Non Sequitur Episode: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"This is a [[Precision F-Strike|fucking]] bizarre episode!"''|'''Yugi''', ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]]''}}
|'''Yugi''', ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]]''}}
 
You're watching your favorite show one day. The episode seems to start as normal... but wait, what's this? Does everything seem completely against continuity? Are the characters acting as if dosed up on tranquilizers? Does everything happening not make sense within the pre-established context?
 
Welcome to a '''Non Sequitur Episode'''. Unlike [[A Day at the Bizarro]], a '''Non Sequitur Episode''' does not truly come across as "surreal" or "strange". A '''Non Sequitur Episode''' is what you get when a [[Non Sequitur Scene]] spans the entire screen time. If the show DOES have a continuity, this episode will [[Let Us Never Speak of This Again|never be mentioned again]], save perhaps as a [[Mythology Gag]], and none of the likely wild events will ever be repeated.
 
A '''Non Sequitur Episode''' can also be applied to movies. If nothing in the movie seems to follow any previous event or plot and [[Random Events Plot|the whole thing seems to be one spontaneous series of events]], you've probably got a Non Sequitur Episode on your hands.
 
When the finale of a series is this, it's a [[Gainax Ending]].
 
Not to be confused with a [[Wham! Episode]], which completely changes the direction of a series. See also [[And Now for Something Completely Different]]. If every episode is like this, a summary may mention that it's [[Widget Series|That Kind Of Show]]. Rarely, though, a '''Non Sequitur Episode''' may be redeemed if a skillful or cunning writer uses it to construct an [[Innocuously Important Episode]].
 
'''NOTICE:''' Please do not use Musicals as examples, as the numbers are part of the show and are rarely anymoreany more out of the ordinary than conversation within context. If it's a musical with absolutely no cohesive [[Plot]], ''then'' you have a Non Sequitur Episode. However, a particular song may qualify as a Non Sequitur Scene; in that case, put it under [[Non Sequitur Scene]].
 
'''Very Important Corollary:''' If you have ever tried to convince other people to watch a show you like, and they say, "Okay I'll watch ''one episode'' with you if you ''promise'' to stop bothering me about it," we [[Troper]]s can '''guarantee''' that the one episode you watch together will be that series' '''Non Sequitur Episode'''.
 
'''Very Important Corollary:''' If you have ever tried to convince other people to watch a show you like, and they say, "Okay I'll watch ''one episode'' with you if you ''promise'' to stop bothering me about it," we [[Troper]]s can '''guarantee''' that the one episode you watch together will be that series' '''Non Sequitur Episode'''.
{{examples}}
 
== Advertising ==
* This has really become a fairly popular [[Trope]] to use in ads—possibly playing off the Internet's fascination with Japanese-crazy ads. See [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eFvIJ_GD0Y here] (and if you see [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHtMHgzt01k this one] without seeing that one, it makes even less sense), [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6iHCFiSqIw this one], and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgSv1SKCteQ this one, though only if you don't watch the last five seconds]
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* The Hostess ads in Marvel & DC Comics of the 70's and 80's.
 
== Anime &and Manga ==
 
== Anime & Manga ==
* Episode 13 of ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'', "The Call of Dagomon" (a.k.a. the "Dark Ocean" episode). A tribute to [[H.P. Lovecraft]] written by [[Chiaki Konaka]] that was occasionally referenced, but never fully explained.
* The "Cowbell" and "Nanami's Egg" episodes of ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' feel like this compared to the rest of the series, and trust us, that's saying something.
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'''[[Talking Animal|Mao]]''': Beats me, Hei. [[Reality Is Out to Lunch|This is The Gate]], after all. }}
* ''[[Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt|Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt]]'': CHUCK TO THE FUTURE.
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' did this very noticeably in "Both of You, Dance Like You Want to Win!" which is an entire ''[[Hard Work Montage]]'' episode featuring Shinji and Asuka's attempt to work together as a team to defeat an Angel, with hilarious but, ultimately, successful results. The whole ep parodies itself very heavily and breaks so sharply with the overall feel of the rest of the series that it deserves special mention, mostly because most of the show exists in soul draining depression state, ''and this one episode practically turns the show into a light hearted COMEDY''comedy!''''
* "The Hot Spring Planet, Tenrei", an episode of ''[[Outlaw Star]]''. The rest of the series is a lighthearted [[Space Opera]] action show, but this episode briefly turns it into a [[Fan Service]]-laden slapstick comedy.
* Episode 22 of the ''[[Black Butler]]'' [[Anime]] adaptation was pretty random, though since it was near the final episode it did have something to do with the [[Plot]]. In fact, since the [[Anime]] [[Overtook the Manga]], it had a lot of stuff which didn't make sense. Anyway, in this episode, Ciel and Sebastian go to Paris for the World's Fair. Ciel reads about how there's a stuffed Angel somewhere there, so they go look at it {{spoiler|due to the fact that they had previously encountered an Angel named Angela}} only to find it's just a taxidermy monkey with wings attached. Suddenly, the monkey COMES TO LIFE! And it ATTACKS SEBASTIAN! And DESTROYS THE LIGHTING! So Ciel runs off to escape the evil winged monkey of doom, and goes to an elevator that leads to the Eiffel Tower. And who should he meet but...THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND! And her butler, Ash! When they go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, the Queen lifts her veil to reveal {{spoiler|that she's all young again. And it turns out that Ash is an Angel too, and had sewn the Queen and her late husband Albert together...which...somehow made her all youthful or something. And of course, it turns out Queen Vicky was secretly behind Ash's evil plans and the murder of Ciel's parents.}} So, Ash is about to attack Ciel or something, but just then, Sebby turns up (obviously finished his epic battle with the evil winged monkey of doom) and fights him off with cutlery. The Queen and Ash escape and our two "heroes" return to their hotel. And the next morning, his faithful butler hath vanished! So, Ciel attempts to find his own way back to London, which he isn't very successful with. And he strokes a cat at one point. Isn't he allergic to them? Anyway, he finally stows away on a ship, where he meets the Undertaker, who feeds him bone-shaped biscuits. They return to London to find... {{spoiler|London is burning!}} The next episode makes it all sillier when you discover {{spoiler|Angela and Ash are one and the same.}}
* Episode 19 of ''[[Ergo Proxy]]'' has [[Ridiculously Human Robot|Pino]], in a dream, visiting a theme park called Smile Land, owned and run by a man called [[Mr. Alt Disney|Will B. Goode]]{{spoiler|, who also happens to be a proxy}}. The episode consists of Pino exploring the park along with a couple of its (presumably also AutoReiv) characters, and ultimately being convinced by Mr. Goode to avoid visiting the park when she, Re-l, and Vincent pass by it for real, {{spoiler|since Goode doesn't want to fight but knows that Ergo Proxy will try to kill him}}. When Pino wakes up, she succeeds in steering Re-l and Vincent away from the park, which was never seen or heard from again.
** Episode 15 doesn't quite qualify; Vincent winds up as the contestant on a "Nightmare Quiz Show", presumably through the devices of a Proxy, and the entire episode depicts an episode of said quiz show. While this is a vastly different style and tone from the rest of the series (with the possible exception of the aforementioned episode 19), the episode delivers [[Info Dump|a lot of important,]] [[Jigsaw Puzzle Plot|if cryptic,]] exposition about the backstory and the creation of the Proxies; moreover, the episode is repeatedly referred to, or even [[Flash Back|flashed-back to]], in several later episodes.
* The entire ''[[Dragon Ball|Fusion Reborn]]'' movie was this. It starts with one of King Enma's workers getting mutated into a giant reality warping baby, that talks like a Pokémon, traps Enma's palace in a barrier, which causes the dead to return to Earth, transforms the clouds into marbles and the blood pond into a giant jelly bean. Goku attempts to fight him while Paikuhan tries to free Enma, by INSULTING the barrier. Then Vegeta shows up, and he and Goku defeat this powerful demon that fights with Atari-esque special effects. All the while, Goten and Trunks have a cartoonish slapstick fight with [[Adolf Hitler]] and his army of tanks. Oh, and let's not forget Goku and Vegeta fusing. [[Ho Yay]] doesn't even describe it. Yeah, the writers were smoking something while making it.
* The ''second'' episode of ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]] 2nd Gig'' focuses on a one-off character, a pilot named Gino, who plans on assassinating one of his most recent clients. The whole episode is something of a [[Mind Screw]], since it tends to flash in and out of Gino's fantasies about doing so. The only recurring characters who appear are Major and Batou, who only appear in rather minor roles that are, to add to the weirdness, totally different from who they are. At the end, it's revealed to be something of a sting to determine whether or not Gino would actually go through with the assassination. They just say he would never do it, the episode ends, and the whole thing is never mentioned again. The entire thing is a [[Whole-Plot Reference]] to ''[[Taxi Driver]]''.
* ''[[Inazuma Eleven]]'' episode 100. Hiroto and Kogure get lost in the woods, and are challenged to a match by a pair of Kappas, no character development happens, no new techniques are learned, and it's only mentioned in a blink and you miss it scene during a flashback.
* An [[Deleted Scene|unaired episode]] of ''[[Angel Beats!]]'' has most of the cast [[World of Ham|transform into crazed hyper-hams]] who [[Up to Eleven|seem impossibly over-the-top even compared to their normal hammy personalities]]. They continue to [[Serial Escalation|top each other and become more and more obnoxious and hyperactive]] throughout the episode, and eventually (though somewhat spontaneously) wear themselves out. And...that's pretty much it. The episode was never broadcast, so, of course, none of the insanity that happens in it is ever brought up in any other episode, even though it clearly takes place sometime in the middle of the main plot.
** Though it was all part of an operation that Yurippe came up with, so it's not like there was no reason for it. Though the episode did run completely on [[Rule of Funny]].
* The episode of ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'' wherein young!Haruhi suddenly steps into a pastiche of ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]'' with characters from the show in all the major roles. Of course, this is really [[All Just a Dream]], but surprisingly, the entire episode is not only entirely in continuity but it actually is important for developing several of the characters. Especially {{spoiler|Haruhi's mom, who doesn't appear in person in any other episode. Because she's dead.}}
* ''[[Tenchi Universe]'' made some waves at the time of its original broadcast by taking a couple of weeks off from the storyline to air a series of "alternate-universe" vignettes starring the main characters in very different settings (one of which actually [[Spin-Off|spun off]] into [[Pretty Sammy|its own franchise]]). Definitely the first time this trope had ever been used in anime, and possibly a first for Japanese television as a whole!
 
