Jump to content

It's a Wonderful Plot: Difference between revisions

It's a Wonderful Plot (view source)

Revision as of 07:20, 8 April 2014

480 bytes removed ,  10 years ago
m
Mass update links
VisualWikitext
m (categories and general cleanup)
m (Mass update links)
Line 2:
{{quote|''"Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"'' |'''Clarence Odbody''', ''[[Trope Namer|It's a Wonderful Life]]''}}
 
After the [[Film|movie]] ''[[It's a Wonderful Life (Film)|Its a Wonderful Life]]'', a device whereby an external force (usually supernatural) intervenes in a time of crisis to show the character facing said crisis how things would have been [[Ret-Gone|had he or she never been born/entered that line of work/come to town/what have you]]. May occur as part of a [[Near-Death Experience]], or [[Make a Wish|following]] [[Smite Me Oh Mighty Smiter]]. Episodes with this plot usually take place around Christmas time, because ''It's a Wonderful Life'' takes place around Christmas. If a show hasn't done a [[Yet Another Christmas Carol]] episode yet, they'll be doing this one.
 
It is usual that people would be worse off without the character facing this plot. The most common subversion is that everybody's life is ''better''. The world is usually governed by the [[Butterfly of Doom]]; regardless of how minor the change, there is rarely a middle ground or a world which is only slightly different, to the extent that the character's absence, no matter how seemingly insignificant or small, will result in a complete [[Crapsack World]] in which there is little hope whatsoever. Also closely related to [[Necessary Fail]].
Line 22:
* The Fourth [[Suzumiya Haruhi]] novel and [[The Movie]], ''The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya'', is basically one long [[Wonderful Life]] story for Kyon, except he didn't actually ask for it, he's not the one being retgonned, and the "angel" responsible is affected by the changes as well... It does happen around Christmas, though.
* Played straight for a sequence in the final episode of ''[[Kimagure Orange Road]]''.
* Rika in ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (Visual Novel)|Higurashi no Naku Koro Nini]]'''s "Saikoroshi-hen" wakes up in a new world after a [[Near-Death Experience]], in which none of the tragedies involving Oyashiro's curse happened. Her parents are alive, Satoko's parents are alive, Satoshi is still around, and Rena's parents never divorced. {{spoiler|However, as a result, Keiichi never came to Hinamizawa, Satoko and her other classmates bully Rika, Hanyuu is absent, and the town will soon be flooded due to the dam project never being stopped.}}
* The [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure (Manga)|Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure]]'' part 6 uses this as the basis for his plan; he plans to create a world where the Joestar family never existed and Dio reigns supreme.
* [[End of Evangelion]] was once meant to contain a much longer Live Action scene. It was eventually cut, but versions of it are still floating around on the Internet - {{spoiler|In contrast to the Shojo-esque alternate reality from episode 26, it shows a world where Shinji never existed. Contrary to [[Heroic Self-Deprecation|what he expected]], the world is not much better without him - In fact, it's much worse: Asuka is living a bleak, mediocre life and is in a purely physical relationship with TOUJI of all people, the unsually optimistic Misato is resigned and hopeless, and Rei could give Gendo lessons on being bitter and pessimistic.}}
 
Line 45:
 
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[Richie Rich|Richie Rich's Christmas Wish]]'' has the entire plot of the film based on this, as Richie wishes (with a [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|wishing machine]]) that he never existed.
* ''[[Bedazzled]]'' is maybe an unconscious parody - a poor shlub is tired of his nowhere life, tries to end it all, the Devil (an angel of sorts) intervenes and offers the chance to wish up an alternate existence (not once, but seven times) which gets him to see his old life is better than the alternative. The Devil was a [[Jackass Genie]], that's why the alternatives were so bad.
* ''[[Mr. Destiny]]'', an '80s comedy starring Jim Belushi, Linda Hamilton and Michael Caine in the Clarence role, subverted this trope a little; Jim Belushi's character always bemoaned the fact that he blew a game-saving play in high-school baseball, and Caine changed history so that he made the game-saver instead. Belushi then sees his life changing; he's now the Vice-President of the sporting goods company he's working for, and married to the boss's daughter, but it turns out he's having an affair with a psychotic temptress, and his real wife from his old life (Hamilton), the one woman he truly loved, is married to someone else.
Line 63:
* The ''[[Sweet Valley High|Sweet Valley Twins]]'' series played the trope entirely straight in a Christmas special book, in which Elizabeth wishes she'd never been born and promptly receives a visitation from a quirky guardian angel who shows her a vision of what life would be like. It's heavy on [[For Want of a Nail]] scenarios based on Elizabeth's actions in previous books, but also contains a couple of more nonsensical changes: the club of shallow, popular rich girls is transformed into a vicious girl gang, and Elizabeth's sister Jessica goes from bubbly, stylish, and popular to shy, geeky, and pathetic.
** Subverted in a ''[[Sweet Valley High]]'' Super Edition, "Winter Carnival" where Elizabeth becomes annoyed with Jessica's forgetfulness/selfishness when it causes a rift in her budding romance with Jeffrey French during a winter festival at a ski resort. Elizabeth is upset and leaves, angrily wishing that Jessica wasn't around to mess things up. When she arrives home, she finds out that Jessica is dead. With Jessica gone, everyone in Sweet Valley is depressed and spends a lot of time remembering Jessica's bubbly personality and forgetting about Elizabeth. She wakes up and realizes that it was [[All Just a Dream]] and makes up with Jessica and Jeffrey.
* ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]'' did this in one book, with Jake making a [[Deal Withwith the Devil]] with Crayak to [[Cosmic Retcon]] the timeline so that the Animorphs never received their powers in the first place. Subverted slightly in the fact that {{spoiler|the kids end up winning the war with the Yeerks FASTER without their powers, although most of them die in the process.}}
** {{spoiler|[[Bolivian Army Ending|Which may have happened anyway]].}}
** And then Crayak complains that the Ellimist cheated. [[Jedi Truth|Though he didn't]].
* Parodied in ''[[More Information Than You Require]]'', and given as Prince Albert's motivation for introducing Germanic pagan influences onto the English Christmas and becoming a [[Funny Foreigner]].
* A variant in the ''[[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Jingo|Jingo]]'', when Vimes accidentally picks up his Dis-Organiser from the [[Alternate Universe|wrong timeline]] immediately after making a difficult decision. The Dis-Organiser gives a running comentary on what's happening in the universe where Vimes stays in Ankh-Morpork and tries to work within Rust's regime. The Klatchians invade and [[All the Myriad Ways|the entire Watch gets killed, ending with Vimes himself]]. (Presumably, made even worse by the Dis-Organiser in ''that'' universe telling Vimes how much better things would be going if he'd gone to Klatch.)
 
 
Line 73:
* It happened on ''[[The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air]]''. Without Carlton driving the family to greed and materialism, as well as countering Will's laid-back attitude, they sink into laziness and poverty.
** Oh, and Carlton's Clarence/guardian angel is Tom Jones.
* In the ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'' episode ''Tapestry'', Q shows Captain Picard what he would've become had he not gotten into the bar fight as a cadet that gave him his artificial heart. Needless to say, he wasn't the same lovable stoic [[Badass]] we remember. Can you say, Lieutenant j.g. Picard?
* ''[[Married... Withwith Children]]'' had a subversive [[Wonderful Life]] episode centered around Al, with Sam Kinison as his "Clarence". The world turns out much better without him (Peg is a model housewife who's married to a rich man named Norman Jablonski (portrayed by [[Early-Bird Cameo|the same actor who would later portray Jefferson D'Arcy]]) who has saved up enough to move the family into a mansion, Bud has respect for women and isn't driven by greed or lust, and Kelly is in college and still a virgin), and he chooses to return out of spite.
** He was infuriated when Peggy said she had saved her self for marriage screaming "What? When she graduated, the football team retired ''her'' number.
* An episode of ''[[Providence]]'', aptly titled "It's a Wonderful Providence," involves Sidney's mother's ghost showing her what her life would've been like had she not moved back to Providence after her mother's death.
* With some mild parody, ''[[Night Court]]'' had Judge Harry Stone led through a [[Wonderful Life]] vision by his guardian angel, Herb. Subverted somewhat when Herb (assuming the image of Mel Torme) admits that the reason the vision was in black and white was not (as Harry suggested) because his absence took color out of the world, but nothing more than an artistic device meant to cater to Harry's love of [[Film Noir]] and that Harry needed to get over himself.
** In addition to the requisite [[For Want of a Nail]] changes (sleazeball lawyer Dan Fielding becomes a truly diabolical villain without Harry's friendship), there were a few totally random changes. For instance, in the [[Film Noir]] [[Alternate Universe]], Jack the Speakeasy Owner has no sense of taste, whereas in the main universe Jack the Shopkeep is blind.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'''s third-season episode "The Wish" did a [[Wonderful Life]] variant, in that Cordelia wishes that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. In this hellish reality, Cordelia doesn't manage to come to an [[Aesop]]-style revelation, because she is killed half-way through the episode before Giles manages to reverse Cordelia's wish, turning the rest of the episode into a [[For Want of a Nail]] situation.
* ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'' features an alternate reality in the third-season episode "Birthday." A demon gives Cordelia the chance to enter a world in which she does not have the prophetic visions, which after three years are near the point of killing her. In this parallel world, Cordy has become the rich and successful actress she always wanted to be - but the sight of a one-armed Wesley, and an Angel driven insane from getting the visions in Cordy's stead, quickly convince her to go back to the real world (though changed to become part demonic so she can survive the visions).
* In ''[[The Secret World of Alex Mack]]'', when Alex wishes herself to never have been born, her mother instead got the GC-161 powers, was easily found, and was captured and became a lab specimen. Alex then finds her mother, rescues her, teaches her to use her powers, and wishes herself back into existence. Of course, it turned out to {{spoiler|be [[All Just a Dream]]...}}
** To keep Alex's father from finding out the truth, Danielle Atron demoted him into menial labor, thus reducing his income. To help with expenses, Alex's sister got a part-time job, which left her no time for any accomplishments that'd give her a chance to get into her college of choice.
Line 88:
* Also done in ''[[Highlander the Series]]'', where Duncan McLeod sees his friends' unpleasant deaths that he averted.
