History Main / ContinuityCreep

* The [[Film/MissionImpossible1996 first]] [[Film/MissionImpossibleII three]] [[Film/MissionImpossibleIII movies]] in the ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleFilmSeries Mission: Impossible]]'' film series were each largely self-contained, connected only by Creator/TomCruise and Creator/VingRhames. However, a few characters carried over from ''III'' to ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol Ghost Protocol]]''; Simon Pegg's character Benji [[AscendedExtra was elevated]] from a minor character to a team member and Brandt's backstory obliquely involves Julia, Ethan's wife from ''III''; specifically, [[spoiler:he thought she was killed while he was protecting her, but it turns out her death was faked]]. ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleRogueNation Rogue Nation]]'' has even more continuity, with the bulk of characters from the previous film returning in supporting roles, Benji getting even more focus, and a major subplot dealing with the fallout from the previous movie. ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleFallout Fallout]]'' is a direct sequel to ''Rogue Nation''; Solomon Lane from that film is part of the BigBadDuumvirate, the remnants of the Syndicate are still out in the world as a terror-for-hire organization, planning nuclear strikes on major religious centers for a client, and Julia even plays a minor role in the climax. Eugene Kittridge (Creator/HenryCzerny) even came back for ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleDeadReckoningPartOne Dead Reckoning Part One]]'' a whopping ''27 years'' after his last appearance in the first film.

* The [[Film/MissionImpossible1996 first]] [[Film/MissionImpossibleII three]] [[Film/MissionImpossibleIII movies]] in the ''Film/MissionImpossibleFilmSeries'' were each largely self-contained, connected only by Tom Cruise and Ving Rhames. However, a few characters carried over from ''III'' to ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol Ghost Protocol]]''; Simon Pegg's character Benji [[AscendedExtra was elevated]] from a minor character to a team member and Brandt's backstory obliquely involves Julia, Ethan's wife from ''III''; specifically, [[spoiler:he thought she was killed while he was protecting her, but it turns out her death was faked]]. ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleRogueNation Rogue Nation]]'' has even more continuity, with the bulk of characters from the previous film returning in supporting roles, Benji getting even more focus, and a major subplot dealing with the fallout from the previous movie. ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleFallout Fallout]]'' is a direct sequel to ''Rogue Nation''; Solomon Lane from that film is part of the BigBadDuumvirate, the remnants of the Syndicate are still out in the world as a terror-for-hire organization, planning nuclear strikes on major religious centers for a client, and Julia even plays a minor role in the climax.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Franchise/MetalGear'' gradually got more complicated as the titles progressed. ''Videogame/MetalGear1'' was reasonably straightforward, as was ''Videogame/MetalGear2SolidSnake'', but matters became more complicated with ''Videogame/MetalGearSolid'', with a dramatically more intricate plot and connections to the prior games, but that was still comprehensible on its own. ''Videogame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' drastically complicated matters when it came to continuity both within the game and to those prior. In particular it introduced the Patriots, the GreaterScopeVillain who for the rest of the series were the indirect focus, with the past three games retconned into being aspects of their cat-and-mouse game with Big Boss and Liquid Snake. The subsequent games set prior to the previous three all indirectly led to the Patriots' creation and tied aspects of them together, while they were major players in the GrandFinale, ''Videogame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' that tied up almost ''every'' single plot-thread from previous games that ''Videogame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' (set before the original ''Metal Gear'', and largely focused on the later-made prequels) hadn't.

