I usually don’t have a problem suspending disbelief for fantasy and sci-fi shows as long as the show is internally consistent; what jars me is when a show breaks its own rules.
The worst example I can think of is Charmed. A latter season introduced characters called the Cleaners, who had the power to erase memories and change events in order to keep magic from being discovered by the public. Problem is, keeping magic a secret had been a major recurring plot point throughout the show’s run, and the addition of the Cleaners basically invalidated the plots of dozens of previous episodes. Even the infamous death of Shannen Doherty’s character no longer made sense. In a show riddled with retcons great and small, this one stands out.
Another one, from the His Dark Materials book series. Lyra and Will can never see each other again because they have to close all of the Subtle Knife dimensional windows, because leaving the windows open drains the lifeforce from the universe or somesuch. But, oh yeah, one window can stay open to let the souls out of hell, because Pullman wrote himself into a corner and couldn’t think of any other way to resolve that plot thread. But definitely not two windows, that would destroy the universe.
Recent DC Comics. Even accounting for Superboy-Prime-Punches, there have been way too many re-appearances of characters long dead, or of old versions of characters long changed, just because the writer wants to tell a story with those guys. I recall there used to be an outcry of “Just tell good stories, don’t get bogged down with fanboy continuity details.” Well, now the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction. The Original Doom Patrol alive and well? Doctor Magnus is no longer (or never was) a Metal Man named Veridium? And what’s with this new version of the Shazam bunch that Jeff Smith is writing, killing the Ordway continuity (while in 52 and Countdown, Black Adam and Mary Marvel seem to be following it)?
Seymour Skinner is really Armin Tamzarian, even though the Fighting Hellfish episode features Skinner’s father, a man named Skinner, who is an exact clone of Tamzarian. Wait, what? I really hope someone got fired over that gaffe.
In the episode where Bart falls in love with Jessica Lovejoy, he crosses out Monday April 1st as the first full day he will go without seeing her. Marge comes in immediately after and says:
“Time for church! Maybe you can see your little friend, Jessica.”
I agree that continuity between episodes is handled pretty loosely, but that was a real boner.
In the rarely esteemed film Space Mutiny, a character is killed — then later makes an appearance sitting at her computer console. No one takes any notice of the remarkable resurrection.
(Never heard of Space Mutiny? I wouldn’t recommend seeing it without help from Mike, Crow, and Tom Servo.)
In the remake of** Resident Evil**, when playing as Jill, Barry provides support during the fight with Lisa. If he’s knocked off the platform by Lisa, he’s gone for good. When playing as Chris, Wesker provides the support, and since he’s vital to the ending, if he gets knocked off, he still appears later with no explanation.
“Sir … I think it’s very nice of you to give that dead woman another chance.”
Fortunately, the tear-jerking moment has been lovingly preserved on YouTube, for all to see. Look for “Susan” to be laser-blasted at around 6:20, and for her to re-appear, unharmed, at around 7:40.
Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil is explicitly not* in-continuity for the regular DCverse. It’s what would have once been an Elseworlds, essentially, and now is probably defined as another of the 52. (which, it seems, they’ll run out of pretty quick at this rate…)
Similarly, I think All-Star Superman (yay!) and All-Star Batman (er, not-yay) are not in-continuity with other DC titles.
And, really, DC isn’t breaking its own rules to violate continuity – it’s just changing the rules whereby continuity remains inviolate.
Put me down for not only Enterprise, but pretty much all of Star Trek as continuity gone AWOL. Those reversing the magical polarity of the deflector dish should’ve been able to solve damn near any problem encountered by Star Fleet… had anybody ever once remembered what they’d done in a previous episode.
