Tropescilloscope: Early Installment Weirdness

The early episodes of a series are vastly different than the later installments. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Same Language Dub Determinator Friend to All Children Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Adaptation Name Change Fake Shemp The Lost Lenore Villain Ball Evil-Detecting Dog Horror Comedy Obstructive Bureaucrat Retirony Tagline Ax-Crazy Leaning on the Fourth Wall May–December Romance Scenery Gorn Manic Pixie Dream Girl Rousing Speech Scenery Porn Television Movie Index No Antagonist Bring My Brown Pants Amoral Attorney One-Man Army Psychopathic Manchild Scare Chord Dumb Blonde Plot Hole The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Grievous Bottley Harm Stealth Pun Kill 'em All The Vamp The Sociopath There Is No Kill Like Overkill Bound and Gagged Rated M for Manly No Ending The '90s Parental Abandonment Bad Boss Mundane Made Awesome Large Ham No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Artistic License – Gun Safety Yandere Disguised in Drag Race Lift Insane Troll Logic Title Drop Dirty Cop Call-Forward Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Italian Films Better to Die than Be Killed Put on a Bus Bolivian Army Ending Destination Defenestration '80s Hair An Aesop Shoot the Shaggy Dog Worthy Opponent Epic Fail Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Mystery and Detective Films Corrupt Corporate Executive Interrupted Suicide Evil Brit Broken Pedestal Asshole Victim Index of Film Westerns Wretched Hive Cloudcuckoolander Crucified Hero Shot Gratuitous English Creative Closing Credits Our Zombies Are Different Fourth Date Marriage Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Soundtrack Dissonance Badass Bookworm Dramatic Gun Cock Actor Allusion Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Meaningful Name Not So Above It All Downer Ending Berserk Button Rich Bitch Country Matters Police Brutality Fainting Unusual Euphemism The Starscream "Awesome McCool" Name Retired Badass Black Comedy Adults Are Useless Annoying Younger Sibling Love Triangle Historical In-Joke Not What It Looks Like Character Development Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Tap on the Head Not Using the "Z" Word Genre Shift "Well Done, Son!" Guy Spared by the Adaptation Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Handicapped Badass Shower Scene Closed Circle folderlabel My Beloved Smother Defiant to the End Brother–Sister Incest Mood Whiplash Off-into-the-Distance Ending Book-Ends Self-Deprecation Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Loads and Loads of Characters The Bad Guy Wins Based on a True Story Comically Missing the Point Deliberately Monochrome Hoist by His Own Petard True Companions Big Brother Instinct Adult Fear The Smart Guy Would Hurt a Child Disney Villain Death Mooks Kick the Son of a Bitch Well-Intentioned Extremist The Bully Broken Aesop Fanservice Extra Camp Gay In the Back Amusing Injuries Apocalypse How Mind Screw Slasher Smile As the Good Book Says... Cat Scare Actually Pretty Funny The Dog Bites Back Nice Hat Spanner in the Works Music Stories Men Are the Expendable Gender Took a Level in Badass Romantic Comedy Loophole Abuse Martial Arts Movie Decoy Protagonist Hollywood Law Villain Protagonist All for Nothing Beauty Is Never Tarnished Eye Scream Cat Fight German Films Bare Your Midriff Male Frontal Nudity Advertised Extra Lighter and Softer Heterosexual Life-Partners Punch-Clock Villain Undying Loyalty Pretty Little Headshots Does Not Like Shoes Dies Wide Open Dark Action Girl The '70s Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Catapult Nightmare Bar Brawl Russian Films Expository Hairstyle Change Artistic License – Military Those Two Bad Guys Only Sane Man Bond One-Liner Flashback Imagine Spot Calling the Old Man Out Fire-Forged Friends Cool Guns Black and Gray Morality Cluster F-Bomb Toplessness from the Back Becoming the Mask Does This Remind You of Anything? Famous Last Words Ascended Extra Mr. Exposition Break the Cutie Femme Fatale Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Arranged Marriage Never Trust a Trailer Big Damn Heroes Line-of-Sight Name Meaningful Echo Facial Horror The X of Y Domestic Abuse Children Are Innocent The Stoic Kick the Dog Green-Eyed Monster Eureka Moment Redshirt Army Paper-Thin Disguise Dressing as the Enemy O.O.C. Is Serious Business Pay Evil unto Evil Scary Black Man It's All About Me Broken Bird Red Herring All Just a Dream Historical Villain Upgrade Sequel Escalation Artistic License – Law