Talk:Reset button technique

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Articles for deletion This article was nominated for deletion on 30 August 2006. The result of the discussion was keep.
Articles for deletion This article was nominated for deletion on 21 January 2008. The result of the discussion was keep.

Contents

[edit] Use in cartoons

Invader Zim is an example, as well as almost any humurous cartoon. Events can cause major geological disturbances, planetary destruction, or leave the character in a hopeless situation, without ever being resolved or mentioned again.

I think South Park is also a prime example. While the episodes occassionally followed a semi-coherent plot (or at least progressed in one way or another) and the characters usually remember past events, Kenny (nearly) always dies throughout the course of an episode and then re-appears in the next episode (with nobody remembering his death). This is even ridiculed by the show itself in a couple of flashbacks where Kenny DOESN'T die (although he died in the actual episode the excerpt shows)).
While this isn't a full reset, it probably qualifies as a well-known example (being one of the most notable running jokes of the series). -- Ashmodai 22:43, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
another good example is sealab 2021, where many episodes ended with the whole ship exploding (often for no reason). --dan 08:27, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Isn't the Simpsons episode "Pygmoelian" another good example? Moe gets a face lift during the episode but it goes back to normal after a background set falls on his face. This was after he was fired from his new job acting on a soap opera It Never Ends. The soap opera also pokes fun at the reset button by giving special colour coding for pages with dreams or coma hallucinations.

Should the 'Hyper Psy-Crow' episode of Earthworm Jim consider to have a reset button technique or something? At the part where the universe is reborn after it is destroyed by the combination of nervous and relaxation energy, it seems to sort of be a reset button, even though the universe is recreated instead of being sent back to before the whole chain of events happened.

[edit] Centricity and the actual button

This article is very Star Trek centric and should have more info on other uses of the technique. There may be some already, but it would be unfair to have such a small amount compared to ST. Also worth noting is that this article talks about the rest button technique, but not the reset button itself (as in the thing you find on video game consoles). Maybe we should move this article to reset button technique so that we can use Reset Button for the actual button. -- [[User:LGagnon|LGagnon]] 23:33, Aug 17, 2004 (UTC)

Done. I've moved the article and wrote a stub about the button. Norman Rogers 15:28, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Sakura? I think not...

There is a mention on Card Captor Sakura using the reset button over The Time's episode, but I don't think it counts. The plot was only about the reliving of the day, which was done many many times and Sakura even improved her skills on that.

I took the liberty of editing out the passage, but is repeated here:
" The reset button technique is also sometimes used on anime. For example, a chapter of Card Captor Sakura, where Sakura captures "The Time", shows the card's spirit continuously repeating the same day over and over and over again, using the reset button technique repeated times in the chapter. "

Kobayen 03:19, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] reset button vs bad continuity

This could be such a great article. However, many of the examples are just bad continuity rather than the actual "reset button". For example, in Gilligan's Island, there's no real "reset" - they just fail to escape, and are therefore in the same mess for the next episode. There's a Simpsons episode, however, where some character (Quimby?) explicitly says "Now everything will be just like it was before", erasing a number of changes that had taken place in the episode. Similarly, in the Red Dwarf episode Thanks for the memory, the characters deliberately erase their memories to cover up a particularly painful episode in Rimmer's past.

This article could be improved by categorising the examples by genre (sci-fi can do much more explicit "reset button" than soap operas), or by type of reset button (comic, dreams, unintentional, mind washing...), etc. Stevage 14:07, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

Since this was kept, could someone add the sources they have to this article then? Thanks! Wickethewok 13:44, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

Thought about breaking up the examples into categorized, but noticed that it's hard to distinguish reset vs. satire of the technique vs. continuity goofs vs. series with no continuity [unsigned]

For one thing, I think we just have way too many examples. But yes, many of these examples aren't really a "reset button" at all. Cases like Gilligan's Island, Charmed, or Quantum Leap aren't the same thing, because the events of that episode still happened, even if their effects were reversed, and even if the characters never refer to those events in future episodes. To me, resetting requires that events of the past are erased, either by changing history or by erasing the memories of everybody involved. Specifically, I think of Stewie Griffin's time machine in Family Guy, Superman turning back time to save Lois Lane from an earthquake in the first Superman film, or Pamela Barnes awaking to erase the "Bobby is dead" storyline from Dallas (TV series). An unanswered question like "Why don't they just build a boat?" doesn't mean that the entire series gets reset with each episode. I'd say to pare it down to those where the storyline is overtly altered. Even then, I'd say to keep it to less than ten examples from popular works (in other words, more Simpsons, more Shakespeare if you can find it, less Cardkaptor Sakura). -- A. 00:31, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Name