* Subverted in ''[[A Bit of Fry and Laurie]]''. An important media mogul (a clear [[Anonymous Ringer]] for Rupert Murdoch) is about to throw himself off a bridge when the angel appears to show him how life would be. It turns out that without him, everyone would live together in peace and harmony, since he wasn't able introduce his violent media. When they return to the bridge, he wants to be brought back to life because he can exploit ''this'' universe for his own profit. The angel then pushes him off the bridge.
* In ''[[ChappellesChappelle's Show]]'', [[Dave Chappelle|Chappelle]] (as an [[Almighty Janitor]]) shows a big-breasted woman how the world would be if her breasts were smaller after overhearing her complain about being ogled and harassed over her big boobs. In that world, she was turned down for a raise and fired, her friend never invited her to her wedding as a bridesmaid, and the world was destroyed by an insane man who used to masturbate to her when she was large-chested. The woman then decides to get her breasts ''enlarged''. It takes a comedic twist when it's discovered that the janitor isn't magic; he's high on PCP and was wondering why the woman was following him around.
{{quote| But, then how did you show me all that stuff?<br />
Girl, I am high on ''PCP''! But I ''love'' me some titties! }}
Line 101:
* ''[[My Family]]'' did one where Ben wondered how his family would be without him. He then realized they would be exactly the same and was naturally pleased since it meant their problems weren't his fault after all. This occurs after an older man, who just happens to be named Clarence, "saves" him from committing suicide.
** At the end, Ben seems to be in a much better mood than his usual vile-tempered demeanour, so it almost looks like he's actually had some kind of revelation...then it turns out it wasn't the fresh perspective, but Nick having been locked out of the house all night. (Mind you, Nick ''leaving'' didn't chirp him up meaningfully...)
* Done well in an episode of ''[[That 70s Show (TV)|That 70s Show]]''. Eric and Donna have broken up and Eric is so miserable that he wishes he and Donna had never been together in the first place. An angel (Wayne Knight) shows up and offers to grant his wish. He shows Eric an alternate reality where Donna and Hyde got married, Hyde goes to prison and Eric is still a spineless wimp who only ever dated Big Rhonda and never moved out of his parents' house. At the end, Eric says that he's OK with all that, but when the angel shows him the good memories he would also lose, Eric changes his mind.
* Done with a twist (similar to ''[[That 70s Show (TV)|That 70s Show]]'') on ''[[Mad About You]]''. After finding out that the newspaper stand where they met had burned down, Jamie freaks out because if it weren't for that stand, they wouldn't have met and would never have fallen in love. Paul insists they would have found each other anyway. A magic wind shifts the world to what it'd be like, only both of them quickly lose all memory of what was lost, and start remembering their new lives. Both are unhappy with their current romantic situations and after wandering around lost, find each other at the burned out remains of the newspaper stand and go home, the world now fixed.
* Done in the "Apocalypse" episode of ''[[Smallville]]''. Clark starts wondering if his friends would be better off if he had never made it off of Krypton, and he suddenly finds himself in a world where just that happened. As usual, at first he's justified to find out that all of his friends are better off, but ultimately realizes that his absence would leave the world in great danger. There some problems with this episode, since without Clark, all of his friends should have died anyway, most of them having been saved from mundane situations by him at one point. Most notably, Lex's brush with death in the first episode (since he would not have known Clark at all prior to that moment) should have still happened, with a more fatal outcome.
** Of course, considering it's LEX FREAKIN LUTHOR, you have to wonder at whether this would be a bad thing.
Line 111:
** Season 4's "It's a Terrible Life" showed that even if the boys weren't Winchesters, they'd still end up as hunters somehow, which is pretty awful when you think about it. {{spoiler|Zachariah}} serves as their Clarence-figure, {{spoiler|disguised as Dean's boss}}.
* ''The Facts of Life'' had an episode in which Beverly Ann wished that she had never come to town to become the girls' den mother (or whatever she was). In a dream, Santa appeared to show her what would have happened without her. Jo was killed in some kind of accident, and bad things happened to all the other girls as well.
* ''[[I CarlyICarly]]'' has an example where it's not a complete [[Crapsack World]]. Carly, after becoming upset with her brother Spencer when his metal tree accidentally burns down her Christmas gifts, wishes he were more normal. Her angel appears and grants the wish. Spencer is turned into a straightlaced lawyer. Sam goes to jail because Spencer refused to let Carly be her friend and become her [[Morality Chain]], Carly ends up as Nevel's girlfriend, Freddie loses his hope that he will get together with Carly and winds up being bossed about by a girl who is completely unsuitable for him, and finally Spencer marries Mrs. Benson. And there is no iCarly webshow anymore.
** It's a [[Crapsack World]] by the standards of the show. Carly's dating a borderline sociopath (as opposed to merely being friends with/the [[Morality Chain]] of one like normal). Freddie's ''still'' an [[Acceptable Target]] of abuse, except that he now takes it from a girlfriend instead of Sam. Spencer has gone from being reckless but loving to being preppy, boring, and aloof; not only that, but he's dating a completely smothering psychopath. And Sam is an even worse person than she is in their regular lives and is in prison -- and considering how bad Sam can be in a regular episode, the possibility of what she might do without Carly's calming influence borders on [[Nightmare Fuel]]. The lack of web show is just [[Author Existence Failure]], because Carly never had the opportunity to do it.
