Shaggy Dog Story: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A Shaggy Dog Story is a plot with a high level of build-up and complicating action, only to be resolved with an anti-climax or ironic reversal, usually one that makes the entire story meaningless. The term comes from a type of joke (called "gildersome" in ''[[The Meaning of Liff]]'') that worked the same way -- a basic premise, a long amount of buildup, and a deliberately underwhelming punchline.<ref>A form of anti-humor</ref>

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 ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shaggy_Dog_(1959_film) The Shaggy Dog]''.

 

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* The Komuvitan-D miniarc of ''[[D Gray Man (Manga)|D Gray Man]]'': Vengeful spirit releases an instantly-transmittable rage virus (originally designed as a supplement to help people work longer hours), Zombie Apocalypse tropes abound, race against time to find the alpha infected and synthesize a cure from his blood...long story short, the alpha is cured at the darkest hour-only to be promptly re-infected three panels later. The situation is fixed (in postscript text) by a side character who had reported to HQ and missed the whole thing, and the next arc begins as if nothing happened. The only thing anyone gets out of this arc is knowledge of just how much Chief Komui cares about his subordinates, even those who passed away years before...

* The first series of ''[[Ojamajo Doremi (Anime)|Ojamajo Doremi]]'' has the three main characters working for the entire series to become witches- and succeed- only to give up their powers {{spoiler|to save Onpu}}. This is then turned into a ''double'' [[Shaggy Dog Story]] when the first episode of the second series has them regain their powers anyway. Then in the finale of the last series, {{spoiler|they decide not to become witches after all}}.

* Here's an analogy for ''[[MD Geist (Anime)|MD Geist]]''. Once upon a time, a man decided to climb a mountain. He fell down and saw a very shaggy dog. Turns out a rich couple lost a very shaggy dog and would give a reward for its return. A woman decided to tag along for the ride after hearing the man's story. When he got on the plane, he found that he couldn't take the dog without preparations, so he took it to the vet. He went to the couple's house, walked directly up to the door with the dog and the woman, and rang the bell. The owners of the dog were happy that they got their dog back, when all of a sudden the man pulled out a shotgun, killed the owners, and shot the dog in the head. The man then walked off into the sunset telling the very confused woman that the battle has only begun.

** Tsubasa's cat-possession is part psychological, it won't go away for good.

** [[He Was Right There All Along|Shinobu was always with Koyomi from the start]] {{spoiler|hiding in his shadow}}.

* Much of ''[[Planetes (Anime)|Planetes]]''. Sure, in the end Hachi is happier and more mature (ditto Yuri, Ai, and arguably Claire,) but most everything is about the same as in the beginning. {{spoiler|The Debris Section is still chronically underfunded in its decrepit basement office, most of the cast are ditzy as ever (especially Lucy,) Edel's sleazy husband is back to abusing women, the SDF remains trouble judging by Hakim, and the SDF-Union treaty hasn't had significant impact on third world suffering}}. The final arc's climax serves as a double dip of this, since not only do {{spoiler|all attempts to thwart the SDF threat come moments too late, saved only by the Union caving into their terms; Ai and Claire collapse from asphyxiation in the final tenth of Ai's miles long run for rescue, saved by a lucky passerby; and Hakim's [[If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him]] threats get ignored by Hachi, whose innocence is saved purely by a jam or empty magazine}}. No, on top of that, {{spoiler|while the SDF ultimately get what they want, their boarding action on the Von Braun is repelled well enough to prevent them from accomplishing either of their goals (control of the bridge in case the engine came back online, or capturing Locksmith) in assaulting the Von Braun, while the Von Braun crew wasn't able to restore engine control, meaning that pretty much the only violent part of the operation and all the hundreds of deaths during it were utterly meaningless}}.

* The ''[[Ghost in The Shell Stand Alone Complex (Anime)|Ghost in The Shell Stand Alone Complex]]'' 2nd Gig episode NIGHT CRUISE has no relation to the overall storyline, follows a one-shot character for 90% of the episode, and features the Major and Batou in what could easily be cameo appearances.

** So... that either makes Casey a victim of a mugging turned brutal beat-down himself. Or a gay man who was once brutally beaten if you want to read between the lines. If not none of this holds true, it was a pretty pointless affair overall, yes.

