Postscript Season: Difference between revisions

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But, hey, don't let that stop you. After all, you got yourself another season. Other producers would kill for a chance like this, so why not just go ahead? The problem is, unless you're ''very'' careful with how you go about the new season, you might end up [[Jump the Shark|Jumping The Shark]].
 
The [[Post Script'''Postscript Season]]''' is what happens when a show is renewed after it's resolved its plot arc. You end up with a season, maybe two, where the show is forced to try out a whole new premise. This seldom goes well. In the first place, you've got to shoehorn these existing characters into a new premise that doesn't quite fit them. Expect [[Character Derailment]]. Secondly, you've already had a [[Grand Finale]], and it's going to be hard to top that. You've already shot your dramatic wad. No wonder fans of other media get just a ''bit'' of dissonant feelings when they hear about how you threw away a perfectly good ending just because you wanted more.
 
However, [[:Category:Sturgeon's Tropes|not all Post ScriptPostscript Seasons are unmitigated disasters]]. There have been a few creators who've handled their new seasons with care and presented material just as satisfying as (if not more than) the material that preceeded. For the most part, however, Post ScriptPostscript Season successes only occur with shows that aren't dependent on large, overall story arcs spanning the entire series.
 
A form of [[Retool]]. Results in [[Plot Leveling]]. Can suffer from [[Final Season Casting]]. Compare [[Trilogy Creep]].
 
{{examples}}
 
== Anime & Manga ==
 
* ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]'': When the series was extended by several episodes in the middle of production, the writers added a Postscript [[Story Arc]] set [[After the End]].
* ''[[GaoGaiGar]]'' had an OVA which retconned the title mecha's original purpose of construction from "fighting the [[Monster of the Week|Zonder]]" to "fighting the new [[A God Am I]] villain we just came up with". It actually went a lot better than it sounds, largely owing to [[Rule of Cool|sheer force of over-the-top-itude]]. Definitely goes under [[Tropes Are Not Bad]].
** The TV series itself had a "postscript last couple of episodes." The [[Big Bad]] [[Man Behind the Man]] was finally, decisively and explosively defeated. Happily ever after, right? Unfortunately years before the series began {{spoiler|a spore for a "New Machine Species" implanted itself in Mikoto's nervous system and took her over, leading to a new, powerful and nigh indestructible foe to give GGG a hard time.}} While it reeked of an [[Ass Pull]] (there was some [[Foreshadowing]], but it was only apparent in hindsight), it somehow managed to wrap itself up nicely.
* ''[[Gunnm|GUNNM: Last Order]]'' might be seen as that, because when road accident forced Yukito Kishiro to [[Wrap It Up]], he tacked a [[Happy Ending]] onto the series and left it for half a decade, until he returned to it in ''Last Order''. However, as the "[[Post ScriptPostscript Season]]" is at this moment ''even longer'' than the original series, and it completely disregarded said happy ending, it is more like a cross between the sequel and the [[Revival]] now.
* After Akria Toriyama decided to conclude the ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' manga with the Majin Buu storyline, [[Toei]] (the producers of the anime version) did their own [[Sequel Series]] titled ''[[Dragon Ball GT]]''.
** The Dark Dragon story arc of ''[[Dragon Ball GT]]'' was itself a post-script season. Originally, the show was intended to last only through the Baby storyline, but Bandai asked [[Toei]] to kept the show going afterward in order to [[Cash Cow Franchise|help promote]] their ''Dragon Ball Final Bout'' fighting game for the [[PlayStation]].
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* Season 3 of ''[[Monster Rancher (anime)|Monster Rancher]]''.
* Season 3 of ''[[Sonic X]]''. Ratings had been mediocre in Japan, so the anime was unable to get past the initial 52 episode order and had to quickly wrap up its [[Trapped in Another World]] premise...and then [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|it became an absolute hit in the international market]], resulting in a somewhat [[Darker and Edgier]] season that had barely anything to do with the rest of the series before it. A bit of an odd case in that this season has never actually aired in Japan, possibly due to the low ratings during its initial run.
* Season 2 of Yoroiden Samurai Troopers, AKA ''[[Ronin Warriors]]''. Originally everyone was supposed to die in the final sequence except Nasti and Jun ("Mia" and "Yuli"), but the producers were notified that the network wanted a second season ... just when Episode 17 was about to air. They then stalled and rewrote the last two episodes to produce a happy ending -- andending—and introduce a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] [[Hand Wave]] [[Deus Ex Machina]] that became the central and driving force behind the next season. The second season, unlike many of these things, turned out to also be possibly better than the first.
 
