History Main / ReadingAheadInTheScript

* A Dramatic version and subverted in ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory''. when the Childlike Empress asks the Old Man of Wandering Mountain to read ahead in the Neverending Story that he is writing. He tells her there is nothing but empty pages.

* In one of the ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' novels, the main characters come across a character whose talent is to read the chapter name. Unfortunately for them, this occurs in a chapter titled "X". Partially justified in that the novels are occasionally said to be copies of historical texts created by Muses, who update them in real-time, so the character could just be checking the title of the chapter the Muse is working on. Also, RuleOfFunny.

* In the TexAvery cartoon ''KingSizeCanary'', a mouse cautions an alley cat against eating him, explaining he'd seen the picture before and that he'd save the cat's life before it was through.

* In the Harvard Lampoon's BoredOfTheRings, Bromosel, the Boromir parody, displays this ability a few times, once even taking note of how much of the book was still in the reader's right hand.

* [[OnlySaneMan Proto Man]], in [[http://bobandgeorge.com/archives/011014c this]] BobAndGeorge strip.

* The entire story of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', a sci-fi drama based on comic books, exists in-universe as... a comic book, drawn by a man with precognitive powers. This is an important plot point early on -- Hiro finds the comic and reads ahead a little, effectively consulting the oracle before their quest.

* Strangely, the entire story of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', a sci-fi drama based on comic books, exists in-universe as... a comic book. This is an important plot point early on-- a character finds their own comic and reads ahead a little, effectively consulting the oracle before their quest.
** Later, this same character is so confused that he hunts down a comic book store to find out what happens next, only for a couple of comic book geeks to recognize him from a scene they just read. They answer some of his questions about plot details and share some fan theories, which may or may not have been based on actual fan theories from people watching the TV show.

* In the movie ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'', the Spaceballs watch the VHS of the movie to find out where the heroes have escaped to. This causes great weirdness when they first get to the part of the video that's currently going on.

* ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' features fly-on-the-wall style sections with the actors having chats as themselves on the set. In one of them, David Mitchell points out that these are as scripted as the rest of the show, and shows Robert Webb the script for the sketch they're in, which includes the direction "Cut to a close-up of the script. It reads: cut to a close-up of the script. It reads:..."

* A variation occurs in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Angels Take Manhattan." The events of the episode are written down in a book the Doctor found. Amy is quick to realize that reading ahead gives them some warning about what will happen, only for the Doctor to tell her not to do it. This is because it becomes close to impossible to ScrewDestiny once you've read it. Reading ahead would seal their fate, with no way to know if it would be for better or for worse.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short "Wind-Blown Hare", TheBigBadWolf reads a copy of ''Literature/ThreeLittlePigs'' to know what to do. When BugsBunny pretends to be Literature/LittleRedRidingHood, he gives the wolf a copy of that book to catch up.

* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': The [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-04-08 04/08/01 strip]] has Captain Tagon tell the InteractiveNarrator to start reading the script again after everybody got distracted trying to figure out what the heck happened in the last six strips. (There was a weird segue in mid-story where Tagon and Brad got captured by aliens, interrogated, and disintegrated.) Then he cuts the narrator off on account of they'd reached the last panel; the narrator says he's going to go have a word with the author.

* ''FanFic/TheInfiniteLoops'' takes this trope and does the tango. Looping universes are backed up on the Hub universe, our reality, which causes the natives to write fiction about the backed up worlds and results in a lot of MutuallyFictional scenarios. GenreSavvy loopers gather as much fiction as they can, so they can quickly acquaint themselves with any other world they end up in; some loopers even keep their own scritps on hand to offer to newcomers.

* ''WebAnimation/TurnaboutStorm'': [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Pinkie]] doesn't waste any time; she already had a good part of the script read beforehand, thus she already knew what one of [[VisualNovel/AceAttorney Phoenix's]] next destinations was, and that "something strange" was going to happen there. At least she had the courtesy of not reading too far into it to avoid spoilers.

* A variation occurs in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Angels Take Manhattan." The events of the episode are written down in a book the Doctor found. Amy is quick to realize that reading ahead gives them some warning about what will happen, only for the Doctor to tell her not to do it. This is because it becomes close to impossible to ScrewDestiny once you've read it. Reading ahead would seal their fate, with no way to know if it would be for better or for worse.

* Inverted in the ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'' episode "Retakes Not Included". Bull and Axl realise that they have digressed too long and that the plot has moved on without them. They flip backwards through the script in order to catch up and prevent taz from eating a cute fluffy bunny.

* In ''Film/TheMuppetMovie'', the Electric Mayhem come to rescue Kermit and the others when they get stranded in the desert. How did they knew they were there? They read it in the script Kermit had given them earlier.
** Although, even with the script, it's still fairly far-fetched that Dr. Teeth managed to locate them.
-->'''Kermit:''' How did you know where to find us?
-->'''Dr. Teeth:''' We just read the script. ''(Holds up script)'' "EXT. DESERT - NIGHT." We knew right where you were.

* ''ForbiddenBroadway Strikes Back'' has a weird variation - the characters from ''Theatre/{{Rent}}'' read ahead in the script for ''Theatre/LaBoheme'' to see what they should do next. Of course, since the plot of ''Rent'' is only ''very'' loosely based on ''La Bohème'', it's not a reliable guide.
* ''JosephAndTheAmazingtechnicolorDreamcoat'' has the song ''Go, go, go Joseph'' with the line "Go, go, go Joseph, fight till you drop/We've read the book, and you come out on top."

* ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' features fly-on-the-wall style sections with the actors having chats as themselves on the set. In one of them, Robert Webb points out that these are as scripted as the rest of the show, and shows David Mitchell the script for the sketch they're in, which includes the direction "David looks at the script. It reads: David looks at the script. It reads:..."