Basic Trope: The heroes (or sometimes the villains or even both) spend the episode at the beach.
- Straight: Bob and his True Companions go to the beach.
- Exaggerated: The entire show or battle takes place at a beach.
- Downplayed: Bob and his True Companions go to the beach for one scene.
- Justified:
- The show is about lifeguards and every episode is a beach episode.
- The characters like to go to the beach.
- The beach was set up as a cunning trap to lure enemies out.
- The characters needed to get rid of some stress.
- The show takes place near a beach. Going there is just natural.
- It's a holiday episode. The fact it takes place on a beach is secondary.
- Inverted:
- Cold Snap Episode.
- The cast goes further inland for a Pool Episode or a Hot Springs Episode.
- The cast goes further inland into a cold climate that requires them to switch into winter clothing.
- The cast goes to outer space to fix the outer part of a satellite and wear space suits the whole episode.
- Characters of a show that normally takes place at the beach go elsewhere for an episode.
- The characters get living sand in their throats and the sand is feeling like it's having fun.
- Subverted:
- The cast gets rained out at the beach. They spend the rest of the episode elsewhere.
- Bob and his team goes to the beach just to take out enemy threats.
- Double Subverted:
- The rain clears up within a few minutes, and the beach fun begins.
- The gang decides to ignore the rain and enjoy the beach regardless.
- Turns out, Bob's enemies are just having holidays.
- Parodied:
- The only people on the beach wearing revealing swimsuits are very old people.
- The characters are at the beach, but need to do something serious, and Bob, The Leader has to deal with Alice who wants to build sandcastles, Carol who wants to look at marine flora and fauna, Dave who wants to do beachcombing, Ethan who wants to go for a swim, Freda who is lusting over men in swimsuits, Gary who is lusting over women in swimsuits, Harriet who is interested in the snacks that people are selling at the beach, and Ida who wants to play volleyball. He keeps reminding them "we're not here to have fun".
- The beach episode is a flat-out Bizarro Episode, taking the characters miles from their usual setting with no explanation as to how they got there or why they are taking a break from their important mission for a day at the beach.
- Zig Zagged: There is more than one beach episode in the series, and some of them, they get rained out at the beach.
- Averted: The cast never goes to the beach.
- Enforced:
- The episode was made as straight-up fanservice.
- Alternatively, the authors wanted to give the audience some time to relax in between arcs.
- The writers want some sort of competition to make a character win a prize and decide on a sand castle building one.
- The network demanded a certain number of episodes, so to pad it out, the creators added it as light-hearted Filler.
- Lampshaded: "Remember folks, the whole gang's going to be at the beach tomorrow."
- Implied: The first act of the episode has the girls of the cast looking over swimsuits and discounts for tickets to Hawaii or talking about surfing in Playa Jacó or some other stereotypical thing that is done to prepare for a beach trip.
- Invoked:
- The female characters deliberately organize a beach trip so they can wear revealing swimsuits in order to appeal to the opposite sex.
- The men also helped organize it for that exact reason.
- "Enough saving the world for a while. It's time for a beach break!"
- "I'm bored. Let's go to the beach."
- "Let's go to the beach to spot some interesting marine life."
- Exploited: Emperor Evulz uses their day at the beach to fast forward his plans while they are at the beach.
- Defied:
- All the characters hate the beach.
- One of the female characters is a Wholesome Crossdresser or is pulling a Sweet Polly Oliver. Either way, she refuses to wear a swimsuit because it would reveal her gender.
- Bob refuses to go to the beach, on the grounds that the water is too cold, the sand gets everywhere, and he hates putting on sunscreen.
- It's a very bad season (at the very least it's constantly raining, with overbooked hotels, extremely rowdy beach-goers, a crime rate increase or pollution ruining everything being other possibilities) and the characters decide it's less stressful to stay put.
- Discussed: "Dude, check out Alice and Carol in their bikinis! I am so glad we came to the beach!"
- Conversed: "Oh look, they're going to the beach this episode!"
- Deconstructed: While the cast is off having some fun, some really bad stuff happens, such as Emperor Evulz setting his world domination plan in motion.
- Reconstructed: Fortunately, Bob and his True Companions happen to be right there when it happens.
- Played For Laughs: The female cast members secretly arrange a contest to see who can keep the guys' attention longer — while the guys have their own secret contest to see who can act the least perverted for the longest. The girls spend the whole episode taking increasingly desperate measures to get the boys' attention, who in turn refuse to acknowledge a thing.
- Played For Drama: When Bob and his True Companions go to the beach, Shrinking Violet Marianne suffers from A-Cup Angst and weight issues, becomes very depressed while at the beach, watching so many of the other girls in the group wearing revealing outfits and appealing to men. She becomes so unhappy that she drives off in tears and refuses to return to the beach, resulting in a disconnect between her and the rest of the group. Which is bad, because Marianne is one of the most important members.
- Played For Horror: It's a Whole-Plot Reference to Friday the 13th and women are graphically disemboweled in their bikinis, without a stitch of the clothes that would normally censor some of the stab wounds.
- Plotted A Good Waste: Shit happens in the way to the beach (such as a "Stuck at the Airport" Plot) and nothing comes out of that... on the other hand, we had a nice couple of minutes of the cast having a Walking Swimsuit Scene if they tried the suits on in preparedness.
Be sure to apply enough sunblock to you before returning to Beach Episode!
