Trailers Always Spoil: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Movie [[Trailers]] are [[Never Trust a Trailer|known to mislead]], but sometimes they go in the opposite direction, giving away key plot points and twists (and sometimes what would have been a [[Twist Ending]]). The odds of this happening increase for the commercials aired after a movie's opening weekend.

A related phenomenon often occurs with DVD menu intro screens. DVDs will often introduce their menu screens with montages from the movie/episodes, or clips of scenes that are particularly flashy or dramatic. Often these will give away major plot points before the viewer has a chance to even start the film. These can be even more effective at spoiling the film's plot than trailers, since a viewer might plausibly be expected to go days between seeing a trailer and finally seeing the related movie, which might give them a chance to forget things from the trailer. With menu intro screens, on the other hand, the viewer is being shown clips from something that they are moments away from watching.

 

 

Can lead to [[Trailer Joke Decay]]. See also [[Spoiler Opening]] and [[Late Arrival Spoiler]]. Compare [[The Namesake]], when the title itself may be a spoiler. Or just see [[Spoiler Title]].

 

{{examples}}

* For ''[[Attack on Titan]]'' there is a trailer that shows the drill sergeant telling Armin {{spoiler|that he would be 'a great light snack' for a Titan}}, for the second half of that trailer, we see {{spoiler| Armin being consumed by a Titan. This is probably a subversion, because in that episode, Armin is the only one in his squad that ''doesn't'' end up in a Titan's stomach.}}

* The entire ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' metaseries (all dubs) plays with this trope, particularly at key moments. It's done as a ratings ploy: if you want people to watch, tell them exactly what they'll see. Why would I want to miss {{spoiler|Trunks kill Freeza}}? Also the manga necessarily spoiled the anime. Common to any anime closely following a manga.

** Viz Media is incredibly bad with this. They spoiled the outcome for one fight, and if I recall correctly, they spoiled a character's death. In their translation of ''[[One Piece]]'', they also showed ''the exact page'' where {{spoiler|Luffy defeats Captain Kuro}}.

** ''Naruto'''s Volume 42 preview shows Sasuke saying that the Mangekyo Sharingan 1){{spoiler|enables the user to control tailed beasts}}, 2){{spoiler|causes blindness}}.

* In a strange case, the [["On the Next..."|Post Episode Trailers]] on the first three episodes of ''[[Yes! Pretty Cure 5]]'' (as well as the promo trailers, which focused a lot on the first episode) each showed part of the [[Transformation Sequence]] of the girl who would transform for the first time in that episode. So in the trailer previewing episode 5, the conspicuous ''absence'' of a scene spoiling Karen's transformation was a spoiler in itself. (Or at least, in hindsight, it ''should'' have been.)

** On the other hand, although the ''[[Pretty Cure]]'' fandom was more-or-less unanimous about [[Sixth Ranger|Cure]] [[Heartcatch Pretty Cure|Sunshine's]] identity, there was still some suspense to be had in-show...until the trailer for Episode 23 killed it: the preview footage consisted almost entirely of [[Student Council President|Itsuki]] transforming into said Cure.

* The infamous "Malay dubs" of ''[[Transformers Headmasters]]'' would often have major spoilage IN THE TITLE ("Ultra Magnus Dies!" Wonder what that episode is about). And one particularly amusing spoiler from the narrator in one episode:

** "Will Scorponok return? Of course he will."

* Like the ''Phantom Menace'' example below, ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' spoiled the death of a certain character by having one of the tracks on the official soundtrack being titled "(Character)'s Death".

* The tendency for trailers to spoil is parodied in ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei|Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei]]''. The plot summary on the back of the first volume of the manga appears to be spoiler laden, until you learn it has nothing to do with ''Zetsubou's'' actual plot. Likewise, the end of the [[Magical Girl]] parody features a "spoiler" filled "Coming Next Episode" sequence, revealing (among other things) that Nozomu's mask was made of cardboard, and that he hasn't actually been defeated. Naturally, the real next episode is a return to the show's usual format.

* ''[[Digimon Xros Wars]]'' usually spoiled its content by releasing preview images of the next part of the story before the previous one aired.

** Before the ''Seven Kingdoms'' story arc began halfway through the series, it was revealed that {{spoiler|Taiki, Kiriha and Nene were to get new clothes, join forces and their Digimon will gain golden-armored forms}}.

** The next episode previews at the end of each episode of ''[[Digimon Frontier]]'' usually spoiled the most important plot points of each episode. And if one simply chooses not to watch those, the ''episode titles themselves'' would be more than happy to do the spoiling in their stead.

* From ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'':

* Completely averted by the back cover of the final volume of ''[[Death Note]]'', which, instead of giving a brief plot summary, simply says "The battle ends here!"

** Mostly the same with the preview for it in Volume 11, although if you think about it, showing {{spoiler|Light's watch}} could be considered a minor spoiler.

* ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'''s season four boxset mentions {{spoiler|Yusuke dying and coming back with the help of his demonic genes}}.

* You can always tell in ''[[Inuyasha|Inu Yasha]]'' when a character will be making a "surprise" return or [[Inuyasha]] will be going through his {{spoiler|monthly transformation into a human}} by the pictures on the chapter covers (and sometimes the volume cover).

