History Main / GenreTurningPoint

* For the {{Interactive Fiction}} genre, ''{{Photopia}}. Before ''Photopia'', games often used MindScrew surrealism or HighFantasy loosely bound by a huge StoryArc. After ''Photopia'', plot and puzzles became more important to the feel of a game, and slice-of-life realism overtook surrealism as the most popular environment in InteractiveFiction.

* ''[[OlderThanTheyThink Castle Wolfenstein]]'' invented the stealth game genre, but it wasn't until the success of ''MetalGearSolid'' and ''{{Thief}}'' that the genre began to attract attention and spawn imitators such as ''SplinterCell''.

** And then another Mario game, ''SuperMario64'', set the standard for 3D platformers for years to come, and was the first 3D platformer to successfully use a joystick.

* ''{{Film/TheBourneSeries}}'', a gritty, realistic spy drama, inspired a whole bunch of gritty, more realistic takes on standard genres. This eventually wrapped around to its inspiration, the JamesBond series, with ''CasinoRoyale''. Oddly enough, ''QuantumOfSolace'' was even more Bourne-influenced, and some people [[UnpleasableFanbase disliked it for the very same reason they liked its predecessor]].

** ''{{Spider-Man}}'' broke the mold as a teen superhero who was not a sidekick and had no mentor or guide, so that the first thing he thinks to do with his powers is make money. (Ok, so PlasticMan started out as a thief, but Spider-Man still had a huge impact on the genre.) Also introduced the idea that the superhero with a chaotic personal life, at least in ''part'' due to the fact that they're a superhero (the SecretIdentity, for example, which causes the hero trouble as he has to think of a way to explain his inability to be in two places at once).

** ''EVA'' is also important because it revived the industry from its crash in 1989 following the death OsamuTezuka and several high-budget box office flops (most notable amongst them, ''{{Akira}}''). ''EVA'' is a full-fledged ''Medium'' Turning Point, and probably the first since ''ILoveLucy''.

** Akamatsu can rest easy knowing that actual credit for re-inventing the genre goes to {{Tenchi Muyo}} which popularized almost the exact same formula six years earlier. Love Hina was one of the first to apply the formula to a pure comedy with no fantastic elements, though.

* ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' used all the existing tropes and stock character of HumongousMecha shows as well as any show ever did. Then [[DeconstructorFleet pushed them to the breaking point]]. Leaving all that followed to pick up the pieces.

** ''EVA'' is also important because it revived the industry from its crash in 1989 after OsamuTezuka died and several high-budget films (most notable ''{{Akira}}'') flopped, making this a full-fledged ''Medium'' Turning Point, probably the first since ILoveLucy.
*** EVA is ''more'' important for being the GenreLaunch of a whole new kind of anime: basically, being none-too-polite here, whiny teens with magic powers (or some such) who are alienated and alone, and it has a DownerEnding. If it seems like a sparse concept, it is. And not nearly as deep as it thinks...or deep at all, and yet it was heralded as being ''enormously'' so when it started. Now it, thankfully, has become something of a parody in anime. Examples range from the played-straight (Serial Experiments Lain, EVA, Gilgamish, et al) to video games adapting the concept (most modern Final Fantasy games, for example). GurrenLagann and GaoGaiGar, ironically, basically [[GenreKiller murdered that genre too]]. Which is why now, such shows are looked upon with scorn by most anime fans, if not treated as outright parody--basically GurrenLagann was the ''{{Airplane}}!'' of whiny {{Wangst}} anime.
***** I find it incredibly difficult to agree with any of that.

** Terry Brooks was the first fantasy author to be a best-selling author, and is considered to be the author that turned fantasy literature from a fringe cult phenomenon into a real industry. Interestingly, although his first [[Shannara]] book was heavily influenced by Tolkien, he also introduced some fantasy conventions of his own, such as a less formal writing style.

