History Main / RecycledScript

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* Manga/Golgo13 and Manga/LoneWolfAndCub each have an episode which is a direct transplant of the other except for the setting. In Manga/Golgo13 chapter 11, 'Where the Stagecoaches Run', and Manga/LoneWolfAndCub chapter 8, 'Wings to the Bird, Fangs to the Beast':

* Was common practice at DC Comics in the 1950's-1960's (though almost exclusively in Franchise/{{Superman}} titles edited by Mort Weisinger) because the audience was mostly children, and [[FleetingDemographic turned over fast]]. Two characters in the ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'', [[ComicBook/{{Valor}} Mon-El]] and Star Boy, first appeared in rewritten stories of this sort. See FleetingDemographicRule.

* A number of Post-Crisis ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}'' stories, especially early on, were explicitly written as "the new version of this much-loved Earth One story that got unhappened in the Crisis". For instance Bizarro's introduction (which ends with Bizarro sacrificing himself to cure a blind girl, just like Bizarro Superboy did in 1958), Lori Lemaris's introduction (which was told as a flashback to Clark's college years, and included many of the plot beats from "The Girl in Superman's Past"), and the ''Superman Special'', which managed to riff on the entire ''Comicbook/KryptoniteNevermore'' saga in just 64 pages.

* In Fanfic/HalfLifeFullLifeConsequences, John Freeman receives a call from his brother to help him kill aliens and monsters, and goes out to do so on his motorcycle, killing "zombie goasts", and eventually defeating the last boss, only to see Gordon Freeman killed before his eyes. In What Has Tobe Done, John Freeman sets out on his faster motorcycle, kills more zombie goasts and kills the boss that killed Gordon Freeman, only for Gordon Freeman to rise as a headcrab-infected zombie goast.

* The later series of ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' were essentially adaptations from the [[Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything last]] [[Literature/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish three]] [[Literature/MostlyHarmless books]] with a few alterations, rather than naturally following on from the second series (Secondary Phase). In the books, Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect end up on prehistoric Earth ''after'' the whole ruler-of-the-universe bit, but in the radio series they had already been rescued beforehand; therefore, the whole Secondary Phase was retconned into being [[AllJustADream merely Zaphod Beeblebrox's delusional fantasies]] so Arthur and Ford can stay stuck on Earth. Whether Creator/DouglasAdams would have done it this way had he still been alive enough to be involved is uncertain, but director/co-producer Dirk Maggs claims he'd promised Adams to stay faithful to the plot of [[Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything the book]] at least for the Tertiary Phase.

** The [[FallenHero Fallen Heroes]] from both series' - Sarah Kerrigan for ''Starcraft'' and Prince Arthas Menethil for ''Warcraft'' - more or less play the same role in their games, both being TheDragon for their faction's leader before becoming the DragonAscendant in the expansion. However, ''The Frozen Throne'' also introduces another major player who draws fairly blatant parallels to Kerrigan: Sylvanas Windrunner, an elven ranger general killed and risen into undead servitude. While in the vanilla game she was a minor antagonist who's fate was mostly a B-plot, come ''The Frozen Throne'' and she's made into a full-fledged hero unit who ends up freeing herself from the Scourge and leading her own faction. Essentially, Arthas and Sylvanas end up being blatant parallels to Sylvanas, but in two different ways; Arthas being the DragonAscendant who becomes one of the most powerful villains in the world, Sylvanas breaking free of her corrupting influences' control and forging her own path (though events in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' over the past few expansions seem to be pointing Sylvanas to fulfilling the DragonAscendant role after all).

* The plot of ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' is effectively the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E11And12ABetterWorld A Better World]]" with a healthy scoop of "[[Recap/SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesS2E12BraveNewMetropolis Brave New Metropolis]]" from ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' and a pinch of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'', set off by a mixture of ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'', ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', and ''Comicbook/KingdomCome''. To go into more depth:

When properly and skillfully done, the result can be an episode that looks and feels "original". However, haste and carelessness can (and has) resulted in shows that not only have a "cookie cutter" feel, but that actually draw the viewer's mind to the similarity between the original and the retread.

