Tropescilloscope: "Shaggy Dog" Story

A struggle or quest which is unexpectedly rendered moot when it ends. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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