* The first Japanese volume of the ''[[Fist of the North Star|Hokuto no Ken]]'' manga ends in the middle of [[The Hero|Kenshiro]]'s final battle with his rival [[Token Motivational Nemesis|Shin]]. Yet, the cover of the second volume spoils the outcome of the fight by depicting {{spoiler|a dying Shin leaping to his death.}}

** The preview trailers and posters for the 2007 ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'' movie ''Legend of Raoh: Chapter of Fierce Fighting'' spoils the fact that {{spoiler|Raoh dies.}} Considering the movie is an adaptation of a key story arc in a 24-year-old manga, this is a combination of [[Late Arrival Spoiler]] and [[It Was His Sled]].

* Trailers for various iterations of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' contain ruthless spoilerage. An [[ADV Films|ADV]] trailer briefly showed {{spoiler|Misato and Ritsuko's death scenes from Episode 25}}, and a "next episode" trailer spoils {{spoiler|Rei II's death}}; virtually every frame of the [[Manga Entertainment]] trailer for ''The End of Evangelion'' showcases massive spoilers, among them {{spoiler|the invasion of NERV HQ, the Misato-Shinji kiss scene, Asuka's death scene, and the appearance of GNR}}; even an early Japanese trailer for Death & Rebirth/EoE features a voiceover spoiling {{spoiler|Rei's betrayal of Gendo}}. Admittedly, EoE is such a spoilerific movie that it would be extremely difficult to have a trailer that spoils nothing whatsoever, but [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAMQybBc-Jk&feature=channel_page a series of Japanese TV spots] seems to have figured it out (and encapsulated the general spirit of the movie into 15 seconds, to boot:)

** As [[Nightmare Fuel|awesomely disturbing]] as the DVD menu for [[Eo E]] is, it too is guilty of plenty of spoilerage as well {{spoiler|most notably Asuka's death.}}

* The back of the third DVD volume for ''[[Code Geass]] R2'' shows Charles {{spoiler|with a code mark on his hand}}, as well as {{spoiler|a dying V.V.}}.

** The fourth volume shows pictures of {{spoiler|Nunnally}}, who was assumed to be dead, including one with {{spoiler|her eyes open}}, and also includes a [[Spoiler Title]] for Episode 22: {{spoiler|Emperor Lelouch}}.

* Lantis' 5-minute promo for ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya|The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' soundtrack spoiled THE ENTIRE MOVIE, so they had to redo it without spoilers.

** This trope, together with [[Trailer Joke Decay]], was [[Discussed Trope]] in ''The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya'' (the ninth novel), when Haruhi decides to make a sequel to "The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina". She talks about how much this annoys her and decides to avert this by producing the trailer before even starting the filming of the actual movie.

** The Next Episode preview for episode 53 spoils the outcome of the Crow/Bommer duel. The very last scene of the preview shows the exact scene in which {{spoiler|Earthbound God Chacu Challhua}} is destroyed.

* The previews for the film adaptation of ''[[Metropolis (anime)|Osamu Tezukas Metropolis]]'' showed scenes from when {{spoiler|Tima realized her true potential - to destroy Metropolis.}}

* The cover of the third volume of ''[[Bakuman｡]]'' shows Moritaka Mashiro, one of the main characters, working as an assistant for Eiji Nizuma. When the offer is first proposed, Mashiro's editor, Akira Hattori, initially doesn't think he'll take it.

** The preview for Volume 6 notes that "all (Mashiro and Takagi's) dreams may go up in smoke when one member of the team can't take the pressure," and it shows {{spoiler|Mashiro}} collapsed in his office (Granted, this is foreshadowed).

* One of the ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure]]'' featured a prominent spoiler on one of the covers, the volume after it was revealed. It clearly showed {{spoiler|Mitsumi}} as a Team Galactic member so to anyone who saw that cover early.. You're spoilered.

 

*** To make matters worse when it was announced to media a day before [[The Reveal]] that an all new half Black half Hispanic character [[Alliterative Name|Miles Morales]] would replace Peter Parker as Spider-Man the media went into uproar while still ignoring the [[Alternate Continuity]] thing.

* The ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' story "F.O.W.L. Disposition" has Steelbeak doing an [[Enemy Mine]] with Darkwing after F.O.W.L. goes too far. Whether this is believable or not in the first place is debatable, but {{spoiler|every single cover shows him as an evil figure, including the back of the trade.}}

 

* It's a pain trying to find a surprise twist in [[Fan Fiction]] because so many writers think "summary" means "tell me everything that happens in the story".

** This is especially the case when the surprise twist involves a [[Shipping]]. We get such hilarity as "Which girl will [[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]] choose? Harry/Hermione."

*** Granted, not including the pairings in the summary is practically asking the rabid shippers to flame you.

 

== Film ==

** When [[Roger Ebert]] reviewed ''[[DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story]]'' favorably, he said he was pleasantly surprised by how much funny stuff was kept ''out'' of the trailer. Likewise, he mentioned in his one-star review of ''Year One'' that the only funny stuff were lines already in the trailers.

* The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxf73ebZfeY trailer] for the ridiculous and sub-par [[Slasher Movie]] ''Detention'' (2010) (best known as one of [[Kung Fu|David]] [[Kill Bill|Carradine]]'s last appearances before his rather unusual death) tells you absolutely ''everything''. Who our group of victims is, who gets killed, the [[Sins of Our Fathers|entire back-story]] for the killer's rampage, exactly which two characters survive until the end, and who the [[Large Ham]] killer is. About the only detail it leaves out is whether or not those last two make it to the end-credits, but it's a [[Foregone Conclusion]].

