History Main / OneEpisodeFear

* {{WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom}}: In the episode “One of a Kind”, Danny spends most of the episode extremely frightened of the {{monster of the week}} Skulker. Though he gets over it by the end of the episode and it never comes up again at any point in the show.

* In the {{WesternAnimation/PhineasandFerb}} episode {{WesternAnimation/PhineasandFerbSaveSummer}}, Candace has a never before seen fear of spiders.

* {{WesternAnimation/Danny Phantom}}: In the episode “One of a Kind” Danny spends most of the episode extremely frightened of the {{monster of the week}} Skulker. Though he gets over it by the end of the episode and it never comes up again at any point in the show.

* In the {{WesternAnimation/Phineas and Ferb}} episode {{WesternAnimation/Phineas and Ferb Save Summer}}, Candace has a never before seen fear of spiders.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'':

* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinChronicles'': In "Mi Casa, Mi Temple", some of the Shoku warriors are revealed to have some fears we have never seen previously. Ping Pong's biggest fears were established to be spiders and turkeys in a previous episode, but this episode has him afraid of failure. Kimiko's biggest fear in the original series (which is similarly only shown in one episode "Dreamscape") is a half-burned doll, but her fear in this episode is a sword-wielding classmate who is fiercely possessive of her boyfriend.

The One-Episode Fear can also count as a CompressedVice if the character is stated to have always had it but [[SeriesContinuityError previous episodes prove otherwise]], or an InformedFlaw if they're mentioned in passing to be scared of something in one episode but act like they're not. Compare IdiotBall (and its subtropes VillainBall and HeroBall) and SmartBall for other personality traits that disappear as quickly as they appear. May result in ConflictBall if the fear causes a conflict and may be a form of BackstoryOfTheDay if it's supposed to be that they've always had the fear. Multiple characters revealing a new fear may lead to a WhatDoTheyFearEpisode.

The episode will usually focus on the fear, either as a main plot or a subplot, and usually the focus is on either [[FaceYourFears facing it]] or making it go away, whether because the character has to do what they're afraid to do (for example, Alice SpeaksFluentAnimal but is afraid of lions and she and the others have to face up to a lion) or they recently developed the fear and it's related to something they do all the time (for example, Alice becomes afraid of cats and has to get rid of the fear so she can play with Bob's cat, which they like doing). At the end of the episode, the fear will either already be gone, or the character will state or imply that they're ''almost'' not afraid of it anymore (and will effectively not be afraid of it anymore come the next episode, or else it won't be this trope).

* In ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKidTheUglyTruth'', Greg the main character says that he is nervous around eggs because of an incident where he dumped devilled eggs into his neighbours' pot plant, leading to them rotting, the neighbours not being able to identify the smell, and moving out. He's never been shown or stated to be afraid of eggs before or since.

* ''Series/{{MASH}}'': Hawkeye having {{Claustrophobia}} is a major plot point in the Season 7 episode "C*A*V*E", but is never mentioned at any other point in the series. Likewise with Margaret's fear of loud noises, which never comes up in other episodes where the 4077 is caught in artillery crossfire.

* {{WesternAnimation/Danny Phantom}} in the episode “One of a Kind” has Danny spend most of the episode extremely frightened of the {{monster of the week}} Skulker. Though he gets over it by the end of the episode and it never comes up again at any point in the show.

* There are two in ''WesternAnimation/JellyJamm''. The characters get over their fears in the episodes that introduce them, so this might be justified.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': has one episode where Ron is scared of spiders. This is made fun of in that he's not scared of the 3 foot spider he and Kim encounter in the episode, just normal-sized spiders.

* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinChronicles'': In "Mi Casa, Mi Temple", some of the Shoku warriors are revealed to have some fears we have never seen previously. Ping Pong's biggest fears were established to be spiders and turkeys in a previous episode, but this episode has him being afraid of failure. Kimiko's biggest fear in the original series (which is similarly only shown in one episode "Dreamscape") is a half-burned doll, but her fear in this episode is a sword-wielding classmate who is fiercely possessive of her boyfriend.

** “Fight Fighters”: Grunkle Stan reveals a fear of heights that has never come up before. He conquers it within the same episode.
** “Little Gift Shop of Horrors”: In the “Clay Day” segment, Mabel is revealed to have a fear of clay animation. It never comes up in any episode before or after. Possibly justified in that this is episode is officially non-canon.

* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'': Barbaras makes Prue afraid of water in one episode, which she gets rid of of her own accord.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': The episode "Realm of Fear" focuses on a secondary character Reg Barclay's fear of transporters, that goes away by the end of the episode. Reg is quite nervous in general, but this is the only time he was afraid of transporters.

** "Urban Legend" has the town fear Gramma Alice because they think she's a wicked swamp witch. They obviously had no fear of her before, or since that episode.

* ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol'': Ryder's fear of [[AbsurdPhobia brussels]] [[KidsHateVegetables sprouts]] (kids, gotta love 'em), and Chase/Alex's fear of the dentist never appear outside of "Pups Save a Toof".

** In "[=ChefBob=]", [=SpongeBob=] somehow gets PerformanceAnxiety for having to cook for a crowd, which leads him to creating [=ChefBob=]. [=SpongeBob=] actually ''liked'' cooking for crowds before in "As Seen on TV" (albeit he thought he was entertaining them).