Chekhov's Skill - Television Tropes & Idioms

alt title(s): Chekhovs Skill

Rand: I really should be going.
Lan: Yes, you should. Another lesson?
Rand: Sure.
Lan: This move is called "Ending the Book." Use it in a climactic battle at the end of the book against a bad guy.

— The Wheel Of Time mock summaries, by ISAM

As we’ve learned from all films ever made, whenever you have a special skill, it will eventually save your life, regardless of how impossibly stupid it is.

— Seanbaby

Training in any kind of skill, ability, or knowledge that will likely later come in handy. Much like Chekhov's Gun, Chekhov's Skill covers instances where a character takes time in-story to become proficient at something.

If the hero takes time to teach his sweetie a self-defense Judo throw in scene 2, expect this "Distressed Damsel" to throw the Mook holding her into a Shark Pool by scene 5.

This is a counterpoint to I Know Kung Fu, as proficiencies are gained and learned rather than mentioned or pulled out of thin air. Taken to extremes, Chekhov's Skill can be used to justify Implausible Fencing Powers or turn the Farm Boy into a gun toting Bad Ass. In frustrating cases, it might go the way of Forgotten Phlebotinum and never see use again. Used well, it can lead to some satisfying heroics from unexpected places.

Chekhov's Skill can also be used as a catalyst for other plot elements by having one character teach another, and getting some good Character Development out of it as well. Or even drive a plot as the seeker looks for a mentor to teach them Chekhov's Skill. If the skill is too complicated to be perfected so quickly, see Instant Expert.

If it is not a skill taught or otherwise demonstrated to the individual in question, then it is a Chekhovs Hobby. In the hobby, the skill is mentioned through dialogue and never takes up more plot than that. In the skill, even if the character hasn't perfected the Dangerous Forbidden Technique it still shows them training for it.

Examples:

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Anime & Manga

The very first Sound Stage of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha had Nanoha trying and failing to do a bind spell. Needless to say, she had to do one properly to catch a Jewel Seed monster by the end of the day. She would later perform this spell in the anime itself during a decisive moment in her final battle against Fate.
- The second season introduces the concept of Transformation Magic through a distraught Shamal when, after finding out how close their master was to the heroes, she makes an offhand comment of how she should have applied it to the Wolkenwritter. When The Reveal came, it turned out that certain other parties didn't forget to apply this useful spell.
- And then there's Area Search, a utility spell Nanoha created way back in the third episode of the first season to solve a specific problem and has never had the chance to use again... until the last episodes of the third season, which gave the hidden Quattro a very nasty surprise.
Naruto has Naruto walking into a person practicing a technique (naked); we can tell it's Hinata, but he can't, because he's Naruto. She uses this at the end to kill a bunch insects the enemies were attacking with.
- She is shown earlier training with the technique; she activates her Byakugan, some kunai fly at her, and within moments all of them are on the ground, broken.
In Dragonball Z, King Kai teaches Goku the Spirit Bomb, and outlines exactly what kind of power this attack has. Not only that, but he says only to use it as a last resort. So of course Goku has to use it in his following battle as well as nearly every movie and future Big Bad.
- It's okay though. It may have all the power of life, the stars, and the universe, but it never works anyway.
  - Except on Kid Buu. At the end of the series.
In the first chapter of One Piece, Shanks scares a sea monster away by staring it down. Over 400 chapters later this is revealed to be an actual superpower that any pirate captain worth their salt has.
The fights in Kenichi The Mightiest Disciple often feature Kenichi, at a critical moment, using a technique taught to him in the last training session shown.
Negi's Axe of Lightning/Axe of Zeus spell in Mahou Sensei Negima. Taught by Evangeline at the start of Vol. 8, he was naturally forced to do it perfectly by the end of the volume to defeat the Big Bad for that Story Arc.
- A more far-reaching example; in volume 3, Negi uses a bunch of magical decoy spirits during his fight with Evangeline. 200 chapters later he pulls out a much larger scale version of the same technique to fight Kurt Godel.
Occurs in Ranma 1/2 during the moxibustion storyline. Cologne teaches Ranma a new technique so he can fight back against Happosai without strength, a technique which requires Ranma to stay calm and not emotionally react to his opponent. Genma, his father, immediately tries to get a rise out of him with "Humiliating Photo Fu," whipping out embarrassing naked baby pictures. The whole sequence seems like an extended riff on Genma's usual Jerk Ass tendencies... but Ranma actually puts Humiliating Photo Fu to use during the climactic battle against Happosai, by flashing photos of himself as a girl in lingerie.
- Also, moves that characters learned throughout the series are often used later.
In Cowboy Bebop Spike had a guy requesting to teach him martial arts, where Spike demonstrates a knife disarm and the philosophy of being calm as water. The guy was having a hard time understanding it all, but in the climactic fight he manages to pull off the same move against a mook. And immediately subverted when he is shot and killed in the midst of his celebration.
In Monster, Nina is shown innocently practicing Aikido. Later, when Tenma is attacked, it comes in handy.
Early on in Bleach, we see Ichigo's dad trying to put the hurt on our poor hero, and of course, he fights back. This actually provided really good training when it came to beating up Hollows.