*** Or ''HighNoon'', which came out five years before ''TheSearchers''.

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* GangstaRap received plenty of media attention for most of TheNineties, but most of it was on the back of the controversy it generated. Then [[TheNotoriousBIG Biggie]] and [[TupacShakur Tupac]] got shot, and Sean "Puffy" Combs released his hit album ''No Way Out'', and suddenly [[strike:gangsta rap]] GlamRap became the dominant form of "urban" music on the radio for the rest of the decade and the start of [[TurnOfTheMillennium the next]].
** TheNineties as a whole is a turning point for the Hip-Hop genre. The decade introduced a large array of sub-genre's. Essentially showing rap could be more than just block party music, And that it could also have strong messages and themes (Much to the chagrin or purists). It also introduced regional acts out side of New York.

* {{ECW}} brought hardcore wrestling to North America, made luchadores popular in the United States, and made professional wrestling DarkerAndEdgier at a time when the two biggest promotions, the [[{{WWE}} WWF]] and {{WCW}}, were still putting out an altogether LighterAndSofter, more comic-book-ish product. Amazingly enough, {{WCW}}, part of the Time-Warner media empire, and [[{{WWE}} WWF]], a multi-million dollar entertainment company in its own right, ended up taking their cues from a tiny promotion that ran shows out of a converted bingo hall in South Philadelphia.

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* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', despite it not doing spectacularly well in the ratings, spawned numerous short-lived imitators (a few coming from GeneRoddenberry, Trek's creator) in comic books and television. During the '70's it served as ''the'' template for ScienceFiction television in America (and to a lesser extent, the rest of the world) until the advent of ''StarWars'', though the clones tended to only last for a season or two. Even the original ''BattlestarGalactica'' and other works influenced by ''StarWars'' showed its influence. Its impact even lasted to a degree until the '90's, though more in the form of television reacting ''against'' the series.
** ''StarTrek'''s influence, however, would go on to shape far more than science fiction as a genre; not only is it the TropeCodifier (and TropeNamer) for the PowerTrio, but things like automatic doors, Kindle, iPods, bluetooth, cell phones and laptops were all first conceived for ''StarTrek''. Even more incredibly, a young woman first decided she wanted to go into space after seeing Lieutenant Uhura on television. A couple of decades later, Dr. Mae Jemison became the first African-American woman to work in space.
* ''DoctorWho'' had a similar status in the UnitedKingdom. It, too, spawned numerous homages, ranging from the long-running but much-mocked ''TheTomorrowPeople'' to the dark and cerebral ''SapphireAndSteel'', as well as many other less well-known examples. Similariy, the 2005 revival is credited with restoring Saturday night family dramas to British television as others began to capitalize on its success.
* ''TheSopranos'' (and {{HBO}} in general), with its focus on cinematography, acting, and complex themes developed through sharp writing and in-depth characters, proved that television productions can be just as good as Hollywood movies.
* ''StarTrek'' and ''StarWars'' were (are) considered the bastions of American ScienceFiction, both being notable for their 'optimistic' views. ''{{Babylon 5}}'' and ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' started taking sci-fi in a new direction, away from the space opera/Western in Space concept and made them more character driven dramas, in the vein of cop shows almost. This started a slow but steady shift in the television sci-fi genre that later yielded ''{{Farscape}}'', ''TheXFiles'', and culminating in the reimagined ''BattlestarGalactica'' and ''StargateUniverse''.

** Rarely does a game redefine conventions, let alone a ''licensed'' game. Yet this is exactly what GoldenEye did long before Halo, showing that consoles were perfectly viable for a FirstPersonShooter while setting the standards for every shooter of its generation.

