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* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': An InUniverse in "Look Who's Purging Now", while Rick is setting up a signal beacon, Morty is asked to listen to The Lighthouse Chief's hackneyed screenplay, which begins with a dramatic moment and then flashes back to three week earlier. After hearing the whole screenplay, Morty gives his honest review that he suggests to just start the screenplay when the story starts. HilarityEnsues once the Lighthouse demands they leave for [[CantTakeCriticism insulting his work.]]
to:
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': An InUniverse in "Look Who's Purging Now", while Rick is setting up a signal beacon, Morty is asked to listen to The Lighthouse Chief's hackneyed screenplay, which begins with a dramatic moment and then flashes back to three week earlier. After hearing the whole screenplay, Morty gives his honest review that he suggests to just start the screenplay when the story starts. HilarityEnsues Hilarity ensues once the Lighthouse demands they leave for [[CantTakeCriticism insulting his work.]]
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* ''WesternAnimation/AlienatorsEvolutionContinues'' has "To Carthage Then I Came", which begins with Lucy carrying an unconcious Wayne through the deserts of Tunisia, and then she narrates a flashback on what happened to them, Ira, Harry, and Gassie earlier that day, before returning to the climax.
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* ''WesternAnimation/AlienatorsEvolutionContinues'' has "To Carthage Then I Came", which begins with Lucy carrying an unconcious unconscious Wayne through the deserts of Tunisia, and then she narrates a flashback on what happened to them, Ira, Harry, and Gassie earlier that day, before returning to the climax.
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* ''WesternAnimation/HarrietTheSpy'' has a few episodes that open in the middle of the action, while Harriet herself narrates what's going on, sprinkling in hints on how the events ended up the way they did (like when she ran from city hall security with her birth certificate in hand, or when she dug up holes in her backyard as her nanny watched from inside the house). After the opening title sequence, the episode proper starts sometime prior to the events, before eventually looping back around with greater context.
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* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': Rocko does this in "[[Recap/RockosModernLifeS4E12HypnoPuppyLoveDrivingMrsWolfe Driving Mrs. Wolfe]]" when Heffer's mother takes the family's brand-new convertible to a demolition derby, [[spoiler:which the family is watching on the stands,]] then just as their car is about to collide with what they believe is the toughest racer in the derby, he takes us back to how he ended up in the situation: it started with him trying to teach Virginia how to drive, leading to his car getting totaled after it [[RailroadTracksOfDoom it is run over by a train]], then ending with him and Virginia inadvertently entering the derby [[spoiler:and winning it]].
to:
* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': Rocko does this in "[[Recap/RockosModernLifeS4E12HypnoPuppyLoveDrivingMrsWolfe Driving Mrs. Wolfe]]" when Heffer's mother takes the family's brand-new convertible to a demolition derby, [[spoiler:which the family is watching on the stands,]] then just as their car is about to collide with what they believe is the toughest racer in the derby, he takes us back to how he ended up in the situation: it started with him trying to teach Virginia how to drive, leading to his car getting totaled after it [[RailroadTracksOfDoom it is run over by a train]], then ending with him and Virginia inadvertently entering the derby [[spoiler:and winning it]].
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Changed line(s) 55 (click to see context) from:
* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': Rocko does this in "[[Recap/RockosModernLifeS4E12HypnoPuppyLoveDrivingMrsWolfe Driving Mrs. Wolfe]]" when Heffer's mother takes the family's brand-new convertible to a demolition derby, [[spoiler:which the family is watching on the stands,]] then just as their car is about to collide with what they believe is the toughest racer in the derby, he takes us back to how he ended up in the situation: it started with him trying to teach Virginia how to drive, leading to his car getting totalled[[spoiler:, then ending with him and Virginia inadvertently entering the derby and winning it]].
to:
* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': Rocko does this in "[[Recap/RockosModernLifeS4E12HypnoPuppyLoveDrivingMrsWolfe Driving Mrs. Wolfe]]" when Heffer's mother takes the family's brand-new convertible to a demolition derby, [[spoiler:which the family is watching on the stands,]] then just as their car is about to collide with what they believe is the toughest racer in the derby, he takes us back to how he ended up in the situation: it started with him trying to teach Virginia how to drive, leading to his car getting totalled[[spoiler:, totaled after it [[RailroadTracksOfDoom it is run over by a train]], then ending with him and Virginia inadvertently entering the derby and [[spoiler:and winning it]].
