I've read the Gantz manga recently, and the thoughts it raised in my head made me make this topic. What things (tv series, books, games, comics, anything) can you think of that squandered their potential so badly they remained forever in your memory because of it?
My first example of two would be said manga. I have very mixed feelings about it: On one hand it is very gripping when it decides, has moments that are very moving, boasts the most repulsive and disturbing yet imaginative and wild monster designs I've ever seen and has quite well developed character relationships.
On the other hand it moves at the pace of a handicapped snail on sleeping pills (I used that phrase for Berserk as well), seems to be populated by retards for whom it takes about 10 pages to be able to take a single step or pull a trigger, dips way too often into the realm of the tasteless and gratuituous in terms of graphic content, wanders aimlessly not being able to decide if it wants to have a grand scheme behind it or not and is about as deep as a puddle of water in Sahara. It could be amazing, but as it stands the contrast between the good bits and the "JESUS CHRIST JUST PULL THE TRIGGER ALREADY" bits is too great to make it consistently good. The way it wastes potential seems almost professional.
My second example is Supernatural, which I'm a fan of. I've only seen the first five seasons (are the newer ones worthwhile? Let me know), but they also pissed away potential like there's no tomorrow. I remember almost screaming in rage when they killed off a certain character in season 3, not only because she was ridiculously hot, but also one of the most fun characters in the series so far. The total lack of continuity or consequence between episodes was also another point they missed disastrously, instead just focusing on individual episodes rather than trying to make any kind of continuity. At a point in the series DEAN WINCHESTER WAS A FUGITIVE WANTED FOR MURDER and they were chased by cops, yet they used that plot point like twice in the entire season.
So, what other examples of wasted potential are there? They don't have to be bad, just things that could have been way more than what they were.
My first example of two would be said manga. I have very mixed feelings about it: On one hand it is very gripping when it decides, has moments that are very moving, boasts the most repulsive and disturbing yet imaginative and wild monster designs I've ever seen and has quite well developed character relationships.
On the other hand it moves at the pace of a handicapped snail on sleeping pills (I used that phrase for Berserk as well), seems to be populated by retards for whom it takes about 10 pages to be able to take a single step or pull a trigger, dips way too often into the realm of the tasteless and gratuituous in terms of graphic content, wanders aimlessly not being able to decide if it wants to have a grand scheme behind it or not and is about as deep as a puddle of water in Sahara. It could be amazing, but as it stands the contrast between the good bits and the "JESUS CHRIST JUST PULL THE TRIGGER ALREADY" bits is too great to make it consistently good. The way it wastes potential seems almost professional.
My second example is Supernatural, which I'm a fan of. I've only seen the first five seasons (are the newer ones worthwhile? Let me know), but they also pissed away potential like there's no tomorrow. I remember almost screaming in rage when they killed off a certain character in season 3, not only because she was ridiculously hot, but also one of the most fun characters in the series so far. The total lack of continuity or consequence between episodes was also another point they missed disastrously, instead just focusing on individual episodes rather than trying to make any kind of continuity. At a point in the series DEAN WINCHESTER WAS A FUGITIVE WANTED FOR MURDER and they were chased by cops, yet they used that plot point like twice in the entire season.
So, what other examples of wasted potential are there? They don't have to be bad, just things that could have been way more than what they were.