History Main / ReWrite

* ''Film/RockyBalboa'' completely ignores the events of ''Film/RockyV''. In the montage of clips shown from previous films, any footage from ''Rocky V'' is notably absent. As well, the brain damage Rocky suffered in ''Rocky V'' is completely ignored. This is due to Sylvester Stallone being [[CanonDiscontinuity unhappy with]] ''Rocky V'' and creating Rocky Balboa as the "suitable" conclusion to the Rocky saga.
** The BroadStrokes of ''Rocky V'' did happen, like him being retired from boxing and virtually broke. Stallone provided a HandWave in supplementary material that said the head injury wasn't as severe as his doctors initially believed, and he presumably never got a second opinion because Adrien insisted it was time for him to call it a day. Obviously Stallone hated ''Rocky V'' [[FanonDiscontinuity as much as the viewers]].
*** More like regretted it.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'' underwent continuous rewrites; or to be more precise showed a cavalier disregard to its own backstory when there was a gag to be made. Most notably, the idea in the early seasons that Lister had barely spoken to Kochanski was contradicted in [[AlternateContinuity the novels]], where they had a brief relationship before she dumped him. [[ContinuityDrift Later episodes would follow that version.]] Another major one is Rimmer's light bee; it went from being Rimmer's remote projection unit to actually ''being'' Rimmer.

* A very minor and easy-to-miss example is in ''Series/BlackAdder II'', where Baldrick says, upon being fired in the episode "Beer", that his family has been in the service of Edmund's since 1532. The first series, ''Series/TheBlackAdder'', begins in 1485, at which point Baldrick is first introduced to Prince Edmund and, indeed, his family.

* Old TV Serials, such as ''Undersea Kingdon'' were notorious for rewriting [[{{Cliffhanger}} Cliffhangers]]. "Oh no, Crash Corrigan collapsed in the certain death room! Oh, wait, they introduced a floor-hole between episodes and had Crash jump through it, and thus he's no longer being showered in sparks."

* The ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'' series' remakes (FireRed, LeafGreen, HeartGold, SoulSilver), as well as providing compatibility with the later generations, can be seen as a rewrite of the originals. FireRed and LeafGreen took the original games, and clamped a whole new archipelago beside Kanto. Also, both the Generation three and Generation four remakes had extra Pokémon which weren't in the originals. [[FridgeLogic Maybe they appeared because someone misused the Time Capsule in Generation II?]]

Sometimes a result of CanonDisContinuity.

* ''Film/RockyBalboa'' completely ignores the events of ''Film/RockyV''. In the montage of clips shown from previous films, any footage from ''Rocky V'' is notably absent. As well, the brain damage Rocky suffered in ''Rocky V'' is completely ignored. This is due to Sylvester Stallone being [[CanonDisContinuity unhappy with]] ''Rocky V'' and creating Rocky Balboa as the "suitable" conclusion to the Rocky saga.

* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series, the authors came out with a guide book, ''Secrets of the Clans'', when only the first two series were out. It explained how the Clans formed and said that the warrior code was created by the four founding leaders. In the following years, they came out with more story arcs and special editions and heavily expanded on the world, leading the authors to declare parts of it {{Discontinuity}}. ''Code of the Clans'' shows that the warrior code formed over time in response to difficult situations rather than being established by the Clan founders. ''Dawn of the Clans'', the fifth series, is about how the Clans formed, and the authors have said to consider the ''Secrets of the Clans'' story as an elders' tale.

* A very minor and easy-to-miss example is in ''Series/BlackAdderII'', where Baldrick says, upon being fired in the episode "Beer", that his family has been in the service of Edmund's since 1532. The first series, ''Series/TheBlackAdder'', begins in 1485, at which point Baldrick is first introduced to Prince Edmund and, indeed, his family.

* ''ALinkToThePast'' ends with a screen showing that "The Master Sword sleeps again... forever!" ''ALinkBetweenWorlds'' indicates that "forever" was a couple hundred years tops.

** ''ALinkToThePast'' ends with a screen showing that "The Master Sword sleeps again... forever!" ''ALinkBetweenWorlds'' indicates that "forever" was a couple hundred years tops.

