Mandatory Line: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

When a character has a scene or bit of dialogue which is unnecessary and oddly out of place, it may be because the writers couldn't work them into the plot of the episode and have just given them a few token lines because the actor's contract requires it. Sometimes a character will get two or three moments like this in a single episode, to give the illusion that they're properly involved in the plot when they're really not.

 

'''Geordi:''' "The power grid is down 20%, and I have no more lines." }}

 

With the growing trend of shows with [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] (such as ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' and ''[[Lost]]'') this is becoming less common, and it is typical [[Absentee Actor|for characters to be completely missing from episodes.]] Some shows, such as ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit|Law & Order: SVU]]'' will alternate pairs of detectives so that two episodes can be produced at one time. Frequently occurs with [[Poorly-Disguised Pilot|Poorly Disguised Pilots]], where the main characters will have just enough screen time with the new characters to justifiably call it an episode of the parent show, then will dive headfirst into the spinoff characters, often never even referencing the main characters again.

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

 

 

* The entire concept was viciously parodied in the movie ''[[Galaxy Quest]]'', where the [[The Smurfette Principle|one female character's]] only purpose on the show was to repeat word for word anyone else's questions to the computer and the computer's (audible to everyone) replies. When someone questions her doing it, she angrily snaps that it's her one job and she will ''not'' give it up. As the scene goes on, it seems that the computer will ''only'' respond to her anyway.

** Draco Malfoy had only two lines in the fifth movie. His big role in the next movie made up for it, though.

** Neville always gets to say something in every movie, regardless of whether anything else with him happens. {{spoiler|They even ''added'' a line to the seventh movie so he'd have something to say.}} Doesn't mean his role is unimportant.

** Averted with Wormtail, who appears in the sixth film, but doesn't have any lines in it. And [[Timothy Spall]] still gets credited as part of the main cast!

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* At the beginning of season three of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', Angel (who was supposedly lost forever in a hell realm) appeared only in a series of dream sequences.

** Angel fell victim to this in the previous season, too. After he became the season's [[Big Bad]], it made sense for him to show up in the arc-relevant episodes, but they had to find excuses for him to appear in standalone eps where he wasn't actually causing any trouble, too. So there were several instances where he would randomly bump into Buffy in an alley someplace, say something mean to her, and then leave, adding nothing to the plot.

** Similarly, Spike, throughout season four, now had a place in the credits, so it seemed every episode from then on needed to have a scene randomly inserted where he showed up, complained about his ongoing emasculating [[Badass Decay]] and left.

** In the BTVS Musical Number "Once More, with Feeling", Willow only sings one line in the big all-cast number at the end: "I think this line's mostly filler". While she does have a few singing lines throughout the episode, they are very few and far between - "her" song is sung entirely to her by Tara.

*** That's because [[Alyson Hannigan]] is song-shy and she asked [[Joss Whedon]] to leave her out of the singing as much as possible.

**** Which might be why her character on ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' is the only one of the main cast who hasn't yet had at least one number to sing.

** This about sums up Cordelia's role in the bulk of Season One.

* On ''[[Angel]]'', after Wesley became estranged from the rest of the group, several episodes had him appearing only to have a bunch of sex with Lilah and not do anything relevant to the plot.

** Which is a pretty good consolation prize.

* Wilson on ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' has this from time to time. There are many episodes where he has a single scene with House (or one of the rest of the cast) that is, ultimately, pretty pointless and only serves to put him in the episode. The most blatent example of this is in the Season 6 premier, in which he is the only regular cast member to appear (other than House himself) and his appearance consists of a single, 30 second, completely plot-irrelevant phone call.

* ''[[NCIS]]'': On a few unusual episodes (hostage situations, etc.) they have to shoehorn [[The Coroner|Ducky]] in, though he usually gets an entire scene. They fail at this only once (Legend, part 2).

* Tina's entire role on ''[[Glee]]'', where she is basically an [[Advertised Extra]].

 

== Video Games ==