* The ''[[Spider-Man (film)|Spider-Man]]'' films haven't been very discreet:

** The trailer for ''Spider-Man 2'' shows the strain Peter is under as Spider-Man, him quitting the superhero biz, Doc Ock's origin, his deal with Harry Osborn, him kidnapping Mary Jane, Peter becoming Spider-Man again only to be delivered to Harry by Ock and unmasked; essentially, the first four-fifths of the movie.

** The ''Spider-Man 3'' trailer shows Spider-Man's new popularity, Peter's decision to marry Mary Jane, Harry attacking Peter as the New Goblin, Harry being hospitalised, Sandman's origin, Peter discovering that Sandman killed his uncle, being taken over by the symbiote and turning evil, fighting Sandman, Sandman being dissolved in water, Peter fighting Eddie Brock, throwing a bomb at Harry, hurting Mary Jane, realising he's gone too far and tearing the black suit off.

** By this standard, the original ''Spider-Man'' trailer seems restrained in only revealing about two thirds of the plot; Peter Parker becomes Spider-Man, Norman Osborn becomes the Green Goblin, and the two end up fighting one another.

** In the book, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas were totally surprised to find out that Gandalf had returned from the dead, and when they heard about a "White Wizard", and even at first when they finally came across him, they thought it was Saruman, not Gandalf. In the movie, to maintain this, Peter Jackson actually went so far as to have Gandalf the White speak with the voices of ''both Lee and McKellen'' imitating each other's voice, with their voices overlaid on top of each other. You can hear the transitions quite well, and for a moment Gandalf sounds like he's talking with the [[Voice of the Legion]] because of this.

** Well, it might have been somewhat hard to keep the revelation that Gandalf's alive out of the trailer, since he shows up at the end of the first fourth of the movie. Then again, he leaves shortly after not to return until the end, so it might have been feasible...

** The box art for ''[[You Only Live Twice]]'' prominently shows the full likeness of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, which is shown in that movie for the first time. It isn't exactly a major plot twist, but it doesn't seem appropriate for a villain who famously spent at least two a half ''movies'' with his face just off-camera.

* Trailers for ''[[The Negotiator]]'' revealed that Spacey's character would eventually side with Jackson's.

** Even if you never saw anything that gave away his Sith Lord status, the movie still did a horrible job of hiding it.

** To make matters worse, much, including Dooku's role (but not the [[No Pronunciation Guide|pronunciation of his name]]) was given away by ''[[Jedi Starfighter]]'', which was released three months before ''"Clones"''.

{{quote|'''JW''': What was I supposed to do? Label Track 15 as "Some Nifty Jazzy-Type Music Followed by Heartwrenching Violin Music" and Track 16 as "The High Council Meeting and A Bunch of Basses That Sound Like They're Singing a Catholic Monk Death Chant"?

'''GL''': (thinking) You know, that could've worked.

* The ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]: At World's End'' trailer clearly shows {{spoiler|Will Turner on the helm of the Flying Dutchman as he becomes Captain. You can even see the scar on his chest}}.

** Every single trailer showed {{spoiler|Jack Sparrow, clearly back from the dead.}} Sure, it was pretty obvious that would be happening in the last movie, but it still might have been more tense had they avoided showing him at all in the trailers.

** Even the first trailer spoils to a lesser extent: when a viewer remembers that, in the trailer, he saw Jack standing in front of the gallows, he won't be concerned that {{spoiler|Jack is really dead when Barbossa impales him, since that scene hasn't happened yet.}}

** One piece of merchandise for the third movie (which came out before the film) was called "Will Turner, {{spoiler|Captain of the Flying Dutchman}}"

* ''[[The General's Daughter (film)|The Generals Daughter]]'' is a thriller full of plot twists. The trailer spoiled every single one of them. (It even ''almost'' spoiled the actual murderer. While it didn't show the murderer, it showed a short clip from the final scene, where the murderer is revealed.)

* The trailer for ''[[First Daughter]]'' spoils the true identity of {{spoiler|the boyfriend}}, a surprise twist revealed very late in the movie.

* The original theatrical trailer for ''[[The Godfather]]'' features stills from the movie, including almost every single murder.

* A TV spot for ''[[The Dark Knight Saga|Batman Begins]]'' revealed, in order, that [[Late Arrival Spoiler|Bruce's parents died]], Wayne Manor burns down (something that happen 3/4's of the way through the film), and that Bruce has a reconciliatory conversation with Rachel that happens right beside the ashes of said burned-down manor.

* The trailer (not to mention the VHS cover art) for ''[[Meet the Feebles]]'' shows the surprise ending in action.

* ''[[Balls of Fury]]'' tries really hard to make Feng's identity a secret, despite that [[Christopher Walken]] is 99% of the star power (the other 1% being, of course, James Hong).

* ''[[Double Jeopardy]]'' was infamous for its trailer revealing that: Ashley Judd goes to jail for the murder of her husband, she finds out her husband is alive, a fellow inmate informs her that she cannot be convicted for the same crime twice, and that she menacingly points a gun on her husband while Tommy Lee Jones (who was investigating Judd) sits back and watches.

* The trailers for ''[[The Curious Case of Benjamin Button]]'' pretty much detail every event in the entire movie, showing just about everything important that happens in Benjamin's life.

