History Main / ResolvedNoodleIncident

* The first half-season of ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw'' repeatedly alludes to "The Llama Incident;" eventually we get an episode with that name, during which [[BornUnlucky Milo]] and [[UnfazedEveryman Melissa]] finally tell [[OnlySaneMan Zack]] exactly what it was.

** At the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang "The Big Bang"]], the Doctor receives a phone call about "an Egyptian goddess on the Orient Express... InSpace." [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E8MummyOnTheOrientExpress "Mummy on the Orient Express"]] would later reveal what ''actually'' happened.

* In a ''ComicBook/HarleyQuinn'' issue during the New 52 era, Harley and Power Girl were sent through a dimensional portal, and returned in the next panel, with Kara wearing a wedding dress. Their trip was later covered in the whole of the spin-off ''Harley Quinn & Power Girl'' miniseries.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

** For years, the Clone Wars were just a mention in a recollection of Obi-Wan Kenobi in ''Film/ANewHope''. It would be a quarter-century before we actually saw -- in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' -- the clones being produced, and Yoda declaring that the Clone Wars have begun.
** In the OpeningCrawl of ''Film/ANewHope'', it is mentioned that rebels had managed to get the the secret plans to Princess Leia's ship, where the movie starts. For Forty years, that was all the movies said on the subject... then came ''Film/RogueOne'', which is pretty much telling the story of the people who did just that. The discontinued ''Legends'' ExpandedUniverse, meanwhile, had the opposite problem: multiple authors and video game developers created about six different explanations for it, to the point it had to be retconned as six different groups stealing ''fragments'' of the plans.
** In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' C-3PO complains that the ''Millenium Falcon'''s computer speaks with "a most peculiar dialect." We learn in ''Film/SoloAStarWarsStory'' that the computer is, in part, the memories and experiences of Lando's former pilot droid L3.
** ''Film/SoloAStarWarsStory'' "explains" the circumstances behind the Millennium Falcon making the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, which baffled many since parsecs are a unit of distance and not time [[labelnote:NOTE]] ''As made clear by script to ''A New Hope'', Solo was lying about it to impress Luke and Obi-Wan, meaning its resolution is actually a {{Retcon}}''.[[/labelnote]]

* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1'': In the first book, an atomic warhead headed for the Heart of Gold becomes a potted petunia, which thinks "oh no, not again" before plummeting to the ground. Two books later it is revealed that the petunia was Agrajag, who is (per the other wiki) "a piteous creature that is continually reincarnated and subsequently killed, each time unknowingly, by Arthur Dent." Agrajag mentions one death at Stavromula Beta, which Arthur has never been to. Two books after that, it turns out that Arthur is at a night club owned by one Stavro Mueller, it being the second of his nightclubs it is called "Stravo Mueller Beta".

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** The discrepancy between the smooth-forehead Klingons foreheads in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' and the ridgy foreheads in all subsequent series was acknowledged in ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' when Worf said "We do not discuss it with outsiders!" The writers in prequel series ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' decided to explain it as a genetic engineering experiment gone wrong.
** The main plot of the ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E25Facets Facets]]". Jadzia Dax hosts a symbiont who has been in 7 other hosts before her. As a result she shares their memories and personalities. Throughout the series, she keeps dropping Noodles about what her previous hosts were like. In this episode, she goes through a ritual that transfers the memories and personality of each host into another person. This allows her to interact with each host, and the viewers get to meet each host. Most noatable was Curzon Dax, who was the host right before Jadzia, and also the main characters Sisko's best friend. Curzon transfers into a shapeshifter, who shapeshifts to look like Curzon. In this episode we see Curzon Dax in the flesh, and also get to see Sisko interact with Curzon.
** In ''Film/StarTrek2009'' Captain Kirk's "solution" to the Kobyashi Maru no-win test was a long standing noodle incident in Star Trek lore. The 2009 movie shows us what happened: [[spoiler:That he deliberately did nothing or flung the test towards failure -- it wasn't designed to have people not try to best it, and so actually failed its failure, letting Kirk win and/or kind of just was so unprepared for his actions that he didn't (they weren't a sequence that could) lose]]. Though it was known that Kirk "cheated", this was just the NoodleIncident, and his actual method wasn't known. It also shows that he was originally admonished for his defiant behaviour, rather than congratulated for thinking outside of the box [[spoiler:(though this makes sense, the test is designed to be unbeatable to see how someone will cope with impending doom; Kirk was nonchalant and, in real life, trying to lose is almost always going to make you lose, rather than trick a computer).]]

