History Main / ItsBeenDone

* TerryPratchett's ''{{The Dark Side of the Sun}}'' has a dream sequence in which a character explains the course of various potential plots for the story, all of them are the plots of classic SF/fantasy novels (''{{Dune}}'' and ''{{Lord of the Rings}}'' are included). The main character dismisses them all as implausible, telling the other "Try the reality next door", suggesting that these events are taking place in one of the many parallel universes hinted at in the novel.
* In the ''{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/WyrdSisters'', there is a dwarf playwright who swears his ideas come from literal bolts of inspiration from other universes, resulting in his plays showing influences from ''{{The Importance of Being Earnest}}'', ''DuckSoup'', {{Laurel and Hardy}}, TheThreeStooges, and CharlieChaplin's "Little Tramp" character. They frustrate him because he knows they should be funny, but can't understand why or how to make the audience ''get it''.

* In the ''[[ThirtyRock 30 Rock]]'' episode "Into the Crevasse", Jack and a bunch of the TGS writers attempt to create a revolutionary design for a microwave, but end up re-inventing the Pontiac Aztek.

** In the episode "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" Homer's attempts to become an inventor are repeatedly thwarted by the long-dead Thomas Edison -- presumably this trope for inventing. At the end of the episode, Homer visits Edison's workshop and learns that Edison had a similar relationship with Leonardo Da Vinci.

* ''{{Between the Lions}}'' has a scientist character named Dr. Nitwhit who announces that he's discovered "the only word in the English Language that X" (has the same consonant at the beginning and the end, is spelled with a given sound). When his assistant responds, it's always with words that just happen to prove that the rule is more general than poor Nitwhit thought.

** [[AskThatGuyWithTheGlasses Ask That Guy]] subverted this trope by suggesting an original movie: 2½ hours of exploding babies.

* In the Western animation of ''{{Darkstalkers}}'', Lord Raptor tries to get into the music industry. "I'm a Zombie who rocks!" [[RobZombie It's been done, actually.]]

* The second page of ''How to Make a Sprite Comic in 8 Easy Bits'' has its protagonist think up a few different ideas for his magnum opus -- first a ''FinalFantasy'' [[Webcomic/EightBitTheater parody]], then a ''Game/MegaMan'' [[BobAndGeorge comic...]]

* One spinoff short story to ''FanFic/YouGotHaruhiRolled'' has [[RalphWiggum Kyouko]] telling [[DeadpanSnarker Fujiwara]] about the plot of a fanfic she is writing, about a LivingToy who learns, to his horror, that he is just a [[NoIndoorVoice CHILD'S PLAYTHING!]] Fujiwara then says that this is the exact plot of ''ToyStory''.

** At the end of the film, he goes on explaining his idea for a new film, a [[SnowWhite romance of some sort between a beautiful woman and not one or two, but SEVEN little men]].

* Listen to this [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKtYqh7VDEo piece of music.]] Now listen to this [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i139Ew6mMFM one.]] Even to this day, people are still confused as to who ripped off who's music. (If only they checked out the dates: ''Film/{{Leviathan}}'' came out in 1989, whereas RecordofLodossWar came out in 1990.) And to even ask if the veteran composer like JerryGoldsmith ripped off music from an obscure (at that time anyways) anime film is kinda unthinkable.

& Listen to this [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKtYqh7VDEo piece of music.]] Now listen to this [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i139Ew6mMFM one.]] Even to this day, people are still confused as to who ripped off who's music. (If only they checked out the dates: ''film/{{Leviathan}}'' came out in 1989, whereas RecordofLodossWar came out in 1990.) And to even ask if the veteran composer like JerryGoldsmith ripped off music from an obscure (at that time anyways) anime film is kinda unthinkable.

* In ''CriminalMinds'', Reid asserts that ''Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure'' is a ripoff of ''DoctorWho''.

** '''Reid''': First of all, it's a police box, not a phone booth. Second of all, Doctor Who started a quarter of a century before Bill and Ted even went on their bodacious adventure, so really they should have called it Bill & Ted's Excellent Ripoff.

* In ''CriminalMinds'', Reid asserts that ''BillandTed'sExcellentAdventure'' is a ripoff of ''DoctorWho''.
** '''Reid''':First of all, it's a police box, not a phone booth. Second of all, Doctor Who started a quarter of a century before Bill and Ted even went on their bodacious adventure, so really they should have called it Bill & Ted's Excellent Ripoff.

* From a 19th Century BC Egyptian poem: "What has been said has been said."
* From TheBible ([[ShownTheirWork Ecclesiasties 1:9]]): "It has all been done before; there is nothing new under the sun."
In other words: This trope's been done since OlderThanDirt.

* Possibly the TropeNamer, but almost certainly the UrExample, in the [[TheBible book of Ecclesiastes]], its heavily cynical author complains: "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." Which means the "this idea has been done" trope ''itself'' is OlderThanTheyThink.
** Quoted from a 19th Century BC Egyptian poem. (Translation credit to Guy Deutscher):

:::This poem was written around 4,000 years ago! In Ancient Egypt!

* UK newspaper strip ''ThePerishers'' had Marlon, the keen but not-very-bright kid, who on one occasion took up inventing for a hobby. When his friends pointed out that his inventions (fire, the wheel and the horse and cart) had all been invented by other people, he wasn't worried because he invented them quicker and was therefore catching up.

** Aliens really ''did'' try to steal Earth that way, in "The Dalek Invasion of Earth". The Doctor briefly mentions this in "The Stolen Earth" when he says that, "Someone tried to move the Earth once before." [[spoiler:The Daleks tried to do it both times.]]
*** [[spoiler:The Cybermen tried it once as well, if I recall correctly.]]

... both of which certifies this trope as OlderThanDirt.

** And ''then'' there's "G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)" and "Saving Private Bryan", which aired within a week of each other in 2006, and had almost the exact same plot to the letter - school assembly convinces Bart/Chris to join the Army, Homer/Bryan goes down to the recruiter's office to try to get the contract torn up, and ends up enlisting themselves.

* In ''Bleach'', Soifon reveals while fighting Yoruichi that she has been developing a new kido that combines kido with unarmed combat, saying that she hasn't even named it yet. When she demonstrates the attack against Yoruichi, Yoruichi reveals that it already has a name and counters with the completed version of the attack. Yoruichi then goes on to explain how the attack affected the uniform design for Soifon's position (because it destroys clothing over the back of the user, the uniform is backless).

* Donald's script in ''Adaptation'' is this in about fifteen different ways.

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