|
|
|
 | This entry is trivia, which is cool and all, but not a trope. On a work, it goes on the Trivia tab. | |
|
Who?
A subtrope of the Suspiciously Similar Substitute and/or The Other Darrin, wherein one actor is in a role or position, then is dropped (or leaves voluntarily) for another actor who is the one everyone remembers after the work or group becomes famous.
Named for Pete Best, the first drummer of The Beatles, who was replaced by Ringo Starr just before they hit it big (he was dropped as a condition of the band being signed).
Less likely in Film (since you can only get one actor to play a role, any replacement will have to reshoot the scenes and become The Other Marty), more likely in theater and television.
If the guy is in the band when they're famous, but all but forgotten, that person's Stuck In Their Shadow. If the guy never had a chance of becoming famous anyway, that's Breakup Breakout. Contrast Lesser Star.
Examples:
open/close all folders
Anime and Manga
- Actors who would work for 4KidsEntertainment worked for the now out-of-business Central Park Media before the former became notable among dubbing companies. Similarly, the actors for ADV Films and FUNimation did one another's work occasionally.
- Fans of The Slayers often have a "Hey, It's That Voice!" moment when they hear Crispin Freeman in non-Zelgadis roles. However, those same fans will, on going back and re-watching the first half of the first season years later, have a moment of confusion on hearing Daniel Cronin's voice coming out of Zelgadis' mouth. The same thing usually happens for Veronica Taylor's Amelia, though a bit less so because her first actress (Joani Baker) only acted for three episodes.
- Eric Stuart, the longtime voice actor for James in the 4Kids dub of Pokémon, was actually the second voice actor for the character. Ted Lewis was James's voice actor for the first few episodes of the show's run. The transition from Lewis to Stuart was notable as a specific point of Flanderization in the dub, where James suddenly became less smooth and suave and a lot more dim-witted and incompetent. That's not to say that Lewis missed out on Pokémon. Quite the opposite, in fact - he went on to voice Tracey and Giovanni, among many other minor characters, and notably returned to the role of Giovanni even after the mass voice actor replacement of 2006.
- Raoh was originally voiced by Norio Wakamoto when he appeared in Episode 32 of Hokuto no Ken before Kenji Utsumi took over the role. This was actually before Raoh's proper first appearance, before Raoh's design and backstory was finalized (before he even had a proper name even), since Raoh only shows up as a silhouette. Wakamoto would later appear as another character named Shuren.
- Tristan Taylor from the 4Kids dub of Yu-Gi-Oh! was voiced by Sam Riegel for the first ten episodes until John Campbell took over. His "Barney The Dinosaur" sounding voice was continued on in The Abridged Series.
Comics
- The Hulk could be said to be the Pete Best of the Avengers - one of the five founding members, he left at the end of the second issue, never to rejoin the team. In issue #4 Captain America joined the Avengers and became one of those three members (along with founders Thor and Iron Man) of which you almost invariably can expect to see at least one on the active roster.
- The Avengers actually altered their charter to make Cap a founding member and remove the Hulk from it, despite it being the other way around.
- Thunderbird was one of the "Second Genesis" X-men, and the first main to die (If you don't count Professor X's fakeout death, that is). That's pretty much all he's known for now.
- Although Sunfire fits the trope even better, since he voluntarily left the team in the issue immediately following the first adventure.
Film
- That Thing You Do! has the original drummer for The Wonders (then The One-ders) breaks his arm before a talent competition. The band asks Guy to fill in for him. This talent show led the The Wonders towards the path to recognition. The former drummer, Chad, ends up working at an appliance shop.
- The Rocker The whole plot revolves around this trope. Rainn Wilson plays Robert "Fish" Fishman, the drummer in an 80's glammetal band called Vesuvius. When his band gets signed, Fish gets dropped in favor of their producer's nephew. Despite his swearing to become even bigger than they do, he fails, until more than 20 years later when his nephew asks him to fill in for the drummer for his band, and they manage to hit it big, thanks largely to YouTube and a series of videos entitled The Naked Drummer.