* The trailer (or at least one of them) for ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' gave away ''absolutely everything''. The sequel, ''New Moon'', is even worse! The first trailer for it was fine, it stopped at the first major plot revelation. But the second trailer? Well that just takes one scene from pretty much every plot point in the movie, save the VERY last one, and mashes it all together in a sequential montage! You could nearly write the Wikipedia plot summary with just that trailer alone!

* The case of the VHS of George Romero's original ''[[Dawn of the Dead (film)|Dawn of the Dead]]'' has a picture on the '''spine''' of one of the main characters dead and zombified, an event that occurs about ten minutes from the end.

* In ''[[The Sum of All Fears]]'', the trailer reveals that {{spoiler|the bomb goes off}}.

** This plotline was the reason that Harrison Ford refused to reprise his role as Jack Ryan.

** To be fair, anyone who thought {{spoiler|Megatron wouldn't back for the sequel}} really [[Late Arrival Spoiler|should've known]] [[Joker Immunity|otherwise]].

** Also, {{spoiler|Devastator}} would have been a kickass awesome surprise. He just ended up being kickass awesome.

* It was bad enough that ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' had trailers that showed off the impressive special effects in the film, spoiling key moments in the film. There were also special programs that gave away the rest of the special effects, so by the time you made it to the theater, the only part you hadn't seen was the character development.

** However, the original marketing deliberately did not show ANY of the dinosaurs. You actually had to buy a ticket to see them in action for the first time. Audiences in 1993 audibly gasped at the first reveal (which is actually quite a ways into the film). After the first week or so, the trailers became much more revealing.

* The people editing the trailer for ''[[The Machinist]]'' thought it would be a brilliant idea to hint at the plot twist at the end too heavily, {{spoiler|including the answer to hangman game, "KILLER"}}.

* At least one trailer for ''[[From Dusk till Dawn]]'' makes explicitly clear that the inhabitants of the bar are {{spoiler|vampires}}, which is a twist halfway through the movie.

* Try watching the trailer for ''[[Never Been Kissed]]'', and then once you see the movie it will be as though you just watched it twice.

* Likewise, if you watch the trailer for ''[[College Road Trip]]'', you probably won't have to see the movie at all, as it seems to summarize the entire plot of the movie quite nicely.

** The Lego sets not only spoil where the film's climax takes place, but also has {{spoiler|Lotso}} with an evil grimace on his figure.

** There was one trailer that came out ''before'' the movie which showed Andy holding Woody and describing him to Bonnie, though Bonnie wasn't shown, just the description was heard, still resulting in the spoiler that Andy still cares about the toys. Though, part of this takes place during a clip of the scene in ''the Incinerator.''

** Given that {{spoiler|"Escape", something that happens in the movie, is ''[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|in the title]]'', [[Foregone Conclusion|what did you think was going to happen?]]}}

* The poster for ''[[Airheads]]'' reveals that {{spoiler|Chazz, Rex, and Pip are ultimately arrested and sent to prison}}.

** You thought ''that'' was bad? Just wait until you see the theatrical trailer for Part 2! It shows two of the most important parts of the battle of Hogwarts. {{spoiler|The first, though only a flash, is Ron visibly cradling Fred's dead body. The second Lupin and Tonks hold hands before what is most likely their death, and the third is Molly and Bellatrix fighting.}} Might as well spoil the fact that {{spoiler|Snape loved Lily}}.

*** Not to mention a lot of the scenes from said trailer show Harry {{spoiler|after his death and resurrection, removing the dramatic tension leading up to his death}}.

* The trailer for ''[[The Kite Runner]]'' bizarrely chooses to focus on the last third of the movie and reveals that {{spoiler|Hassan dies}} and makes it seem like the whole movie is about {{spoiler|Amir trying to save Hassan's son}}, even though most of the movie is about their childhood friendship.

* Trailers of ''The Kindred'' and ''Centipede'' spoil the demise of the monsters.

* The trailers for ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]]'' give away the fact that {{spoiler|one of Ramona's exes is not an ex-''boy''friend}} which was supposed to be a minor twist.

* The trailer for ''[[The Town]]'' has a fairly mild example, in that {{spoiler|The last line in the trailer is actually the last line in the film.}} Granted it's tough to tell outside of context.

* ''[[Arlington Road]]'''s main plotline involves whether or not the Tim Robbin's character is actually a domestic terrorist or just a regular guy. If you've seen the trailer, however, you know the answer. In fact, Jeff Bridges spends much of DVD commentary complaining about the film's tell-all marketing.

* Given the young target audience, it's not surprising that the trailer for ''[[Matilda (film)|Matilda]]'' showed the headmistress getting her comeuppance.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQLZlIoNI8c One trailer] for ''[[Cocoon]]'' explicitly revealed that Walter, Kitty, et al {{spoiler|are aliens}}.

* The trailer for ''[[Hanna]]'' gives away the minor plot twist when Marissa sends a double into the holding cell where Hanna is(from the back the person looks and sounds exactly like Marissa), and Hanna starts crying and then snaps the woman's neck.

* The original ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]]'' theatrical trailer gives away the first scene's twist - that the killer is the victim's six-year old brother.

* The theatrical trailer for ''[[The Princess Bride (film)|The Princess Bride]]'' spoils {{spoiler|the Clergyman's funny voice, Count Rugen going into a battle stance before running away, the outcome of the battle of wits, and Wesley's "death"}}.