* In a way, the "Zenithia trilogy" of ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' (games IV-VI). Despite large differences in the world maps of the games, the lack of connections between the games' plots, and there being very few ties between IV and V and almost none between VI and the other two, fans did argue that there were faint clues that the three games took place in the same continuity (like the Loto/Erdrick trilogy that comprises the first three games). This was even after [[WordOfGod series creator Yuji Horii said in an interview that]] the three games were intended to only be linked by the recurring appearance of a heavenly location named Zenithia. However, with the DS remakes, it's now official that the three games do take place in the same continuity, especially with [[spoiler: a bonus quest in VI spelling it out that IV and then V take place in the future after VI]].
* ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'' wound up with this. The first two or four (depending on your point of view) games were pretty episodic. But then you have ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder'', where the BigBad is motivated by revenge for events from ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIIIToHeirIsHuman'', and the ending of ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder'' directly leads to ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow'', which makes a ''lot'' of references to ''King's Quest III'', and includes an incriminating letter linking three of the series villains to the same secret society. ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIIThePrincelessBride'' hits, and the plot of that game directly ties back to ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIVThePerilsOfRosella'' ...And it all resets to NegativeContinuity with ''VideoGame/KingsQuestMaskOfEternity'', but few even consider that to be a ''King's Quest'' game.
* ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'' had the same progression. The first three games were quite episodic, but the fourth game? The villain from the second game is now a VirtualGhost and a little ticked off about being killed by a janitor. TimeTravel gets involved, and soon Roger is up to his eyeballs, going back to the first game and getting asked about the slot machine he broke, going to his future and getting punished for something he technically hadn't done yet, and finding out about his KidFromTheFuture and future wife. Well, that leads into the fifth game where he tries to better himself by going to the space academy, and meets said future wife. If she dies, it's a NonStandardGameOver for Roger due to temporal paradox. The sixth game mostly stands alone, but Roger is shown to have a collection of inventory items from previous games.
* Although the ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' games have never had any overarching plot line, they've gradually accumulated enough {{Continuity Nod}}s that there is a clear serial progression between games. ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime Partners in Time]]'' has the least amount of references to its predecessor, ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Superstar Saga]]'', with a cameo appearance by TheDragon of the previous game being the only significant plot connection. ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Bowser's Inside Story]]'' had many more connections, with the aforementioned Dragon becoming the BigBad and the plot of ''Partners in Time'' being mentioned several times in side quests. ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam Dream Team]]'' has the most connections with its predecessors, with the FairyCompanion of ''Bowser's Inside Story'' filling the role once again, the Block-like Broque Monsieur and Broque Madame revealed to be members of an entire Brock race, Beanbean Kingdom races being prominently featured again, Bowser retaining his leitmotif and VacuumMouth from the previous game, and the RunningGag about Bowser being unable to remember Luigi's name finally getting resolution by the end. ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPaperJam Paper Jam]]'' dials back some of this, but does still make reference to games outside the ''Mario & Luigi'' series .(''VideoGame/CaptainToadTreasureTracker'' for example), brings back characters that have not appeared for a while (Toadette and King Bomb-omb) and gives some of them a lot of characterisation like the Koopalings (in comparison to past portrayals anyway). The games also have a minor character arc for Bowser where he goes from a HarmlessVillain in ''Superstar Saga'' to the BigBad of ''Paper Jam''. Luigi also goes through minor character development, becoming a little bolder and not ''quite'' as cowardly as the series progresses.
* ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' didn't experience continuity creep so much as it got a Continuity ''Crash''. While the [=PS2=] games did acknowledge past games such as the aftermath of Drek's defeat and Ratchet living in Megapolis, by and large the story was there to provide laughs and an excuse to go to a new level. ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal Up Your Arsenal]]'' provided a brief spike where an extended backstory was important and new missions were, for the first time, ''not'' primarily delivered through amusing advertisements. But with ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureToolsOfDestruction Tools of Destruction]]'' the story and villain were directly personal to the heroes with great amounts of world-building for the first time, and the story was told over multiple games (with the themes revisited in another). The series hasn't really looked back since.
* The ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' games' continuity creep is arguably one of the most well-known and [[JigsawPuzzlePlot egregious]] examples of the medium in recent memory, even if the series' general formula hasn't changed too much. While the series has always made frequent references to its past history (most notably through bringing back previous characters and bosses), the original ''Kirby'' games' plots mostly boiled down to Kirby going on adventures to stop a MonsterOfTheWeek from wreaking havoc. However, following Shinya Kumazaki's appointment as the series' director, the franchise has increasingly put more focus on its lore, continuity and worldbuilding with little signs of stopping. Starting with ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'''s UpdatedReRelease of ''Kirby Super Star Ultra'', the games began a trend of using pause-screen FlavorText to directly flesh out the nature or backstories of boss characters, with the following ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'', ''VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe'' and ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'' using these pause-screen descriptions, along with in-game character dialogue and environmental clues, to flesh out their own narratives and conflicts even further and further. In particular, the ''Kirby'' games under Kumazaki's direction have also increasingly alluded to the possibilities of certain elements, characters or antagonistic forces seen across the series' history [[AmbiguouslyRelated having connections to each other in some way]], with ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'' even giving a possible insight into [[spoiler:the origins of the titular Kirby himself]].

* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' remained episodic for most of its run, but began to revisit previously established plot elements and build upon them more readily after its second season. There was a much larger emphasis on story arcs concerning character relationships since the fourth season. The final season, "Regular Show InSpace " was fully serialized.

Continuity creep is the tendency of a TV show or comic book that starts off with an episodic {{Sitcom}}, {{Adventure Town|s}} or MonsterOfTheWeek format, which then begins to accumulate more and more {{Continuity Nod}}s and ongoing storylines. Or if it starts off with each episode containing a single self-contained story, and ends up with sprawling plots that span multiple episodes, it has undergone continuity creep.

* Most of ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' is an episodic, [[StrictlyFormula formulaic]] MonsterOfTheWeek style show with an underlying MythArc. The Sinnoh and Kalos sagas are notable for being quite a bit more story driven, having a wider array of plot threads and more consistent buildup to both their respective [[TournamentArc League Conferences]] and [[SaveTheWorldClimax villain arcs]]. Likewise, ''Journeys'' has plots for Ash who enters the World Coronation Series to officially challenge Leon after losing to him in a friendly battle, Goh who wants to meet Mew again and Chloe who wants to figure out what her goal is in life.
* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' started off as a real AdventureTown-type show, with Ed and Al travelling to various places throughout the country and solving various problems. As more and more of the plot began to unravel, however, the series began shifting into telling one, continuous story with almost no breaks or time leaps in-between episodes.

* ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' started with one-off arcs that usually involved Kenshiro and his two child companions, Bat and Lin, wandering into a new town and helping the local townsfolks fend off whatever evil gang or organization was threatening their lives. It isn't until the introduction of Kenshiro's adoptive brothers that it becomes more focused around the actual martial arts schools and the fates intertwined them.

* Creator/{{DC|Comics}} and Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}} superheroes can be considered this in general. Back in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|OfComicBooks}}, every story was a self-contained plot. Over the years, comics added more and more continuity until the modern soap-opera style of storytelling resulted. This, of course, led to a large amount of ContinuitySnarl, more-so on DC's end than Marvel's, due to DC being an amalgam of characters from a myriad of authors and bought-out companies (most notably Charlton Comics), while nearly all of Marvel's A-list names spawned from the mind of Creator/StanLee (i.e. it was easier for the Generalisimo to recall and/or retcon stuff he himself had written than it was for DC authors who may have had to research character that DC themselves may have not created, like [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]]).
* For the first several issues the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' parts of ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' were mainly just full one-shots that never really related to one each other. Issue 8 started a sense of plot but it took several more issues of on and off one-shots until it came into full effect.

* For the first decades of ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'''s existence, his stories -as well as his spin-offs' ''ComicBook/LoisLane'', ''ComicBook/JimmyOlsen'', ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' and ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes''- were self-contained one-offs with little continuity between them. During the 1950's, though, DC started getting picky about canon, and some events like teen Clark Kent becoming ComicBook/{{Superboy}}, the discovery and retrieval of Kandor or the arrival of Supergirl became set in stone. By the early 1960's -before the Marvel Era- the Superman books were adhering to fluid but firmly established continuity, and DC began publishing multi-part storylines like ''ComicBook/TheUnknownSupergirl'', ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfLightningLad'' and ''ComicBook/TheImmortalSuperman'', all of which had long-lasting consequences.