Comics

Film

Aliens
- "Well, I can drive that loader."
- During a lull in the action, Cpl. Hicks takes the time to teach Ripley how to use the Marines' weapons. This allow her to go on her Mama Bear rampage at the end.
In The Film Of The Book Angels And Demons, the Camberlengo is given exactly one line describing his history. He mentions that he went into the army as a medic and learned to fly. Guess who ends up in a helicopter in the big climax? This is given a little more justification in the book, but used to exactly the same effect.
Big Trouble In Little China, Jack's knife trick is glossed over in the beginning but ends up as a Crowning Moment Of Awesome near the end of the movie.
Back To The Future, Marty holding onto cars while skateboarding in Part I, he uses the same trick on (on a hoverboard) in Part 2 to steal the Almanac from Biff, and to travel along a train in Part 3.
In Death Proof, it's established early on that two of the four heroines are stunt drivers, just like Stuntman Mike, which comes in handy in one of the best car chases this editor has ever seen.
In Dragonheart: A New Beginning, Drake attempts to learn the lost dragon art of breathing ice. He never quite gets it down, but manages to pull it off in the climax of the final battle.
Face/Off combines this with Chekhov's Gun when the villain (who thanks to a surgical face swap is posing as the hero) gives a knife to the hero's daughter and teaches her a technique for stabbing someone. Later, after he's shown his true colors and is now threatening her, she pulls out the knife he gave her and stabs him the way he taught her.
FridayThe13th: "Come on Ginny! Use some of that psychology you've been studying!"
In Iron Man, Tony Stark is testing his Mk. II armor's flight capabilities, and decides to break the altitude record, just because. He fails because the suit builds up a layer of ice which shorts out its systems; Tony later Hand Waves a fix for this. Later in the movie, he lures the Big Bad Iron Monger to similar altitudes, causing Iron Monger's suit to freeze up while his own suit is protected.
The Karate Kid: Paint the fence, paint the house, Wax On Wax Off... Danny Laruso tended to use a new Chekhovs Skill as the main means of defeating opponents at the end of a movie. He tended to get his ass kicked across the screen for the remainder of all three movies. Each film featured a Chekhovs Skill, the most famous one being the Crane Kick. When the crane kick failed in the second movie, Daniel had to turn to the drum technique. The third movie had Daniel psych out his opponent his kata moves he learned, and in the fourth movie Julie used the praying mantis kick.
In Kill Bill Volume II, we learn the Bride's amazing skills were taught to her by Pai Mei. This is revealed, then effectively demonstrated, in the Texas Funeral sequence, and then she uses the eye-pluck to permanently disable Elle Driver (foreshadowed thrice: a Crazy 88 henchman in Vol. I, Bill mentions it when he delivers her to Pai Mei, then Elle herself, in flashback, suffers it). Later, during the final duel with Bill, we finally see the Bride use Pai Mei's final secret, that he taught no one else: the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique.
- Don't forget the one-inch punch, the utility of which in her current circumstance was the very reason her reminiscing triggered the flashback sequence in the first place. (Also a shout-out to Bruce lee).
Quatermain, in The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, spends a very Dramatic Scene teaching impudent Tom Sawyer how to shoot his elephant gun, counseling him on taking his time and feeling the shot. This is vitally important at the climax, when this skill is needed to take down the escaping Big Bad.
The original The Man Who Knew Too Much does it with guns.
In Master And Commander Stephen Maturin's interest in science is a constant thorn in Jack Aubrey's side; right up until one of his zoo specimen's gives him the necessary strategy to take down the enemy ship.
The wrap-the-ropes-around-the-pole-to-climb-it trick that Mulan figured out during the "I'll Make a Man Out of You" musical number, which she and her comrades used to infiltrate the Emperor's palace.
- While reprising that same number.
  - To those that don't quite the pothole, three of the comrades are dressed as women. One of which is short, bearded, and has a voice like a rock grinder. It even gives us these exchanges:
  Yao : Does this make me look fat?
  *slap*
  and later on
  Mook 1: [It's only] Concubines.
  Mook 2: Ugly concubines
Mystery Men: It's a Running Gag throughout the film that Invisible Boy can only turn invisible when there are no people watching. Consequently, we never get to see him use his power; he is merely told "your time will come". In the climactic assault on Big Bad Casanova Frankenstein's lair, Invisible Boy is able to turn invisible in front of a camera-operated laser and thus circumnavigate it.