* Subverted in the case of ''[[Larry Crowne]]''. While people might think that the trailer gives away the entire film, it mostly only shows what happens in the first hour. Most of the film's third act was not shown in the trailer.

** The blurbs on the omnibus editions of [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s [[Miles Vorkosigan]] books are particularly bad, although the task is made harder by the blurb needing to be for at least two books at once.

** Many editions of ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' mention in the blurb that {{spoiler|Edward's a vampire}}, thereby robbing the first ''two hundred'' pages of any sense of mystery. Of course, if this hadn't been spoiled it would have been a pretty bad case of {{spoiler|[[Genre Shift]] with a mystery romance novel suddenly including vampires. Imagine how that felt to the eight people in the world who didn't know about this beforehand.}}

*** The text on the inside front of the hardback edition's dust jacket is somewhat longer, but still amounts to that.

*** This troper wasn't so lucky. The inside cover of his cover mentioned that Harry was on a quest to find {{spoiler|Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes}}, spoiling a plot point ''the entire 6th book was leading up towards.''

** For some editions of ''[[The End of Eternity]]'' by [[Isaac Asimov]], the back cover clearly spoils that {{spoiler|Noys was sent back from the distant future to stop Harlan and the Eternity}}. Thanks a lot!

** [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''[[Foundation]]'' series books are even worse, at least the European versions. The back cover blurb for each book describes, in a fair amount of detail, events that only happen near or at the very end of that book, which leaves the reader very confused for a while ("This isn't about what the back cover said it would be about!") and then very annoyed as soon as it becomes obvious that the climax of the story has been spoiled.

** Some versions of ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' books are odd about this, as they give away plot points that only become relevant for the ''next'' book.

** I have yet to see a cover for ''[[Tuck Everlasting]]'' that doesn't ruin the surprise.

** The Harper Collins paperback 2000 version of the [[Aubrey-Maturin]] series every book has a summary of between 2 and 4 of the next in the series (each book after the first 4 of so is pretty much a continuous series) in the back. As the books also have anecdotes and essays after the true end of the book (which is disguised to surprise the reader), you can read an essay on the book you just read, then accidentally spoil yourself for the next book.

** ''[[Messenger]]'' has a back cover where everything is revealed, right down to {{spoiler|Matty's heroic sacrifice}}, which only comes up on the last page of the book. And of course, when discussed in class, the teacher will mention not to look at the back panel. [[Forbidden Fruit|So of course, everyone does.]]

* Books of "literary merit" often have a preface that discusses the meaning of [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|life, the universe, and]] [[What Do You Mean It's Not Didactic?|the book]], casually throwing major plot points out there.

** Related are all these teachers who, when assigning their students novels for mandatory reading, casually spoil everything about the plot , because Lord forbid the students actually derive ''pleasure'' from reading.

*** One copy has a friggin' {{spoiler|Dragon with a Crown on the cover}} - both sides of the books will spoil (so will the spine of the book since they have mini versions of the cover art.)

* ''[[The Turn of the Screw]]''. {{spoiler|Peter Quint's dead, and so is that governess he was dallying with.}} This is made out to be a surprise in the book. Thanks, blurb.

* One edition of ''[[The Witches of Karres]]'' by [[James H. Schmitz]] has a back-cover blurb rather accurately saying that the "adorable little girls made Pausert the mortal enemy of his fiancée, his planet, the Empire, the Sirians, the Uldunians, the dread pirate chieftain {{spoiler|Laes Yango}}..." The spoilered name there was an alias the pirate chieftain '''the Agandar''' used when trying to capture Pausert's ship by trickery rather than brute force.

 

* The producers of ''[[Frasier]]'' had to pull a fast one on [[NBC]] in order to avert this. In the "Adventures in Paradise" two-part episode, Frasier finds himself at a Hawaiian resort in a room next to his ex-wife, Lilith. The second part ended with a dream sequence where Frasier was back at the resort, this time next to {{spoiler|[[Cheers|Shelly Long as Diane Chambers]]}}. The producers were worried that NBC would heavily promote the surprise cameo, so they shot the scene in secret and turned in a copy of the episode without the scene, only giving the real episode to the executives at the very last minute.

* During ''[[Chuck]]'''s third season, one episode ended with the implied death of {{spoiler|Devon Woodcomb, aka, Captain Awesome. However, almost immediately afterwards, we see him in the next time trailer, still alive.}}

* Happened in the Season 3 finale of ''[[Lost]]''. The commercials for it showed Jin, Bernard, and Sayid tied up. In, the show, Ben ordered their deaths, and you hear 3 gunshots through the radio. However, the scene with them tied up did not appear yet in the episode, telling people preemptively that they were alive.

** In the penultimate episode of the 5th season, Kate, Sawyer, and Juliet are seen leaving the island. However, the commercials for the finale show them back on the island. So much for that.

*** ABC, however, did not listen to them and began showing new footage just a couple of days before the season's premiere. Due to how season 5 ended, almost any footage would have spoiled the basic premise of the season. They also spoiled specific things like the fate of {{spoiler|Claire}}.

** The previews for the last few episodes have done exactly this, and show absolutely nothing from the upcoming episode. It's nice.

