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redirected from Main.RecycledINSPACE

alt title(s): Recycled INSPACE; INSPACE
I'm afraid I've got some bad news, boys—you're in space.

Strong Sad: "But why are they in space? There's no reason for them to be in space!"
Strong Bad: "On the contrary, my dear Fatson; there's
every reason for them to be in space!"
- From the Homestar Runner Strong Bad E-mail "best thing".

Old cartoons are often recycled from other shows, with the setting changed with just enough of a gimmick to make it look different. The characters will have the same character types, sometimes even the same voice actors. Sometimes these will be direct spinoffs, with the same characters with one major time or setting change. Later varieties included "AS KIDS!"

The majority of these are seen as nonsensical updates according to whatever else was popular at the time. Putting the series into space, though, is the big one.

See also: Animated Adaptation, Gender Flip, Recycled The Series, Setting Update, X Meets Y and This Is Your Premise On Drugs.
Examples:

Western Animation

Video Games

Anime

Comic Books
  • Green Arrow was originally Batman WITH A ROBIN HOOD MOTIF! (So it fits somehow that they cooperated against Superman in The Dark Knight Returns)
  • Usagi Yojimbo is Yojimbo (plus a laundry list of other Samurai stories and tropes) AS TALKING ANIMALS!, and has its very own spin-off IN SPACE!
  • Jink and The Rebels are Elf Quest IN THE FUTURE! Many fans hated them.
  • Ramayan 3392 AD is the Ramayama IN THE POSTAPOCALYPTIC FUTURE!
  • Rapunzel's Revenge is the Rapunzel story IN A SCHIZOTECH OLD WEST!
  • Marvel actually had a What If story called "What If Sgt Fury Fought WWII in Outer Space?", which was Exactly What It Says On The Tin. (It was actually surprisingly good.)

Live Action TV
  • There is a Power Rangers series literally titled Power Rangers In Space. Interestingly, it is considered a classic among Power Rangers series with its introduction of a fully serialized plot and "sympathetic and multi-dimensional villains" (quoting That Other Wiki), as well as the spectacular finale Countdown to Destruction (aka "Crisis of Infinite Rangers"). Power Rangers in Space single-handedly saved the show from being canceled, after the debacle of Turbo.
    • On the other hand, the next series, ''Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy" is sometimes referred to as Power Rangers LOST IN SPACE!
  • Many episodes of the 1970s Battlestar Galactica are lifted from classic movies;
    • The Gun on Ice Planet Zero = The Guns of Navarone and Ice Station Zebra
      • Both movies were based on books by Alistair MacLean.
    • The Magnificent Warriors = The Magnificent Seven which itself was a western version of Seven Samurai
    • The Lost Warrior = Shane
    • Fire in Space = The Towering Inferno
    • Murder on the Rising Star = Murder on the Orient Express
  • Thats So Raven is Lizzie Mcguire WITH A PSYCHIC!
  • Many episodes of Hercules The Legendary Journeys and Xena Warrior Princess are lifted from classic movies, themes or tropes, especially in later seasons. (Probably too many to list individually!)
  • The Movie of The Honeymooners was WITH BLACK PEOPLE!
  • The Star Trek episode "Balance of Terror" is the 1957 WWII submarine movie "The Enemy Below" IN SPACE! Even the bearing of the unidentified initial contact and the captain's maneuvering orders to the helm are copied nearly verbatim. The Romulan ship is cramped and has LOTS OF PIPING AND CONDUITS IN ALL BACKGROUND SCENES.
  • Sea Quest DSV was effectively Star Trek The Next Generation OUT OF SPACE , much more pronouncedly so after the end of TNG's run (In the very first seaQuest episode after TNG ended, an alien race arrives in a ship whose design was quite obviously lifted from that of the Borg Cube).
  • Stargate SG-1 is Stargate IN SPACE!
    • And following that, Stargate Infinity was Stargate SG-1 IN THE FUTURE!
    • Stargate Infinity is not canon. However, Stargate Atlantis is Stargate SG-1 IN ANOTHER GALAXY! (but absolutely not far far away).
      • I dunno, another galaxy is, by definition, pretty far, far away.
    • Not to mention how the episode "200" toyed with this concept. Imaginary pitching segments show SG-1 AS TEENAGERS! and the show remade WITH PUPPETS!, among other things.
    • Commenters to Gateworld are already calling the new spinoff Stargate: Universe "90210 in Space!" and "Gossip Girl in SPACE". And they're none too pleased about it, either.
      • Based on the premise, it may be more accurate to label it as Star Trek Voyager...IN THE PRESENT!
  • seaQuest DSV was Star Trek UNDERWATER!
  • Heroes is X-Men IN THE REAL WORLD!
    • Ever heard of Deconstruction?
    • To be fair, Tim Kring, the creator of Heroes, never read/watched X-Men, so the recycle was unintentional.
      • There are just too many parallels for it to be coincidence, and someone knew enough about the comics to name a one-shot character after Chris Claremont. The Shanti virus is most obviously borrowed: they may as well stop pretending and call it the Legacy Virus. It definitely belongs here, but remember: Tropes Are Not Bad.
      • You can probably blame that and any other comics shout-outs, allusions, or similarities on Jeph Loeb, a writer and producer on Heroes who's also quite well known for his comics work.
  • One of the criticisms of Andromeda was that it eventually became Hercules The Legendary Journeys IN SPACE!
    • Mind you, people were criticizing it for that long before it actually happened.
  • The Doctor Who episode "Voyage of the Damned" was The Poseidon Adventure IN SPACE!
    • Half of all Doctor Who episodes ever are "Hammer Horror/Classic Literature/Contemporary Movie/Greek Mythology etc. WITH ALIENS! Doctor Who author Ben Aaronovitch once said that "Talent borrows, genius steals, and Doctor Who authors get it wholesale off the back of a lorry."
    • The Fourth Doctor story The Androids of Tara is The Prisoner Of Zenda IN SPACE!
    • The Tenth Doctor story Human Nature is the Seventh Doctor novel Human Nature</