Zombie Stories Leitmotif Four-Temperament Ensemble The '60s Oh, Crap! Your Head A-Splode Punny Name Final Girl The Chick Manchild Foregone Conclusion Dramedy Sole Survivor Accidental Misnaming What the Hell, Hero? Overprotective Dad Alliterative Name Drives Like Crazy Early Installment Weirdness From Bad to Worse Double-Meaning Title Parental Substitute Ironic Echo Butt-Monkey MacGuffin Badass Grandpa Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" "Shaggy Dog" Story Evil Laugh Fatal Flaw Mercy Kill Cruel and Unusual Death Suspiciously Similar Substitute Artistic License – Geography Bloody Hilarious Beware the Nice Ones No-Sell Chiaroscuro Heel–Face Turn War Is Hell Crazy-Prepared Jerk Jock Canadian Movies Demoted to Extra Laughing Mad Trailers Always Spoil One Steve Limit Together in Death Curb-Stomp Battle Instant Death Bullet Obviously Evil Corpsing Taking You with Me Villain with Good Publicity Death Glare Only Known by Their Nickname Combat Pragmatist Be Careful What You Wish For Light Is Not Good Rule of Symbolism Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping All There in the Script Morality Pet The End... Or Is It? Reasonable Authority Figure Japanese Films Kids Are Cruel British Films Hidden Depths Say My Name Shirtless Scene Logo Joke Mugging the Monster Bloodless Carnage Redemption Equals Death Smug Snake Those Wacky Nazis An Axe to Grind Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Christmas Movies Index Alas, Poor Villain Made of Iron No Name Given Retcon Have a Gay Old Time Pyrrhic Victory I'm a Humanitarian Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! The Chessmaster Bloodier and Gorier The Mafia Science Fiction Films The Stinger Funny Background Event Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Chekhov's Gunman Pet the Dog What You Are in the Dark Monumental Damage Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Documentary Big Fancy House Failed a Spot Check Meet Cute Jerkass Psychological Thriller Creepy Child Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Sadistic Choice Auto Erotica timeperiod Kill It with Fire Breaking the Fourth Wall The '50s Deliberate Values Dissonance Historical Hero Upgrade Sequel Hook Not So Stoic Wham Shot Beard of Evil Unreliable Narrator Darkest Hour Mexican Standoff Stepford Smiler Back from the Dead Major Injury Underreaction Only in It for the Money Running Gag Crazy Jealous Guy Greater-Scope Villain Names to Run Away from Really Fast Totally Radical Make It Look Like an Accident Adapted Out Mighty Whitey Silence Is Golden Action Girl My God, What Have I Done? Small Name, Big Ego Due to the Dead Spell My Name with an "S" You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Bland-Name Product Reckless Gun Usage Faux Affably Evil Dull Surprise Funny Foreigner Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Composite Character The Lancer The Dragon Get Out! Brick Joke Break the Haughty Determinator aka: The Determinator Psycho for Hire Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Anyone Can Die Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Bunny-Ears Lawyer Card-Carrying Villain Those Two Guys Darker and Edgier Super Strength Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Taking the Bullet Sassy Black Woman Genre Savvy No OSHA Compliance Depraved Bisexual Jerkass Has a Point Lock and Load Montage Parental Incest Despair Event Horizon Easily Forgiven Once More, with Clarity! Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Not So Different Almost Kiss Man on Fire Race Against the Clock Pragmatic Adaptation Drugs Are Bad Pre-Mortem One-Liner Black Best Friend Cassandra Truth Fun with Acronyms Off with His Head! Rule of Cool Heroes Want Redheads Here We Go Again! Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Immune to Bullets Fat Bastard Storming the Castle Shipper on Deck Dying Moment of Awesome Lampshade Hanging Star-Crossed Lovers Humans Are Bastards Adaptation Dye-Job For Want of a Nail Cold-Blooded Torture The Ace Celebrity Paradox Wounded Gazelle Gambit Dissonant Serenity The Un-Reveal Riddle for the Ages Naïve Newcomer Training Montage Fate Worse than Death Earn Your Happy Ending The Brute Henpecked Husband Too Dumb to Live Accidental Murder Insistent Terminology Car Fu Guns Akimbo Badass Normal Intrepid Reporter Ambiguously Gay And I Must Scream Animal Motifs I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Only One Name Babies Ever After Victoria's Secret Compartment Last-Name Basis Central Theme Danny Peary Cult Movies List Film Noir Index Adaptational Badass Stock Footage