Sondheim's ''[[Into the Woods]]'' are "I wish..." Magic, however, comes in only indirectly - Cinderella going to her mother's grave to request silver and gold (a dress appears); the Baker and his Wife agree to [[Fetch Quest|fulfill the demands of the Witch,]] who would then allow them to conceive a child. However, all of their wishes come back to haunt them in Act II, which opens with the same words.

* The holy grail in ''[[Fate Stay Night|Fate/Staystay Nightnight]]'' grants any wishes to the victorious master/servant pair of the Holy Grail War. {{spoiler|Though it is later explained that it's a [[Jackass Genie]] due to a bad case of [[Demonic Possession]], and will interpret any wish in a way that will cause maximum pain and suffering.}}

* In ''[[Tokimeki Memorial]] 2 Substories: Leaping School Festival'', Akane, while talking with the protagonist under the starry sky, makes a wish upon seeing a shooting star, in an Event of her storyline. <ref>Image of the scene is available for view in the trope's [[Make a Wish/Image Links|Image Links]]</ref>

* ''[[The Perry Bible Fellowship]]'''s has its peculiar [http://www.pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF210-Wishing_Well.gif210/ take on it].

* ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]'' episode where Flanders starts the left-handed store; he and Homer share a wishbone, and Homer wishes for the store to fail. He briefly considers wishing for Flanders to ''die'', but then decides it's overkill and goes back to wishing for the store to fail.

* ''[[Dragon Tales (Animation)|Dragon Tales]]'' did this with a dragon scale in the introduction sequence

* In ''[[Shrek (Animation)|Shrek]] Forever After'', the movie starts with Fiona wishing on a star for "every day to be like this one." Cue a [[Groundhog Day Loop]] and Shrek's midlife crisis.

* ''[[Danny Phantom (Animation)|Danny Phantom]]'' had a recurring villain named [[Literal Genie|Desiree]], who would grant you any wish.

* This was the whole premise of ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents (Animation)|The Fairly Odd ParentsOddParents]]''. Complete with the kid's inability to make a wish that didn't go horribly, horribly wrong.

* ''[[Lilo and& Stitch: The Series (Animation)|Lilo and Stitch The Series]]'' had an experiment which granted wishes, and could only do a certain number of them, and took your wishes literally (for instance, if you wish to become ruler of the universe, you will become a ruler, that is a stationery equipment). The episode ends up teaching the [[Aesop]] of "Be careful what you wish for".

* An episode of ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures (Animation)|Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' has Elmyra wish on a star for her doll to become real, which it does. After being terrorised for a day she wishes on the star again to make the doll like all her other dolls...so they all become real!

* The ''[[Animaniacs (Animation)|Animaniacs]]'' [[Big Damn Movie]] had the entire cast racing to be the first to the Wishing Star. Wacko wishes for {{spoiler|another haypenny}}.

* ''[[Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go (Animation)!|Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go]]'' has an episode with the Wigglenog, which is a [[Jackass Genie]]. Otto, the green monkey, outwits him with {{spoiler|"I wish we'd never even found you in the first place!"}}

* ''[[I Dream of Jeannie (TV)|I Dream of Jeannie]]'' also had a [[Recycled in Space|teenage version]] [[Animated Series]] -- her—her wishes, like Jeannie's, were unlimited.

* In the first of [[The Eighties]]' ''[[Strawberry Shortcake (Animation)|Strawberry Shortcake]]'' specials, ''The World of...'', [[The Face of the Sun]] reveals that his birthday present for Strawberry is a "magic wish", and she winds up wishing for an army of trees (which, in Strawberryland, are sentinent) to defeat the Purple Pieman who had been causing trouble for the kids the whole story. The wish is granted with trees that can also ''march'', and the result is the destruction of his Pie Tin Palace.

* ''[[The Flintstones (Animation)|The Flintstones]]'' when Barney and Betty wished for a baby after seeing a falling star. They later found Bamm Bamm in a basket on their doorstep.

* In ''[[PJP.J. Sparkles (Animation)|PJ Sparkles]]'', P. J. wishes for someone to love her on a star and is turned into a [[Magical Girl]] for it.

* In ''[[My Little Pony]] Twinkle Wish Adventure'', the ponies celebrate the [[You Mean "Xmas"|Winter Wishes Festival]] with everyone receiving a wish from Twinkle Wish, the star that is placed on top of the tree. Due to the circumstances of the movie, by the time Twinkle Wish takes her spot on the tree, she doesn't have enough power to grant any wishes. However, Pinkie Pie points out that all throughout the adventure, every one of them had said "I wish" something, and that something had come true. (And all the background characters just wished for snow, which they didn't need magic to get, anyway.)

* Parodied in the ''[[South Park (Animation)|South Park]]'' episode "It's Christmas in Canada":

{{quote| '''Mountie''': It's OK, boys; the power is inside us to get to Ottawa. We can wish ourselves there!<br />

'''French Canadian''': Yes, let's wish ourselves there!<br />

''[they close their eyes, harp music plays]''<br />

'''Mountie''': Is it working?<br />

* One episode of ''[[Samurai Jack (Animation)|Samurai Jack]]'' has Jack seeking a wishing well that will send him back home. It's guarded by blind archers with ''perfect'' hearing. {{spoiler|Turns out the well corrupts your wish - the blind archers wished to be the greatest hunters on Earth and ended up warped into its guardians. Jack destroys the well rather than allow anyone else to be hurt by it.}}

[[Category:Make A Wish{{PAGENAME}}]]