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Triumphant Reprise

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Students: Hail to the bus driver, bus driver, bus driver...
Seymour Skinner: ...yes. Hail to the bus driver. Bus driver man.

Sibling to the Dark Reprise, only it's the Good Twin of the pair. While a Dark Reprise is a dark, ominous version of a previous song, the Triumphant Reprise is just the opposite — an earlier song, especially one with either a neutral or downright dark tone, redone in an uplifting, dramatic, and victorious form. Frequently used as a Theme Music Power-Up and/or a Bravado Song. This also tends to happen to an "I Want" Song — it turns from that to an "I've Earned What I Wanted Song."

Is quite prone to being both awesome and heartwarming, and frequently used for Climactic Music and for Earn Your Happy Ending stories. It can even be a Big Finale Crowd Song if there's a crowd of people singing the reprise and it's near the end.


Examples:

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    Anime 
  • While the ending theme of CLANNAD and Nagisa's leitmotif Dango Daikazoku (Big Dango Family) is already fairly happy, though for some reason has a tint of Tear Jerker, the Triumphant Reprise Chiisana Te no Hira (The Palm of a Tiny Hand) that plays at the climax of the series ramps the heartwarming up.
  • The music in the final episode of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, "Love Conservative" (spoilers), since it's played during Simon and Nia's wedding, reprises both Nia's and Simon's themes.
  • In the Jack and the Beanstalk anime Princess Margret's song "No one's happier than I" is given a reprise after the villains are defeated.
  • In the final episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion, we hear two separate triumphant reprises of the opening theme, titled "The Heady Feeling of Freedom" and "Good, Or Don't Be" respectively. Though these aren't typical of the Triumphant Reprise - they're much more mellow and calming arrangements of what is normally a passionate and driving theme song.
  • The final battle of Macross Frontier is capped off by the Nyan Nyan Service Medley, which is practically every song from the series strung together.
  • The song that plays over the credits of the final episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena is "Rose and Release," a catchy, upbeat version of the show's main theme.
  • Gundam Build Fighters combines this with Last Episode Theme Reprise during the final epic battle between Sei and Reiji's Build Strike Gundam and Meijin Kawaguchi's Amazing Gundam Exia, the first theme plays in all of its glory!
  • Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion has a lighter flute reprise of Sayaka's theme Decretum mixed into the music of the climatic last battle as seen here. It plays when she summons Oktavia von Seckendorff showing hows she's managed to accept and overcome her despair.
    • Earlier on, it also features another one of the anime's darker songs remastered heroically for Homura's segment of the Holy Quintet transformation sequence.
  • Attack on Titan:
    • The slightly melancholy chorus of the Insert Song 'The Reluctant Heroes' returns as a stirring Leitmotif in several other pieces on the soundtrack, including 'Ri-body-ki-motion' and 'counter*attack-mankind'.
    • The slightly sad and calm melody of 'eye-water' comes back as a victorious (but equally melancholic) theme in 'Call Your Name' a few times during the anime.
  • The melody of the Voltes V theme has a triumphant version played on violins when Voltes V begins fighting back against the Beast Fighter, and before drawing the Laser Sword.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: "Sono Chi no Sadame", the theme song for Phantom Blood, plays in the final episode of Battle Tendency as Joseph manages to defeat the seemingly invincible Kars by launching him into space.
  • The ending theme of Excel♡Saga is remixed when Menchi and some other dogs she meets get ready to find her original owner.
  • In Evangelion:3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, the end credits are comprised of two vocal songs: the newly composed "One Last Kiss" and a "Da Capo Version" reprise of "Beautiful World" from the first two films. What makes this much more poignant is that this is the film where Shinji finally earns his happy ending, and that "Beautiful World" never played at any point in the previous film's Downer Ending.

    Fanfiction 
  • Turnabout Storm: One of the original themes, "Memories", is a slow and melancholic track that plays during a couple of the series' most emotional moments. Towards the ending, this theme is used in the Reprise Medley "End of the Storm", where it takes a significantly more uplifting, if still slightly melancholic, tone. note 
  • An interesting example occurs in Chapter 2 of In Brightest Day. Right after gaining the Green Lantern Ring, Applejack is confronted by Ruby, Mitta, and a recently corrupted Granny Smith. During the fight the trio proceeds to sing their Villain Song "With Me" to further hammer in how hopeless her situation is and how she should just surrender. However at certain points of the song Applejack sings her own lyrics during the fight, and eventually takes over the entire song near the end, having it pertain to the fact that she won't surrender as she successfully defeats the trio.
  • In Undertale, the genocide route (in which the player character chooses to kill everyone and everything in their path including themself) contains a very infamous and difficult battle with one of the main characters named Sans. "Megalovania" is the song that plays during the fight and is the character's theme song. "Altruistralia" is the much happier, fan-made, major key version of "Megalovania" and basically Sans' theme in the pacifist route (in which the player character chooses to befriend all the characters and frees everyone from being trapped underground forever).
  • BlackGryph0n, a Fandom VIP of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, produced a song dedicated to the Cutie Mark Crusaders about their quest to find their cutie marks (a special mark that signifies your true calling), called "Crusader (Are We There Yet)"; it was a hopeful but somewhat bittersweet tune about how hard the little trio was fighting to finally find their marks and how their determination, though admirable, is also aimless and shows a desire to grow up too fast, prompting the singer (implied to represent their elder sisters) to grow concerned for them. The sequel/reprise, "Here We Are", is a powerful and triumphant song that celebrates the day that the Crusaders finally found their purpose and gained their cutie marks (which occurred in the episode "Crusaders of the Lost Mark", which inspired the song), while simultaneously marveling at the realization that their true talents were right in front of them the whole time and they never knew it until that day.

