[Loved Trope] The one random episode that doesn't follow the main characters

[u/BagOfSmallerBags]

Heated Rivalry Episode 3 "Hunter": The show stops following Hollander and Rozanov's love story to follow another hockey player, Scott Hunter, and his romance with a smoothie store employee.

The Last of Us S1E3 "Long Long Time": Joel and Ellie need a car. So to explain why there's a car waiting around for them to use, they show us an incredibly heartbreaking love story lasting 20 years between two men Joel knows. They have a car.

Doctor Who S3E10 "Blink": With no explanation given, this episode begins with a character we've never met, one Sally Sparrow, poking around an abandoned building. Our lead character, The Doctor, is glimpsed seemingly randomly on TVs. What is going on? Did that statue just move!?

MythicQuest S1E5 "A Dark Quiet Death": Rather than continuing to follow our lead characters as they develop an MMORPG, we flash back many years to witness the history of a couple who start a videogame company, and how over the years the pressure to drive sales causes them to give up on their artistic integrity.

[u/The_Reset_Button]

These have a name, they're "Doctor-lite" episodes. Usually they're to save budget or give the Doctors actor a break

[u/James_Proudfoot → u/The_Reset_Button]

Or in the latest eras case because they started production before Ncuti was finished with sex education

[u/KanBalamII → u/The_Reset_Button]

They're also so they can film multiple episodes at the same time more easily.

[u/Wuz314159 → u/The_Reset_Button]

William Hartnell was in 42 episodes#Season1(1963%E2%80%931964)) in his first season.... How much rougher do they have it today? 52 episodes? 60 episodes? 100 episodes?

[u/The_Reset_Button → u/Wuz314159]

He stood in a studio and delivered his lines, occasionally going out on location.

Now seasons can have multiple locations per episode, stunts, special effects, reshoots, special effect makeup and more. Not to mention publicity/marketing material and just everything else that comes with modern television, actors deserve some time off that is in one chunk

[u/Cole-Spudmoney → u/Wuz314159]

William Hartnell was absent for a bunch of episodes during his tenure too.

[u/Wuz314159 → u/Cole-Spudmoney]

Not true. He missed 2-3, but that's a drop in the bucket when he filmed 126 episodes total.

My favourite is how they wrote Frazer Hines out of Episode 2 of The Mind Robber because he got chicken pox.

[u/Longjumping-Buy-3434 → u/The_Reset_Button]

That’s a nice idea.