- In the Death Star briefing scene in the original Star Wars, Ensemble Darkhorse (or is he an Ascended Extra?) Wedge Antilles is played by Colin Higgins. In the rest of the movie - and in the other two movies in the original trilogy - he's played by Denis Lawson (who also dubbed Higgins' lines in his one scene).
- In the original version of The Empire Strikes Back, Emperor Palpatine's face was provided by Elaine Baker, wife of the film's makeup artist Rick Baker, and voiced by Clive Revill. Ian McDiarmid played the character in Return of the Jedi and the prequels, and when Empire was re-released to DVD in 2004, Palpatine's scenes were re-shot with McDiarmid in the role.
- The actors playing Cammie (British actress Koo Stark) and Fixer in the deleted scene of A New Hope where Luke goes to Toshi Station and talks to Biggs Darklighter.
- Peter Burton, who played Major Boothroyd/Q in Dr. No, was unable to return for From Russia with Love and so was replaced by Desmond Llewlyn, who would become the iconic Q actor, appearing in seventeen James Bond movies.
- Another one from James Bond. Before Sean Connery, there was an american actor, Barry Nelson, who played "Jimmy Bond" in an adaptation of Casino Royale (1954) for an anthology series called Climax!, with the idea being for it to act also as a pilot for a possible TV Show based on James Bond. Nothing came out of it and eight years later came Dr. No and Barry Nelson (who was thirteen years older than Connery) wasn't even considered for the role. The movie pretty much made Sean Connery an star and relegated Barry Nelson's performance as Bond to total obscurity. The fact that the production was believed lost to time until a kinescope emerged in the 1980s didn't help much either.
- The Social Network uses this as a major plot point: it it's interpretation of Facebook's founding, Eduardo Saverin, who has been part of the company since the start, becomes aware of his business partner's attempts to minimize his contributions and force him out of the company. Lawsuits ensue. In real life Saverin has been candid that he didn't care so much about being on the facebook "inside" as maintaining his deserved financial stake.
- Hannibal Lecter was first played by Brian Cox in Manhunter, and later by Anthony Hopkins
- Jennifer in the Back to the Future series is an excellent example. Jennifer was played by Claudia Wells in the first film. When she was unable to return for the sequels she was replaced by Elisabeth Shue. This included reshooting the end scenes of Back to the Future with Shue in the role for the beginning of Back to the Future II. Needless to say, Shue is the actress most associated with the role.
- However, Wells returned to the role for the game.
- Tom Clancy's character Jack Ryan was originated in film by Alec Baldwin in The Hunt for Red October. However the role is best remembered from the portrayal by Harrison Ford in the follow-up adaptations Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger.
Literature
- Parodied in the Discworld novel The Thief of Time, where Ronnie Soak left The Four Horsemen of the Apocralypse before they got famous—he was "Kaos", the Fifth Horseman. He still manages to get a He's Back moment near the end when he rejoins the Horsemen for the big battle against the Auditors.
- Also used in Soul Music, where the Librarian briefly joined (and then quit) the Band With Rock In before they went on tour and made it really big.
- Speaking of the Four Horsemen, in the original text they were Famine, Death, War, and Conquest. In the King James edition of the Bible, Conquest was replaced with the much more widely known Pestilence.
- And speaking of Pratchett and replacing the fourth Horseman, in Good Omens, Pestilence has retired and been replaced with Pollution.
Live-Action TV
- Pert Kelton was the original Alice Kramden when The Honeymooners was just a segment of Jackie Gleason's variety show. She was caught up in the Red Scare and was replaced by Audrey Meadows around the time for the show's "Classic 39".
- Jeffrey Hunter played Christopher Pike in the original pilot for Star Trek. Reception was thin for that first pilot, so Gene Roddenberry made a second pilot, replacing Hunter (and Number One, played Majel Barrett who played Nurse Christine Chapel in the series proper) with William Shatner as Captain Kirk. The rest, as they say, is history.
- Apparently, despite being asked to return, Hunter didn't want to, and he used a loophole in his contract to get out of his role in the series. He would've had to star in the show if it was picked up after the first pilot, but since a second pilot was commissioned instead of a full season order, he was free to walk away.