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Examples of HowWeGotHere in WesternAnimation television series.
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* ''WesternAnimation/The7D'' has done this with "Buckets" (which begins with the dwarves running out of a dark house in terror) and "Doing The 7D Dance" (which starts with Hildy and Grim about to send the 7D, Queen Delightful, Lord Starchbottom, Sir Yipsalot and Squire Peckington off into space on a rocket).
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPaddington'' does this every episode, beginning with a scene of Paddington in his room writing a letter to his Aunt Lucy about the events of the episode, and the rest is a WholeEpisodeFlashback of what happened according to the letter.
* ''WesternAnimation/AlienatorsEvolutionContinues'' has "To Carthage Then I Came", which begins with Lucy carrying an unconcious Wayne through the deserts of Tunisia, and then she narrates a flashback on what happened to them, Ira, Harry, and Gassie earlier that day, before returning to the climax.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': The episode "The Candidate" opens in media res after all the kids have started fighting in the halls. Gumball then appears after it freezes and begins explaining how that point was reached.
* The ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode where Steve was found dead in his pool. [[spoiler: It's a look-alike.]]
* Season 7 of ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' opens with a WhamShot that seemingly shows Archer's corpse floating in a pool, in a tribute to ''Film/SunsetBoulevard''. It then flashes back to six months beforehand. [[spoiler: Despite a number of ways shown throughout the season in which it could have been a fake out, it turns out to be the real Archer. Season 8 reveals that he survived, but it placed him in a coma.]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode "Double Dare" begins with a ColdOpen in which Arthur and Buster are in the school bathroom, trying to pull Francine in through the window. It then flashes back to explain how this came to be, and catches up with itself about 2/3rds of the way through.
* The ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "The Runaway" starts with Katara turning Toph in to the authorities. Then we go back and learn how this came to make any sense at all.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' episode "Batgirl Begins: Part 1" begins with Batgirl being attacked by Batman and Poison Ivy, and the rest of the episode, as while as the next one, detail how she got there.
* ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries The New Batman Adventures]]'' also did this with the unbelievably awesome episode "Over The Edge". The episode opens with Commissioner Gordon and a police squad chasing Batman and Robin through the Batcave, shooting at them with machine guns, grenades, and a couple of rocket launchers. Once they reach safety, Batman brings Nightwing up to speed on how Scarecrow [[spoiler: killed Batgirl/Barbara Gordon in front of her father, driving him to revenge on Batman]]. It turns out that [[spoiler: it was AllJustADream, which poor Barbara is having due to a dosage of Scarecrow's fear-inducing chemicals.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/CampLakebottom'': In almost every episode. "Escape From Camp Lakebottom" is a notable exception.
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/ClassOf3000''. The kids are in a cage suspended over a pit of lava. When one of them asks how they got into the situation, another responds that it was the same way they get into ''every'' situation.
-->''flashback''\\
'''Little D:''' I've got a great idea!\\
''end flashback''
* The ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' episode "Bragging Rights" starts with Yumi and Ulrich attacked by robot-spiders in the Amazonian lab, and Ulrich comments: "To think it was supposed to be a piece of cake..." Then it flashes back to the few hours before.
* The ''WesternAnimation/DaftPlanet'' episode "Requiem for a Game" begins with Ched and Hudson running down a street. Hudson runs in front of a car that blocks Ched's exit, which causes him to get tackled to the ground by their pursuer.
* Almost every episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Detentionaire}}'' starts with a scene from the climax of the episode (which ends in a {{cliffhanger}}, of course) before rewinding to explain how the characters got into the mess.
* ''WesternAnimation/DogCity'': [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in the episode, "Of Mutts and Mayors", which starts off with Ace and Rosie on the run. Ace has no idea how they wound up in this predicament, which prompts Eliot to explain that they would be starting off near the end, where things are really bad, and then they'd show everyone how they got there.