 
== Comic Books ==
* The maxiseries ''[[Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld]]'' was originally going to be just a twelve-issue series. At the end of the series, the protagonist and her allies triumph, the [[Big Bad]] is killed off, and the heroine [[But Now I Must Go|returns to her normal life on Earth]] after peace is restored to the Gemworld. However, the series was so successful that DC Comics decided to do an ongoing series. The first twelve issues, done by the original creative team behind the maxi-series, weren't too bad. But when they left, the new creative team changed the direction of the series drastically, and did a series of [[Retcon|Retcons]]s designed to drag the series kicking and screaming into the mainstream DC universe. The series was cancelled soon afterward.
 
* The maxiseries ''[[Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld]]'' was originally going to be just a twelve-issue series. At the end of the series, the protagonist and her allies triumph, the [[Big Bad]] is killed off, and the heroine [[But Now I Must Go|returns to her normal life on Earth]] after peace is restored to the Gemworld. However, the series was so successful that DC Comics decided to do an ongoing series. The first twelve issues, done by the original creative team behind the maxi-series, weren't too bad. But when they left, the new creative team changed the direction of the series drastically, and did a series of [[Retcon|Retcons]] designed to drag the series kicking and screaming into the mainstream DC universe. The series was cancelled soon afterward.
* ''[[Runaways]]'' was only supposed to be eighteen issues, and after {{spoiler|Alex was revealed as the mole and the Pride was all killed}}, there wasn't really anywhere to go, but the series got a second volume with the original creative team that lasted another few years, and continued after they left, and it was recently relaunched again. Many fans liked the new characters and new directions, but the overall sense of suspense was lost, and, after the original creative team left, it just wasn't as quality.
* Marvel's original ''Micronauts'' series concluded with a [[Bittersweet Ending]]. The [[Big Bad]] was finally [[Killed Off for Real]], but the heroes' Homeworld had been reduced to a lifeless ruin. With Homeworld in ruins and the war over, the Micronauts decide to go off and explore the Microverse as the series ended. Then the series was relaunched as ''Micronauts: The New Voyages''. Under a new creative team, the series picked up where the original left off, but the series ended up being mostly dull and pointless as the Micronauts (and the story) wandered aimlessly. Eventually, they returned to Homeworld to restore it to life as the series ended.
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== Literature ==
 
