Orphaned Series: Difference between revisions

[[wikipedia:Unfinished creative work|Here's]] an article in [[The Other Wiki]] about it.

 

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* [[Alan Moore]]'s miniseries ''Big Numbers'' stopped after two issues. This was particularly frustrating due to the more literary, kitchen-sink-drama nature of the series, the audience didn't learn what direction the series was going in, how the groups of unrelated characters were going to interact, or what all the untranslated dialogue in some Indian language was about.

** The main reason why ''Big Numbers'' was canceled was that illustrator Bill Sienkiewicz left the series and he was replaced by a nineteen-year-old assistant of his named Al Columbia. Al Columbia had to replicate the gritty, photo realistic technique Sienkiewicz utilized for illustrating the previous ''Big Numbers'' issues, and he had to do so by specified deadlines. Al Columbia cracked under the pressure of such a herculean task and as a result, he not only left his ''Big Numbers'' work unfinished, but he destroyed much of his work, including two unpublished issues. Al Columbia, despite having a cult following generated by grotesque works such as ''The Biologic Show'', remains somewhat a pariah in the comic industry.

* In the early '00s there was a quirky British comic titled ''Bazooka Jules'', by [http://steve-huge.deviantart.com/ Neil Googe], about a 16-year-old schoolgirl named Julie Glocke who gets mixed up in a plot involving aliens and super-science and gains the ability to turn into a [[Gag Boobs|ridiculously well-endowed]] [[Action Girl]] who can spontaneously pull [[BFG|gigantic pieces of armament]] out of thin air (that is to say, she has "big guns" of both kinds. *groan*). It was criticized for the underage [[Fan Service]], but fans and critics enjoyed the humor and Googe's expressive art style. Anyway, around issue #3 (it was planned to run for six), Googe took seriously ill and someone broke into the publisher's building, stealing the material for the planned future issues, which were never recovered. Googe got better and planned a relaunch of the series with artist LeShawn Thomas, but before it got off the ground they hit some copyright issues, Thomas left to do animation work on ''[[The Boondocks]]'', and Googe himself eventually signed an exclusive deal with [[DC Comics]], where he now works on their ''Wildstorm'' imprint. Neil Googe has retained Julie as a sort of signature character, but as a comic, ''Bazooka Jules'' seems to be as dead as it gets at this point.

* ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'' comic series ended abruptly (right before a big fight with the bad guys) when author Ben Edlund decided to spend time working on the cartoon. He never made it back, and given the current success of ''[[Supernatural]]'', it's unlikely he'll be making it back anytime soon.

** And especially given that the series has been relaunched under writer Benito Cereno.

* Before being released, 6 episodes for ''[[Shenmue]]'' were planned. The first episode was critically acclaimed, but [[flop]]ped financially, so they decided to make the series shorter, by merging episodes 2,3,4 AND 5 into a single episode, leaving the series with only 3 episodes. But ''[[Shenmue|Shenmue II]]'' (still universally acclaimed as an awesome game) [[flop]]ped even HARDER than the first one, plans for future games have been abandoned. There were some small games now and then, but no ''[[Shenmue|Shemue III]]'' at sight. The author has stated in 2010 that he wanted to make [[Shenmue|''Shenmue III'']] and [[Sega]] green-lighted it, but he couldn't get financial support for it. The worst part? ''[[Shenmue|Shenmue II]]'' ends in a [[Cliff Hanger]]!

* Any game released on an episodic schedule can be prone to this if the first episodes don't stir up enough interest and the developers are fired (as is the case with ''SiN Episodes'', whose development studio was disintegrated after the released of the first episode ''Emergence'') or lose interest and move on to other, better things ([[Telltale Games]], for example, released only the first two episodes to their ''[[Bone]]'' series, which were met with lukewarm reviews, before moving on to the much more successful ''[[Sam and Max]]'' series).

* [[Tim Schafer]] is cursed with these.

** ''[[Psychonauts]]'' ended on a cliffhanger with the team speeding off to save Lili's father, but poor sales led to Majesco cancelling the sequel entirely. Tim Shafer eventually got the IP back around 2010 and has repeatedly expressed interest in creating another title, but as no publisher has stepped forward to fund it, the sequel has yet to materialize.

* ''[[Bonk]]'' also appears to sadly be another victim of this, with Bonk 3DS and Brink of Extinction being cancelled due to the dissolution of Hudson.

* ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'', due to the dissolution of Nautilus.

** There's still hope since Media.Vision hasn't folded yet. Oddly enough, their most recent game is [[Valkyria Chronicles III]] (another RPG with emphasis on firearms).

* ''[[Suikoden]]'' hasn't gotten a proper sequel since the fifth, with Konami ultimately announcing on their Facebook page that they had no new announcements on the series, and that the development team behind the franchise had been disbanded.

* Sony left ''[[Syphon Filter]]: Logan's Shadow'' hanging on a [[Cliff Hanger]], then abandoned the franchise.

* ''[[Blinx the Time Sweeper|Blinx]]'', due to the dissolution of Artoon.

* ''Dark Cloud''

* The ''[[Oddworld]]'' "quintology." It was planned to be at least 10 games. To very few people's surprise, this turned out to be not an easy task. So far, there have been 4. Every year or so there's been news about the company making a new game (At least 3 different sequel ideas have been completely scrapped,) or making sequels in the form of films, but nothing ever comes of it. It seems like they may have finally given up on completing the series. They're working on remakes of their old games instead.

* The first incarnation and reboot [[Darwin's Soldiers]] on Furtopia were never finished and will probably remain that way.

* In general, this is very common fate for online roleplays.

* ''[[Xiao Xiao]]'' ended with a demo of a beat-em-up game back in 2002. There have been no signs of that demo or the series ever continuing since then. In fact, the author's whereabouts are unknown as well.

* ''Sapphire Spindle Paw'' is either this or [[Stillborn Serial]]. Mystic(TheSpiritWolf) Created a prologue video and then a first episode, then posted about his/her intentions to make a third video, and then left the site. Searching "Sapphire Spindle Paw", with quotes, gives around four or five results. There is no sign of an episode 2.

 

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'''[[Statler and Waldorf|Both]]''': [[Memetic Mutation|Do-ho-hoh]]! }}