Line #5 Main/ThroughTheYearsCredits


1	[[quoteright:317:[[Series/TheFactsOfLife https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blair.jpg]]]]
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3	A series that has been on the air for a number of years will often include older clips in its TitleSequence. When child actors have grown up before us, the credits may include clips in chronological order to show the changes the cast members have undergone.
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5	While the intention is to evoke a sentimental "Awww, remember that? Look at how much they've changed!" reaction from viewers, they can also backfire and make us think "Wow, these people are getting [[DawsonCasting way too old to still be playing adorable TV kids]]."
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8	!!Examples:
9	* ''Series/DiffrentStrokes'': During the final season (which aired on ABC), clips and photos from Season 1 were matched with the then-current photos of the regulars, including Conrad Bain, Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges, and Dana Plato. One of the earliest shots of Danny Cooksey (from midway through Season 6) was also matched with his current video shot, even though the 9-year-old Cooksey hadn't aged that much.
10	* ''Series/TheFactsOfLife'', as seen in the photo (or watch it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeQ9fuz0rDI-A here]]) from Season 8.
11	* ''Series/FullHouse'': Starting in Season 6 and continuing to the rest of the series, a series of clips were shown of the six principal actors showing either, for the men, how their hairstyles and faces have changed through the years, and for the girls, how they had aged.
12	** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CApVLvd3E68 opening credits]] for ''Series/FullerHouse'' feature throwback photos of the cast from ''Full House''.
13	* ''Series/HappyDays'': The 11th – and final – season's opening credits showed then-and-now clips of:
14	** Erin Moran. Her clip begins with a Season 1 episode, where Howard absent-mindedly bumps a dozing 11-year-old Joanie off a chair while the two are watching professional wrestling on TV. The clip quickly cuts to a current-day shot of the adult Joanie bumped to the floor and Howard helping her up.
15	** Scott Baio. His shot begins with Fonzie and the then 15-year-old Chachi working at the garage (from a 1977 episode, one of Baio's first). Cut to the hood of a 1954 Chevrolet slamming shut, and the now-adult Chachi and Fonzie smiling and admiring the work they had done on the car's engine.
16	* ''Series/GrowingPains'', which featured real photos at different stages of the actors' lives.
17	* ''Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'': The final season – the ''A New Beginning Year'' from 1982 – and the final "Season 10" movies saw its opening begin with a shot of Melissa Gilbert from the first season, which was then replaced by a then-current photo of the adult Gilbert.
18	* ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'', which used morphing faces (including going from Creator/LecyGoranson to Creator/SarahChalke and back)
19	* ''Series/StillStanding'', which features (badly) Photoshopped pictures on the family fridge
20	* The trailer for ''[[Film/HarryPotter Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]'' (see [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md83SeFG9VQ here]])
21	* The final episode of ''Series/TheCosbyShow'', which edited together all previous versions of the credits
22	* ''Series/HomeImprovement'' would do this starting in Season 7 and continuing into the final episode for the three sons as they grew from child to young adults over the show.
23	* The opening credits of the fifth and final season of ''Series/BabylonFive'' consisted of a very fast recap of the highlights of the previous four seasons. The end credits of the very last episode credited the actors of all the regular and recurring characters with images of them in their first and last scenes, in order of internal chronology. (Uniquely, the "last" sequence for Jason Carter as Marcus Cole was a new shot of a labelled freezer drawer, confirming the long-standing fan suspicion that he was NotQuiteDead.)
24	* ''Series/BirdsOfAFeather'', even though it started with the main characters as adults, had a title sequence showing the two sisters growing up together. Conveniently, the actresses had been friends since childhood, so suitable photos existed.
25	* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' changed the title sequence a few times, usually adding in the previous season's [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments best gags]], but kept the early footage of the cast playing in a fountain.
26	* Since ''Series/{{Angel}}'' is a spin-off of ''Series/{{Buffy\|the Vampire Slayer}}'', some of the montage shots for Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) were taken from ''Buffy''.
27	* ''Series/{{Parenthood}}'' uses what look like real childhood photos and video clips of the cast members before cutting to clips of them now.
28	* In later seasons, the opening credits of ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'' ended with the clip of the three main characters together morphing into their current appearances, which weren't ''that'' different ... except for the actor playing Jake, who went from pre-teen to late-teen over the course of the show.
29	* ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' had these in seasons 6 and 7.
30	* ''Series/StillGame'' had it from the beginning, in a similar manner to ''Birds of a Feather''. In this case, it was done by first finding a pair of kids and teenagers who could [[TimeShiftedActor pass for a young Victor and Jack]], and then progressing the main actors' aging makeup from young adulthood to the characters' current ages.
31	* ''Series/WandaVision'' parodied this trope in "On A Very Special Episode…" taking inspiration from ''Series/GrowingPains''.
32	* ''Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangersOnceAndAlways'' did this at the end, a shortened recreation of the original MMPR opening. It showed Billy, Zack and Rocky as they looked in the original ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' series, Kat as she looked in ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'', and all four of them plus newcomer Minh (who's a LegacyCharacter to her mother whose actor had died and therefore was [[BusCrash killed off]]) as they are now.

Context Main / ThroughTheYearsCredits