# Sorry. That episode simply never happened, and you'll not convince me otherwise. (spoilers likely) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 22, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995 "2010-01-22T15:45:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/61 "2010-01-23T03:44:53Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > _Black Market_ was worse. Absolutely the nadir. Damn you! Get interrupted by work and don’t preview, and just look what happens. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/62 "2010-01-23T03:56:35Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > It works like this: > > [noparse]OMG I’m totally spoiling thisalert![/noparse] > > So without the noparse tags, you get something like this: Wow, I never knew about [noparse]. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/63 "2010-01-23T04:10:53Z")
Eh, the thread’s marked “spoilers likely”… > [@Sleel](#): > > Apparently, the writers thought this episode never happened too, because there was no mention of any of the events in that episode ever again. Not so! “Black Market” has the ender that is the only bit detailing how Zarek took over the criminal underworld – and _that_ is referenced again\*. Nothing in “The Woman King” is ever referenced again. And thus, by that slimmest of margins, “The Woman King” is consigned to nonexistence. \*okay, I’ll spoiler that; it’s from an episode people’d actually care about…That’s why he acceeds to Adama’s made-up blackmail. > [@Lumpy](#): > > I’m pretty sure they showed what looked exactly like the Florida peninsula. Nuked-Earth had no moon. New-Earth did. And I’m not sure what the constellations are supposed to prove? The temple on Kobol showed the constellations at Nuked-Earth, not New-Earth. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/64 "2010-01-23T04:21:19Z")
The \*Voyager \*episode (oh, there are so many to choose from) in which Janeway and Paris turn into giant slugs . . . and mate. And the \*House \*episode about a firefighter who was in love with his brother’s fiancee. The solution: electroshock therapy. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/65 "2010-01-23T05:33:41Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > The Buffy ep where Xander stood up Anya at the alter. While it had some hilarious bits and pieces (the hideously ugly bridesmaids dresses & Buffy juggling in order to stall the ceremony) I just don’t buy it. Xander was a stand-up guy when the chips were down, not a stand-up the woman you love kind of guy. Yup. That said, a lot of guys melt down at the moment of truth, and it added to the poignancy when Anya died in the finale. I know, it’s an old series, but y’never know who might we watching it on DVD for the first time. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/66 "2010-01-23T07:26:33Z")
> [@Ruby Sees](#): > > The West Wing, “Isaac and Ishmael”. That was the one right after 9/11 that was Josh and Toby patronizing the audience for 44 minutes. The cast themselves introduce the episode and say that it’s not really canon, so I don’t think we need to even consider it. It doesn’t exist in the world of The West Wing that we otherwise know. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/67 "2010-01-23T07:29:08Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > My nominee? The “Normal Again” episode of _Buffy_. This episode posits that Buffy is an inmate at a mental institution, and that the entire series exists only in her twisted imagination. Sorry, Joss, I ain’t buying it. That episode never happened. Oh, no, that’s the only one that did. I’m sorry. In this vein, the penultimate & antepenultimate episodes of Dollhouse only happened in the Attic. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/68 "2010-01-23T07:32:34Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > They shouldn’t have named the Simpsons’ religion. It’s generic mainstream Protestantism; getting more specific was bad for the parody. Not that it’s come up very often since then, but it still bothers me. Actually, as a child of schismatic Yank Protestantism, I find “The Western Branch of American Reform Presbylutheranism” quite amusing. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/69 "2010-01-23T07:42:32Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > This reminds Duncan of ::cue flashback:: decades ago he was dating a fortune teller, she dumps him when she reads his palm and sees he will never marry, ergo, he’s not serious about her. Duncan protests, but she insists: “You will _never_ marry, Duncan McLeod!” > > In one of those piss-poor movies, they introduce you to an immortal… Duncan’s ex-wife? An ex-wife who pre-dates Tessa even! Pissed me right off! The canon is “Duncan never marries.” In fact, it was set up so his marriage proposal is what practically sealed Tessa’s fate. Jerks! This **really** bugged me too. Or was the prophecy after his marriage to the woman in _Endgame_? Oh, well, _Endgame_ was a lousy movie anyway. > [@Ruby Sees](#): > > The West Wing, “Isaac and Ishmael”. That was the one right after 9/11 that was Josh and Toby patronizing the audience for 44 minutes. I’m pretty sure that one’s practically out-of-continuity anyway. And weren’t the characters generally patronizing? I mean, I like Sorkin, but his mouthpieces can get a bit full of themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/70 "2010-01-23T07:51:30Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > _Black Market_ was worse. Absolutely the nadir. I liked Black Market. It had economics! Who doesn’t like economics? ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/71 "2010-01-23T12:33:52Z")
Any episode of any show that serves as the pilot for a failed spinoff. I think Married With Children had at least two or three of them. But _Assignment: Earth_ from Star Trek TOS gets a pass because it features a very young and very hot [Terri Garr](http://vampjac.com/lj/pulchritude/2008/Trek_TOS/TOS_Teri_Garr.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/72 "2010-01-23T15:21:46Z")
> [@Ruby Sees](#): > > The West Wing, “Isaac and Ishmael”. That was the one right after 9/11 that was Josh and Toby patronizing the audience for 44 minutes. I think that epsode was always meant to be explicitly out of continuity. Certainly I got the impression when it first aired that it was not part of the story cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Chum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@Chum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chum)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/73 "2010-01-23T17:08:04Z")
My husband and I just finished _Battlestar Galactica_, and I agree with those of you who have named “Black Market” as an episode that does not exist. It was far, far worse than “The Woman King.” For the record, I liked the finale. I wish the entire last season of _Alias_ didn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/74 "2010-01-23T22:26:29Z")