* In a ''[[Popular]]'' episode at the end of the arc centered on Harrison's battle with leukemia, he is prevented from committing suicide by being taken on a Wonderful Life by the spirit of his deceased hospital roommate who returned as his guardian angel. Keeping with the somewhat parodic nature of the show, said roommate is even named "Clarence". Making it even funnier is the fact that [[Actor Allusion|his actor]] was previously the star of ''[[Teen Angel]]''.
* A ''[[Laverne and Shirley]]'' episode has Laverne feeling sorry for herself while nursing a broken leg, then falling asleep while watching ''It's a Wonderful Life'' on TV and dreaming that she'd never been born.
* A ''[[Malcolm in Thethe Middle]]'' episode has Lois imagining what her life would be if she'd had all girl children. She goes to the mall and alternates between reality and daydreams about her 'perfect' life with her daughters. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a mess. Mallory (Malcolm) is in love with a lazy guy and manipulates Hal to get what she wants, Daisy (Dewey) is a know-it-all, Frances (Francis) works at Hooters and is married to a much older man, and Renee (Reese) is pregnant. And Hal has become grossly overweight due to the anxiety caused by raising four daughters. It's something of a subversion, however, since by the end of the episode Lois is still hoping her next child will be a girl.
* ''[[Weird Science (TV series)|Weird Science]]'' has an episode called "It's a Wonderful Life... Without You", so you can guess how well it goes when they try to do this. Not only is everyone better off without Wyatt, he and Lisa get stuck in the world where they don't exist and have to find a way back.
* In the ''[[Hannah Montana]]'' episode "When You Wish You Were a Star", Miley wishes upon a star that she could be all Hannah, all the time. In this life, Jackson is a hermit, Robbie Ray is married to a gold-digger, Lilly has become the [[Alpha Bitch]] (with Ashley and Amber as her [[Girl Posse]]), and Oliver and Rico have gone into business together as sleazy paparazzi-wannabes.
* ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'', Season 6, did a fairly subtle extended version of this trope, with an alternate reality playing out in which the Island was destroyed in 1977. Most of the main characters' lives aren't merely better, but the characters themselves are also generally ''better people''.
* An episode of 80s [[Britcom]] ''[[Sorry]]!'' had this plot. Notably, the library was a less welcoming place without Timothy's influence, and his mother was a lonely old woman who kept talking to her lapdog, Timothy.
* Lampshaded in the series finale of ''[[Quantum Leap]]''. When Sam expresses a desire to stop leaping to the Bartender (a character who is strongly implied to be [[God]]), explaining that he did not intend to make the world a better place by improving only one life at a time, the Bartender replies that the lives Sam has touched in his journey have [[One Degree of Separation|touched others]], and those lives in turn have touched others; by traveling through time, Sam has done a large amount of good simply by helping individuals in need.
* The ''[[ALF (TV)|ALF]]'' episode "Stairway to Heaven" had this plot device. At one point he wishes that he never crashed into the Tanner's garage, then is knocked unconscious. Then ALF enters a world where the Tanners never met ALF and ALF never met them. The Tanners are rich, snobby people who own the entire neighborhood and have the Ockmoneks be their servants, but are also bored out of their minds and dull. ALF landed in a cosmetic factory where some blue fluid from his spaceship turned out to be great perfume and he became a very rich CEO and has no fear of the Alien Task Force. ALF decides he likes his new life, until the Angel tells ALF in order for him to go through with it, he will have to forget all about his previous life. ALF doesn't want to forget about the Tanners and decides it's not worth it. But then he wakes up. It is never stated whether the whole thing was a dream or a vision, but as Alf and Kate learned the hard way, the blue stuff in his spaceship DIDN'T make great perfume.
** ALF's guardian angel tells him, "Anyone who wants a new life gets one. It's the Capra Amendment," a refernce to the Trope Namer.
* A famous episode of Australian soap ''[[Home and Away]]'' featured long-standing character Alf Fisher having a near-death experience whilst on the operating table. He met up with his dead wife who took him on a tour to show him what their town [[Crapsack World|would become]] if he gave up and died now.
Line 129:
** {{spoiler|We were left with the impression that J.R. shot himself in the end.}}
* Done with a twist on ''[[Psych]]'': after a particularly embarrassing screw-up, Shawn wonders what life would be like if he never returned to Santa Barbara and became a detective. The twist being: 1) that he's fully aware that it's all just a dream, and even manipulates things to comedic effect; and 2)the lesson he learns is not how much better he's made everyone else's lives, but how much better THEY have made HIS.
* The penultimate episode of ''[[Brimstone (TV series)|Brimstone]]'', "It's a Helluva Life," uses this to some extent. Since Ezekiel Stone is already dead, it involves the Devil showing him how all the things he'd done during his life had led to bad outcomes, and pretty much doomed him to Hell, even without him killing his wife's rapist. Luckily, an Angel turns up to point out all the good he'd done as well.
* In the 2011 Christmas episode of ''[[Warehouse 13]]'', [[wikipedia:Philip Van Doren Stern|Stern's brush]] inflicts this trope on Pete. Turns out that without him Myka is still with the Secret Service, Artie is in jail, Claudia is institutionalized, and MacPherson is alive and in charge of the Warehouse.
