"This is the tale I pray the divine Muse to unfold to us. Begin it, goddess, at whatever point you will."
Methods of starting up an episode or an entire series.
Contrast Ending Tropes.
Tropes:
Categories:
- Action Prologue: Something exciting happens before the story begins.
- After the End: The story takes place in an apocalyptic setting.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The villains take over the hero's lair.
- Awe-Inspiring Dinosaur Shot: A work focusing on dinosaurs is introduced by showing how grand and epic these prehistoric animals were during their time, with specific camera shots being used to underscore the effect.
- Batman Cold Open: The episode begins with the heroes dealing with a threat that isn't connected to the main episode's plot.
- Big First Choice: An early decision has massive impact on the entire rest of the story.
- Birthday Beginning: The story begins with the announcement that it's the main character's birthday, and often it's the day they reach adulthood.
- Bookends: The beginning and ending of a story occur under similar circumstances and are tied together somehow.
- Boy Meets Girl: A boy and a girl meet, lose each other, then find each other again.
- Blitz Evacuees: A child protagonist is evacuated from a city under attack and is sent to live in the country.
- Chilly Reception: Characters mistreat a newcomer.
- Closed Circle: No way to get out. No way to get help. You're on your own.
- Danger Room Cold Open: The episode starts with the characters in a combat training room.
- "Day in the Life" Titles: The title sequence shows the main characters going out and about in their everyday lives.
- Debut Queue: The main characters are gradually brought together by introducing each cast member one at a time across the following episodes.
- Distant Prologue: A short introduction scene at the start of the story that takes place a long time before the main plot happens.
- Doomed Hometown: The destruction of the hero's hometown is what stirs them into the adventure.
- Downer Beginning: The story begins tragically.
- Dramatic Chase Opening: The story begins with a dramatic chase scene.
- Dream Intro: The story begins with a character's dream sequence.
- Early-Bird Cameo: A character makes a brief appearance before being properly introduced.
- Easing into the Adventure: A prologue that covers the protagonist's ordinary life before going on the adventure.
- Enthusiastic Newbie Teacher: A friendly teacher who is just out of schooling.
- Establishing Character Moment: The first thing a character says or does that makes it clear the kind of person they are.
- Establishing Series Moment: The one moment that represents what the whole series will be about.
- Everyone Meets Everyone: The first episode has the main cast meet each other for the first time.
- Fake Action Prologue: The story starts out with what appears to be an action scene, but it turns out to be fake.
- Fake-Out Opening: The first scene of a movie that's different from the rest of the film.
- Fall-in Angel: A girl falling from the sky is what kickstarts the plot.
- Falling into the Plot: The protagonist falls from the sky at the start of a work.
- First-Episode Resurrection: The hero dies and is brought back to life at the beginning of the story.
- First-Episode Twist: A plot twist is revealed very early on in the story.
- Five-Episode Pilot: A television series begins with a Multi-Part Episode.
- For Great Justice: The motive or reason is stated in the opening.
- Framing Device: A story being told in the main plot of a work.
- Forgotten Framing Device: The story within another story is missing the latter half of its outer frame.
- From New York to Nowhere: A character moves from a big city to a small town.
- From Zero to Hero: A character starts off as a nobody, but moves up in the world through their heroism.
- Good Morning, Crono: The story begins with the main character being woken up.
- Happy Ending Override: A sequel starts by undoing the happy ending of a previous installment.
- Hidden First Act Parallel: A story element near the beginning of a story contains a parallel to its framing device or a later plot point.
- A Hero Is Born: The story begins with the hero's birth or infancy.
- How We Got Here: The story begins partway through the plot and then starts to explain how things got to that point.
- The Idol's Blessing: Incompetent main character receives a boon from their idol, thus beginning their journey.
- I Found You Like This: A character who has passed out from injury wakes up in the care of someone treating them.
- In Medias Res: The story starts in the middle rather than the beginning.
- Inciting Incident: An event that sets the plot in motion.
- Introductory Opening Credits: Credits in a show's opening sequence that display the characters with their names beside them.
- Intro-Only Point of View: The opening of a story that is told from a characters point of view.
- It Began with a Twist of Fate: The protagonist's involvement in a story's events results from a simple decision.
- It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: The story begins on a dark and stormy night.
- Last Day of Normalcy: The audience is shown the heroes in their home setting before their normal lives are changed forever
- Logical Latecomer: The new guy who points out the weirdness that everyone else ignores or is already used to.