* For those who took Latin in high school, one can't help but wonder if the writers of the ''[[Cambridge Latin Course]]'' textbook thought they wouldn't get their contracts renewed after Book I. Vesuvius blows and [[Kill'Em All|everybody dies]], Caecilius dying onscreen and his son's fate left in question... until next semester. Also, Book IV had ''a lot'' of [[Filler]] arcs, don't you think? Who cares about [[Those Two Guys]] at Bath and random weddings? Get back to Salvius and his evil!
* ''[[Dean Koontz]]'s Frankenstein'' ends the third book by {{spoiler|killing Victor}}, resolving the [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]], and otherwise tying up its loose ends. There is a mention of {{spoiler|Victor's clone surviving}}, but otherwise everything is settled. Book Four came out in 2010, and Book Five is coming out in 2011. And many, ''many'' people really wish they hadn't/aren't.
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** There is no postscript. Every season represents the unfolding of a single overarching story. [[The Chris Carter Effect|It just might not have seemed like it.]]
* ''[[Remington Steele]]'' married off Laura and Steele, as the show's cancellation looked certain ''and'' Pierce Brosnan had been offered the role of [[James Bond]]. However, ''because'' Brosnan got the Bond role, NBC decided to renew the show, bringing it back for a very lame half-season which lacked all of the charm of the preceding seasons ''and'' effectively scuttling Brosnan's big movie break. Brosnan didn't end up playing Bond for over a decade.
* ''[[Sledge Hammer!]]'' nuked its town in the first season finale, not expecting renewal. With the renewal, the second season was set "five years earlier", with all ongoing plotlines continuing uninterrupted.
* ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' was originally a completed series at a mere 40 episodes, with a conclusion similar to the ending of ''[[Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger]]'' (the Japanese basis for the first season) where Rita Repulsa was re-captured and thrown back into space in her dumpster after the defeat of Cyclopsis. However, the explosion in merchandise sales early into the series convinced Saban to pay [[Toei]] to film more action footage to extend the first season to 60 episodes (some which were left over and eventually used for the second season), as well as enter a contract for adapting whole future seasons. Traces of the original series finale are evident in the VERY choppy Command Center scene at the end of the aired version of "Doomsday Part 2" (in which Zordon offers the Rangers to retire, even though Rita is still loose).
** ''Power Rangers In Space'' was also initially set to be the final season following ''Power Rangers Turbo'', and made great strides to finish off existing plot threads, even killing off established characters and redeeming others. The ratings were so good for the more serialized ''In Space'' that the series was recommisioned. Executive Producer Johnathan Tzachor (who later became more of an [[Executive Meddling|executive meddler]]) suddenly threw out the entire existing cast in favour of a fresh one, a trait that has continued with every post-script season ever since.
* After an unprecedented (at the time) letter-writing campaign saved ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' from cancellation, fans were "rewarded" with a third season containing many of the show's weakest and/or goofiest episodes (even by the standards of the series), including the infamous ''[[Star Trek/Recap/S3/E01 SpocksSpock's Brain|Spock's Brain]]'' as season premiere. Since the series was always purely episodic, the usual reasons for a lackluster Post ScriptPostscript Season don't apply; what really killed the show was that the network promised a solid Tuesday night slot and then was moved to a [[Friday Night Death Slot|Friday... er, Saturday Night Death Slot]], violating a verbal contract with creator/producer [[Gene Roddenberry]]. He left the show in protest and had little involvement in the third season. That said, some strong episodes did churn out.
* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' had this happen multiple times, with seasons 6, 7, 8 and 9. The show was expected to be cancelled after five seasons, and so ended on a decent (but not Grand) finale ("Revelations") -- the expectation was that they would then move on to [[The Movie]] (to be called "Stargate: The Lost City" or something similar) which would segue into the [[Spin-Off]] (''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'', which was very different in concept at this stage). Then the show was renewed for a sixth season, and so was given a [[Grand Finale]] ("Full Circle") which introduced the planned concept of [[The Movie]]. Then the show was renewed for a seventh season, so [[The Movie]] was cancelled and its concept was rewritten as a season-long arc that would finish with a two-part [[Grand Finale]] ("Lost City") which would segue into the [[Spin-Off]] instead. Then the series was renewed for an eighth season, so the [[Grand Finale]]'s ending was changed to make more of a cliffhanger to be resolved in the Season 8 premiere, and ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' started running concurrently to ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''. It was expected that the eighth season would be the last, however, so the end of the season was once again devised to close the book on the series: both major galactic threats were taken away in a three-episode arc ("Reckoning" Parts 1 & 2 and "Threads" -- interestingly—interestingly, these came just ''before'' the [[Grand Finale]]), and then the series ended with yet another two-part [[Grand Finale]] ("Moebius") involving time-traveling to ancient Egypt. The show was then picked up ''again'' for a ninth season, and was given a [[Retool]] which replaced several cast members and introduced a new [[Big Bad]]. Season 9 was made knowing that the show would be renewed for at least another year -- andyear—and then, finally, the show was cancelled after the end of Season 10. Whether the final episode ("Unending") was a [[Grand Finale]] is doubtful; the real resolution of the series happened in the DVD movie "Stargate: The Ark of Truth". And then there was another DVD movie, and more planned... until [[Stargate Universe]] underperformed and MGM went bankrupt. Ooops.