- Shatner claims in his memoirs that Hunter was actually sort of manipulated into leaving since his girlfriend at the time was always on set complaining about how bad the show made him look.
- In the JAG two-parter that provided the backdoor pilot for NCIS, Robyn Lively played the female field agent. By the time the actual series premiered, she was replaced by Sasha Alexander (notable that she herself would be replaced by Cote de Pablo after the second season).
- And from the NCIS two-parter that provided the backdoor pilot for its spinoff, NCIS Los Angeles, Louise Lombard played who would have been that show's team leader. When it began in Fall '09, she was replaced by Linda Hunt.
- The Daily Show started with Craig Kilborn for the first three years, but the show really became popular after Jon Stewart took over and retooled the direction and comedy style. Now, the show's full title is even "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."
- This happened to Kilborn a second time with his next show. He replaced Tom Snyder as the host of CBS' Late Late Show and re-vamped it, giving it a new set and a more comedic style than Snyder's. Then he left the show...and in came Craig Ferguson, who became a darling in the late night ranks.
- Everybody knows that the IMF on Mission: Impossible was always led by Peter Graves' Jim Phelps. Mostly forgotten is Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill in the first season. Hill left the show (and temporarily, acting) for reasons that were partly religious, and his character was given the Brother Chuck treatment.
- Ironically, Hill would become the "Ringo" figure when he assumed his most famous role, DA Adam Schiff on Law & Order. The DA in the original pilot was Alfred Wentworth, played by Roy Thinnes; however, the pilot was filmed two years before the show was finally picked up by NBC, and Thinnes chose not to return as a regular.
- Jason Dawe, who was a presenter on Top Gear for one season and then was replaced by James May.
- And for US fans, The Black Stig (since BBC America hasn't gotten around to airing the earliest seasons of Top Gear).
- Ian Hendry played Dr. John Keel, the lead of the first season of The Avengers, with Steed (Patrick Macnee) as the secondary lead. The show was a moderate success, but Hendry moved on, with Steed becoming the lead - joined by first Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman) and then Emma Peel (Diana Rigg). The show became a big hit when Blackman joined, then a full-blown craze when Rigg took over. No-one really remembers Hendry (not helped by only one of his episodes still existing).
- Branford Marsalis was Jay Leno's original bandleader on The Tonight Show. Unfortunately, because of the legendary rapport Leno had with his replacement Kevin Eubanks (not quite as legendary as that between Johnny Carson and Doc Severinsen, or David Letterman and Paul Schaffer, but close), no one remembers that fact.
- Tamlyn Tomita as Lt Cmdr Laurel Takashima and Johnny Sekka as Dr Benjamin Kyle in the Babylon 5 Pilot Movie — both of whom declined to return for the subsequent TV series. Neither ever appear again in person (although Dr Kyle does get referred to several times throughout the series). Ultimately averted with Patricia Tallman as Lyta Alexander, who also didn't return at first but ended up rejoining the cast much later in the series.
- Josh "J. Elvis" Weinstein was both the original voice of Tom Servo on Mystery Science Theater 3000, as well as Dr. Forrester's original assistant (Dr. Erhardt). Weinstein left after only one season on Comedy Central and was replaced with Kevin Murphy and Frank Coniff respectively for Season 2, which was when the show starting to make it big and becoming really good.
- Brian Dunkleman was the co-host of American Idol in Season 1, and chose the wrong time to play hardball in contract negotiations, considering that the audience clearly preferred Ryan Seacrest. From that point, the show just kept getting bigger.
- Ed had an in-universe example. A band sued their founder, lead singer and songwriter on the grounds that she plagiarized her lyrics. It was all a pretense because the record label didn't like her. They had already scouted a potential replacement but the trial took so long, the replacement joined another band. They tried to take back their leader, in vain. The episode ended with the band performing in front of a not so impressed talent scout.
- Lauren Sanchez was the original host of So You Think You Can Dance, but left after one season and was replaced by Cat Deeley, who is now the face of the show.
- Similarly, Katie Lee Joel (now Katie Lee) hosted the first season of Top Chef before being replaced by the more telegenic Padma Lakshmi.
