Shaggy Dog Story: Difference between revisions

This could be [[Sliding Scale of Cynicism Versus Idealism|cynically viewed]] as [[Truth in Television]], since a lot of life's events don't seem to have much of a point to them either.

 

 

Not to be confused with ''[[Scooby-Doo (animation)|Scooby Doo]]'', which is a cartoon featuring [[A Worldwide Punomenon|Shaggy's dog]]. Also not to be confused with the Disney's movie ''[[The Shaggy Dog (1959 film)|The Shaggy Dog]]''.

{{quote|'''Emi''': And so, my summer ended without me able to do anything.}}

* Various cults and evil mages have spent great amounts of time and effort in schemes to resurrect the dark wizard Zeref in ''[[Fairy Tail]]''. Then it turns out that Zeref was alive the whole time, and not pleased when he finds out that a bunch of cults have committed many evil acts in his name...

 

== Comic Books ==

* ''Seven Psychopaths'' is the story of a [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] assembled to assassinate Hitler in the fall of 1941. Little do they know Hitler has [[wikipedia:Georg Elser#The assassination attempt|already been assassinated]]. "Hitler" these days is just a role played by a series of body doubles acting as puppets for the Nazi party. The team actually does manage to wipe out the body doubles, thanks largely to the [[Master of Disguise]] among them getting himself invited to join them. But the [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] idea ultimately backfires, as the [[Master of Disguise]], who also happens to be a narcissistic [[Glory Hound]], decides he can't pass up the chance to become the "most beloved man in Germany", so he kills the only other team member who knew about the body double program and lives out the rest of his days as Hitler. The course of the war remains unaffected.

* Almost every tale by Edward Gorey has elements of this, notably, ''The Headless Bust'' and ''The Unstrung Harp''.

 

== Fan Works ==

 

== Film ==

* A classic example of this trope is found in the [[Marx Brothers]] film ''[[A Night at the Opera]]''. Groucho and Chico spend several minutes haggling over a contract. Chico keeps objecting to the terms, and Groucho keeps tearing off the sections that Chico won't agree to. Finally, nothing remains but the space where Chico has to put his signature, and Groucho hands him a pen. "I can't write," Chico admits sheepishly. "That's all right," replies Groucho, "There's no ink in the pen, anyway."

* ''[[Time Bandits]]''. In the end, it's revealed that {{spoiler|everything that happened was part of The Supreme Being's plan. The villain defeats himself and the Supreme Being appears to put everything back the way it was.}}

* In the Disney [[Roger Rabbit Effect|live action-animation mix]] ''[[Bedknobs and Broomsticks]]'', most of the movie is spent searching for a powerful spell which could help the English in [[World War II]], {{spoiler|only to find out near the end that it was all in the children's book, making their excursion into cartoon land pointless.}}

** Not only that, {{spoiler|but upon obtaining the needed object containing the spell's magic words and returning home, they discover that they can't take objects from one world into another}}, making it a double shaggy dog story.

** The "secrets" are that {{spoiler|it's the modern day and the village is just some random village of nutters who fled the "horrors" of modern society (medicine and so forth) to raise their kids in the good old days of ''the dark age of Europe'', even pretending to be surrounded by demons to scare their kids into not leaving the nature reserve that they own. Even when one of the kids is dying because of it, the ''only'' person that they will send for help (because all of the adults who actually have any awareness of the outside world refuse to go) is a blind woman who has no idea what a road is, let alone being able to safely cross it or find a hospital.}}

* ''[[Run Lola Run]]'' ends with {{spoiler|Lola arriving up just in time with the money Manni needed for his crime boss, only to discover that Manni managed to settle things himself without much fuss. The last scene is of them both walking off while Manni asks what's in the bag.}}

*** Of course, both of those outcomes, just like just about everything else that happens in all three storylines, are caused by {{spoiler|Lola's very own interference, which in turn is caused by what happens in the stairwell}}, albeit one has to watch the movie several times to notice every single causality. It's basically 'Chaos Theory: The Movie'.

* ''[[Cabaret]]'' is a very long, drawn-out version of this trope with singing and dancing. Not only is the entire story totally pointless by the end, but none of the characters have developed in any way whatsoever.