* ''[[SeaQuest DSV|Sea Quest DSV]]'' also had this happen twice. It was not known if the show would be renewed, so at the end of the first season, they destroyed the SeaQuest. The show was picked up, so there was a [[Retool]] and a new SeaQuest was constructed. Then at the end of the second season, facing a similar situation, the SeaQuest was transported to another planet and ''then'' destroyed. The show was picked up, so it was renamed ''SeaQuest 2032'' and moved ten years into the future. Partway into season three, it was [[Cut Short]].
* ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'': The British sitcom about two poor wheeler-dealer street-market trader brothers ended after 15 years (7 seasons and four sets of Christmas specials) with the Trotter brothers finding an antique watch in their garage, [[Rags to Riches|and becoming millionaires at last]]. The three episode finale, where the Trotters are finally shown in luxury penthouses and expensive sports cars, was shown over Christmas 1996 and attracted massive viewing figures for [[The BBC]]. A few years later they convinced writer John Sullivan to reprise the ever-popular characters for three more [[Christmas Episode|Christmas Episodes]]s. Having the Trotters [[Snap Back|lose their investment money in a stock market crash (based on one in real life) and return to their original lifestyle]] [[Deus Ex Machina|only to gain some of their lost fortune back]] and allow Rodney and Cassandra to finally have a child of their own, the specials were panned by critics and viewers alike, and no more have been produced since 2003. To add salt to the wound, "Time On Your Hands" was featured on Sky1's often repeated ''Top Fifty TV Endings'' feature...''completely ignoring the three 2001-2003 specials''.
* ''[[Night Court]]'': Season 8 is over. Dan quits his job and loses the Phil Foundation fortune. More importantly, Harry and Christine have professed their love to one another. OK, that's the end. What's that? We've been renewed? Oh, crap!
** [[30 Rock]] devoted [[wikipedia:The One with the Cast of Night Court|an episode]] to the idea that several of the characters on that show were unhappy with the Season 9 ending to Night Court, so they staged a "fake" episode, reuniting several of the actual cast members, and they had Harry and Christine get married.
* The last (fifth) season of ''[[Angel]]'' was, in its own way, a [[PostPostscript Script Season]]--albeitSeason—albeit one that didn't arise from being renewed at the last second. The long story arc of the third and fourth seasons had come to a close, the characters had moved on to a completely different setting (the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart), several characters set out to be or were forcibly retooled, everyone except Angel had {{spoiler|their memories of Connor erased and replaced by a false past}}, and Spike from ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' was added as as regular cast member. The change was apparently done at the network's request. Then, due to conflicting accounts, including the high per-episode cost, the show was cancelled anyway. What makes it a [[Post ScriptPostscript Season]] instead of a [[Retool]] is that, while it was intended to cover multiple seasons, the cancellation aborted the arc.
* The seventh season finale of ''[[Charmed]]'' was at first planned as the series finale. Just think about it: Darryl promised his wife he wouldn't help the Charmed Ones anymore, then they destroyed their own source of power so the [[Big Bad]] would die in the explosion as well, and finally changed their faces and started living normal lives! Not to mention their dead sister Prue was mentioned a lot, and even the episode title was a mirror of the title of the pilot episode. But then they got renewed... we all know what happened since.
** It wasn't so much as being planned, but more like hedging their bets. The show was consistently on the bubble for Season 7. The writers had no idea whether they'd be back or not. It wasn't until about a week before the last episode aired before the network renewed the series for an eighth season. [[Word of God]] says the Season 7 finale was explicitly written as a [[Series Fauxnale]].
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* The ultimate example is probably ''[[Coronation Street]]'', which has essentially been on a series of postscript seasons since ''1960''. It was originally intended to be 13 episodes long, with Coronation Street bulldozed in a [[Made for TV Movie]]. However, it proved so popular that a new series was commissioned, and it's been broadcasting more or less continuously to the present day.
* This happened with ''[[Golden Girls]]''. Bea Arthur decided to leave the show after the seventh season, and it ends with Dorothy getting married and moving to Atlanta. However, her mother Sophia decides to stay in Miami with the roommates, and the eighth season is retitled ''The Golden Palace'' as the girls open a high-end hotel. Needless to say, it wasn't well received and most fans prefer to think the series ended with Dorothy's wedding.
* Sort of happened on ''[[Saved by the Bell]]''. The show had finished taping its finale (which centered around the characters' high school graduation) when NBC ordered more episodes. Which shouldn't have been a problem, as the finale hadn't aired yet, and they could simply air the new episodes prior to the finale--exceptfinale—except that the actors' contracts had expired, and everyone but Tiffani Amber-Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley decided to sign new ones. As a result, Kelly and Jessie were replaced with a new character named Tori Scott. No explanation was given for Kelly and Jessie's absence in the new episodes, and since the finale was already in the can, no explanation could be given for Tori's absence at graduation.
* ''[[La Femme Nikita]]''. Despite being the USA Network's top rated drama during its 4th season (even with no advertisement by the network), the cancellation was announced. After the large fan campaign to bring the series back, in September 2000 a truncated 5th season was announced. It did help out with some of the [[Cannon Fodder]] they had left behind, but gave one hell of a [[Bittersweet Ending]].
* Season 5 of ''[[Supernatural]]'' ended with {{spoiler|Sam making the ultimate sacrifice to put Lucifer back in his cage and Dean giving up his demon hunting ways and settling down}}. It was a very touching episode and would have made the perfect series finale, {{spoiler|cliffhanger aside}}. And then they got a sixth season. The show creator walked away but his co-producer kept it going.