** Or, it means that Casey is a schizophrenic prone to confabulation, which actually fits very well with the rest of his character

* The ex-mercenary Darca Nyl's arc in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]. In the series where he was introduced, a Dark Jedi killed his son, a dying Jedi handed over his lightsaber and told him to stop Lycan, and all during the pursuit people assumed that he was a Jedi, and they needed his help. And he gave it, even at the cost of pursuit time, and [[Good Feels Good|it felt good]]. Even after tracking down and killing Lycan, Darca Nyl [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|decides to keep helping people]], because it's right and because he thinks that's what his family would have wanted him to do. ...And ''then'' a more recent comic came out, with an older, bitter, isolationist Darca Nyl who [[Heel Face Door Slam|failed utterly]] at helping people and retreated to a cabin where he did nothing but carve statues of his wife and son. The "[[Designated Hero|heroes]]" of the comic only got him to help by threatening to shoot all the statues.

** Recent Star Wars comics ''love'' this. [[Old Soldier]] Able was a clone trooper who survived alone on a forsaken planet for years before the Rebellion found him and recruited him and put him into a commando squad. He was by far the most practical and cynical man there, which sometimes irritated the other Rebels, but he tried to adapt and look out for the last Jedi, Luke. ...And then a comic came out where the whole squad got [[The Virus|transformed into rakghouls]] by a Sith talisman.

** Not really. It ends on a subtle hint that implies that at least one of the characters {{spoiler|didn't actually give up the power after all.}}

* The ''[[War of the Spider Queen]]'' is a series of six novels set in the ''[[Forgotten Realms (Tabletop Game)|Forgotten Realms]]'' world. The plot revolves around a small group of elite warriors, priests, and wizards who are send to investigate the sudden and total disappearance of the chief dark elf goddess Lolth. After traveling the world for months and visiting no less then three hellish dimensions, they have finally located her whereabouts. But as they approach the demonic temple in Hell, where her physical form is located {{spoiler|it turns out that she was just undergoing a metamorphosis, from which she awakens all by herself only minutes before the protagonists reach her. Without anything that happened on the last two thousand pages having anything to do with it.}} After they've returned home, even the leader of the group is completely frustrated about the fact, that all she did was for nothing.

* The tragedy of ''[[Daisy Miller]]'' ultimately (intentionally) comes from this trope. Winterbourne realizes he misjudged Daisy and should have trusted his own opinion of her rather than everyone else's {{spoiler|after she dies. There is nothing left for him to do but return to Geneva and continue to live just as he was at the beginning of the story.}}

* [[Neil Gaiman]]'s novella collaboration with [[Yoshitaka Amano]], ''The Sandman: The Dream Hunters'', concerns a tale where a monk is cursed by a onmyoji to die from an entrapping dream, so that the onmyoji can find peace with himself. A fox, who had earlier fallen in love with the monk after trying to trick him, attempts to save the monk. In the end, {{spoiler|the fox, with the help of Dream of the Endless (or as he is referred to in the novella, the King of Dreams), usurps the monk's dream so that he may live. However, the monk travels to the realm of dreams so that he may claim his own dream and save the fox. By sacrificing himself, the monk rendered the fox's quest in vain, much to the chagrin of the fox.}}

** 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.

* In the [[Callahans Crosstime Saloon (Literature)|Callahans Crosstime Saloon]] series by [[Spider Robinson]] shaggy dog stories and puns are the common thread through the entire series. Most shaggy dog stories in the series are elaborate build-up to a mindnumbingly horrendous pun to the delight of the crowd (once the BSOD wears off).

* ''[[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 [[AI 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.

* In ''[[True Grit]]'' and the 2010 movie based on it, Mattie goes to great effort to see Rooster Cogburn for the first time 25 years after he saved her life and vanished into the night. Would have been a touching reunion if he hadn't died three days before.

* Kevin J. Anderson's ''[[Jedi Academy Trilogy (Literature)|Darksaber]]''. At least, the part about the eponymous superweapon. To make a long story short: the [[Big Bad]] built it using shoddy labor and substandard material, and the first time he tried to use it, [[Rocks Fall Everyone Dies]] (literally, in this case). All the good guys had to do was show up, and their contribution to the finale was complete.

* Niel Hancock's ''Circle of Light'' series. Much of the plot revolves around the heroes' efforts to keep the Arkenchest out of the hands of the Big Bad. At the end, {{spoiler|when she finally gets it and all hope seems lost, the Arkenchest's sheer goodness transforms her into an angel of light. They could have ended the conflict faster by just giving it to her}}.

