History Main / FranchiseZombie

* ''ResidentEvil'' (''Biohazard'' in Japan) maybe falls under this trope, and not only because it has zombies. The franchise had many spin-offs (including some attempts at online gaming for PS2, some ;ight gun games, some mobile phone games, and a portable ''Gaiden'' game), but little outside the properly numbered sequels (including Zero and Code Veronica) or the ''Chronicles'' series is worth playing.

* Buronson and Tetsuo Hara originally planned to end ''FistOfTheNorthStar'' with the death of Raoh. However, editorial mandates stated that they had to continue the series. Ever since then, [[WordOfGod they have declared]] DisContinuity [[WordOfGod on everything following Raoh's death]].

* ResidentEvil (BioHazard in Japan) maybe falls under this trope, and not only because it has zombies. The franchise had many spin-offs (including some attempts at online gaming for PS2, some Lightgun games, some mobile phone games, and a portable Gaiden game), but little outside the properly numbered sequels (including Zero and Code Veronica) or the ''Chronicles'' series is worth playing.
** And if we mention the $#@@ movie franchise of the same name, the $£"$@$ swearwords will have us banned from the internet.

* HideoKojima originally didn't intend to direct any ''MetalGear'' sequels beyond ''MetalGearSolid'', but due to the immense success of the game, he was pressured by his superiors to direct ''MetalGearSolid2'', which featured a GainaxEnding he never intended to explain away. Afterward, he wrote the basic outline for ''MetalGearSolid3'', with the intention of handing it out to another director, but no one was willing to take the job. The same thing happened with ''MetalGearSolid4'': although he had already named a successor, fans demanded that he return to personally direct the game.

* ''KatamariDamacy'' was never supposed to have a sequel, [[WriterRevolt according to the creator of the original game.]] [[ExecutiveMeddling Namco had other ideas though,]] and kept it going for four more games.

* ''{{Scrubs}}'' creator Bill Lawrence has wanted to end the series several times now, but has been forced to keep going. In its 9th season he even tried to change the name to separate it from the previous eight seasons but wasn't allowed to.

* ResidentEvil maybe falls under this trope, and not only because it has zombies. The franchise had many spin-offs (including some attempts at online gaming for PS2, some Lightgun games, some mobile phone games, and a portable Gaiden game), but little outside of the properly numbered sequels (including Zero and Code Veronica) or the Resident Evil Chronicles series is worth playing.

* Reportedly, [[TheChrisCarterEffect: Chris Carter]] wanted to end ''TheXFiles'' after the sixth or seventh season, but had to stick around with it because Fox threatened to keep making it, with or without him.

'''NOTE: Unless the creator of a series wanted it to end and wasn't allowed to, it's not an example of this trope, but simply whining about how you think a franchise should have ended!'''

* ''{{Scrubs}}'' creator has wanted to end the series several times now, but has been forced to keep going. In its 9th season he even tried to change the name to separate it from the previous eight seasons but wasn't allowed to.

* Reportedly, Chris Carter wanted to end ''TheXFiles'' after the sixth or seventh season, but had to stick around with it because Fox threatened to keep making it, with or without him.

* Legend has it that this happened to ''DragonBall''. According to the story, the creator of the comic, Akira Toriyama, wanted to stop at ''several'' points (the final arc of ''Dragonball'', then the Freeza arc of DBZ), but [[ExecutiveMeddling meddling executives]] wanted to take advantage of its extraordinary success worldwide and told him to keep going. He couldn't end it at the Cell saga, and thus had to do the Buu saga. And because of Goku's massive popularity in Japan, Toriyama never once did he get to do what he had wanted to do when starting DBZ: pass the main hero mantle from Goku to Gohan.

[[folder:Film]]
* Writers RobertZemeckis and Bob Gale (or Bob & Bob, as they were called) did not originally plan or even imagine making any sequels to ''BackToTheFuture''. They didn't even have any idea if the original film would make a profit, let alone become the highest-grossing film of the year. The "cliffhanger" ending of the first film was tongue-in-cheek and the ToBeContinued title at the end of it was not in the original theatrical release; it was superimposed on the screen on the videotape version, after a sequel ([[TwoPartTrilogy two, actually]]) had already been greenlighted.

* Debatable for ''{{Seinfeld}}''. Larry David left after the seventh season, but Jerry went ahead on his own. The last two seasons were good, but some people just waited for it to [[JumpTheShark crash and burn]]. Jerry decided to cancel the show after season nine, and even an offer of five million dollars an episode didn't bring him back.

