Continuity
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Continuity is the process by which a fictional work is fleshed out with various details that had been previously unknown. This allows descrepencies to disappear overnight, as the story becomes one cohesive whole.
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[edit] Television
In television, a series writer may introduce new elements that strengthen the overall plotline. For example, Fox Mulder never really cared about finding aliens (or there were no aliens to begin with). This arguably saved the series The X-Files from being cancelled.
[edit] Anime
In anime, a character is often given new background information where it was previously overlooked in the original. In Sailor Moon S, the two outer senshi Neptune and Uranus are revealed to be lovers. While this was acceptable at the time, it was felt that the characters should have an even closer relationship. Thus they mention through the course of the series that they are also cousins. While the idea of incestuous same-sex relationships would be hard to get past some networks, it was ultimately conceded that children were mature enough to handle that sort of thing.
[edit] Graphic novels
In comicbooks, characters are often given new details about their own life that had never previously known about. A character may suddenly discover their new sister, brother, parents, or even children they had never heard about, which allows an original method of expanding the background story of that character. Another celebrated technique is to reveal that a character who had seemingly died was actually just fine, and only pretended to be dead in order to live a life of relative obscurity for thirty or so years. In this way, readers gain insight into what a character would have been doing in all that time had he or she been allowed to peacefully retire and enjoy the sunset on a warm beach rather than pester the main character the entire time.
[edit] Film
Movies will present these concepts in packaged forms, known as "sequels", allowing new ideas to be present that had always existed beforehand. While viewers may ask why such ideas were not seen in a prior movie or television series, the answer is that no one is ready for what happens in the sequel. More often, the idea is not original and can be seen clearly outlined in the first film or episode. For example:
[edit] Examples
- In the Scream movies, it is obvious during the first film that the main villains are working for a reclusive supervillain who has set the entire thing up.
- Star Trek Season 2 mentions that Data has always had a long lost brother. Picard has always had a long lost clone seeking revenge.
- The Enterprise has always had a prototype craft that took four boring seasons to explain. This is why no ever mentions it regularly, because it would cause them to yawn for the entire series.
- Jesus always planned to take a visit to North America, but never got around to it until recently.
- Bea Arthur has always existed in the Star Wars universe.
