History Main / BackstoryOfTheDay

** The Buddhist-themed, activist Third Doctor was organising student campaigns to ban [[ComeToGawk miniscopes]] and talking to hermits about enlightenment.
** The InsufferableGenius RebelliousSpirit Fourth Doctor was daydreaming about picnics during his classes, drinking his teachers under the table and [[BookDumb squeaking through his exams with the lowest passing grade]]. He was listening to ghost stories during his gothic horror phase, possibly from the hermit mentioned above.
** The young, bashful Fifth Doctor was dreaming of being [[RailEnthusiast a train driver.]]
** The HotterAndSexier MessianicArchetype Tenth Doctor was [[FoeYay getting really homoerotic with the Master]] and experiencing forces of creation that drive people mad.
** The professorial but [[NoSocialSkills socially awkward]] Eleventh Doctor was inventing new sonic screwdrivers and being too embarrassed to talk to girls.
** The NightmareFetishist ReluctantWarrior Twelfth Doctor was experiencing a primal scene of ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight, pondering the image of a soldier without a gun, and being traumatized by a prophecy he no longer remembers.

** Whenever the Doctor recalls his past on Gallifrey, he never recalls anything that'd be out of character for his [[EraSpecificPersonality current personality]], even though what we see of the First Doctor is very different to many of his successors. This is somewhat justified by the idea that regeneration brings different memories to the fore while other experiences are forgotten, shaping each individual personality. To wit:

* ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'' had Ridcully reveal a hidden past of "foot thee ball" for the football related plot. (Although he's always been much more interested in physical activities than the other wizards, it's just the specifically football oriented interest that hadn't been mentioned.)

** The episode where the cast has the visitor, "Strawberry Sweetcake," gave Wooldor Sockbat had a backstory of his city being besieged by their mortal enemies, the Sweetcakes, who captured the Sockbats and ground them up for use in their [[SoylentGreen pastry factories]].

* A frequent plot device in FanFic is to have a protagonist always have had an interest in something never mentioned on screen, often something that the writer is interested in.

** Whenever the Doctor recalls his past on Gallifrey he never recalls anything that'd be out of character for his [[EraSpecificPersonality current personality]], even though what we see of the First Doctor is very different to many of his successors. This is somewhat justified by the idea that regeneration brings different memories to the fore while other experiences are forgotten, shaping each individual personality. To wit:
** The activistic and Buddhist-themed Third Doctor was organising student campaigns to ban [[ComeToGawk miniscopes]] and talking to hermits about enlightenment.

** The young, bashful Fifth Doctor was dreaming of being a train driver.

** The InsufferableGenius RebelliousSpirit Fourth Doctor was daydreaming about picnics during his classes, drinking his teachers under the table and [[BookDumb squeaking through his exams with the lowest passing grade]].

** Whenever the Doctor recalls his past on Gallifrey he never recalls anything that'd be out of character for his [[EraSpecificPersonality current personality]], even though what we see of the First Doctor is very different to many of his successors. The activistic and Buddhist-themed Third Doctor was organising student campaigns to ban [[ComeToGawk miniscopes]] and talking to hermits about enlightenment. The InsufferableGenius RebelliousSpirit Fourth Doctor was daydreaming about picnics during his classes, drinking his teachers under the table and [[BookDumb squeaking through his exams with the lowest passing grade]]. The young, bashful Fifth Doctor was dreaming of being a train driver. The HotterAndSexier MessianicArchetype Tenth Doctor was [[FoeYay getting really homoerotic with the Master]] and experiencing forces of creation that drive people mad. The professorial but [[NoSocialSkills socially awkward]] Eleventh Doctor was inventing new sonic screwdrivers and being too embarrassed to talk to girls. The NightmareFetishist ReluctantWarrior Twelfth Doctor was experiencing a primal scene of ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight and pondering the image of a soldier without a gun. This is somewhat justified by the idea that regeneration brings different memories to the fore while other experiences are forgotten, shaping each individual personality.

* Invoked on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', where Picard suddenly remembers he has always had an unbridled passion for horse-riding, and on hearing the planet of the week has riding trails, decides he must leave immediately to fetch his custom saddle; right in the middle of an extremely boring party. The other characters lampshade this a bit, none of them have ever heard him mention riding before, but tease each person who learns about after them for not knowing that ''of course'' the captain (like any serious rider) has his own saddle.

An established character reveals a major part of theirs life story that is contrived as a plot device to match the subject of today's episode. We've never seen this side of the character before (and may never see it again). It typically happens in LongRunners where characterization is often established over time, and can help flesh out a FlatCharacter if done properly.

An established character reveals a major part of theirs life story that is contrived as a plot device to match the subject of today's episode. We've never seen this side of the character before (and may never see it again). It typically happens in sitcoms.