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', owing to its heavy reliance on flashbacks, has a number of examples of this.
** In a Season 1 episode, Diggle tells Felicity about an incident from his tour in UsefulNotes/{{Afghanistan}}, in which he killed a ChildSoldier while protecting a surrendered terrorist leader, Gholem Khadeer. The flashback sequence of the Season 2 episode "[[Recap/ArrowS2E16SuicideSquad Suicide Squad]]" depicts this incident.
** Also, in Season 1, when Diggle questions Oliver about his father's List, Oliver tells him that [[spoiler: he discovered a message from his father "a few years ago" explaining who the people on the List were and why they needed to be brought to justice. He further clarifies that he didn't find the List on the island where he was supposedly stranded for five years.]] Two seasons later, a flashback reveals how [[spoiler: Oliver found Robert's message on a covert trip to Starling City.]]
** This tends to happen frequently on the show owing to the ongoing flashback narrative of the first five seasons. A NoodleIncident from Oliver's five years away is brought up in the present-day, and at some later point, the flashback narrative resolves it. One of the most notable examples is Oliver's past association with the Bratva, and his friendship with Bratva boss Anatoly Knyazev, both of which were alluded to heavily in the first season of the show. Flashbacks in Season 2 reveal the beginnings of Oliver's friendship with Anatoly, while the flashback narrative of Season 5 deals Oliver's initiation into the Bratva.

Sometimes it can come about as a result of WritersBlock: desperate for ideas to build a story on, a writer may do an ArchiveBinge of the series, and come across an interesting reference to a story that never got its due... and there go those creative juices flowing!

** In the OpeningCrawl of ''Film/ANewHope'', it is mentioned that rebels had managed to get the the secret plans to Princess Leia's ship, where the movie starts. For Forty years, that was all that was said on the subject... then came ''Film/RogueOne'', which is pretty much telling the story of the people who did just that.

* In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', there's a random exchange between the Black Widow and Hawkeye about Budapest. At first the writers refused to give any canon because they believed fans had built it up so much they'd just be unable to deliver and come out hated. When a comic was published which told the story, it more than delivered, telling it as [[spoiler:in Budapest the agents of ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} (including the superiors) are all {{mind screw}}ed, their memories altered so even though they're all fighting the same people, they all remember it differently.]] This little NoodleIncident we now learn was also referenced later on, when Hawkeye asks the Black Widow if she knows what it's like to have your mind messed with.

* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'': In the first game, it talked about how Gregory Edgeworth exposed Manfred von Karma's use of flawed evidence, which led to von Karma getting a penalty on his otherwise perfect trial record, which then led to von Karma murdering Edgeworth in revenge. No other details of the trial they were involved in were revealed. The full backstory of the conflict between von Karma and Edgeworth ended up being revealed in the second ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'' GaidenGame, released ten years later after three sequels to the main game and the first Miles Edgeworth game.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

* ''Webcomic/BestFriendsForever'': Teddy and Vincent act weird about each other and it's only evcer referenced that something happened over the summer they spent together. It turns out that [[spoiler:during that summer, Vincent got drunk and attempted to kiss Teddy, who turned out to be his ClosetKey. Teddy thought Vincent was messing with him due to the fact other football players called him girly]]. Even further, when Vincent tells the story to louis, he reveals that [[spoiler:that time was simply the only one Teddy noticed, but he actually tried to kiss him several times during the summer]].

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect 2'': An alien scientist you recruit, who happens to be ex-Special Forces, will mention that once he killed with a farming equipment. In the DLC that revolves around fighting a shadowy figure that has records of nearly everything and everyone, it turns out that he stabbed a krogan - notoriously hard to kill aliens - through the eye with a pitchfork, during a clandestine mission.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': people kept holding an unexplained incident at Club Zero over Lex's head and pointed it as a prime example of his money getting him out of trouble. A later episode (appropriately titled ''Zero'') showed a flashback to what happened there and the Villain of the Week was relative of someone that died in the incident trying to kill Lex for revenge.
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}, owing to its heavy reliance on flashbacks, has a number of examples of this.
** In a Season 1 episode, Diggle tells Felicity about an incident from his tour in Afghanistan, in which he killed a child-soldier while protecting a surrendered terrorist leader, Gholem Khadeer. The flashback sequence of the Season 2 episode "Suicide Squad" depicts this incident.