* The ''[[Final Destination]]'' series movies are about a group of people who somehow escaped death and then find themselves dying from improbable accidents one after another. They spend the movie trying to figure out death's plan and finding a way to defy it and live. They invariably fail and succumb to the inevitable.

* [[Monster a Go-Go!|"But there was no monster!"]]

*** Though in the book it was Britain who faced the aliens.

* The late-60s Israeli comedy Sallah Shabbati uses one of these as a side plot: the poor immigrant's latest scheme to get cash (so he can get his family out of the refugee camp and into an apartment) is to answer a newspaper ad asking for a dog. When he shows up at the posh Tel Aviv house with a stray he found in the camp, the woman there reacts in horror: "That's not my Pookie!"

* Lots of Middle Eastern movies seem to be about this, and they're depressing. Case in point: ''Kandahar'', which is about a woman who needs to get to Kandahar before her sister, who had both of her legs blown off by a mine, commits suicide. The movie is about her travelling around trying to meet her sister before the date when she said she'd kill herself - but sadly the woman is arrested while trying to cross a border checkpoint. [[Downer Ending|and that's the end]]

** Also ''A Time For Drunken Horses'', which if I remember rightly has two little boys on their own without a family, who begin smuggling goods over a snowy mountain pass with horses. To help the horses survive the bitter cold, they are given alcohol (making this movie a case of [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]). One day they are smuggling a haul and they give the horses too much alcohol and the horses collapse. The end.

** Well, for the ''villains'', sure. They spend the entire movie manipulating and killing each other (as well as anyone who gets in the way) over the eponymous statue of a falcon which is covered in black enamel but secretly covered in jewels. At the end, they form an alliance and attain it... only to find it is a fake. For [[Humphrey Bogart|Sam]] [[Private Detective|Spade]], though, it's a grandslam: the falcon lured all these villains out of the woodwork, allowing him to work with them, getting him out from under the police's thumb, make money, and even {{spoiler|reveal his heroic colors by setting every last one of them up to go to jail, including the [[Femme Fatale]] who killed his partner.}}

* In ''[[Eyes Wide Shut]]'', Bill suspects that his wife is having an affair and gets himself embroiled in some dark sexual circles while trying to sow his own wild oats. It turns out that his situation was not nearly as dark as he thought it was, he decides against having sex with anyone after all, and his wife was never disloyal to him in the first place.

* ''[[Burn After Reading]]'' ends with the CIA director and Palmer sitting in an office contemplating what the heck happened. The only thing they learned, they muse, is to not do it again, if only they knew what, if anything, they did to cause the whole thing in the first place.

 

== Jokes ==

* Or the infamous "Passion fruit Story": A boy has to do an assignment on tropical fruits for a geography assignment, as he hands it in, the teacher asks: "What did you do your assignment on?" the boy replied "Passion fruits". The man is then overcome with rage and sends him out of the class. As the principal walks by, he asks why the boy is out of class. The boy replies, "I did a report on passion fruits". The principal expels him on the spot. The boy goes home, tells his mother about the passion fruits and she throws him out. The boy is homeless, and lying on a park bench when a police officer arrives, asking him why he is homeless. Cue the boy getting a (25 year) life sentence. As he gets his case appealed, he explains the passion fruit story. He gets another 25 year life sentence. Near the end of this sentence, the 65 year old man gets approached by someone saying he can explain the whole passion fruit incident, and to just say you murdered someone to avoid another life sentence. The man goes to his hearing and says "I killed a man, won't do it again" and he is freed. As he crosses the road, about to find out what the hell is going on he crossness the road without looking and ''gets hit by a car''.

** A variation is "Beaver". The joke opens with a teacher in a class of third-graders going around the classroom asking students what their favorite animal is. While you get the usual puppies and kittens, a kid known for being a troublemaker says his favorite animal is the beaver. Offended, the teacher leads the student up the chain of command demanding he repeat what he said and each person being offended, from vice-principal to principal to superintendent and on and on until he ends up in front of the president of the United States, who decides the best way for the kid to atone for his behavior is to apologize on the floor of the UN. At the UN, the boy says what he said in class, and a member of the general assembly considers what he said so offensive he runs out into the street and gets hit by a car. Final line: "And the moral of the story is: Look Both Ways Before You Cross the Street!".