* The ''Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures'' tie-in novels began in early 1997 with a MonsterOfTheWeek format, albeit, one with lots of references to the show. However, starting with the 6th novel, Lawrence Miles' ''Alien Bodies'' later that year, the seeds of a MythArc were sown, and by the 23rd novel, Kate Orman and Jonathan Blum's ''Unnatural History'', published in 1999, the series was in full on ContinuityLockOut with story lines that wouldn't be sort of-tied up until 73rd and final novel, Lance Parkin's ''The Gallifrey Chronicles'', published in 2005.

* Its spinoff ''Series/{{Angel}}'' went through the same evolution, ultimately having a giant epic storyline that lasted 3 seasons(!). ''Angel'' then proceeded to devolve back into the much lighter monster of the week episodes in season 5 (including one which turned Angel into a puppet), before going back to an overreaching storyline about half way through.

* ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' had a similar evolution to the two Joss Whedon shows above, starting with generally stand alone episodes and not really delving into the series long BigBad until the last two episodes of the first season. One might wonder if this is Joss's preferred method of story building.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' began as a series of isolated stories set in various AdventureTowns in time and space (although the characters did evolve throughout the season). However, the second season saw its first major reference to the past in the form of the return of the Daleks, after they had all died, with the HandWave explanation that this adventure took place ''before'' their destruction. This and future seasons saw an increasing number of recurring elements and characters. It wasn't until the seventies that the narratives started to become definitely interconnected, and in the eighties this turned into ContinuityLockOut and ContinuityPorn. The new series, while still containing series and multi-series long arcs (with a few stand-alones) has dialed back on the ContinuityLockOut, if not completely. That is until Creator/StevenMoffat took over New Who in season 5. Since then, all of the seasons have been connected by a long over-arching story about the identity of the Doctor and new orders and secret organizations seeing him as a threat. The show returned to the series long arc format once the Twelfth Doctor took over.

* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' began as a very episodic show, with the only continuing plot of note in [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers the first season]] being the [[SixthRanger Green Ranger]] arcs. Season 6, ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', brought the continuity creep in alongside a year-long CrisisCrossover. Every season of the show since then, while self-contained and having brand new casts yearly, continues to focus on hefty plots. It really started earlier, right around season 3, which featured very few standalone episodes, almost every plot being multi-parters that each also connect into overarching plots. For example, in the arc that introduced Katherine, she helps Rita and Zedd capture Ninjor, the Falconzord, and Kimberly's pink power coin. While the power coin plot was resolved by the end of that arc, the other two aren't resolved until the later "Master Vile and the Metallic Armor" arc. And one stand-alone after that, the season saw the Alien Rangers arc, which helped to really shake things up.

* ''Why Don't You (Just Switch Off Your Television Set And Do Something Less Boring Instead)?'' began life as a summer holiday magazine show on Creator/TheBBC, with an ever-rotating cast of kids from different BBC regions giving the veiwers fun activities to do during the holidays. Under the pen of Creator/RussellTDavies, it somehow acquired a science-fiction tinged through-story and a regular "star" in the form of Ben Slade, who moved from the Welsh gang to the other gangs, initally playing a MadScientist version of himself, and then, when he became too old to be a ''Why Don't You...?'' gang member, an AI based on the "real" Ben's personality.

* Season one of ''Podcast/ResidentsOfProserpinaPark'' is mostly episodic, with a few minor plot treads here and there. Come season two, however, and the show has become full-on serialized. One episode often directly leads into the other, and there are season-wide arcs and plot threads.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Mega Man|Classic}}'' series almost never has a storyline to speak of. The ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' series, especially later on, tend to have self-contained plots with a ContinuityNod here and there and CharacterDevelopment. The ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series quite clearly continue one from the other, with major references to the previous games, the series' own convoluted backstory, a couple to the X series and a nod or two to points from the Classic series. Between the two ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' games there's a pretty significant TimeSkip, but both games are also heavy on nods to all the past series. ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' and ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce'', being {{R|olePlayingGame}}PGs, naturally are more story-heavy to begin with.