It is stated that the name of this plot device derives from the use of a reset switch on a video game console. What was the plot device called before the widespread use of Video Games? Some of the examples given pre-date video games. For example Gilligan's Island ran from 1964 to 1967 but the first commercialy released games console, the Magnavox Odyssey, was not released until 1972.

If the plot device was known as the 'Reset Button Technique' before that time, then Video Games cannot have been the etymology of the phrase. Presumably other devices had reset buttons prior to 1972? Bryces 17:08, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ben 10

Ben 10 Had a reset as well in the episode Gwen 10. While most of the show had been serial, this episode was more episodic where Ben's family were suddenly wearing the alien watch. The writers interjected at various points (in the form of showing a comic) to bring home the fact that everything during this episode was going to be reset to a previous state.

[edit] Wait...Alias doesn't use the reset button???

Several main characters have "died" and "come back to life" improbably over the course of the show, most notably Irina Derevko and Michael Vaughan. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.106.6.179 (talk) 17:31, 13 February 2007 (UTC).

Witchblade too, the entire first season is reset to the start for the second season to rewrite.... 87.194.193.49

[edit] Simpson, eh?

Early episodes of The Simpsons mocked the reset button by having Mr. Burns being unable to remember Homer even though Burns' assistant Smithers reminds him that "All the recent events of your life have revolved around him in some way."

Is this really mocking the reset button? I always assumed that it just indicated Burns had a bad memory, either due to his age or due to Homer's unimportance. - furrykef (Talk at me) 20:23, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

No, it isn't. The Skinner/Tamzarian incident is a far more appropriate example, as is the episode "There's Something About Marrying," where Homer becomes a minister, and as Patty's wedding party heads home, Bart says, "I guess that's the end of Dad's wedding business," to which Lisa replies, "Why?" The unspoken answer is that like Mr. Plow or the Pin Pals, the story arc has lived out its usefulness, and will be promptly forgotten. -- A. 00:42, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Surely every episode resets in this manner? At the end of every episode everything's back to normal. Jake the Editor Man (talk) 11:43, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

this is mostly true, with the exception of the deaths of Bleeding Gums Murphy and Maude Flanders, Selma's aquisition of Jub-Jub the iguana, Barney Gumble becoming a teetotaler, Ned Flanders buying an R.V., Homer keeping the "Mr Plow" jacket in his wardrobe and the running plot involving Arty Ziff, and many other examples. one way the show pokes fun at this is the main family and other characters (Comic Book Guy, Smithers) occasionally pointing out continuity errors when they are significant (eg. Bart runninng through his & Krusty the Clown's entire history together to jog his memory of him, but Krusty cannot be allowed to remember him or the status quo of bart looking up to him as an idol would be lost. Machete97 (talk) 13:58, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Merge?

This article seems to overlap with Reboot (continuity) a lot. If no-one objects in the next 48 hours, I'll start the full-blown merge debate. LukeSurl 22:21, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Do you think so? They seem to me very different devices. A reboot implies a new beginning of the narrative arc (often coinciding with the beginning of a new season, new series of film etc.), as if it were a new thing: there may be different characters, different origins etc. The "reset button", on the other hand, is exactly the trick to avoid a new beginning: the hero did not actually die, marry, change career etc., it was all a dream and business goes on as usual. Just my 2 cents, Goochelaar 08:41, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wizard of Oz

Would the scene where Dorothy wakes up to realize her adventure was all a dream be considered a use of the reset button technique? Or was the fact it was a dream sufficiently implied in the beginning anyways? Having seen "The Wizard of Oz" too many times to remember what it was like to see it the first time (obviously in subquent viewings, one knows the plot already), I can't decide what was intended. Jc166117 05:37, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Witchblade?