== Comic Books ==
 
== Comics ==
* ''[[Countdown to Final Crisis]]'' is effectively a Non Sequitur ''Series'' for the entire [[DCU]]. With [[Out of Character]] moments, random deaths, nonsensical and time-wasting [[plot]]lines, it firmly cemented itself as a Non Sequitur Episode when [[Grant Morrison]], the author of ''[[Final Crisis]]'' (the event Countdown was supposed to lead up to) ''ignored it completely'' and effectively put the entire thing into [[Canon Discontinuity]].
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20130908023338/http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/linkara/at4w/2725-linkara-top-15-wtf-moments-in-comics Just] [https://web.archive.org/web/20130920182254/http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/linkara/at4w/8982-countdown ask] [https://web.archive.org/web/20130908055635/http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/linkara/at4w/9725-top15count Linkara].
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* Like the above example, almost every intercompany [[Crossover]] is a Non Sequitur Episode. They remain popular because of the potential for a [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny]], and if nothing else there's always the hope that fans of one character will read the [[Crossover]] and decide they like the other character as well and start reading that - basically, companies trying to cross-pollinate their [[Fandom]]. However, for legal reasons these [[crossover]]s very rarely have any impact on ongoing continuity (although it happens occasionally), and works set in different universes tend to have different assumptions and physical laws, in particular about [[Power Levels]]. Most intercompany [[Superhero]] [[crossover]]s have involved characters casually running into each other even though if they existed in the same universe they really should have had plenty of encounters before now or something, and afterwards are never mentioned again in-story unless there's another [[Crossover]].
* A better example is ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|Uncanny X-Men]]'' #153, the classic "Kitty's [[Fairy Tale]]", in which Kitty regaled young Illyana Rasputin with a made-up [[Fairy Tale]] casting herself and Colossus as heroic pirates, and other members of the X-Men as their allies to rescue the Phoenix Genie. Some see this issue as a coda to the Claremont/Byrne era, as it shows Kitty fully assimilating with the team to the point where she can gently rib her teammates for their peccadilloes (as the story progresses the rest of the X-Men listen in and enjoy a good laugh), and even give the Scott and Jean in her story the happy ending which they were denied.
* Issue 34 of the first incarnation of [[Marvel Comics]]' ''What If?'' consisted of nothing but humorous takes on the [[Marvel Universe]] and its characters (a good number of them one-panel stories, even), culminating with "What Will Happen When [[Stan Lee]] Reads This Issue?" {{spoiler|He fires the entire staff. [[Catch Phrase|'Nuff said]].}}
 
 
== Eastern Animation ==
* ''[[Space Thunder Kids]]'' is a bunch of cheap South Korean animation cobbled together with the biggest effort towards cohesion being the summary on the back of the box. It's impossible to tell who are supposed to be the eponymous Space Thunder Kids as the film constantly shifts between different looking who may or may not are supposed to be the same people who never really do anything important, interspersed with blatant plagiarism that never goes anywhere either, all padded as long as possible(like a spaceship exploding for ''twenty seconds'') leaving the film an incoherent mess where things, even the ending, happen for no adequately explained reason if any reason is given at all.
 
== Fan Works ==
* ''[[My Immortal]]'' sort of has a plot, but it's a [[Random Events Plot]] at best and seems to run on [[Chandler's Law]].
* Fanfic example: Chapter 122 of ''[[Guardians of Pokémon]]''. The cast has just gotten back from a [[Trapped in TV Land|Trapped In Video Game Land]] arc, only Ash hasn't lost his [[Heroic Mime]] status, and then it turns out that Butch and Cassidy stole it just before they all left the video game world and now Butch is calling himself "Smash Ketchum" and using Ash's voice to hypnotize everyone over the radio. Then a battle happens and every time someone gets hit, their voice pops out of their body, leading to everyone switching voices for the rest of the episode.
 