* In a way, the "Zenithia trilogy" of ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' (games IV - VI). Despite large differences in the world maps of the games, the lack of connections between the games' plots, and there being very few ties between IV and V and almost none between VI and the other two, fans did argue that there were faint clues that the three games took place in the same continuity (like the Loto/Erdrick trilogy that comprises the first three games). This was even after [[WordOfGod series creator Yuji Horii said in an interview that]] the three games were intended to only be linked by the recurring appearance of a heavenly location named Zenithia. However, with the DS remakes, it's now official that the three games do take place in the same continuity, especially with [[spoiler: a bonus quest in VI spelling it out that IV and then V take place in the future after VI]].

* Although the ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' games have never had any overarching plot line, they've gradually accumulated enough {{Continuity Nod}}s that there is a clear serial progression between games. ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime Partners in Time]]'' has the least amount of references to its predecessor, ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Superstar Saga]]'', with a cameo appearance by TheDragon of the previous game being the only significant plot connection. ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Bowser's Inside Story]]'' had many more connections, with the aforementioned Dragon becoming the BigBad and the plot of ''Partners in Time'' being mentioned several times in side quests. ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam Dream Team]]'' has the most connections with its predecessors, with the FairyCompanion of ''Bowser's Inside Story'' filling the role once again, the Block-like Broque Monsieur and Broque Madame revealed to be members of an entire Brock race, Beanbean Kingdom races being prominently featured again, Bowser retaining his leitmotif and VacuumMouth from the previous game, and the RunningGag about Bowser being unable to remember Luigi's name finally getting resolution by the end. ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPaperJam Paper Jam]]'' dials back some of this, but does still make reference to games outside the ''Mario & Luigi'' series .(''VideoGame/CaptainToadTreasureTracker'' for example), brings back characters that have not appeared for a while (Toadette and King Bomb-omb) and gives some of them a lot of characterisation like the Koopalings (in comparison to past portrayals anyway). The games also have a minor character arc for Bowser where he goes from a HarmlessVillain in ''Superstar Saga'' to the BigBad of ''Paper Jam''. Luigi also goes through minor character development, becoming a little more bold and not ''quite'' as cowardly as the series progresses.
* ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' didn't experience continuity creep so much as it got a Continuity ''Crash''. While the [=PS2=] games did acknowledge past games such as the aftermath of Drek's defeat and Ratchet living in Megapolis, by and large the story was there to provide laughs and an excuse to go to a new level. ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal Up Your Arsenal]]'' provided a brief spike where an extended backstory was important and new missions were, for the first time, ''not'' primarily delivered through amusing advertisements. But with ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureToolsOfDestruction Tools of Destruction]]'' the story and villain were directly personal to the heroes with great amounts of world building for the first time, and the story was told over multiple games (with the themes revisited in another). The series hasn't really looked back since.
* The ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' games' continuity creep is arguably one of the most well-known and [[JigsawPuzzlePlot egregious]] examples of the medium in recent memory, even if the series' general formula hasn't changed too much. While the series has always made frequent reference to its past history (most notably through bringing back previous characters and bosses), the original ''Kirby'' games' plots mostly boiled down to Kirby going on adventures to stop a MonsterOfTheWeek from wreaking havoc. However, following Shinya Kumazaki's appointment as the series' director, the franchise has increasingly put more focus on its lore, continuity and worldbuilding with little signs of stopping. Starting with ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'''s UpdatedReRelease of ''Kirby Super Star Ultra'', the games began a trend of using pause-screen FlavorText to directly flesh out the nature or backstories of boss characters, with the following ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'', ''VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe'' and ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'' using these pause-screen descriptions, along with in-game character dialogue and environmental clues, to flesh out their own narratives and conflicts even further and further. In particular, the ''Kirby'' games under Kumazaki's direction have also increasingly alluded to the possibilities of certain elements, characters or antagonistic forces seen across the series' history [[AmbiguouslyRelated having connections to each other in some way]], with ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'' even giving a possible insight into [[spoiler:the origins of the titular Kirby himself]].