    Films — Animation 
  • Anastasia:
    • In the beginning, Anastasia first sings "Once Upon a December" with her Grandmama who is about to leave for Paris. The next time she sings it alone in the abandoned ballroom of the palace, struggling to recall memories from her past. Later in the movie, Anastasia and her Grandmama reprise the song one final time, but this time with the joy that they are finally "together in Paris" and reunited.
    • When Anastasia is back in court regalia for the first time since she reunited with her grandmother, a triumphant instrumental reprise of her "I Want" Song "Journey to the Past" plays. It is reprised one more time when Anastasia and Dmitry elope together and have a Big Damn Kiss.
  • Played with and played straight in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. As Sam and Flint prepare to enter the meateroid, Brent asks what he can do, and after he is told he can be "President of the Backseat", a mocking trumpet version of the Baby Brent Sardines jingle plays. Later, when he is reborn as Chicken Brent, a triumphant, orchestral version of the jingle plays.
  • Movies from the Disney Animated Canon often end with a chorus reprising one of the songs to reinforce its theme (which in most cases has to do with dreams coming true). Some of them also have triumphant reprises somewhere in the middle.
    • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ends with the prince taking Snow White to his castle, to the accompaniment of "Some Day My Prince Will Come."
    • Pinocchio has "When You Wish Upon a Star" sung again after Pinocchio becomes a real boy.
    • The crows' song "When I See an Elephant Fly" in Dumbo is initially mocking and snarky. Then when Dumbo actually flies, the song becomes celebratory and triumphant.
    • In Bambi, when the titular character inherits the title of, "Great Prince of the Forest," he stands majestically on a cliff (like his father did near the beginning of the movie), while "Love is a Song" plays again. Both are triumphant.
    • "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" plays at Cinderella's wedding.
    • In Sleeping Beauty, after Philip slays Maleficent and awakens Aurora, he and Aurora waltz to a reprise of "Once Upon a Dream". Aurora's "I Want" Song, "I Wonder", also receives an instrumental replay right before it.
    • In The Great Mouse Detective, the song "Goodbye So Soon" was recorded by Ratigan in a mocking tone as Basil and Dawson are in his trap. The song is sung by a chorus in a more upbeat tone during the credits.
    • Oliver & Company ends with Dodger once again singing "Why Should I Worry?", this time with the rest of the gang sans Oliver joining him in the song.
    • The Fox and the Hound ends with a brief instrumental reprise of "Goodbye May Seem Forever", as Tod and Vixey overlook Slade's house in the forest.
    • The Little Mermaid ends on a reprise of "Part of Your World", with altered lyrics to reflect that Ariel finally got her wish. Even before this, Ariel sings a reprise of "Part of Your World" after rescuing Eric in which she declares that someday she will be part of his world. And a planned ending had Ariel walking onto the beach transformed into a human singing another Triumphant Reprise of "Part of Your World", which would have segued into the end scene. The stage version's finale has an instrumental reprise of "The World Above" as Ariel transforms into a human again, then at the wedding, a triumphant reprise of "If Only" followed by an extended version of the film's "Part of Your World" reprise, making it even more triumphant.
    • In Beauty and the Beast, the music for the Beast's Transformation Sequence is a triumphant version of the Prologue music, and the film proper ends with a choral reprise of the title song. The Screen-to-Stage Adaptation's finale also includes a reprise of "If I Can't Love Her", and the Live-Action Remake has "Evermore", which also uses the Prologue music in a more triumphant form (somewhat ironically, because "Evermore" is a song about how the Beast is now cursed to eternal life - without Belle).
      • There's also a smaller one earlier in the film when Belle sings a reprise of "Belle" after having rebuked Gaston. This was included in the remake.
    • One of the Cut Songs from Aladdin is a Happily Ever After version of "Arabian Nights". The final cut of the film does contain a reprise of "A Whole New World," while the reprise of "Arabian Nights" was instead used in Aladdin and the King of Thieves.
      • The Screen-to-Stage Adaptation reinstated both that and the other three reprises, as well as the cut verses of the main song and extending the "Whole New World" reprise slightly.
    • The Lion King ends with a reprise of "Circle of Life", which is appropriate, as it shows Simba's story coming full circle as he becomes a father.
      • Also, the P.O.V. Sequel The Lion King 1 ½ features one of "Digga Tunnah" that celebrates Timon having gotten rid of the hyenas and saved his whole colony.
    • At the end of Pocahontas, an instrumental version of "Colors of the Wind" plays as Pocahontas stands on a cliff and watches John Smith's ship sailing away. It's actually not entirely instrumental, as it's accompanied by an Ethereal Choir, but nevertheless, the lyrics are not sung.
    • In Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame Clopin reprises "The Bells of Notre-Dame". What makes it powerful is moment that happens just before where the little girl hugs Quasi. Also the orchestration of it, and Paul Kandel's repeat of his incredibly high note in the first incarnation of the song.
      • In the cut song "As Long as There's a Moon" the introduction was performed over a playful version of "The Court of Miracles".
    • Hercules has one of "Go The Distance" after Hercules speaks to Zeus and sets out to become a hero.
    • "I'll Make a Man out of You (Reprise)" from Mulan. Originally sung during the film's Training Montage, this song is sung during the scene where Mulan and her teammates are shown infiltrating the Palace as an attempt to rescue the Emperor of China from being assassinated by the Huns, while dressed up as women. This is despite the fact that Mulan was a woman dressed as a man already.
    • Tarzan ends on a short Triumphant Reprise of the opening song, "Two Worlds". Now that Jane and her father live in the jungle, there really are two worlds living together.
    • "Epilogue" from Dinosaur, which is essentially a reorchestrated version of "The Egg Travels."
    • The Emperor's New Groove opens with "Perfect World" which, while upbeat, foreshadows the problems ahead; it's a pean to Emperor's unchecked ego: And this perfect world will spin/ Around his every little whim / 'Cause this perfect world begins and ends with him ME! By the end of the film the Emperor has undergone harrowing troubles, found true friends and the Triumphant Reprise of "Perfect World" becomes: A perfect world begins and ends with us!
    • In Treasure Planet, there's an amazing reprise of Jim's solar-surfing Leitmotif from 12 Years Later when he puts his Chekhov's Skill to good use in Jim Saves The Crew.
    • Brother Bear has two reprises — "Transformation" for when Kenai decides to remain a bear, and "Great Spirits" for when he finally places his mark on the wall.
    • Home on the Range gets one of "Little Patch of Heaven," after the farm is saved.
    • Bolt reprises the chorus to "Barking at the Moon" at the very end before the credits.
    • The Princess and the Frog has Tiana sing a reprise of "Down In New Orleans" while celebrating the opening of hers and Naveen's restaurant.
    • Tangled:
      • Rapunzel reprises her "I Want" Song "When Will My Life Begin" after she leaves her tower for the first time.
      • There's also her reprise of "The Healing Incantation" when she heals Flynn's hand, changing it from the greedy, self-centered Villain Song it had been introduced as - although in this case, it's the first time the full song is sung properly, after two instances of only the first verse and one instance of being sped up almost past the point of intelligibility.
    • Wreck-It Ralph actually uses its reprise in a twisted way, as it triumphantly plays the Big Bad's fairly dark leitmotif as he's being drawn to his death against his will.
    • Frozen:
      • The reprise of "For the First Time in Forever" starts this way, as Anna tries to assure Elsa that she understands why she shut herself off for much of their childhood and that she will always be there for her. But it quickly turns into a Dark Reprise when Elsa discovers that she threw her kingdom into Endless Winter; her fear begins to overtake her until she lashes out, accidentally freezing her sister's heart.
      • "Eatnemen Vuelie" plays at the beginning of the movie, mainly to set the tone of the film. It can be heard again after Anna's Act of Love thaws her frozen heart, and Elsa, through her love for Anna, summons the strength she needs to restore her kingdom.
      • And immediately after this, when Anna says to Elsa, "I knew you could do it," a horn is playing a triumphant reprise of "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?".
      • Another Triumphant Reprise is the "Epilogue" track, which is a reprise of "For The First Time in Forever" and "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?". For the first time in forever, Anna finally has the bond with her sister she had been seeking for years. Note that they're skating together with Olaf, just like in their introduction.
      • There actually was going to be a sung reprise of "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman" at the end, but it was cut.
      • The pop rendition of "Let It Go" is sung over the end credits.
    • In Zootopia there is a slow, melancholy Leitmotif theme that plays whenever the dreams of a character have been shaken or broken. It's used as the "depressing" Lonely Piano Piece that plays on Judy's radio at the end of her horrible first day of work to symbolize her depressed mood and also plays when Judy resigns from the ZPD after causing escalated racial tensions between predator and prey from the Innocently Insensitive comments she made during her press conference. When Judy later has a "Eureka!" Moment in Bunnyburrow and realizes she has found the missing clue needed to solve the case, this theme is reprised as the bombastic, no-holds-barred music played as she triumphantly returns to Zootopia to make things right.
    • Moana:
      • "How Far I'll Go" gets two of them. Moana sings the first reprise when she sets off on her journey for the first time, and the second reprise, entitled "I am Moana (Song of the Ancestors)", happens when the spirit of Gramma Tala helps Moana break out of her Heroic BSoD.
      • "I am Moana" actually is a Triumphant Reprise of nearly every song in the movie, representing Moana finding herself. It starts with Gramma Tala reprising "Where You Are", which turns into "How Far I'll Go" and a small snippet of "We Know The Way", and ending on Moana declaring her name to the world.
    • In The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, when Tigger is allowed to bounce again and he encourages his friends to join in, he sings a reprise of "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers".
    • In Encanto the song All Of You reuses the melody from The Family Madrigal as Mirabel encourages the family to rebuild Casita, later joined by all the villagers. Also a part of Colombia, Mi Encanto originally plays at the beginning of the celebration of Antonio's Gift Ceremony. The full song plays at the end of the film and over the end credits as the Grand Finale after Casita is rebuilt and the magic returns.