Bonus points for being really implausible.

See also RetCon.

CompressedVice is a sub-trope.

** ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' has Kirk being a passionate antique collector, despite no particular history in that field in the rest of the series.
** ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'' showcases Kirk's hitherto unknown passion for free climbing, despite its irrelevance to the rest of the film.

->''"Because [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Chakotay]] has '''always''' been a lifelong..."'' [sound of dice rolling].
-->-- ''WebSite/SFDebris''

-->-- ''SFDebris''

** "The Doctor's Wife" hinges partially on the conceit that the Doctor has always, since he was stolen by her, secretly called the TARDIS "Sexy". This is something we have never before seen him do over 50 years and would be blatantly out-of-character for most of the Doctors prior to the new series and especially for the Doctor who initially stole her (who had an adversarial relationship with her at best and always referred to her as 'the ship'). Hell, it's not even until the Fourth Doctor that he bothered to get her pronoun right.

* Invoked on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', where Picard suddenly remembers he has always had an unbridled passion for horse-riding, and on hearing the planet of the week has riding trails, decides he must leave immediately to fetch his custom saddle; right in the middle of an extremely boring party.

** Whenever the Doctor recalls his past on Gallifrey he never recalls anything that'd be out of character for his [[EraSpecificPersonality current personality]], even though what we see of the First Doctor is very different to many of his successors. The activistic and Buddhist-themed Third Doctor was organising student campaigns to ban [[ComeToGawk miniscopes]] and talking to hermits about enlightenment. The InsufferableGenius RebelliousSpirit Fourth Doctor was daydreaming about picnics during his classes, drinking his teachers under the table and [[BookDumb squeaking through his exams with the lowest passing grade]]. The HotterAndSexier MessianicArchetype Tenth Doctor was [[FoeYay getting really homoerotic with the Master]] and experiencing forces of creation that drive people mad. The professorial but [[NoSocialSkills socially awkward]] Eleventh Doctor was inventing new sonic screwdrivers and being too embarrassed to talk to girls. The NightmareFetishist ReluctantWarrior Twelfth Doctor was experiencing a primal scene of ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight and pondering the image of a soldier without a gun. This is somewhat justified by the idea that regeneration brings different memories to the fore while other experiences are forgotten, shaping each individual personality.

** Invoked on ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]]'' where Picard suddenly remembers he has always had an unbridled passion for horse-riding, and on hearing the planet of the week has riding trails, decides he must leave immediately to fetch his custom saddle; right in the middle of an extremely boring party.

* Slightly averted in {{Futurama}}, where Bender's lifelong dream of becoming a folk singer comes into play in two episodes, and {{lampshaded}} in the second of the episodes.

* In one episode of ''HeadOfTheClass'' Jawarhalal was suddenly well-known for agreeing with everybody about everything. Up until that episode it didn't come up.

An established character reveals a major part of his life story that is contrived as a plot device to match the subject of today's episode. We've never seen this side of the character before (and may never see it again). It typically happens in sitcoms.

* ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'' had Ridcully reveal a hidden past of "foot thee ball" for the football related plot.

* Whenever the Doctor in ''Series/DoctorWho'' recalls his past on Gallifrey he never recalls anything that'd be out of character for his [[EraSpecificPersonality current personality]], even though what we see of the First Doctor is very different to many of his successors. The activistic and Buddhist-themed Third Doctor was organising student campaigns to ban [[ComeToGawk miniscopes]] and talking to hermits about enlightenment. The InsufferableGenius RebelliousSpirit Fourth Doctor was daydreaming about picnics during his classes, drinking his teachers under the table and [[BookDumb squeaking through his exams with the lowest passing grade]]. The HotterAndSexier MessianicArchetype Tenth Doctor was [[FoeYay getting really homoerotic with the Master]] and experiencing forces of creation that drive people mad. The professorial but [[NoSocialSkills socially awkward]] Eleventh Doctor was inventing new sonic screwdrivers and being too embarrassed to talk to girls. The NightmareFetishist ReluctantWarrior Twelfth Doctor was experiencing a primal scene of ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight and pondering the image of a soldier without a gun. This is somewhat justified by the idea that regeneration brings different memories to the fore while other experiences are forgotten, shaping each individual personality.

->''"Because [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Chakotay]] has always been a lifelong..."'' (sound of dice rolling).

* Frequently on ''{{CSI}}'', one of the team will reveal a never-before-mentioned familiarity with whatever niche hobby group has suffered a horrific murder this week; Warwick's an ex-boxer, Greg's a skater, etc. By contrast, if said subculture is remotely controversial, one of the others will [[StrawmanBall suddenly reveal their bigoted opinion about it]]. Drama!