*** Another possibly attempted subversion was the commercials for the episode where Teyla poses as a Wraith queen, with scenes taken out of context to imply she would end up turning against the team. The possibility isn't even ''mentioned'' in the episode itself.

** EVERY SINGLE promo for ''Stargate: Continuum'' shows {{spoiler|Ba'al being betrayed and killed by Vala/Qatesh}}, which is really supposed to be a surprise.

** Considering it was the last episode aired, an astute viewer probably would've had it figured out.

*** But if you're showing the series to someone new you can get a great reaction by not letting them see the opening credits so they don't know which people are regular cast members until the end of the first episode.

** Worse still, the opening [[Title Sequence]] (sometimes) contains cuts from the upcoming episode, frequently turning the opening into an automatic, hard-to-avoid spoiler.

** In the trailer for ''Revelations'', {{spoiler|every scene but one has already occurred by the episode's apparent ending, and that one scene can literally be missed if the viewer blinked. Even when you see it, it's ambiguous.}}

** Also, they often tease a "special guest" showing up in the next episode and vainly attempt to edit around the actual person to keep it a surprise. This often fails (IE, Matt Hughes being clearly seen sitting on a bench in the background in one teaser).

* During the last season of ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'', the teaser at the end of each episode showed ''the very last scene of the following episode''. Technically, this may have been more misdirection than spoiler, though, as the final scene of each episode was usually unrelated to the main action of the story, and was ''itself a lead-in for the following episode''. Which is to say, that after the final scene foreshadowed the next episode, the [["On the Next..."]] teaser that followed showed you what amounted to ''a teaser for the episode two weeks down the line''.

** Likewise the "later tonight" promos in their Sunday night cartoon block tend to show the best [[Orphaned Punchline|punch lines]] from the forthcoming shows, which would've been funnier if you had seen them [[It Makes Sense in Context|in context for]] the first time.

** In the Season Four finale of ''[[So You Think You Can Dance]]'', the show cut to commercial before announcing whether the winner was Joshua Allen or Stephen "Twitch" Bass. During the commercial break, a promo for FOX News at 9 advertised a story about "So You Think You Can Dance champion Joshua Allen." No prizes for guessing who was crowned the Season Four winner when the show resumed...

*** Erm. Sylar got his powers back at the end of season 2. And complaining that the title gives away the general direction is like complaining that the title "Spider-Man" spoils that there's a guy getting the powers of a spider.

* German TV stations are particularly notorious for this. A trailer for ''[[Evolution (film)|Evolution]]'' with David Duchovny featured one of the movie's final scenes, a trailer for season 2 of ''[[Lost]]'' featured the confrontation between {{spoiler|Mr. Eko and the smoke monster}}, a trailer for season 4 reveals who the Oceanic Six (one of the "main" mysteries in the first half of the season) are and on top of that features ''scenes from the season finale'' (the Oceanic Six arriving at home, {{spoiler|the island disappearing}}), and so on.

** ''Voyager'''s "The Chute" is a classic example. Paris and Kim are thrown in an alien prison, and about halfway through comes the revelation that {{spoiler|they can't break out because the prison is in space}}. It's a very dramatic shot that would no doubt have been more effective if it hadn't ''been in the commercial''.

* Reality shows on [[Bravo]] typically show the judges' harsher comments and contestant reaction shots/defenses. Although this is sometimes subverted, like one time where a comment was said in the trailer and the contestant shot showed him tilting his head back and going down, as if in frustration/agony. In the episode, he was in the top 3.

** Season 3 had a very notorious example. At this point in the season, there was a powdered form of a virus being transported in a plastic bag by a mule (just a kid who agreed to carry something over the Mexican border). CTU spent the entire episode trying to track down the package and the kid. Then, after the episode was over the preview literally had {{spoiler|Jack Bauer yelling "THE VIRUS IS OUT!" in absolute panic}}. Granted, it turned out to be {{spoiler|a false alarm}} but 24 fandom was so pissed off at potentially being spoiled that complaints were flown at FOX's direction and addressed. This resulted in the previews being treated as spoilers in 24 fandom discussion.

* The [["On the Next..."]] trailers of the original ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' were terrible about this. Particularly [[Egregious]] is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU3B_5hVsns the preview] of "The City on the Edge of Forever", which so effectively summarizes the whole episode that it plays more like a [["Previously On..."]] than anything else.

* When TV Guide Channel re-aired episodes of ''[[Hollywood Showdown]]'' (which was 30 minutes), they would pad out the show with commercials to make it an hour long. Towards the end of the hour, they would run the first five minutes or so of the next episode.

* The [[Maury]] talk show does this religiously. In every commercial break before DNA test results, they try to build suspense by showing quick clips of the guests before and after the results. 99% of the time, they show the guests' reactions to the results, defeating the purpose of sticking around for the results. Sometimes, if the DNA test is for a more serious tone, like an adult daughter finding her long lost father, the clips fade into a commercial break without showing the reaction.

* [[Network Ten]] purposely ruined the shocking twist in the finale of the third season of ''[[The OC]]'' for Australian viewers. Instead of letting us think she was getting [[Put on a Bus]] ten decided to start showing ads three weeks before the finale saying " {{spoiler|MARISSA... WILL... DIE}}".

* [[VH-1]] spoiled a match in ''[[The World Series Of Pop Culture]]'' this way: One of the semifinal matches spilled over into the final episode...and the preview trailer for the finale spoiled who wins that semifinal match. Oops...