    • Wish: "This Wish" is reprised during the climatic final battle by Asha and everyone in Rosas, when she remembers humans are made from stardust and everyone wishes from the heart to save Rosas, freeing Star and defeating Magnifico.
  • The LEGO Movie, Everything is Awesome is originally sung ironically, given that's it's over an ultraconformist society with massive surveillance. However, by the end of the movie, it's sung unironically, because by the end of the movie, everything is awesome.
    • The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part ups the ante with "Everything's Not Awesome", a Dark Reprise of the above song after the citizens of Apocalypseburg and the Systar System alike are thrown into the storage bin during Ourmamageddon, which then turns into a Triumphant Reprise when Wyldstyle and General Mayhem realize that everything's not awesome unless they decide to do something about it and make it awesome.
  • Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa features The Traveling Song and its reprise Alex on the Spot. Both songs start the same; "I've been around the world in the pouring rain/feeling out of place, really feeling strange/Take me to place where they know my name/Where everyone knows my name", But while the first song describes how scared and alone Young Alex feels stranded in New York, the second song describes how glad he feels to finally be home in Africa.
  • In My Little Pony: Equestria Girls "This Is Our Big Night" plays as the girls get ready for the High-School Dance. A slightly more up tempo version plays after the climax when the girls are enjoying the dance.
  • The end credits song in My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games "Right There In Front Me" acts as a Triumphant Reprise of Twilight's earlier "I Want" Song "What More Is Out There?" with a faster up tempo remix of the former's melody. It also doubles as a reprise of the Cut Song where Sunset Shimmer laments that she misses life in Equestria.
  • In My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks, the Rainbooms' part of "Welcome to the Show" is triumphantly reprised after Sunset joins the band and they conjure up a giant Winged Unicorn avatar to defeat the Dazzlings once and for all.
  • Twice in My Little Pony: The Movie (2017):
    • When Tempest is betrayed by the Storm King and Twilight is rescuing her, a piano is playing a more soothing version of her Villain Song, "Open Up Your Eyes".
    • When the Mane Six pose heroically prior to racing for the Staff of Sacanas, the background score is playing a triumphant, orchestral rendition of "We Got This Together".
  • The Nightmare Before Christmas has a Triumphant Reprise of "This Is Halloween" when Jack returns after his troubled stint as Santa Claus. The lyrics are changed to "Jack is Back!," but the tune is still alike. The very end of the finale has a reprise of "Sally's Song" in which Jack finally reciprocates Sally's feelings. "Making Christmas" also contains a brief snippet of "Jack's Lament," where Jack celebrates his dreams coming true, followed by an Evil Laugh.
  • The Whitney Houston / Mariah Carey rendition of "When You Believe" plays over the end credits of The Prince of Egypt.
  • Snoopy, Come Home: Each incarnation of "No Dogs Allowed" is dark and dreary. When Snoopy sees the sign at Lila's apartment, a much happier track plays and Snoopy even dances to it.
  • The reprise of "Mountain Town" at the end of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is quite triumphant, with everything being sunshine and rainbows (literally), American/Canadian relations restored, and Kenny going to heaven and getting 72 virgins. It even starts with Chef singing "Everything worked out/What a happy end!"
  • When Spirit and Little Creek make their final escape from the soldiers at the end of the film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, the song "You Can't Take Me!" actually starts right back up where it was rudely interrupted near the start of the plot.
  • The Goofy Goober theme song from The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. After receiving two separate Dark Reprises (one at the Thug Tug, and one as the protagonists are being dried out and killed), it returns one last time at the climax as a triumphant rock song, which SpongeBob uses to destroy Plankton's brainwashing helmets through sheer awesomeness and save Bikini Bottom.
  • Steven Universe: The Movie has an odd example with "Let Us Adore You (Reprise)", as it is a mashup of "Let Us Adore You" and a triumphant reprise of "Found". "Found" is sung by Steven and Spinel, and is a quiet reassurance that even though Spinel was heavily traumatized by her abandonment, she's still capable of loving people and deserves to have people who care about her. In "Let Us Adore You (Reprise)", she's taken in by the Diamonds, and sings a reprise of "Found" in which she happily sings about how she's finally found people who want her around.
  • The last song before the end credits of the Teacher's Pet Finale Movie is "Proud to be a Dog", which is a reprise of the series' theme song about Spot giving up his longing to be a boy and accepting being a dog after going through his experiences transformed into a human and being turned back into a canine.
  • Teen Titans Go! To the Movies has the "We Are" Song "GO!", which is a rap remix of the show's theme song. The first instance at the beginning of the movie plays out as a standard bragging rap that highlights the team's self-absorbed nature and incompetence, as they're too busy performing it to actually fight the villain. The reprise used during the climax, subtitled "Battle Remix", uses heavier instrumentals and confirms that, yes, these morons can actually be terrifyingly competent when they're pushed into a corner.
  • In the original 1986 feature, Transformers: The Movie, we hear "The Touch" by Stan Bush as Optimus is plowing through the Decepticons and then going head to head with Megatron. The song is powerful, driving, and even upbeat. But Prime dies just moments after the song ends. However the song begins playing again near the film's climax when Hot Rod, nearly dead from Galvatron trying to pop his head off like a zit, touches the container of The Matrix, which revitalizes him, and empowers him. As the song begins to play he is changed from Hot Rod into Rodimus Prime, defeats Galvatron, leads the Autobots to safety as the energy unleashed by the Matrix rips Unicron apart, and finally declares the end of the Cybertronian Wars with victory being claimed by the Autobots.
  • In Turning Red, 4*Town's song "Nobody Like U" gets one during the climax, where it's combined with the Lee family's chant to restore Ming through the red moon ritual.
    • Mei's theme also gets a few triumphant reprises, most notably during her Flashback-Montage Realization, and briefly when she's fighting her own mother.
    • The Panda theme is used in a triumphant manner when Mei's grandma and aunties join in to help pull Ming back into the circle.
  • UglyDolls: "The Big Finale" begins with a short Dark Reprise of "Today's The Day" as Moxy sees the broken portal and worries she and the other dolls won't be able to go to the big world. However, Mandy leads her into a more confident version of "Unbreakable" as they fix it, followed by a celebratorial reprise of "Couldn't Be Better" as Uglyville and Perfection celebrate their merged town and accept each other's differences.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • A Walk to Remember
    • A variation of "Only Hope" (sang by Switchfoot) plays when Landon proposes to Jaime.
    • Jaime and Landon's Leitmotif plays in epic fashion after they get married and Landon explains that Jaime died.
  • At the end of The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland after Elmo defeats Huxley, retrieves his blanket, and reconciles with Zoe, the whole Sesame Street gang celebrates with a triumphant finale rendition of Elmo's opening song "Together Forever".
  • Anger Management has the scene where Jack Nicholson gets Adam Sandler to sing "I Feel Pretty" from West Side Story in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge as part of his therapy. The movie ends with him and his other patients singing it again when he graduates.
  • While the main theme of The Avengers (2012) is already a rousing leitmotif that is revisited a few times, nothing tops when it plays again right at the climax when the titular group of heroes have finally come together to fight the Chitauri army in arguably the most iconic shot of the film
  • Tim Burton's Batman (1989) has a complex example at the end. Danny Elfman's "Batman Theme" has been heard (in full) at the beginning and (in snippets) throughout the entire film, always sounding somehow negative (angry, despairing, mysterious, etc.). When the Bat-Signal is turned on just before the end, the theme is heard once more - and this time proceeds through a variety of different emotional connotations, from stately to bittersweet to hopeful to determined to (finally) triumphant, with a climax straight out of Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathrustra" and three glorious tolls of a church bell. But then, just before the screen fades out, the "dark" version of the theme returns, although this time it definitely implies an And the Adventure Continues mood.
  • Dorina sings the titular "Bituing Walang Ningning" when she is first unveiled as a major singer. She sings it again in the end after announcing her withdrawal from public life. She then lets Lavinia finish while she embraces Nico.
  • Blade Runner 2049: The ending features a version of Tears in Rain that is more heroic in tone than Blade Runner's, with the volume swelling and almost entering major key, whereas the original was silent and minor throughout.
  • The opening, title song of Bye Bye Birdie (added for the movie) becomes this at the end. Kim's tone goes from "What am I going to do now? I miss Conrad so much!" in the opening to a mocking "To hell with you, Conrad! I'm a grown woman now!" at the end. Definitely less sentimental than most other examples on this page, but it still fits.
  • "Impossible" from the TV special Cinderella (Rodgers and Hammerstein) has a cynical, pessimistic half, and a part containing a glimmer of hope for Cinderella's wishes. After the Fairy Godmother grants Cinderella's wish to attend the ball, the two of them sing, "It's Possible", which puts a more optimistic spin on the song.
  • Con Air, of all things, has two.
    • "How Do I Live?" is first heard when Poe comes home from the army to find his wife Tricia and their unborn daughter Casey. It is heard again in the end when he finally meets Casey in person.
    • "Sweet Home Alabama" is heard first when the cons escape the boneyard, then again in the end when we see Garland Greene is still at large.
  • Crush has one of the most heartwarming, gut-wrenching versions of this because the side-plot ends well. There is then another reprise, itself a Dark Reprise of the first, darker main theme which begot the light variation, as the end of the main plot comes along.
  • Das Boot: The tracks "Rückzug" and "Heimkehr" reprise the film's main theme ("Titel") in triumphant fashion as the U-96 crew manages to cheat death right under the Royal Navy's nose in Gibraltar (by repairing the submarine's engine and having it go back to the surface against all odds) and come back at the base.
  • DC Extended Universe
    • Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice introduces Diana with distinctive, haunting musical cues, which evolves into an intense drumbeat at different parts of the film. At the climax when she arrives as Wonder Woman alongside Batman and Superman, her full theme is revealed as pulse pounding battle music.