- While she filled a different role in the show in its original format, folklorist Heather Joseph-Witham became the Pete Best of Mythbusters, effectively replaced by the Build Team as the show's focus shifted from the myths themselves to MacGyvering and Stuff Blowing Up.
- Scottie Chapman is another Mythbusters example; she was originally the machinist of the Build Team, but left the show during Season 3, right around the time the Build Team's role on the show was expanded and they were added to the theme sequence, and was replaced by Grant Imahara. While Scottie has made sporadic appearances since then, the regulars on the show have become far more famous.
- Saturday Night Live parodies Pete Best's story with Eddie Murphy as Clarence Walker
 , the saxophonist who's still bitter about being kicked out of the band.
- Similar to the Star Trek entry above, Married... with Children's original pilot was never aired. When the show went into production, they used new actors for Bud/Kelly.
- For its first three years, the PBS show Scientific American Frontiers was hosted by MIT professor Woodie Flowers. He was replaced by Alan Alda, who hosted for 12 years.
- In 1981 MTV hired five people as its original lineup of VJs: Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, J.J. Jackson and Meg Griffin (no, not that one). Griffin was a radio vet (as were some of the others) but she had difficulty adjusting to an on-camera role during rehearsals, and quit just two weeks before the August 1 launch date. She was hurriedly replaced by 22-year-old radio intern Martha Quinn, who went on to become arguably the most famous VJ.
- Sesame Street: Practically every American under the age of 40 will immediately say "hey, it's Gordon!" upon seeing the face of Roscoe Orman, but most don't know that he was actually the fourth Gordon. Garrett Saunders originated the role in the first test episode in 1969, which only aired on one station, but was replaced by Matt Robinson for the actual series. (Saunders wasn't credited and his identity was lost for several decades until Sesame Workshop launched a website asking for help identifying him). Robinson left after three seasons (he did all right: he later worked for Bill Cosby and you've probably heard of his daughter, Holly Robinson-Peete). Hal Miller took over from 1972-74.
- In season three (1971-72) a bunch of new human characters were added. Luis and Maria are still on the show. David was on for more than a decade (before his portrayer Northern Calloway ran into personal and health problems, then died). But Rafael (Luis' assistant at the Fix-It Shop), Molly (the mail carrier) and Tom (Mr. Hooper's assistant) all lasted just one season. But there's plenty of Retroactive Recognition for them: Rafael was played by Raul Julia, Molly by Charlotte Rae, and Tom by Larry Block, a character actor who's been in a million things since then.
- 3-2-1 Contact was retooled and thus completely recast after just the first season.
- Ensemble topical comedy show Not the Nine O'Clock News ran for several series in the period 1978-83. Everyone will recall the lineup was Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith, Pamela Stephenson and Gryff Rhys-Jones. However, in the first series, Rhys-Jones was nowhere to be seen and the Pete Best of the group was comic actor and writer Chris Langham, who performed creditably but left at the end of the series citing artistic differences. He was replaced by Rhys-Jones only at he start of the second series. The fact Langham has since been convicted of crimes to do with indecent photographs of children has made it easier for the BBC to airbrush his involvement out of the series' official history.
- Tim Brooke-Taylor was an early member of what would eventually evolve into Monty Python, alongside Graham Chapman, John Cleese and Michael Palin, and made appearances in At Last the 1948 Show and How to Irritate People. He left the group between the latter and the start of Monty Python's Flying Circus — by which time Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam had arrived — though still went on to be a pretty successful actor in his own right.
- Billy Crystal was scheduled to be in one sketch in the first episode of Saturday Night Live, and would have been a featured player throughout that season. But it was cut and he went home, crying all the way back because he thought he'd just blown the only break he was ever going to get. He stuck with his standup career and eventually did get to be a regular ten years later.
- Originally, in the recurring role of black-sheep alcoholic older brother Gary Ewing, Dallas had cast David Ackroyd. When a spinoff, Knots Landing, was launched in the second season, Ted Shackleford got the part that would keep him working for the next 15 years.