== Film ==
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** ''[[And Now for Something Completely Different]]'' [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|is just that.]]
* ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]''. The opening sequence involves a pair of singing disembodied lips...and it just gets weirder from there.
* The "horror" movie ''Skinned Deep'' ([[Nightmare Retardant|horror used very loosely]]) is a pure example of this. Some notable examples include a kid getting cut in half, a headless muscleman with boxer briefs that read "DYNO-MITE!!!" on them (which hides real dynamite), streaking after a motorcycle ride, and: "I brought you some soup and money". The movie is broken up into 5 or 6 distinct parts (none of which have actual transitions), each of which having little to no connection to the others.
* Most of ''[[The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T]]'' is a dream sequence conjured by Bart Collins who believes his piano tutor Mr. Terwilliger to be his [[Arch Enemy]] who plans on using five-hundred boys to play a giant piano and marrying Bart's hypnotized mother.
* The entire second half of ''[[Gremlins]] 2'' is just a long series of gags which don't actually drive the storyline anywhere. In fact, most of the first half of that [[Film]] is entirely useless, as well.
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* ''[[Slumber Party Massacre II]]'', which is a ''musical'' full of [[Mind Screw]] where the psycho is a ghostly rockabilly who kills with a drill attached to an electric guitar. The previous film was comedic, but not random as fuck like this one, while the proceeding one was completely serious, and the villains of both of those were just crazy, non-supernatural guys.
* [[Salvador Dali]] once made a surrealist film. The first shot is [[Eye Scream|a pierced eyeball.]]
* The entirety of [[Michael Jackson]]'s ''Moonwalker''. The premise sounds straightforward enough - MJ uses [[The Power of Rock|The Power of Pop]] to save a little girl from [[The Aggressive Drug Dealer|drug dealers]] - but it... really... just... ''isn't''. Even his biggest fans were left scratching their heads, [[This Is Your Premise on Drugs|wondering if he'd written the script by dictating the results of an acid trip]]. Seriously, if we tried to describe it here, you would not believe us. Just go to [[YouTube]] and search for some clips, and bear in mind, every single one of them [[Makes Just as Much Sense in Context]].
 
