History Main / NonSerialMovie

** The 96 movie is sort of a BroadStrokes deal: The two biggest points that stick in fans' craw aren't carried over to the new series - the Doctor kissing a girl and ''meaning'' it is quietly ignored, and one season finale states that a Time Lord HalfHumanHybrid is ''impossible,'' which blows "I'm half human on my mother's side" right out of the water. However, we have seen the Eighth Doctor in flashbacks, and when the Master returned, we ([[UnexplainedRecovery uncharacteristically, actually]]) got a real explanation for his resurrection (which of course would be unneeded if he was last seen alive.) In a preview web episode for the 50th Anniversary, the Either Doctor not only returns, but mentions his companions from the audio series, confirming not only his canonicity, but at least some of his audio adventures as well.

** Naturally, ''YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'' has a ball with these.

** The 96 movie is sort of a BroadStrokes deal: The two biggest points that stick in fans' craw aren't carried over to the new series - the Doctor kissing a girl and ''meaning'' it is quietly ignored, and one season finale states that a Time Lord HalfHumanHybrid is ''impossible,'' which blows "I'm half human on my mother's side" right out of the water. However, we have seen the Eighth Doctor in flashbacks, and when the Master returned, we ([[UnexplainedRecovery uncharacteristically, actually]]) got a real explanation for his resurrection (which of course would be unneeded if he was last seen alive.)

--'''Vegeta''', ''WebVideo/DragonBallAbridged '', "Christmas Tree of Might"

* None of the ''DragonBall'' and ''DragonBallZ'' movies had any precise (or logical) place in the manga's and TV show's {{canon}}, but each of them effectively adapted various plot elements of the main story in somewhat general terms, while substituting the villains from the source material with new ones for the movie.

*** DragonBallAbridged states that, while Icarus (Gohan's dragon) did appear in the film, Gohan wasn't allowed to keep him because he "wasn't {{canon}}."

*** Interestingly, Trunks and Goten ''did'' start a successful swordsmanship school before the events of DragonBallOnline.

** The latest movie ''[[Film/DragonBallZBattleOfGods Battle of Gods]]'', is the first movie that has been officially confirmed to be part of the series canon.

-> ''This is so [[CanonDiscontinuity non-canon]] it hurts.''
-->-- '''Vegeta''', ''WebVideo/DragonBallAbridged '', "Christmas Tree of Might"

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' is set after Season 3 of WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic, however WordOfGod states that it won't have an effect on Season 4.

** One thing Pokemon's movies have in their favor is that there's a more reasonable way they can actually have happened between episodes. All of Pokemon's movies start with something along the lines of "Ash and the gang are on their adventure to beat the [region name] Pokemon League.", so it's basically a 2 hour long one-shot episode. The specific events may have a questionable canon, but the timing is plausible.
** In the ''Episode N'' arc of the anime, it's explicitly stated that the heroes haven't met Zekrom and Reshiram, specifically contradicting the Victini movies.

** ''Dead Zone'', the first of the ''DBZ'' movies, does fit neatly between the end of the original ''DB'' TV series and the beginning of ''DBZ'', if one ignores the minor ContinuitySnarl of Goku's friends knowing about Gohan before Raditz' arrival. Garlic Jr. even showed up in a {{filler}} arc of the TV series set between the Freeza and Cell arcs. Of course, the "Return of Garlic Jr." story arc also featured Gohan's pet dragon from ''Tree of Might'', a movie that couldn't possibly be set during the TV series due to too many continuity glitches.

** One thing Pokemon's movies have in their favor is that there's a more reasonable way they can actually have happened between episodes. All of Pokemon's movies start with something almong the lines of "Ash and the gang are on their adventure to beat the [region name] Pokemon League.", so it's basically a 2 hour long one-shot episode. The specific events may have a questionable canon, but the timing is plausible.

** ''[[Series/KamenRiderFourze Fourze]]'': Averted in ''Megamax'', which introduced the Rocket States and first revealed that [[spoiler: Gamou is working with Foundation X]], both of which appeared in the series.
** Time will tell with Movie Wars Ultimatum: for the Fourze gang, it takes some time post-series. Which means the ''next'' appearance of Fourze will have to take place between Fourze proper and Ultimatum; we'll see if an entry with more canonical weight contradicts it.

* '''NONE''' of the ''LupinIII'' movies or specials feature any continuity with ''any'' of the three TV series (who barely even bother with continuity with ''each other'') or any other film in the series. It's part of the reason why they work so well though, as they can still feel pretty timeless even with outdated clothing and technology.