Game Shows
- When Dealer's Choice debuted in January 1974, its host was Bob Hastings. Problem is, the man tended to ramble and once told a trailing contestant "You don't have a Chinaman's chance." Jack Clark did the rest of the run.
- Remember Paul Lynde, that sassy gay guy who was the center square on The Hollywood Squares (minus a period from 1979-80)? Yeah. Well, from 1966-68, there were various people in the center square, most notably (from the GSN reruns of the 1968 nighttime show) Buddy Hackett.
- While Lingo is most well-known by Americans for its 2002-07 run on GSN and subsequent dirty-minded 2011 reboot, it actually began as a Ralph Andrews production from 1987-88, hosted originally by Michael Reagan and later (the last five weeks) by Andrews himself.
- The original version of The Price Is Right ran on NBC from 1956-63 and ABC from 1963-65, hosted by Bill Cullen. It isn't brought up too often nowadays.
- When Mark Goodson wanted to revive Price in 1972, he had a clear setup in mind: weekly syndication, hosted by Dennis James and distributed by Viacom. Once CBS got wind of the revival, Bud Grant approached Goodson about doing a daytime show with Bob Barker as emcee. Barker wanted no part of it, not liking those in charge of the revival, and begged Grant for another game show; Grant declined, which suggests that Barker's alleged backstage tyranny was payback for having the show forced on him.
- As for James, he did nighttime Price until 1977, when his contract expired and Barker took over until its end in 1980. His version, along with those of Tom Kennedy and Doug Davidson, are largely ignored in pretty much every way.
- For the first few seasons into the 17 year run of What's My Line? Hal "Dimples" Block was a regular on the panel. As the show progressed it became more and more dignified and refined, and Block's loutish persona soon became undesirable and his seat was permently replaced by Bennett Cerf. To add insult to injury, most of Block's run is lost due to the films being distroyed for their silver content after the episodes ran one time on live TV.
- Chuck Woolery and Susan Stafford were the original host/hostess tandem on Wheel of Fortune when it debuted on January 6, 1975. Chuck left due to a salary dispute with Merv Griffin in December 1981, while Susan departed to pursue humanitarian work in October 1982. As in Hal Block's case above, almost all of their episodes have been erased. They were replaced by Pat Sajak and Vanna White, respectively, who are still with the show 30 years later.
Music
Multiple Media
- This phenomenon can also happen when a movie is adapted for a television series; for instance, more people recognize Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy the Vampire Slayer than they do Kristy Swanson.
- Alan Alda is more identified as Hawkeye Pierce than Donald Sutherland. This goes for most of the cast of M*A*S*H. This is helped by the fact that most of the TV cast of M*A*S*H face a certain amount of I Am Not Spock while many of the actors from the film are famous in their own right.
- Similar to the Buffy example above, how many people remember Kurt Russell as Jack O'Neil in Stargate as opposed to Richard Dean Anderson's Jack O'Neill in Stargate SG-1?
- O'Neill himself does, actually. When spelling his name in one episode he mentions that there's also a Jack O'Neil who is far grumpier. On the other hand, many people can go from James Spader in the movie to Michael Shanks at the beginning of the series and not notice the change in actor
- Gummo Marx.
- Insane Clown Posse originally appeared in promotional photographs with a third member, John Kickjazz. (This is how Violent J spells his name in "Behind The Paint" - fan sites call him 'Kickchass'.) By the time "Carnival of Carnage" was completed, John was nowhere to be found.
- Likewise, though Shaggy 2 Dope was already a member of the gang/group, Violent J initially shared lyrical duties on the Inner City Posse's album "Intelligence and Violence" with an otherwise unknown individual named D-Lyrical. J admits in his book that he could've cared less about D-Lyrical, who happened to be a kid with a tape recorder. As one would suspect, J used him for the sake of that one album and never spoke to him again.
Professional Wrestling
- Legendary WWE tag-team Demolition is best known as Bill "Ax" Eadie and Barry "Smash" Darsow — but Darsow was not the original Smash. No, in their first couple of matches, Smash was Randy Culley, better known as Moondog Rex. Culley was replaced in the team because too many fans recognized him from his former role, and chanted "Moondog" for him. His distinctive mustache didn't help matters (and really made the Demolition facepaint look silly on him).