* ''[[Glee]]'' did this in a season 2 episode, showing {{spoiler|Kurt, who has been at a rival school for ten episodes,}} standing at the top of a staircase yelling {{spoiler|"Kurt Hummel's back at McKinley!"}}

* In the Season 2 episode of ''[[Leverage]]'' that introduced Tara Cole, {{spoiler|she was posing as their client's uptight lawyer to "audition" as a stand-in grifter for Sophie - a fact she didn't reveal to the team (or the audience) until the end.}} Unfortunately, that was given away in one of the promos that aired just prior to the actual reveal in the last segment.

* Series 4 of the BBC's ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' had a trailer for the first episode which showed Arthur carrying a lifeless Merlin. This is the cliffhanger at the end of the episode.

** Interestingly, the series is also infamous for the [[Never Trust a Trailer|unreliability of its trailers]], particularly where interactions between Arthur and Merlin are concerned. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground.

* In recent years, ''[[Wheel of Fortune]]'' (of all shows!) is guilty of this. The show uploads a preview of next week's shows on Sony's website every weekend. Nearly every preview shows contestants landing on or picking up prizes, the $10,000 side of the Mystery Wedge, or the Million Dollar Wedge. Occasionally, similar previews air on TV.

** On October 13, 2010, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLXGIf7lTE8 one preview] that aired near the end of the show was devoted entirely to a woman picking up the Million Dollar Wedge, complete with suspenseful music and an announcer hinting viewers that she would win the grand prize. When the episode in particular aired, [[Never Trust a Trailer|she lost the wedge to a Bankrupt]].

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' had [["On the Next..."]] trailers that were notorious for this. The one for "Phases" revealed who the werewolf was, and the one for "Innocence" revealed that Angel had lost his soul.

* PBS' trailer for the newest adaptation of ''[[Great Expectations]]'' gives away {{spoiler|how Miss Havisham dies}}, even though the official website goes out of its way to stick "Spoiler Warning" on the production designer's discussion of that event.

* The trailers for ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' are infamous for this. For example, the season 3's big cliffhanger ending of {{spoiler|Dean being sent to hell}} was kind of ruined since the original episode promo showed {{spoiler|Sam crying over Dean's dead body.}} More recently, the episode promo for season 7's "Repo Man" completely ruined the episode's big twist of {{spoiler|the apparent victim actually being a villain and trying to let a demon that once possessed him once again inhabit his body}} by actually making it the ''focus of the trailer.''

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* Many RPG adventures' cover art, seeking to entice buyers with action scenes, inadvertently spoil the nature of the scenario's [[Final Battle]] or a major mid-story menace.

 

== Video Games ==

* The trailer for ''[[Super Robot Wars]] Original Generation Gaiden'' shows [[Super Robot Wars Reversal|Fiona Guredan]] alive, and with her final [[Humongous Mecha]]. This ruins the suspense of if she survived the malfunctioning Time Flow engine when her mecha was badly damaged..

** Some would argue that being a spoiler, considering the existence of the Excellence Eternal, the [[Mid-Season Upgrade]] that only she uses, in ''Super Robot Wars R''.

* The trailers for ''[[Devil May Cry]] 4'' gave away things like the true intentions of the Order of the Sword, the failure of an attempted [[Shoot the Dog]], and the continued importance of the demonic katana Yamato. They didn't succeed in spoiling everything, but there was something of an [[Internet Backdraft]] regarding the final trailer.

* Several previews also spoiled the big twist in ''[[STALKER|S.T.A.L.K.E.R.]]'' on who the player character is.

* ''[[Fire Emblem]] Radiant Dawn'' is notable for having a press release that basically outlined the entire game's plot. This included the revealing of the true identity of the Black Knight, which was never revealed in the previous game Path of Radiance, but also only revealed near the end of Radiant Dawn.

* Although it's so disjointed that it may not be recognizable until you actually play it, the in-game trailer to ''[[Zone of the Enders]]: The 2nd Runner'' pretty much shows the entire game, every stage, every boss fight (with the exception of the [[Final Boss]]). It also shows pretty much the entire story, including clips from the Ending.

* The manual for ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]: Mask of the Betrayer'' advises you to read certain pages only after you've seen the twist at the end of act one. This would have been useful advice if the {{spoiler|Spirit Eater curse}} hadn't featured so prominently in the game's prerelease hype.

* The DS remake of ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' runs into this trope headlong with its opening cinematic, its instruction manual, and even the back of the box. Square Enix must feel that all the info for a game approaching its twentieth birthday must qualify as [[It Was His Sled]].

*** The manual spoiled even further by giving item lists that mentioned every character class in the game that could equip them. So anyone who read it over and noted that they haven't seen anyone with the class {{spoiler|Lunarian}} yet could easily figure out that anything before {{spoiler|The Giant Of Babel, the major dungeon following the recruitment of said Lunarian}} [[Disc One Final Dungeon|would not be the final dungeon]].

* In ''[[Time Hollow]]'' for the DS, you get a fleeting 'flashback' of someone falling past the top of a window, and from your perspective all you can tell is that the person's probably female and a student at the high school. Unless you watched the opening trailer, in which case you know who it is right off the bat, making it painful whenever Ethan recalls it and thinks "GEE I WONDER WHO THAT WAS."