* The first episode of the SpinOff ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool'' had a ShoutOut to this by starting with the emperor as a bunny and then explaining how it happened.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode, "Once upon an Ed", the Eds have to tell Johnny why [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext they're stuck in his drywall]]. Unfortunately, all of the Eds are rather {{Unreliable Narrator}}s with the episode being [[RashomonStyle a look into how each Ed views the world around them.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': The first scene of "[[Recap/TheFairlyOddParentsS8E4WhenLOSERSAttack When LOSERS Attack]]" is Timmy running through a dark forest, and getting completely vaporized with a laser by an unknown attacker. The episode then shifts to 24 hours earlier, showing the events that led up to this point. The ending shows that [[spoiler:Timmy wished for all of his enemies to be lookalikes of himself, and he was never actually in danger.]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Crimes and Meg's Demeanor" parodies this by attempting to do this trope right as the story is about to end.
* ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes'': The episode "The Cure" starts with Reed, Susan, Johnny and She-Hulk fighting alongside while a BroughtDownToNormal Ben Grimm watches it from home. Then it goes back to when Reed is about to try another way to turn the Thing back into Ben Grimm.
* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'' begins with Gary drifting alone in space with having only ten minutes of oxygen left to live with HUE as his only companion. It then goes back showing the events leading to Gary's predicament.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'':
** The episode "The Tycoon" begins with Fred getting yelled at by Wilma and the Rubbles at home. A narrator flashes back to when J.L. Gotrocks, [[IdenticalStranger a dead-ringer for Fred]], escaped his monotonous tycoon job and convinced Fred to be his replacement. While out, he encounters the three and acts like a huge jerk toward them; after the two doppelgängers switch back, Fred comes home to a bitter reception and doesn't understand why. Poor Fred.
** The episode "The Golf Champion" opens with Fred winning the Loyal Order of Dinosaurs' gold championship, only for Barney to rush the field and try to wrestle the trophy out of his hands. A reporter on the scene asks a spectator what prompted the fight, and the ensuing flashback tells of when Barney got elected to be club's president and vowed to make sure all its members pay their back dues; Fred hadn't paid his, and Barney wants to withhold the trophy until he does.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'''s ''Star Trek''-themed episode, "Where No Fan Has Gone Before", parodying the [=TOS=] episode listed above.
** Also happens twice with the first episode of the [[UnCancelled 2010 season]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow''
** The episode "Jon's Night Out" begins with Garfield trying to wake Jon up as he sleepwalks through a building, and then proceeds to tell the viewer the story.
** The episode "Little Yellow Riding Hood" begins with Garfield and Jon escaping from a wolf, and Garfield asks the viewer to pause the show, and then tells the viewer the story.
** In the "Rodent Rebellion" special, it began with Garfield and Odie being hounded by police before explaining how they got into that predicament.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' did this in "Revelations". The first scene is of Goliath being tortured by Mace Malone, as Matt Bluestone (who, in previous episodes, didn't even know the Gargoyles definitely existed) watches. We then get the explanation of how this happened from Bluestone.
* The premiere episode of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', "Tourist Trapped", starts out like this, with Dipper explaining to the audience why he and his sister are trying to outpace a giant in a golf cart.
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', in the episode "Billy and Mandy Begins". Irwin's question about how they got to be dangling over a giant serpent monster is misinterpreted as a question of how Grim ended up with Billy and Mandy. Two distorted accounts and an accurate synopsis of the pilot take up nearly the entire episode, and by the time it's clarified that the question was how they got in ''that specific situation'', everyone's eaten alive before it can be answered.
* The ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' special ''WesternAnimation/HappinessIsAWarmBlanketCharlieBrown'' begins with shots of various holes being dug around parts of the neighborhood, including the pitcher's mound Charlie Brown is standing on, Lucy's psychiatrist stand, and Snoopy's doghouse, and it's because Linus is searching for his blanket that Lucy buried, and the rest of the special explains how it got to that point.
* Brendon Small of ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'' tried to do this with one of his films, but did it badly.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'': The pilot starts with an already famous Jem being well-received by her fans and then it flashbacks to the graveyard scene with Jem's father being buried.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''; Season 4 opens by catching up with everyone after a TimeSkip save Korra herself, who's shown at the end FightClubbing in an Earth Kingdom slum while bitterly denying her identity as the Avatar. The next episode covers her attempt to recover from her injuries and PTSD received in Season 3 before she ran away and ended up where she was in the premier.
