Tropescilloscope: Early Installment Weirdness

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

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