History Main / StandaloneEpisode

** Pretty much all of the films from ''Film/DrNo'' to ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' can be watched as standalone adventures. There are occasional {{Continuity Nod}}s such as Creator/GeorgeLazenby getting objects from past films out of a drawer in ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' or the grave of Tracy in ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'', but that doesn't impact the self-containedness of each film.
** For the Creator/DanielCraig era, only ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' and ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' might qualify as standalones. The three other films put much emphasis on continuity, unlike the pre-Craig films. ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' picks up where ''Casino Royale'' left off, ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' explore plot threads left from ''Skyfall'' and ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' does the same with ''Spectre''.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': The loyalty missions have little to do with the main plot of the game, [[TropesAreNotBad instead focusing on the squadmate characters.]] Some of them do play into the larger plot and events of the third game though.

%%%%%%This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the appropriate alphabetical order.%%%%%%

** In Series 5, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E10VincentAndTheDoctor "Vincent and the Doctor"]] is the only episode without any appearance from the [[NegativeSpaceWedge cracks in time]]. There are, however, oblique references to the StoryArc involving them, mainly about [[spoiler:Amy's fiancé Rory having been [[{{Retgone}} eaten]] by a crack in the previous episode]]. ("Why are you being so nice to me?"; "I'm not the marrying kind.")

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

** Episode 7 of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan "The Daleks' Master Plan"]], titled "The Feast of Steven", has nothing to do with the rest of the 12 part serial, and the Daleks don't show up at all. Instead, the TARDIS crew ends up in 1960s London before finding themselves on a movie set in the 1920s. This was done because episode 7 of this story aired on Christmas Day. The producers didn't think many people would be watching the television on Christmas, so they made this episode a standalone to prevent people from being completely lost when they tuned in for episode 8. When "The Daleks' Master Plan" was sold to overseas broadcasters, it was offered as an 11 episode story, episode 7 having been removed due to being inconsequential to the plot.

[[folder:{{Music}}]]

[[folder:{{Theatre}}]]

!!Examples

* William Forsythe's ballet ''In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated'' is an unusual case. It's part of a full-evening avant garde work, ''Impressing the Czar,'' which consists of multiple scenes in wildly different dance idioms. ''In the Middle'' premiered before ''Impressing the Czar'' and is almost always performed independently of it.

[[folder:VideoGames]]

* ''VideoGame/FindTheCure!'' is set in the ''Roleplay/DarwinsSoldiers'' universe, but has no connection to any pre-existing events, characters, or locations.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': Season 2's [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS2E13TheCall "The Call"]] is the only episode that has practically no connection to any ongoing arcs. The only thing from this episode to appear in later episodes is the Mining Guild, and their second appearance does not require having seen this one.

** "The Long Goodbye": Though there are phone calls to Toby re: the current arc one or two times, the episode is otherwise entirely about CJ dealing with her Alzheimer's-stricken father. It's also one of the few episodes of the first four seasons not to be written by Creator/AaronSorkin. This all makes it ''very'' much LoveItOrHateIt.

* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' will often lead up to the climax of an arc, then have one episode of pure {{Filler}} before the dramatic stuff begins.