 
== Literature ==
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== Live Action TV ==
* From ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined(2004 TV series)|the 2004 ''Battlestar Galactica]]'']]: The episode "Black Market". Oh, where to begin? We find that Apollo has been seeing a single-mom hooker and her child regularly on the black market ship ''Prometheus''. This was never mentioned before or ever again. He is seeing and helping out her and her kid due to guilt over leaving his former pregnant girlfriend shortly before the Cylons attacked. This was never mentioned before or ever again. He winds up killing the black market's ringleader in a totally out-of-character manner. THEN''Then'' he declares that the black market can continue because it's necessary or something. And we never hear anything more about it. It's saved from being a complete Non Sequitur Episode by dint of two factors: 1) {{spoiler|Commander Fisk's murder}} in this episode starts a chain reaction of events that eventually puts Lee in command of ''Pegasus'', and 2) the head of the black market is played by Bill Duke. Ron Moore later discussed ''"Black Market''" very frankly both on his blog and in the episode's commentary, admitting that it was completely nonsensical and explaining the logic that went into making it that everyone ''thought'' made sense at the time, only to realize with growing horror that it just didn't work.
** "Black Market" has a third point of relevance: it's the episode where {{spoiler|Baltar decides to run for President when Roslin realizes he could be a thorn in her side and tries to convince him to resign}}. Obviously though, the scene where this happens has ''nothing'' to do with the plot of the episode.
** "The Woman King" came along one season later and stole "Black Market"'s crown. This episode involves a [[Villain with Good Publicity|well-beloved but insanely racist doctor]] who sets about killing citizens of the "poorer" Colonies under the guise of a free clinic he's operating right on ''Galactica''. Helo's tasked by a woman ([[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|named King]]) to put a stop to the [[Mad Doctor]] and avenge her son (who the doc allegedly killed). Helo spends much of the episode on a [[Cassandra Truth]] wild goose chase because no one believes him, what with the better half of the cast coming down with a sudden case of 24-hour [[Fantastic Racism]] Disease. Everyone acts [[Out of Character]], the episode just goes in circles, and everyone forgets it even happened by the next episode.
*** It doesn't help that the episode is one of the few remnants of a subplot about the Saggitarons on New Caprica that was soon abandoned (the only other really noticablenoticeable one is Baltar's mysterious whisper that causes Gaeta to try to kill him, which was eventually repurposed towards another subplot in a webisode series), and scenes in earlier episodes that would have helped explain everyone's refusal to believe Helo were all cut.
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' - ''"Grey 17 is Missing''". What the ''frell'' were they smoking? Note that the Zarg is never mentioned again...
** [[J. Michael Straczynski]] has offered to personally apologise to every fan who complains directly to him about the episode, citing it as the bastard offspring of an unholy trinity of Author Brianfart, [[Executive Meddling]], and Ran Out Of Time &and Money.
** However, despite half the episode being ridiculous and brain haemorrhage-inducing, the B-[[Plot]] is incredibly important to the [[Myth Arc]]: {{spoiler|Delenn becomes the Entil'zha, while Neroon realises that he'll never win the allegiance of the Rangers like Delenn has, leading to the start of his [[Heel Face Turn]]}}.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]''. "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S3/E04 The Daleks Master Plan|The Feast of Steven]]", episode 7 of ''The Daleks' Master Plan''. Our heroes have a chase through Twenties Hollywood, get arrested by police in the 1960s, and end up [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]].
** And then there's ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S2/E08 The Chase|The Chase]]'', arguably the silliest Dalek story ever, full of [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?|crack]].
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* The two-part ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' episode "The Eclipse", in which an eclipse randomly and inexplicably removes all the characters' powers. We never found out how or why this happened, and none of the events of those episodes were ever mentioned again.
** And this is just the most notorious example. ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' has a lot of Non Sequitur Episode. If you watch the previous seasons, keep track of how many new characters and storylines are introduced vs. [[Kudzu Plot|how many are still acknowledged in newer episodes]].
** ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' had an entire Non Sequitur SEASON''Season''. Remember season two? The writer's strike? Micah's cousin who could learn anything she saw on TV? Maya got a bit of a sendoff, but her brother was unceremoniously dropkicked out of the show. Clare's flying boyfriend who hated her father? And best of all, the girlfriend Peter forgot in the future?
* ''[[SeaQuest DSV]]'' "Knight of Shadows". It's a Halloween episode, and does at least ''try'' to give the OOC characters some excuses. But still, it was a low point for the otherwise shining season 1.
* Once or twice a season ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' will include a comedy episode, with a ridiculous [[Plot]] which is just an excuse to use situations like 'Sam and Dean are suddenly trapped on the set of this weird TV show called ''Supernatural'', and we are now going to spend 40 minutes making fun of our own premise, crew, actors, and viewing figures'. This does not necessarily make these episodes ''bad''.
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* Significantly, ''[[The Prisoner]]'' did this ''twice'', in the episodes "Living In Harmony" and "The Girl Who Was Death"—both of which massively change the entire format of the show just to fuck with [[The Protagonist]], [[Mind Screw|not to mention the audience]].
** There was also "Do Not Forsake Me, O My Darling," which Patrick McGoohan isn't even ''in'', where the Powers That Be basically put Number 6's brain in some other guy and send him on an errand outside of The Village for them.
*** This was sort of a [[Real Life Writes the Plot]] episode; Patrick McGoohan was off making ''[[Ice Station Zebra]]'' when this episode was filmed.
** Most people would have just mentioned the series finale and moved on.
* The fifth season episode of ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' entitled "Married With Fishschticks" which mostly forgets about the story arc going on at the time to do a pointless filler episode where the feuding Aphrodite and Discord accidentally send Gabrielle into this alternate world where she's a mermaid, and is entirely populated with mer peoplemerpeople. The whole thing is weird even by this show's standards, and ends with it apparently being [[All Just a Dream]] as Gabrielle wakes up back with Xena.
** The people behind the show were well aware that this one wasn't their finest moment, and even did some micromanaging of the schedule to make sure it didn't get the distinction of being the show's 100th episode.
* The ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' episode "Plato's Stepchildren" is just so freakin' weird that were it not for the interracial kiss, most fans would probably consider it a [[Let Us Never Speak of This Again]] episode. Notable [[Plot Point|plot points]]s involve alien [[Mind Rape]], [[The Spock|Spock]] in a toga singing, and [[The Kirk|Kirk]] being ridden by creepy little demented dwarves.
* Certainly a number of first-season episodes of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' would count as this [[Trope]].
** On the episode "Hide And Q", the character Q grants the characters wishes, and teenage Wesley Crusher wishes to be 10 or so years older. Then suddenly, BAAMBAM! he's transformed into a strapping, tall and exceptionally hunky man. We then cut to Geordi LaForge leering at the new Wesley and saying, "Hey, Wes. Not bad." It has been noted by several sources that Lavar Burton's character was originally supposed to be gay, but this is the only time it appears to be shown on screen, in this season one episode. Thereafter, it is NEVER''never EVERever EVERever EVERever'' mentioned again, and the LaForge character eventually falls in love with a holodeck character then eventually an actual woman, and they live happily ever after. Non Sequitur.
** Similarly to "Plato's Stepchildren" mentioned above, this is [[Averted Trope]] in the case of "The Naked Now". Although it fully appears as though this is a [[Let Us Never Speak of This Again]] episode, albeit an absolutely hilarious one, what with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hih2THljVjw Data getting drunk and Dr. Crusher grabbing Picard's crotch just offscreen], the fact that [[The Spock|Data]] and [[Sacrificial Lion|Tasha Yar]] had intercourse ''is'' mentioned in later episodes, notably in "Measure of a Man" where it is used to help establish [[The Spock|Data's]] sentience.
*** It even gets a [[Call Back]] much, ''much'' later in ''[[Star Trek: First Contact]]'' with [[The Spock|Data]] telling the Borg Queen that he is "fully functional" in the sex department.
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* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' went off the rails a few times late in the series, producing such Non Sequitur Episodes as the holodeck baseball game and the ''[[Ocean's Eleven]]'' knockoff where the main cast ignored their duty in favor of pulling off a heist to save the holodeck lounge singer from a gangster. (No, it '''''doesn't''''' make sense in context.)
* ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' has one of the rare examples of [[Tropes Are Not Bad|this trope churning out a great episode]]: over dinner, T'Pol regales [[The Captain|Archer]] and Trip with the tale of an ancestor of hers who lived on Earth over a century before First Contact.
* ''[[Star Trek]]'' has the Mirror Universe episodes, where most of the characters are downright evil or entirely different than what is expected. Just to add to this, there is no Federation; instead, the Terran Empire exists in its place - {{spoiler|up until [[Deep Space Nine]], that is, when the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance defeats them and conquers Earth.}}
* ''[[Lost]]'''s infamous "Stranger in a Strange Land". A high ranking Other is introduced, along with their legal system. Neither is mentioned again. Jack's tattoos are apparently full of important insight into Jack's character. He had never mentioned them before. Nobody had. And then Jack flashbacks to his borderline incoherent experiences with a possibly psychic Thai tattoo artist who he sleeps with, then gets beat up for. This is never mentioned again. Meanwhile, Sawyer and Karl discuss the Brady Bunch and how Karl and Alex named stars together. None of this is mentioned again.
** ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise]]'''s "In a Mirror, Darkly" two-partner is an excellent example. While the other episodes crossover between the two universes, this one was set entirely in the Mirror Universe. {{spoiler|Except for the ''Defiant'' that had somehow ended up in the Mirror Universe. That's the Defiant from TOS episode "The Tholian Web", not the one from ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Deep Space Nine]]''}}. The ''Enterprise'' production team went balls-to-the-wall and combined this trope with a [[Breather Episode]] full of [[Fan Service]] and soft-core [[Continuity Porn]], not to mention the entire cast in [[Large Ham]] mode and obviously having tremendous fun; it's one of the most entertaining episodes in the series.
** Also, three episodes (one in TOS, one in TNG and another in ENT) involve a [[Negative Space Wedgie]] that causes the crew to do the [[Mushroom Samba]].
* ''[[Lost]]'''s infamous "Stranger in a Strange Land". A high ranking Other is introduced, along with their legal system. Neither is mentioned again. Jack's tattoos are apparently full of important insight into Jack's character. He had never mentioned them before. Nobody had. And then Jack flashbacks to his borderline incoherent experiences with a possibly psychic Thai tattoo artist who he sleeps with, then gets beat up for. This is never mentioned again. Meanwhile, Sawyer and Karl discuss the''[[The Brady Bunch]]'' and how Karl and Alex named stars together. None of this is mentioned again.
* The final episode of ''[[Candle Cove]]''. Puppets screaming and crying. For ''30 minutes''.
** What episode were you watching? The real Non Sequitur is why everyone suddenly loved watching static, of all things...
* ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]''. [[Two Words: Obvious Trope|Four words]]. [[Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]].
* On the subject, ''[[Super Sentai]]'' has this for its ''[[Samurai Sentai Shinkenger]]'' iteration in the form of its Direct to DVD movie. Released after the end of the series run, it talks of the team 'returning,' since they part at the end. The team is together for the whole movie, and then there's the content itself.
** There's also the now-traditional DVD shorts that both ''Sentai'' and its block-mate ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' give out yearly in Telebi-kun Magazine. A lot of these are very nonsensical even compared to other filler episodes within the series.
* Speaking of ''[[Kamen Rider]]'', it is something of a tradition for a couple of episodes around episode 30 of each series to be a bit... different.