    • Justice League zigzags this trope. When Clark is resurrected, a Dark Reprise version of the Superman: The Movie theme plays, which steps down instead of up on the fifth note, to indicate that he Came Back Wrong. Then, at the very end of the film, everything's going wrong. Steppenwolf has just beaten the rest of the Justice League easily, and torn Cyborg in half. Clark arrives to save the day, with the 1978 John Williams theme playing fully.
    • For Superman's return in action in the climax of Zack Snyder's Justice League, Junkie XL did away with the 1978 throwback and instead gave the first notes of "What Are You Going to Do When You Are Not Saving the World?" from Man of Steel a triumphant brass reprise just as Superman body-blocks a strike from Steppenwolf's electro-axe, followed by an equally triumphant reprise of "Flight" for the rest of the scene as he effortlessly pummels the New God.
  • In the movie Dreamgirls, the Dreamgirls song is reprised as "Dreamgirls (Finale)" at the end.
  • Enchanted, being an Affectionate Parody of an Animated Disney Princess Film, has Carrie Underwood's closing song "Ever Ever After" end with the melody and the words of "I've been dreaming of a true love's kiss".
  • The First Wives Club ends with them singing "You Don't Own Me" by Leslie Gore, which Annie was too shy to sing at first.
  • The Five-Year Engagement ends with Alex and Suzie singing the Spanish song he sang at their wedding for Tom and Violet as they drive away to their honeymoon.
  • Howard Hawks' adaptation of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, starring Marilyn Monroe, begins with Lorelei and Dorothy singing, "Two Little Girls From Little Rock". The song details how much trouble a young woman with a simple background can have finding a decent man. They sing it again at their double wedding, but proclaim that they succeeded in finding the men of their dreams.
  • Gigi ends with a choral reprise of "Thank Heaven for Little Girls".
  • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): Godzilla's signature theme music from the original 1954 movie plays when he charges into Boston accompanied by the military to do battle against King Ghidorah, except it's a more uplifting and heroic rescore of the original leitmotif. Reflecting how Godzilla is an ally instead of a threat in this movie, is at his most heroic in the MonsterVerse against the omnicidal threat of Ghidorah, and reflecting the movie's themes of humanity finding it in themselves to make peace with and coexist with the monster who originally represented the atomic bomb.
  • The very last musical cue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II - as the Trio's children leave for Hogwarts - is a major-key rendition of Hedwig's Theme which, while not dark per se, is normally in minor.
  • The film version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! ends with a chorus singing a happy version of "Where Are You, Christmas?"
  • Ikiru:
    • Watanabe gets an idea while he is at a restaurant. People sing "Happy Birthday" to him as he leaves. When he tells his department that they need to turn the cesspool into a playground, "Happy Birthday" can be heard as a Leitmotif.
    • Watanabe sings "Gondola no Uta" early in the film and he is so sad that it unnerves everyone in the club listening to him. In his last scene alive, he is singing it again while playing on the swing of the playground that he had built.
  • Independence Day has this twice in the film, one where the City Destroyer attacking Area 51 blows up and another where a montage shows humanity celebrating their survival.
  • The 1994 version of Little Women has a track called "Orchard House" playing over the opening credits. When Jo accepts Fritz's proposal at the end, a more triumphant sounding version of the track is played.
  • In The Lone Ranger (2013), the iconic William Tell overture first plays when the Ranger and Tonto seem to rob a bank. The song plays again in its entirety in during the train battle set piece.
  • The Lord of the Rings:
    • The Return of the King has the Mordor theme (played in a minor key) change to a major key when it shows the destruction of Barad-dûr.
    • A twofer example: The "nature" theme associated with the Ents in The Two Towers is generally mysterious and ethereal. It later becomes a Bootstrapped Leitmotif by the Rohirrim, and the version played in the buildup to the Charge in The Return of the King is instead bold and heroic as Théoden psychs up his Riders for their attack on the Orcs besieging Minas Tirith. Then it segues into a bombastic reprise of the main Rohan theme, which is most often played with a rustic melancholy that sets it apart from the solemn dignity of the Gondor themes.
  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail: The first version of "Pie Iesu Domine" is sung in a monotone by a parody of flagellant monks, the second time is has more variation, being sung just before use of the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.
  • Examples from The Muppets' film series:
    • Life's like a movie./ Write your own ending./ Keep believing./ Keep pretending./ We've done just what we've set out to do/ thanks to the lovers,/ the dreamers,/ and you...
    • We had comedy./ We had mystery./Had a real good time and solved the crime real easily./Hey a movie!/Starring ev'rybody and me!
    • The love we found,/ The love we found, /We carry with us so we're never quite alone. (However, the theatrical version cut out the song reprised in this number.)
    • We've got everything that we need!/ We can be whatever we want to be!/ Nothing we can't do,/ The skies are blue when it's me and you and you and you./ Life's a happy song,/ when there's someone by your side to sing./ Life's a happy song,/ when there's someone by your side to sing.note / Life's a happy song/ when there's someone.../ by your side.../ to sing along!
    • One that jumps between films: "Together Again" from The Muppets Take Manhattan got one of these at the end of Muppets Most Wanted.
  • My Best Friend's Wedding's most famous scene is George getting an entire restaurant to sing along to "Say A Little Prayer". The movie ends with him and Jules dancing to the same song.
  • Newsies has TWO of these: "Seize the Day" in the first half, and then "The World Will Know" sung by the hundreds of child strikers at the very end. extra points for the latter because it starts as a Dark Reprise, until 6 lines in.
  • In the television movie Once Upon a Brothers Grimm, "Life is Not a Fairy Tale", sung by Jakob Grimm during his Flat-Earth Atheist phase early on in the presentation, is later sung by Jakob as "Life Can Be a Fairy Tale" as the Brothers Grimm's speech to the king.
  • The song "Hoist the Colours" in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is fairly dark, first appearing during the beginning execution scene. Then later, it gets reprised as "What Shall We Die For?"
  • In The Replacements (2000), Clifford gets the team to sing and dance "I Will Survive" to cheer them up while they sit in a jail cell for bar fighting. In the end, they do this again after winning the big game.
  • "Time Warp" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show gets an even more outrageous reprise after Frank N. Furter dies.
  • Scrooge (1970), the 1970 film musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol:
    • The first version of "Thank You Very Much" is a grave-dancing tune in all but one aspect (someone's dancing on Scrooge's coffin before they bury it!) but the reprise is one of genuine gratitude towards the man.
    • Also "No Better Life" and its light reprise "A Better Life".
    • The first performance of "Father Christmas" mocks Scrooge's lack of Christmas Spirit, while the second celebrates his discovery of it.
  • In The Shawshank Redemption combines this with Dark Reprise in that the melody that is first played when Andy is led into the prison is later darkly reprised when Norton is threatening to make Andy's life a living hell, but after that, toward the end of the movie it is triumphantly reprised when Norton shoots himself and Red finds out that Andy managed to get past the border.
  • The film version of The Sound of Music:
    • The children sadly sing a Dark Reprise of "My Favourite Things" from earlier in the film. However it turns triumphant when Maria returns mid-song and finishes it with them.
    • The nuns sing "Maria" as they debate about whether Maria is fit for the abbey. During her wedding to Captain von Trapp, a triumphant reprise of it can be heard as she walks up the aisle. Specifically the lines "how do you make her stay, and listen to all you say" are being answered by her marriage to the captain.
    • "Eidelweiss" begins as a Dark Reprise too, as Captain von Trapp is essentially saying goodbye to the Austria he knew. He's too overcome with emotion to finish the song - but then Maria and the children join in. And it turns really triumphant when the entire auditorium sings along, including a Nazi officer.
  • In Speed, when Jack and Annie escape from the bus, a major-key version of the film's Theme Tune plays.
  • The Emperor's Theme from Star Wars, a very eerie and menacing theme, appears in a major key as happy parade music at the end of The Phantom Menace. This is chronologically earlier than the theme's first appearance, but the minor key version appears earlier in the film.
    • Binary Sunset, a soft and somber piece (and possibly the most famous track in the franchise) reflecting Luke’s seemingly impossible desire to go out and find his destiny, gets two triumphant reprises. The first being at the end of A New Hope, when it becomes part of The Throne Room, a bombastic celebration theme that plays during the award ceremony after the heroes destroy the Death Star. The second is in The Phantom Menace, when it appears during The Tide Turns as Anakin destroys the Trade Federation’s flagship (which was used again in Revenge of the Sith during the heroes’ crash landing).
    • Music meant to emphasize the harrowing capture and escape of the Millennium Falcon from the first Death Star are reprised in a later movie as the rebel fleet presses the attack after the second Death star is made vulnerable. Another music piece from the first death star battle, "X Wings Draw Fire", is reprised when the Super Star Destroyer Executor is destroyed.
    • More "Gentle Reprise" than "triumphant", but during Anakin's death scene a soft, optimistic version of the Imperial March plays.
    • Solo: A Star Wars Story shows Han looking for a way to leave his home planet, and comes across an advertisement to join The Empire's army. The ad uses the Imperial March but in a major key. It's more to show them as a Villain with Good Publicity.
  • Top Gun: Maverick has a more triumphant and rousing version of the "Top Gun Anthem" playing at the start of the end credits.
  • The first Transformers film featured the Autobots making planetfall with a track called, appropriately, "Arrival To Earth." The music is already heroic, but an even more triumphal version is heard when Optimus skydives into Shanghai in Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen, relating it thematically as well.
  • The end credit music to TRON: Legacy is the same as "The Grid", only the mournful orchestra is superimposed over a house beat, courtesy of Daft Punk.
  • Yentl: "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" alone in the forest reprises to "A Piece of Sky" aboard a ship to America with heroine ready to fly into the new world.