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* ''[[Prison Break]]'' was an odd case of unplanned seasons. While the creators mentioned the show was only designed for two seasons, Fox squeezed a third season out of them in 2007-2008. This unfolded the same year when...you guessed it...the writer's strike happened. As a result, the third season was truncated to 13 episodes, and forced the writers to produce a fourth season to wrap up the show. Depending on who you ask, the fourth year was either a creative resurgence from the mediocre third season or a godawful train wreck of epic proportions. The controversial series ending was even more polarizing. And let's not even get into the cash grabbing DVD movie, The Final Break.
* ''[[7th Heaven]]'' had a grand series finale at the end of the 10th season. They got all the original cast back, had a big almost-wedding, and every married Camden child was expecting twins. Then, like the Jesus that the Christian characters never mentioned, the show was revived three days later because the executives mistook the finale's high ratings as a sign that people wanted the show to continue. For the 11th season, the writers were forced to find a way out of the corner they backed themselves into with the twins, as well as deal with a much smaller budget. Their way out of these problems was to make Lucy have a miscarriage over the summer, have the longest-running (and highest paid) actors not appear in every episode, bring in a bevy of cheaper teen actors, and have Reverend Camden homeschool the twins to save money on a classroom set and extras. The results were dismal.
* ''[[24]]'''s seventh season was delayed for over a year because of a strike by the Writer's Guild of America, and its renewal status was up in the air. As a result, most of the long-running plot threads in the series were wrapped up, including the final appearances of most of the surviving supporting characters from the series, and the resolution of the overarching conspiracy of seasons 5, 6 and 7 (to the point that a major character [[Back Fromfrom the Dead|who was previously thought dead]] returned to get his revenge). Season 7 even ended on a downbeat note, as Jack Bauer made peace with himself (after being infected with a virus) before slipping into a coma, while his daughter attempted to save his life. However, the show was unexpectedly renewed for an eighth season (which only happened after season seven had finished airing), and the writers transported Jack (who survived the virus) from Washington to New York, where he works to stop another terrorist threat with the help of the recently-instituted CTU New York branch and an (almost) entirely new cast. The only thing that connects it to the previous seasons are a handful of characters and the appearance of a previously-assumed dead President.
* Every season of ''[[Friday Night Lights]]'' after the third season, although this is a rare case of a postscript season done right. The main narrative arc concludes with the Panthers {{spoiler|losing at State despite a big comeback when everyone expected them to be eliminated early}}, as well as most of the main characters' arcs being wrapped up...that is, until the fourth and fifth seasons, where Coach Taylor (who was forced out of his job) is hired at a newly-reopened school and teaches a new team with lesser equipment, budget and facilities, training them from scratch. However, the narrative (coupled with cameos and updates on the characters who were previously [[The Bus Came Back|put on a bus]]) made it just as well-written as the previous seasons.
* The seventh season of the Canadian coroner drama ''[[Da Vinci's Inquest|Da Vincis Inquest]]'' ended with most of the major plot threads tied up (including the arrest of the series' [[Big Bad]], who was prevalent throughout the last three seasons) and most of the characters getting a decent send-off. Although the series ended with a vague [[Sequel Hook]] (in which the main character, Dominic Da Vinci, announces his intent to run for Mayor of Vancouver), it was pretty much the end...until the show was retooled a year later as ''Da Vinci's City Hall'', skipping the entire process of the mayoral election and going straight to Da Vinci in office. Although the postscript season still integrated a handful of characters from the previous seasons, the show bled viewers and was subsequently cancelled at the end of its season.
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* [[The Good Life|John Esmonde and Bob Larbey's]] (now little remembered) National Service sitcom ''Get Some In!'' was cancelled after its fourth season in 1977. Esmonde and Larbey decided to end on a high note, with [[Drill Sergeant Nasty|Corporal Marsh]] demoted to Aircraftman for cheating on a nursing exam and posted to a remote RAF base in Labrador, while "erks" Jakey, Ken, Matthew, and Bruce received a cushy posting to an RAF hospital in Malta. However, the ''News of the World'' successfully campaigned ITV to renew the series (citing audience figures of over 14 million), and the fifth season premiere in 1978 saw the plot developments at the end of the fourth season reversed as the "erks" were immediately recalled to Britain and found themselves once again under the heel of Marsh (who had returned a hero and restored to Corporal). The cast and audience alike were unhappy with the result, doubly so because Robert Lindsay, who played Jakey Smith, had accepted the title role in the [[Only Fools and Horses|John Sullivan]]-penned sitcom ''[[Citizen Smith]]'' during the hiatus and was replaced by future ''Brush Strokes'' star [[The Other Darrin|Karl Howman]]. The fifth season proved to be the last, and ended on a much less final note than the fourth season.
* As ''[[Roseanne]]'' neared the end of its eighth season, which had been expected to be its last, the ratings improved enough for the network to ask for one more season, in which the show completely lost its moorings as the Conners' lottery win allowed the writers to indulge in all the "what-if" plotlines they had never otherwise dared to touch. It had to end with Roseanne sitting on the couch as it was in the original set saying basically "[[Canon Discontinuity|none of what you watched for the past season really happened]]".
* ''[[Primeval]]'', due to its huge budget, by British television standards, has spend most of its runtime on the verge of being cancelled. On top of that the actor playing the lead hero wanted out during season 3. This season, while containing some big fat ''[[Sequel Hook]]''s, killed off not only him but also the main villain ({{spoiler|his wife}}). While the gimmick driving the series was still there the writers had to develop a completely new storyline when they were eventually greenlit for a season 4 and 5. (Season 5 ended on a similar note, if the series gets revived again there will be a post post scriptpostscript season season.)
 