* The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/LegendOfTheThreeCaballeros'' opens with an ActionPrologue showing the Cabs engaged in a dramatic fight with a demonic being in AnotherDimension, and then a voiceover from Xandra says we're probably confused and need to go back a bit, with the bulk of the episode showing Donald's life ''before'' he got involved with Xandra and the other two Cabs. The series doesn't reach the opening scene until the SeasonFinale, at which point Xandra has a voiceover reminding us we've seen this bit before and saying we're all caught up now.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': "Friendzy" starts with the Loud Siblings fighting each other, and the police showing up to break up the fight. Lincoln then proceeds to tell the audience how things got out of hand so much.
* ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' did this rather breezily, when they fought a giant cheese monster. Coop put aerosol spray cheese into the reactor on a dare.
* ''WesternAnimation/MollyOfDenali'': "Name Game" starts out with Molly covered in feathers and jam. The rest of the episode explains how she got to this point.
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': The episode "The Remains of the Platypus" started with a half-naked Doofenshmirtz, Perry the Platypus serving as his butler, Carl in a cage dressed like a squirrel, Linda showing up to return Perry's fedora hat to Carl, and a band showing up. Rather than simply flashing back to the beginning, the episode kept flashing back to key moments of the story and then returned to present time.
* The opening scene of the ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' episode "Brain Noir" spoofs ''Film/SunsetBoulevard'', with Brain narrating how he came to be floating face down in a pool of water.
* The ''Mickey [=MouseWorks=]'' short "Topsy Turvy Town" (which was one of the ''[=MouseWorks=]'' shorts repackaged as part of the ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' episode "Daisy's Debut") begins with Mickey and Minnie in a cell while a cloaked figure informs them that it is time for their punishment. The short then reveals how Mickey and Minnie got into this situation.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'':
** "Yesterday's Lie" begins with Luz appearing in a mirror to Vee and confronting the [[CuteMonsterGirl so-called]] "Creepy Luz". After the ColdOpen, it's explained ''where'' Luz physically is, how she's appearing in reflections, and how she learned of her impostor.
** "Hollow Mind" begins with Hunter yelling at Luz for getting them zapped [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind into Emperor Belos' mindscape]], then two different but interconnected Night Market flashbacks reveal why they were there, how they met up, and how this led to them getting stuck in the mindscape.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': An InUniverse in "Look Who's Purging Now", while Rick is setting up a signal beacon, Morty is asked to listen to The Lighthouse Chief's hackneyed screenplay, which begins with a dramatic moment and then flashes back to three week earlier. After hearing the whole screenplay, Morty gives his honest review that he suggests to just start the screenplay when the story starts. HilarityEnsues once the Lighthouse demands they leave for [[CantTakeCriticism insulting his work.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': Rocko does this in "[[Recap/RockosModernLifeS4E12HypnoPuppyLoveDrivingMrsWolfe Driving Mrs. Wolfe]]" when Heffer's mother takes the family's brand-new convertible to a demolition derby, [[spoiler:which the family is watching on the stands,]] then just as their car is about to collide with what they believe is the toughest racer in the derby, he takes us back to how he ended up in the situation: it started with him trying to teach Virginia how to drive, leading to his car getting totalled[[spoiler:, then ending with him and Virginia inadvertently entering the derby and winning it]].
* The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/RubyGloom'' starts with Ruby running through the house, seemingly avoiding her friends as they try to get her attention. Then, it takes us back (with a narrator reading as the words are typed on the screen) to "EARLIER THAT DOY" (the last word being a miswritten "day").
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has done this a few times, with one of the better examples being "The Telltale Head", which begins with Bart and Homer, carrying the head of Jebediah Springfield, being chased by a lynch mob, with pretty much the rest of the episode consisting of Bart telling the mob the tale of the events that led up to him decapitating a statue of Jebediah Springfield (and the subsequent encounter with the mob).
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan''
** The episode "Catalysts" opens in the middle of a battle between Spider-Man and Green Goblin in a crowded ballroom, while the rest of the episode details how they got to that point.
** Also in the episode "Subtext", though this goes back and forth between flashbacks and actual events.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Spliced}}'' had "Octocataclysm", which was an explanation of why Smarty Smarts was chasing Octocat with a laser and furiously meowing.