** ''[[Kamen Rider OOO]]'' had 2two episodes celebrating the 999th and 1000th episodes of the franchise, featuring loads of old monsters, the cast trying to make their own Kamen Rider Movie, and Kougami watching Kamen Rider on about 50 different screens.
** ''[[Kamen Rider W]]'' had Shoutaro and Phillip chasing a Dopant that sent people into comas through lucid dreams. To catch him, they fall asleep (while transformed, in the middle of a football pitch) and went into the dream world, where they were samurai. Or something. Even one of the villains point out how odd that is. And that's just the first part!
** ''[[Kamen Rider Kabuto]]'' had the Dark Kitchen arc, featuring cooking duels and food that can manipulate emotions, and very little actual Kamen Rider action (just one or two obligatory action scenes disconnected from the plot)
** ''[[Kamen Rider Blade]]'' had Hajime losing his memory and meeting a man identical to himself. They swap lives and have cooking duels, culminating in Hajime's lookalike making himself a suit of armour and beating the monster of the week.
* Part of the charm of ''[[Lexx]]'' is that the normal [[Status Quo Is God]] is what would be a Non Sequitur Episode in most shows, but it still has a few Non Sequitur Episodes by its own standards. The most obvious is the fourth-season episode ''[[William Shakespeare|A Midsummer's Nightmare]]'', where the crew is trapped in the fairie kingdom by Oberon, who seeks a new bride to replace Titania. Oberon is gay, Titania is a male midget crossdresser, Puck is [[Camp Gay]], Kai ends up turning into a tree while dancing and singing, Stanley nearly marries Oberon and gets as far as putting on the wedding dress... Oberon even admits that he has zero understanding of the show's cosmology, [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshading]] how the batshit insanity everyone is going through just plain doesn't fit into it.
** In the fourth-season episode "Prime Ridge", the crew (having been unable to find the Lexx's key for several episodes) decide that they have nothing to do, and so they buy a house in a small-town neighbourhood (which is being sold by [[James Bond|Britt Ekland]]). 790 hacks an ATM. The crew live in it for several days. Stanley sleeps on the lawn for some unexplained reason, and then gets hit on by said real estate agent and her daughter. Xev gets a job as a stress counsellor (despite having no resume or references) and the whole episode culminates in a giant firefight between the FBI and a pair of stoned teenagers wielding machine guns. Xev, Stan and Kai get in a car and drive away, and never mention the incident again for the rest of the series.
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** Also, the season 3 episode "The Zeppo" can be seen as this, diverting from the building plot threads of that season to tell a completely zany, full-out self-parody of every Buffy trope in the book.
** All of these just go to show that [[Tropes Are Not Bad]] in the hands of a skilled writer.
* ''[[Crime Story]]'' was stylishly moody and gritty...then there was the 2nd season episode "Pauli Taglia's Dream". It did show how mobster Ray Luca and his goofus flunky Pauli had earlier survived a nuclear bomb test, but through Pauli's point of view - complete with cartoon sound effects, Three Stooges slapstick, and cuts of him lipsynchinglip-synching Bobby Fuller's "I Fought the Law" wearing impossibly high rockabilly hair and a radiation suit.
* Over its last two seasons it became clear that Day 6 of ''[[24]]'' was a Non Sequitur ''Season''. Events like {{spoiler|the detonation of a nuclear device in an American city by foreign terrorists and the attack and incapacitation of an American president while in the White House - both of which happened within ''hours'' of each other and would have deeply impacted the country's history and internal and international policies - are never mentioned or even alluded at in the following seasons. Matter of fact, President Wayne Palmer was effectively [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|"brother Chucked"]] without as much as a throwaway line to explain what ultimately became of him. [[Word of God|Howard Gordon]] has stated he lived, but a prop newspaper from the made-for-TV movie ''Redemption'' mentions his death, thus leaving his fate unknownuncertain}}. Day 7 has its couple of Non Sequitur Episodes in which {{spoiler|an African tin pot dictator and his five - six at most - bodyguards take the White House and everyone inside hostage - with some help from (what else in [[24]]?) moles on the inside. Jack Bauer resolves the entire situation in two hours of [[Blatant Lies|"Real Time"]] and the entire situation does not impact the rest of the season - the ''second half'' of it - in any significant way}}.
* Similarly, many of the events of ''[[Friday Night Lights (TV series)|Friday Night Lights]]'' Season Two aren't referenced in later seasons, the most [[Egregious]] of which would be {{spoiler|Landry KILLING a man to protect Tyra, and even confessing to it}}. Other stuff happened that season, too (Matt and Grandma Saracen's maid, Buddy raising a ward named Santiago), but the only major event to happen that season with any significant impact on future seasons is Jason Street {{spoiler|getting a woman pregnant}}.
* ''[[Breaking Bad]]'' has the episode where Walt becomes obsessed with killing a fly that has somehow gotten into the meth lab. There are a few moments of legitimate character development and overall series value to this episode, but for the most part, it's a big steaming pile of Non Sequiturs.
* The 1980's1980s ''[[War of the Worlds (TV series)|War of the Worlds]]'' episode "Candle In The Night". This is a show that thrived on an overarching conspiracy by aliens to overthrow the Earth, interpersonal conflict between the cast and gratuitous violence that pushed the limits of what syndicated television could show...and someone decided that an entire episode should be focused on a supporting character ''having a birthday party''. The plot follows one of the team members, Debi, who sneaks out of the Blackwood Project's headquarters to have a birthday party with a bunch of random kids she meets. There's no real tension or drama in the episode, and none of the characters or events are mentioned again.
* ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' had a surreal, cyborg-free episode where Sarah is in a sleep clinic and is haunted by nightmares {{spoiler|which are actually real, while the clinic is a hallucination caused by a one-off villain probing her mind}}.
* ''[[The Odd Couple]]'' had a flashback episode that parodied the James Bond films and featured Felix and Oscar's fathers.
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* ''[[Power Rangers Ninja Storm]]'' while surfing Tori got into a major wipe out, and wind up in a [[Mirror Universe]] where the Rangers are the bad guys and Lothor and his goons are good guys. She eventually gets back to her own universe by getting wiped out again.
* ''[[Fresh Prince of Bel Air]]'' had a weird episode, which is all about Will and Carlton making up a story, where Will testifies against a murderer, which forces him and the Banks family to go into hiding in a hillbilly community in the middle of nowhere. Just so Jazz will finally lose to them in Poker.
* The ''[[UFO]]'' episode "Mindbender" had Straker hallucinate that he was an actor in a TV series about UFOs. One memorable scene had him wandering around the actual ''UFO'' soundstage, showing the HQ and moonbase sets.
* Similarly, Charlie Drake's [[Britcom]] ''[[The Worker]]'' ended its original black and white run with an episode in which Drake is confused to discover that he's actually a comedian in a [[Britcom]]. Drake seemingly liked this ending so much he used a variation of it a few years later when the show was revived in colour. There's another episode in which Drake's character gets hit on the head by a boomerang (a deliberate aversion of and reference to Drake's song "My Boomerang Won't Come Back") and suffers some weird hallucinations, ending with a trial in which he is the judge, jury, barrister and defendant.
* ''[[Lizzie McGuire]]'' has the episode where Lizzie and Matt [[Freaky Friday Flip|switch bodies]].
* ''[[Roseanne]]'' had some of these, to the point where it may not even count anymore. To set out a brief list, there were a few [[Halloween Episodes]] that seemingly broke reality, a few episodes that were [[All Just a Dream]], and toward the end of the series, plenty of them, such as episodes where Roseanne posed for Playboy, won Miss Universe, and, well actually the entire final season was this after they won the lottery.
* ''Wolf Lake'' did this in the episode "Leader of the Pack", in which an incident is presented as narrated to a team of investigators by Graham Greene's character [[Cloudcuckoolander|Sherman Blackstone]]. To say that he's an [[Unreliable Narrator]] is an understatement; the episode is hilarious and basically told from first-looney's point of view, with Blackstone admitting to telling the investigators the kind of story he would find fun to hear. Random daydreams and [[Fan Service]] are inserted into the story, and salacious elements such as a [[Ho Yay|married pair of gay]] bank robbers [[Incest Subtext|who also happen to be brothers]] are included. Elements that would actually be pertinent to the story are glossed over, such as brushing off murders with comments such as "drinking problem".
{{quote|'''Interviewer:''' According to ''my'' notes, he swallowed two ounces of sulfuric acid, mixed into a White Russian.
'''Blackstone:''' [[Running Gag|That's the worst thing you can do to someone with a drinking problem]]. }}
* A sixth season episode of ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' featuring the film ''[[Last of the Wild Horses]]'' has the first segment take place in a [[Mirror Universe]] where Frank and Dr. Forrester are the test subjects.
** A later episode had Pearl in the theater quipping with the bots while Mike hung out with Observer and Bobo on the planet below.
* The B-plot of the ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' episode "The Mermaid Theory", in which Future!Ted's usually impressive memory breaks down while telling his kids about a fight Lily and Barney once had, and he starts describing things that make no sense, like a motorcycle roaring through McLarens, Barney magically levitating a beer bottle, or Barney and Lily switching personalities; then going "Wait, wait, that's not right" and starting the whole story over again. This causes an unusually high degree of [[Medium Awareness]] on the parts of "Barney" and "Lily", who are shown referring to the topic of their fight in-dialogue as "something" ("I'm still mad at you because of something!") because Ted can't remember what they were upset about, and at one point they wind up suspended in limbo, casting glares at the screen and checking their watches impatiently while Future!Ted mutters "um...hang on...let me see..." to himself.
* ''[[The Cosby Show]]'' had one episode written by Rudy, which featured the cast as fairy-tale characters, clothed in costumes made to look like crayon drawings.
* The ''[[Bones]]'' fourth-season finale features Booth as a nightclub owner, Brennan as his wife, Hodgins as a hard-drinking novelist, Cam as a detective, etc. {{spoiler|Of course, it's [[All Just a Dream|all in Booth's head as he's actually in a coma]], recovering from the removal of a brain tumor. The dream is "inspired" by a story Brennan is writing, which she is reading aloud to Booth as she sits in vigil by his bedside.}}
* ''[[The Mary Tyler Moore Show]]'' had an episode where each of the major male characters imagined what it would be like if they were married to Mary.
* ''[[Farscape]]'' has a few interesting examples. "The Crackers Don't Matter" had the entire crew trying to kill each other over some crackers, while "Won't Get Fooled Again" was... Well, [[The Dragon]] was wearing bright red pumps at one point. That was a tame scene.
* Similar to the ''[[Mad About You]]'' example noted above, ''[[Friends]]'' had a "what if?" episode that explored the possible consequences of Joey becoming a star with Chandler as his personal assistant, Monica staying fat, Ross's [[Closeted Gay]] wife staying in the closet and keeping their marriage going, Rachel having gone through with her marriage (thus never meeting any of the friends) and Phoebe somehow becoming a stock broker.
* ''[[The X-Files]]'' did this a few times, most notably in its [[The Rashomon]] episodes "Jose Chung's from Outer Space" and "Bad Blood".
* ''[[News Radio]]'' had two special episodes that were set out of continuity: one featuring the staff of a radio station in space, and another where they run a radio station on the ''Titanic''.
* Episode 200 of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', which [[Word of God]] states is out of continuity.
** "[[Groundhog Day Loop|Window of Opportunity]]" also counts. Golfing through the Stargate, resigning to kiss someone of a lower rank, ''cycling through the tunnels of the base with a bicycle bell''...
* ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]''. In the middle of the season that also included Merlin losing his first love, Arthur discovering the truth about his mother, Morgana's [[Start of Darkness]] and the introduction of two of the most powerful/terrifying villains the show had ever showcased (Morgause and the Witchfinder), two utterly superfluous episodes were devoted to a troll successfully marrying King Uther and becoming Queen. It was a great performance by Sarah Parish, but the humor was made up of pratfalls and [[Toilet Humour]], Arthur, Gwen and Morgana were utterly (and uncharacteristically) useless, the audience was scarred for life by being forced to watch Uther go to bed with a troll, and after the episode ends, no one ever again thinks to mention that a shit-eating troll had been the Queen of Camelot for an extended period of time.
 