** Heartily lampshaded: Stern's brush inflicts this trope because it belonged to Philip Van Doren Stern, the author of "The Greatest Gift", which was adapted by into [[ItsIt's a Wonderful Life]]. The episode is even called "The Greatest Gift".
* In one season's [[Christmas Episode]] of [[Raising Hope]], Jimmy hallucinates what his life would be like if Hope had never been born. Turns out it would be pretty bad. Played with when Jimmy realizes that this is very similar to that movie... [[Inception (Film)|Inception]]!
{{quote| "Because I have no idea what's going on!"}}
* ''Very'' subtly done (because there was no dream sequences or supernatural elements) in the ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' episode "False Positive", where Marshall, Lily, Barney, and Robin all make poor decisions for their future after considering better alternatives (Marshall and Lily quit trying to have a baby and decide on a dog instead, Robin takes an easy job as a game show bimbo instead of an ambitious respectable one in journalism, and Barney buys an extravagant suit instead of giving the money to charity, connecting with his half-brother's father, and starting to turn his life around). Ted promptly [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|rips them all a new one]] and forces them back on track, causing substantial and lasting changes for all the characters for the rest of the show's entire run that wouldn't have happened without him. The ending explicitly parodies the movie, with snow suddenly starting to fall on Ted after everything is made right again.
Line 152:
 
== [[Radio]] ==
* ''[[Adventures in Odyssey (Radio)|Adventures in Odyssey]]'' two-parter "It's A Polkenberry Christmas" did this to George Barclay (fittingly enough, as the Barclay family were based on the characters from ''[[ItsIt's a Wonderful Life]]''). The first part has George's life in tatters - the church can't pay its bills because Ellis (the clerk) has mislaid the cheque; the landowner refuses to sympathize; Stuart (his youngest son) falls off his bike and has an injury, prompting George to chew out the mother of the boy who was teaching him to ride the bike, which in turn leads to him being chewed out by the husband afterward. George eventually ends up on a bridge wallowing in his thoughts of pity. Meanwhile Mr. Whittaker and Eugene who are visiting the family find that George has gone out and, fearing the state of mind he's in, decide to look for him. They go their separate ways and Eugene finds George on a bridge, thinking he's about to throw himself into the river. Ironically, Eugene slips on the ice and falls into the river, and George has to go in and save him. After doing so Eugene takes George back to the motel where he's staying with Mr. Whittaker, only to find their clothes are now dry as if they'd never been in the water at all, the receptionist doesn't remember Mr. Whittaker ever checking in with Eugene (and he isn't on the computer record either) and the receptionist, a classmate of Jimmy's (George's eldest son), doesn't remember working with him on a class project. Things go downhill from there: no one recognizes George, Ellis is a thieving street bum and the church has been turned into a golf course. Eugene postulates that George's attitude and the incident with the river is what sent them into this version of reality. They then phone up Mr. Whittaker, who tells George that he lost faith in God, is estranged from his wife, is himself missing and Stuart was never born. Unable to accept what is happening, George chews out Eugene, who refuses to take any responsibility. Enraged, George attempts to find his family using phone books in a library, only to attract the attention of the police. Evading capture, George wishes he was alive again, and ends up back in the river with Euguene, realising the experience was [[All Just a Dream]]. They return to the household where the church congregation has gathered the money required to pay off the debt and George celebrates Christmas with his family. And the "Everytime a bell rings, an angel gets its wings" line get parodied as well.
** A previous episode features Donna wishing Jimmy was never born, and ends up having a day where Jimmy was never born at all. Donna finds that being an only child isn't all it's cracked up to be.
* ''[[Old Harry's Game (Radio)|Old Harry's Game]]'' subverts this in the second episode of series two, in which Satan, an ex-angel, asks Thomas if he has seen the film before taking him to see "all the crap things that did happen because he was born".
* In the February 2, 1947 episode of ''[[The Jack Benny Program]]'', Jack goes to see ''[[ItsIt's a Wonderful Life]]'' and calls it improbable. Of course, later that day he hits his head and has a dream sequence in which he sees what the world would be like if he'd never been born. Don Wilson is a farmer, Phil Harris is playing at crummy dives, Dennis Day works for [[The Rival|Fred Allen]], and Mary Livingstone, who had been flirting with Jack before the dream began, is married--to [[Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?|Frank Nelson]]!
 
 
Line 163:
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Chrono Cross (Video Game)|Chrono Cross]]'' screws around with this, and other ''[[Alternate Universe]]'' tropes, there are two mirror alternate history universes and in one the protagonist is dead, so among other things you can see how things play out with his absence.
** Or would that be you get see how things play out with him NOT absent, since the reality where he died is the "real" one?
 
Line 171:
* Predictably enough, used in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' around Christmas 2009, with a short shown on a dystopian alternative Earth, called "It's a Wonderful Life, Citizen". It's about someone who is miserable and wishes he was never born. Because happiness is mandatory in that place, his desire in the sense of no longer existing {{spoiler|(in that universe, anyway)}} is granted, and everyone agrees they're happier without him. The story has [[An Aesop]]: Report anyone who's unhappy to the authorities.
* ''[[Sexy Losers]]'' hilariously skewers it with the aptly titled [http://sexylosers.com/168.html "It's a Wonderfully Shitty Life"]. ''I was supposed to help somebody?''