** ''The Pineapple Incident''. There are so many noodle incidents in this episode that get resolved (after a ''Film/TheHangover''-style night), except for the appearance of a pineapple in Ted's room. There's a scene included in the box set that tells us how the pineapple got there: [[spoiler: The Captain would place a pineapple on the porch as a sign of hospitality. The night when Ted was super drunk, he grabbed it, thinking it was funny to have a pineapple on the porch.]]

** The discrepancy between the smooth-forehead Klingons foreheads in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' and the ridgy foreheads in all subsequent series was acknowledged in ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space 9]]'' when Worf said "We do not discuss it with outsiders!" The writers in prequel series ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' decided to explain it as a genetic engineering experiment gone wrong.

* ''Series/DeepSpaceNine'': The main plot of the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E25Facets Facets]]". Jadzia Dax hosts a symbiont who has been in 7 other hosts before her. As a result she shares their memories and personalities. Throughout the series, she keeps dropping Noodles about what her previous hosts were like. In this episode, she goes through a ritual that transfers the memories and personality of each host into another person. This allows her to interact with each host, and the viewers get to meet each host. Most noatable was Curzon Dax, who was the host right before Jadzia, and also the main characters Sisko's best friend. Curzon transfers into a shapeshifter, who shapeshifts to look like Curzon. In this episode we see Curzon Dax in the flesh, and also get to see Sisko interact with Curzon.

* Early in ''Series/BetterCallSaul'', Jimmy/Saul's brother, Chuck, mentions having to bail him out of an Illinois jail after Jimmy performed an unidentified act called a "Chicago Sunroof". Chuck also comments that Jimmy narrowly avoided being labeled a sex-offender. The final episode of the first season explains what a "Chicago Sunroof" is/what the incident involved: A drunken Jimmy saw someone he disliked parking their car and so Jimmy climbed on top of the car and defecated through the sunroof. Unbeknownst to Jimmy, the owner's children were in the back seat (which is why he was almost tried for a sex crime).

* ''Series/DeepSpaceNine'': The main plot of the episode Facets. Jadzia Dax hosts a symbiont who has been in 7 other hosts before her. As a result she shares their memories and personalities. Throughout the series, she keeps dropping Noodles about what her previous hosts were like. In this episode, she goes through a ritual that transfers the memories and personality of each host into another person. This allows her to interact with each host, and the viewers get to meet each host. Most noatable was Curzon Dax, who was the host right before Jadzia, and also the main characters Sisko's best friend. Curzon transfers into a shapeshifter, who shapeshifts to look like Curzon. In this episode we see Curzon Dax in the flesh, and also get to see Sisko interact with Curzon.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Vampire William the Bloody is better known as Spike because he likes to use railroad spikes as a torture device, even though we never see that happen. Eventually in an episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}'' we discover that before he was turned he was William the "bloody awful" poet, and one person says he'd rather have a railroad spike driven through his head than hear any more.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': For several books, the battle of Koom Valley is an ancient battle between dwarves and trolls, the only one where "both sides ambushed each other". In {{Discworld/Thud}}, we finally see it being used as a selling point by dwarves and trolls alike to keep the emnity strong. In fact, it was [[spoiler:a peace meeting that went wrong when everyone attacked each other, thinking themselves under attack.]]

* In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', there's a random exchange between the Black Widow and Hawkeye about Budapest. At first the writers refused to give any canon because they believed fans had built it up so much they'd just be unable to deliver and come out hated. When a comic was published which told the story, it more than delivered, telling it as [[spoiler:in Budapest the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (including the superiors) are all {{mind screw}}ed, their memories altered so even though they're all fighting the same people, they all remember it differently.]] This little NoodleIncident we now learn was also referenced later on, when Hawkeye asks the Black Widow if she knows what it's like to have your mind messed with.

There must be a minimum of one television season, one movie sequel installment or one book volume for a NoodleIncident to become Resolved, otherwise it's little more than foreshadowing. A Resolved Noodle Incident may contain any number of [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Whatevers]], but these do not make the trope. It may also be a very elaborate CallBack.

You know your favorite episode of your favorite TV series by heart. You especially liked the scene in which Alice and Bob are arguing and Alice brings up that birthday party with the pink and green emu. Although they've never shown what happened at that party, you chuckle at the thought of what crazy stuff might have been going on at that point.