In Outlander, Wulfren challenges Kainen to a friendly contest of shield-jumping, and Kainen turns out to be the first person to match Wulfren's skill. Kainen later volunteers himself and Wulfren to serve as bait to trap a monster: they use shields atop posts as stepping-stones over the pit, and when the monster tries to follow, it falls in.
In Planet Terror, Cherry literally catalogues her "useless skills" most of which involve her ability to bend and flex as a dancer. Damned if they don't come in handy at the end of the picture though.
Dakota Block: You know, my girlfriend had a theory. She said at some point in your life, you find a use for every useless talent you ever had. It's like connecting the dots.
In Quest For Camelot Kayley defeats Big Bad Ruber by dodging out of the way of his strike at the last moment, causing him to put Excalibur back in the stone, a technique she learned from Garrett earlier in the movie.
Sky High gives us a bunch of sidekicks, each with rather strange powers (glowing, turning into a hamster, melting, making plants grow at will). And they all get their own Crowning Moment of Useful during the prom invasion.
In Star Wars: A New Hope Obi-Wan began teaching Luke about how to sense things out with the force and not rely on sight. This was used in a lightsaber training exercise, but a voice from beyond Obi-Wan gives Luke the same advice when it came to making the Million To One Chance of hitting the Death Star's Achilles Heel, instead of relying on targeting computers that had failed another pilot before.
The Tenacious D movie had JB learn the power slide and the infamous cock pushup from KG early in the film. Both become crucial in retrieving and escaping with the titular pick of destiny.
Used straight and then inverted in Yes Man. Carl learns to play guitar, speak Korean, and fly a plane. The ability to speak Korean and play guitar are used to his advantage... but the plane lessons and Korean get him targeted by Homeland Security.
In Zoolander, Derek Zoolander is obsessed with perfecting his Magnum look. Later, in the climax, he uses Magnum to stop a shuriken aimed at the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
- No no no, he uses his new look, Blue Steel, to stop the shuriken. It still fits the Trope though, since Zoolander's been discussing since the opening scene that he's been working on Blue Steel and trying to perfect it, big hype for the reveal, blah blah blah. The hilarity is that it looks exactly the same as Magnum, as do all his looks.
  - If you'd watch the movie, you'd learn that his signature look is Blue Steel, he has other (identical) looks known as Ferrari and Le Tigre, and he's been working on perfecting Magnum, which requires him to turn left (he's not an ambiturner).
  - And he actually does turn left when he uses Blue Steel! Therefore he gets two Chekhov Skills in one moment: Blue Steel and turning left!
  - Blue Steel is the signature look Zoolander uses from the beginning of the film (him turning right and puckering up). Magnum is the look he 'perfects' at the end of the film to save the Prime minister. the latter involves a far more complicated routine. (Him turning LEFT and puckering up)
A minor example in Titanic. Jack teaches Rose how to "spit like a man" and she later uses it to get away from Cal when she distracts him by spitting in his eye
Early in Train, when the protagonist is having doubts about her future in wrestling, her boyfriend, who's on the men's team, teaches her a move he calls the "Todd Patterson invincible double leg double hook throw". In the end, she uses this move to take out the last antagonist.
The Incredibles has Violet Parr only able to do tiny force fields, even failing to save her family members from an exploding plane, before finally getting the hang of it midway through and saving everyone every time she uses it.
In Cars, Lightning McQueen learns about backwards driving and opposite-lock drifting in Radiator Springs. Both skills prove crucial at the final Piston Cup race.
A three-second segment of a montage in Ratatouille shows that Linguini's a good rollerskater. This skill proves vital in the climax.
One Flintstones movie subverts it has Fred bowl a perfect game at the beginning. Then later own the villain has kidnapped Wilma and is standing on a bridge over a volcano, Fred picks up a round rock and bowls it at him completely misses.
Under Siege 2. Bobby Zach is taken out with a judo move used on him by Sarah Ryback (humorously). He is soon after shown practicing the move on himself. He finally puts it to some use when he throws skilled mercenary Afifi from a helicopter with the same move.