 

== Literature ==

*** Yeah, but Cailen would have been born ''anyway'' had circumstances been different. Only this time Rowan wouldn't have been in a position she hated. So I ask again: What was the point of that?

*** To emphasize just how far Maric and Loghain value duty over their personal feelings and desires, and giving each of them reasons to become bitter at old age. In case you missed it, it's not a love story, and it isn't supposed to be.

* ''[[American Psycho]]'' by [[Bret Easton Ellis]] (and the film adaptation) - Patrick Bateman becomes increasingly insane and homicidal and a lot of people die at his hands, culminating in him confessing to his lawyer... but in the end, no one believes him, and the book and film end as they begin, with him making boring small talk with boring, self-absorbed people. Patrick himself says at one point: "There has been no reason for me to tell you any of this. This confession has meant ''nothing''..."

* ''[[The Andromeda Strain]]''; the entire book is spent trying to find a cure for said strain, only to reveal at the end that {{spoiler|it had already mutated into a non-infectious form. Because of breathing quickly (but that's another matter entirely)}} Granted, it's still dangerous, but...

** Also , take note that this actually does something in the plot. {{spoiler|Dumbledore not being on the castle at that time makes it possible for the Death Eaters to enter; and gives Harry (and the readers) even more reasons to hate Voldemort. I doubt anyone couldn't feel bad for Dumbledore's dying wish to be unfulfilled, and that everyone hated the villains more}}.

* ''[[My Sister's Keeper]]'' by [[Jodi Picoult]]: Anna was conceived to be a donor match for her sister Kate, who has had aggressive [[Littlest Cancer Patient|leukemia]] since she was 2. When her parents ask Anna to donate a kidney when Kate's kidneys fail, she {{spoiler|sues them for medical emancipation. It is successful and she gains medical emancipation, only to be in a car accident on the way back from court one day with her lawyer. Anna is brain dead, so they pull the plug and give Kate her kidney anyway, thus rendering Anna's court case useless.}}

** Made even worse in that {{spoiler|Kate asked Anna to take her parents to court so they would let her die}}. [[Jodi Picoult]] writes this a lot.

* [[Isaac Asimov]] wrote a short story about an idealized future floating city, ruled by an emperor-like leader, that in the end is brought down under the weight of a bunch of military spaceships - all in service of setting up the last line of the story, which is a [[Feghoot|fairly bad pun]]. The title of the story? "Shah Guido G." As Asimov himself admitted in commentary, it's all there in the title. (If you don't see it, split the title between the "i" and the "d." Now read.)

** Oddly enough, despite the lampshade it isn't actually all that good an example - sure, the point of the story was to set up a bad pun, but as the other character in the framing story points out, the narrator ''did'' bring down the floating city (it just happened to be by manipulation), and that led to a better, more vibrant society being established. In other words, the struggle of the story is not unexpectedly rendered moot when it ends.

* While ''[[Catch-22]]'' itself is not a Shaggy Dog Story, it's made of them. For example, the protagonist Yossarian is a bombardier in WWII. He asks his friend Doc Daneeka to ground him. Yossarian has flown dozens of combat missions and is due to be replaced, but his [[Pointy-Haired Boss]] of a commander insists on sending his men into greater danger and more missions than any other bomb group. Yossarian asks on the [[Stealth Pun|grounds]] that he's crazy. Doc Daneeka points out that anyone who is crazy must be grounded. Of course, they have to ask to be grounded in order to be grounded. Asking to be grounded in the face of danger is a sign of sanity. [[Failure Is the Only Option|Anyone asking to be grounded must therefore be sane, which means they ''cannot'' be grounded.]] Doc Daneeka informs Yossarian of all this and sends him back up to fly. This is where we get the colloquial expression Catch 22 for a situation where the rules of an organization result in damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't. The book is full of similar scenes. It works as a rich source of [[Black Humor]] and as a means of delivering the book's Aesop.