== Music ==
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* "Anyone's Daughter" from [[Deep Purple]]'s ''Fireball''. The lyrics are typical DP - a man sleeps with a bunch of women and marries one of them when he gets her pregnant - but the music is in a C&W style that's out of place for this period of the band.
* ''Tell Me What To Swallow'' by Crystal Castles. A dark acoustic song in the middle of electronic stuff. Also [[Mood Whiplash]].
 
 
== Video Games ==
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* Happens halfway through [[Kid Icarus: Uprising]], when {{spoiler|the main plot is completely put on hold when an ''utterly random alien invasion'' forces all of the main, characters to work together to stop it.}} This lasts for about 3 chapters and then it is never mentioned about again when its done.
** Actually it is brought up a few times afterwards. In fact it's the first thing Pit remembers {{spoiler|after finding out that he's been turned into a ring. The aliens also appear when Pit battles against the Chaos Kin and later when he fights facsimiles of them in Dyntos' workshop.}}
* ''[[The World Ends With You]]'' has ''Another Day'', you can access this episode after you complete the main storyline and takes place in an alternate universe where [[Mini Game|Tin Pin Slammer]] is [[Serious Business]].
* Every cutscene in ''Crash: Mind Over Mutant'', which seems to follow a different art style every time.
* The "What If?" mode in the [[PS 1]] ''Spider-Man'' game. It took the base plot and added tons of silly lines. "Doc Ock has trapped me...and I can't stop dancing".
* ''[[Command & Conquer: Red Alert]]'' had two: the secret Giant Ant missions and one multiplayer map set on the moon which randomly reassigned all the units' weapons, so you had helicopters firing flamethrowers and V2 rockets.
* The ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' DLC Old World Blues has your brain, spine and heart being stolen by incompetent [[Mad Scientist]] [[Brain In a Jar|Brains In Jars]] who are all drugged out of their gourds, an area exhibiting all the craziest pre-War [[For Science!|SCIENCE!]] (and since this is ''[[Fallout]]'', that's really saying something), a gun with a living dog brain as a component, a talking stealth suit that calls you her best friend and plays pranks on you, a base full of talking appliances who all hate each other, and a surreal conversation with ''your own brain'' in a tank, who sounds suspiciously like Seth McFarlane if even you're a woman.
 
