Alolan_Apples
“Assorted” Collector
So we may all like TV shows, movies, and gaming, right? They seem to have a good plot, but some people tend to actually ruin the plot for themselves. Just like how hackers ruin gaming by breaking the game, people can ruin plots by overthinking. Overthinking (aka overanalyzing) is actually done a lot, but it's not a good idea. Chances are, you could pick up the wrong idea, ruin the entire thing yourself, or even ruin the plot for others.
For TV shows, we may see the ones where every episode continues off from a previous one. Examples include the shows in the entire Pokemon franchise, both Avatar shows, and some contest shows. But when we're talking shows like South Park, Spongebob, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, or even obscure ones like Atomic Betty, we're really talking about the ones where the main plot wraps up at the end of the episode. Those are where the show does not have a central plot that continues on, so continuity facts like what you see on a TV show guide are overanalyzing.
Movies are overanalyzed too. There are some character facts that you can clearly see in movies, but there also fallacies you can make up by watching the movies. Take for example, let's say there's a movie about an arcade robbery, when thieves took two arcade machines and left the arcade. One week later, the arcade closes down due to the effects of the robbery. You could say that those two games were the most popular ones, which is why the thieves took it and why it's a big deal for the arcade. But that's not the reason why it shut down according to the movie. That's also not the reason why the thieves took the games.
I will go over a few examples and point out what's wrong:
Did he really develop these habits?
Have you seen the Spongebob episode Little Yellow Book, where Squidward steals Spongebob's diary and reads it to everyone at the Krusty Krab? There's a Wikia page about this episode. In the trivia section of this page, there was a fact that introduces what's new of Spongebob and talks about how it wasn't true in previous episodes. The last sub-fact says "It could ge possible that Spongebob developed those habits after the episodes took place."
Here's the error in that guide. Since Spongebob is a discontinuous show (where the plot wraps up every episode rather than having cliffhangers later on), I could say that he didn't develop these habits. They could only be true for that episode only, unless if they make a reference to the episode later on. Facts like that were only meant for the episode. The real purpose is to make an episode that entertains the kids, even if that episode was criticized by the real creator of Spongebob.
South Park deaths:
Yes, I know TBT is about a kid's game as South Park is best not to be mentioned here in detail, but I'm going to talk about it anyway since it has a good example. On some Wikia pages and some questions on South Park Studios, we hear about characters other than Kenny dying. It eventually develops a fact that if any character other than Kenny dies in an episode, he/she will never return in future episodes.
Here's the real fact about characters in a South Park episode dying. If a character dies, it doesn't mean they are coming back. The reason being is because South Park is another of these discontinuous shows. Yeah, the fact says that if Kenny dies, the joke is repeated, but if another character dies, they're done with the show. What's actually happening is that the creators are writing off characters they don't plan on using anymore. If they decided that they're done with the character, they feature the death of the character to hint that they're done. But people misinterpreted it and made up this fact. The truth is, the character not coming back isn't because they died in the show. It's why they died in the show.
What's her birthday?
I have mentioned a few facts about TV shows, so I'm going to go over an example from a movie. In Disney's 27th animated feature, Oliver & Company, Jenny has a birthday at the end. On a Wikia page about her (which is on the Disney Wiki), there was a trivia fact about her and what day her birthday is on. They said it's on April 23rd. Let me fight against this fact. Be warned, for there are spoilers below.
The first hint they had was that on the first night in the movie after the intro, we can see a calendar in the background that says "Apr 21" with the year "1988" above. In 1988, April 21st is a Thursday. On the day after Oliver and Dodger met, we see Jenny, as she takes Oliver. Day after, she goes to school as the dogs take Oliver back. Since we don't have school on Saturdays in the United States, Wikia states that the day Oliver met Dodger was April 20th.
Here's how I can tell that Jenny's birthday is not April 23rd. First of all, we don't know if O&C takes place in 1988. It does take place in the 1980's though. We're not sure if it was in 1988. Second, that calendar appeared twice in the movie. On the second time we see the calendar, it says April 21st when it was two days after Oliver and Dodger met. So what month or day does the movie actually take place? Another mention I like to bring up is that the way the fact writes it is that Jenny's birthday is three days after Oliver met Dodger. The movie did not mention when Jenny's birthday took place. All it did was that it stated that Jenny's parents aren't coming back by her birthday, and had the birthday scene at the end. The "three days" part was the limit Bill Sykes (the main antagonist) was giving that poor man to give him the money back. If Oliver met Dodger on the 20th of April, then April 23rd would actually be the deadline and not the birthday. On the night after the 22nd (assuming the movie took place on the 20th), Sykes died, and Oliver officially reunites with Jenny. Not only that, that poor man is free from pressure. The next scene may be the birthday scene, but we don't know if that was on the day after that last night.
