Tropescilloscope: Early Installment Weirdness

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

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