Dropped a Bridge on Him: Difference between revisions

** Alice Hardy, the heroine of ''[[Friday the 13th (film)|Friday the 13 th]]'', who is quickly killed off in the opening scene of ''Friday the 13th Part II''.

** Paxton, hero of ''[[Hostel]]'', who is quickly dispatched in ''Hostel: Part II'''s opening.

** In ''[[Final Destination]] 2'', its mentioned Alex Browning, the protagonist of the first film, was killed... when a brick was dropped on him.

** In ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]] 6: The Curse of Michael Myers'', Dr. Loomis is simply killed off-screen by the [[Big Bad]]. Quite the ending, one can say, for a character who has been ceaselessly trying to stop the crazed killer since the beginning of the series. However, it should be noted that his death is much more of a case of [[Real Life Writes the Plot]] after the very real death of actor Donald Pleasence.

== Films -- Animation ==

* ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze]]'' strangely combines [[Anticlimax Boss]] and Dropped a Bridge on Him by having Super Shredder drop a dock on himself. Close enough.

 

== Films -- Live Action ==

* [[John Carpenter]]'s ''[[The Thing (film)|The Thing]]'' had a bridge dropping so egregious we didn't even get to ''see it!'' In the original script towards the ending, one character, Nauls, was supposed to hear The Thing making noises in an underground basement area and wander off until he saw the legs of a dead character...and then get attacked by the title monster. We would then see him partially assimilated begging Kurt Russell's character, MacReady, for help before being split in half. The scene started with Nauls wandering down the hallway and then...that's it, he's gone. It immediately cuts to MacReady asking how things are coming along and notices the alien noises, and after the alien appears, Nauls is nowhere to be found... No gruesome horrible death for Nauls, he just drops off the face of the Earth. The scene was partially filmed, but because the staff ran out of budget, it couldn't be completed. In the novelization, we get to read the death of the character, although the whole last part of the story plays out completely different.

* The character of Tank was killed between the first and second ''[[The Matrix]]'' films after the actor, Marcus Chong, was involved in an especially messy contract dispute. An alternate interpretation averts this trope if one chooses to believe that Tank died from the injuries he sustained during the first movie, thus turning his [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] into a [[Heroic Sacrifice]].

* In ''[[Burn After Reading]]'', while sneaking around in the CIA agent's house, Brad Pitt scares the guy who's sleeping with his wife, who quickly shoots him in the head. Of course, this all fits with the Farcial Black Comedy of the movie.

** Not to mention, his death comes as especially shocking, because it's a well-known trope that the "stupid but well-meaning goofball" almost NEVER dies.

** To say nothing of the ''Empire Trilogy''. Ayaki, right at the ''beginning'' of the third book, anyone?

** Not to mention Miranda in ''Rides a Dread Legion'', whose throat was ripped out by a random demon that jumped on her back after the big bad was dealt with.

* The death of Annalina Aldurren in the last book of the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series seems particularly mean spirited. After trying (in vain) to convince another character to do something that ''everyone else in the book'' had just finished deciding was a bad idea, she gets a hole blasted through her chest, and the killers go so far as to destroy her body so nobody would know what happened. Later on, the man who had in previous books admitted he loved her, after briefly mourning, is seen with a couple of young women in his arms.

* In the final book of ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' series, several main characters die suddenly and anticlimactically, but the one that angered fans the most was actually a villain: The Man in Black (aka Randall Flagg, who has appeared several of King's novels). After being built up as a character of incredible intelligence, cunning and mysterious power for seven books straight (not to mention being Roland's nemesis), he makes a random appearance in the last book and is killed off quickly and suddenly by Mordred.

* In [[Tom Clancy]]'s ''The Bear and the Dragon'', Robby Jackson has become Jack Ryan's Vice President, and therefore the first black VP of the United States. Either this was [[Harsher in Hindsight|too controversial]] or Clancy needed an excuse to bring [[Strawman Political|Strawman Liberal]] Ed Kealty back, because in ''Teeth of the Tiger'', Jackson has been assassinated by white supremacists completely offscreen and with no more than a passing mention in the novel itself.

* Inverted in ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia|The Last Battle]]''. The (previously major) character of Susan does not appear, and is abruptly dismissed within a couple of paragraphs as having had an offscreen change of character, causing a lot of fan resentment. The inversion comes when it turns out that she's the only major character who ''isn't'' dead, everyone else having died in a train crash and therefore being eligible to enter the Narnian afterlife.

* Arthur Conan Doyle's stab at killing off [[Sherlock Holmes]] might not have caused such a massive [[Author's Saving Throw|fan revolt]] if he hadn't gone to such pains to make it clear that even if he ''hadn't'' killed him off, he wouldn't have any more stories to write - no, not even from Watson's old files.

