History Main / OrwellianRetcon

Prime source of AdaptationDisplacement for more [[{{Nohamotyo}} recent fans]]. May lead to a LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition. Possibly may lead to a BrokenBase. See also CreatorBacklash, especially if the original version is taken off the shelves.

* StephenKing rewrote and expanded large portions of [[TheDarkTower/TheGunslinger the first volume]] of ''TheDarkTower'' to better fit in with the later books.

-->Let's say CSLewis decides, later in his life, that he's a Mormon. He's shedding tears about all the preëxistence lost, calculating the tithe complete with compounded back interest, throwing out all his tea bags. He's been reborn, is working to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restorationism Restore]], and plans to rename himself C.LDS. Lewis. The whole 9 yards and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrees_of_Glory 3 heavens]], capiche? And he declares that the ''{{Voyage of the Dawn Treader}}'' is now the ''Voyage of the Rvnd. Brigham Young'', and they're sailing not to the End of the World but to Salt Lake City, and Repicheep takes all the merpeople as wives. What would you do? Accept it, make like [[{{1984}} Winston Smith]] and handle the order to '''narnchron 3 boatname dawntreader doubleplusungood refs unship rewrite fullwise upsub antefiling?''' Well, you can take your Narnia rewritten fullwise, and you can cram a 15-ton statue of Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky right up your ass with walnuts, buddy.

-->Let's say Lewis decides, later in his life, that he's a Mormon. He's shedding tears about all the preëxistence lost, calculating the tithe complete with compounded back interest, throwing out all his tea bags. He's been reborn, is working to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restorationism Restore]], and plans to rename himself C.LDS. Lewis. The whole 9 yards and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrees_of_Glory 3 heavens]], capiche? And he declares that the ''{{Voyage of the Dawn Treader}}'' is now the ''Voyage of the Rvnd. Brigham Young'', and they're sailing not to the End of the World but to Salt Lake City, and Repicheep takes all the merpeople as wives. What would you do? Accept it, make like [[{{1984}} Winston Smith]] and handle the order to '''narnchron 3 boatname dawntreader doubleplusungood refs unship rewrite fullwise upsub antefiling?''' Well, you can take your Narnia rewritten fullwise, and you can cram a 15-ton statue of Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky right up your ass with walnuts, buddy.

* The original Oompa-Loompas of "CharlieandtheChocolateFactory" were black, specifically mentioned to be from Darkest Africa. After numerous people pointed out the "UnfortunateImplications" of Willy Wonka as a slave owner, later printings changed them to the familiar orange-skinned inhabitants of Loompa-land.

** However, he does (in my edition, anyway) also include the original first chapter.

* StephenKing rewrote and expanded large portions of [[TheDarkTower/TheGunslinger the first volume]] of ''TheDarkTower'' to better fit in with the later books. Since ''The Gunslinger'' as originally written is composed in a unique style unlike any of King's later works, YourMileageMayVary as to whether [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks that is actually a good thing]].

* The previous publisher of AvalonWebOfMagic went bankrupt. In the switch to SevenSeasEntertainment, the author revised the books and fixed some of the {{Wallbangers}}.

** Citation needed.
** [[InSovietRussiaTropeMocksYou In Soviet Union, history rewrites you]]!
** "Revisionist" is an interesting charge...
*** It's a common one in Communist circles, although more prevalent in Maoism (where Stalin is seen as the last "real" Communist leader and his successors in the Soviet Union are the ones trying to "revise" communism).

* Thankfully averted by ''SchlockMercenary'''s time-travel arc. The artist considered going back through the archive and re-drawing strips in which the characters could/would have been the second time around, but didn't as {{Archive Binge}}rs would have been lost and regulars would largely have missed the joke.

* After ''{{Ménage à 3}}'' started averting NippleAndDimed, some of the more [[TVTropesDrinkingGame egregious]] uses of PeekABoo were edited out of the old strips.

* The previous publisher of AvalonWebOfMagic went bankrupt. In the switch to SevenSeasEntertainment, the author revised the books and fixed some of the {{Wallbangers}}.