The article at the end mentions shows that don't use the technique. The entire first season of Witchblade was negated by a permanent time rewind (to where the first season started) that happened at some point early in the second season. Watman 08:58, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

I don't know anything about Witchblade, but anyone that does should do some research(IMBD perhaps?) to verify either claim. As a matter of fact, most all those claims need verification. ~ (Wakandas black panther 22:08, 18 August 2007 (UTC))

[edit] This article needs a lot of work

Several examples and so forth seem to assume that ending an episode of a sitcom and then returning to the status quo is a reset button. I don't think that's the case, since the reset button is a plot device. Resetting without acknowledging it within the plot is NOT a plot device. In other words, "that whole season was a dream, so let's start off where we were before it happened" is a clear reset button. However, having someone appear to be dead at the end of one episode and yet return at the beginning of the next is not a reset button, it's just a plot hole. Croctotheface 10:12, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Split?

It's looking a lot more like a list and a lot less like an article, too. Perhaps List of reset button techniques should be created, and only the best examples be added here? ~ Wakanda's Black Panther! (contribs) 02:56, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Breaking the list off would certainly be a start. I'm very much in favor. Croctotheface 06:47, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Then I shall place a "Split" template on the article, in case someone has good reason why it should not be split. If no opposition is encountered within a few days, I will split the article off. As well as purge any clear "bad continuity" examples.(Bye the way, other than List of plots using the RBT, what would be a good name for the article?) ~ Wakanda's Black Panther! (contribs) 07:48, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
While I certainly agree that the list is to be somehow worked on, I'd incline more towards a serious pruning of the examples: almost every TV series uses this technique, either systematically, in almost each episode, or once in a while. So, once the article has made this point and given two or three examples, the rest can be deleted. I mean, in the article Apple, we do not list every apple everyone has ever seen! Moreover, as you said, some of those examples are not quite reset buttons, but just plot holes or regular narrative arcs. --Goochelaar 09:25, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
The problem is that there are several examples for several genres(e.g. Science fiction, children's cartoons, adult cartoons, anime, etc.), all of which diserve noting. Even if we pruned it to one single example of each genre, the list would be a bit long. ~ Wakanda's Black Panther! (contribs) 10:49, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
I see your point, but I still believe that a limited number of hand-picked examples, possibly with comments, will do the trick, allowing the reader to recognise the technique elsewhere. However, I won't oppose a split if you decide to carry it out. --Goochelaar 12:59, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
I'd be fine with what you call a "serious pruning", but I also think that removing the list entirely would allow editors to focus on the actual content and start sourcing it. The list is distracting, and it will be the focus of the article so long as it stays here. If there is a split, the focus would go elsewhere, the list could possibly be pruned there, if that's the decision that's made, and then merged back in. Croctotheface 15:48, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pruning it is

So, I've pruned a good number of examples from the set, as well as re-arranged the ones that were left. In case someone has reason that any of them should be added back, I'll be posting them on a subpage of my Talk page(which you can reach by clicking my name). The list is still just a bit long, but I did what I could, for now. I'm also going to add an editors note to the section so people might stop adding unneeded examples. ~ Wakanda's Black Panther! (contribs) 06:49, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Retitle article

Articles should be titled neutrally. "Reset button" looks to me like a pejorative (invented by fans who would like every series to be an endless continuing story that you daren't miss a single episode of... if I may exaggerate my point a bit). Can't a suitable neutral title be found? 207.176.159.90 01:32, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Spider-Man reset coming

With everything happening in the Spider-Man comics now, and a huge reset coming in Brand New Day, should this be given as an example as well?

[edit] Higurashi

I am unsure if the anime Higurashi no naku koro ni belongs here or in Reboot (continuity). --AnY FOUR! (talk) 01:35, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Deletion Votes

This entire article appears to be formulated out of obscure references, and upon seeking any sources/citations, Wikipedia is the only place that this loosely coined phrase can actually be found. Nowhere has any renowned or otherwise person from the industry of drama, film, or television actually devised a written formula or "technique" for such a device to be used.

The term itself is self explanatory, "That television program used a reset button technique to ignore character or plot development, removing continuity and encouraging the program to consist of self-contained episodes, rather than depending on viewers assumed knowledge or backstory". Within that sentance, no more need be said.

"Reset Button Technique" is not an actual technique, and if its definition is that it is a "plot device", contradictory to the article at present, this would not require an elaborate plot within the story to slowly work things back to their beginnings (as that's hardly comparable to a simple push of a button), a better example may be The Simpsons episode "Little Big Mom", in which Bart and Homer end up at a leper colony in Hawaii (the plot device would be the acknowledgement that the status quo does not need to be resolved within the episode itself).