Related to, but not to be confused with StrictlyFormula, where each individual episode plot seems the same, with minor variations. See also FleetingDemographicRule, RecycledPremise, and SameStoryDifferentNames. Compare YoYoPlotPoint, where a particular arc or plot point repeats itself, and TheRemake, which is a movie that explicitly recycles the script of an older movie. Also compare with the similar WholePlotReference; the difference between the two tropes is that this one indicates a direct link (such as the same writer, production company or series using an idea) between the original and the copy.

Related to, but not to be confused with StrictlyFormula, where each individual episode plot seems the same, with minor variations. See also FleetingDemographicRule, RecycledPremise, and SameStoryDifferentNames. Compare YoYoPlotPoint, where a particular arc or plot point repeats itself, and TheRemake, which is a movie that explicitly recycles the script of an older movie.

* Manga/Golgo13 and Manga/LoneWolfAndCub each have an episode which is almost a direct transplant of the other. In Manga/Golgo13 chapter 11, 'Where the Stagecoaches Run', and Manga/LoneWolfAndCub chapter 8, 'Wings to the Bird, Fangs to the Beast':

** These chapters aren't the only ones that copied each other. Golgo 13 chapter 13, 'Melancholy Summer,' copies key elements of Lone Wolf and Cub chapter 6, 'Waiting for the Rain', which features Lone Wolf being hired to track down a spy who seduced a woman and used her as cover to escape. In that chapter, Lone Wolf realizes that the spy hung around the woman for an unusually long time and thus likely fell in love with her and will return; even though his client believes this to be absurd, Lone Wolf waits near the woman until the spy returns and then kills him. 'Melancholy Summer' has Golgo do the same. Additionally, the Lone Wolf and Cub story 'Wife of the Heart' features a woman who turned to prostitution to support her crippled lover and thus becomes despised by the women of the town, who won't even sell her goods in the market; this element is also used in the Golgo 13 story 'Melancholy Summer.'

** The bandits take the assassin hostage and take him to their leader, who thinks he met the assassin before but can't recall where.

** ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasGreatAdventureInTheSouthSeas'' and ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasTreasureIsland'' both begins with Nobita reading about ''Literature/TreasueIsland'' and daydreams about becoming a pirate, before dragging Doraemon and friends to an adventure on the seas. And then they get caught in a time warp leading to UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy.
** ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheCastleOfTheUnderseaDevil'' have a bunch of plot-threads reused in ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasGreatBattleOfTheMermaidKing''. Besides the setting, the heroes have to contend with underwater monsters (a GiantSquid in the former, a [[SlipperyAsAnEel kaiju-sized Moral Eel]] in the latter) before finding an underwater kingdom (Mu, Aquadia) which displays FantasticRacism towards the gang. The villain(s) are undersea warlords who employs fleets of fish-shaped war machines, and both movies have characters (Gian and Suneo in ''Castle'', Shizuka in ''Mermaid'') suffering from AlmostOutOfOxygen.

* Though entire plots being recycled is rare, ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' loves to recycle specific elements. For instance, "villains attempt to steal the souls of hundreds or thousands of people, typically as a ritual to unlock some kind of greater power or SealedEvilInACan, picking off the supporting cast one by one before the main character defeats the villain [[SnapBack and everyone is restored to life]]" is a plot point that recurs many times, starting with the Doma arc of the original series and continuing with the Supreme King and Darkness arcs of ''[[Anime/YuGiOhGX GX]]'', the Dark Signers arc of ''[[Anime/YuGiOh5Ds 5D's]]'', the Barian Emperor Onslaught arc of ''[[Anime/YuGiOhZexal ZEXAL]]'', and the entire run of ''[[Anime/YuGiOhArcV ARC-V]]''. The "Ceremonial Duel" plot (at the end of the series, after the BigBad has been defeated, the protagonist faces a character who's not evil, but whose defeat is intended to be important for CharacterDevelopment) has also recurred in every series to date, though the circumstances vary heavily.

** It doesn't just apply to the beginning; ''Batman & Robin'' also used some key plot points from ''Forever'', namely the final act, where Batman, Robin, and Batgirl raided the observatory.

** Archie's ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' fell into this pit a few times as well, recycling the same premise of an old and unused character group put OutOfFocus coming under attack by a faction of the Dark Egg Legion and Sonic showing up with one of the main characters to fight them off. What's worse, this plot was once recycled ''three times in a row'.

