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Franchise Killer: Difference between revisions
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* ''[[El Hazard]]: The Alternative World'' performed poorly to the point that it was [[Cut Short]] with the show's [[Kudzu Plot|way too many plots]] being wrapped up (very poorly) in only a single episode. It also killed the ''El Hazard'' franchise, with no further work of any kind being done in the decade since. And we never saw the [[Stable Time Loop]] established in the original ''[[El Hazard]]: The Magnificent World'' through to its completion.
** ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'', another AIC franchise of the same era, barely escaped this fate one year earlier with ''Tenchi in Tokyo''. Despite being in most regards worse than ''[[El Hazard]]: The Alternative World'', ''Tenchi in Tokyo'' managed to last for a full 26 episodes, and only set back the franchise by 5 years instead of killing it altogether.
* Post-''[[Chars Counterattack]]'', ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'s'' Universal Century continuity entered an agonizing death-spiral. This started off with ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam F91]]'' being developed as a TV series, but crammed into a movie loaded with [[Kudzu Plot|so many dangling plot threads]] that it took a manga-only sequel to resolve them all. The next series, ''[[Mobile Suit Victory Gundam|Victory Gundam]]'', was [[Yoshiyuki Tomino]]'s [[Creator Breakdown|gigantic middle-finger to the franchise]] before departing. However, the true death blow was when ''Gaia Gear'' and ''G-Saviour'' were produced; [[Sunrise]] [[Canon
** This probably has something to do with the fact that Tomino was planning on ending it with ''Counterattack'' (in fact, he'd never even wanted to do ''any'' sequels in the first place, as his original plan had been to kill off pretty much any future threat from Zeon), but his sponsors just kept trying to squeeze blood from the stone. It's very telling that when they finally wised up and let Tomino bow out of the franchise and hired directors who were actually enthusiastic about the material they produced some of the most highly regarded work not only in the ''Gundam'' franchise, but in all of '90s anime.
** ''[[After War Gundam X|Gundam X]]'' almost killed the franchise, where due to consumer fatigue, the series entered an ice age for 3 years (if you don't count ''Endless Waltz''). ''Gundam X'' is one of only two Gundam TV series to be cut short of a full two-season run. The first? The original ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]''; it's easy to forget given what a massive franchise it's become that the original installment had poor ratings.
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* After the surprise success of ''[[The Blair Witch Project]]'', plans were made for a trilogy, but the second movie, ''Book of Shadows'', killed those dreams.
* ''[[Batman and Robin (film)|Batman and Robin]]'' was so awful (lead actor [[George Clooney]] even ''said'' "I think we killed the franchise") that it convinced Warner to let the ''[[Batman]]'' fields lie fallow for a while, then let [[Christopher Nolan|someone else]] [[The Dark Knight Saga|take a crack at the series]]. Some Marvel Studios high-up is on record for saying that ''[[Batman and Robin (film)|Batman and Robin]]'' was the most influential comic book movie, on account of it definitively showing to movie studios that they can't shovel out crap comic movies and expect the fans to like it.
* ''[[Superman III]]'' was bad. ''[[Superman IV]]'' was [[So Bad It's Good|in some ways an improvement]]; but where it did go wrong, including glaring [[Special Effect Failure]], it broke [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]]. The series went comatose for nearly twenty years and when it came back, ''[[Superman Returns]]'' was a sequel to ''Superman II'' and [[Canon
* ''[[Star Trek Nemesis]]''' plot contained a [[Sequel Hook]], but its financial and critical failure ended any chance the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' crew had of getting another film. Then again, this section of the franchise may have been killed shortly before the release of this film because Brent Spiner (who played the android Data) refused to participate further because he was visibly aging and straining [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief|suspension of disbelief]]. You can't do ''TNG'' without Data, and Paramount's marketing department knew it, hence the tagline:
{{quote| "A Generation's Final Journey Begins". }}
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=== [[Capcom]] ===
* ''[[Dino Crisis]] 3'' stretched [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]] beyond all hope of recovery when it put [[Recycled in Space|dinosaurs on a spaceship in the future]]. That's not even getting into the gameplay, which ''stunk'' due to the inclusion of anti-gravity without the controls to make it bearable, or the plot, which discarded the running story of the previous games despite the fact that part 2 ''ended on a cliffhanger!''
* Although it wasn't exactly ''bad'', ''[[
* Due to poor sales and, more specifically, [[Executive Meddling]], the ''[[Darkstalkers]]'' series has no foreseeable future.
* Ditto for ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'', once a staple in Capcom's line-up and one of the [[Mascot|faces of the company]]. With series creator Keiji Infaune's departure from the company, any further games starring the Blue Bomber are looking very unlikely.
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* ''[[Rumble Roses]]'' suffered from a [[Broken Base]] before it was even released, with both [[Anime]] and [[Professional Wrestling]] fans interested in the game. During development it became obvious the game was designed to cater to anime fans, but it was a decent enough wrestling game that the pro wrestling camp wasn't fully alienated. Then came the sequel, ''Rumble Roses XX'', with a labyrinthine and ludicrously time-consuming unlocking system, a completely pathetic create-a-wrestler feature, and a boring street fighting mode that no one liked. The killer, though, was the "Queens Match Mode", done in a style of Japanese erotica that, through [[Values Dissonance]], came across as extremely creepy [[Fan Disservice]] elsewhere, evaporating most of its international fanbase. To make matters worse, ''RRXX'' was released on a different platform ([[Xbox 360]]) than the original game ([[Play Station 2]]), killing much of its built-in audience.
* ''[[Rogue Squadron]] 3: Rebel Strike'' suddenly introduced half-assed [[Third-Person Shooter]] levels to the series, among other negative aspects, resulting in much backlash. Then ''[[Lair]]'' [[Creator Killer|put the final nail in Factor 5's coffin]].
* ''[[King's Quest: Mask of Eternity]]'' started with a ''very'' unwelcome [[Genre Shift]], taking a franchise that prized itself on emphasizing a creative, non-violent option whenever possible and making a hack and slash third-person action game, with a [[Darker and Edgier]] tone that [[Shoo Out the Clowns|sharply veered from the gentle humor]] and fairy-tale style of the previous seven games. What really iced the cake was that ''none'' of the [[Badass Family|Daventry royal family]] got speaking parts -- the [[Player Character]] might as well have been from a different franchise entirely. Some of the fan sites [[Fanon Discontinuity|refuse to call it a King's Quest game at all]]. Even the Sierra "King's Quest Collection" [[Canon
* ''[[Empire Earth]] III'' was a commercial and critical failure and is widely thought to be responsible for the end of the ''[[Empire Earth]]'' series and Mad Doc studios. Mad Doc [[Old Shame|even removed any trace of the game from their website]] before getting bought by [[Take Two Interactive|Rockstar Games]].
* ''Fade To Black'', the 3D sequel to ''[[Flashback]]'', slammed into the [[Polygon Ceiling]] head-on, crushing hopes of further sequels or a revival.
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