* Ostensibly, one of the reasons Rooster Teeth ended ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles'' at Episode 100 was to put an end to the continuity creep and continue writing for the series from a point where newcomers could enjoy the show without ContinuityLockout. While they succeeded, the series from that point forth became [[CerebusSyndrome much more plot based]], and a good number of the [[CallBack Call Backs]] still require familiarity with all the older episodes (as opposed to just episodes from the most recent trilogy, ''Recollection'').

* ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' started out as a series of text reviews looking at bad comics before transitioning to a standard video review show. Eventually it started gaining storyarcs that occurred in conjunction with the reviews, Linkara started receiving a regular supporting cast, and some events from the storyarcs even ended up affecting the reviews.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' initially had two- and three-part episodes which didn't really affect each other (except for the recurring villains). Then they started throwing in short arcs that built on the plot of previous Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse series, such as the season two premiere, which was a follow-up to ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'''s finale. And then, even the completely standalone episodes would still have brief moments suggesting continuity: the slow buildup of {{U|nresolvedSexualTension}}ST between John Stewart and Hawkgirl, and the very subtle bits of foreshadowing pointing towards the season two GrandFinale. Then ''Justice League Unlimited'' went all-out and used overarching plots that took half the season to resolve--CADMUS in the first two seasons, then the Secret Society in season three. It's generally agreed that the growth in continuity was concurrent with [[GrowingTheBeard an upswing in quality]].

* From the first few episodes of the third season onward, ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' had finally became a show all about referencing itself.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' began going in this direction after second season finale, although the process was relatively gradual at first, with mythology episodes being separated by relatively typical adventures by the show's standard. By the fifth season, however, the series began to suffer from a severe case of CerebusSyndrome and building up a long list of {{sequel episode}}s as well as flashbacks and ongoing story arcs, with fewer episodes able to stand on their own, culminating in three mini-series - Stakes, Islands and Elements.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' tended to [[NegativeContinuity avoid continuity]] for much of its first two seasons, with the exception of "The Finale", where they explictly lampshade this, causing [[ContinuityCavalcade everything to come back at once]]. During the course of Season 3, however, continuity became a regular thing, most notably after "The Shell" in which [[spoiler: Penny breaks out of her shell and [[RelationshipUpgrade starts her relationship with Gumball]]]], altering the status quo for the first time. From that point on, the show would have its fair share of {{Call Back}}s, {{Sequel Episode}}s and even some inter-episode {{Foreshadowing}} and {{Cerebus Retcon}}s setting up a larger MythArc, but the large majority of episodes still work as standalone stories.

* ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012'' has a pretty pronounced case. Season 1's episodes are all completely independent of each other, with continuity limited to featured characters making background appearances later on. Later seasons would have episodes that build upon previous episodes, most notably "[[Recap/LittlestPetShop2012S2E11BlythesBigIdea Blythe's Big Idea]]", which serves mainly as setup for at least five episodes later into the season. In addition, each season finale has Blythe make a leap in her status in the fashion world, and the following season's episodes are written with that in mind. By Season 4, the entire season would become one big StoryArc with numerous references to the previous three seasons.
* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' had little continuity before its cancellation in 2004. It mostly followed the StrictlyFormula of Jack either trying to go back to the past (and failing), defeating merceneries sent by Aku or resolving a local problem. In fact, the Scotsman was the only recurring character besides Jack and Aku. In contrast, when the show was revived for its fifth season in 2017, those final episodes formed a serialized story with many characters returning.
* ''WesternAnimation/AllHailKingJulien'' started out as a comedic series of stand-alone episodes with some callbacks and continuity. The end of the second season introduced a dramatic cliffhanger that led to a mini-arc regarding Julien's parents the following season. After that, a seemingly-minor BrickJoke ended up becoming a major plot point in the last few episodes of season four, which ended in another cliffhanger that sets up the fifth season, ''Exiled'', which features a large StoryArc that resolves said cliffhanger.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' began as a fairly episodic MonsterOfTheWeek show where Steven and the Gems fight creatures, solve mysteries, and deal with personal relationships. As the first season continued a MythArc started to build with the mid season finale hinting at a greater plot. From there, the plot grew exponentially, with various character moments coming back and several innocuous background events gaining greater relevance. The protagonists meet more concrete recurring antagonists and even creatures like the monster defeated in the pilot made a few returns to further explore the show's backstory.