* Writers RobertZemeckis and Bob Gale (or Bob & Bob, as they were called) did not originally plan or even imagine making any sequels to ''BackToTheFuture''. They didn't even have any idea if the original film would make a profit, let alone become the highest-grossing film of the year. The "cliffhanger" ending of the first film was tongue-in-cheek and the [[ToBeContinued]] title at the end of it was not in the original theatrical release; it was superimposed on the screen on the videotape version, after a sequel had already been greenlighted.

* ''PlanetOfTheApes''. The filmmakers ended each film with civilization, the human race, and eventually the world itself being [[TheChrisCarterEffect destroyed]] more and more decisively in an effort to kill it enough where it would just ''stay '''dead''' for once''. This continued for five films, two TV shows.

* The entire ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' series, despite being well-received by fans, could be considered to be one of these as it was done without Roland Emmerich's blessing, had to retcon several facts about the movie, and bore little resemblance to Emmerich's plans for Stargate movie sequels.

* The majority of TheSims franchise hasn't had much, if any, input from its series creator, WillWright. Thus, EA has turned what originally was intended to be a nuclear-family-themed social behavior sandbox simulator into a virtual tween diary with extremely girly undertones, spawning off dozens of expansion packs and multiple sequels that Wright had nothing to do with. This culminates in MySimsAgents, a spinoff of a spinoff of the Sims franchise that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the original concept or design.
* The ''GoldenEye'' video game was once a staple of the shooter genre back on the N64. Unfortunately, after the James Bond license changed hands, some [[ExecutiveMeddling corporate minded types]] got it into their heads that it was not the ''quality'' of the original game, or even the James Bond license that made it a hit-- no, it was the GoldenEye ''name.'' EA Games made a rather pathetic attempt to cash in with a false-sequel called ''"GoldenEye: Rogue Agent,"'' which had nothing to do with either the Goldeneye movie or video game other than being a shooter in the James Bond universe (and Xenia Onatopp made an appearance), where you played as [[WallBanger a villain named "GoldenEye."]] Needless to say, the game was a critical and sales disaster. Not long afterwards, EA sold the Bond rights to archrival Activision, who is now following in EA's footsteps in fleecing the GoldenEye name for all that it's worth. Unlike EA though, who made a not!sequel to GoldenEye, Activision is making a not!remake of it. They are actually remaking the ''movie'' GoldenEye, as a videogame for Wii, with [[TheOtherDarrin Daniel Craig replacing Pierce Brosnan]] as 007, and a generic unknown actor replacing Sean Bean as 006. That's certainly not stopping them from advertising it as a remake of the original GoldenEye ''game,'' though. Whether or not it turns out to be an enjoyable (though completely different and unrelated) game, or just as bad as EA's attempt to cash in on the GoldenEye name is still unknown.

* Supposedly the reason for YuYuHakusho suddenly becoming one giant tournament arc.

* Incredible as it may seem given how interconnected all three ''BackToTheFuture'' films are in such seemingly premeditated-from-the-start ways, writers RobertZemeckis and Bob Gale (or Bob & Bob, as they were called) did not originally plan or even imagine making any sequels. They didn't even have any idea if the original film would make a profit, let alone become the highest-grossing film of the year. The "cliffhanger" ending of the first film was tongue-in-cheek and the ToBeContinued title at the end of it was not in the original theatrical release; it was superimposed on the screen on the videotape version, after a sequel had already been greenlighted. Once the first film had become so successful and a sequel therefore inevitable Bob & Bob decided that they therefore might as well write one themselves rather than let someone else do it for them -- so they did, originally intending to write only one. However, the script they wrote ended up being so long that (after certain changes, including the wise decision to go back into the first film instead of going into the Summer of Love) [[TwoPartTrilogy they split it into two films instead and filmed them back-to-back.]]
* ''TheLandBeforeTime''. Currently on the ''thirteenth'' installment.
** Even better. The creator wanted to end it even before the first one set foot onto the world. Executive Meddling changed his entire ending to something entirely different from what he had in mind. The result is twelve more installments of unadulterated bullshit. Imagine if you worked on a masterpiece with every part of your soul attached to it, then saw it get turned into steaming pile of puke over the course of your life and you'd have a good idea of how he feels.