* A word of mouth example. If you're never played ''[[Nicktoons Racing]]'' before and want to check it out on [[YouTube]], [[Sincerity Mode|DON'T YOU DARE READ THE COMMENTS! Seriously,]] everybody who comments on any video of that game reveal {{spoiler|Plankton}} is the mystery villain. If you don't believe us, [[You Have Been Warned|don't say we didn't warn you.]]

* The trailer for ''[[Grim Fandango]]'' spoiled the [[Deader Than Dead|sproutings]] of {{spoiler|Don Copal and Lola.}}

'''Snake''':{{spoiler|It's moving... But how do I stop it!?}} }}

** Considering the [[PlayStation]] version came out four years earlier, this was more of a [[Late Arrival Spoiler]].

** [[Konami]] went to great lengths to keep Raiden a secret until the release of ''MGS2''. Unfortunately even that wasn't enough to get around different release dates and almost every British gaming magazine which ran a story on the game featured that. In an amusing inversion, however, many magazines were able to avoid spoiling the plot by {{spoiler|making out that Snake had ''died'' on the Tanker, something the supporting characters treat as correct until halfway through}}.

** In ''MGS4'', the Metal Gears themselves don't play much of a role until Act 4. Screenshots showed {{spoiler|Snake in the cockpit of a reactivated, railgun-less REX and RAY in a snow-covered harbour}}. There's not much of their relevance to the plot that isn't spoilt by those facts.

* The final encounter with the Hive Mind in ''[[Dead Space (video game)|Dead Space]]'' is revealed in the pre-release trailer, thus ruining a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|potentially awesome spectacle]].

* The Japanese trailer for ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]]: Explorers of Sky'', which was also dubbed as an American ad, shows {{spoiler|Grovyle, who is ''smiling'' at the main characters who are ''clearly worried about him'' dragging Dusknoir through the time portal. [[Good All Along|Well, there goes half the plot.]]}}

* Practically everything gets spoiled in the trailers for ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' series, such as this trailer from ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker]]''. Take the standard trailer [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1AVNa8q8T8 here]. Pretty much half the late game gets given away, and the Gamespot trailer actually goes further by showing even more. For that matter, one of the pre order sleeves for the game actually had a picture of the final battle on the front...

* Early promotion material for ''[[Half-Life 2|Half Life 2: Episode 2]]'' revealed that {{spoiler|Alyx dies, or at the very least gets incapacitated, although it's also avoided in that Alyx also gets better and her "death" (falling off a bridge in the promo) is totally different in-game. The trailer also reveals that the G-Man is back in a speaking role after being sidelined for the last game.}}

* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'''s trailer has a prominent scene with all six characters flying on the back of a monster thing. Playing through the game, you get to a part where {{spoiler|Sazh "commits suicide"}}, but this scene hasn't happened yet. Clues you in that {{spoiler|he's still alive!}}.

** A Also, he get's his summon right before that seemingly happens wihtout giving you a chance to use it. It was shown in use in the trailers.

* ''[[Call of Duty]] - [[Modern Warfare]] 2'' had several trailers. The last one, released several months before the game came out, showed {{spoiler|Washington D.C. on fire.}}

* ''[[Shenmue]]'''s trailer spoils that Lan Di is seeking the mirrors' power, as well as an incident late in the game in which Nozomi gets kidnapped by Terry's gang.

* Trailers for ''[[Portal 2]]'' clearly spoiled the fact that {{spoiler|1=GLaDOS was still alive and would still be the main antagonist of the game}}. At least for half of it.

* Partially played straight but also subverted by ''[[Kid Icarus: Uprising]]''. The information and trailers released prior to the game show off pretty much every stage, boss, character, and plot point up to Pit's final battle against Medusa. {{spoiler|So people were reasonably surprised when Hades tore up the credits screen, revealing that the game wasn't even two-fifths done, and most of the more important and/or memorable characters and subplots had yet to be introduced.}}

 

== [[Web Animation]] ==

* Parodied in ''[[The Demented Cartoon Movie]]'', which opens with a mock trailer that does the exact opposite: it doesn't reveal ''anything'' about the movie it's advertising because it's heavily censored, and parts of it have been replaced with stuff like [Dialogue Missing] and [Title Missing].

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* Parodied with the second trailer for ''[[The Way of the Metagamer]] 2: [[In Name Only]]'', which intentionally reveals many, many plot twists.

 

* The trailer for [[That Guy With The Glasses]]' two-year anniversary special ''[[Kickassia]]'' had [[The Spoony Experiment|Spoony]] shouting "{{spoiler|Oh my gosh! It's 3D Lee!}}"

* More like "the preview always spoils", unless the YouTube user has found a way to muck with the video thumbnail of a movie, YouTube will default it to the middle of the movie. If it's say, for a race and the course is known, you can tell at least midway who's winning.

** A variation: if you're going to watch a comedy video, you'd do well to avoid looking at the top comments. They almost always contain the funniest jokes.

 

* Parodied in the ''[[South Park]]'' episode Professor Chaos. Quoting from memory:

{{quote|'''Narrator''': Will Professor Chaos succeed? Which boy will replace Kenny? Which adult cast member will [[Tonight Someone Dies|die]]? These questions will be answered... {{spoiler|right now. No, Tweek, and Ms. Choksondik.}}}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Spoilered Rotten]]

[[Category:Coming Attractions]]

[[Category:Paratext]]

[[Category:Trailers]]