* The ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Missing Identity" has [=SpongeBob=] tell the story of how he found his missing identity.
* The ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' episode "Cheer Up, Star" opens with Marco and Star being assaulted by a small army of Ludo's minions, and eventually flashes back to how Marco got them into this mess.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': The episode "Serious Steven" opens with Steven and The Gems in the wreckage of a [=FunLand=] ride, the events that led to this are shown later in a flashback during their mission at an old ruin.
* The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/StretchArmstrongAndTheFlexFighters'', "Confessions of a Teenage Superhero", introduces the Flex Fighters during a battle with Multi-Farious, then shows how they got their powers by backtracking to the day Jake and Nathan met Ricardo.
* ''WesternAnimation/StrokerAndHoop'' parodies this in an episode. The first shot is Stroker lying on the sidewalk, bleeding out. He proceeds to tell an episode-long story of how he got there (involving ninja) and when the entire thing concludes, it turns out that he ended up on the sidewalk by [[spoiler:slipping on his son's skateboard]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'': "[[Recap/SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesS2E22TheLateMrKent The Late Mr. Kent]]" starts with Clark's funeral and then it goes back to the beginning of the events that led [[spoiler:Detective Bowman]] to want him dead.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/SushiPack'' uses this trope to set up a [[TheRashomon Rashomon]], with two characters remembering the events of the day differently as they try to figure out how they ended up on an asteroid hurtling toward Earth.
* ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'':
** The episode "Not in the Mood" begins with King Frederic ordering Rapunzel to be locked up. Cue the "24 Hours Earlier..." card.
** The episode "Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf" begins with Rapunzel being chased by a werewolf. Cue the "34 Hours Earlier..." card.
* The 2003 ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' often used this device as TheTeaser.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}}'' episode "Underdog Vs. Overcat" has this format.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'', "The Most Awful Weekend", opens on Sunday with the gang sitting on a bench with lots of stains and things, and the story explains how they got them over the weekend.
* ''WesternAnimation/YinYangYo'': "Deja Foo" opens up with [[DumbMuscle Ultimoose]] somehow having become the [[BigBad Night Master]], and Yang futilely fighting him. After getting thrashed, Yang wonders how this could have happened, before seeing the Amnisulet in Ultimoose's hands and recounting how his actions led up to this moment.
----
* ''WesternAnimation/The7D'' has done this with "Buckets" (which begins with the dwarves running out of a dark house in terror) and "Doing The 7D Dance" (which starts with Hildy and Grim about to send the 7D, Queen Delightful, Lord Starchbottom, Sir Yipsalot and Squire Peckington off into space on a rocket).
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPaddington'' does this every episode, beginning with a scene of Paddington in his room writing a letter to his Aunt Lucy about the events of the episode, and the rest is a WholeEpisodeFlashback of what happened according to the letter.
* ''WesternAnimation/AlienatorsEvolutionContinues'' has "To Carthage Then I Came", which begins with Lucy carrying an unconcious Wayne through the deserts of Tunisia, and then she narrates a flashback on what happened to them, Ira, Harry, and Gassie earlier that day, before returning to the climax.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': The episode "The Candidate" opens in media res after all the kids have started fighting in the halls. Gumball then appears after it freezes and begins explaining how that point was reached.
* The ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode where Steve was found dead in his pool. [[spoiler: It's a look-alike.]]
* Season 7 of ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' opens with a WhamShot that seemingly shows Archer's corpse floating in a pool, in a tribute to ''Film/SunsetBoulevard''. It then flashes back to six months beforehand. [[spoiler: Despite a number of ways shown throughout the season in which it could have been a fake out, it turns out to be the real Archer. Season 8 reveals that he survived, but it placed him in a coma.]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode "Double Dare" begins with a ColdOpen in which Arthur and Buster are in the school bathroom, trying to pull Francine in through the window. It then flashes back to explain how this came to be, and catches up with itself about 2/3rds of the way through.
* The ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "The Runaway" starts with Katara turning Toph in to the authorities. Then we go back and learn how this came to make any sense at all.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' episode "Batgirl Begins: Part 1" begins with Batgirl being attacked by Batman and Poison Ivy, and the rest of the episode, as while as the next one, detail how she got there.
* ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries The New Batman Adventures]]'' also did this with the unbelievably awesome episode "Over The Edge". The episode opens with Commissioner Gordon and a police squad chasing Batman and Robin through the Batcave, shooting at them with machine guns, grenades, and a couple of rocket launchers. Once they reach safety, Batman brings Nightwing up to speed on how Scarecrow [[spoiler: killed Batgirl/Barbara Gordon in front of her father, driving him to revenge on Batman]]. It turns out that [[spoiler: it was AllJustADream, which poor Barbara is having due to a dosage of Scarecrow's fear-inducing chemicals.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/CampLakebottom'': In almost every episode. "Escape From Camp Lakebottom" is a notable exception.
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/ClassOf3000''. The kids are in a cage suspended over a pit of lava. When one of them asks how they got into the situation, another responds that it was the same way they get into ''every'' situation.
-->''flashback''\\
'''Little D:''' I've got a great idea!\\
''end flashback''
* The ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' episode "Bragging Rights" starts with Yumi and Ulrich attacked by robot-spiders in the Amazonian lab, and Ulrich comments: "To think it was supposed to be a piece of cake..." Then it flashes back to the few hours before.
* The ''WesternAnimation/DaftPlanet'' episode "Requiem for a Game" begins with Ched and Hudson running down a street. Hudson runs in front of a car that blocks Ched's exit, which causes him to get tackled to the ground by their pursuer.
* Almost every episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Detentionaire}}'' starts with a scene from the climax of the episode (which ends in a {{cliffhanger}}, of course) before rewinding to explain how the characters got into the mess.
* ''WesternAnimation/DogCity'': [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in the episode, "Of Mutts and Mayors", which starts off with Ace and Rosie on the run. Ace has no idea how they wound up in this predicament, which prompts Eliot to explain that they would be starting off near the end, where things are really bad, and then they'd show everyone how they got there.
* The first episode of the SpinOff ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool'' had a ShoutOut to this by starting with the emperor as a bunny and then explaining how it happened.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode, "Once upon an Ed", the Eds have to tell Johnny why [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext they're stuck in his drywall]]. Unfortunately, all of the Eds are rather {{Unreliable Narrator}}s with the episode being [[RashomonStyle a look into how each Ed views the world around them.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': The first scene of "[[Recap/TheFairlyOddParentsS8E4WhenLOSERSAttack When LOSERS Attack]]" is Timmy running through a dark forest, and getting completely vaporized with a laser by an unknown attacker. The episode then shifts to 24 hours earlier, showing the events that led up to this point. The ending shows that [[spoiler:Timmy wished for all of his enemies to be lookalikes of himself, and he was never actually in danger.]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Crimes and Meg's Demeanor" parodies this by attempting to do this trope right as the story is about to end.
* ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes'': The episode "The Cure" starts with Reed, Susan, Johnny and She-Hulk fighting alongside while a BroughtDownToNormal Ben Grimm watches it from home. Then it goes back to when Reed is about to try another way to turn the Thing back into Ben Grimm.
* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'' begins with Gary drifting alone in space with having only ten minutes of oxygen left to live with HUE as his only companion. It then goes back showing the events leading to Gary's predicament.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'':
** The episode "The Tycoon" begins with Fred getting yelled at by Wilma and the Rubbles at home. A narrator flashes back to when J.L. Gotrocks, [[IdenticalStranger a dead-ringer for Fred]], escaped his monotonous tycoon job and convinced Fred to be his replacement. While out, he encounters the three and acts like a huge jerk toward them; after the two doppelgängers switch back, Fred comes home to a bitter reception and doesn't understand why. Poor Fred.
** The episode "The Golf Champion" opens with Fred winning the Loyal Order of Dinosaurs' gold championship, only for Barney to rush the field and try to wrestle the trophy out of his hands. A reporter on the scene asks a spectator what prompted the fight, and the ensuing flashback tells of when Barney got elected to be club's president and vowed to make sure all its members pay their back dues; Fred hadn't paid his, and Barney wants to withhold the trophy until he does.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'''s ''Star Trek''-themed episode, "Where No Fan Has Gone Before", parodying the [=TOS=] episode listed above.
** Also happens twice with the first episode of the [[UnCancelled 2010 season]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow''
** The episode "Jon's Night Out" begins with Garfield trying to wake Jon up as he sleepwalks through a building, and then proceeds to tell the viewer the story.
