What are your "once-and-done" pieces of media?

[Nightingale]

There's a bunch of things --particularly books-- that I could keep on re-reading and revisiting for ever, since the stories hold up pretty well despite me knowing in advance what's gonna happen and the mood and atmosphere they set remain pleasant throughout... it's honestly a great thing when you can find a piece of media that offers this much endless entertainment and that both manages to feel fresh and inviting despite your umpteenth replay/rewatch/reread.

Unfortunately, these are the exception rather than the rule. And there's things I simply cannot imagine myself ever going back to (at least, more than casually) despite of how much promise they showed on our first encounter. These are some of my "once-and-done" pieces of media:

Books:

The entire Harry Potter franchise: Ok, I didn't expect them to be holding up that well anyway, but I'm a little surprised of how badly it turned out after years had passed since my first read-through of the series. I guess the thing that strikes me the most is how uninteresting everything is after you have either dealt with the plot and its many, many curveballs or know they are ahead. I tried to re-read a couple of the early entries to the series --since it's been the longest since I had finished them-- and I left in a state of... I don't know, but I wanted to know a lot more about the characters and setting than what the story offers you.

Movies:

The Art of Getting By: I think it is a great movie, but I just don't see myself ever watching it again. The story was amazing but dull at the same time and, while managing to remain very interesting the whole way, I don't think I would be able to thoroughly enjoy it if I sat down to it again.

Video-Games:

Megaman Legends: Those were cool, but one time is more than enough. Two, in particular, beat too much around the bush and was more of a drag by the end. Still, I had my fun and I'm glad I played them, in the end.

What about you? What are your once-and-done picks?

[lp0 on fire]

Books basically everyone I read unless I use it debates/rants/etc, then I try and find a digital copy so I can ctrl+f or I try and find the page number online.

Movies - almost everything other then a few of my favorits Fight Club (find new stuff each time), Star Wars (not Disney shit), Twister, Dr. Strangelove, and The Shinging have been the exceptions.

Video-games, the only games I have found my self replying outside of Sim games and RTSes which are not story based, would be Wolf3D and Doom I and II, and from time to time Star Wars games.

There is just something to me that hates all the story/cut scene stuff in most games after the first time, if I can't skip cut scenes I am less likely to replay a game.

[Nemomon]

Pretty much movies only. In other words media that do not require me to manually engage them. The movies are: The Guns of Navarone, The Maltese Falcon, Crimson Tide and probably a few more.

[queenzelda]

For me the one thing I'm done with is the books you have to purchase in order to get through classes in high school/college, more so since you won't need it when your finished with said classes. :p

[Moonface]

For me the one thing I'm done with is the books you have to purchase in order to get through classes in high school/college, more so since you won't need it when your finished with said classes. :p

For me that depends on the book. I expect any graphic design books I'll need to buy will remain valuable sources of information for me and interesting reads to keep myself refreshed on what's inside them.

Manga is something I've never read more than once. Given how long most of them can be, it's too much effort.

Anime I'll rewatch if it's a really good one, of which the only recent one is My Hero Academia.

Games...most of those I will replay eventually but there are a few I doubt I'll ever pick up again.

[queenzelda]

i doubt you'll reuse those social studies books... lol

[Chloe]

Movies, as some I'd rather forget. Oh yea & I'm definitely not going to need my high lvl English book when I'm finished with the class. xD

[Kyng]

Movies: The Johnny English movies. Okay, I'll admit that I enjoyed them, even if the critics didn't . However, most of the jokes wouldn't be nearly as funny the second time.

I'll also add Rogue One. I liked it a lot when I saw it in the cinema - but, looking back at it, all of the best moments (e.g. Scarif battle, Darth Vader in United Airlines Mode) happened in the third act. This means that, if I re-watched it, I would probably just spend the first two-thirds of the movie waiting for the ending .

Games: Pretty much any puzzle game. Once I've completed them, there's pretty much no reason to re-play them, since I already know how to solve all the puzzles. IMO, this is the one thing stopping Portal 2 from being a perfect game: once you've completed it, there's no reason to re-play it unless you want to re-live the story. (Which I eventually did, but that was five years after I completed it for the first time. I can't see myself returning to any other puzzle games five years after I beat them!)

[ShiraNoMai]

Books for me, too, though that's more for time's sake than anything else. I did put it to the test when I came across an old fanfiction I hadn't read in about 7 years that had an update to it, and I had a vague recollection of it enough to read the latest one, but once I decided to go back and reread to refresh my memory, I lost most interest. I did recall it being a good story, too.

Long expository movies tend to also be a one-and-done for me, too. I can't be bothered to go through the mental effort of listening and watching when I know everything that will happen and like some of you mentioned here, knowing the twists and loops it takes the viewer the first time become tedious and, depending on the film, eye-rolling.

Expository-heavy (and/or exclusive) games tend to be like that for me, too, for the same reason. Collectibles don't provide enough incentive for me to go through it again to earn any kind of completionist reward.

[WR91]

I can't think of one thing I watched or have played that I wouldn't experience again. But maybe that's because before I take the time to watch or play something new, I take my time deciding if it's something I want to put any real time or money into experiencing long term. Even if that means only a 2 hour movie.