* ''Film/PowerRangers2017'' [[spoiler: begins with three high school kids from different social groups in detention, who end up finding ancient colored stones belonging to a former Ranger and being granted powers by them. The former ranger becomes their mentor. This is essentially how ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'' started. ]]

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** The '60s film ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' was recycled into 1983's ''Film/NeverSayNeverAgain'' with only a few minor tweaks to reflect the passing of time. The plot, names of several major characters, and the actor playing Bond (Creator/SeanConnery) were otherwise unchanged. This was the result of a lawsuit by a writer who had contributed ideas to the original ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'', who was trying to leverage this into permission to make his own Bond movies; the verdict was essentially that he could make as many remakes of ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' as he liked.

* ''ComicStrip/OffTheMark'' is drawn by Mark Parisi, who also works for Topps' Wacky Packages. If Topps rejects one of his concepts he repurposes it for his comic strip, occasionally [[https://m.facebook.com/offthemarkcomic/posts/heres-a-rejected-wacky-packages-concept-thats-been-repurposed-as-an-off-the-mark/10155966945741867/ explaining why it didn't make the cut.]]

** ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheHauntsOfEvil'' and ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaInTheWanNyanSpacetimeOdyssey'' both have Nobita becoming an owner to a new pet puppy, only to find out there's more to his new pet than meets the eye. Both movies also have an emotional ButNowIMustGo ending with Nobita and friends bidding the new puppy (which turns out to be sentient and andromorphic in both cases) farewell.

* Creator/ChowYunFat starred in two different HeroicBloodshed films, ''Film/ABetterTomorrow 2'' and ''Film/TragicHero'', released back-to-back (both in 1987!) and both films seemed to be made off the same script. They're sequels ("Tragic" is one to ''Film/RichAndFamous) [[SequelGoesForeign set in another country]] (New York in ''A Better Tomorrow II'', Malaysia in ''Tragic Hero''), Chow's character is a retired gangster trying to go straight, triad leaders getting usurped by the BigBad, both movie having a restaurant explosion via TimeBomb trying to intimidate Chow's protagonist, an ally giving up his life for the rest of the good guys to uncover the main villain's hideout, and a final explosive-loaded shootout in the BigBad's mansion with grenades, bombs and explosives being thrown everywhere.

** Ash undergoing a DisneyDeath and his Pokemon sobbing over him has been reused in at least [[Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie three]] [[Anime/PokemonLucarioAndTheMysteryOfMew different]] [[Anime/PokemonDiancieAndTheCocoonOfDestruction films]].

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', the Silver Snow route is essentially a copy of Verdant Wind with less content. ZigZagged in that Silver Snow was the first storyline written for the game, but the others were much more fleshed out over the course of the game's development with Snow being relegated to a hidden fourth route as a consequence.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'' could very well be called ''The Recyled Years'' instead, as a lot of plot points and scenes of the original are repeated, often with little to no variation, to the point where Edge takes a massive gamble based purely on how the script is basically the same as the original and has it pay off. Considering you face nearly every boss from the original - plus bosses from ''other Final Fantasy games'' - too, it could be considered the most enviroment-friendly game ever.

** The ''Vegas'' duology's plot is also pretty similar to that of the ''Black Thorn'' expansion for the second game, with the BigBad of ''Black Thorn'' being an ex-SAS operator who failed to get into Rainbow masterminding several terrorist plots to prove how good he is, while the big bad of the ''Vegas'' games is your ButtMonkey teammate Gabriel selling out the rest of the team to terrorists to get back at them over his several failures. Considering the obscurity of ''Black Thorn'', however, it might not have been intentional.

* Five different episodes of ''Radio/QuietPlease'', including three of the last five, were old scripts that were re-broadcast nearly word-for-word.

* When Creator/JRRTolkien was writing early versions of what would become ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', he wrote a story about how a Silmaril, a magic gemstone that bore an inner glow like the light of a star, became the masterpiece of the dwarves after their treasure, the Nauglamir, was reclaimed from the hoard of a dragon--but their coveting of it resulted in [[ElvesVsDwarves them antagonizing a group of elves]] who faced them in battle with tragic consequences. When he wrote ''Literature/TheHobbit'', he incorporated a lot of this plot into the story of the Arkenstone, which was also a glowing gemstone that became the centerpiece of a tragic conflict between elves and dwarves when it was reclaimed from a dragon. The similarities between the Arkenstone and the Silmarils is so heavy that a lot of fans have claimed they're the same thing, despite this being canonically iffy at best.