* The death of Tiger Cub in the second ''[[Night Watch]]'' book is narrated by an enemy and consists of only slightly more than "So I killed her." Justified, since he barely knew her, but the readers did.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* In a show notorious for killing off characters, all three of ''[[The X-Files]]'' Lone Gunmen (Byers, Langley and Frohike) made it all the way from the first year of the show until four episodes from the last, when they were killed off trying to stop the spread of a deadly contagion. The failure of the ''[[The Lone Gunmen|Lone Gunmen]]'' [[The Lone Gunmen|spin-off series]] perhaps motivated the writers to kill off the characters for good, but the fact that they were Mulder's closest allies throughout the whole show makes this one a bit mean-spirited. (Of course, the episode was called "[[Jumping the Shark|Jump The Shark]]"...)

** Agent Pendrell of seasons 3 and 4 was killed off in a particularly undramatic fashion, and jarring (if you liked the character). Drunk (out of character), carrying over beers for Scully to celebrate her birthday a night late, he gets shot from behind about one minute after he appears in the episode.

* Romano on ''[[ER]]''. After getting his lower arm sliced off by the tail rotor of a helicopter in the previous season, the character dies when ''another'' helicopter goes out-of-control, explodes in midair, and lands on him. Ladies and gents, this is overkill at work.

** Could be a writer's interpretation of karma or an ironic twist. Also somewhat lampshaded by Pratt suggesting that he must've done something awful to a helicopter in a previous life.

** Though it's of note that Tasha's death was an attempt by the writers to actually ''subvert'' a trope... the one that says that it's always the nameless redshirts that are killed as an example of the evil alien's power. Unfortunately, Tasha's death came off as far ''too'' senseless (not to mention stuck in a really bad episode) and the fan outcry was such that it had to be revisited.

** And later, we learn that Tasha's "do-over" death didn't take; instead she was captured by the Romulans and used as a sex slave for years before finally dying another quite ignominous death. And bizarrely, this was actually the idea of her own actress, who wanted to come back on the show and invented a way that she could play Tasha's [[Identical Grandson|Identical Daughter]].

** And then there was the ''galaxy-scale'' bridge dropped on the Time Lords (including Romana, presumably) before the new series.

*** It doesn't stop them from returning in ''The End of Time''. Then a bridge is dropped again. Sort of. Or it's the same bridge that they're sent to. [[Timey-Wimey Ball|Wibbly wobby... timey wimey.]].

** Retconned in the novels: The entire incident was staged by Section 31, and has not been declassified yet. Oh, the holodeck introduces many, many plot holes.

* [[J. Michael Straczynski]] dropped a bridge on ''every single'' cute kid and robot that appeared in ''[[Babylon 5]]''. He seemed to have a rather [[Anvilicious]] interest in them not ruining the show's "serious" tone.

** Eventually undone when Joey lets go of his ego and begs the producer for another chance. He doesn't get the part of Drake's twin brother Striker, but Striker turns out to be a doctor capable of fixing Drake's brain damage.

* The end of the third season of ''[[Teachers]]'' saw the departure of the last two members of the original cast, who also happened to play fan favourites. As a rather bitter revenge, the fourth season opens on the graves of their characters being pissed on by the school's headmaster.

** Widely noted by the press at the time as Diana Muldaur, the actress playing Roz, "getting the shaft". Perhaps a [[Lampshading]]?

* Valerie Harper lost her self-titled sitcom when she asked for a salary increase after the first season. The producers responded by firing her, having her Valerie Hogan character die in a car crash, and then having her sitcom family mourn off-screen before Aunt Sandy Duncan took over the motherly duties under the new title ''Valerie's Family'' (eventually renamed ''[[The Hogan Family]]''). Three episodes into the new season, all signs of Valerie Hogan literally went up in flames as the Hogan house caught on fire. Harper would later get a [[Take That|sizable settlement]] from Lorimar and the producers for their handling of the situation.

** Not to mention he loses more precious seconds at the start, when he stops to put on his seatbelt.

** Earlier, Zafar was initially thought to have been killed by being shot, then set on fire, only later for the team to find out he'd actually been sold off to a foreign power, tortured for information, then killed. On the one hand this does show how dangerous the life of a spy can be, but offing likable characters in such a manner still comes across as needlessly cruel. Maybe that's the point.

** What kind of self-defense could she put up when she's taken by surprise by a sociopath with energy-projection powers?

*** This may have been more of a [[Take That]] to Terry Farrell, she asked to be downgraded to a recurring character for the last season and the writers killed her off.

** Somewhat averted (or at least not as bad as it could have been). Executive Producer David Shore said, "this was the story that allowed us to really have the greatest impact on House in particular.... If Penn had come to us and said, "I've been offered this great part on 'CSI' ... then it would have been autoerotic asphyxiation or something like that."