== Web Comics ==
* [[Sluggy Freelance]] brought us Chapter 63: Safehouse, bringing us Torg taking up gardening, and coming up with increasingly surreal plans to protect the garden from chipmunks and deer, that all fail spectacularly, Bun Bun robbing a bank with the help of a talking bear and an old man with a huge mustache, and the entire main cast getting addicted to the latest computing technology and the possibilities it offers, and getting tangled up in weird on-line community shenanigans, and playing a [[Subliminal Seduction|suspiciously addictive]] online game which, after a hacker attack, starts a zombie apocalypse that only affects animals.
** While randomness was par the course for Sluggy's first decade or so, what makes this a Non Sequitur Episode is that it went on for an extended period of time right after a very dark storyline, and pretty much ignores all of the lingering questions, including the fate of a character that the group lost contact with and is on a dangerous mission, a character that refuses to accept that her friends thought to be dead are alive, and a plan to finally get rid of the resident physcopathic, ninja, [[Stalker with a Crush]] that caused said friends to become almost dead. [[Word of God]] seems to indicate the arc will bear no overall importance as well.
* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'':
 
** [http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook/?date=2002-09-29 This strip].
** Any of the [http://egscomics.com/egsnp/ Newspaper strips], which are specifically not part of EGS continuity.
* "[[Mulberry]]'s [http://www.platypuscomix.net/mulberry/index.php?issue=21&page=1&seriesID=4 Epic Yarn]"
* [[High Fantasy]] webcomic ''[[Exiern]]'' spends a month at the bizarro as part of an [[Overly Long Gag|Overly Long April Fools Gag]] when it is suddenly re-tooled as a a group of trendy twenty somethings hanging out at a coffeeshop/strip club.
 
== Web Original ==
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* [[The Nostalgia Critic]] had one himself with "You're A Dirty Rotten Bastard". Opened and closed by Santa Christ (who after ''[[Kickassia]]'' heavily dislikes the Critic) like it was a story, going against a lot of established characterization to make Critic look like the biggest jackass in all the world, and never mentioned again.
* ''[[Charlie the Unicorn]]''.
* Creepypasta Example: ''[[Candle Cove]]''.
* Fanfic example: Chapter 122 of ''[[Guardians of Pokémon]]''. The cast has just gotten back from a [[Trapped in TV Land|Trapped In Video Game Land]] arc, only Ash hasn't lost his [[Heroic Mime]] status, and then it turns out that Butch and Cassidy stole it just before they all left the video game world and now Butch is calling himself "Smash Ketchum" and using Ash's voice to hypnotize everyone over the radio. Then a battle happens and every time someone gets hit, their voice pops out of their body, leading to everyone switching voices for the rest of the episode.
* Creepypasta Example: [[Candle Cove]].
* ''[[My Immortal]]'' sort of has a plot, but it's a [[Random Events Plot]] at best and seems to run on [[Chandler's Law]].
 