== Radio ==
* This happened to ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' in its original radio incarnation, which had to get Arthur and Ford off of prehistoric Earth and rescue Marvin and Zaphod from a carbon copy of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal so they could go on further adventures. (While poor old Trillian got a one-line [[Put on a Bus]].)
** The bus came back later, when they started making radio versions of the book series.
 
 
== Theatre ==
* ''[[Henry V]]'' - After the roguish Prince Hal won a loyal fanbase in ''[[Henry IV]]'' parts one and two, the author eventually decided to extend the story, even after bringing Hal's relationship with the [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] Falstaff to a satisfactory conclusion in the finale. The reboot ended up being much [[Darker and Edgier]], and contrary to the author's promises didn't include Falstaff at all.
 
 
== [[Toys]] ==
* ''[[Bionicle]]'' ended mid-2010, and the entire toyline, comics, movies and novels have become discontinued. Just about all of the main story threads got neatly, if abruptly, wrapped up and the final speech delivered, but many side-stories were still unfinished and a lot of mysteries unsolved, thus (and also because the "ending" had set up a ''ton'' of new possibilities) [[LEGO]] agreed to keep the story going for at least another year and a half, but only the main writer, Greg Farshtey remained as the sole storyteller, as the other members of the former Story Team had moved on to other projects.
 