{{quote| "And that's how the Universe began, is it?" said Arthur.<br />

"No," said Ford, "but it's a marvelous way to relax." }}

* ''[[The Wonder Years]]'', the entire damn show. An important part of the plot, if not the most important part, was Kevin being in love with Winnie Cooper. How does the show end? {{spoiler|The epilogue voice over said he married someone else}}.

* ''[[The Two Ronnies]]''' famous monologues by Ronnie Corbett in his chair. Ostensibly all about telling a single, usually only moderately funny joke, the real joy was in the meandering way he eventually got to the punchline over five minutes, wandering off on a variety of bizarre tangents in the process.

* A two-episode arc of ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'' focuses on [[The Dragon|Tenaya 7]] trying to steal a [[Mineral MacGuffin|rare diamond]] to power up her [[Monster of the Week]], which she claims will ensure easy victory for [[Big Bad|Venjix]]. Even though she does steal the diamond, the Rangers destroy the monster in their Megazords within 10 seconds without breaking a sweat.

* In an episode of ''[[Charmed]]'', a summoner spends the entire episode working on a spell that would bring back a very powerful [[Big Bad]] from earlier seasons, the Source. It succeeds, but then Piper hits the summoner with her power three times and both the summoner and the summoned Source are vanquished. In less than two minutes.

* The ''[[Scrubs (TV)|Scrubs]]'' episode "My Princess". Dr. Cox tells his son a story about a patient from that day, but as a fairy tale. The patient is referred to as a maiden who is being attacked by a monster who can not be killed, and the entire episode is about JD and Elliot's search for a cure for her. At the end, Cox tells his son when asked that the "maiden" lived happily ever after - only to walk out and strongly hint to his wife that in reality the girl died.

* 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!"

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

'''BJ:''' I-what? I push her away? Why?<br />

'''BJ:''' But what about the zippers down the back?<br />

'''Hawkeye:''' They didn't catch on. }}

* In general, a [[Game Show]] contestant hitting a [[Whammy]] in a [[Golden Snitch]] or [[All or Nothing]] situation tends to result in this trope. However, a couple shows deserve special mention because they're set up to make this happen so often, it has to be an intentional budget-saver:

** The British show ''Golden Balls'' consists of nearly an hour of bluffing and random money distribution to determine the size of the pot and to eliminate 2 of the 4 contestants. At the end, the two contestants left each have to decide whether to share or steal the prize fund. The rules <ref>If both share, they split the pot 50/50. If one steals and one shares, the one who steals gets the entire pot. If both steal, the pot is lost and both leave empty-handed.</ref> give zero incentive whatsoever to share, and if both players opt to steal (the only Nash equilibrium in the decision table), then nobody wins a single quid, and the entire hour was moot.

* [[Weird Al Yankovic (Music)|Weird Al Yankovic]]'s song ''Albuquerque'' is a long, rambling story about the singer's escape from his mother "who tied [him] up and force-fed [him] nothing but sauerkraut until [he] was twenty-six-and-a-half years old" (because "IT'S GOOD FOR YOOOOOOOOOOOU!") and his subsequent escape, journey to Albuquerque, plane crash, battle with a hermaphrodite with only one nostril, encounter with flesh-eating weasels, donuts, marriage, kids, divorce, job at Sizzler, and so forth. Near the end, he loses his train of thought after telling a few vaguely related anecdotes and then remarks that the only thing he was trying to say with the story was that [[Does Not Like Spam|he just really hates sauerkraut]].

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmGVYki-oyQ ''Trapped in the Drive-Thru''] deserves a mention as well. A husband and wife argue over what to have for dinner, and finally decide to go to a fast-food place. At the drive-thru, another argument ensues over what to order, followed by the husband realizing he doesn't have his wallet. Wife offers her credit card but they don't take credit, and she only has $3 in cash on her. Husband scrounges through the car looking for loose change to cover the difference, doesn't have enough and is ultimately forced to cancel the wife's chicken sandwich ("I wasn't even really hungry in the first place"). A 10-minute-long buildup that ultimately culminates in the husband biting into the burger at a red light only to realize {{spoiler|they forgot the onions.}}.