** The twentieth season was infamously fully serialized, with one long storyline broke up over ten episodes, with only a few carrying individual identity. The concept proved too ambitious for its own good, especially when [[RealLifeWritesThePlot the actual presidential election]] messed up the creators' planned story line, resulting in an AbortedArc and a conclusion for the other threads that many did not find satisfying. Even the final two episodes themselves made fun of the show's serialization.

* Craig Gerber's two shows, ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'' and its spin off series, ''WesternAnimation/ElenaOfAvalor'' , both follow this. Regarding the former, it started out with simple one and done stories with the occasional callback. Most episodes from season 2 onward build off of previous episodes in some way. This is taken up to eleven in seasons 3 and 4, with the Secret Library and Mystic Isles arcs. In the case of the latter, though it maintains the same TV-Y rating as Sofia, it has a much tighter story arc starting at the beginning. It has standalone episodes, but sequel episodes and continuity callbacks are increasingly more common.

* For the first decades of ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'''s existence, his stories -as well as his spin-offs' ''ComicBook/LoisLane'', ''ComicBook/JimmyOlsen'', ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' and ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes''- were self-contained one-offs with little continuity between them. During the 1950's, though, DC started getting picky about canon, and some events like teen Clark Kent becoming ComicBook/{{Superboy}}, the discovery and retrieval of Kandor or the arrival of Supergirl became set in stone. By the early 1960's -before the Marvel Era- the Superman books were adhering to fluid but firmly established continuity, and DC began publishing multi-part storylines like ''ComicBook/TheUnknownSupergirl'', ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfLightningLad'' and ''ComicBook/TheImmortalSuperman'', all of which had long-lasting consequences.

* ''Marvel/DC After Hours'' (a.k.a. ''WebVideo/ImAMarvelAndImADC''), an online video series, started out as a simple parody of the "Buy a Mac" ads with Franchise/SpiderMan and Franchise/{{Superman}} discussing the relatively sorry state of movies based on DC characters compared to Marvel's. Gradually more characters were introduced until it completely morphed into a story-driven and occasionally quite moving piece of work, all while keeping the comic-based humor intact as various characters continue to praise or lament their latest films.

* The [[Film/MissionImpossible1996 first]] [[Film/MissionImpossibleII three]] [[Film/MissionImpossibleIII movies]] in the ''Film/MissionImpossibleFilmSeries'' were each largely self-contained, connected only by Tom Cruise and Ving Rhames. However, a few characters carried over from ''III'' to ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol Ghost Protocol]]''; Simon Pegg's character Benji was elevated from a minor character to a team member and Brandt's backstory obliquely involves Julia, Ethan's wife from ''III''; specifically, [[spoiler:he thought she was killed while he was protecting her, but it turns out her death was faked]]. ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleRogueNation Rogue Nation]]'' has even more continuity, with the bulk of characters from the previous film returning in supporting roles, Benji getting even more focus, and a major subplot dealing with the fallout from the previous movie. ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleFallout Fallout]]'' is a direct sequel to ''Rogue Nation''; Solomon Lane from that film is part of the BigBadDuumvirate, the remnants of the Syndicate are still out in the world as a terror-for-hire organization, planning nuclear strikes on major religious centers for a client, and Julia even plays a minor role in the climax.

* Most of ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' is an episodic, [[StrictlyFormula formulaic]] MonsterOfTheWeek style show with an underlying MythArc. The Sinnoh and Kalos sagas are notable for being quite a bit more story driven, having a wider array of plot threads and more consistent buildup to both their respective [[TournamentArc League Conferences]] and [[SaveTheWorldClimax villain arcs]].