* ''Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' was an example of a NonSerialMovie with a BigBudgetBeefUp to go along with it; specifically, all of the cheap sets and spandex costumes (not to mention the stock footage) were replaced with expensive, high quality sets and plasticized, form-fitting body armor, respectively. The film's plot was also a change from the series' norm at the time. The movie's lead villain, Ivan Ooze, was never seen in the series either. The movie is not part of the series canon, since it basically tells the same story as the third-season premiere multiparter (Rangers lose old powers, must earn new ninja-based powers), but with major changes (for instance, the Rangers get their ninja powers from the scantily clad Dulcea of the planet Phaedos rather than the robotic Ninjor, and the new villain is Ivan Ooze rather than Master Vile).

** ''[[Series/KamenRiderFaiz Faiz]]'' and ''[[KamenRiderBlade Blade]]''[='s=] movies are AlternateContinuity epilogues based on the question "WhatIf the series ended differently?".

* The production team for the original ''SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' decided not to go the CompilationMovie route for the inevitable theatrical release (a'la Gundam and Yamato) and instead produced a movie (''Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?'') that is in a parallel continuity with the TV series, presenting basically the same events as the series, but often in new ways. WordOfGod says that ''DYRL?'' is itself [[ShowWithinAShow a movie within the Macross universe]], and that the differences between the two are for dramatic purposes[[hottip:*:Though ShojiKawamori has said that neither the TV show nor the movie is "main" canon, and he considers elements of both to be "true".]]

* Most Heisei era ''KamenRider'' series have had a NonSerialMovie. There are exceptions, however.
** ''[[KamenRiderAgito Agito]]'': ''Project G4'' isn't an AlternateContinuity, though it's difficult to place within the TV series continuity, leaving it up to {{Fanon}} to shoehorn the movie in.
** ''[[KamenRiderRyuki Ryuki]]'': Both the movie and TV special present wildly contradictory events (and the TV special in fact had two alternate endings, which viewers could vote for via telephone). However, every version of events is considered canon since WordOfGod revealed that [[spoiler:Shiro Kanzaki repeatedly hit the ResetButton trying to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong; each version of the story happened in some timeline, but the TV series is the final iteration since he was convinced to give up.]]
** ''[[KamenRiderFaiz Faiz]]'' and ''[[KamenRiderBlade Blade]]''[='s=] movies are AlternateContinuity epilogues based on the question "WhatIf the series ended differently?".
** ''[[KamenRiderHibiki Hibiki]]'': A particularly odd case. It shows Hibiki gaining his SwordOfPlotAdvancement and SuperMode in a different way than in the TV series; however, every part of the movie ''except'' this is meant to be canon.
** ''[[KamenRiderKabuto Kabuto]]'': ''God Speed Love'' is an AlternateUniverse version of the TV series where the Shibuya meteor was even worse and reduced the world to a post-apocalyptic wasteland; it ends with [[spoiler:Hyper Kabuto altering history by breaking part of the meteor, lessening the impact and bringing the TV series into existence through the TimeyWimeyBall.]]
** ''[[{{KamenRiderDen-O}} Den-O]]'': The show actually incorporates the first movie into the storyline such that the movie forms the fourth of a five-part StoryArc, making it an aversion. The second and third movies arguably play the trope straight, due to the unexplained presence of [[spoiler:Zeronos]] and no continuity between them. It gets even more confusing with the fourth movie and the 2010 trilogy, which may or may not be canon to the television series (their setting is in fact the Den-O AlternateUniverse visited by ''KamenRiderDecade'', thus their canonicity is definite to ''Decade'' but questionable to the main ''Den-O'' universe; the Den-O AU was the least different of the Decade [=AUs=], so it's possible they're one and the same).
** ''[[KamenRiderKiva Kiva]]'': ''King of Demon World Castle'' outright contradicts the show's continuity in so many ways that it's impossible for it to be placed in the show's timeline.
** ''[[KamenRiderDecade Decade]]'': The first film is canon to the series, but placing it is somewhat difficult as the show has no evident moment bridging to it in a series where the end of each episode sets up the next; it seemed non-serial at first because of the clear lack of anywhere it could fit. The second film serves as ''Decade''[='=]s GrandFinale; it also confirms the first movie's canonicity through a ContinuityNod. ''Cho Den-O Trilogy: Episode Yellow'' and ''Film/KamenRiderXSuperSentaiSuperHeroTaisen'' are both set after the series, at which point the protagonists have nothing more to do than travelling across the multiverse, making Decade's adventures henceforth self-contained episodic affairs.
** ''[[KamenRiderDouble Double]]'': Averted for all films. Scenes from ''Begins Night'' appear in the first episode as part of a ColdOpen, and it tells part of the backstory in FlashBack, but the actual present-day events seem to take place between episodes 14 and 15 due to the movie's story being [[{{Foreshadowing}} Foreshadowed]] in 13-14 and the presence of the Fang Memory in 15. ''Double Forever'' takes place quite pointedly between episodes 44 and 45, since the former ends with the T2 Gaia Memories being transported, and the latter begins with [[spoiler:Futo Tower being repaired following the final battle between Double and Eternal]]. ''Movie War Core'' serves as the backstory of PosthumousCharacter Kamen Rider Skull; however, being canon to ''Double'' ends up causing problems for...
** ''[[KamenRiderOOO OOO]]'': ''Movie War Core'' has many contradictions with the show. It could have been easily written off as a non-serial movie if it weren't for ''Double''[='=]s canonical involvement above. ''Let's Go Kamen Riders'' is flat-out non-canon because the time travel chaos ends up creating about quite a few dystopian alternate timelines [[spoiler:''without'' resetting back to the original, canon ''OOO'' timeline after the BigBad is killed]]. On the other hand, ''21 Core Medals'', though stated to be in canon, is hard to place - also, OOO gains a lot of medals he won't have in the series, and Burakawani never appears again - and ''Movie War Megamax'' (its crossover with ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'') is set after the series, with [[spoiler:Ankh dead and the non-existence of the Core Medals.]]