Literature

In Dan Abnett's Warhammer40000 novel Titanicus, Golla Ulduna is introduced as a midwife, to emphasize the insanity of her being called up as part of the tertiary reserve. But when they find a princeps in the ruins of his engine, Golla is able to get him breathing air again, just as she would get a baby breathing.
Robert Heinlein is rather fond of this trope. The skill in question is usually some sort of mechanical engineering, which the main character does as a hobby, but ends up saving his life later.
At the beginning of the second Wheel Of Time book, Lan is giving Rand training in swordfighting, and insists to never use the "Heron Wading in the Rushes" technique— a stance lifting your sword high, that leaves yourself open to attack so that you have a chance to strike.
- Turns into a real Wall Banger when shortly there after, Lan tells him of the technique "Sheathing the Sword" taking an attack so you have a chance to strike. *bang bang*
  - A Chekhovs Skill in the making, Mat, Thom and Oliver are constantly seen playing Snakes and Foxes, a kids game, which Mat is openly dismissive of. By the end of book 11 it has become clear that the game is an instruction manual for invading the world of the Finn and defeating them, which those three are well on their way to doing to save Moraine.
Happens a few times in Harry Potter, usually in regards to an important spell they need to learn. Harry's patronus in particular.
- Not to mention that ANY specifically named spell, even from the Unforgivable Curses from the Bad Guys, eventually gets used at least once during a key event.
- Most notable in the fifth book, with "Dumbledore's Army." The skills that Harry teaches are repeatedly relevant to the other characters through the rest of the series.
  - Of course, he's deliberately teaching them pragmatic spells because their official education doesn't and won't.
- A good non-spell example is Ron's skill in chess. Sadly it isn't mentioned much after the first book.
  - Because it's so obscure and useless that the only time it would be useful is if they were playing with giant, transfigured chess pieces that you have to defeat in order to confront the evil wizard. Seriously.
- Also Harry's superb flying and Snitch-catching skills make appearances throughout the series, usually with the line "Harry wasn't the youngest Seeker in 100 years for nothing."
Every other Hardy Boys novel had Chet Morton take up some hilarious new hobby, such as ventriloquism or shot-putting. These skills would always come in handy by the end of the book, and would never be referenced again in any later books.
It's learned quite a while before the book, but in The X Wing Series Face, a former child actor, was stated to have lived on Lorrd for a while, a planet whose hat was body language and the reading of such. He uses what he picked up to Sherlock Scan how people walk. This does come up again.
Subverted in the first Xanth book: Bink learns some throws from Crombie before the two part ways, and in a confrontation with Evil Magician Trent, uses one. Trent, an experienced warrior, counters expertly, while politely pointing out that amateur moves like that just don't work on a skilled opponent.
Justified in A Prayer For Owen Meany. Owen is too short to dunk a basketball effectively, but he's so lightweight that when he jumps into Johnny's arms Johnny can lift him high enough for a proper dunk. Owen insists that the pair practice this, and that what matters is being able to do it in under three seconds. As it turns out, Owen is Dreaming Of Things To Come, and he knows exactly what situation this will be useful for.
Used to good effect in Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede. The main character spends the first chapter learning skills her parents think are useless. She spends the rest of the book using those skills to melt wizards with lemony dishwater.
In Matthew Reilly's Hover Car Racer, Jason's Crazy Prepared mentor teaches him what to do in any situation that might come up in a race, including how to do a manual pit stop if the power is cut off. This skill allows him to cut a 30 second lead in an important race.
The first chapter of Desmond Bagley's thriller The Vivero Letter briefly mentions the hero's hobbies of fencing and SCUBA-diving. The diving later comes in handy for underwater archeology, and at the story's climax the hero kills the Big Bad in a hand-to-hand duel with machetes in which his training in sabre fencing gives him the edge.