* In TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, Rainbow Girl first appeared as part of one of the occasional {{Terrible Interviewees Montage}}s in the ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}''. She can split into four color-coded versions of herself: red ([[PlayingWithFire heat]]), blue ([[AnIcePerson cold]]), yellow ([[LightEmUp brightness]]), and green ({{Kryptonite|Factor}}). Since ComicBook/{{Superboy}} and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} are members of the Legion, she was rejected. In recent years, with the ''GreenLantern'' series establishing the emotional spectrum, Rainbow Girl is reintroduced as a member of the Legion of Substitute Heroes. She uses the power of the emotional spectrum and becomes a MoodSwinger as a result. WordOfGod says she doesn't take her powers seriously.
* As of the ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' reboot, [[ComicBook/TeenTitans Cyborg]]'s SuperheroOrigin took place concurrently with the formation of the JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, resulting in him being a charter member of the team in place of the MartianManhunter.

* In TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, Rainbow Girl first appeared as part of one of the occasional {{Terrible Interviewees Montage}}s in the ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}''. She can split into four color-coded versions of herself: red ([[PlayingWithFire heat]]), blue ([[AnIcePerson cold]]), yellow ([[LightEmUp brightness]]), and green ({{Kryptonite|Factor}}). Since {{Superboy}} and {{Supergirl}} are members of the Legion, she was rejected. In recent years, with the ''GreenLantern'' series establishing the emotional spectrum, Rainbow Girl is reintroduced as a member of the Legion of Substitute Heroes. She uses the power of the emotional spectrum and becomes a MoodSwinger as a result. WordOfGod says she doesn't take her powers seriously.

** And let's not forget, of course, the retroactive modification of poor Dean's character! When he first appears Lane Kim tells Rory how Dean is into very cool, hip, of-the-moment bands and literature, and then when love-rival Jess comes on, they have to dumb poor Dean down and have Rory tell Jess how she basically has to educate Dean on cool music (Jess: "Does he know Bjork?" Rory: "I've played him some stuff"). I've read about this fact here on tvtropes first, under another trope, and can now no longer watch any episodes with Dean in them without mourning this poor character's fate. I also can't now stop noticing how much dumbing-down the writers did to him. He used to be so cool! Now he can barely function. Even much later, when he and Rory are back together and she then meets Logan, Dean gets the bum end of the stick AGAIN, when Logan can discuss journalism and politics and give Rory detailed and superior opinions on her writing, and the have Dean sit in Doosey's market with her, eating day-old sandwiches for a discount, and comment on her article with "I can't comment on this stuff, I just know that I read it and I liked it!". Man, it's like watching a pet run over with a truck, and then backed over again, and run over again, and backed over just one more time to make sure he's really dead. There you go Dean, that's what happens when you play out of your league! Even though in the beginning, you were totally in her league. You got downgraded, poor boy. I hope you have more fun over at Supernatural, and they don't have your brother patronise you in the same way or something. I don't know, I don't watch Supernatural. I avoid it, for fear of the possibility of witnessing Padalecki run over with a truck yet again.

* ''RockyBalboa'' completely ignores the events of ''Film/RockyV''. In the montage of clips shown from previous films, any footage from ''Rocky V'' is notably absent. As well, the brain damage Rocky suffered in ''Rocky V'' is completely ignored. This is due to Sylvester Stallone being [[CanonDisContinuity unhappy with]] ''Rocky V'' and creating Rocky Balboa as the "suitable" conclusion to the Rocky saga.
** The BroadStrokes of ''Rocky V'' did happen, like him being retired from boxing and virtually broke. Stallone provided a HandWave in supplementary material that said the head injury wasn't as severe as his doctors initially believed, and he presumably never got a second opinion because Adrien insisted it was time for him to call it a day. Obviously Stallone hated ''Rocky V'' [[FanonDisContinuity as much as the viewers]].

* Perhaps the most famous (and best handled) example is Tolkien's rewriting of ''Literature/TheHobbit'', where Bilbo obtains a ring that confers invisibility in the Misty Mountains. As ''TheLordOfTheRings'' reveals this to be the [[ArtifactOfDoom One Ring]], Gollum's BackStory could no longer have him offering an ArtifactOfAttraction as a prize to Bilbo for winning the riddle contest; instead, Gollum would never forgive "Baggins" for stealing his ring. A revised edition of ''The Hobbit'' was published, and the prologue to ''TheLordOfTheRings'' explained the inconsistency: the original version was the story Bilbo maintained (building on the idea that ''The Hobbit'' was actually [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis an autobiographical novel by Bilbo himself)]], but Gandalf eventually learned the true story by persistent questioning.
* The second ''Franchise/JurassicPark'' book ''TheLostWorld1995'' had Ian Malcolm very still alive, despite his apparent death in the first one.

