Not His Sled: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* The [[Comic Book Adaptation]] of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] [[The Movie]] First'' appeared to be an [[All There in the Manual]] affair for the first season (For those who don't know, ''[[The Movie]] First'' is a remake of that season), much like the ''A's'' and ''StrikerS'' comics that came before it. Indeed, this seemed to be the case until it reached the series proper in Chapter 5, where it gave a summary of the first Season, {{spoiler|except that in place of Nanoha successfully befriending Fate and the two of them joining forces to stop Precia like everyone was expecting, Bardiche is destroyed, Fate never comes out of her comatose state for the final battle, Precia dies without giving Fate any sense of closure, and our last shot is of Nanoha crying about how she wasn't able to save Fate in the end}}, quickly revealing how this manga was actually another alternate retelling of the first season.

 

 

* In ''[[Spider-Man|The Amazing Spider-Man]]'', Spider-Man's archnemesis, the Green Goblin, tossed Spidey's first love off a bridge in [[I Let Gwen Stacy Die|one of comics' most iconic moments]]. It was a huge twist when the comic was published (never before had a superhero let someone die, [[Death by Origin Story|except in an origin story]]) and shocked many readers. Since then, however, whenever Gwen Stacy is present, it's become more shocking ''not'' have the Green Goblin kill Gwen Stacy.

** The most straight example of this is in the mini-series ''[[Powerless]]'', which re-imagines, among others, Peter Parker becoming a cripple due to the spider-bite, rather than getting superpowers. When [[Norman Osborn]] kidnaps Gwen Stacy, they both fall off a balcony, {{spoiler|but Peter manages to catch Gwen Stacy, saving her}}.

*** It also really splits the difference when recreating the scene with Mary Jane: she's saved by a portal opening under her, but this just leaves her trapped in limbo. She later inexplicably appears again, but it turns out this is just a clone. Then the show was cancelled before we could see any closure to the storyline, though the final episode does feature the promise that rescuing Mary Jane is Spider-Man's next stop.

** There were explicitly no plans to have Gwen die in ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]''.

** In ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'', instead of throwing Gwen Stacy off a bridge, the Green Goblin throws ''Mary Jane'', {{spoiler|and she ends up surviving}}.

*** In the same continuity, Gwen Stacy is {{spoiler|killed by Carnage}} instead of being killed by the Green Goblin.

** Also played straight with ''[[Marvel Adventures]]'', in which Gwen Stacy is present, but her death is never explored.

 

 

== Film ==

* The [[Live Action Adaptation]] of ''[[Death Note]]'' loosely follows the structure of the first arc of the manga, though many important plot details are changed and some are combined with the second arc. The arc's climactic scene, in which {{spoiler|Light manipulates Rem into killing L with her Death Note}}, first diverges when {{spoiler|Light writes his father's name to make him hand over the task force's Death Note}} and then changes completely when {{spoiler|L re-emerges alive and well, Light and Misa are arrested by the task force, Light's Note is revealed to be a fake, and Ryuk writes Light's name in his Note after he decides there is no more fun to be had}}. After this clears up, {{spoiler|L dies peacefully three weeks later, as he had written in the Death Note; since his name was already written, he could not be killed by any other notebook}}. It's interesting to note that this exploits a Death Note rule mentioned in the manga and the anime's [[Eyecatch|Eye Catches]] but never again referenced, which qualifies as a cross-media [[Chekhov's Gun]].

** That rule does actually come into play in the manga and anime with {{spoiler|the death of Takada.}}

* ''[[Screamers]]'', which was based on "Second Variety" by Dick, {{spoiler|retains the original surprise ending that the woman the hero met and bonded with is one of the robot decoys, but changes it so she has broken her programming and isn't out to kill humans. It further departs from the original ending by having her "dying" and putting the hero safely on the shuttle to Earth in a happy Hollywood ending...until it reveals that the teddy bear the hero kept as a souvenir is another deadly robot decoy.}}

* The [[The Turkish Gambit|film adaptation]] of ''[[Erast Fandorin|The Turkish Gambit]]'' changes the [[Secret Identity]] of Anwar, the Turkish spy in the Russian camp.