- Lost in Medias Res: A story that starts in the middle gets no elaboration for what came before it.
- The Magic Comes Back: In a setting where magic has vanished, the magic ends up returning.
- A Minor Kidroduction: A work begins with a brief scene of the protagonist as a child.
- Minsky Pickup: The six note Intro Fanfare to a Song and Dance number.
- Monster Munch: A monster is introduced by showing it killing a random, inconsequential victim.
- Morning Routine: Introducing a character by showing what they do every morning.
- Multiple Game Openings: The prologue changes depending on the player's choices before starting the game.
- Myth Prologue: The work begins by telling a myth or other fantastical story that sets the basis for the plot.
- Naïve Newcomer: A newcomer who is inexperienced and has trouble fitting in.
- Non-Indicative First Episode: The first episode is not indicative of the rest of the series' tone.
- Once Upon a Time: A stock phrase that opens classic stories.
- Open-Door Opening: The story begins with a door opening and either the character or the audience passing through.
- Opening Monologue: The opening sequence has a monologue explaining the premise of the story.
- Opening Narration: The opening sequence has a voice-over explaining the premise of the story.
- Opening Scroll: The opening sequence has text scroll that passes over the screen supplying information on the story.
- Out of Job, into the Plot: The protagonist loses their job shortly before or after the action begins.
- "Pan from the Sky" Beginning: The view pans down from the sky to start off a movie or an episode.
- Pilot: An experimental "first episode" of sorts that may or may not be picked up for production of a full-fledged television series.
- Pilot Movie: A feature-length film that is intended to serve as the beginning of a television series.
- Plot-Inciting Infidelity: The story begins with someone learning that their spouse has cheated on them.
- Plot-Triggering Death: A character's death at the outset of a story puts its main plot into motion.
- Poorly-Disguised Pilot: An episode is meant to serve as a pilot for a potential spinoff series.
- Post-Adventure Adventure: A story is a followup to an unseen previous story.
- Pre-Meeting: The main character meets a random person who turns out to be someone important.
- Pride Before a Fall: A story begins with a prideful character falling from grace.
- Prolonged Prologue: When the prologue of a story takes a long time to tell.
- Pursued Protagonist: When a work opens with someone being chased.
- R-Rated Opening: The opening sequence contains mature content, letting audiences know what they're seeing is not for kids.
- Recruit Teenagers with Attitude: Instead of trained adults, teenagers save the day.
- Resurrected for a Job: A person is brought Back from the Dead to go on a quest.
- Running Over the Plot: The plot begins with running someone over.
- Second Episode Morning: A character has to deal with the strange events that happened in the first episode.
- Show Within a Show: A work of fiction that characters In-Universe are watching.
- Start to Corpse: The story begins with a dead body being discovered or someone being killed.
- Starts with a Suicide: The story begins with someone committing or attempting to commit suicide.
- Starts with Their Funeral: The story begins with a funeral before explaining how the person died.
- Step One: Escape: The initial goal is getting out of a room.
- Storybook Opening: The story begins with a storybook opening.
- Stumbled Into the Plot: The protagonist is the one who finds the Inciting Incident instead of being chosen or summoned.
- Sugar Apocalypse: When a genuine Sugar Bowl suffers a horrifying disaster that destroys its peaceful innocence.
- Survived the Beginning: A cast massacre opens the story, those who survive get some Plot Armor.
- The Teaser: A scene that plays before the opening credits.
- Turn Out Like His Father: A character ends up becoming like their parent.
- Villain Opening Scene: The antagonist is introduced before the other main characters are.
- War Was Beginning: The story begins with a war starting.
- Weather Report Opening: The first words in the story are about the weather.
- Welcome Episode: The first episode begins with one of the main characters meeting the rest of the cast for the first time and being given information that is also beneficial for the audience.
- When It All Began: The one moment or event that caused everything else in the story to be the way it is.
- Where I Was Born and Razed: A character destroys their own hometown.
- Whole Episode Flashback: The episode has a Framing Device where one character tells the story of what happened earlier.
- You All Meet in a Cell: Characters meet while they're all captive, and learn why they were taken captive in the first place while they escape.
- You All Meet in an Inn: Everyone meets when they're at the same inn.
- You Wake Up in a Room: A character wakes up in an unfamiliar place at the beginning of the story.
- You Wake Up on a Beach: Someone wakes up on the beach with no recollection of how they got there.
