History Main / ContinuityCreep

* Several manga start off this way, specifically shonen. For instance ''ShamanKing'' started out with each chapter being about a new ghost for Yoh and Amidamaru to meet, Black Cat was about several bounties Train had to get... ''RurouniKenshin'' was about Kenshin having sword fights and such in the Meiji era. It was generally to introduce several cast members, or just segue into the first shorter story arc that many manga did this.

* {{Supernatural}} was originally supposed to be about various [[MonsterOfTheWeek monsters]] and urban legends made real, with just enough backstory to explain why the Winchesters kept getting involved. But the show's (largely female) fanbase decided they liked seeing the gorgeous boys' angst, so more and more MythArc elements were added, to the point that filler episodes can seem very out of place. (Lucifer's loose on Earth? Eh, we can still take some time to banish this ghost.)
* {{Journeyman}} was [[http://www.aintitcool.com/node/37863 headed this way]] before it was [[TooGoodToLast axed.]]

** 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 Katharine, 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 later (Ninjor in particular doesn't get freed until the Master Vile arc).

ContinuityCreep is the tendency of a TV show or comic book that starts off with an episodic {{Sitcom}}, AdventureTown or MonsterOfTheWeek format, which then begins to accumulates 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.

* ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh GX}}''... [[MindScrew maybe... sort of... oh, there's no way to tell!]]

* ''DoctorWho'' began as a series of isolated stories set in various AdventureTowns in time and space. (The characters, however, 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 has re-capitulated this in fast-forward, though not nearly to the same extent of alienating the casual audience which popular fan wisdom believes originally happened - the new series' weekly average ratings have held or increased year on year.

* ''SuperMarioBrothers'': Borderline. Nowadays many games in the series (especially the [=RPG=]s) just love to throw in countless references to the older games and a few storylines seem to transcend the respective games now.
** Though most of the continuity nods are in the gameplay rather than the story. Especially in NewSuperMarioBrosWii.

** Also in the new series, each season has included some minor recurring element that gets a little nod in each episode before turning out to be massively important in the season finale. The Doctor [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this in season one, when he [[spoiler: points out all the places they've seen the phrase "Bad Wolf" so far, says it's like it's following them, then dismisses it just as quickly.]] This continues with [[spoiler: Torchwood]] in season two, [[spoiler: Mr. Saxon]] in season three, and [[spoiler: the missing planets]] in season four. There's also the Crack in season [FanNickname Fnarg]] though this was far more obvious.

** But the books were planned as a seven-book arc from the beginning.

* ''PowerRangers'' began as a very episodic show, with the only continuing plot of the first season being the [[SixthRanger Green Ranger]] arcs. Season 6, ''PowerRangersInSpace'', brought the ContinuityCreep 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.

** Also in the new series, each season has included some minor recurring element that gets a little nod in each episode before turning out to be massively important in the season finale. The Doctor [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this in season one, when he [[spoiler: points out all the places they've seen the phrase "Bad Wolf" so far, says it's like it's following them, then dismisses it just as quickly.]] This continues with [[spoiler: Torchwood]] in season two, [[spoiler: Mr. Saxon]] in season three, and [[spoiler: the missing planets]] in season four.

!!Examples

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* TouhouProject has arguably been undergoing this lately; not just in the main series itself, but also the [[GaidenGame Gaiden Games]], [[AllThereInTheManual spin-off manga, and fan books]]. For example, the latest (as of 11/17/10) game ''Great Fairy Wars'' is a direct sequel to a chapter of the manga ''Strange and Bright Nature Deity''. Earlier, ''Touhou Hisoutenkou'' had plenty of after-battle dialogue referring to other manga, and a line from the main character that may well be {{Foreshadowing}}.

* TouhouProject has arguably been undergoing this lately; not just in the main series itself, but also the [[GaidenGame Gaiden Games]], [[AllThereInTheManual spin-off manga, and fan books]]. For example, the latest (as of 11/17/10) game ''Great Fairy Wars'' is a direct sequel to a chapter of the manga ''Strange and Bright Nature Deity. Earlier, ''Touhou Hisoutenkou'' had plenty of after-battle dialogue referring to other manga, and a line from the main character that may well be {{Foreshadowing}}.

* Ostensibly, one of the reasons Rooster Teeth ended ''[[RedVsBlue Red vs. Blue]]: The Blood Gulch Chronicles'' at Episode 100 was to put an end to the ContinuityCreep 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 CallBacks]] still require familiarity with all the older episodes (as opposed to just episodes from the most recent trilogy, ''Recollection'').

* One of the reasons Rooster Teeth ended ''[[RedVsBlue Red vs. Blue]]: The Blood Gulch Chronicles'' at Episode 100 was to put an end to the ContinuityCreep and continue writing for the series from a point where newcomers could enjoy the show without ContinuityLockout. While they succeeded, a good number of the [[CallBack CallBacks]] still require familiarity with all the older episodes.

*** A (common) moment of genius on the part of Pratchett though - in the earlier books the wizards all had names, and consequently died. Then he introduced the usual suspects, didn't give them names, and they became recurring characters. The only exceptions - Ponder Stibbons (Who's too smart and cowardly to die), Ridcully (Who's too stubborn to die) and Rincewind (Who's too fast to die, and in any case isn't so much a wizard as a wizzard) all, in some way, behave very differently from the stand discworld wizards.

* {{Supernatural}} was originally supposed to be about various [[MonsterOfTheWeek monsters]] and urban legends made real, with just enough backstory to explain why the Winchesters kept getting involved. But the show's (largely female) fanbase decided they liked seeing the gorgeous boys' angst, so more and more MythArc elements were added, to the point that filler episodes can seem very out of place. (Lucifer's loose on Earth? Eh, we can still take some time banish this ghost.)