** Causing a complete, 100% inversion from the original, which turned a {{spoiler|great Aesop from being "humans are being jerks" to Alien Greenpeace wants to kill us all}}

* The [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle|false end]] of the [[Tim Burton]] adaptation of ''[[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film)|Charlie and The Chocolate Factory]]'' uses this to great effect. When Charlie asks if his parents can come with him to live in the factory, Wonka responds:

{{quote|"My dear boy, of course you can{{spoiler|'t! ... You can't run a chocolate factory with a family hanging over you like an old, dead goose!}}"}}

** And then {{spoiler|they never end up flying out in the elevator. This is justified because Dahl's will prohibited anyone making ''Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator'' into a movie, so there was no point in a [[Sequel Hook]].}}

* In the Savini remake of ''[[Night of the Living Dead]]'', Barbra survives and turns into an [[Action Girl]]. Not only that, but {{spoiler|the black hero who steps out of the farmhouse at the end does so as a zombie, which she and the rednecks kill. Then the film's ''[[Jerkass]]'' emerges, having survived by locking everyone else out of the cellar, to greet Barbra with relief that he's alive ... and she shoots him dead, then calls to the rednecks that there's "another one for the fire".}}

* Used brilliantly in A Series of Unfortunate Events. In the first book of [[A Series of Unfortunate Events]] Violet avoids {{spoiler|marriage by signing the marriage contract with the wrong hand.}} The movie resolves the plot differently than in the book, and when that moment comes up {{spoiler|Olaf insists on her using the correct hand to sign}}.

* All of the film adaptions of [[Agatha Christie]]'s ''[[And Then There Were None]]'' (with the notable exception of the Russian version) use a different ending from the book; the killer's identity is usually left unchanged, but their [[The Perfect Crime|Perfect Crime]] doesn't go as perfectly as it does in the book.

* In the remake of ''[[The Wolf Man]]'', {{spoiler|Lawrence is not killed by his father, nor does it turn out that Malevra's son is the one who bit him. Instead, his father is the werewolf that killed Lawrence's brother and bit him. The film ends with Lawrence, as a werewolf, killing his transformed father and in turn being shot by Gwen. This leads to a [[Sequel Hook]] where we see that the police officer investigating the entire situation had also been bitten. And it is all [[Crazy Awesome|awesome]].}}

** The ending of the first film toys with this trope. {{spoiler|In the book, Harry spends the whole scene adamantly refusing to give Voldemort the Stone. In the movie, Voldemort tempts Harry with the possibility of bringing his parents back to life and, for a moment, it looks like Harry might actually hand over the Stone, but then [[Subverted Trope|he doesn't]].}}

** There's another subversion in the same film. At first, it seems the way Devil's Snare is thwarted has been changed so that you have to relax to get pulled through to the other side. However, Ron is unable to relax, so Hermione ends up thwarting it the same way she did in the book, [[Weakened by the Light|by targeting light at it]].

* In the musical ''[[Annie]]'' (and in the 1999 film version), Annie's supposed real parents are exposed as con artists before they can leave with her. In the 1982 film, they actually do leave with Annie without getting exposed. Warbucks finds out they were fakes afterwards, leading to a [[Chase Scene]], a [[Climbing Climax]], and ultimately Miss Hannigan's [[Heel Face Turn]].

* ''[[Watchmen (film)|Watchmen]]:'' Yes, {{spoiler|Ozymandias}} is still the [[Big Bad]]. Yes, he still {{spoiler|kills millions and thus succeeds at uniting mankind against a fictitious common enemy}}. The twist is that, in the film, he {{spoiler|frames Dr. Manhattan for the destruction instead of teleporting a squid-thing into NYC}}.

 

== Literature ==

 

== Live Action TV ==

* The American ''[[Life On Mars]]''.

* The 2009 remake of ''[[The Prisoner]]''.

** Palin also wrote about an ill-advised ad-lib in the sketch where he plays a man who goes up to a policeman played by Cleese to say his wallet's been stolen. The policeman apologetically tells him there's not much he can do, and after an uncomfortable pause the man asks, "Do you want to come back to my place?" and the policeman is supposed to say, "Yeah, all right." One night Cleese just said "no!" instead, which left them with nothing to do except slink offstage in a way that was no longer a punchline.

** One clip from ''[[The Young Ones]]'' appears to be setting up a rendition of the Pythons' "Cheese Shop" sketch. When asked if it's a cheese shop, however, the proprietor says "No", so the customer quips that they can't do the sketch after all.

