Main Tropes Index

Troperville

Editing Help

Tools

Toys

Narrative

Genre

Media

Topical Tropes

Other Categories

Custom Search

alt title(s): Drop A Bridge On Them
"Bridge on the captain!"
William Shatner, after filming his death scene in Star Trek Generations. Allegedly.

"What kind of end is this?"
Yeesha, on Kadish's suicide note in Uru

When a character is permanently written out of a show, especially killed off, in a way that is particularly awkward, anti-climactic, mean-spirited or dictated by producer's fiat, they Dropped A Bridge On Him.

This can be a case of Writer On Board (or worse, Running The Asylum), but may also be an attempt to make the best of a difficult situation (a cast member leaving unexpectedly or being fired, or a really bad character that just has to disappear).

Sometimes, when a character is killed off, a lot of work is put into it, especially since it's supposed to be for real. They may make a Heroic Sacrifice, or at least be given their due in their last appearance. If done well enough, it might even be their Dying Moment Of Awesome. This trope, however, applies when such things do not happen.

To compare, take the NYPD Blue death of Det. Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) versus the death of Det. Danny Sorenson (Rick Schroder). Smits dies of Soap Opera Disease but gets to put his fine acting chops on display and bring some closure to the character and his relationships with the other characters, and have a great Tear Jerker sendoff. Schroder decided that he really didn't want to invest so much time away from his family with a tv series, so his character is killed off-screen, between seasons. They Dropped A Bridge On Him.

Named for the death of Captain Kirk in Star Trek: Generations, which should have been a key, climactic event putting an exclamation point to 30 years of adventuring. Instead, they, literally, Dropped A Bridge On Him. (And that's the improved version, mind you. Originally, and in the novelization, the plan was for the Big Bad to shoot him in the back, but for some reason test audiences didn't like it - hence the improvement. The "Kirk gets shot" ending remains in the novelization and its audio-book.) An attempt at defense is made here and here. An apology is made here

Sometimes this is an attempt to avert Hes Just Hiding, by making it as clear as possible that the character is Killed Off For Real. It doesn't always work, however, as this often results in the death being enough of a Wall Banger that it increases the fans wanting the character back.

The polar opposite of Put On A Bus and Ascend To A Higher Plane Of Existence. When done off-screen (like the Sorenson example above) it's known as a Bus Crash. Compare also to Stuffed Into The Fridge, where the character's meaningless death is primarily plot-driven. A subversion of Death Is Dramatic, but aversion of that isn't necessarily an example of this.

See also Mc Leaned, Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome, and Not So Invincible After All. Not to be confused with Dropped A Bridget On Him. If this is done to a character repeatedly with the aid of Negative Continuity, see They Killed Kenny.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime and Manga 

    Comic Books 

    Film 

    Literature 

    Live Action TV 

     Myth and Legend 

    Newspaper Comics 

    Professional Wrestling 

    Tabletop Games 

    Video Games 

    Web Comics 

    Web Original 

    Western Animation