 
== Western Animation ==
* As funny and clever as it may be, the ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' episode "Fractured" feels like that. I mean, we learn that there's a whole dimension that exists just for Robin and then the Robin from that dimension (Larry) breaks his finger and everything becomes chaotic. It's hard to believe that no one talks about that ever again.
** I'm pretty sure [[Great Gazoo|he's supposed to be from the 5th dimension]], a la other DC characters like Mister Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite.
** Apparently, thatThe episode wasgets calleda back[[Call toBack]] in an issue of the ''[[Teen Titans Go! (comic book)|Teen Titans Go]]'' comic, and there was an issue wherewith Larry bringsbringing along the fifth-dimension "Larry" Versionsversions of the rest of the Titans.
** ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' had at least one completely insane episode per season, and the tone of the average episode wasn't much less wacky. If anything. the episodes which focused on continuity and drama were the ones out of place. "Fractured", "Mad Mod", "Bunny Raven/How To Make a Titanimal Disappear", "Mother Mae Eye", and "Episode 257-494", the episode (where Control Freak causes the Titans to become [[Trapped in TV Land]]).
*** Well, [[Continuity Nod|the last one was referenced in the big Finale]], when Control Freak was using the Lightsabers he got from TV Land.
*** Oddly enough, most Non Sequitur Episodes are right before the season finale. Going from a deranged Hansel and Gretel [[Whole-Plot Reference]] to Raven fulfilling her destiny and ending the world, or from the aforementioned Larry episode to Terra picking off the team one by one led to some absolutely beautiful [[Mood Whiplash]] and gave the show its signature schizophrenic tone.
** A good rule of thumb was this: if the opening [[Theme Tune]] was in Japanese, as opposed to the usual English, you were about to see some weird shit.
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*** Except "Nevermore"- though that one ''is'' weird for a solid chunk in the middle, it's less "crazy and funny" weird and more "[[Mind Screw]], [[Uncanny Valley]], and a side dose of [[Nightmare Fuel]]" weird, and the central plot about Raven fighting her [[Enemy Within]] is serious.
*** "Fear Itself" can function as a fairly good bait-and-switch in terms of this. The episode starts out silly, the first part being the debut of Control Freak, where the Titans fight him in a video store and he brings things like candy to life and turns them evil. ''Then'' things get dark.
* ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' episode "Operation: R.E.P.O.R.T." is set entirely in the character's parody -rich imagination's...imaginations, number 4 turns into a super saiyan.while "Operation: W.H.I.T.E.H.O.U.S.E. which" was also [[All Just a Dream]] didand makemade self-contained sense until the very end when numberNumber 1 turns into a big monster for no adequately explained reason.
* ''[[Samurai Jack]]'': "Chicken Jack". [[Deranged Animation|That is all]]. What's really odd about "Chicken Jack" is that it's almost a remake of the previous season's "Jack and the Smackback", but with Jack as a chicken.
** And "Jack Is [[Naked People Are Funny|the episode where Jack ends up nude]]". Oh, ''so'' much. The [[Non Sequitur Scene]] with the randomly-appearing elephant-headed fairy is just the tip of the iceberg.
** What's really odd about "Chicken Jack" is that it's almost a remake of the previous season's "Jack and the Smackback", but with Jack as a chicken.
** And "Jack Is [[Naked People Are Funny]]". Oh, ''so'' much. The [[Non Sequitur Scene]] with the randomly-appearing elephant-headed fairy is just the tip of the iceberg.
* ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'': "1 + 1 = Ed", otherwise known as the episode where Ed asks Double-D a bunch of questions, the questions become increasingly philosophical, reality and imagination begin to melt into each other, existential crisis manifests itself into abstract surrealism, and everyone and everything around them becomes horribly deformed and absurd.
{{quote|'''Rolf''': Hello, Ed-Boys! [[Arc Words|Many doors, yes?]]
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** "Rollercoaster: The Musical". It's essentially a [[Musical Episode]] version of the pilot. But there's random stuff going on, and most of the songs and scenes are never mentioned after they occur, and the barrage of Cameos in the final song, which itself is a Non Sequitur. And I highly doubt it will be mentioned again.
*** On ''Phineas and Ferb'', [[Continuity Nod|they mention everything again.]]
*** It's very self aware about its Non Sequitur Episode status. The episode constantly [[Lampshadeslampshade]]s its repeating of the original episode, as well as the fact that it's incredibly weird even by the standards of the show.
* Arguably, the 20th episode of the third season of ''[[Winx Club]]'' (the pixies' [[A Day in the Limelight]] episode) may count as this. Although it was referenced in episode 22 when Valtor reminds the Trix about how they were defeated by the pixies.
** Season 2's episode 14 may count too, or at the parts involving Bloom, Flora, Sky and Brandon travelling to Sky's homeplanet and trying to save Diaspro. That part of the episode is never mentioned again.
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* ''[[Ben 10]]'' has the episode "Gwen 10". In that episode, they were all back to the first day of summer and Ben was the only person remembering the previous episode's events. As the title episode suggested, Gwen was the one to find the Omnitrix this time. At the end, it got detached from her and Ben thought he'd finally have it like in the original timeline but it went to Max instead. It becomes [[Hilarious in Hindsight]] when it's revealed in a later episode that the person who sent the Omnitrix to Earth expected '''Max''' to have it in the first place. The next episode had Ben with the Omnitrix again with no explanation and "Gwen 10" events were never mentioned in any other episodes of the series.
** The start of the episode explained how it worked much like a comic book plot, of different realities and different stories. Gwen 10 (or Max 10) probably went very radically in its own direction, but for the sake of continuity and story of the main plot hook, went with Ben 10 still having the Omnitrix. However, that doesn't explain how the mainstream Ben went to the Gwen 10 reality, how he returned to his own, or what happened to that reality's Ben.
** Supposedly, all episodes that start by displaying a comic book at the start are such episodes. Another one had the series ending with Ben starting school again—except it was just before the actual series ending and contradicted it.
* In ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars]]'' season four there's "Mercy Mission" and "Nomad Droids" - episodes that focus on R2-D2 and C-3PO in their own misadventures when they get separated from the army. The episodes pay homages to various works like ''[[Alice in Wonderland]], [[The Lord of the Rings]], [[Gulliver's Travels]], [[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'', and ''[[Real Steel]]''.
** Also possibly an homage to the 1980s ''Star Wars: Droids'' cartoon, which contained many [[Non Sequitur Scene]]s if not entire episodes (C-3PO blinking and sprinting, R2-D2's hammerspace gadgets and breakdancing).
** Season three has the Mortis trilogy of episodes. The basic plot is that Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ahsoka get stranded on a surreal planet whose only three inhabitants - Father, Son and Daughter - are the living embodiments/avatars/personifications of the Balance of the Force, the Dark Side and the Light Side, respectively. {{spoiler|During the course of the episodes Father, Son and Daughter either kill each other, or arrange for the Jedi to do so on their behalf.}} Unsurprisingly it is never referred back to and, aside from the anvilicious hints that Anakin has more sympathy for the Dark Side than is strictly healthy, comes off as extreme padding.
*** It later gets tied into the story of [[Fate of the Jedi]]'s [[Eldritch Abomination]] [[Big Bad]] Abeloth. With mixed results.
* ''[[Mega Man (animation)|Mega Man]]'' had more than its share of camp, but by far the most bizarre and memorable example is "Curse of the Lion Men" - a passing comet awakens a group of ancient mummified lion-men who aim to conquer the world by turning every non-robotic human on the planet into lion creatures using [[Eye Beams]]. No, it doesn't make any more sense in context.
* The episode ''"Da Boom''" in ''[[Family Guy]]''.
* ''[[Daria]]''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130802153421/http://www.outpost-daria.com/ep303.html "Depth Takes a Holiday"], which is, shall we say, uncharacteristically whimsical for the series.
* The [[Donald Duck]] short "Duck Pimples". Donald listens to scary stuff on the radio, causing his overactive imagination to bring a bunch of shady characters to life. First, he envisions a creepy yet silly salesman who drops a lot of horror novels on Don's sofa. As he starts reading one, more weirdos emerge from the book, such as a gruff police officer who accuses Don of stealing a dame's pearls, accompanied by the lady herself. After some [[Non Sequitur Scene]]-[[Buffy-Speak|y]] gags, both are about to murder Donald because he hasn't "confessed" yet. Just before they cut his throat in half, ''the author himself'' exits the book and reveals the officer to be guilty. The cop confesses it was indeed him, but he ain't amused, and as he steps back to go back into the book's pages, he "shoots" Donald with thin air; he reacts just as if had been shot for real. Terrified, the dame and the author go back to the novel as well. Donald regains conscience and immediately shakes the book to confirm it all ended, as some offscreen voices tell him it was all imaginary. He's not convinced and the cartoon ends with him trembling in fear, slowly muttering to himself "Yeah...Ima......Gination"... Just in time for [[Or Was It a Dream?|the pearls to appear on his neck before the iris out.]] What the hell, Disney!?
* An episode of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' did this. Aang was unable to sleep due to nightmares about facing the Fire Lord in the invasion. This culminated in him having a series of weird dreams until the end, where he's finally able to sleep peacefully due to the others making him a bed and giving him moral support.
* In ''[[Stickin' Around]]'', ''every day'' is at the bizarro considering that most of an episode happens in the main character's [[Mr. Imagination|imagination]].
* While [[Toon Physics]] are practically nonexistent as a rule to begin with, ''[[Duck Amuck]]'' shatters any conception of the fourth wall by having Daffy Duck arguing with and being screwed around with by the animator {{spoiler|who turns out to be Bugs Bunny.}}
** {{spoiler|Bugs later}} got a taste of his own medicine in ''Rabbit Rampage'', with the animator being {{spoiler|Elmer Fudd.}}
** Early [[Bob Clampett]] masterpiece ''Porky In Wackyland'' was one of these for ''animation itself''. It almost single-handedly established that every piece of animation did not have to be a rip-off of Disney's latest short.
* The ''[[Rugrats]]'' dream episode. We see Chuckie wake from each dream, and supposedly enter the real world, only to discover slowly that he is still dreaming; with strange settings and weird stuff like Spike talking.
* The ''[[Futurama]]'' episodes "Anthology of Interest I", "Anthology of Interest II", "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular" and "Reincarnation".
* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' has quite a few, most notably "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" and "Saddlesore Galatica". What's weird is that they began as ordinary episodes and quickly went into weirdness.
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Something Completely Different]]
[[Category:Non Sequitur Episode]]
[[Category:Absurdity Ascendant]]
[[Category:Continuity Tropes]]
[[Category:(Non-)Continuity Episode]]
[[Category:Plots]]
[[Category:Trope Names from Latin]]