** On that note, shareware in general (where you gave away part of your program for free, and the user would pay you money for the full thing if they liked it) was seen as a really stupid idea that could never possibly make money. Apogee Software and Epic MegaGames came along and proved that the model ''could'' be profitable, at least with games. Apogee made a lot of money with the game series ''Kingdoms of Kroz'', and Epic with ''[=ZZT=]''. Keep in mind this is way BEFORE the days of the Internet, which made distributing shareware easy. Apogee later changed their name to 3D Realms and created ''{{Duke Nukem 3D}}'', and Epic went on to create the ''{{Unreal}}'' and ''GearsOfWar'' series.
*** Game-wise, ''Duke Nukem'' (Apogee), ''Jill of the Jungle'' (Epic) and ''Commander Keen'' (Id) popularised Shareware. One from each major company.

* ''DragonQuest'' took [=RPGs=] down a completely different path. Its emphasis on story and simplistic combat was a major culture shock for US gamers when they got their hands on it (western [=RPGs=] at the time consisting mainly of shallow stories and cripplingly complex gameplay), but it definitely had a following, and it spawned the subgenre we now refer to as the {{JRPG}}.

* Speaking of ''ToyStory'', it spawned the entire CG boom in animation, which eventually took over Western animated film.

* ''The Dover Boys'' is a double turning point for American animation. It marks the point were [[WarnerBros Warner]]'s animators stopped aping {{Disney}} and started experimenting with much more stylized action. It also marks the point when Chuck Jones went from the junior director who did the ''Sniffles the Mouse'' cartoons to a major innovator.
* Speaking of [[WarnerBros Warner Brothers cartoons]], [[TexAvery Tex Avery]] revolutionized both the Warner cartoons and the animation industry itself. At a time when Warner and almost all other studios were hell-bent on imitating {{Disney}}, and in which Warner cartoons in particular were suffering from deathly mediocrity, Avery came along in 1936 with his zany, faster-paced, smartassed, [[NoFourthWall fourth-wall]]-breaking comedy, and cartoons haven't been the same since. If you watch the Warner cartoon library in sequence and look at what the studio was doing by 1937 or '38, it's amazing to think that this same studio had been producing terminally boring cartoons just two or three years earlier. When Warner cartoons finally became funny, they had Tex to thank for it.

* The Great San Francisco Earthquake for California. Before the quake, San Francisco was the largest city on the west coast, and Los Angeles' population was less than a million, and nowhere near the second largest city in the United States. The quake and the Hollywood boom were instrumental in shifting the population southward.
** Similarly, the Hurricane of 1900 that struck Galveston, Texas did this to Houston, turning it into a booming port town. NASA and oil would finish the job.

* The Beach Boys' ''Pet Sounds'', the first ConceptAlbum. Apparently, this was Paul [=McCartney=]'s favorite album, and it inspired him to write ''Sgt. Pepper''.
** This also represented something of a friendly rivalry between the two groups, or at least Brian Wilson and Paul [=McCartney=], as they began to engage in a constant process of trying to one-up the other, in the process producing some great music.

* In American football, initially field goal kickers kicked the ball towards the goal posts straight on, the results being that most field goals didn't have much distance and their accuracy was iffy at best (60% or so). Then Pete Gogolak and others introduced the angled, soccer-style kick for field goals, increasing distance and accuracy and immediately improving the viability of field goals tremendously. As of today the soccer-style kick is used professionally almost exclusively.

***EVA is ''more'' important for being the GenreLaunch of a whole new kind of anime: basically, being none-too-polite here, whiny teens with magic powers (or some such) who are alienated and alone, and it has a DownerEnding. If it seems like a sparse concept, it is. And not nearly as deep as it thinks...or deep at all, and yet it was heralded as being ''enormously'' so when it started. Now it, thankfully, has become something of a parody in anime. Examples range from the played-straight (Serial Experiments Lain, EVA, Gilgamish, et al) to video games adapting the concept (most modern Final Fantasy games, for example). GurrenLagann and GaoGaiGar, ironically, basically [[GenreKiller murdered that genre too]]. Which is why now, such shows are looked upon with scorn by most anime fans, if not treated as outright parody--basically GurrenLagann was the ''{{Airplane}}!'' of whiny {{Wangst}} anime.