Live Action TV

Jericho has Robert teach his daughter to shoot to better defend herself from the uncertainties in their After The End world. Not only does it bring this estranged father and daughter together, but six episodes later she saves his life.
The Sarah Jane Adventures Alan is established as a former Skateboard champ in the first part of one story, guess how he KOs an alien in the second part? It was even joked about as being "Chekhov's Skateboard" on Outpost Gallifrey.
In the MST3K episode "Bloodlust", there is an early scene where the heroine goofily tackles the hero (for no apparent reason) causing him to jokingly remark that he shouldn't have gotten involved with "the daughter of a judo expert." Sure enough, the movie later contains a scene where the heroine uses her judo skills to dump a mook into a vat of acid.
- Not to mention Tom saying "Foreshadowing!" when the plot point comes up.
- Of course, she never uses this skill at any other times it would be helpful, such as subduing the Big Bad.
In one episode of Monk, Randy spends most of his time playing jenga. In the showdown at the end of the episode, he uses these skills to knock out the bad guy using a stack of lumber.
- In another episode, we find out Adrian met his wife when she wrote her phone number on a piece of paper on his back, for another guy. Natalie refers to this as a really useless superpower. Later in the episode he's able to find out where someone is staying as she wrote it on his back at the beginning of the episode.
The Wire: Snoop and Chris teach Michael how to pull off murders, which allows him to figure out when *he* is being set up for one and turn the tables.
In an episode of Sister Sister, Lisa claims that she has a sixth sense, citing that she once saw a ghost of a relative. This is played off as a joke, Laugh Track and all. Later in the episode, she meets the ghost of Ray's old wife.
In one of the first episodes of Power Rangers RPM, Ziggy mentions that he is good with shadow puppets, something treated as a joke. This skill manages to save the Rangers' lives at least once or twice over the course of the series.
In Season 2 of Lost, Locke teaches Michael how to use a gun. Big mistake.
In Torchwood, Gwen's husband is a truck driver. In the miniseries Children of Earth, he uses his knowledge of trucks (his company in particular) to save himself and Gwen at a critical moment.
Pretty much the basis of the show Psych, in which almost every episode begins with Shawn being taught a skill by his dad when he was a kid, only to flash-forward to the future and see it come in handy.
In season three of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Willow and Buffy joke a few times about how Willow's witchcraft has only progressed to the point of levitating pencils. This later turns out to be a very useful skill in a world where vampires are intensely weak to pointed wooden objects.

Video Games

This trope is essentially the basis for the Metroidvania genre of video games, where the player explores an environment and obtains new equipment or abilities that allow them to solve puzzles found later on the game. For example, the Metroid series which provides the former half of the genre's name has the player collect the grapple beam to cover large gaps, the Varia suit to protect them from superheat/cooled areas, and so on.
- Though it doesn't necessarily fit, because you're usually trying to get skills for the explicit purpose of overcoming certain types of obstacles, and in the more nonlinear games (like the early Metroid games, especially Super Metroid) you'll often be looking for a specific item once you've figured out where you'll need to use it.
  - You come across the obstacle early on, but find the tool/skill to overcome it later. So perhaps this is an inversion of the trope?
  - Chekhov's Obstacle!
  - That could work...on his first time through Metroid Prime 3, this troper saw green doors and thought "Nova Beam must be coming up soon". Which, of course, it was.
The Legend of Zelda series typically has the boss of each dungeon's weakness based around whatever piece equipment Link finds in (and sometimes before) it. For example, if you find the Bow expect to be shooting arrows at a weak spot, if you find a hammer then expect to smash some armour and so on.
- Early on in The Ocarina Of Time, Link can learn how to use Din's Fire, a reasonably useful area-effect fire spell, but like the other magic spells, not perfectly necessary. It isn't until he gets to the Shadow Temple that Din's Fire becomes essential, as its the only way to light the torches at once and open the doorway.
  - And to get rid of the big walls of wooden spikes that are protecting the Boss Key for that temple.
In Tales Of Eternia, Rid gets the Kyokku skills (Aurora Artes) in three parts. The first two form his two-stage "Hi-Ougi", the high-powered low-HP sort of move most Tales leads get at some point. The last one is completely useless (and unusable) except as a requirement for the final Puzzle Boss.
"Try to remember some of the basics of CQC..." This line and Ocelot's hand gesture became running gags among this troper's friends after playing through Metal Gear Solid 3. The former comes up in a number of cutscenes, in addition to its use throughout the game as a few standard maneuvers.
Inverted in Jade Empire, where many characters comment on a mysterious seemingly unexploitable "flaw" in the protagonist's martial arts. Once the nature of the flaw is revealed it turns the plot completely upside-down.
In Trauma Center: New Blood, Valerie drags the operating team to a demonstration held by her friend. Unfortunately, she doesn't realize that her friend became a veterinarian. Any attempts to salvage the situation as having learned something useful are shot down by Markus as being highly unlikely, since human doctors would never have to operate on a dog. Much later in the game, a dog that had been given to them is shot, and they decide to use the skills they learned earlier to operate on it.
Parodied in Final Fantasy IX - early in the game, Vivi, being too naive to understand how to escape a captor, is easily kidnapped from the party. With Garnet standing right next to him, Zidane explains how to successfully resist capture. Later in the game, when Garnet is about to be captured, she only remembers to yell "Let go of me, you scumbag!", to the perplexity of the villains who then proceed to grab her anyway.
Chekhov's Guns are the order of the day in any Point and Click Adventure, since most objects you can pick up will undoubtedly become useful later. The Monkey Island series also includes the occasional skill. The most famous example is Insult Swordfighting, but a neater example comes at the end of Monkey Island 2: at the beginning of the game, you were taught how to make a voodoo doll to defeat Largo La Grande. At the end of the game, you must recall this skill to defeat Le Chuck. Guybrush states early on in the first game that he can hold his breath for 10 minutes, which is fortunate because people keep trying to drown him.