** The studio/producers also had the bright idea of slashing the budget for each sequel, which certainly couldn't have made anyone's job easier.
* Francis Ford Coppola had no intention of making any sequels to ''TheGodfather''. He's been heard to say that the only reason he made Part [=II=] was to get the funding to make ''ApocalypseNow'', then executive pressure backed him into making Part [=III=] as well. (Hence the often-quoted line "Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in.").
** [[TropesAreNotBad Lucky that Part II is considered one of the greatest films of all time then. Eh, Coppola?]]
* The JamesBond series sometimes feels this way. Generally, the last film or two from a particular actor (excluding Timothy Dalton and George Lazenby, who didn't have very long careers to begin with) feel more like an obligation than a film intending to stand on its own. However, it has managed to switch things up enough with each change to breathe some new life into the franchise, with ''CasinoRoyale'' the most recent example, and the follow-up ''QuantumOfSolace'' seeming to take the series in a new direction: that is, direct sequeling, rather than an episodic format.
** Roger Moore suggested that the series had become this, in interviews given during production of ''AViewToAKill'', much of it actually directed at himself as the lead actor. Much of it came from the humiliation of finding out that at 58 years old, he was older than co-star Tanya Roberts' ''mother''.
* The sixth entry in the ''[[ThePinkPanther Pink Panther]]'' franchise, ''Revenge of...'', was essentially commissioned by United Artists just to have a big film for summer 1978. By the time it was done, the long-strained working relationship between Peter Sellers (Inspector Clouseau) and Blake Edwards (writer-director) had snapped. Sellers planned a continuation he could put his heart into with ''Romance of the Pink Panther'', which he was co-scripting and Edwards was paid ''not'' to participate in, but his death in 1980 prevented that. Edwards decided to continue the series himself with ReplacementScrappy characters, but the results are generally regarded as SoBadItsHorrible.
** Except for [[spoiler:Roger Moore]]'s cameo.

* Robert Jordan's epic series ''TheWheelOfTime'' was originally conceived as a standard fantasy trilogy, then expanded to a planned 6 books. At the publisher's insistence, this was expanded to 8, then 12 volumes. AuthorExistenceFailure occurred during the writing of the 12th volume; but Brandon Sanderson was hired to complete the series, which is now expected to run to 14 volumes. Common fan complaints about the series commonly focus on the sheer amount of repetitive and irrelevant filler, with one entire volume being a digression that had no connection at all to the other books; and the general lack of story or character development.
** And book 12 delivers in a big way. No more pages spent describing village dress fashions. The entire book flows smoothly and is completely filler free. It has all of Jordan's imagination and none of his quirks.

* ''{{Supernatural}}'' is in danger of becoming this; Eric Kripke originally planned for 5 season arc. They sufficiently tied up most loose ends and Kripke has officially left the series. Not to mention the fact that the season 5 finale felt like a series finale. The new head wrighter has proven herself to be competent at writing filler episodes, the overall quality of season 6 has yet to be determined

* Subverted in ''{{Lost}}'', when the creators became fed up with having to stretch out such a successful series until the network finally agreed to give them just three more seasons of sixteen episodes each so they could pace the show properly until the ending. Rumor has it that the much-reviled episode "Stranger in a Strange Land" was actually made as a warning to the network about what the show would become without a planned end date.
* Like the previously mentioned ''{{Supernatural}}'', this troper remembers an article that stated ''{{Smallville}}'' was only originally intended as a 5 year plan. It was kind of a subversion, though, as a few really interesting plot developments happened AFTER the 5 year jump. However, with the majority of its original cast gone and "Young Clark" Tom Welling two years older than "Old Clark" Brandon Routh, the show is beginning to show its age.
** ''Smallville'' does not take place in the same continuity as [[Film/{{Superman}} the Superman film series]], so Tom Welling being older than Brandon Routh is a moot point. The rest works though.
*** It was said that {{Smallville}} was supposed to be about Clark Kent; that once Clark accepted the identity of Superman and started flying around, the series would be over. [[SoYeah Well...]]

* The ''MegaManX'' series was supposed to end with ''X5'', and then progress to the ''MegaManZero'' series in the future. Unfortunately, Inafune was forced to keep going until ''X8''. This was somewhat difficult plot-wise, as ''X5'' ended with Zero dead.
** X6 then ended with him in the capsule not supposed to be opened until ''Mega Man Zero'' making his [[ContinuitySnarl appearances in X7-X8 awkward.]] Apparently, the players were then told to think of the scene in X6 as a bonus ending for the series, rather than something happening directly after the game.
*** Presumably, Mega Man Zero was originally planned to continue from X5 anyway; maybe it was planned like the manga adaption of MMZ?
* Both ''CrashBandicoot'' and ''SpyroTheDragon'' were the mascots of friend developers Naughty Dog and Insomniac. Both then split off from Vivendi Universal and moved onto different styles of games (''JakAndDaxter'' and ''RatchetAndClank''[[hottip:*:In the latter case, Insomniac admitted it's because Spyro's character design was too limited for their tastes; "he didn't even have hands, he couldn't even hold a gun."]]), leaving their old mascots to their owner... who then ran both of them into the ground.[[hottip:*:Naughty Dog admitted that "It's a little bit like watching your daughter do porn."]] Vivendi has since been absorbed into {{Activision}}, who finally let Crash into his tomb (somewhat) by sacking his current development team and reducing the character to the iPhone, but only because the character wasn't a [[CashCowFranchise money-milker]] anymore...
** ...since CEO Bobby Kotick has publicly stated that he's only interested in franchises that can be milked with sequels every year. One-off new IP's don't interest him, and he has canceled a number of projects that don't have sequel milking potential. Activision bought another developer onto the ''CallOfDuty'' franchise to ensure a sequel releases every year. It stands to reason that eventually development teams making nothing but sequels to their original title would grow tired of doing so.
*** This line of thinking has come back to bite him in the ass; sales of [[GuitarHero their updated-every-week rhythm games]] have gone down dramatically, to the point of the company ''already'' bandying talk of cutting the "dead weight".
*** Part of Jason West and Vince Zampella's lawsuit against Activision after Infinity Ward was sacked into the dust and its execs formed Respawn Entertainment aims to reclaim ''ModernWarfare'' from Activision's hands. Therefore, ''Modern Warfare'' will become a zombie, but only if West and Zampella lose, and Kotick wins.
* Speaking of Vivendi, ''LeisureSuitLarry'' has become this as a result of ''Magna Cum Laude'', released in 2004 for the PC, PS2, and Xbox. It was created without any input from series creator Al Lowe, and he criticizes the game on his website. The sequel, ''Box Office Bust'' (at which point the franchise isn't in the property of [[strike:Vivendi]] Activision anymore. Surprised by that point?), has received even further drubbing from critics.