 
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Mega Man X]] 5'' ended the story and left Zero [[Killed Off for Real]]. Capcom produced a sequel anyway, without Keiji Inafune's involvement. ''X6's'' mostly pointless story tried to combine all 3 of X5's endings, used one of the worst [[Ass Pull|Ass Pulls]]s ever to bring Zero back, and demoted [[Big Bad]] Sigma to [[Anticlimax Boss]] status. It even included a [[Jumping the Shark|robot shark for easy jumping purposes]].
** It doesn't help that Zero's explanation that {{spoiler|he repaired himself between games is mentioned in a cutscene and the truth that he doesn't know who really fixed him is revealed in an optional event where Zero gets an armor part from Dr. Light.}} Maybe if the development team didn't make that wretched Nightmare stage gimmick, they'd had more time to make the game make sense.
** The less said of [[The Scrappy|Axl]], and the 2 further sequels, the better.
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* After years of ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' games existing as standalone games, the success of ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' and the intrigue created by a promotional video expanding on the game's [[Bittersweet Ending]] led to production of ''[[Final Fantasy X-2]]'' scant months after the game's Japanese release. Since the world had already been saved in the previous game, this sequel had a [[Lighter and Softer]] tone, especially compared to the heavy drama of the first. It also added [[Fan Service]] by the truck load and starred three women. Finally, it also addressed the [[Bittersweet Ending]], leading to many outcries from people that had assumed {{spoiler|Tidus died, despite the ending of ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' showing him returning to Spira and ''[[Final Fantasy X-2]]'' using that ''exact'' scene to show his return.}}
* ''[[Syphon Filter]]: Logan's Shadow''. The eponymous virus and the Consortium are no longer part of the plot, which instead involves Somali pirates and a [[Big Bad]] affiliated with al-Qaeda.
* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' does this all the time, often including a series after its plot has been resolved simply to pad out the cast list (or because they want to pair it up with another show). ''[[Super Robot Wars Alpha]]'' and ''[[Super Robot Wars Z]]'' in particular have a rather large number of Postscript Series, since they're multi-game epics and just having characters disappear into the ether when there are still enemies to fight wouldn't make sense.<ref>Though ''Alpha'' does lose a few series along the way, like ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket]]'' and ''[[Brain Powered]]'', and ''Z'' replaces some older series with new incarnations, like ''[[Mazinger Z]]'' -> ''[[Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen]]''</ref>.
* The ''[[Another Century's Episode]]'' franchise also did this in ''3: The Final'' (with ''[[Macross]]'' and ''[[Metal Armor Dragonar]]'', both of whom had their plots finished in ''2'') and ''R'' (''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'', the only series in the ''ACE'' franchise to debut with its plot resolved).
* The original ''[[Another World (video game)|Another World]]'' ending was meant to be [[Left Hanging]], but Interplay went ahead and made a sequel without Chahi's involvement, where you play as Buddy, and Lester, the original protagonist, dies near the end.
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** [[Meta Twist|How very Meta.]]
* ''[[Tomb Raider]]: The Last Revelation'', ''Chronicles'', and ''Angel of Darkness'', all of which became [[Canon Discontinuity]] after the reboot.
* ''[[Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker]]'', while well-received, pretty much qualifies as this. ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'' had already revealed the secret behind the Patriots, ended their rule, and made Big Boss repent. ''[[Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker]]'' is therefore a mostly [[Filler]] [[Interquel]] which mostly serves to explain something that was already explained by a previous [[Filler]] game (''[[Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops]]'') in a way slightly more congruent with ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'''s [[Retcon|retconsretcon]]s. Fortunately the plot on its own is a lot of fun, and the game is also really entertaining.
* The second half of the ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]]'' games suffer from this. The ending of ''3'' is the typical "It looks like the hero's about to die. No wait, he survives." script, while being overly sentimental and dramatic, as well as finally beating up the World Three, the main villain group. It's pretty obvious that ''4'' was made with absolutely no thought put into subsequent games (ie. the villain is a [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]], dark chips seem to be a one-off gimick, and there plot is very bare bones). ''5'' builds on the dark chips and the new villains, the Nebula organization, but kills them off in the game, making all the development meaningless, and ''6'' switches gears back to World Three, the group you were assured were finished in ''3'', while bringing back older characters from all the other games, except, oddly fitting, from ''3''.
 
 
== Western Animation ==
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* [[SpongeBob SquarePants]] was originally supposed to end after Season 3 with [[The Movie]] being a conclusion to the whole series. It has since had [[Seasonal Rot|numerous seasons of degrading quality]] (due to [[Executive Meddling]] and being [[Adored by the Network]]), although [[Word of God]] states that [[The Movie]] is still technically the finale.
* "See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey" is thought to be the [[Grand Finale]] of [[The Powerpuff Girls]] (although it has never been shown on U.S. television), in spite of the fact that it was made as a season 5 episode. The last original episodes (not including the 10th anniversary special) the made and screened were "Roughing It Up" and "What's The Big Idea?" Many fans believe that either the show should have ended after season four and the movie or Craig McCracken should have returned to it (he was busy pitching and making [[Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends]]).
 
 
== Others ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Seasons]]
[[Category:Post ScriptPostscript Season]]
[[Category:Example as a Thesis]]