* One of the [[Bug (Webcomicwebcomic)|Bug]]'s irrational fears is that [http://www.bugcomic.com/comics/irrational-fears/ this trope will be subverted for him.]
* ''[[Housepets (Webcomic)|Housepets]]'' has the arc "It's a Wonderful Dog's Life" where the human Joel (a PETA member who helped kidnap a dog) was turned into a [[Laser-Guided Karma|Welsh corgi named King]]. The arc is more a deconstruction, as the supernatural force who transforms him, "Pete", has no intention to change him back. And with subsequent events, it's unlikely he'll ''ever'' be changed back.
* Butch of ''[[Chopping Block]]'' had a dream about this, in which he discovered how much better the world would be without him. (The dream ended with him violently killing the angel.)
 
 
== [[Web Original]] ==
* The short video [http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/184/its_a_wonderful_game It's a Wonderful Game] by [[Loading Ready Run]] is a silly take on this trope. The protagonist, in a rage about not being able to defeat the original [[Super Mario Bros.]]. for NES once he ran out of new games to play, wishes that Mario had never been made. The result? "Bring him back! Bring Mario back!"
* [http://www.viruscomix.com/estar.html ''Captain Estar Goes to Heaven''] -- A young woman who leads a hellish life finds a world that may actually be Heaven. She is offered a "Wonderful Life" that she never had ... can she deal with it?
* The 2010 [[The Nostalgia Critic (Web Video)|Nostalgia Critic]] [[Christmas Episode]] ''You're A Rotten Dirty Bastard'' parodies this plot. The Critic quits his job due to being angry about there being nothing to review for Christmas. Roger, his guardian angel, comes in to show how other people on the [[That Guy With theThe Glasses]] Team live without his existence, only for everyone to be much better off without him. [[The Cinema Snob (Web Video)|The Cinema Snob]] is a giant porn star, [[Atop the Fourth Wall (Web Video)|Linkara]] owns both Marvel and DC Comics, [[The Nostalgia Chick (Web Video)|The Nostalgia Chick]] is married and is a major director of films such as ''[[Take That|Twilight: The Good Version]]'', [[The Angry Joe Show (Web Video)|Angry Joe]] is the president of the United States, blows up the evil Canada ([[Running Gag|naturally]], killing [[Phelous]]) {{spoiler|and publicly executed Tom Green}}, and [[The Spoony Experiment (Web Video)|Spoony]] has taken the Critic's job, gives positive reviews to ''[[Last Action Hero]]'' and ''[[Junior]]'', and is loved even by the trolls. When Roger discovers {{spoiler|he could have been God's greatest angel and successor without the Critic, he tries to kill him, only to learn that God lied about angels being [[Immune to Bullets]]}}. The Critic realizes [[Jerkass|he improved his own life]] and goes back to his old self. All narrated by Santa Christ.
** Not ''everyone's'' lives were better. Technically Joe did blow up Canada. So the critics existance actually prevents more than 33 million deaths. And Phelous's, but that happens all the time anyway. Though if we take Joe at his word, Canada was an [[The Empire|evil empire]] in this alternate world.
** Doug Walker said in commentary that he was disappointed to find out this trope had been subverted [[It's Been Done|numerous times before]], but still hopes that this is the only rendition where they {{spoiler|look at the Angel's life without him}}.
Line 204:
** Of course, Homer doesn't get the message and instead spends his time asking "Klink" if he knew about the tunnels under the camp and the radio in the coffee pot. But of course, he manages to stay faithful to Marge on his own.
** And another recent episode used a variation, where Homer looked into magic sauce (seriously) to see what life would've been like if he had won class president. Everything's extremely similar...except he lives in a mansion and doesn't have kids.
** They also parodied the use of this trope in ''A Case of Spring Fever'' (see the [[MST3KMystery Science Theater 3000]] entry) with an educational film about a world without zinc. At one point, the protagonist attempts to shoot himself because the world is so terrible.
{{quote| '''Jimmy's Dad''': Think again, Jimmy. You see, the firing pin in your gun was made out of... yep, zinc.<br />
'''Jimmy:''' Come back, zinc! COME BAAAACK! }}
Line 211:
* The ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' episode "Phineas And Ferb's Quantum Boogaloo" involves the boys traveling through time 20 years to the future, and {{spoiler|running into future Candace, who, after some crazy antics, goes back to the ''events of the very first episode of the series''. The roller coaster is terminated, and the boys get busted. Future Candace returns to the future, only to find everything [[Bad Future|industrial and bleak.]] In this world, everyone is named "Joe", and Doofenshmirtz is the ruler.}}
** What Candace didn't learn was that, because of her interference, it was Perry, not Doof, who got harmed by the huge ball; and that Doofenshmirtz became the ruler because Perry didn't recover on time to stop him.
* One episode of the first ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 (Animation)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' cartoon series follows this trope: the Turtles wonder if the world would be like without them, and then they wake up in a world in which they never existed and Shredder succeeded in his plans to taking over the world. It's a mess, and not even Shredder is happy. In the end, it turns out to be [[All Just a Dream]].
** The newer version has an episode where Donatello goes into an [[Bad Future|alternate future]] where Shredder has taken over the world because he never returned from the future.