- It should be noted that the gimmick was Culley's idea in the first place, so he got kicked out of his own creation only to see it reach stardom.
- The promos for NXT season 3 advertised Vickie Guerrero mentoring a 6 foot 9 beast known as Aloisa (indie wrestler Isis the Amazon). However WWE officials discovered Aloisa had erotic photos online and removed her from the competition to replace her with the unknown Kaitlyn. Of course Kaitlyn ended up winning the season.
- The infamous Mickie James / Trish Stratus Stalker with a Crush storyline was written by Mickie herself but it was written with Lita in mind, Lita having acted as Mickie's mentor down in OVW. However when Mickie was called up Lita was out with an ACL injury and the angle was rewritten for Trish Stratus instead. It is now considered one of the best feuds in diva history.
Radio
- American Country Countdown: While a Garfunkel (Kix Brooks, of the former country duo Brooks & Dunn) currently hosts ACC, the show also had its Pete Best – Don Bowman, the original host of this American Top 40 spinoff. Bowman – a comedian, disc jockey and songwriter – did a very credible job as host, but he was all but forgotten by the 1980s, well after the show's best-known host (Bob Kingsley) took the helm. (Bowman hosted from 1973-April 1978; Kingsley was host from May 6, 1978-December 24, 2005; and Brooks since January 21, 2006.)
- When The Goon Show began in 1951 as Crazy People Michael Bentine starred alongside Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe. Bentine also appeared in the low-budget Goon Show spinoff movie Down Among the Z-Men, but left the show soon after. According to one interview, Milligan fired him for suggesting the show would work better without Milligan, who created and mostly wrote it.
- Because so few recordings of early series remain, most of the show's fans, who only discovered it later, will also be unfamiliar with Bentine's character Osric Pureheart, an inventor and adventurer, who was usually a very important character in the scripts of the first and second series.
- The show's original announcer Andrew Timothy also left early in the show's run, claiming that the surreal humour was damaging his sanity.
- The Burkiss Way's female cast member Denise Coffey left after one season, to be replaced by Jo Kendall from I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again. Coffey returned when the show was adapted for television as the short-lived End of Part One.
Real Life
- Ron Wayne co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. His 10% ownership in the company would be worth $22 billion today... if he hadn't sold his shares back to the Steves 12 days into the partnership for $800.
- The supermarket chain Waitrose was started by three men — Waite, Rose and Taylor. Taylor left after a couple of years, and the business was renamed after the remaining two.
Sports
- The four major North American pro sports leagues all had numerous franchises in their early years that went defunct. The Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Bulldogs, Frankford Yellow Jackets, Providence Steam Roller (all NFL), Baltimore Bullets (NBA) and Montreal Maroons (NHL) all had the distinction of winning league championships before going under.
- In American intercollegiate sports, most of the BCS conferences (the top 6 leagues who have automatic bids in the football Bowl Championship Series) trace their roots to the late 19th/early 20th centuries, when college sports conferences were still loose affiliations of regional schools. When college sports started becoming Serious Business, some schools elected to de-emphasize their athletics programs and dropped out of what would eventually become the BCS leagues. Some are now members of the NCAA's lower profile divisions, others are in non-BCS Division I leagues. The most famous example is The University of Chicago leaving the Big Ten in 1940. Tulane and University of The South (aka Sewanee) were early members of the Southeastern Conference. Idaho and Montana were in what eventually evolved into the Pac-12. And the two forerunners of the current Big 12 (The Big 8 and Southwest conferences) once counted Drake, Grinnell, Houston, Rice, Southern Methodist, Texas Christian, Southwestern University, Washington University of St. Louis and the since-closed Phillips University as members.
Theatre
- A common occurrence for many modern Broadway shows is for them to start Off-Broadway, then if they find success there, moving to Broadway, typically with most of the original cast and crew. The cast members who are replaced almost always become this:
- Brian d'Arcy James, who originated the role of Dan in Next To Normal Off-Broadway, was the only cast member to not move with the show to Broadway, being replaced by J. Robert Spencer, who promptly got a Tony nomination and a whole lot of notoriety.