* Similarly, Tippi was [[Killed Off for Real]] in ''[[Satisfaction]]'' as the actor was going overseas to pursue other opportunities. This is not the first time this character had faced death; she was nearly killed by a tranquilizer administered by a mortician with a fetish for dead people.

* ''[[Grey's Anatomy]]'': Guess it seemed like having George [[Put on a Bus]] wasn't enough for the showrunners, so they decided to throw him under it as well. Literally. Didn't see that one coming.

* The death of Galactica mechanic Jammer in ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]''. After several episodes of development, Jammer becomes a Cylon sympathizer during their occupation of New Caprica. He is one of the few people to survive a suicide bomber's explosion in the third season premiere, and later tells Cally to escape when a number of civilians are sent to be executed by firing squad. Despite this, he is cruelly airlocked by Starbuck and several other Galactica crew members while begging for his life in the teaser for the episode "Collaborators", and never mentioned again. Worst of all, Cally<ref>who should have known it was Jammer who saved her life, seeing as how he worked with her for a long time and she knew his voice</ref> conveniently forgets about the person who saved her life.

* A sort of inverse on ''[[Fresh Prince of Bel Air]]''. In this case a character was killed off after he '''dropped off a bridge'''. Hilary's anchorman boyfriend Trevor decides to propose to her while bungee jumping on live television. Unfortunately his bungee cord was a little '''too''' long.

* In ''[[Highlander the Series]]'', Duncan rescues Tessa from the renegade watcher Pallin Wolf. [[Not Quite Saved Enough|Immediately after that]], she's shot by a mugger and dies.

* Near the end of Series 4 of ''[[Skins]]'', Freddie is suddenly beaten to death with a baseball bat by Effy's [[Stalker with a Crush|crazed psychiatrist]], who was introduced in the same episode. Chris's death in the earlier series was actually believing and heartfelt, while Freddie's felt abrupt and mean-spirited. Not to mention that the series ends just after Cooke discovers his death, with no chance to see the others' reactions.

* Eddie LeBec from ''[[Cheers]]'', one of Carla's most recurring love interests then husband. Though never being a cast regular, he was permanently written off the show when he (offscreen, of course), was run over ''by a Zamboni'' trying to push a fellow cast member of the ice show he worked at out of the way. On the ''very same episode'', it was revealed he had a mistress whom he also got pregnant and married (despite already being married to Carla obviously), leading an enraged Carla to reuse the name Tortelli. The producers of the show explained this turn of events at the time as [[Executive Meddling|test audiences not liking]] [[Status Quo Is God|Carla being married]], until almost two decades later, both Jay Thomas (who played Eddie) and [http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2006/07/kiss-of-death-for-eddie-lebec.html one of the writers] revealed this was actually the result of the former being fired due to making an insulting remark about Rhea Perlman (who played Carla) on live radio (while Rhea happened to be listening, no less).

** Avoided in the season 5 finale. Lucifer explodes Castiel with a click of his fingers and then breaks Bobby's neck, but they were resurrected. For a moment though, it looks like the show has just killed off two of its most popular characters in the blink of an eye.

** Season 7 has seen this trope rather brutally applied to Castiel - after his big [[A God Am I]] moment in the Season 6 finale seemed to set him up as the [[Big Bad]] for Season 7, he spends one single episode going kill crazy, starts to worry about his own rapidly deteriorating mental state, releases all the extra power he absorbed, and just when you think he's going to be okay, he promptly gets possessed by the actual [[Big Bad]] who then informs Sam and Dean that Castiel is dead. And since this happened, his name has barely come up, despite the fact that he was pretty much the closest and most loyal friend the Winchesters had after Bobby. Of course, fans [[He's Just Hiding|are adamantly clinging to the belief that he's not really gone]] and since he's died twice in the past and got better the possibility is there.

* Lieutenant Bracegirdle in the ''[[Horatio Hornblower]]'' series. A fairly major character in Series 1, disappears for Series 2 but is reintroduced as an important character for the third series ... only to have the boat he was in get hit with an exploding shell and kill everyone on board.

* Between seasons 1 and 2 on ''[[Fringe]]'', Charlie is killed only to be replaced by a shapeshifting imposter.

** Rumour has it that Mystra, greater deity of magic and [[A God Am I]] [[Canon Sue]], got killed by getting hit on the back of the head, along with numerous other [[Canon Sue]] characters, though most of them departed in ways that imply they can be brought back *groan* .

** Also pulled on a vast array of characters. See also [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies]].

 

 

* ''[[Nethack]]'' allows dropping a drawbridge on yourself.

