Reset button technique

The reset button technique (based on the idea of status quo ante) is a plot device that interrupts continuity in works of fiction. Simply put, use of a reset button device returns all characters and situations to the status quo they held before a major change of some sort was introduced. Typically it occurs either in the middle of a program and negates a portion of it, or it occurs at the beginning, or very end, of a program to negate all that came before it. Often used in science fiction television series, animated series, soap operas, and 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 episodes or issues continuity. Writers may, for example, use the technique to allow the audience to experience the death of the lead character, which traditionally would not be possible without effectively ending the work.

When this device is used in shows that do not use it regularly, its effective use depends on the audience being unaware of the continuity status until the moment when the intention to use the reset button technique is made clear. This requires the show to cause successful suspension of disbelief in the audience while introducing plot developments that would seriously alter the future of the show, without revealing that continuity is or will be interrupted. It is frequently 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. In one trope that uses this technique (typically in science fiction or fantasy), a character will find himself in a situation that seems familiar, but during the episode some things seem odd. Then one or more major events happen, such as a lead character having a significantly different position or dying. By the end of the episode or story arc the character learns they have been placed in a copy of their normal surroundings, usually to try to obtain information from them, and the mastermind behind the plan made a few mistakes in fashioning the copy environment.

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