[[folder:Visual Novel]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In ''Film/TheAvengers'', there's a random exchange between the BlackWidow and Hawkeye about Budapest. At first the writers refused to give any canon because they believed fans had built it up so much they'd just be unable to deliver and come out hated. When a comic was published which told the story, it more than delivered, telling it as [[spoiler:in Budapest the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (including the superiors) are all {{mind screw}}ed, their memories altered so even though they're all fighting the same people, they all remember it differently.]] This little NoodleIncident we now learn was also referenced later on, when Hawkeye asks the BlackWidow if she knows what it's like to have your mind messed with.

** For years, the Clone Wars were just a mention in a recollection of Obi-Wan Kenobi in ''Film/ANewHope''. It would be a quarter-century before we actually saw - in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' - the clones being produced, and Yoda declaring that the Clone Wars have begun.

[[folder:Franchises]]
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** The discrepancy between the smooth-forehead Klingons foreheads in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' and the ridgy foreheads in all subsequen series was acknowledged in ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine DS9]]'' when Worf said "We do not discuss it with outsiders!" The writers in prequel series ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' decided to explain it as a genetic engineering experiment gone wrong.
** In ''Film/StarTrek2009'' Captain Kirk's "solution" to the Kobyashi Maru no-win test was a long standing noodle incident in Star Trek lore. The 2009 movie shows us what happened: [[spoiler:That he deliberately did nothing or flung the test towards failure -- it wasn't designed to have people not try to best it, and so actually failed its failure, letting Kirk win and/or kind of just was so unprepared for his actions that he didn't (they weren't a sequence that could) lose]]. Though it was known that Kirk "cheated", this was just the NoodleIncident, and his actual method wasn't known. It also shows that he was originally admonished for his defiant behaviour, rather than congratulated for thinking outside of the box [[spoiler:(though this makes sense, the test is designed to be unbeatable to see how someone will cope with impending doom; Kirk was nonchalant and, in real life, trying to lose is almost always going to make you lose, rather than trick a computer).]]

[[/folder]]

* ''H2G2/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'': In the first book, an atomic warhead headed for the Heart of Gold becomes a potted petunia, which thinks "oh no, not again" before plummeting to the ground. Two books later it is revealed that the pentunia was Agrajag, who is (per the other wiki) "a piteous creature that is continually reincarnated and subsequently killed, each time unknowingly, by Arthur Dent." Agrajag mentions one death at Stavromula Beta, which Arthur has never been to. Two books after that, it turns out that Arthur is at a night club owned by one Stavro Mueller, it being the second of his nightclubs it is called "Stravo Mueller Beta".

* ''VideoGame/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'': In the first game, it talked about how Gregory Edgeworth exposed Manfred von Karma's use of flawed evidence, which led to von Karma getting a penalty on his otherwise perfect trial record, which then led to von Karma murdering Edgeworth in revenge. No other details of the trial they were involved in were revealed. The full backstory of the conflict between von Karma and Edgeworth ended up being revealed in the second ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'' GaidenGame, released ten years later after three sequels to the main game and the first Miles Edgeworth game.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/BestFriendsForever'': Teddy and Vincent act weird about each other and it's only evcer referenced that something happened over the summer they spent together. It turns out that [[spoiler:during that summer, Vincent got drunk and attempted to kiss Teddy, who turned out to be his ClosetKey. Teddy thought Vincent was messing with him due to the fact other football players called him girly]]. Even further, when Vincent tells the story to louis, he reveals that [[spoiler:that time was simply the only one Teddy noticed, but he actually tried to kiss him several times during the summer]].

** The ultimate one is ''how he meets the mother'' -- the point of the series is much more SliceOfLife New York SitCom rather than actually telling the story, which makes it a Narrative-Frame NoodleIncident. It obviously gets revealed by the GrandFinale. Moreso is the incident that caused him to tell his kids the story, which is suggested in ThePilot and also eventually revealed in the final episode: [[spoiler:the mother died shortly before, Ted is thinking of giving it a go with Robin again.]]

* ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'': Multiple references are made to an "accident" that caused the falling out between Gary and Andy. Towards the end it's finally revealed: Gary fled the scene after a car wreck that nearly killed Andy.

* The early appearances of ComicBook/JohnConstantine were riddled with references to a big screw-up he made in a Newcastle exorcism. The details of this weren't revealed until issue 13 (I think) of Constantine's solo book.