* ''[[Otherland]]'', by [[Tad Williams]], has a layered use of this trope. One of the main protagonists, [[The Unpronounceable|!Xabbu]], is an African Bushman (San for the overly pedantic) who is close to, if not the [[Last of His Kind]], and relates many of his tribe's stories to the other characters throughout the novels. These stories lack the narrative structure one would expect of Western literature and frequently have endings that are only tangentially related to their beginnings. Loop back to the main plot: the Other, the [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot|quasi-sentient operating system]] of the eponymous network, which the protagonists are [[Inside a Computer System|trapped inside of]], also appears to have developed a warped sense of narrative causality and keeps trying to steer them into its vision of how its "story" should play out, which is disturbingly random at times. The final blow comes when, after the protagonists have solved the [[Win to Exit]] plot, it's discovered that the Other's deepest secret is completely unrelated to any part of the plot which has been revealed to this point, and the resolution of ''that'' secret threatens to render everything else that's happened in the story irrelevant. This is [[Discussed Trope|discussed extensively]] by the characters.

* R. J. Rummel's ''Reset -- Never Again'' {{spoiler|is [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]}}. The entire book could have been excised from the series and it would not have affected the overreaching plot at all.

* The first chapter of ''[[Wayside School|Wayside School is Falling Down]]'' has Louis carry a heavy and fragile package from the first floor of Wayside School, to Mrs. Jewls' classroom, located on floor 30. After he climbs 30 flights of stairs and reaches her door, he has to hold it up for several ''more'' minutes, while the kids decide who should open the door. After Louis finally brings the package inside the room, Mrs. Jewls unpacks a computer from inside it, and proclaims that the computer will help her students learn new things more quickly. {{spoiler|She then demonstrates the concept of gravity by dropping the computer out the window and letting the kids see how quickly it can fall to the ground and smash.}}

 

== Live Action TV ==

* ''[[Doctor Who]]''. Fans who did dislike RTD's stint as Head Writer usually complain about these. One noted example built up the return of a Dangerous species, and then dismissed them with hardly any time on air.

* In an episode of ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'', Richard and Emily are drawn closer as they try to find the owner of a stray dog that had happened upon them, leading the audience to expect that the experience will lead them to end their separation. In the end, though, the dog's owner claims it and it's back to status quo. The only real revelation to come from the affair is the gender of the dog, which was not what they had thought—it was a ''very'' shaggy dog.

* New characters Nikki and Paolo from season three of ''[[Lost]]'' turned out to be one big Shaggy Dog Story; after an entire episode spent setting up their circumstances and motivations, they are killed off (horribly) before they can affect the plot in any way. This is mostly the viewers' fault, though- they'd been planned to be more important but nobody liked them so they were quickly written out.

** Depending on who you talk to, the show has quite a few examples, up to and including the entire thing.

* The ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "Move Along Home" has several main cast members struggling to escape from an incredibly lifelike game—only to eventually fail, and end up back in reality with no consequence except that Quark [[Status Quo Is God|doesn't get to keep a bunch of gems he would have won]] from the aliens of the week. Said aliens are rather surprised at their relief to still be alive; after all, "It was only a game!"

* ''[[iCarly]]'': Both plots in "iSpaceOut". Carly gets [[Space Madness]] and the trio lose the chance to go into space, whilst the mute freaky little girl that spooked Spencer just leaves without talking or any explanation about who she is or where she came from, except that Carly could see her ruling out the previous ideas of a hallucination or vision from Spencer.

{{quote|'''Hawkeye:''' She throws her arms around you, but you push her away!

'''BJ:''' I-what? I push her away? Why?

** Scott Adams in general is fairly fond of this trope, often times inspired by [[Ripped from the Headlines|real life stories from readers]] about [[Pointy-Haired Boss|Pointy Haired Bosses]].

* When the extended flashback in the strip [[9 Chickweed Lane|Nine Chickweed Lane]] began, it was promoted as being the story of how Gran fell in love with her husband; it finished as being how marrying O'Malley was a consolation prize because her true love and Juliette's birth father had to return to Austria.

 

== Radio ==

** Garrison Keillor in general is a master of this trope.

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

== Theater ==

* Arthur Miller's ''[[Death of a Salesman]]''.

** The game's creator has said that {{spoiler|some or all of the last campaign is a hallucination, so the enemy isn't really wasting ships or lives at that point (it also explains how so many of the unique boss enemies reappear)}}.