    Literature 
  • In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, when Ron becomes the Gryffindor Quidditch team's new Keeper, the Slytherins mess with his head by singing a song called "Weasley Is Our King", mockingly praising him for how he "always lets the Quaffle in". When Gryffindor wins the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup, the first thing Harry and Hermione hear upon arriving is a Gryffindor remix of the tune that genuinely praises him.
  • The Stars My Destination opens with Gully Foyle, subhuman sociopath, about to die by his lonesome in the depths of space, delirious, singing "Gully Foyle is my name and Terra is my nation. Deep space is my resting place and death my destination...". It ends with Gully Foyle, transcendent spirit, no longer bound by time or space, joyfully reaching out into the cosmos, singing "Gully Foyle is my name and Terra is my nation. Deep space is my resting place, the stars my destination".

    Live-Action TV 
  • Babylon 5 used a different theme song for each season. The second season's theme was basically the first season's theme song exchanged some of the mysterious tone of the first season's theme for a more ominous militaristic style (in keeping with the show's changing mood). The third season was instead a combination of the music for two of the show's most one-sided fights, presenting a rather desperate tone. The fourth season was the theme from the first two seasons, played as a victorious march.
    • And the 5th season was an amalgamation of the preceding 4, with signature lines from each season spliced through.
  • The last song of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Musical Episode is a glorious reprise of Buffy's "Walk Through The Fire" and Spike's "Rest In Peace" which culminates in them kissing.
  • The Cobra Kai season 4 finale begins with Paul Anka's "My Way" playing when Kreese is shanked in prison. The song plays again at the end when Kreese escapes from prison.
  • A weird version in Cold Case: The song played during the Ending Montage of the Season 3 episode "Detention" is the Smashing Pumpkins' cover of "Landslide". In the following season's "Fireflies", where the victim turns out to still be alive, the song played during the Ending Montage is the original version by Fleetwood Mac.
  • A Community season 1 episode was about Troy and Abed's biology project about conditioning a lab rat to respond to a song command. Theirs is "Somewhere Out There". Troy is scared of rats but he finally joins in in the climax. Their performance syncs with Chang and his wife salsa dancing to a Gaelic concert at the cafeteria.
  • Doctor Who: In "Voyage of the Damned", when the Doctor successfully stops the space Titanic from crashing, an instrumental version of "The Stowaway", sung earlier during the party, plays.
  • The Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest traditionally ends with a reprise of the winning song. As the artists are usually emotional (or drunk) by this point in the evening the performance may not be as polished as when they were competing earlier in the show but the sheer joy of winning usually makes up for it. Sometimes the winner takes the opportunity to change it up: 1982's winner Nicole sang "Ein bißchen Frieden" in four languages through the course of the song, and 2021's Måneskin, who sang a censored version of "Zitti e buoni" for the contest, sang it uncensored for the reprisal.
  • In the second season finale of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, "Second Chance" is a reflective song representing the season's Bitter Sweet Ending, including Ricky being single and Gina trying a reltionship with E.J. It gets a more hopeful instrumental reprise in the season four episode "Admissions" as Ricky and Gina reaffirm their love for each other and kiss in a rainstorm.
  • Game of Thrones:
    • The main theme gets this treatment on a couple of occasions, firstly when Robb rides back from battle safe and sound, with Jaime Lannister as his prisoner, and secondly when the show pulls off a triumphant reprise of its main theme over the final scene of season 1 and the ending credits. It's so effective it's hard not to leap into the air pumping your fist and cheering as soon as it cuts to black. DRAGONS, dude!
    • In the third season episode "The Bear and the Maiden Fair", House Lannister's foreboding Villain Song, "The Rains of Castamere", is remixed into the heroic "A Lannister Always Pays His Debts" when Jaime rescues Brienne from the bear pit.
    • In the sixth season finale, "The Winds of Winter", the Stark Theme gets a triumphant reprise in the form of "The Tower's" crescendo, played during the reveal that Jon Snow is actually the son of Lyanna Stark.
    • While the "The Throne Is Mine" during Joffrey's purge of Robert's bastards is the Dark Reprise of the Baratheon theme, it segues into a triumphant rendition of "Black of Hair" when Gendry escapes to safety. Robert Baratheon's theme also gets a triumphant reprise when Gendry learns his true parentage in "The Bear and the Maiden Fair".
    • "The King in the North" is reprised, not for Robb, who died in the previous episode, but for Bran as he goes to the Wall in "Mhysa".
  • Barney's video resume song ("Barney Stinson is Awesome") from the How I Met Your Mother season four episode The Possimpible is reprised five seasons later in Unpause when Barney completes his plan to get revenge on the guy who stole his girlfriend Shannon and watches him being arrested by the FBI.
  • Kamen Rider Decade has a triumphant instrumental remix of the Title Theme Tune "Journey Through the Decade" that plays at the climax of the later story arcs. Of course, the original song wasn't exactly dark or depressing, but still.
  • Lost: In the Grand Finale, one of the main, somber themes (From as early as the pilot) is reprised in a moment of triumph, right as Jack manages to save the island. This becomes this.
  • The Price Is Right: Played with depending on whether the contestant wins or loses. If a contestant wins, then the theme song for the show becomes a Triumphant Reprise.
  • Rome features a reprise of the main theme song, when Vorenus and Pullo rescue Vorenus' children from slavery.
  • The main theme of Sherlock gets a rather upbeat reprise in the first half of #SherlockLives.
  • The main theme of Star Trek: Picard is a fairly melancholy piece that largely hinges on a lonesome flute. The end credits of the first season finale features a far more upbeat rendition for a full orchestra, reflecting the victory that Picard and his friends have won.
  • The Temptations:
    • When "Get Ready" is first performed, David arrives late. They perform it again at their reunion tour without a hitch.
    • "My Girl" is first shown when the group finally makes it big and they perform it on television. They perform it again as the final performance