World of Ham Woman in White Evil Is Petty Hong Kong Films Not Quite Dead Batman Gambit Motor Mouth Shout-Out One-Word Title Implacable Man I Need a Freaking Drink Affably Evil She Cleans Up Nicely Match Cut The Load Foreshadowing Age Lift Improbable Aiming Skills Armor-Piercing Question And the Adventure Continues Chekhov's Gun Roaring Rampage of Revenge Heroic BSoD Stalker with a Crush Bi the Way Abhorrent Admirer Brutal Honesty Conspicuous CG Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Real Life Writes the Plot Heel Realization Take a Third Option Enemy Mine Kubrick Stare Anti-Villain Epic Movie Bond Villain Stupidity Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Married to the Job Unusually Uninteresting Sight The Mole Curse Cut Short All Girls Want Bad Boys Male Gaze Unwitting Instigator of Doom Daddy's Girl Evil Is Hammy Camera Abuse Every Car Is a Pinto Sci-Fi Horror A Minor Kidroduction "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Love at First Sight Credits Gag The Hero Dies Air-Vent Passageway Eiffel Tower Effect Would Hit a Girl Fantastic Racism Drowning My Sorrows Sexy Discretion Shot Big Eater Only a Flesh Wound Straight Gay A God Am I Disney Death Big Applesauce Suddenly SHOUTING! Heroic Sacrifice The Casanova Eagleland The Film of the Book Action Survivor Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold The Ditz Freeze-Frame Bonus In Name Only Mythology Gag The Musical Ms. Fanservice Homage Face–Heel Turn Casting Gag Establishing Character Moment Vacation Films The Place Naked People Are Funny Very Loosely Based on a True Story Badass Longcoat Throwing Your Sword Always Works Didn't Think This Through Big-Bad Ensemble Anachronic Order Stuff Blowing Up The '80s Blackmail Shut Up, Hannibal! Ominous Latin Chanting Hypocrite The Atoner Market-Based Title Adorkable Adaptation Distillation Five-Man Band Tranquil Fury Idiot Ball Animal Title Index As Himself Bottomless Magazines Works Set in World War II Product Placement Deal with the Devil Nice Guy Dramatic Irony Informed Ability Overly Long Gag Biopic The Faceless Gainax Ending Guile Hero A Father to His Men Serious Business Extremely Short Timespan And Starring Token Minority Red Shirt Half the Man He Used to Be Hair-Trigger Temper Fatal Family Photo Outrun the Fireball As Long as It Sounds Foreign Spiritual Successor Dark Is Not Evil Stylistic Suck Bullying a Dragon Novelization Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Chase Scene Adaptational Attractiveness Took a Level in Jerkass Our Vampires Are Different The Great Depression Nothing Is Scarier Plucky Comic Relief Anguished Declaration of Love Whole Plot Reference Cowboy Cop Framing Device Adaptational Heroism Extreme Doormat The Stoner From Nobody to Nightmare Agony of the Feet Re-Cut Double Entendre Big "NO!" Sealed Evil in a Can Silent Movie The Power of Love Made of Explodium Evil vs. Evil Abusive Parents Demonic Possession The Oner Even Evil Has Standards It's Personal Older Than They Look Superhero Playing Gertrude Bowdlerise Film Noir Action Genre Empathic Environment B-Movie Shell-Shocked Veteran Tempting Fate Setting Update Exact Words Spiteful Spit N-Word Privileges Big Bad Bittersweet Ending Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Cool Shades Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Villainous Breakdown The Voiceless Never My Fault Public Domain Feature Films Defrosting Ice Queen Dropped a Bridge on Him Antagonist Title Australian Movies Groin Attack Flipping the Bird All Men Are Perverts Police are Useless Dwindling Party Evil Sounds Deep Alpha Bitch Fingore Ass Shove Bilingual Bonus Deus ex Machina He Who Fights Monsters Gone Horribly Right Posthumous Character Death Seeker Vitriolic Best Buds Developing Doomed Characters Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Rasputinian Death Ripped from the Headlines You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Vomit Indiscretion Shot Daylight Horror Malevolent Masked Men Take That! Badass in a Nice Suit Gory Discretion Shot Blatant Lies Smoking Is Cool I Have Your Wife BFG Bait-and-Switch Reality Has No Subtitles A Date with Rosie Palms She's Got Legs Suspiciously Specific Denial Hell Is That Noise Ambiguous Ending Improbable Weapon User Death of a Child Random Events Plot Evil Counterpart Slap-Slap-Kiss Knife Nut Fantasy Films Deconstruction Vomit Discretion Shot Skewed Priorities Betty and Veronica Pretty in Mink Driven to Suicide NO INDOOR VOICE The Cameo Horror Films Expy Disappeared Dad Department of Redundancy Department Cool Car The Cavalry You Killed