* Original ''[[The Longest Journey]]'' was this so much, it hurts: April goes on an epic quest, discovers that she is supposed to {{spoiler|become the [[Physical God]] to [[Save Both Worlds]],}} sees all her friends and acquaintances {{spoiler|killed or maimed in process, screws up all her previous life...}} only to discover that she was {{spoiler|, after all, only mistaken for [[The Chosen One]] and is, after all, not really needed anywhere.}} Of course, one could argue that she did save the Twin Worlds but...

* In ''[[Hellgate:London]]'', the humans are trying to kill Sydonai and expel all the demons from Earth. {{spoiler|After you kill Sydonai, Murmur appears to tell you that he use you to kill Sydonai so he can get his position, and there's no indication that the demons are leaving just because Sydonai was killed.}}

* ''[[Prince of Persia]]'': The 2008 game.

*** To be fair, the game IS a trilogy, so not having a definitive ending is kind of to be expected. Plus, it doesn't seem like sealing Ahriman was actually the point, but rather what mattered was the Prince's transformation.

*** I thought that was the [[Multiple Endings|bad end]], i.e. you have the option to walk away from the can to get the good end. Or is [[Stupidity Is the Only Option|Stupidity your only option]]? Or, worse yet, is it [[Cutscene Incompetence]]?

* There are only two things that are clear from the ending of ''[[Contact (video game)|Contact]]'': The bad guys weren't really evil, and- despite deceiving both Terry and the player- the Professor isn't either. So... why all the drama?

* Every entry in the ''[[Geneforge]]'' series, except possibly the last. Each game concludes its plotline with the player victorious- and usually on a hopeful note for the world at large, [[Multiple Endings|if you play right]]. But then the next game rolls around, and the world has gotten more [[Crapsack World|Crapsack]], the bad guys more threatening, the good guys less sympathetic, and your achievements in the previous games are barely mentioned. An air of hopelessness and futility hangs over the proceedings by the end of ''Geneforge 3'', and never goes away.

* At the end of ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man (video game)|Ultimate Spider Man]]'', you as Peter Parker/Spider-Man have to fight Eddie Brock/Venom to the finish to keep him from killing Bolivar Trask, the man who apparently had something to do with both of your parents' deaths and get your hands on the file which tells you the truth about the incident. During the cutscenes after beating Venom you don't actually get to find out what was in the file and {{spoiler|Eddie tracks down and murders Trask in prison anyway}}. And then the game got retconned.

** It's only a Shaggy Dog Story for Eddie, ''not'' Peter and the player as we ''do'' get to see what was in the file during the final cutscenes. {{spoiler|Eddie's father took a sample of his and Richard Parker's (Peter's dad) research, then tried it on the plane, which transformed him into a Venom-like creature and caused the plane to crash. Also, Eddie cites his captivity by Trask and Trask only getting three years as his reasons for killing Trask.}}

* Every ending of ''[[Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume|Covenant of the Plume]]'' is some variant of this. For summary purposes, the hero Wylfred has made a deal with the dark goddess Hel that will help him slay the other goddess Lenneth, who he blames for the death of his father. {{spoiler|He's still just an ordinary guy--in no ending can he actually kill her.}} The degree to which the trope applies varies, however: {{spoiler|ending B is straight-up shaggy dog, with absolutely nothing achieved. In ending A, Wylfred decides on his own to give up on vengeance, and kills a powerful servant of Hel. Hel herself remains untouchable, despite the revelation that she was responsible for ''all'' the suffering and death that occurred after the first fifth of the game. C fits into [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|another trope . . .]]}}

* In the ''A Crystalline Prophecy'' add-on scenario for ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' was a cross between a Shaggy Dog Story and [[All Just a Dream]]. You can [[And Your Reward Is Clothes|get some actual decent gear rewards]] from the missions, but the story itself would have resolved in the same manner had you not been involved, not to mention that none of the NPCs involved remember anything that happened or mention it ever again.