> [@](#): > > And I’m not sure what the constellations are supposed to prove? The temple on Kobol showed the constellations at Nuked-Earth, not New-Earth. Yes, and the constellations shown were, in fact, our real-Earth constellations, and therefore Nuked-Earth was real-Earth. > [@](#): > > Nuked-Earth had no moon. New-Earth did. I’m not sure how one would be able to establish this from the episodes. Just because we never saw the moon doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. And certainly, it had geographic features like broad beaches that one wouldn’t expect on a moonless world. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/75 "2010-01-24T07:25:18Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Oh, that one’s not so bad. Anyway, the fact that the series continues clearly means that the asylum was the hallicination. No it doesn’t. Remember, at the end of the episode, “real” crazy Buffy retreats back into her dreamworld because she can’t cope with her realworld trauma and leaving the imaginary friends/world she created behind. In my book, that still leaves open the possibility that everything after that point is further schyzophrenia. BTW, I loved that episode myself. Sure, it’s a bit abrupt (both in its introduction, and its resolution), but it’s still a neat concept. YMMOV. If I were to erase a \*Buffy \*episode, I’d probably choose the one with Xander possessed by the hyena spirits. It was just stupid and unfunny. _Hell’s Bells_ was also a pretty shitty way to introduce drama into his relationship with Anya. As for killing off Tara just so Willow could become the stereotypical Crazy Lezzie… the less said the better. Whedon, the feminist with the miso clichés 😉 As for me, I nominate the X-Files episode _Fearful Symetry_, who committed the triple whammy of pointlessly riding on the coattails of a media sensation of the time (Koko the talking gorilla), hammering an anvilicious feelgood “political message” (save the planet, or gorillas are saaaad, also aliens perform abortions on them) and introducing completely new aspects to the series’ underlying alien mythos, never to be spoken of again. Also, the episode was dead boring. I AM NOT ENTERTAINED ! [QUOTE=scifisam9000] The X-Files episode where Mulder finds out that his sister wasn’t abducted by aliens after all, but was abducted by a human serial killer paedo and then magically - actually magically, with no attempt at making it believable - turned into some sort of starchild. No spoiler tags because I never want anyone to watch that damn episode, ever. And then they ignored that supposed conclusion anyway! [/QUOTE] Oh god, you’re _right_. I must’ve had already erased that one from my memory. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/76 "2010-01-24T07:33:47Z")
Bones, I think it was the 100th episode special. 1) It came across as fan fiction - whee let’s bring back the old villain, whee let’s bring back Booth’s brother and 2) On a show about an atheist anthropologist, they have a freakin ghost! This is almost redeemed by them later making Booth’s visions a symptom of his brain tumor, but not quite since they has Bones briefly see the ghost too without realizing it… ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/77 "2010-01-24T07:37:05Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > For _Angel_, I nominate the first season episode “She.” Why do I suspect that all episodes containing Bai Ling will eventually be nominated? lol I know that many fans of Lost consider the episode with her to be apocryphal…What other tv shows has she been on? ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/78 "2010-01-24T08:00:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > We know that the nuked Earth is our world, because [SPOILER]\* people from that world play songs written in our world Not applicable - so do the BSG settlers on Earth-2 - the constellations from that world all look the same as from our world Maybe. Certainly the twelve colonies are named after our own constellations. - the shape of the continents as seen from space is the same. The Earth seen during the zoom-out-zoom-in in the season finale does seem to be our Earth, however, the Earth-1 that they arrive at is never shown to be our Earth in the from space pics, and also it’s explicitly said to have a yellow moon from early on. - OK, I could maybe accept that a ship making a random FTL jump from the close vicinity of a black hole might accidentally jump back in time, even though there’s no hint of time travel anywhere earlier in the series. I was originally thinking this was the best solution, but I think Moore ruled this out.[/SPOILER] I whole heartedly agree with the non existence of the following: > [@scifisam2009](#): > > The X-Files episode where Mulder finds out that his sister wasn’t abducted by aliens after all, > [@JohnT](#): > > Xander standing Anya up at the altar was out of character. OTOH > [@panache45](#): > > The \*Voyager \*episode (oh, there are so many to choose from) in which Janeway and Paris turn into giant slugs . . . and mate. This was ridiculous technobabble even for Trek, however, the fact that Janeway and Paris turn into lizards and mate make any otherwise bad writing justificable 😃 > [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > it added to the poignancy when Anya died in the finale. I think any potential poignancy was mediated by Xander’s blah reaction. > [@foolsguinea](#): > > In this vein, the penultimate & antepenultimate episodes of Dollhouse only happened in the Attic. I thought for sure this is what they were heading towards but alas the apocalypse seems to be “real”… > [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](#): > > Any episode of any show that serves as the pilot for a failed spinoff. I think Married With Children had at least two or three of them. Great rule of thumb lol. There are some exceptions of course… > [@Chum](#): > > My husband and I just finished _Battlestar Galactica_, and I agree with those of you who have named “Black Market” as an episode that does not exist. It was far, far worse than “The Woman King.” For the record, I liked the finale. I think this episode is sort of like Project Runway dresses - if you do something out of the ordinary, the difference could appeal to the judges or make them hate it. It’s often strategically best to aim for the middle… ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/79 "2010-01-24T08:38:56Z")
I’m glad no one mentioned the Star Wars Christmas special, because it never happened. It was just a hoax, I tell you. A hoax! ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995/80 "2010-01-24T15:31:27Z")
What Star Wars Christmas Special? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-that-episode-simply-never-happened-and-youll-not-convince-me-otherwise-spoilers-likely/525995.md?page=5)