* JTEdson wrote several novels that were 'expansions' of earlier short stories. These novels usually change substantial details of the earlier stories. Perhaps the most significant of the changes is revealing that Dusty Fog had married much earlier than Edson had previously established.
* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series, the authors came out with a guide book, ''Secrets of the Clans'', when only the first two series were out. It explained how the Clans formed and said that the warrior code was created by the four founding leaders. In the following years, they came out with more story arcs and special editions and heavily expanded on the world, leading the authors to declare parts of it DisContinuity. ''Code of the Clans'' shows that the warrior code formed over time in response to difficult situations rather than being established by the Clan founders. ''Dawn of the Clans'', the fifth series, is about how the Clans formed, and the authors have said to consider the ''Secrets of the Clans'' story as an elders' tale.

* ''RockyBalboa'' completely ignores the events of ''RockyV''. In the montage of clips shown from previous films, any footage from ''Rocky V'' is notably absent. As well, the brain damage Rocky suffered in ''Rocky V'' is completely ignored. This is due to Sylvester Stallone being [[CanonDisContinuity unhappy with]] ''Rocky V'' and creating Rocky Balboa as the "suitable" conclusion to the Rocky saga.

* Gilmore Girls has a ton of these:

** The BroadStrokes of ''Rocky V'' did happen, like him being retired from boxing and virtually broke. Stallone did a HandWave in supplimentary material that said the brain damage was exaggerated by the doctors, that it eventually went away in time. Obviously Stallone hated ''Rocky V'' [[FanonDisContinuity as much as the viewers]].
*** Adrien didn't want him to fight anymore, so he never got a second opinion.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'' underwent continuous rewrites; or to be more precise showed a cavalier disregard to its own backstory when there was a gag to be made. Most notably, the idea in the early seasons that Lister had barely spoken to Kochanski was contradicted in the novels, where they had a brief relationship before she dumped him. Later episodes would follow that version. Another major one is Rimmer's light bee; it went from being Rimmer's remote projection unit to actually ''being'' Rimmer.

* This happens when a new developer takes over the [[TombRaider Tomb Raider]] series. Lara's whole background is changed to make her more developed. Legend also implies that all but the first Tomb Raider game never happened.

* VideoGame/MetalGearSolid is infamous for this. ''Metal Gear Solid'' alone contradicts a number of things in Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2, and reveals things that never happened. Things like Big Boss [[LukeIAmYourFather revealing himself to be Snake's father]] (Which didn't happen in Metal Gear 2, though Snake ''did'' say after killing Big Boss that he felt like he murdered his father), VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3 retconning Big Boss's age and VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker retconning Big Boss's age ''again''. Metal Gear Solid 3 and VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4 did this with a [[MindScrew number of]] [[GainaxEnding things]] from VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2, so that it made at least ''some'' sense.

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]
* The CiemWebcomicSeries was about to have an OrwellianRetcon of this sort, in which events [[CanonDiscontinuity the author wasn't satisfied with]] would get updated. This would mean the forum syndication and final webcomic releases on the official website would no longer sync with what was published to Mod The Sims Social. This turned into a full-on UltimateUniverse when it was decided that too many changes were necessary to compensate for other changes.
** Candi having long tentacles that [[{{Hammerspace}} hid somewhere inside her arms]] versus Candi having mechanical whips in her gloves and stingers in her arms and legs.
** Imaki Izuki dying in the hospital when Candi gives birth to Angie versus Imaki rescuing Candi from the hospital after Angie's death and then training her, then dying. [[RetGone And Tom Flippo being written out completely]].
** Donte in the Emeraldon suit flying to a spaceship that gets captured by a bigger spaceship on his way to an alien planet to fight a war versus Donte [[{{Sliding Scale Of Realistic Versus Fantastic}} having all-but-abandoned]] his silly costume and instead flying away in CivvieSpandex to get into military gear [[SlidingScaleOfRealisticVersusFantastic and fight a war on Earth, but his unit getting captured]].
** A Dirbine that looked [[HollywoodAtlas more like South Bend than Evansville]], versus a redesigned city that more closely resembles its RealLife counterpart.

The introduction of a CousinOliver or LongLostUncleAesop is often a {{Revision}}, while ChuckCunninghamSyndrome is often a {{Rewrite}}. [[TheOtherDarrin Another Darrin]] may be either or both.