* In ''The Lost Crown'', you can have Nigel collect photos and recordings of various hauntings, as well as find the legendary Saxon crown. In the end, {{spoiler|he not only has to return the crown, but all his hard-sought ghost evidence is sabotaged.}}

* At the end of ''[[Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent]]'' {{spoiler|the foreman you were trying to save is taken away screaming by the Hidden Ones. Tether's superior doesn't care about this in the least since the eraser factory is open again...despite the fact that the President (the factory was the main eraser supplier for the White House) ''didn't even notice'' the eraser shortage.}}

** The three most visible cases are: the The Geth War-{{spoiler|There is only one ending that even allows them to exist as [[A Is]] rendering all the work to force peace with the Quarians meaningless}}; Krogan Genophage-{{spoiler|With the bulk of the Krogans off their homeworld the loss of the Relays means that regardless of being cured or not they won't make it home to continue their race and may just die out}} and the Salvation of Earth-{{spoiler|With Humanity's entire military and civil government gone and no way to get assistance then Earth will likely degenerate rather then be saved (barring if it was just incinerated)}}.

{{quote|''As a side note: There is a DLC being made to remedy the lack of resolutions (which forced the inferences as to the conclusion listed above). As to whether this will retroactively "Un-Shaggy Dog Story" the game as released is [[Broken Base|highly debatable]].''}}

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* In ''[[Gastrophobia]]'', almost all the chapters end with the plot getting humorously undermined.

* Almost every single arc in ''[[8-Bit Theater|Eight Bit Theater]]'' is one of these.

* Frequently used in ''[[Mountain Time]],'' but most notable in [http://mountaincomics.com/2010/08/16/the-unstartled-giraffe/ one instance] that took 12 episodes to reach its shaggy conclusion -- notable because Mountain Time stories hardly ever last more than ''one'' episode.

* ''[[DM of the Rings]]'', a webcomic running the plot of ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|The Lord of the Rings]]'', is resolved in exactly the same way as the book... Except Frodo and Sam aren't [[Player Character]]s at that point. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas are, and are essentially [[Railroading|railroaded]] into distracting the [[Big Bad]] and doing nothing of value while an NPC wins the campaign by succeeding at a Will Save. The players are underwhelmed.

 

== Web Original ==

*** Even more metaphorical, as in the end it's the actions of a single person (Stan or P. Diddy, depending on how you look at it) that renders the votes of everyone else null and void.

* A ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' short featuring [[Porky Pig]] had him being "hounded" by a stray dog throughout the picture. When he finally gets home, he sees a news report asking for the return of the dog and offering a big reward. Porky gets the dog (who reversed himself from jumping over a bridge) and head over to the mansion where the owner lives. The dog replaces himself with a toy dog while Porky isn't watching, and Porky is told that the dog is not the owner's, additionally saying that the missing dog was a talking dog. As Porky ponders over this revelation, the lost dog, who up to this moment didn't talk, lifts up Porky with his arms and says, "Well buddy, you've got yourself a dog!"

** Of course, one might argue that the Professor gained the important knowledge of {{spoiler|who his son actually was, something he learned in the fantasy world rather than the real world}}, although this was never really made perfectly explicit.

** Also, Bender's plotline in "[[Freaky Friday Flip|The Prisoner of Benda]]". He attempts to steal Robo-Hungarian Emperor Nikolai's jewels while in possession of his body, and once everything is resolved...

** Also, the episode where Grandpa sets out to find the Sword of Ekchuah, in the Mayan temple. They fight off Enoch and his forces constantly through the episode and even a Mayan guardian alien type thing. At the end, however the sword turns to dust as soon as Enoch touches it. What a waste of time

*** That part is lampshaded by Max who jokes that "that's what happens when your weapon is 5,000 years old".

* Used beautifully in the "Winter" part of the ''[[Samurai Jack]]'' episode "Four Seasons of Death". A tribe of yeti-like humanoids harvest a giant crystal from a cave and forge it into an [[Infinity+1 Sword]]. They do battle with each other for the right to wield it, the most powerful of their tribe coming out on top. He stands on a mountain pass, bearing the mighty sword, and awaits Jack's arrival. Jack arrives... and defeats the yeti-man with one hit, shattering the sword. He walks on, oblivious to the effort the tribe had expended in trying to stop him.

** Done ''again'' in an episode focusing on a group of Bounty Hunters that gather and discuss their plans and reasons for going after Jack. When the moment of truth arrives, Jack defeats them all in the time it takes for a drop of melting ice to fall.

