History Main / ReWrite

* At one point, a TV series was in production that would focus on the nephew of ''Series/MacGyver'', who was an only child in the series.

* 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 ''Literature/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 ''The Lord of the Rings'' 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.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' is infamous for this. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' alone contradicts a number of things in ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGear2'', 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. Finally, ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' does this to more of Big Boss's story.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' is infamous for this. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' alone contradicts a number of things in ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGear2'', 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.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' is infamous for this. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' alone contradicts a number of things in ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGear2'', 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.

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWar II'' does this to the first game's continuity. At the end of the first game, the narrator expounds upon Kratos's retaining the throne of the God of War for all time, explicitly showing flash-forwards to WWII and modern counter-terrorist forces as she talks of his presiding over all armed conflict. At the beginning of the second game, [[spoiler: Zeus strips Kratos of his mantle of godhood and boots him from Olympus, and Kratos does not regain his godhood by the ending. By the end of the third game, Olympus is completely ruined, so there's no throne for Kratos to reclaim...although the TheEndOrIsIt ending of the third game still leaves room for him to possibly return]].

* The ''StarWars''[=/=]''MassEffect'' crossover ''FanFic/{{Fractured}}'s'' "Epilogue" got pretty much thrown out the airlock to enable the sequel ''[[FanFic/SovereignGFCOrigins Origins]]'' to be written. Other aspects of the sequel are less-contradictory of previous material and fall under {{Retcon}}s instead.

* ''Franchise/MetalGear'' is infamous for this. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' alone contradicts a number of things in ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGear2'', 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.

* ''Film/BurntByTheSun'' states unequivocally at the end that Kotov was executed in 1936 and his wife Marusya died in a gulag in 1940. And Mitya, the antagonist, is seen committing BathtubSuicide in the last scene. When sequel ''Burnt by the Sun 2'' was released some years later, all three characters are still alive in 1941. And the character of Nadya, aged six years old in 1936, has somehow grown to adulthood by 1941 (in RealLife the actress who played Nadya had aged into adulthood during the SequelGap).

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* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': There are two versions of Miss Brooks' arrival in Madison. The first episode, "First Day", and the later episode "Spare That Rod!" have Miss Brooks already teaching at Madison when Mr. Conklin is appointed principal. A later episode, "Borrow Money To Fly", features a major rewrite: Miss Brooks arrives to teach at Madison High School, and is greeted by longtime principal Mr. Conklin. The [[TheMovie cinematic]] [[GrandFinale series finale]] follows the new continuity, albeit having Miss Brooks meet Mr. Conklin and Mr. Boynton in a slightly different manner.

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* ''Fanfic/PokemonNovaAndAntica'' is actually a rewrite of a different fanfic entitled ''Pokemon Story 2: The Great Adventure''. The basic premise is the same, but if you endeavor to peek in the original version (it's accessible on FanFictionDotNet), you'll see that... it was for the best.

* While most of the changes between ''[[{{Metroid}} Metroid: Zero Mission]]'' and the original game it's a [[VideoGameRemake remake]] of can be explained away as simple [[{{Retcon}} retcons]], there's no ignoring the fact that Kraid and Ridley have gone from human-sized to a two-story Godzilla clone and a giant flying dragon respectively.
** WordOfGod states that they were always intended to be the size they were in Metroid Zero Mission.

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

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.

* ''FanficPokemonNovaAndAntica'' is actually a rewrite of a different fanfic entitled ''Pokemon Story 2: The Great Adventure''. The basic premise is the same, but if you endeavor to peek in the original version (it's accessible on FanFictionDotNet), you'll see that... it was for the best.

* The ending of ''StarWarsRebelAssault'' deliberately rewrites the ending of ''ANewHope'' so that player character Rookie One and his wingman Ru Murleen are the ones who destroy the Death Star, instead of Luke Skywalker. Rookie One fires the missile that travels down the exhaust shaft, and many more fighters are seen to survive the attack (at least seven fighters in ''Rebel Assault'' compared to the three fighters from the film).

* How the Brain Freezer became the Brain Freezer in ''JohnnyTest''. [[EpilepticTrees It is, however, possible that when we first saw him, he recombined the machines to make the suit again.]]

* Creator/AAPessimal expanded a couple of Assassin characters who only existed in ''{{Discworld}}'' canon - apparently - as bit-part players and cameos who were no more than a one-line name and job description. The character expansions were done based on shrewd guesses and extrapolation. Later information not available to him at the time (the canonical ''Assassins' Guild Yearbook'') carries sparse information that Terry Pratchett's interpretation of the characters was somewhat different. The 'personality'' of Madame Deux-Epées is broadly correct but the portrait of her is of a woman of different physical appearance to Pessimal's description, for instance. And far from being young and "South African", as intelligent extrapolation suggested, Miss Smith-Rhodes turned out to be a dour middle-aged spinster in a mob-cap who teaches Domestic Science. WordOfGod is that pessimal prefers his own interpretations and that it's too late to change, although aspects of Madame Deux-Epées' canonical back-story have been Retconned into the Pessimal Discworld.

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. If it happens InUniverse, it is [[OrwellianEditor Orwellian Editing]].

* In ''Franchise/{{Bionicle}}: Tale of the Toa'', the climax involves the titular Toa heroes defeating their evil shadow clones through OpponentSwitch. Later material changed this to them absorbing their doubles into themselves upon realizing that shadow is a part of their being -- which was allegedly the original plan for how the scene should play out. The book was also wildly inconsistent with other media (for example, the ''actual'' climax in which the Toa face the BigBad is ignored entirely), so rewrites were necessary to tie the story into the overall mythos.