* ''SuperSentai'' movies are different - they're hard to place, seldom reference important show plot points and seldom have their important plot points referenced in the show, but are not usually hugely contradictory.
** ''BakuryuuSentaiAbaranger'' - The evil PaletteSwap mecha from the movie makes a brief appearance near the end of the series. It was even briefer in ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'', since the movie footage was never used to set this up.
** ''{{Engine Sentai Go-Onger}}''[='=]s, however, has Samurai World mentioned often, and [[spoiler: Retsutaka and Engine Daishogun return]].
** Strangely, in ''NinpuuSentaiHurricaneger'', Tricondor is recognized by the team because of the movie's events, but there doesn't seem to be any reason for Oboro to have made a machine that looks exactly like Tricondor.

** ''Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger''[='=]s movies don't get mentioned in the series, but do mention each other -- an Algolian (the summer movie villains) is involved in the ''Dekaranger vs. [[MahouSentaiMagiranger Magiranger]]'' teamup.

** The two ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'' team-up movies are canon. The first one (with ''TensouSentaiGoseiger''), set between episodes 16 and 17, sees [[spoiler:the Gokaigers unlocking 11 Ranger powers at once]] and and while the events of the second one (with ''SpaceSheriffGavan'') are not referenced in the show itself, the ''Series/TokumeiSentaiGobusters'' EarlyBirdCameo scene is pretty much a {{foreshadowing}} of Basco's final and most nefarious move against the Gokaigers in episodes 47/48, setting the movie before that two-parter.
** At first it seems like the ''JukenSentaiGekiranger'' movie was this with its special combination "Geki Rin Tohja," a mecha formation made from the show's first mecha and the 2 mechs of the 'evil' Rin Juken users Rio and Mele [[spoiler:but in episode 33, when the first 3 Gekirangers along with Rio and Mele get stuck in the past, they have to fight a giant monster; Rio suggests using Geki Rin Tohja, making the movie canon. Then later they use [[UpTo11 Geki Rin Tohja Wolf]]]].
** ''TokusouSentaiDekaranger''[='=]s movies don't get mentioned in the series, but do mention each other - an Algolian (the summer movie villains) is involved in the ''Dekaranger vs. [[MahouSentaiMagiranger Magiranger]]'' teamup.

*** He is, however, depicted getting ready to travel back to the native timeline in his last canon appearance before being interrupted by [[spoiler: Imperfect Cell]]. However, he has long hair in Bojack and short hair in his last appearance, creating confusion of when exactly he came back.

** ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' also had two movies released while it was airing. The franchise's third movie is definitely non-canon, but there was an attempt to place it into canon with a DramaCD. The franchise's fourth movie was released during the last fre episodes of ''Adventure 02''. It takes place after the events of the season (but before the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue) and acts as a direct sequel to the second ''Adventure'' movie. Obviously it was never referenced in canon, but nothing has ever said it ''wasn't'' canon either.

** ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' also had two movies released while it was airing. The franchise's fifth movie is referenced in the anime proper when one of it's characters appear in the anime. The franchise's sixth movie takes place after the end of the season, but it's canonicity has been debated as certain members of the anime's staff were not involved in the movie's creation. Both movies were dubbed in English well after the ''Tamers'' dub ended.

** ''Anime/DigmonAdventure'', the first season, has two movies. The first movie actually averts this trope, as it's both a {{Prequel}} and was released before the first season aired. The second film was released while the first season was airing. However, it explicitly takes place after the events of ''Adventure'' and is referred to in the second season...

** ''Anime/DigmonTamers'' also had two movies released while it was airing. The franchise's fifth movie is referenced in the anime proper when one of it's characters appear in the anime. The sixth movie takes place after the end of the season, but it's canonicity has been debated as certain members of the anime's staff were not involved in the movie's creation. Both movies were dubbed in English well after the ''Tamers'' dub ended.

** ''Anime/DigimonXEvolution'', the eighth movie, is in it's own canon and is based off the ''Digmion Chronicle'' setting (which didn't have a consistent canon to begin with). The ''Anime/DigimonSavers'' movie is non-canon.

* Of the nine ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' films, only the two associated with ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' are canon; the rest are non-serial, except for the first Anime/DigimonTamers movie (Battle of Adventurers) and the eighth, ''Anime/DigimonXEvolution'', which is obviously its own canon. Attempts were later made to {{retcon}} the third, ''Hurricane Touchdown'', into the ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' canon. It was... [[ContinuitySnarl messy]], to say the least, while the second Tamers movie and sixth overall (Runaway Locomon) has a very disputed cannonicity.
** If you want the long version:
*** The first Adventure film was a {{Prequel}} to the series, while the second takes place after the end of the series and is referenced in ''Adventure 02''.
*** The first ''Adventure 02'' film was not supposed to be canon, but the American dubbers made it part of ''Digimon: The Movie'' (which compiled the first three films) and added a reference in ''Adventure 02''. The second ''Adventure 02'' movie takes place after the end of the series (but before the epilogue) and is actually a sequel to the second ''Adventure'' movie. The only thing stopping it from being completely canon is two Digimon retaining their highest level evolutions (which can easily be {{Fan Wank}}ed away).
*** The first ''Tamers'' movie is canon as a character from it appears during the series. The second takes place after the end of ''Tamers'' but was made without certain members of the anime's staff, which throws its canonicity into question.
*** The ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'' movie is non-serial but it doesn't actually contradict canon in any way. ''Anime/DigimonXEvolution'' is in it's own canon and is based off the ''Digmion Chronicle'' setting (which didn't have a consistent canon to begin with). The ''Anime/DigimonSavers'' movie is non-canon.

*** Third, no where to put in canonical wise as they made the mistake of not including either Vivi or Robin. Chopper was introduced when Vivi was in the crew and would be with them after she leaves and Robin joins.

** ''Cooler's Revenge,'' the fifth ''DBZ'' film, also fits in between Trunks' arrival and the Android saga. Some consider Gohan's tail as a continuity snarl, but he could have easily regrown his tail and had it subsequently removed in the three years before the Android's arrival. Goku's Super Saiyan transformation is contested, however, as he was able to transform on his own by that point, while in the movie he only transforms after becoming angry.

** The first ''Shippuden'' movie is most likely set after the "Rescue Gaara arc", the second after the "Sasuke and Sai" arc, and the third and fourth following the "Hidan and Kakuzu" arc. Five and six are problematic for a number of reasons, chief among them being that Naruto doesn't go back to Konoha in between the "Confining the Jinchuuriki" and "Shinobi World War" arcs.

** The first ''Shippuden'' movie is most likely set after the "Rescue Gaara arc", the second after the "Sasuke and Sai" arc, and the third and fourth following the "Hiden and Kakuzu" arc. Five and six are problematic for a number of reasons, chief among them being that Naruto doesn't go back to Konoha in between the "Confining the Jinchuuriki" and "Shinobi World War" arcs.

** Though given Giovanni and Gary don't mention him again either, presumably Mewtwo didn't just erase the memories of those on the island, but of ''everyone'' who ever knew of his existence, which presumably left a few trainers failing to remember why they couldn't win at Viridian Gym.