** The episode "Little Yellow Riding Hood" begins with Garfield and Jon escaping from a wolf, and Garfield asks the viewer to pause the show, and then tells the viewer the story.
** In the "Rodent Rebellion" special, it began with Garfield and Odie being hounded by police before explaining how they got into that predicament.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' did this in "Revelations". The first scene is of Goliath being tortured by Mace Malone, as Matt Bluestone (who, in previous episodes, didn't even know the Gargoyles definitely existed) watches. We then get the explanation of how this happened from Bluestone.
* The premiere episode of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', "Tourist Trapped", starts out like this, with Dipper explaining to the audience why he and his sister are trying to outpace a giant in a golf cart.
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', in the episode "Billy and Mandy Begins". Irwin's question about how they got to be dangling over a giant serpent monster is misinterpreted as a question of how Grim ended up with Billy and Mandy. Two distorted accounts and an accurate synopsis of the pilot take up nearly the entire episode, and by the time it's clarified that the question was how they got in ''that specific situation'', everyone's eaten alive before it can be answered.
* The ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' special ''WesternAnimation/HappinessIsAWarmBlanketCharlieBrown'' begins with shots of various holes being dug around parts of the neighborhood, including the pitcher's mound Charlie Brown is standing on, Lucy's psychiatrist stand, and Snoopy's doghouse, and it's because Linus is searching for his blanket that Lucy buried, and the rest of the special explains how it got to that point.
* Brendon Small of ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'' tried to do this with one of his films, but did it badly.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'': The pilot starts with an already famous Jem being well-received by her fans and then it flashbacks to the graveyard scene with Jem's father being buried.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''; Season 4 opens by catching up with everyone after a TimeSkip save Korra herself, who's shown at the end FightClubbing in an Earth Kingdom slum while bitterly denying her identity as the Avatar. The next episode covers her attempt to recover from her injuries and PTSD received in Season 3 before she ran away and ended up where she was in the premier.
* The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/LegendOfTheThreeCaballeros'' opens with an ActionPrologue showing the Cabs engaged in a dramatic fight with a demonic being in AnotherDimension, and then a voiceover from Xandra says we're probably confused and need to go back a bit, with the bulk of the episode showing Donald's life ''before'' he got involved with Xandra and the other two Cabs. The series doesn't reach the opening scene until the SeasonFinale, at which point Xandra has a voiceover reminding us we've seen this bit before and saying we're all caught up now.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': "Friendzy" starts with the Loud Siblings fighting each other, and the police showing up to break up the fight. Lincoln then proceeds to tell the audience how things got out of hand so much.
* ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' did this rather breezily, when they fought a giant cheese monster. Coop put aerosol spray cheese into the reactor on a dare.
* ''WesternAnimation/MollyOfDenali'': "Name Game" starts out with Molly covered in feathers and jam. The rest of the episode explains how she got to this point.
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': The episode "The Remains of the Platypus" started with a half-naked Doofenshmirtz, Perry the Platypus serving as his butler, Carl in a cage dressed like a squirrel, Linda showing up to return Perry's fedora hat to Carl, and a band showing up. Rather than simply flashing back to the beginning, the episode kept flashing back to key moments of the story and then returned to present time.
* The opening scene of the ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' episode "Brain Noir" spoofs ''Film/SunsetBoulevard'', with Brain narrating how he came to be floating face down in a pool of water.
* The ''Mickey [=MouseWorks=]'' short "Topsy Turvy Town" (which was one of the ''[=MouseWorks=]'' shorts repackaged as part of the ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' episode "Daisy's Debut") begins with Mickey and Minnie in a cell while a cloaked figure informs them that it is time for their punishment. The short then reveals how Mickey and Minnie got into this situation.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'':
** "Yesterday's Lie" begins with Luz appearing in a mirror to Vee and confronting the [[CuteMonsterGirl so-called]] "Creepy Luz". After the ColdOpen, it's explained ''where'' Luz physically is, how she's appearing in reflections, and how she learned of her impostor.