*** Perhaps more accurately, the Turtles' brotherhood falls apart without Donatello to act as the "level head" and peacemaker. Shredder would very likely have taken over the world anyway. This leads to something of a [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot|missed opportunity]] when various later events in the series echo aspects of that [[Bad Future]], and Donatello never even bats an eye.
* The [[Animated Adaptation|cartoon]] [[Recycled: Thethe Series|spinoff]] of ''[[Beetlejuice (Animationanimation)|Beetlejuice]]'' played with this in an episode wherein the depressed trickster Beetlejuice accidentally wished himself out of existence, and he's shown what the Neitherworld would be like without him. His friends in the Neitherworld are relatively better off without him, except they've let their success go to their heads and become jerks, but what really gets to BJ is how in the mortal world, Lydia is miserable without him as a friend.
* Here's a odd one: ''[[Captain Planet and Thethe Planeteers]]'' -- "Two Futures" two-part episode, which takes place on New Year's Eve Wheeler ends up trapped in a cave with Dr. Blight and her time machine. Upset with Gaia, Wheeler makes a [[Deal Withwith the Devil]] with eco-villains' female mad sciencist Dr. Blight to go back in time to prevent himself from getting his Fire Ring. Gaia, shows him the future of each area, including Hope Island in bad shape, so he goes back in time and changes things to allow things to return to normal. The eco-villains escape into the time line, but end up in a better future thanks to the Planeteers.
** What, polluting streams wasn't enough, now the villains have to pollute time streams too?
*** That's those wacky Planeteer villains and their [[Anvilicious|utter obsession with the evil that is polluting for you]].
Line 222:
* Played straight with the Christmas special of ''[[Kappa Mikey]]'', where Mikey never visited Japan and everyone's life is worse. This coincides with a [[Yet Another Christmas Carol]] subplot.
* To elaborate, because Mikey never won the contest, someone else became the new star of ''Lilymu!'', the overweight and past his prime [[Speed Racer]]. The ratings tanked and the show was cancelled. Guano became a chimney sweep with a stupid accent, Lily married Yoshi the cameraman and adopted several kids (Becoming very cranky and ugly), Gonard, because the show was cancelled during a take and no one yelled "Cut", terrorizes the city as his ''Lilymu!'' role, and Mitsuki tried to be a serious actor, but quickly became a [[White Dwarf Starlet]].
* Parodied in an episode of ''[[Space Ghost Coast to Coast]]'', where after a tribute episode to Zorak gone horribly wrong, Zorak wishes he was never born, prompting his nephew Raymond from the episode "Hungry" to appear as a wingless angel to show what life would be like without Zorak: ''[[Diffrent Strokes|Diff'rent Strokes]]'' would still be on the air, Lokar would be the bandleader of ''[[SGC 2 C]]'', and Space Ghost himself would find huge success on his show, going on to become governor of California, then president of the universe. Upon this revelation, Zorak wants to live to make Space Ghost miserable, and Raymond gets his wings.
* ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' did this for their [[Christmas Special]], with Buster wishing he didn't exist after a loss of confidence. He's shown an alternate Acme Acres, where Plucky is the star of the show and using his position to make life miserable for Babs. Meanwhile, Monty has taken over the school and uses it for his own purposes. It's a particularly memorable version of the trope, because the special is littered with clever allusions to the real ''[[ItsIt's a Wonderful Life]]'' -- among others, Porky lassos the moon for his girlfriend Petunia, Pepe Le Pew uses a perfume called "[[Zu Zu]]'s Petals," and when Buster gets back to his own reality, he runs around wishing Merry Christmas to various local landmarks.
** Another allusion to ''[[ItsIt's a Wonderful Life]]'' was Monty being wheelchair-bound like his counterpart from the original story. He claimed it was an accident he suffered while skiing. And his alternative self, while not wheelchair-bound, was about to go in the same skiing trip that got the mainstream Monty.
* Subverted in the ''[[Superjail (Animation)|Superjail]]'' season finale: the Warden is {{spoiler|sentenced to spend eternity locked up, because his existence would culminate in his world domination.}} It's only when he escapes and gets a chance to see what happens ''without'' him there to horribly enslave the world that he's able to show the alternative (which isn't remotely as bad as world domination, but quite a bit ''freakier''). The force responsible for his fate doesn't buy it, leading to two very unsettling minutes of [[Continuity Nod]] as the two realities combine.
* The basic plotline of the [[Leap FrogLeapFrog]] educational release ''A Tad of Christmas Cheer'' has Tad thinking that his family doesn't care about him anymore, so a "fairy godbug" transports him to an alternate reality in which he never existed.
* Used in a 13th season episode of ''[[Arthur (Animationanimation)|Arthur]]'' called "Silent Treatment." George feels that his friends are ignoring him and decides to stop speaking. His dummy, Wally, then shows him a world without him in a fantasy sequence. George even [[Lampshades]] it, noting that there's a movie like it.
* ''[[Hey Arnold]]'' uses the subversion in which Helga dreams of what the world would be like if she disappeared. Everybody celebrates that she is gone; Arnold, who caused her to disappear with a magic trick, is famous for it; and her parents' lives are much better. Eventually she wakes up and tries to fix all the bad things she did in that episode before falling asleep.