{{quote| '''Arlo:''' ''(after finishing the initial story)'' "That's not what I come to talk to you about, though. I just thought I'd mention it."}}

* Rap group Atmosphere has a song called "Hair", in which rapper Slug details the story of a fan trying to seduce him at a bar. The song progresses through the night as Slug and the girl go back and forth, with the fan's advances eventually winning over Slug. They get into her car, and as they're driving to her place, the song ends "''Her drunk ass turns to look at me and she says/You're so beautiful from the hair to the soul/I can't believe that I never met you before/It feels like I've been waiting for you me whole life/She missed the red light, we hit a pick-up truck and [[Rock Falls Everyone Dies|we both died]]''.

** This is followed up on a later album by a song called, appropriately enough, "Scalp". The narrator is asked by a shady friend to pick up a mysterious package at a warehouse and drop it off at another location. He gets into his car but has an internal struggle as to whether or not he should do such an obviously morally dubious thing. Deciding against his better judgement, he starts driving to the warehouse... "''Pulled out on Lindale/Killed by a couple of drunks,broadside of [[Brick Joke|my pick up truck]]''"

== Newspaper Comics ==

* [http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/1995-07-09/ This] ''[[Dilbert (Comic Strip)|Dilbert]]'' comic.

* When the extended flashback in the strip [[Nine Chickweed Lane (Comic Strip)|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.

 

* 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]]?

* The ending of the seven year long webcomic ''[[Bob and George (Webcomic)|Bob and George]]'' shows that {{spoiler|pretty much the whole comic was a plot by the title characters' mother to make George willing to kill Bob (his super villain brother) if necessary and for Bob to be aware of it. In a subversion or at least avoidance of [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]], however, a comment during the finale prevented the deaths of just about everyone in the Cataclysm}}.

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

** Not quite. There are indeed a number of Shaggy Dog Stories in 8-Bit Theater, such as the Chocobo Breeding arc and the random town arc from right before the Orb of Air quest, but most of the story arcs don't fit the definition. They tend to end in anticlimaxes, but the anticlimaxes themselves do further the plot.

** Turns out the entire plot is one of these; {{spoiler|while the Light Warriors are arguing with each other yet again, the [[Big Bad]] is killed by a minor character using a strategy Black Mage had scoffed at in one of the series' first comics. After nine years and 1200 comics, the main characters end up basically where they started off without really accomplishing anything outside of causing problems wherever they went}}. According to the author, this was his plan from the very beginning.

** 'I'm With Stupid', there, Spongebob pretends to be dumb so Patrick will look good in front of his parents. However, Patrick takes it too far and believes Spongebob really is dumb. He, and his parents, then start to openly mock Spongebob, leading to him turning insane and leaving Patrick's house in frustration. Then, it is eventually revealed that those two weren't even Patrick's real parents, the real ones are in Squidward's house, asking him where Patrick is.

* The ''[[Sealab 2021]]'' episode "7211" is pretty much an old ''Sealab 2020'' episode redubbed exactly like before, with the crew helping repair the nuclear submarine ''Aquarius'', captained by a man who held a grudge against Murphy. Sounds odd for an [[Adult Swim]] comedy, huh? Well, until the end, where the only joke of the episode has ''Aquarius'' ram into Sealab, [[Running Gag|blowing it up,]] and making all the work the crew did pointless... as well as stranding them at the bottom of the sea.

** This is made even more frustrating when compared to the earlier episode "The Losing Edge", which not only was already a subversion of these movies (wrapped in an inversion), but it was much more clever and satirical about it.

** It's important to note that the episode "The Losing Edge" was also a commentary on [[Amazingly Embarrassing Parents|some truly atrocious]] [[Amazingly Embarrassing Parents|parental behavior]] during the 2004-05 Little League season and the lengths [[Meddling Parents|some]] [[Knight Templar Parent|parents]] will go to ensure their child's success, even to the point of [[Parental Obliviousness|disregard for their]] [[Adults Are Useless|child's well being]].

** 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".

** 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.

** Done ''yet again'' in "The Tale of X-9", where the entire episode is seen through the eyes of X-9, a [[Retired Badass|retired]] [[Killer Robot|robot assassin]] with an [[Personality Chip|emotion chip]] that led it to [[Hitman With a Heart|question the morality of its actions]] on [[Evil Overlord|Aku's]] behalf. One day after a job X-9 found a stray dog, [[Morality Pet|adopted it]], and stopped working for Aku. That is, until the day when X-9's creator told Aku about the dog and the chip. Aku promptly kidnapped the dog, saying that X-9 would get it back if he managed to kill Jack. [[Boring Invincible Hero|Jack wins]]. X-9's last words are asking Jack to take care of Lulu (the dog). The episode ends there.