** "Hollow Mind" begins with Hunter yelling at Luz for getting them zapped [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind into Emperor Belos' mindscape]], then two different but interconnected Night Market flashbacks reveal why they were there, how they met up, and how this led to them getting stuck in the mindscape.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': An InUniverse in "Look Who's Purging Now", while Rick is setting up a signal beacon, Morty is asked to listen to The Lighthouse Chief's hackneyed screenplay, which begins with a dramatic moment and then flashes back to three week earlier. After hearing the whole screenplay, Morty gives his honest review that he suggests to just start the screenplay when the story starts. HilarityEnsues once the Lighthouse demands they leave for [[CantTakeCriticism insulting his work.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': Rocko does this in "[[Recap/RockosModernLifeS4E12HypnoPuppyLoveDrivingMrsWolfe Driving Mrs. Wolfe]]" when Heffer's mother takes the family's brand-new convertible to a demolition derby, [[spoiler:which the family is watching on the stands,]] then just as their car is about to collide with what they believe is the toughest racer in the derby, he takes us back to how he ended up in the situation: it started with him trying to teach Virginia how to drive, leading to his car getting totalled[[spoiler:, then ending with him and Virginia inadvertently entering the derby and winning it]].
* The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/RubyGloom'' starts with Ruby running through the house, seemingly avoiding her friends as they try to get her attention. Then, it takes us back (with a narrator reading as the words are typed on the screen) to "EARLIER THAT DOY" (the last word being a miswritten "day").
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has done this a few times, with one of the better examples being "The Telltale Head", which begins with Bart and Homer, carrying the head of Jebediah Springfield, being chased by a lynch mob, with pretty much the rest of the episode consisting of Bart telling the mob the tale of the events that led up to him decapitating a statue of Jebediah Springfield (and the subsequent encounter with the mob).
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan''
** The episode "Catalysts" opens in the middle of a battle between Spider-Man and Green Goblin in a crowded ballroom, while the rest of the episode details how they got to that point.
** Also in the episode "Subtext", though this goes back and forth between flashbacks and actual events.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Spliced}}'' had "Octocataclysm", which was an explanation of why Smarty Smarts was chasing Octocat with a laser and furiously meowing.
* The ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Missing Identity" has [=SpongeBob=] tell the story of how he found his missing identity.
* The ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' episode "Cheer Up, Star" opens with Marco and Star being assaulted by a small army of Ludo's minions, and eventually flashes back to how Marco got them into this mess.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': The episode "Serious Steven" opens with Steven and The Gems in the wreckage of a [=FunLand=] ride, the events that led to this are shown later in a flashback during their mission at an old ruin.
* The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/StretchArmstrongAndTheFlexFighters'', "Confessions of a Teenage Superhero", introduces the Flex Fighters during a battle with Multi-Farious, then shows how they got their powers by backtracking to the day Jake and Nathan met Ricardo.
* ''WesternAnimation/StrokerAndHoop'' parodies this in an episode. The first shot is Stroker lying on the sidewalk, bleeding out. He proceeds to tell an episode-long story of how he got there (involving ninja) and when the entire thing concludes, it turns out that he ended up on the sidewalk by [[spoiler:slipping on his son's skateboard]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'': "[[Recap/SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesS2E22TheLateMrKent The Late Mr. Kent]]" starts with Clark's funeral and then it goes back to the beginning of the events that led [[spoiler:Detective Bowman]] to want him dead.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/SushiPack'' uses this trope to set up a [[TheRashomon Rashomon]], with two characters remembering the events of the day differently as they try to figure out how they ended up on an asteroid hurtling toward Earth.
* ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'':
** The episode "Not in the Mood" begins with King Frederic ordering Rapunzel to be locked up. Cue the "24 Hours Earlier..." card.
** The episode "Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf" begins with Rapunzel being chased by a werewolf. Cue the "34 Hours Earlier..." card.
* The 2003 ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' often used this device as TheTeaser.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}}'' episode "Underdog Vs. Overcat" has this format.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'', "The Most Awful Weekend", opens on Sunday with the gang sitting on a bench with lots of stains and things, and the story explains how they got them over the weekend.
* ''WesternAnimation/YinYangYo'': "Deja Foo" opens up with [[DumbMuscle Ultimoose]] somehow having become the [[BigBad Night Master]], and Yang futilely fighting him. After getting thrashed, Yang wonders how this could have happened, before seeing the Amnisulet in Ultimoose's hands and recounting how his actions led up to this moment.