    Music 
  • What A Catch, Donnie is sort of an interesting case, as it isn't a very uplifting song. However, the music certainly has a victorious feeling to it, and at the time it came out, it was talk of it being the band's last video and last single, making it something of a Grand Finale. It features reprises of several of their previous songs, performed by several singers with whom they had worked over the years.
    • Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet, sung by Elvis Costello.
    • Grand Theft Autum/Where Is Your Boy, sung by Gabe Saporta.
    • Sugar, We're Goin Down, sung by Travis Mccoy.
    • Dance, Dance, sung by Brendon Urie.
    • This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race, sung by Doug Neumann.
    • Thnks fr th Mmrs, sung by Alex Deleon.
    • Growing Up, sung by William Beckett.
  • "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)"
    • Carry That Weight from Abbey Road reprises the opening of the earlier Abbey Road track, "You Never Give Me Your Money", with a full orchestra.
  • Classical music is full of examples. Just to name a few:
    • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky opens his Symphony No.5 in E minor with a slow, solemn theme played by two unison clarinets. Although the first few phrases of the introduction appear at two climactic moments in the second movement and just before the end of the third movement, it is in the finale that it takes on an air of triumph, being stated in full and in E major in the movement's introduction and the first part of the coda.
    • Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No.9 ("From the New World") features a melodic motif based around a rising arpeggio at key moments in all four movements, and both it and the main theme from the finale are initially presented in moments that are tense, dramatic, and in the symphony's home key of E minor. In the coda of the finale, the two themes are stated together as the orchestra swells triumphantly in E major.
    • In Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor, the first theme of the first movement is glorified in the cadenza of the first movement. Also, the slow, lyrical theme played by the solo flute from the final movement is recapitulated in a victorious version, played by the whole orchestra near the very end of the entire concerto.
    • Edward Elgar used this trope in several long-form works.
      • His Symphony No. 1 in A-flat major starts with a quiet solemn theme. This melody in the first movement makes a majestic and powerful (not to mention loud) return at the very end of final movement.
      • His violin concerto opens with a harsh theme in B minor. In the last measures of the finale, the brass instruments play a slow, majestic rendition of the first four notes of the theme, now transposed into B major, over virtuosic runs in the solo violin.
    • In Olivier Messiaen's "Vingt Regards de l'Enfant Jésus", a two-hour-long twenty-movement suite of piano works inspired by the Nativity, the first movement introduces a leitmotif called the "Thème de Dieu" ("Theme of God"), which recurs a number of times throughout the suite. In the twentieth and final movement, it final statement is very slow and emphatic, being described by the composer as the "Glorification du thème de Dieu" ("Glorification of the Theme of God").
    • The coda of Louis Vierne's Second Organ Symphony is an exaltant restatement of the more brooding theme that begins the work.
  • Dream Theater:
    • "About To Crash", from the 42-minute "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence", is about a girl with Bipolar Disorder. Musically, it starts off quietly cheerful, then becomes more and more eerie as it describes how her illness destroyed her life. The reprise start's off triumphantly describing how she pulled herself out of a bout of depression, and manages to end hopefully.
    • "The Shattered Fortress" is the fifth part of the Twelve-Step Suite, and reprises musical and lyrical cues from preceding parts of the suite; it thus reprises many sections of the suite, strung together to form a 13-minute triumphant reprise for the 44 minutes of metal that preceded it.
      • And then there's "The Spirit Carries On" from their Concept Album Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory: Nicholas has learned the source of the strange dreams he's been having, and the girl within—Her name is Victoria, and she was brutally murdered; and he is her reincarnation. After tormenting himself with her sad story, he comes to terms with this knowledge and finally moves on. It ends with a reprise of "Regression", the first track (the choir helps bring it out, too)
  • From Trans-Siberian Orchestra's The Christmas Attic, "Music Box Blues" is this to "The Music Box", but mostly in the backstory. The latter is about a woman who misses her old boyfriend/husband, who was implied to have been killed in a war. The former is sung by the husband as the two reunite after so many years.
  • The self-titled final song off of Everything Else's self-titled album is a medley of every previous song on the album.
  • Funker Vogt's "Arising Hero (Forgiven)" is a triumphal orchestra reprise of Blutzoll's opening track.
  • Sort of a Bittersweet Reprise, but, large chunks of the instrumentals to "The Return" by The Waybacks are reprised from the song it's a sequel to, "The Witch of the Westmereland", where now the knight is dying of old age but is reunited with his long-dead animal companions and the eponymous witch to ride with them in his last moments.
  • On Armin Van Buuren's Intense album, the track "Who's Afraid of 138?!" is followed by a rock power ballad reprise of said song titled... "Reprise".
  • Emilie Autumn's "Start Another Story", as a reprise to "What Will I Remember?" is triumphant in the context of the story, although bittersweet in tone.
  • Trance producer RAM's "Someone Like You" is a triumphant follow-up to "RAMelia", detailing moving on past tragedy while still keeping the person who passed away close to your heart. Fittingly enough, it's set to a very peppy and energetic uplifting trance beat.
  • The album version of the Pet Shop Boys' cover of "Always on My Mind" has this after the "In My House" interlude.
  • Mono Inc.'s Together Till The End album Bookends "The Banks of Eden" with an orchestral reprise In the Style of "He's A Pirate" from the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.
  • VNV Nation's Empires, also combining this trope with Bookends, reprises the intro track "Firstlight" in the finale "Arclight". Likewise, Transnational closes with "Teleconnect II", a triumphant reprise of "Teleconnect I", and Electric Sun instrumentally reprises "Run" as "Under Sky".
  • When Afroman wrote the original version of "Because I Got High" in 2001, it highlighted the many ways marijuana could ruin someone's life. But as marijuana began to be legalized in several American states, he wrote a different version in 2014 that highlighted the things marijuana could help with.
  • The Newsboys have a subtle take on this on their iconic album Take Me to Your Leader. "Breathe", one of the heaviest tracks on what is possibly their heaviest album, is a rage-filled log of someone struggling through the week, dominated by Peter Furler's raspy, heavily-accented vocals at their most caustic, and punctuated by the chorus "Breathe on me, breathe oh breath of God / Breathe on me 'til my heart is new." The album closes with "Breathe (Benediction)", a soft, pensive acoustic guitar-driven track that features Phil Joel's sweet, lilting tenor vocals and uses the same chorus, ending with "Breathe on me ‘til I’m resting in You" — implying that the peace and restoration prayed for in the former song has been granted.
  • Played with in Sabaton's album The War to End All Wars. The closing track "Versailles", describing the end of World War I, reprises the opening track "Sarajevo", which describes its beginning. "Versailles" begins hopeful that the treaty will bring lasting peace, but about 2/3 of the way through, the chorus is replaced with that of "Sarajevo", before finally asking if a war can end all war and if this war will only bring another. Spoiler alert: It did.

