Needs a rename: Outer Limits Twist

All the usual arguments for changing work-based trope names apply here. Besides, people who aren't familiar with both incarnations of The Outer Limits might think the name applies to both versions of the series, not just the second one. My suggested new name is Cruel Twist Ending, which conveys exactly what the trope is about. Comments?

"But... nobody told me I needed a signature!"

Support theory, want misuse numbers.

Fight smart, not fair.

Well, 142 wikilinks, 192 inbounds (since 2011). Anyone got the time?

An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.

I suspect you'll find a lot of misuse between this and Twilight Zone Twist, which itself should be named Ironic Twist Ending.

And misuse or no, the names are terrible. It tells you nothing about the trope, especially because both shows used both types of twist ending fairly regularly.

edited 31st Dec '11 12:30:03 AM by petrie911

Belief or disbelief rests with you.

I'll do a check tomorrow.

Petrie 911, you are absolutely right. Thank you.

edited 31st Dec '11 9:24:39 AM by MarkLungo

"But... nobody told me I needed a signature!"

I concur. If Outer Limits commonly uses other twists than the Outer Limits Twist, then that's a bad name for a trope. The same applies to Twilight Zone Twist. Aside from that, Outer Limits stopped nine years ago, Twilight Zone stopped in 1964 although it got a revival nine years back; so it's fair to say that many users won't be familiar with either show.

Rhetorical, eh? ... Eight!

It seems that Outer Limits Twist was named after the Outer Limits solely to play off of its competitive relation to The Twilight Zone. Not a good reason for making a Trope Namer, but to be fair that was before we knew better.

An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.

To be fair, the trope also got its name because the 1990s Outer Limits used cruel twist endings on a regular basis. Still, the name is too limited, and there seems to be a consensus forming that the trope should be renamed. I still like Cruel Twist Ending. Anyone else?

"But... nobody told me I needed a signature!"

Hm, the page itself says that the name is a misnomer

That sounds good.

Rhetorical, eh? ... Eight!

There is now a single proposition rename crowner for this trope here.

I tried to go through the wicks, but I found very little misuse for Twilight Zone Twist *

. Someone who is familiar with the works in the little to no context category might be able to find more, but all I could find in the 50 wicks I looked at were two clear examples of misuse and two possible examples of misuse for Downer Ending.

Index (3)

• Spoilered Rotten
• Twist Ending
• Twist final

Little To No Context (13)

• Prison Rape
• Robot Wants Series
• Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here
• Similarly Named Works
• Snuff Film
• The Breach
• The Plague Dogs
• Thomas Ligotti
• Tomato Surprise
• Troll 2
• Weird Science
• Witness Protection

Correct/Probably Correct Use (28)

• Platypus Comix
• Poor Communication Kills
• Revised Ending
• 'Salem's Lot
• Schrödinger's Butterfly
• Screamers
• Secret Test of Character
• Shocking Swerve
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog
• Sole Survivor
• Something Only They Would Say
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
• Tales from the Crypt
• Tales From The Darkside
• Tales Of The Unexpected
• The Descent
• The Haunting Hour The Series
• The Mist
• The Orphanage
• The Outer Limits
• The Perry Bible Fellowship
• The Ugly Barnacle
• The Haunting Hour The Series
• Twilight Zone Twist
• Two Rights Make a Wrong
• Vampire Hunter D
• You Got HaruhiRolled!

Misuse for Twilight Zone Twist (1)

• Stupid Crooks

Possible Misuse as Downer Ending (2)

• Skins
• It Got Worse/Video Games

Misuse for something else (1)

• The Days Of Our Years (people end up getting harmed because they were careless)

edited 3rd Jan '12 2:49:16 PM by LouieW

"irhgT nm0w tehre might b ea lotof th1nmgs i dont udarstannd, ubt oim ujst goinjg to keepfollowing this pazth i belieove iN !!!!!1 d

Worth asking: are these pre-existing terms? Because they sound like they could be, despite/perhaps because of the fact that they've been around for as long as I've been on the wiki. Of course, they're not particularly Googlable...

Can we rename this and Twilight Zone Twist as well? The two titles are meaningless on their own. They are terrible names.

I agree.

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Okay, so the current vote is 10 for renaming and 5 against. Is that enough of a consensus to make the change?

"But... nobody told me I needed a signature!"

Not really. And 2.00:1 is the bare minimum ratio of yea:nay votes needed to call a vote in favor of an action. One more "nay" vote at any time (or even one more "yea" vote and then another "nay" vote), and this wouldn't have enough to pass.

Keep this open until a larger consensus is established.

edited 9th Jan '12 2:02:35 PM by SeanMurrayI

A 2:1 ratio is good enough, if it has clearly stabilized there. Since the ratio has changed since Mark Lungo's post, it hasn't stabilized yet.

Has the ratio stabilized yet, or should we wait longer?

edited 14th Jan '12 12:30:06 PM by MarkLungo

"But... nobody told me I needed a signature!"

It's been over 2:1 for a couple of days now. I'll call it.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick

Given the support for a rename, there is now an alternative titles crowner for this trope here. Feel free to add names as you see fit.

"irhgT nm0w tehre might b ea lotof th1nmgs i dont udarstannd, ubt oim ujst goinjg to keepfollowing this pazth i belieove iN !!!!!1 d

I don't think we can do better than Cruel Twist Ending. Sweet, short and to the point.

Pretentious quote || In-joke from fandom you've never heard of || Shameless self-promotion || Something weird you'll habituate to

Thank you. I truly appreciate that.

"But... nobody told me I needed a signature!"

With only one option in the crowner that appears like it would work well enough as is, do we even need to keep the crowner open?

It depends. Does anyone have another suggestion?

"But... nobody told me I needed a signature!"

And we have gotten all negative votes for some crowners, so if people didn't like even the one available option, people would still vote against it.

I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.