* In an episode of ''[[I Am Weasel]]'', Weasel and I.R. are astronauts terraforming a planet to prepare it for colonization. Their robot [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot|goes on strike]], so they spend the next four years terraforming the place and building a huge futuristic colony. When the colonists arrive...they are revealed to be a ''[[Incredibly Lame Pun|termite colony]]'' who immediately proceed to trash the place. Weasel then ''breaks down crying.''

* One episode of ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'' has Arnold accidentally dropping his grandpa's favorite pocket watch down the sewer where it is stolen by a crazy man called "The Sewer King". After a battle of chess and a long chase sequence through the sewer, Arnold finally returns home, exhausted and filthy, with his Grandpa's pocket watch. Grandpa then accidentally drops the watch into the garbage disposal and it falls down the drain ([[Suspension of Disbelief|how? God knows]]). He then just grabs another pocket watch... ''from a drawer full of identical pocket watches.'' Cue Arnold taking a long depressing walk outside, as well as [[Here We Go Again|fetching a quart of milk for Grandpa]].

* ''[[Wakfu]]'''s first season revolves around a certain troubled time mage trying to turn time back to prevent the whole arc from happening. {{spoiler|He succeeds, though only managing to turn time back 20 minutes out of the about 200 years.}}

* This happens a few times in ''[[Dave the Barbarian]]''. One in particular is where a pair of nomads put a curse on the hero's town where it would get hotter and hotter all because the eponymous hero asked an innocent question about their merchandise. Dave was then forced by his older sister to go a journey to find the artifact that could break the curse. After a perilous quest where the heroes are captured by a gang of dragons and their own pet temporarily turns against them, they return with the artifact only to find that the sister who made them go on the quest in the first place had managed to convince the nomads to remove the curse.

* The ''[[Storm Hawks]]'' episode "Thunder Run" has the gang rush to save their friend after he pissed off a mob boss. The mob boss asks for "Rosen Yoga" and gives the team until sundown to retrieve it. They do, and "Rosen Yoga" turned out to be Frozen Yogurt (the Mob Boss has an incredibly bad lisp that makes him mispronounce things). {{spoiler|What really makes this a shaggy story is that the mob boss later got impressed with Junko's eating habits, and filled up on food after an eating contest before the Storm Hawks got back, not to mention giving his respects to his new-found friend. Piper was understandably pissed after learning all of this.}}

* In one episode of ''[[Doug]]'', Patti invites Doug to a dinner party she'll be hosting that weekend, with [[Stock Yuck|liver and onions]] on the menu. Doug is horrified, but doesn't dare back out for fear of offending her, so he spends the entire week trying and failing to make himself eat liver and onions so he'll at least know what he's in for. When he finally forces himself to try it at a restaurant on the night before the party, he realizes that it isn't anywhere near as bad as he thought it'd be. The next evening, he arrives at Patti's house, ready to chow down, only for her to tell him that she was ''joking'' about the liver and onions; everyone's eating hot dogs instead.

 

== Other ==

* The Great White Sheet Game: Typically played at co-ed college parties with some amount of alcohol, often on road trips where the participants have multiple hotel rooms. One person who has never played before is chosen as the Player, while all those who have played before take on the roles of "Master" (for the leader of the game) and "Others". The Player sits on a bed, and has a sheet tented over him. The Master then explains that this is a test, and that the Player must follow the instructions that the Master or the Others give, to the letter. The game then proceeds, first with the Master describing a scene: "You are walking through the desert. It is hot, and you are thirsty. You realize you don't need to be wearing as much as you are. Take something off, and pass it to me." Usually, the Player removes something inconsequential—jewelry or shoes. The Others then continue in the same vein—embellishing and otherwise confounding the statement, but always with the admonition to remove something the Player is wearing needlessly. As time goes on, articles of clothing start coming off and getting passed out. {{spoiler|The game ends when the Player figures out he's supposed to take off the damn sheet. If he's already naked underneath, well, then the Master and Others won the game.}}

** [[Scout Out|Boy Scouts of America]] has a version where a number of newer scouts stands before a crowd and all place blindfolds on themselves. They are ordered not to make a sound for the duration of the game and are told to take an article of clothing off. The ones who take the blindfold off are quietly told to remain silent and the game is ended when the boys all have their blindfolds off or there are any boys reduced to their undergarments.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==