    Podcasts 

    Pro Wrestling 
  • Alberto Del Rio's theme was sped up after he and Ricardo Rodriguez sided with WWE's Spanish announcers against 3MB but was then slowed back down after he tried to aggravate Dolph Ziggler's head injury. After leaving WWE, the theme has been remixed by AAA and others, most likely for legal reasons but El Patron Alberto's been a face primarily since leaving so...
  • While not quite the original intent of the pieces, La Rosa Negra commonly used La Batidora by Yaga and Makie, a tune that got boos as soon as it played after her infamous title win over Missy Sampson in BLOW. FOW switched her theme to the 2007 La reunion remix of the song though when it was clear the crowd still liked her there. (besides a more relaxed beat and less ominous keys, the latter replaces the dramatic gun cocking and fire with a soothing whistle)

    Puppet Shows 
  • The 1970 Muppet Special "The Great Santa Claus Switch has a reprise of "We'll Make a Mint at Christmas Time" in the form of "A Merry Christmas Time to You".
  • In the Fraggle Rock episode "The Trash Heap Doesn't Live Here Any More", Wembly is writing a song called "What An Awful Day". When he sings the completed song at the end of the episode, it's become "Today Has been A Perfect Day".

    Tabletop Games 
  • Sentinels of the Multiverse:
    • Legacy and Omnitron-X's themes from the Heroes of the Multiverse soundtrack are triumphant reprises of their villain counterparts (Iron Legacy and Omnitron respectively).
    • Zig-Zagged with Tachyon's theme. While the theme is mostly original, the beginning sounds a lot like the beginning of her not-nemesis Friction's theme.
    • There are two heroic reprises of Infinitor's theme: Captain Cosmic's theme and the theme of his Heroic Variant.

    Theatre 
  • In Disney's on-stage adaptation of Aladdin the song "Proud of Your Boy" (originally cut from the movie) is reprised when Genie grants Aladdin's wish to become Prince Ali; giving him a chance to change his life around. "A Whole New World" is also reprised during the show's finale, with Genie singing about being free.
  • Cirque du Soleil has this in the finale of Amaluna, with a full-vocal reprise of "Elma Om Mi Lize" combined with the guitar riff from "Run", followed by a reprise of "Come Together", book-ending the opening act.
  • "Anastasia: Near the beginning of the show, there is an untitled number that doesn't appear on the soundtrack about Gleb and the KGB tracking any rumors of sedition in Russia, particularly for Gleb involving rumors that the Romanov family might still be alive. Near the end of the show, there is a partial reprise of the number following various journalists asking about the rumor that Anastasia Romanov is still alive ahead of a major announcement by her grandmother, the Dowager Empress.
  • Avenue Q has "For Now", which is a (sort of) triumphant reprise of "Sucks To Be Me".
  • The Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast follows the Beast's transformation back into a human with him and Belle performing a modified version of, "If I Can't Love Her", in which they both proclaim, "I! Love! You!" to each other. Just like the movie that inspired it, it also ends with a choral reprise of the title song.
  • The closing number of the Beetlejuice musical is partially a more upbeat version of "Dead Mom". While the original song was about Lydia lamenting her difficulty in moving on from her mother's death, the reprise is about Lydia finally being able to move on and enjoy life while still missing her deceased mother.
  • In Cesare - Il Creatore che ha distrutto, when Cesare first meets Angelo, he sings that it's interesting that his name is "angel", and that leads him to think about the kind of holy and angelic place Italy should be, in contrast to the rotting pool of corruption that it is. Wistfully, he sings "This should be the kingdom of God. It should be, but..." ("Kami no oukoku no hazu da/ hazu nanoni..."). In the end, after Angelo takes a dagger for him, he sings the same part about Angelo's name, and about what Italy should be, but this time, not only does he stop on "hazu da!", he sings it with a lot more confidence, and possibly in a different key/mode, as he has made a decision to be the one to make the change he wishes to see.
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ends with a reprise of "It Must Be Believed to Be Seen" that happily marks Willy Wonka, having found an heir for his factory, setting off alone on a new adventure in creativity.
  • In City of Angels, the first act ends with Stone at odds with his writer, Stine, and they raise their voices in the Quarreling Song "You're Nothing Without Me." At the end of the second act, Stone metafictionally joins forces with Stine, and the finale they sing together (with Gabby joining in), "I'm Nothing Without You," is the same song with different lyrics.
  • The last reprise of "One Alone" at the end of The Desert Song.
  • The Drowsy Chaperone:
    • The reprise of Fancy Dress at the end of Act I is a Dark Reprise for all except Feldzieg, who has, by all accounts, won: Janet has called off the marriage and is presumably going to return to the stage, Kitty isn't as much of a talentless airhead as she appears, and the gangsters didn't kill Feldzieg. For him, the day's going great, and so while all else are sad over the wedding being called off, he is triumphantly singing the same words.
    • The reprise of As We Stumble Along starts off melancholy as the Man In the Chair reflects on his life and his musicals. However, when the characters of ''The Drowsy Chaperone'' join him onstage, it goes from bittersweet to triumphant as he's joined by the last (and only) friends he seems to have.
  • Elf: The Musical's finale reprises "A Christmas Song" and "Sparkle Jolly Twinkle Jingly" in this manner.
  • The stage adaptation of Footloose begins with Rusty, Wendy Jo, and Urleen singing the titular song Footloose about how they're constantly being worked and watched and can't let loose in any way. The show ends with the cast reprising Footloose as a song celebrating that they're finally able to dance in Beaumont, modifying the lyrics from "I've got this feeling/That time is holding me down" to "I've got this feeling/That time's no longer holding me down".
  • Fun Home: The Musical's "Flying Away (Finale)" is an epic reprise of the opening number, "It All Comes Back", as a Counterpoint Trio between present-day Alison and her past selves.
  • Into the Woods ends with the reassuring "Children Will Listen", a contrast to The Witch's earlier scathing "Children Don't Listen".
  • Kiss Me, Kate and Guys and Dolls both do this with their title songs for the finale.
  • In Legally Blonde: The Musical, the title song is very slow and somber as Elle prepares to leave Harvard, but the reprise, when she decides to stay, is very upbeat and energetic.
  • Les Misérables.
    • "I Dreamed A Dream" and "Who Am I?" get a triumphant boost on "One Day More".
    • Subverted with "Beggars at the Feast". It's a victorious reprise of "Master of the House"... but that itself was a Villain Song (albeit a rather cheerful one), so the triumph in it isn't really a good thing.
    • The final reprise of "Do You Hear The People Sing" which closes out the show.
  • Li'l Abner ends with a reprise of “Jubilation T. Cornpone,” in which Marryin’ Sam initially leads the town into singing the praises of their General Failure town founder. The finale has them do so when they discover Cornpone’s Statue is a National Shrine, thus saving their town from becoming an A-Bomb test site.
  • The Broadway version of The Lion King has two:
    • "He Lives In You" - Rafiki's reprisal of Mufasa's song, "They Live In You," showing Simba that Mufasa is not truly dead as long as he is remembered by those who love him, and ends with Simba realizing that his father is always with him, if only in spirit, and thus gaining the courage to return home and reclaim what is rightfully his. The song starts out soft and low-key, with the chorus and Rafiki singing in hushed voices, gradually building up until - BANG - it shifts suddenly in intensity to coincide with the return of Simba's confidence.
    • "King Of Pride Rock/Circle Of Life (Reprise)" - the reprisal of the opening "Circle Of Life," after Simba defeats Scar and claims his rightful place as King of the Pridelands. Starts off soft and tentatively hopeful, then quickly and smoothly transitions to a bright and cheerful upbeat chorus that builds to an uplifting crescendo and climax.
  • Mamma Mia! ends with a reprise of "Dancing Queen" but with the men included.
  • Matilda:
    • The last part of "My House" includes a major-key counterpoint reprise of Magnus Honey's posthumous song "I'm Here".
    • The "School Song", where the older students warned the newcomers of the school's horrors with a series of alphabetical puns, gets a triumphant reprise in the verses of "Revolting Children", where the students celebrate the overthrow of the Trunchbull, and which also reprise lines from "Miracle", "Naughty", and "The Hammer".
    • When Mafiya head Sergei realizes Matilda's extraordinary knowledge after confronting Mr. Wormwood over his faulty used car scam, he sings a reprise of Miss Honey's "This Little Girl", which is a remnant of the cut song "Perhaps a Child".
    • The finale triumphantly reprises "When I Grow Up" followed by "Naughty".
  • In Next to Normal, Diana's part of "Make Up Your Mind/Catch Me I'm Falling (Reprise)." The words are changed to "Watch me I'm flying" as Gabrepeatedly tells her to "make up [her] mind to be free". Subverted in that Gabe is an imaginary mental manifestation of Diana's mental illness, so the song is essentially her relapsing into delusion while rejecting treatment. Dr. Madden spends the entire song unsuccessfully trying to convince her to continue treatment.
  • Oklahoma! has Curly and Laurey start out singing "People Will Say We're In Love". When they finally figure out and confess their feelings, it's reprised as "Let People Say We're In Love".
  • On the Town ends with another trio of sailors on shore leave singing "New York, New York!"
  • The "Angel of Music" melodic triumphant reprise when Christine gives The Phantom of the Opera The Big Damn Kiss.
    • Subverted when Phantom reprises "All I Ask of You" and Christine cuts him off by removing his mask.
    • The last bit of song is The Phantom's sad reprise of "Music of the Night".
  • "Hilf mir durch die Nacht" ("Help Me Through The Night") from the Austrian musical version of Rebecca is later happily reprised as "Jenseits der Nacht" ("After Tonight"). In the first one, the de Winters appear to be questioning their marriage; in the reprise they're pledging to stay together through thick and thin.
  • A weird version in Reefer Madness. At the end Jesus shows up at Jimmy's execution to mock him for not listening to him.
    • Also May reprises The Stuff while murdering Jack.
  • "Finale B" from RENT is this to "Another Day", and also echoes "Will I" and "Without You".
  • The Scarlet Pimpernel's "The Creation of Man" is initially a ridiculously over-the-top homage to male dandyism and shallow obsession with appearance: "Someone has to strike a pose and bear the weight of well-tailored clothes, And that is why the Lord created men!" During the climax it gets reprised with a more noble and dashing reason why the Lord created men.
  • "Big Bright Beautiful World," from Shrek: The Musical. The first version is a sarcastic opening number about how it's awesome being anything but an ogre. The reprise is a tender song about how Shrek's life has become worthwhile.
  • The SpongeBob Musical has a reprise of "(Just a) Simple Sponge" as SpongeBob climbs to the top of Mt. Humongous to drop Sandy's Eruptor Interrupter into the mouth of it. The song's tone changes from SpongeBob wanting to prove he's not a simple sponge, to finally proving it by climbing to the top and saving Bikini Bottom.
  • In Starship, "Status Quo" ends with a triumphant reprise of "I Wanna Be" about how Bug finally is a starship ranger.
  • Sweeney Todd has two twisted ones: "Epiphany" briefly reprises the end of "The Barber of his Wife;" the latter had Sweeney denounce London as a Wretched Hive while the former has Sweeney embark to do something about it. The finale reprises "Pretty Women" when Sweeney finally kills Turpin.
  • Turnabout Musical has "Justice for All (Reprise)" which is a Dark Reprise of "Anything to Win" but it's also an amazing duet between Phoenix and Mia (from beyond the grave) about how the ideals of justice have been served.
  • The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee:
    • Leaf got into the Bee by default, after every other competitor from his district had a scheduling conflict, and nobody expects him to do well; this is underlined by his "I Am" Song, "I'm Not That Smart". In the event he comes fifth out of ten, a good enough result to be prompting a triumphant reprise in which he concludes that now he knows he is smart.
    • In the first act, the spellers sing "Pandemonium", lamenting that even a skilled speller's fate may be sealed by bad luck. In the second act, the melody is reprised when Marcy deliberately spells a word wrong because she's sick of the pressure that comes with being best at everything, and sings happily that by losing the contest she has won control over her own destiny.
  • In A Very Potter Musical, the first time Quirrell and Voldy sing "Different As Can Be" it's about how annoyed they are with each other, the reprise is about how they're BFFs and ends with them joyously singing about their plans to murder Harry Potter.
  • The final Reprise Medley of Wicked is partly this, partly Dark Reprise. Bittersweet reprise?
    • The short reprise of "The Wizard and I" Elphaba sings when Madame Morrible gives her the tickets to the Emerald City and the invitation to see the Wizard is a better example. It's only about half a minute at most and isn't on the soundtrack, so most people forget it.
  • In The Wiz, Dorothy precedes her journey down the Yellow Brick Road with the song, "Soon As I Get Home", in which she calls Oz an unfamiliar place full of strangers, and wonders if she can find her way home. For the last number, she re-purposes part of the melody for "Home", in which she declares that now she knows how to go home, and also that she'll fondly remember the Oz-ian friends with whom she now shares a platonic love.
  • A number of stage adaptations of The Wizard of Oz have the Winkies perform a triumphant reprise of "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead". This scene was in fact recorded during the making of the film, but the footage was deleted and lost. Some versions also reprise "Somewhere, Over the Rainbow" in the finale.

