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rename Jonas Quinn? v2 launched as Jonas Quinn: From YKTTW

Red Shoe: I'm wondering whether it's worthwhile to draw a distinction between the various levels of character replacement. Something like this (Names should of course be changed to reflect the most interesting examples):

  • Sister Becky / The Other Darrin: The actor is replaced, and everyone pretends nothing happened
  • SORAS / That Was Some Vacation: The actor is replaced, and we're given some explanation (Plastic surgery; regeneration)
  • Uncle Jack: The character is replaced by a new character who is basically a carbon-copy of the old character (Cop Show cops, Sinclair/Sheridan)
  • Jonas Quinn: The character is replaced by a new character who is basically a carbon-copy with a few new quirks (Especially "But he's slightly edgier")
  • Telemachus Rhade: The character is replaced by a new character who is generally unlike the outgoing character (Example is from Andromeda, but I'm not in love with the name by a longshot. James Gardner's character on Eight Simple Rules and Kari Wurher's on Sliders (especially as she was replacing John Rhys-Davis) also fit the type)

Victim Of Fate: I saw a cool bit of Lampshade Hanging on Australia soap Neighbours yesterday, but I'm not sure it fits exactly with this trope, as the characters in question were members of a large ensemble cast. Basically, for the 20th Anniversary, one of the former characters, Annalise, was filming a documentary about the street where the show is set, and she invited many former residents to take part, including Lance. When he got there, she kept confusing him with his best friend Toadie's new best friend Connor, eventually pointing out "It's almost like you replaced Lance with Connor". Later, when he found out that Toadie owned a bikini shop, he offered to run it for him, stating that it was his boyhood dream, before figuring out that Connor ran the store for the very same reason.

Idle Dandy: I like the descriptions of the different categories, but I think SORAS falls more into the "no one says anything" category, or creates a category unto itself.

Drop Dead Gorgias: Apparently, there is also another category for The Nth Doctor, where the premise of the show allows for actor replacements (i.e. Doctor Who, the Daxes, etc.).
Looney Toons: Why the recent deletions? Categorization as per the schema above?


Is the inclusion of Wesley from Angel a good example? He’s a different character to Doyle, was established earlier (in Buffy) and AIUI the swap was planned from the start.


Paul A: You Know The List Of Examples Is Getting A Bit Long When... the first example on the list and the last example on the list are the same example.


Does the replacement have to be permanent, and if so, what is the name for a temporary character replacement, like Dani Beck for Olivia Benson on Law And Order Special Victims Unit?

Paul A replies: Substitute Teacher?

Looney Toons: Doctor Pulaski, for the character that subbed in for Gates McFadden's Dr. Crusher one season of Star Trek The Next Generation?

Ununnilium: You realize Substitute Teacher is an actual trope that covers this >>

Looney Toons: Not until after I entered that.


Kilyle: I haven't watched the show consistently enough to keep up with the character changes, but does PBS's Zoom do this? I know they make the kids maintain the same haircut for the entire year, so it seems reasonable that they'd toss them out after a certain age, but do they replace them with essentially the same character slot, or just take 'em as they come, or...?


D Mc Millen: Isn't it odd to have the M*A*S*H replacements listed under this trope, when they are classic examples of *not* doing what the trope is about ? I take it that "filling the stock character slot left vacant ..." is an important part of the trope, given the name. Whereas in M*A*S*H, every example of a replacement was an opposite: incompetent Blake to efficient regular-army Potter; womanizer Trapper John to clean-cut family man B. J.; and idiot Burns to smart and worthy adversary Winchester. Maybe these examples deserve their own trope name, so that someone can be "Winchestered" or something, which is quite a different thing than being "Joans Quinn'd". Or maybe "M*A*S*Hed"?

Big T: I'd say it was subverted. MASH sets the trope up by replacing each character it removes. But then it subverts expectations by having these characters have opposite personalities.


Sikon: Isn't Dax a case of The Nth Doctor?

Big T: I'd say so, as Ezri didn't even perform the same function as Jadzia.


Sikon: I lurk quite a lot on TheForce.Net forums, and I've never seen anyone wishing Shadows of the Empire into Dis Continuity. Waru, the Vong, Marvel, Ewoks comics/cartoon, GODV, LOTF, Legacy — these are all often labeled as "not existing in my personal canon", but not SOTE. This is probably just wishful thinking on the poster's part.


Big T: Pulled the following Conversation In The Main Page.
  • Are we watching the same show? This editor saw said UST gradually leaving the show, taking up position on Stargate Atlantis so as to pounce on Carter as soon as she arrived. Mitchell, by contrast, gets girls of the week... and one guy.

Big T's answer: So? That makes the original statement still true. When O'Neill left, Mitchell got his UST. Yes, they later switched it over to Vala and Daniel. Yes, when the show was over and Carter moved to Atlantis, there was UST between Carter and Mc Kay. But none of this changes the original statement that Mitchell was a replacement for O'Neill, and (at least originally) had UST.


I was wondering if the film xXx: State of the Union/The Next Level would count, considering they killed Xander Cage offscreen and replaced him with whatever Ice Cube's character was named. Didn't want to just stick it up there in case it would go better on a different page.


Cliche: I seriously have to dispute Tracey and May of Pokemon being Jonas Quinns due to being actually quite different (especially the latter) from their predecessors. Of course, if I'm reading the definition of the trope incorrectly, feel free to correct me.

Kamino Neko: Gutted the comic book examples, since the examples removed don't fit the trope at all - they're very different characters, save for superficial similarities, generally coexist, rather than one replacing the other(s), and don't generally get used in the same title. For the record, the examples in question are:
  • Gorilla Grodd is interchangable with Monsieur Mallah and Ultra-Humanite
(All gorilla villains, but a mind controlling despot, a gay communist, and a body-stealing mad scientist are completely different characters, beyond the superficial. Also, Flash, Doom Patrol/Teen Titans, and Superman/JSA villains respectively.)
  • The Trickster is interchangable with the Prankster
(Very similar characters, but Trickster is a Flash villain, and Prankster a Superman villain, and both were around at the same time between the return of Prankster and the death of Trickster.)
  • Max Mercury is interchangable with any of the Flashes
(Other than all of them being speedsters, they're really not that similar.)


Sean R: I think the bit about Merry and Pippin is irrelevant... even if the characters are extremely similar, one didn't replace or fill-in for the other, so they don't relate to the trope.
Grev: I'm tempted to remove The Oracle example, since that's closer to a The Nth Doctor slash The Other Darrin amalgam.
Citizen: Raging over changing this meaningless title: Part 1 and Part 2. Voting page on renaming the page.
{{Idler 2.0}} I don't think the Death Note example fits, as the character wasn't written in because of an actor leaving, it was just because the creator wanted a change.