* One episode of ''[[Midsomer Murders]]'' was pretty much a direct retelling of Hamlet... {{spoiler|Except this time the Claudius-Expy gets wise to the Hamlet-Expy's plan and kills him.}}

 

* Several Greek tragedies, seeing as almost all of them were based on older myths that the audience was already familiar with. A good example is Euripides' ''[[Medea]]'' - in the original story, Medea's sons were killed by a mob of women in revenge. Having her kill them herself was a shocking twist at the time. Ironically, it's since become [[It Was His Sled|the most famous part of the story.]]

* ''[[West Side Story]]'' is based on ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'', {{spoiler|but...Maria doesn't die, and Tony is murdered.}} And of course you have the [[Bowdlerise]]d kiddie version of ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' where {{spoiler|nobody dies}}.

* One production of [[Rent]] changed the ending so that Mimi actually ''does'' die, as in ''[[La Boheme]]''.

** The fact that [[Rent]] had originally changed the ending of ''[[La Boheme]]'' to have Mimi survive is also an example of this trope.

* The ending of ''[[Afro Samurai]]'' was changed greatly from the anime. Might have just been [[Rule of Fun]], though. [[Imaginary Friend|Ninja Ninja]] even says that just because [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|you watched the TV show doesn't mean you know what's going to happen here]].

** To be fair it's more in tune with the Manga Ending which came before the anime after all {{spoiler|But The only reason you fight Justice is to avoid The Anticlimax ending that the manga had.}}

* In ''[[Jeanne D'Arc]]'', it's pretty much a [[Foregone Conclusion]] that the Maid d'Orleans will be [[Burn the Witch|burned at the stake]]. How did Level-5 Studios handle a game where the main protagonist and primary player character is meant to die halfway through? By {{spoiler|temporarily replacing her via an [[El Cid Ploy]], so that the impersonator is the one killed instead, freeing Jeanne to continue through the rest of the campaign incognito}}.

* How ''[[Silent Hill 1]]'' ends (or perhaps more accurately, which of the [[Multiple Endings]] is canon) is made pretty clear by its direct sequel, ''[[Silent Hill 3]]'': Harry {{spoiler|survives the crash (and all the subsequent weirdness) and succeeds in getting Cheryl back (more or less)}}. The remake, ''[[Silent Hill: Shattered Memories]]'', plays on the players' (assumed) knowledge of this by having the big twist be {{spoiler|that Harry died in the car crash after all and the whole game [[All Just a Dream|has taken place in the grown-up Cheryl's mind]].}}

* The NES ''[[Rambo]]'' game based on ''[[First Blood Part II]]'' has an alternate ending where Rambo saves his Vienamese love interest Co, and then he {{spoiler|turns Murdock into a frog}}.

* Two distinctly different versions of how Kalecgos becomes the Aspect of Magic for the [[Warcraft]] universe exist. In [[World of Warcraft]], a player on the Dragonwrath questline, with help from Tarecgosa, uncovers Arygos plotting with Deathwing. Tarecgosa sacrifices herself, but Kalecgos becomes Aspect and makes you the Dragonwrath staff, forcing Arygos to flee. In [[Thrall Twilight of the Aspects]], Thrall is Kalecgos' ally, and after Kalecgos becomes Aspect, {{spoiler|Arygos is killed by Blackmoore}}.

* In ''[[Dead Rising 2]]'', it is revealed that {{spoiler|Sullivan}} was the mole that framed Chuck. In the re-make, ''Dead Rising 2: Off The Record'', they change this to {{spoiler|Stacy, who was your [[Mission Control]] in the original.}}

 

== Western Animation ==

** {{spoiler|And after [[The Reveal]], it turns out his identity ''wasn't'' changed. It was Norman Osborn all along, framing his own son.}}

* [[The DCAU]] uses this to good effect sometimes. For instance, in his debut in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', Bane attempts to break Batman's back in the same manner as in the comics, but Batman manages to disable him first.

** Think Hawkgirl will be exactly what she says she is, and is known to be in the comics: a police officer from another world? Guess again.

** Likewise, the first time Doomsday (the creature that "killed" Superman in the comics) shows up in [[The DCAU]], he faces an alternate-universe Superman [[Knight Templar|who has few scruples]], and wastes no time whatsoever lobotomizing Doomsday with his heat vision.

* In the first [[Scooby Doo]] animated film, not only are the zombie pirate monsters real, but {{spoiler|they're the good guys.}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Media Adaptation Tropes]]

[[Category:Twist Ending]]