History Main / HowWeGotHere

*** "Timeless" is set in a BadFuture where Chakotay and Harry were the sole survivors of ''Voyager'', and the story is intercut with flashbacks leading up to the accident that led to ''Voyager'''s destruction, [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong which those two, along with the newly-reactivated Doctor, are trying to prevent]].

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', "The Menagerie". However, this example is more a case of incorporating an older piece of footage into an episode. It does not begin in the "middle of the story" and then flash back.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
** The show plays with the trope with the Season 5 episode "Cause and Effect". The very first thing we see of the episode is the ''Enterprise'' collide with a suddenly-appearing starship ''and blowing up''. After the title screen, we see the Enterprise intact and learn this is ''seemingly'' the trope...until the ship explodes ''again'' shortly afterward. It's only then that you realize the episode is not really How We Got Here but a GroundhogDayLoop.
** The Season 6 episode "Suspicions" plays the trope straight. Guinan visits Dr. Crusher in her quarters for an elbow problem, but Crusher reveals she's about to be drummed out of her position. Most of the episode goes into the story behind it, then when it finally catches up we see Crusher find a way to solve the episode's problem (which would've led to her disgrace).
* The ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
** "Whispers" opens with O'Brien alone in a runabout, making a log entry about being on the run from "them". He goes on to explain how he first became aware of "them" and how that eventually led to him fleeing the station.
** Similarly, "In The Pale Moonlight" begins with Sisko making a log entry describing the events of the preceeding few days, which is then cut back to periodically as said events are depicted.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'':
** "Thirty Days" begins with Tom Paris being demoted to Ensign and sentenced to the title length in the brig for disobeying direct orders; he narrates the events that led to his temporary disgrace[[note]] he gets restored to his former rank the following season, in "Unimatrix Zero, Part 1"[[/note]] in the form of a log to his father.
** "Timeless" is set in a BadFuture where Chakotay and Harry were the sole survivors of ''Voyager'', and the story is intercut with flashbacks leading up to the accident that led to ''Voyager'''s destruction, [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong which those two, along with the newly-reactivated Doctor, are trying to prevent]].

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''':

* The ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Whispers" opens with O'Brien alone in a runabout, making a log entry about being on the run from "them". He goes on to explain how he first became aware of "them" and how that eventually led to him fleeing the station.

** "Timeless" is set in a BadFuture where Chakotay and Harry were the sole survivors of ''Voyager'', and the story is intercut with flashbacks leading up to the accident that led to ''Voyager'''s destruction, [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong which those two, along with the newly-revived Doctor, are trying to prevent]].

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'''s "Thirty Days" begins with Tom Paris being demoted to Ensign and sentenced to the title length in the brig for disobeying direct orders; he narrates the events that led to his temporary disgrace[[note]] he gets restored to his former rank the following season, in "Unimatrix Zero, Part 1"[[/note]] in the form of a log to his father.

See also BackToFront, DeathByFlashback, ForegoneConclusion, StartsWithTheirFuneral, FramingDevice and ThisIsMyStory. Goes very well with PrivateEyeMonologue. Can often be used as a highly effective DrivingQuestion. Can often overlap with OnceMoreWithClarity if and when the introductory scene in question reappears. A specific variant is HowDadMetMom. Can take the form of FlashbackBPlot if a character's story alternates between the past and present but is not primarily a frame story.

* ''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,

* ''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 movie adaptation of ''Film/{{Daredevil}}'' begins this way, with a mortally wounded Daredevil explaining in narration how he got to be in that position. Once his origin is told and the story catches up to that point, however, Daredevil inexplicably shrugs off his injuries (he literally gets up and walks it off).

* 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 stand 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.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': The episode "The Candidate" opens in media res after all the kids have started fighting in the halls. Gumball them appears after it freezes and begins explaining how that point was reached.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' 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.