My Father A.I. Is a Crapshoot Slashed Throat Refuge in Audacity Ambiguous Disorder Vampire Fiction Laser-Guided Karma Death by Adaptation The Ghost Bavarian Fire Drill Mr. Fanservice Ungrateful Bastard Death by Irony Dark Reprise Aluminum Christmas Trees Karmic Death Adaptation Expansion Fiery Redhead "The Reason You Suck" Speech The Hero Eyepatch of Power Obfuscating Stupidity Parental Neglect Leave the Camera Running Hypocritical Humor Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Moment Killer My Greatest Failure Manly Tears Dirty Old Man Dirty Coward Twist Ending Damsel in Distress Blood Knight Shown Their Work Reality Ensues Early-Bird Cameo Face Death with Dignity The Big Guy Visual Pun Black Comedy Rape Needs Wiki Magic Love The Reveal Truth in Television After the End He Knows Too Much Deadpan Snarker Sir Swears-a-Lot Gender Flip Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique All There in the Manual Awesome, but Impractical The Alcoholic Wham Line Anti-Hero Honor Before Reason Drill Sergeant Nasty Brainless Beauty Disproportionate Retribution Body Horror Red Eyes, Take Warning Film Series Serial Killer Show Within a Show Big Bad Duumvirate Badass Boast Death by Sex As You Know Madness Mantra Ship Tease Genre Throwback What Happened to the Mouse? Noodle Incident Red Right Hand Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Neck Lift Aside Glance Hero Antagonist Woman Scorned This Is Gonna Suck Artistic License – Physics Chewing the Scenery Not Even Bothering with the Accent Meaningful Background Event Hate Sink Gorn Artistic License – History You Have Failed Me Up to Eleven Action Prologue Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Authority Equals Asskicking Arch-Enemy Karma Houdini The Smurfette Principle Arc Words Historical-Domain Character Mistaken for Gay Revenge Beta Couple Sanity Slippage Missing Mom Everyone Has Standards Precision F-Strike Faking the Dead Humiliation Conga Exactly What It Says on the Tin Left the Background Music On Neck Snap Crapsack World Distracted by the Sexy Slasher Movie I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Reality Is Unrealistic Award-Bait Song Costume Porn Belligerent Sexual Tension Adaptational Villainy Translation Convention Red Oni, Blue Oni Cool Old Guy Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Dutch Angle Stealth Hi/Bye Freudian Excuse Fish out of Water Black Dude Dies First Catch-Phrase Mad Scientist Killed Mid-Sentence Continuity Nod Thriller Animated Credits Opening Pragmatic Villainy Really Gets Around Foil No Celebrities Were Harmed Getting Crap Past the Radar Offscreen Teleportation Real Life How We Got Here Did Not Get the Girl Rewatch Bonus Unspoken Plan Guarantee An Arm and a Leg Jerk with a Heart of Gold Recycled IN SPACE! Sinister Minister Coming-of-Age Story Knight Templar Even Evil Has Loved Ones Irony Captain Ersatz Boom, Headshot! Peek-a-Boo Corpse Bad "Bad Acting" Creator Cameo Rule of Three Villain Song Dark and Troubled Past Word of God 20 Minutes into the Future Grey and Gray Morality Dogged Nice Guy Cain and Abel Diabolus ex Machina Hope Spot Blood from the Mouth Evil Plan For the Evulz I Did What I Had to Do Unresolved Sexual Tension Bald of Evil Hooker with a Heart of Gold Fanservice Pimped-Out Dress Good Is Not Nice Offscreen Moment of Awesome Bury Your Gays Frame-Up Captain Obvious Wrong Genre Savvy La Résistance Happily Married Sacrificial Lion Insult Backfire Gold Digger Video Credits Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Papa Wolf Important Haircut Artistic License – Biology Wicked Cultured Protagonist Title Dual Wielding Ragtag Bunch of Misfits In Medias Res Chekhov's Skill Romantic False Lead The Remake Canon Foreigner Military and Warfare Films French Films Your Cheating Heart Ugly Guy, Hot Wife More Dakka Improvised Weapon Never Found the Body Poor Communication Kills Covers Always Lie Author Avatar Gilligan Cut Politically Incorrect Villain Hollywood Darkness Properly Paranoid Villain Opening Scene The Alleged Car Intergenerational Friendship It Will Never Catch On Hero of Another Story Sports Stories Soft Glass Rule of Funny Fan Disservice Attempted Rape Screw the Rules, I Have Money! The Quiet One Narrator The Dreaded Jitter Cam Time Skip Mama Bear Let's Get Dangerous! Non-Indicative Name Ghost Fiction Cool Old Lady Maybe Ever After Contrived Coincidence Room Full of Crazy It Can Think Anachronism Stew Jump Scare Manipulative Bastard Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Author Appeal Eldritch Abomination Call-Back Rape as Drama Affectionate Parody