- Contrary to popular belief, Andrea McArdle was not the first to play Annie in the musical. She was the first Broadway Annie, and replaced Kristin Vigard, who played her in the Goodspeed Opera House previews before the show went to Broadway.
- Jules Bledsoe introduced "Ol' Man River" as Joe in the original Broadway production of Show Boat. Paul Robeson would play that part (which consists of little more than the famous song and its reprises) in the 1928 London production, the 1932 Broadway revival, and the 1936 film version (for which he got a Movie Bonus Song). Robeson was the most famous black dramatic actor of his day, and Bledsoe was really not a good actor, so it's no wonder whose performance was regarded as definitive.
- Paul Hecht originated the role of John Dickinson in the musical 1776 - but it was Donald Madden, who took over the role on Broadway, who went on to star in the film version and create the definitive Dickinson. The same thing happened with John Cullum, actually the third Rutledge on Broadway, who played the role the longest and went on to recreate the role for the film.
- An interesting example is the role of Sally in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. The original 1967 production didn't even feature the character, with Patty (not Peppermint Patty) instead. Patty eventually got Demoted to Extra in the Peanuts universe, and by the time of the 1999 Broadway production was largely forgotten. She was replaced with Sally, who was a good fit for Kristin Chenoweth, complete with an extremely catchy solo, and she won the Supporting Actress Tony. Meanwhile, Patty's been almost nearly forgotten.
Video Games
Web Comics
- Kairi in Ansem Retort, namely, the Show Within a Show Ansem Retort. She was killed off in the first season and replaced by Aerith, who more people associate with the show nowadays, especially since her wedding was broadcast on it.
Western Animation
- Lacey Chabert was the original voice for Meg on Family Guy for about the first dozen episodes before being replaced by Mila Kunis. Combined with a bit of Characterization Marches On, Chabert's Meg was more of a softer voiced, younger sounding Daddy's Girl, while Kunis' slightly harsher voice was better suited to expressing Butt Monkey-related frustration and anger.
- In the season three premier of Metalocalypse, there's a flashback of Dethklok signing its first contract. The rhythm guitarist there is not the current rhythm guitarist, Toki Wartooth.
- The Simpsons - the voices of Moe Szyslak and Monty Burns were originated by Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer, right? Actually both characters were first voiced by Christopher Collins, aka Chris Latta, aka Cobra Commander and Starscream - but his part as Burns was only used in one episode ("Homer's Odyssey"), and none of his voice work as Moe was heard in any finished episode (he recorded all of Moe's lines in "Some Enchanted Evening", but Hank Azaria re-recorded the lines late in production, so Chris Latta is only heard as a TV presenter in that episode).
- And it happens in-universe in "Homer's Barbershot Quartet," as the titular group drops Chief Wiggum in favor of Barney for being "too Village People." It should be noted that the episode was a completely intentional Beatles' career parody.
- Also in "Team Homer", where Montgomery Burns muscles himself into the Pin Pals - alongside Homer, Moe, and Apu - just before the big final match against the Holy Rollers, forcing out original member Otto.
- The same thing had happened to Otto before in "A Streetcar Named Marge", where director Llewellyn Sinclair took him out of the cast of "Oh! Streetcar!" just before the opening performance, replacing him in the part of Pablo with himself.
- Karri Turner (of JAG fame) was originally intended to be the lead voice actress for South Park, but was let go in the time between the original pilot and the start of the series as it was felt that her voice wasn't distinct enough. Mary Kay Bergman went on to voice nearly all of the major female characters until her suicide in 1999, while Turner showed up briefly in a guest spot in the first season (voicing Kathie Lee Gifford).
- Recess: T.J. is very well-known as being voiced by Andy Lawrence...even though Ross Malinger played him for the first thirteen episodes until his voice broke.
- The pilot episode of Inspector Gadget was the only time Mona Marshall voiced Penny; the role being taken over by Cree Summer for the rest of the first season and Holly Berger in the second season.
|
|
