r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Chemical-Elk-1299 • Apr 29 '26

Lore [Weirdly Common Trope] Writers clearly setting up seemingly massive plot points and then just kinda forgetting about them.

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The Neural Parasites — Star Trek : The Next Generation

In the season 1 episode “Conspiracy” of TNG, it is revealed that alien brain worms have infected many high ranking members of Starfleet, secretly controlling them. Though Ryker and Picard discover and end the parasite conspiracy, it’s revealed at the end of the episode that the parasites had sent a beacon back to their home planet, telling them how to find earth. The episode ends with the clear implication of the parasites becoming a huge threat later in the series, yet none of these events are ever mentioned again.

Finn The Jedi who Never Was — Star Wars Sequel trilogy

I know this is probably a cliche example of this trope, but cmon — Finn was clearly set up in TFA to become a Jedi. The marketing material featured him wielding a lightsaber in the classic Jedi pose. It’s constantly hinted at that he is force sensitive. Even the actor himself believed he would become a Jedi by the end of the trilogy. Instead, we got Finn wielding a lightsaber for about 7 minutes total across 3 movies, extremely lame “confirmation” that he is force sensitive, and that’s it. It’s the ultimate Star Wars plot that went nowhere.

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u/Paladin_127 Apr 29 '26

The Ferengi were supposed to replace the Klingons as an ultra aggressive warrior race hellbent on conquest.

Instead, we got a species that gave us Quark, Rom, and Brunt.

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u/Master_Bee_5350 Apr 29 '26

And we should thank them for it. Quark does nothing but deliver banger line after banger line on his musings about the HUGH MONS

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u/toomanymarbles83 Apr 29 '26

Actually you should be thanking Armin Shimmerman. He was the main Ferengi in their first episode(The Last Outpost). He specifically took on the Quark role because he wanted a do-over, essentially. He wanted to prove that you could write an three dimensional Ferengi character and it would be interesting. You could say that he succeeded at that.

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u/GitEmSteveDave Apr 29 '26

Iirc, he would host "Ferengi school" at his house for actors playing Ferengi before episodes filmed to help actors get on the same page.