* ''Series/TheXFiles'' alternated MythArc episodes and standalone ones. The mythology episodes became more prominent in season 2 but standalones outnumber them. They later did origins episode about the background of FBI's X-Files division or how Mulder met the Lone Gunmen.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' 's sixth season has the universally acclaimed "Ab Aeterno," which focuses solely on [[spoiler:Richard Alpert]]. Because 90% of the episode takes place [[spoiler:170 years before the present day]] and focuses little on the main characters, it has been praised as a good "gateway episode" to introduce someone to ''Lost''s format and mysteries without actually starting them from scratch and the closest thing ''Lost'' has to a TV movie (the episode is extended by six minutes).
* ''Series/RedDwarf'': "Psirens" was specifically written as a "reintroduction" episode for the series, through Lister's amnesia sequence.
* ''Series/{{Millennium}}'': "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me". Four demons disguised as humans have a chat in a diner to share strategy. Frank Black briefly shows up in each demon's story, but the episode has no actual connection with the show's MythArc.
* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' episodes ''Love and Monsters'' and ''Blink'' have nothing to do with the overall story arc, and both focus on normal humans who encounter the Doctor.
** Series 9 does not have a definite arc, but ''Sleep No More'' stands out as the only single-story episode in a season of multi-parts.
* The ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "The Visitor" is often ranked as one of its best episodes, even though most of it takes place in an alternate future timeline, and the main character is a guest star (Tony Todd) playing the now-elderly Jake Sisko.
* The ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode ''Window of Opportunity'' could be viewed as this.
* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': Other than the PilotMovie, “Each of us Angels” in the 8th season focused on a group of Navy nurses before and during the Battle of Iwo Jima, and is the only episode where the entire cast appears and where none of them play their usual characters.
* ''{{Series/Eureka}}'' has a couple Christmas episodes outside the regular storyline.

* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': Other than the PilotMovie, “Each of us Angles” in the 8th season focused on a group of Navy nurses before and during the Battle of Iwo Jima, and is the only episode where the entire cast appears and where none of them play their usual characters.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:{{Music}}]]

[[AC:{{Theatre}}]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

An episode that can stand alone on its own with a self-contained story that does not need prior viewing of any other episode to understand. It's usually an episode that breaks from the current {{arc}} to focus on a one-shot subplot or character; for example, if the arc is about stopping TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, a StandAloneEpisode can be about dealing with a SealedEvilInACan that's released at the beginning of the episode and resealed by the end of the episode, never to be mentioned again.

In arc-heavy series, a good StandAloneEpisode can be the hook a die-hard fan of the show can use to pull others in, due to its self-contained nature. Likewise, even fans of the arcs will often cite a Stand-Alone as their favorite episode; an arc episode is difficult to separate and appreciate outside of the arc which contains it, but a StandAloneEpisode can be fully appreciated of itself.

Sometimes, though, writers will want to revisit the plot of a StandAloneEpisode and create a later episode that expands on the earlier story; this is a SequelEpisode.

* ''Series/{{Millennium}}'': "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me".

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': Every radio and television episode of Our Miss Brooks serves as a standalone episode. Even so, from the very first radio episode ("First Day"), Miss Brooks has a defined SeriesGoal. That is to say, marriage to Mr. Boynton. [[spoiler: Miss Brooks finally marries Mr. Boynton in TheMovie GrandFinale.]]

* ''GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' actually labeled its stand-alone episodes (as opposed to arc-based "complex" episodes) as such on the title card. ''SAC: 2nd Gig'' did the same, but labeled its stand-alone episodes as "dividual" as opposed to the other two types ("individual"[[note]]Where "individual" refers to the plot-arc/ArcWords "Individual Eleven"[[/note]] and "dual").

* Parts 4 and 5 of ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Jojo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' are considered to be stand-alone, as they have little-to-nothing to do with the main story (Parts 1, 2, 3, and 6).

* ''{{Eureka}}'' has a couple Christmas episodes outside the regular storyline.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': The loyalty missions have little to do with the main plot of the game, [[TropesAreNotBad instead focusing on the squadmate characters.]]

* ''TheXFiles'' "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" and many others. "Humbug," "The Host," and "Jose Chung's ''From Outer Space''" to name a few.
* ''TheWestWing'':

[[AC:Theater]]

[[AC:Theatre]]

* ''GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' actually labeled its stand-alone episodes (as opposed to arc-based "complex" episodes) as such on the title card. ''SAC: 2nd Gig'' did the same, but labeled its stand-alone episodes as "dividual" as opposed to the other two types ("individual"[[hottip:?:Where "individual" refers to the plot-arc/ArcWords "Individual Eleven"]] and "dual").