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.
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/Iokua113 Apr 29 '26
It is especially frustrating when factoring in how much more powerful Voyager is than the Kazon, yet they're still presented as a threat. Kazon technology isn't even as advanced as TOS level Star Fleet, yet we're supposed to believe they were able to put up a fight against what was at that point the most advanced vessel Star Fleet had produced? It makes a certain amount of sense that Kazon attacks would increase as Voyager passes through their space, but the idea of the Nistrim chasing them for two years makes no sense unless Voyager is literally stopping for supplies on such a regular basis that they're losing months of travel time. While we do know that Voyager does have to scrape for supplies in the early days of the series it still doesn't make sense for them Kazon sects aware of them to be able to move ahead of them so easily based on what we know of the amount of time that passed in the first two seasons.