* ''KatamariDamacy'' was never supposed to have a sequel, [[WriterRevolt according to the creator of the original game.]] [[ExecutiveMeddling Namco had other ideas though,]] and kept it going for four more games.
** Although in that case the sequels were actually good.
* HideoKojima originally didn't had any intentions to direct any of the ''MetalGear'' sequels beyond ''MetalGearSolid'', but due to the immense success of the game, he was pressured by his superiors to direct ''MetalGearSolid2'', which featured a GainaxEnding he never intended to explain away. Afterward, he wrote the basic outline for ''MetalGearSolid3'', with the intention of handing it out to another director; but with no one willing to take the job, he once again took directorial helm and made the game a prequel to the entire series instead of a continuation of the previous game's story. The same thing would happen with ''MetalGearSolid4'': although he did named his successor, he was forced to return to directorial helm when he allegedly received death threats from fans.

* ''{{Halo}}'' has sort of become this. First Bungie said ''Halo 3'' would be the/their last ''Halo'' game. Then they did the GaidenGame ''ODST'', and then the upcoming prequel ''Reach''. Even though Bungie has moved on, that doesn't necessarily mean the franchise itself is dead.
** They never said ''Halo 3'' was the end of the series, but "the conclusion to this story arc."
** The franchise was actually supposed to end with ''Halo 2'', supposedly, but Microsoft's schedule for Bungie forced them to produce a game that was, in retrospect, only about 3/4 done. (Hence the constant pop-ups and abrupt cliff-hanger.)
* It is unclear whether Ron Gilbert would ever have made any more installments to the ''MonkeyIsland'' series, but he wasn't pleased with ''Curse of Monkey Island'', and ''Escape From Monkey Island'' wasn't exactly a masterpiece anyway. All in all it's probably a case of FranchiseZombie, although Ron Gilbert didn't exactly express at any point that he wanted the series to end at ''Return of [=LeChuck=]''.
* Surprisingly, ''MortalKombat'' fits this description to a T; it was ''supposed'' to end with ''Armageddon'', with that game cleaning the slate for the next game to start anew with a brand new generation of characters. Unfortunately, Midway wouldn't have it, instead forcing them to recreate ''Mortal Kombat 2'' as ''Shaolin Monks'', the start of what Midway said was to be a "new MK game each year". Not surprisingly, due to the lack of quality of both games and the ''MK vs. DC'' game that followed, Midway went bankrupt, and the franchise got picked up by Warner Bros, which are giving the MK team as much time as they want to get the "slate-cleaning game" that they promised done.

* Craig [=McCracken=] wanted to end ''ThePowerpuffGirls''. Former CartoonNetwork executives said that no one would watch the reruns, so the show continued.
** Ironically, considering that TomAndJerry was one of the network's highest-rated series...and it's 100% reruns.
** Also on CartoonNetwork, ''[=~Dexter's Laboratory~=]'' and ''JohnnyBravo'' were drastically retooled after the departure of their respective creators after Dexter's second season and Johnny Bravo's first. Both have been less well received by fans, though YourMileageMayVary on ''Johnny Bravo''.

* The ''{{Pokemon}}'' anime became this after the popularity explosion. Originally they were building up to a conclusion, but [[ExecutiveMeddling it had to be extended to keep up with the games]]. Now it's [[IsThatStillOn still going on]] long after the popularity has waned.