Upon searching for anywhere else but Wikipedia for the words "Reset+Button+Technique" all I found was this: The Hendricks Institute named one of their treatments a "reset button technique" for a breathing course that acted as a fast cure to return the body to being free of fatigue. This name was simply given by clients of the treatment.

See: hendricksuniversity.com/preview/thebreathingcourse/index.html

Even these can be dismissed as variations of an invented term however, and are only opinionated much like the entire article. The term is too inspecific, and could be used for anything "I applied the reset button technique by fixing my car, now it's as good as new". No.

The "Reset Button Technique" could be referred to in anything, not just plot devices. This inaccurate article really does need to be deleted, as it is attempting to create knowledge, not present it. 123.243.79.59 (talk) 23:59, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

You've made several points here, and it would be most prudent to address them one at a time. First, on the lack of references to the technique. You stated that you could find no mention of it on a Google search? Perhaps you're simply searching for the wrong thing. Try, for example, reset+button+stargate("stargate", of course, could be substituted with just about any SF series). It is quite commonly referenced and widely used, in one form or another.

Now, about this bit:

"The term itself is self explanatory, 'That television program used a reset button technique to ignore character or plot development, removing continuity and encouraging the program to consist of self-contained episodes, rather than depending on viewers assumed knowledge or backstory'. Within that sentance, no more need be said.

'Reset Button Technique' is not an actual technique, and if its definition is that it is a 'plot device', contradictory to the article at present, this would not require an elaborate plot within the story to slowly work things back to their beginnings (as that's hardly comparable to a simple push of a button), a better example may be The Simpsons episode 'Little Big Mom', in which Bart and Homer end up at a leper colony in Hawaii (the plot device would be the acknowledgement that the status quo does not need to be resolved within the episode itself)."

It appears to me you're misunderstanding what the Reset Button Technique is, so I'll elaborate. It is a plot device used to explore plots and subplots that, in the regular continuity of the series, would be off limits for various reasons(such as allowing one or all of the main characters to die, which, under normal circumstances, would end the series). The Reset Button is not, however, ending an episode with everyone dead, and beginning the next episode as if the previous episode never happened. The key difference between an in-plot reset and an out-of-plot reset(often known as "bad continuity") is that an in-plot reset has to be part of the plot, such as using your genie's third wish to make "everything the way it was before" you found the genie.

You also stated that the Reset Button Technique could refer to anything. This is entirely true, which is why I suggest a name change from Reset button technique to Plot Reset device(or something similar).

Oh, and if we're actually voting, Keep Wakanda's Black Panther! (contribs) 08:17, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

This is not the way to go about a deletion discussion. WP:AFD is designed for that purpose. Croctotheface (talk) 20:22, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Terrible

This article is terrible and totally unencyclopedic. I'm stunned it's been kept not once, but twice! I'm sure Witchblade and Babylon 5 are good, but does a paragraph of fanboi cruft masquerading as an example really add anything? I've deleted all 'examples' - if there are any clearly cited, well chosen ones that would add to the explanation presented in the first few paragraphs of this article, please add them! 81.96.251.179 (talk) 00:45, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Hoo, boy. You're liable to get a lot of complains about that move. Either way, I've been putting off deleting all of those examples for a long time. I had hoped that, somewhere along the line, someone would pull out a pile of citations. Plus, they distracted from the beef of the article. (It was more like a list of examples with a paragraph explaining why they belonged together.) Still, you should take care in calling things "fanboi cruft" and the like. It really does makes you sound biased. ~ Wakanda's Black Panther! (contribs) 01:31, 8 April 2008 (UTC)
I'd agree. Examples should help explain a topic. This is attempting to be a comprehnsive list, which is something different entirely.Rubisco (talk) 09:52, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, perhaps fanboi cruft is a little harsh, but lot of uncited examples are just not necessary in this case (if you read the article add nothing!). I'd suggest bit of trim, keep relevant ones, cite them and if possible incorporate them into the main article, rather than have a horrible list that can only keep on getting bigger and more irrelevant. Either that, or delete the lot - which wouldnt be a bad option. A new page simply couldnt stand on it's own. Jw2034 (talk) 21:52, 11 April 2008 (UTC)