* Aldo Trapani, the protagonist of the EA adaptation of ''[[The Godfather (video game)|The Godfather]]'', gets abruptly sniped dead in the opening level to allow for new player character Dominic to take his place.

** Which is especially odd considering that the final battle at the end of Brood War wasn't even over Kerrigan (who is on Char with the rest of the Broods). The three strongest armies in the game converge on that platform to kill but one cerebrate: You.

* Played for laughs ''and'' drama in obscure adventure game ''[[Shadow of Destiny]]'', in which the entire goal of the game is to travel back in time and prevent your own murder; some deaths are dramatic, some are just plain funny. In the C ending in which the player does the bare minimum to win, Eike finally prevents his own murder, lies down on the road to contemplate his own existence, and, after a soulful monologue, ''gets run over by a drunk driver''.

* Cid in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' dies from eating bad fish. Which you, the player character, fed him, you jerk. What makes this especially infuriating is that there is a way to ensure he ''doesn't'' die, but [[Guide Dang It|you're unlikely to figure it out without a guide]] the first time around. Granted, [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|letting him die]] actually leads to a much more touching and emotional scene, but it's still a pretty random way to go out.<ref>Only catch the fast-moving fish; leave the slow ones alone entirely.</ref>

** Shadow's death is similarly done. If you don't wait long enough as the floating continent is destroyed, Shadow dies. This changes the ending.

* In ''[[Mortal Kombat 9]]'', this happens to nearly everyone who dies. Granted, [[Word of God]] isn't even denying that they'll all be back but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

* Echo in ''[[Red Faction]] II'' has a bridge dropped on him in the "Hangin' in the Hood" mission via the [[Face Heel Turn]]ed Quill's railgun.

** And not to forget the original ''Red Faction'', where the room Hendrix is in <s>randomly explodes and he catches on fire</s> is attacked, since the [[Big Bad]] lured him there to kill him.

* ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]] Gaiden'' appeared to have bridge-dropped Lamia while after just addressing how glad she was that she had friends...she was unceremoniously shot down and all signs show that she's [[Killed Off for Real]]. Then, several chapters later, it's revealed that the bridge didn't really completely splatter her, and [[Super Robot Wars Reversal|Duminuss]] lifted that bridge up, ensuring her survival.

** Hell, ''everyone who wasn't a playable character'' had a bridge drop happen when Raccoon City gets nuked at the end.

** Of course, pretty much all the named NPCs in this game (not counting zombies) were dead well before the end. Mikhail [[Action Bomb|blows himself up]] in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]], Dario is discovered and eaten by zombies, Nikolai is either bridge-dropped by Nemesis, escapes in the chopper, or you shoot him down.

** In the Sahuagin City side quest, if you choose to help Prince Villynaty against King Ixilthetocal after reaching the prince, King Ixilthetocal has two of the people who suggested that you go talk to the prince executed for reasons unrelated to your decision.

* In ''Winback'', nearly all of Jean-Luc's teammates unceremoniously have bridges dropped on them over the course of the game. Jake's death was the biggest [[Player Punch]] , since he survives until near the end of the game, to get you attached to him, then Bang Bang he's dead.

* Bridges are dropped all over in the last route of ''[[Fate/stay night]]: Heaven's Feel''. Caster, Assassin, Lancer, Berserker, Archer, Gilgamesh and Saber.

** There's plenty of bridge dropping (and [[Long Bus Trip]]s, in Sakura's case) in the other two routes, though- most notably Caster in Fate and Ilya/Berserker in UBW, who each get one scene to say "Hi, I'm a villain!" and then die in that scene or the next time we see them. HF does it slightly more due to it pulling in some completely new characters, but the real reason why HF's bridge dropping stands out more is that all of its characters had bridges dropped on them * after* the scenes that made fans care about them, whereas nobody cared about Caster yet when Gil insta-killed her ten minutes after her introduction in Fate.

** This pretty much happens with Shepard in the ending of ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', unless you get pretty much the maximum level of War Assets and then choose the "Destroy" ending.

** Played with at an earlier point in the third game—assuming that Kasumi was one of your squad members in the second game, she pops up in an early sidequest where she seems to suffer a very abrupt and unsatisfying death. Seconds later however (and after the Spectre who was on her case has left), Shepard successfully calls her out of her hiding spot, knowing full well that she wouldn't let herself be killed so easily.

* This happens to the main character in [http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/532044 Riddle School 4] about 3 seconds after you start the game, but is ultimately [[Ret Conned]] in [http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/532179 Riddle School 5].

* Bill in ''[[Left 4 Dead]] 2'''s DLC chapter "The Passing". What makes this a particular odd choice is that the death in question was announced by Valve well ahead of time and given plenty of limelight... and then the actual event was limited to a single line on-screen: "A good man died today."