"I mean, uh, everybody crosses it. Because it's a bridge. Yeah. And before you know it everybody and their mother is making a bridge. So there's a bridge. Everywhere. Nobody even knows why they're making a bridge anymore. They just want people to cross it. They don't care where they're going. The first guy is like, 'I'm gonna go to conventions to promote my bridge!' It's like, it's just a bridge. It's not a big deal. Get over it."

— Joekage, Naruto: The Abridged Comedy Fandub Spoof Series Show

Simply put, an Abridged Series is a fan-made parody that shortens the original work considerably. This usually takes the form of a Gag Dub using repurposed footage from a TV show or movie. Most follow the original's plot fairly closely, although some (such as Jiz) introduce original narratives.

The Ur-Example is The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), first performed in 1987. However, the undisputed Trope Maker that defined the genre is Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series, whose first episode came out in 2006.

The popularity of Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged led to a wave of imitators that cemented The Abridged Series' status as a genre of its own. (Later, Code MENT would revive the genre a bit by inspiring more heavily edited Abridged Series known as AbridgeMENTs.) Most of them are posted on YouTube, sometimes scattered across several accounts, but others can be found on sites such as Dailymotion.

As far as US law is are concerned, these are in a bit of a legal gray area. While parody is considered fair use, YouTube has a history of taking down Abridged Series for copyright infringement, to mixed success.

Compare Fan Vid and Remix Comic. Contrast The Abridged History, the act of parodying and shortening real-life history.

See also Abridged Series Tropes. Doesn't have much to do with Abridged for Children, though some may be made more humorous in a manner similar to this trope. For "serious" adaptations that shorten the length of the original, see Adaptation Distillation.

Examples:

Other Series Examples

Before adding something to this section, please make sure it DOESN'T have its own page and thus belongs in the above section. List the source first, then link to the abridged series artist; there should be at least two episodes made; please place new series in alphabetical order by title. If there are multiple authors, those should also be alphabetized.