It was only a dream

This plot device (WP), (based on the idea of Wikipedia:status quo ante) introduces a change the writer does not intend to be a permanent part of the story, and then returns all characters and situations to the status quo they held before the major events. It is sometimes called the reset button technique. Often used in Wikipedia:science fiction television (WP) series, Wikipedia:animated series, Wikipedia:soap operas, and Wikipedia:comic books, the device allows elaborate and dramatic changes to characters and the fictional universe that might otherwise invalidate the premise of the show with respect to future continuity. Writers may, for example, use the technique to allow the audience to experience the death of a lead character, which traditionally would not be possible without effectively ending the work.

Effective use of this device depends on the audience being unaware of the continuity status, or successful suspension of disbelief that continuity is or will be interrupted, and the eventual communication of the status of continuity to the audience. It is usually employed as a plot twist that effectively undoes all the happenings of the episode. Common uses of this technique draw liberally from science fiction and metaphysical ideas, perhaps contributing to its widespread use in those genres.

Examples of the reset button technique include dream sequences, alternate-history flashbacks, parallel universes, "alternate realities", "alternate timelines", daydreams, time travel and hallucinations. Occasionally, a character will find himself in a situation that seems familiar but during the episode some things seem odd, and then something major happens such as a lead character having a significantly different position or dying. By the end of the episode or story arc the character learns he has been placed in a copy of his normal surroundings, usually to try to obtain information from him, and the mastermind behind the plan made a few mistakes in fashioning the copy environment.

Episodic shows are not examples of the reset button technique, but merely lack of continuity. In many adventure oriented series, the characters are defined essentially by what they do and encounter in the course of their adventures. Character development is kept to a bare minimum in favor of action and adventure. In some long running series, characters do not appear to age, but are instead revised to fit the times. Examples of this include syndicated comic characters such as Wikipedia:Prince Valiant, serial novel characters such as Wikipedia:Nancy Drew, and series movie characters such as Wikipedia:James Bond. The Wikipedia:Rocky Balboa film character (boy that article not only has the mother of all targets of WP Rule beating-sticks, the In-Universe perspective, but it actually has Section Headings Titled in In-Universe YEARS. It is in fact, a little confusing even. Sigh. The bias just oozes out of that double standard. But I digress) in fact sets reality back a few years each new installment, until at last there was no denying that Sylvester Stallone looked too old to play a time-shifted character, and so the movie's universe jumped forward a full 16 years for the latest movie.

Similarly, simple failure to maintain continuity is not use of the reset button technique. For instance, when the Wikipedia:Superman movies came out in the 1970s, the Wikipedia:screenwriters largely ignored the decades-long comic book storyline and frequently contradicted previous "facts", e.g., in the comic books, Krypton, Superman's home planet, had a climate similar to ours, but in the movie series it had an icy climate.

See also

• Dreamworld (plot device)
• Wikipedia:Deus ex machina
• Retcon
• Wikipedia:Status quo
• Wikipedia:Reboot (fiction)