Conclusion:
Unless if told by the creators or stated in the movie, TV episode, or game's plot, never make up a fact about the plot. This is overanalyzing, and this could make the plot less fun.
For TV shows, we may see the ones where every episode continues off from a previous one. Examples include the shows in the entire Pokemon franchise, both Avatar shows, and some contest shows. But when we're talking shows like South Park, Spongebob, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, or even obscure ones like Atomic Betty, we're really talking about the ones where the main plot wraps up at the end of the episode. Those are where the show does not have a central plot that continues on, so continuity facts like what you see on a TV show guide are overanalyzing.
Movies are overanalyzed too. There are some character facts that you can clearly see in movies, but there also fallacies you can make up by watching the movies. Take for example, let's say there's a movie about an arcade robbery, when thieves took two arcade machines and left the arcade. One week later, the arcade closes down due to the effects of the robbery. You could say that those two games were the most popular ones, which is why the thieves took it and why it's a big deal for the arcade. But that's not the reason why it shut down according to the movie. That's also not the reason why the thieves took the games.
I will go over a few examples and point out what's wrong:
Did he really develop these habits?
Have you seen the Spongebob episode Little Yellow Book, where Squidward steals Spongebob's diary and reads it to everyone at the Krusty Krab? There's a Wikia page about this episode. In the trivia section of this page, there was a fact that introduces what's new of Spongebob and talks about how it wasn't true in previous episodes. The last sub-fact says "It could ge possible that Spongebob developed those habits after the episodes took place."
Here's the error in that guide. Since Spongebob is a discontinuous show (where the plot wraps up every episode rather than having cliffhangers later on), I could say that he didn't develop these habits. They could only be true for that episode only, unless if they make a reference to the episode later on. Facts like that were only meant for the episode. The real purpose is to make an episode that entertains the kids, even if that episode was criticized by the real creator of Spongebob.
South Park deaths:
Yes, I know TBT is about a kid's game as South Park is best not to be mentioned here in detail, but I'm going to talk about it anyway since it has a good example. On some Wikia pages and some questions on South Park Studios, we hear about characters other than Kenny dying. It eventually develops a fact that if any character other than Kenny dies in an episode, he/she will never return in future episodes.
Here's the real fact about characters in a South Park episode dying. If a character dies, it doesn't mean they are coming back. The reason being is because South Park is another of these discontinuous shows. Yeah, the fact says that if Kenny dies, the joke is repeated, but if another character dies, they're done with the show. What's actually happening is that the creators are writing off characters they don't plan on using anymore. If they decided that they're done with the character, they feature the death of the character to hint that they're done. But people misinterpreted it and made up this fact. The truth is, the character not coming back isn't because they died in the show. It's why they died in the show.
What's her birthday?
I have mentioned a few facts about TV shows, so I'm going to go over an example from a movie. In Disney's 27th animated feature, Oliver & Company, Jenny has a birthday at the end. On a Wikia page about her (which is on the Disney Wiki), there was a trivia fact about her and what day her birthday is on. They said it's on April 23rd. Let me fight against this fact. Be warned, for there are spoilers below.
The first hint they had was that on the first night in the movie after the intro, we can see a calendar in the background that says "Apr 21" with the year "1988" above. In 1988, April 21st is a Thursday. On the day after Oliver and Dodger met, we see Jenny, as she takes Oliver. Day after, she goes to school as the dogs take Oliver back. Since we don't have school on Saturdays in the United States, Wikia states that the day Oliver met Dodger was April 20th.
Here's how I can tell that Jenny's birthday is not April 23rd. First of all, we don't know if O&C takes place in 1988. It does take place in the 1980's though. We're not sure if it was in 1988. Second, that calendar appeared twice in the movie. On the second time we see the calendar, it says April 21st when it was two days after Oliver and Dodger met. So what month or day does the movie actually take place? Another mention I like to bring up is that the way the fact writes it is that Jenny's birthday is three days after Oliver met Dodger. The movie did not mention when Jenny's birthday took place. All it did was that it stated that Jenny's parents aren't coming back by her birthday, and had the birthday scene at the end. The "three days" part was the limit Bill Sykes (the main antagonist) was giving that poor man to give him the money back. If Oliver met Dodger on the 20th of April, then April 23rd would actually be the deadline and not the birthday. On the night after the 22nd (assuming the movie took place on the 20th), Sykes died, and Oliver officially reunites with Jenny. Not only that, that poor man is free from pressure. The next scene may be the birthday scene, but we don't know if that was on the day after that last night.
Conclusion:
Unless if told by the creators or stated in the movie, TV episode, or game's plot, never make up a fact about the plot. This is overanalyzing, and this could make the plot less fun.