Webcomics

Web Original

Western Animation

Avatar The Last Airbender. After his initial Earth Bending training, the third season revealed that Toph had trained Aang to sense movement through Earth Bending like she does, which he used later on.
- In "The Puppetmaster", Katara learns a particular nasty technique called Bloodbending that allows her to control someone when empowered by the full moon. The episode made it very clear she does not like the technique. She does use it later, but her willingness to use this technique to torture someone does a good job of showing her vicious side.
- Iroh's original technique of redirecting lightning was first demonstrated in the first season with little fanfare. In the early second season Azula demonstrates the ability to actually generate lighting, where Iroh reused that technique against her. This prompts Zuko to request to be trained in the art of lighting bending. After failing to use the regular lightning strike, Iroh teaches him the redirect technique, but refuses to help him practice with actual lightning. Needless to say, Zuko does have to put that training to use over a season later, though not against Azula.
  - Zuko would also pass the technique on to Aang, who uses it to avoid a fatal blow from Fire Lord Ozai in the finale.
In The Simpsons Movie, Homer has to do a stunt with a motorcycle inside of a spherical cage in order to win a new car. He then uses this same stunt at the end of the movie with the glass sphere surrounding Springfield in order to save the city from a bomb.
In the series premiere of The Real Adventures Of Jonny Quest, "Darkest Fathoms", Jonny is seen to be practicing how to escape from being tied up. Later in the episode, he is captured by pirates and uses this skill to get free (and save Jessie and his dad while he's at it).
Part Two of The Fairly Odd Parents TV movie trilogy "Wishology", Baby Poof is seen watching a ninja film based very loosely on what happened in Part One. Wanda proceeds to turn it off, as it is "too violent for him." During the next few minutes, Poof kicks, punches, and generally bounces around the room. Later, Timmy's friends, family and godparents have all been captured by the Eliminators, who came back from the Darkness, which apparently was only slowed down after Part One. Poof is the only one who can go through the bars of their cell, and when threatened by the Eliminators, he dons a blanket around his head and body, smears eyeliner on his face for a shadow, and proceeds to kick ass big time.
Subverted (hilariously, by the way) in South Park, where Stan goes through the Training Montage, only to win his climactic ski race with the same two skills he learned near the beginning: pizza, french fries. The actual difference is made when the Meganekko flashes the Jerk Jock and stuns him for more than enough time for Stan to cross the finish line first.
Jim Hawkin's solar surfing which got him into trouble at the beginning of Treasure Planet proves to be vital in the climax when the Planet is self-destructing. He then uses a makeshift surfer using a hunk of metal and a severed engine to fly back to a portal and change the destination to Montressor Spaceport. His resourcefulness, quick thinking, and Chekhov's Skill save the RLS Legacy and those on board from a very unpleasant demise. And people wonder why Jim is Estrogen Brigade Bait when he's fifteen.