* Director MichaelMann suppressed copies of the original theatrical cut of ''LastOfTheMohicans'' after some fans expressed displeasure at removal of scenes and music from the [[LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition director's cut]] which Mann decided he didn't like ten years later. Various character-driven scenes were excised while action scenes were added; complicating things, choice bits of dialogue were edited in, but the overall length of the film didn't change due to the volume of cuts. Altered sound design consisted of recycled bits of soundtrack, with the volume turned down. To this day, the theatrical cut is [[NoExportForYou only available in Europe]].

* Director MichaelMann suppressed copies of the original theatrical cut of ''LastOfTheMohicans'' after some fans expressed displeasure at the removal of scenes and music from the [[LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition director's cut]] which Mann had decided he didn't like ten years later. Various character-driven scenes were excised while action scenes were added; complicating things, choice bits of dialogue were edited in, but the overall length of the film didn't change due to the volume of cuts. Altered sound design consisted of recycled bits of soundtrack, with the volume turned down. To this day, the theatrical cut is [[NoExportForYou only available in Europe]].

* Director MichaelMann suppressed copies of the original theatrical cut of ''LastOfTheMohicans'' after some fans expressed displeasure at the removal of scenes and music from the [[LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition director's cut]] which Mann had decided he didn't like ten years later. Various character-driven scenes were excised while action scenes were added; complicating things, a few choice cuts of dialogue were edited back in, but the overall length of the film didn't change due to the volume of cuts. Altered sound design consisted of recycled bits of soundtrack, with the volume turned down. To this day, the theatrical cut is [[NoExportForYou only available in Europe]].

** This was touched on cleverly in the text It was implied that the version recorded in the first edition of ''The Hobbit'' was the same as the false account that Bilbo [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis told the Dwarves and recorded in his book]]. Bilbo later confessed the truth to Gandalf, then Frodo learned of this from Gandalf and edited his uncle's book. Thus the idea Bilbo lied being out-of-character isn't dodged, but made meaningful, since it was something Gandalf found the idea anyone giving up the ring to be very suspicious.

* StephenKing rewrote and expanded large portions of [[TheDarkTower/TheGunslinger the first volume]] of TheDarkTower to better fit in with the later books. YourMileageMayVary as to whether [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks that is actually a good thing]].

* ChristopherPaolini originally intended the InheritanceCycle to be a trilogy, but upon writing the third book found that he had far too much plot left for only one book, and had any further reprinting of the first two say cycle instead of trilogy.

* StephenKing rewrote and expanded large portions of [[TheDarkTower/TheGunslinger the first volume]] of TheDarkTower to better fit in with the later books.

* The original dubbed airing of the Dungeon Dice Monsters mini-arc of ''YuGiOh'' used the original designs for the Dice Crests. For no adequately explained reason, all subsequent airings used ConspicuousCG dice with a completely changed set of Crest markings. Fortunately, the American board game version and its GameBoy Advance adaptation used mostly the original designs, with only the Magic Crest changed to a circle with a lightning bolt in the center.

* Justified in {{Erfworld}}. The author changed the Twoll ability of regeneration to fabrication, and changed the Deletionism branch of magic to [[{{Retcon}} Retconjuration]].

* ''X-Men Classic'' was a reprint comic of the early adventures of the "All-New" team. Some of the reprints were edited to conform with more recent interpretations of the character. E.g., when Nightcrawler was visiting Banshee's ancestral castle, his ability to (explictly) turn invisible in darkness was edited so that he's merely very hard to see. (I.e., you can no longer see the background through his body.)

* Thankfully averted by {{SchlockMercenary}}'s time-travel arc. The artist considered going back through the archive and re-drawing strips in which the characters could/would have been the second time around, but didn't as {{ArchiveBinge}}rs would have been lost and regulars would largely have missed the joke.

**In the first version of Chapter 8, Kat Donlan joyfully shouts upon seeing Annie, "I knew it! I knew you were still alive!" In the book, she shouts, "They were right! They said you'd be okay!", referring to her parents--it's complicated.[[hottip:*:Annie had [[KidWithTheLeash a contract of ownership]] over Reynardine, which would have been annulled had she died. Kat's parents knew this. So, after Annie fell off the bridge, the fact that Rey ''wasn't'' freed to do as he wished would have told the Donlans that Annie was still alive. So the prior version's implication that Kat alone still thought Annie was alive was a PlotHole.]]