History Main / NowDoItAgainBackwards

* WeeSing in the Big Rock Candy Mountains: After the characters perform "Follow Me," the Snoodle-doodles ask them to "do it all backwards, really fast!" They do it.

* Played (mostly) for laughs in a ''DarkwingDuck'' episode.

** There are also a few magical effects that will undo themselves if applied a second time, like the (cursed) Helm of Opposite Alignment or Belt of Masculinity/Femininity, although in those two cases the character would need to go find a new copy, as each item discharges and loses its magic when used.

* In one of his short adventures, {{Underdog}} reversed the effect of Simon Barsinister's camera ray by inserting the lens backward and aiming it at the police officers who had been turned into photographs.

* ''Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man'' (1943). Dr. Frankenstein's journal explains that the practically immortal monster can be killed by attaching him to the machine that gave him life and "changing the poles" (AKA [[ReversePolarity reversing the polarity]]).

->-- ''StarTrekVoyager'', "Non Sequitur"

Come on in. Sit down. Aw, there's no need to be nervous. We all know how it is out there. Sometimes things get out of hand. Now, you just tell me all about it. I've heard it all before. Maybe you flew your spaceship through a wormhole while your engine was leaking, and you ended up in a parallel universe. Perhaps you are a gang of super heroes and you've had a bit of a whoopsie with some AppliedPhlebotinum, some GreenRocks, and [[NoodleImplements a liquid lunch]]. Maybe you fell back through time or ended up in an alternate dimension, or perhaps you just got zapped by some [[NegativeSpaceWedgie weird space anomaly.]]

Well, have no fear. We can help you. Whatever ill effects you've suffered, they can all be fixed by just ''doing the same thing that caused the problem, but in reverse''. Fly back through the wormhole without fixing your engines first. Stand in the same place as before and rub the AppliedPhlebotinum on the GreenRocks again. Find the hole in spacetime that leads back to the future or your home dimension, or go get zapped by the same anomaly (though you might want to ReversePolarity first before you do that last one).

[[AC:AnimeAndManga]]

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

* The titular candies in the children's book ''TheIncredibleReversingPeppermints''; eating one completely reverses your personality, eating another reverses the reversal. Which does admittedly make a certain amount of sense, at least compared to a few other examples on this page.
* It can be said that Faulkner did this in ''{{As I Lay Dying}}''. When Dewy Dell (not the brightest bulb) tries to get an abortion, a man tells her that 'more of the same' will get rid of the baby. Dewy Dell storms out of the shop a few moments later raving how it wouldn't work.
* RobertHeinlein novel ''StarmanJones''. Starships travel by accelerating to near lightspeed and making a "transition" to a new location. During one transition a mistake is made and the ship ends up lost. The crew tries to get back by returning to the point where they appeared and making a transition which is the reverse of the original in the hope that it will take them home.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:RealLife]]

** Humans actually ''can'' also do this as well (to a degree): it's called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluconeogenesis Gluconeogenesis]]. It's the reverse reaction of glycolysis, the first part of the process our bodies use to oxidize glucose, and is used when our blood sugar level is low.
* TruthInTelevision (sort of): All speed records have to be achieved twice to be declared official - once to set the speed, and ''again'' in the direct opposite direction - this proves that it was an official speed, and not assisted by a tailwind or the such.

[[AC:TabletopRPG]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WebAnimation]]

[[AC:WebComics]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

----

* In LucasArts' {{Loom}}, many drafts can be reversed to achieve the opposite effect. For example, you can dye wool green, then un-dye it back to white.

*** This trooper's theory has always been those people didn't disappear, they simply remained in the present. Or, rather, were moved forward to the new present, while everyone asleep got stuck in the old present. Of course, without a plane, their outlook wasn't very good...

* It can be said that Faulker did this in ''{{As I Lay Dying}}''. When Dewy Dell (not the brightest bulb) tries to get an abortion, a man tells her that 'more of the same' will get rid of the baby. Dewy Dell storms out of the shop a few moments later raving how it wouldn't work. I'm not entirely sure whether she actually let him do it or not.

* The bad remake of ''PlanetOfTheApes''. Sorta. [[GainaxEnding Or whatever they were going for]].

** Ignored, however, in the 2009 ''StarTrek'' movie, even though it's a traditional black hole plot. This troper was ''sure'' they were going to go back through the hole at the end of the movie and reverse [[spoiler: the destruction of Vulcan]] ... but they didn't.
*** This is probably due to the fact that the current actors are contracted for three movies, not just the one. Now, if they don't press the ResetButton at the end of the '''third''' movie, '''THAT''' would be a surprise.
** Two words: AlternateContinuity.

* FullmetalAlchemist (manga/''Brotherhood''): Edward Elric lost his arm in exchange for bonding his brother Alphonse's soul to a suit of armor. [[spoiler:In the climactic fight against God!Father, Alphonse sacrifices this bond in exchange for his brother's arm (his automail having been trashed moments earlier, his normal arm impaled on a sharp rod, pinning him, and with Father slowly marching his way, fully intent of [[AndIMustScream using him as a Philosopher's Stone]]). The same isn't possible for his leg/Al's body, however...]]

* The first Superman film, where flying in a reverse orbit around the Earth turns back time instead of, well, trashing the entire Earth.

* Averted in OutOfOrder. Playing the theme of The Town backwards renders it harmless, and reveals the hypnotic subliminal messages hidden within, but doesn't counteract the effect. To do that our hero has to swap out the hypno-tunes for his Three Frank Harlons album.

*** Also, "efficient enough to be useful" is less efficient than you'd think. Due to conservation of energy, you have to put in at least as much energy as you get out - but current technologies are much worse than that. Fossil fuels, for example, require about ten times as much energy to extract and process into eminently-portable fuel as you get from the fuel.

* ''CourageTheCowardlyDog'': Going through a tornado reduces Old Lady Muriel to 3½ years old. The solution was for Courage to put her through a tornado going the opposite direction.

* ''CourageTheCowardlyDog'': Going through a tornado reduces Old Lady Muriel to 3 1/2 years old. The solution was for Courage to put her through a tornado going the opposite direction.
* A ''PowerpuffGirls'' episode with brainbreakingly bad physics had them going so fast that relativity started working backwards and they ended up in the future. Then they somehow got back by going just as fast in the other direction.
** It seemed more to this troper that out of sheer desperation, they actually ''broke'' the light barrier.

* ''{{Futurama}}'' parodied this trope in the episode "Roswell that Ends Well."

* ''JonnyQuest'' TOS episode "The Invisible Monster''. Dr. Quest plans to destroy the title creature by reversing the process by which it was created.
* ''SpaceGhost'' episode "Clutches of Creature King". Space Ghost is sent into the past by a "time warp caused by the cross of an energy force with a neutron ionizer". He reverses the process to return to the future.
* ''StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Practical Joker". After the Enterprise passes through an energy field, the ship's computer starts pulling jokes on the crew. The computer is returned to normal when the Enterprise passes through the cloud again.
* ''TotallySpies'' episode "[=WOOHPersize Me!=]". Master Mario's music has a mind control effect on people who listen to it. To remove the control you just have them listen to the music played backwards.

----
<<|EndingTropes|>>
<<|SpeculativeFictionTropes|>>

* In ''The Essential SilverSurfer'' the Surfer goes into the future by accelerating to near-lightspeed. He returns to the present by doing the same [[DidNotDoTheResearch "''in the other direction.''"]]

** Flesh to Stone - Stone to Flesh
** Neutralize Poison - Poison
** Create/Destroy Water