* In an episode of ''[[The Emperor's New School (Animation)|The Emperors New School]]'', Kuzco realizes he makes everyone miserable as he is and wishes [[I Just Want to Be Normal|he were never emperor in order to fit in]]. Without him, Yzma has taken over the empire, and everyone is even more miserable.
* A particularly awesome example in the ''[[Batman: theThe Animated Series]]'' episode "Over The Edge": {{spoiler|because of a Scarecrow-induced nightmare, Batgirl actually dreams she gets killed during costumed adventuring. Commissioner Gordon discovers then that Batgirl was his daughter Barbara, and actually orders a manhunt on Batman. [[It Got Worse|Things go downhill from there]]. Gordon goes so far as to enlist BANE to help him hunt Batman.}} A surprisingly dark episode, and probably one of the best of an already excellent series.
** Another is "Perchance to Dream", in which Bruce wakes up to discover his parents are alive, he's [[Dating Catwoman|engaged to Selina Kyle]], and there's even a Batman to fight crime. Sounds like a perfect life, huh? {{spoiler|Of course, [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|like it says in the title]], it's all [[Only a Dream]] and he's been put in a [[Lotus Eater Machine]] by the Mad Hatter.}}
** And then there's ''[[Justice League]]'''s "For the Man Who Has Everything".
* There was a pretty good episode of ''[[Super FriendsSuperfriends]]'' called "The Krypton Syndrome" where Superman falls through a portal, winds up on Krypton, and manages to save it. He returns to the present, but finds Earth a burning ruin, with Robin one of the only survivors. After realizing what happened, he [[Tear Jerker|goes back and ensures Krypton's destruction]].
{{quote| '''Superman''': When Krypton was saved, my father never sent me to Earth. So, to this world, there never ''was'' a Superman.}}
* The upcoming ''[[Veggie Tales (Animation)|Veggie Tales]]'' DVD ''It's a Meaningful Life'' has this as a plot, as is it obviously based off of ''[[ItsIt's a Wonderful Life]]''.
* A variation occurs in the ''[[Maryoku Yummy]]'' episode "A Day Without Maryoku," with Shika so frustrated at Maryoku not following the rules that he takes it up with [[Mentor Archetype|Tapo Tapo]], insisting that their world would be better off without her. Tapo Tapo uses magic bubbles to show him how the day went down and then how it would have gone down without Maryoku. Apparently, a lack of Maryoku not only left him watching all the wishes, but kept Bob's van from starting.
** Played straighter in the episode "It's a Yumderful Life," when Maryoku, feeling the pressure of being "the greatest wishsitter," wishes she had an easier job, and then suddenly finds herself as not a wishsitter, but Bob's official clipboard holder. There's even a direct [[Shout-Out]] to the movie with "Yuzu's pedals," a pair of lucky bike pedals Yuzu gave her earlier in the episode, disappearing, and then reappearing when she's back to her regular life.
Line 243:
* In an episode of the ''[[Powerpuff Girls]]'', the titular superheroines accidentally travel fifty years into the future after overusing their superspeed for a race home. Fifty years of a world without the Powerpuff Girls, who get to see it taken over by [[Satan|Him]].
* ''[[Family Guy]]'' did an interesting take on this trope. Peter gets killed in a car crash after [[It Makes Sense in Context|getting drunk at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting]] . Death then shows up to show what Peter would be like if he continues on his path of alcoholism. In this future, Peter is a [[Complete Monster]] who tortures his family and has sex with his boss. Horrified by this, Peter wishes he had never taken a drop of alcohol in his life. Death then shows him what his life would be like WITHOUT alcohol. In this future, Peter is happy, educated, and cheerful, but he has uptight friends, doesn't know Joe, Cleveland, or Quagmire, and thinks they're uncouth. The Aesop is "use moderation."
** In a [[Christmas Episode]], Lois was so upset over how her family's Christmas was ruined she messed with scenes of other Christmas stories. In [[ItsIt's a Wonderful Life]], when George Bailey returned from the alternate reality, she pushed him off the bridge.
* ''[[The Life and Times of Juniper Lee]]'': In the episode "Te Xuan Me", Juniper and her classmates were captured by time wraiths. Whenever time wraiths capture anybody, they rewrite history so their captives would have never existed. In the alternative world, Ray Ray became the Te Xuan Ze; Monroe said he had never met a Te Xuan Ze who accepted the role as much as Ray Ray did; and Dennis behaves like the mainstream Ray Ray. The only people (other than the captives) to remember the original timeline were Ray Ray and the magical creature that caused the whole mess by provoking the wraiths. Ray Ray eventually learned the truth and rescued everyone, restoring the original timeline. For a while, Ray Ray believed it was [[All Just a Dream]] since even Juniper didn't remember anything, but a photograph he had with him clued him to the fact it really happened.
* ''[[Mega Man (Animationanimation)|Mega Man]]'' once went to the future. A future that shows him what the world will be like if he doesn't return to his own time. Without him to stop Dr. Wily, the villain took over the world.
* In the ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'' episode "How Long Is Forever?", Starfire is thrown into a dark future where the Titans have split, becoming embittered with each other, which just goes to show how important she is as [[The Heart]] of the Titans.
 
{{reflist}}
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/886458"
Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies.
More information