    Video Games 
  • Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War gives something of an inversion. All throughout the game, various pieces of music tease the main theme, most of them being after your Squadron becomes the Ghosts of Razgriz (examples: "15 Years Ago," "Into the Dusk," "Briefing 2," "President Harling"). Then in the final level, right as you and your team is lining up to confront the SOLG, we get "The Unsung War" in all its orchestral, Latin Chanting glory.
    • Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation does a similar thing. During the mission "Weapons of Mass Destruction," Garuda Team is nearly overwhelmed by a massive enemy squadron. When The Cavalry arrive to save the day, "Fires of Liberation," a snippet of "Invasion of Gracemeria," plays. In the very next mission, "Liberation of Gracemeria" plays, an orchestral remix of the first theme, and main theme of the entire game.
  • Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no Shō closes with Sign II, which is a major-key Triumphant Reprise of Sign, the ominous opening theme.
  • The Background Music of BIT.TRIP FLUX's Catharsis level builds up to and fades out of a reprise the main theme of BIT.TRIP RUNNER as a slower, more climactic tune fitting for the last level of the entire series.
  • Black Mesa gives "Resonance", the somber track that heralds the start of Gordon's fight for survival, a reprise during the climactic elevator battle in the form of "Ascension".
  • Rising Garuda's boss theme in Blaster Master Zero III is a faster, more heroic remix of Leibniz's Leitmotif.
  • Bravely Default: During the final battle, when the heroes finally turn the tide, the music transitions to a medley of "You Are My Hope", "Windward", "Baby Bird", "Love's Vagrant" and "That Person's Name Is..." all rolled together.
  • The final stage of Castlevania Chronicles is backed by a rearranged version of Simon Belmont's theme, made famous for being used as the opening song in Super Castlevania IV. The Arranged Mode version in particular is especially triumphant and upbeat compared to the rest of the game's soundtrack.
  • Chrono Trigger's ending theme, "To Far-Away Times", is based around a more cheerful arrangement of the chords from "Corridors of Time", the Zeal overworld theme.
  • Chrono Cross uses "Triumph ~ The Gift of Spring" for its victory fanfare. That's just for normal enemies, though, if you beat a boss (or recruit someone for your private army) you get a brassy remix, "Victory ~ Call of Summer." Chrono Trigger fans will immediately recognize either version as a Triumphant Reprise of Lucca's leitmotif.
    • One of your first encounters with the young knight Glenn is at his father and older brother's grave, where a somber little piece named "Leaving the Body" plays. At later parts in the game, though, the same melody is revived as "Dragon Rider" whenever a Dragoon is doing something awesome - such as Glenn returning to that grave to inherit the Einlanzer.
    • The relatively cheerful theme for the town of Marbule is later rearranged into the epic, bombastic, heavy metal guitar focused Magical Dreamers ~Wind, Stars, and Waves~ that plays at the climax of the Magical Dreamers sidequest where Nikki and his band work alongside the demi-humans and Serge/Lynx's party to save Marbule in Home World, even replacing the regular battle theme.
  • After defeating Black Viper, the Big Bad and Final Boss of Contra 4, an epic version of the Contra series' Stage Clear theme plays (skip to 0:09).
  • In Cuphead, "Closing Credits" is a slow-paced yet satisfying reprise of "Shootin' n' Lootin'", but with Alana Bridgewater (as King Dice), Shoptimus Prime, and the tap dancer from "Dramatic Fanatic" joining in for the song.
  • Occurs in the epilogue of Eternal Daughter, to the melancholy but touching theme heard in the first area of the game. Spoilers abound in the following examples but you can hear the example at these links: part 1, part 42 (final) with ending
  • In Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, "Death of a Cyborg" has an upbeat reprise as "Resurrection".
  • Fe's climactic quest uses an Orchestral Bombing arrangement of its formerly somber main theme.
  • Final Fantasy:
    • Final Fantasy VI:
      • During the ending credits, Nobuo Uematsu does this with all 13 character themes. It goes on for 15 minutes, then we are given a 2-minute fade-out and THEN the Final Fantasy Theme, which is kind of a Leitmotif for the whole series, kicks in.
      • Shadow's theme is an exception to the Triumphant Reprise rule as he is Driven to Suicide in the ending. Or at least attempts it; we never see if he's successful.
    • Final Fantasy VII fades away its original, rather cheerful map theme and replaces it with a far more somber one, when the stakes get higher upon Sephiroth summoning the Meteor. But the original music makes one triumphant return when Cloud unlocks his true memories.
    • In Final Fantasy IX, Beatrix's gloomy theme is revisited as a much more uplifting, spirited theme later on during a fight in a certain plot-important town. It's actually remixed once before that as well, into a sadder, more introspective version, when the player sees that she's actually torn for having to follow the queen's evil plans.
    • Final Fantasy X:
      • The melancholy piano theme "Zanarkand", played during the introduction, is turned into "Sprouting", a fairly bouncy exploration theme that plays while wandering on several sections of road between areas.
      • Suteki Da Ne, Tidus and Yuna's love theme, first plays as a soft ballad in Macalania Forest when they kiss for the first time. It plays over the end credits, this time a triumphant orchestral remix. At this point, Tidus has died with Sin, and Yuna has delivered a sorrowful but triumphant speech to all of Spira, asking them to never forget those they have lost.
    • Final Fantasy X-2's lead song "1000 Words" is first sung as a sad ballad which accompanies a cutscene detailing Lenne and Shuyin's deaths (which led to Shuyin becoming the game's antagonist). A triumphant and more upbeat version plays during the end credits.
    • "The Battle For Freedom" in Final Fantasy XII. When the brass fanfare of the Resistance theme drowns out the Imperial motif, it's hard not to stand up and cheer for the heroism at display.
    • Final Fantasy XIII:
    • Final Fantasy XIV:
      • Stormblood: After finally winning the war for independence, the heroes sing "The Measure of His Reach", Ala Mhigo's national anthem and a heroic reprise of the Garlean territorial anthem "The Measure of Our Reach", which the Empire rewrote it into when they conquered the region.
      • Endwalker: Endwalker invokes this trope with the main theme. The first part of the song is somber and melancholy, with a lonely guitar and a singer mumbling out depressing lyrics. After that, most of the rest of the song is remixes of songs and themes from previous expansions, until the final part of the song, which directly mirrors the beginning, but this time the lonely guitar has been replaced with a full rock ensemble and the singer is belting out the (much more uplifting) lyrics full-force. In particular "fade away" from the first part of the song has been replaced with the alliterative "forge ahead." The beginning sets up the hopelessness of the situation our heroes are facing down, and the final part underscores their determination to fight against the crisis in the face of overwhelming, impossible odds.
    • Final Fantasy XV's rather depressing main theme "Somnus" recieves a festive arrangement that plays during the prologue of the Episode Ardyn downloadable content.
    • Final Fantasy XVI: The theme for the last phase of the Final Boss is a reprise of "Find the Flame" titled "All as One", but with new lyrics to reflect Clive's determination and the strength of the friendships he made over the course of the game.
  • Fire Emblem: Awakening has "Id," the theme of Robin. The first version you hear is "Id (Beginnings)," heard on the main menu, but it's only associated with the main character when you hear the alternate versions "Id (Serenity)" or "Id (Sorrow)." It later gets a Dark Reprise twice with "Id (Dilemma)" and "Id (Darkness)" because those songs are used as the theme of Grima. But once you reach the final chapter, this trope happens and you get "Id (Return)" followed by "Id (Purpose)" which gives the song Latin lyrics, combines it with the main theme of the entire Fire Emblem series and even plays BGM Override straight, being used on both the player and enemy turns and going on uninterrupted during attacks no matter who's turn, even if it's the boss. The DLC chapter Future Past gives one more of these with "Id (Hope)" though it only plays when attacking the boss.
  • The Final Boss battles of Fire Emblem Fates is accompanied by "End of All," an anthem which includes lyrics of the game's theme song "Lost in Thoughts All Alone." There are three different versions for each campaign with different instrumentation between them: "Sky" for Birthright, "Land" for Conquest, and "Below" for Revelation.
  • In the Touhou Project fangame Gensou Shoujo Taisen, while the main theme, "Fantasy Maiden Wars ~ Mystic Dream" is plenty upbeat already, it gets a triumphant reprise in the very final chapter of the game, kicking in when Makura declares her final spell card, The Furthest Reaches of Dreams, and the heroines respond by powering themselves up with their own spell card, Fantasy Maiden Wars, with the reprise being called "Final Phase ~ Mystic Dream", which is an orchestral remix of the song, giving the battle an air of finality.
  • Halo:
    • Used somewhat ironically in Halo 3's ending, which features major-key reprises of "Respite from High Charity" of the Halo 2 soundtrack. It's quite a sad, bittersweet piece, appropriate for the occasion - mankind's triumph mixed with the sadness of Master Chief's "loss."
    • "Sacred Icon Suite 2" from Halo Legends is a triumphant Reprise Medley of the Halo 2's Arbiter's theme, "Unforgotten", and "Opening Volley".
    • And there's the Theme Music Power-Up reprise of the main theme during the first and third game's escape sequences.
    • Halo: Reach is full of these. "Before the Fire" is an uplifting-yet-solemn version of 2's "In Amber Clad." "We Remember" is "Hymn to Reach" given heroic electric guitars, in the style of the original "In Amber Clad". And the middle part of "Ghosts and Glass" (which "Spartans Never Die" is a Dark Reprise of the beginning of) is a triumphant version of the middle of "Ashes."
  • Haunting Ground: Precious Hewie is first introduced as Hewie's sorrowful Leitmotif. A much more uplifting version plays at the very end of the closing credits during the Good Endings.
  • In Haven (2020), the title screen music, "The Beginning of Something", has an extended reprise as "Until the End of Time" during the finale, doubling as a Theme Music Power-Up.
  • In Ikaruga, the theme of the first level, Ideal, has its melody reused throughout the game, fading into darker and deeper tone. During the final boss' onslaught, however...
  • The Journeyman Project's ending slideshow features a rock version of the main theme.
  • The King of Fighters: The theme for the Japan Team (Kyo Kusanagi, Benimaru Nikaido and Goro Daimon), the series' first main Power Trio, in vanilla 2002 is "Tears", a fairly moody and somber track nevertheless incorporating a little bit of their iconic theme from '96, "Esaka?". In Unlimited Match though, to show that they're truly back in action, "Tears" is substituted by an almost heroic-sounding remix of "Esaka?".
  • Kingdom Hearts:
    • In the original Kingdom Hearts, Hollow Bastion was the Disc-One Final Dungeon and had a suitably sinister theme. Kingdom Hearts II remixed that theme into the more hopeful "Reviving Hollow Bastion", as the town that once stood around the castle was brought back from the darkness and its inhabitants dedicated to its restoration. Birth by Sleep, in turn, featured a grand orchestral arrangement of that remix, as it depicted Radiant Garden, as it was then known, in its full, unsullied splendor.
    • A Triumphant Reprise of "Hand in Hand", the battle theme for Traverse Town in the original game, plays at the end of II.
    • In Kingdom Hearts III, the fight against Saïx is underscored with a triumphant medley of both "The Other Promise" and "Vector to the Heavens", two somber boss themes from prior games. Fitting, as Roxas and Xion, the characters whose boss battles those themes belonged to, have just come Back from the Dead and are your allies for this battle.
  • Kirby
  • Knights of the Old Republic: The original game, in the Light Side ending, reprises the title music, the Old Republic Theme. The Dark Side ending, meanwhile, works the same theme in to the Infinite Fleet music.
  • The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon: The ending song, "Guide You Home," is a triumphant, lyrical reprise of the music used in the "Enchanted Forest" and "Valley of Avalar" levels.
    • However, if you listen closely, the tune was also used in the Celestial Caves level from The Eternal Night.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
  • LittleBigPlanet 2 has The Factory of a Better Tomorrow's Interactive Music, playing in the mostly abandoned, run down Factory. The third game's "The Journey Home" DLC has "Industrial Evolution", a song that sounds like a much more upbeat version of the same song, which plays in the FoaBT-set level, now that the Factory is up and running again.
  • In Lufia & The Fortress of Doom, a reprise of "Priphea Flowers" plays when the Hero finds Lufia, alive a year after her apparent death on Doom Island.
  • Marathon's final stage music, "Splash", is a triumphant remix of the melancholy "Flowers in Heaven".
  • Mass Effect reprises its main theme at the end after you've defeated Sovereign and met with your chosen human Council member to discuss your next step. As the new human Council member finishes his speech, the scene cuts to Shepard standing in front of a backdrop, unique depending on your status as Paragon or Renegade, as the reprisal swells into the main part of the motif.
    • This is done again in Mass Effect 2, after you've killed the Human Reaper and survived the fall. Provided you have any squadmates left, the main theme will reprise itself triumphantly as you make a mad dash for the Normandy, and then away from the exploding/irradiating Collector base with only seconds to spare. If your Shepard dies, however, the music veers off on a mournful tangent as Shepard gives Joker their final orders, before returning to the sequence proper.
    • And finally, in the Extended Cut of Mass Effect 3, if your EMS is high enough, the scene where the beam from the Crucible finally catches up with the Normandy will have the main theme ending with a triumphant reprise as the Normandy emerges unscathed from the beam instead of the Scare Chord present in the original cut.
  • "The Songless Nightingale" from the Medal of Honor: Frontline OST is a major-key version of the "Clipping Their Wings" leitmotif, which itself was a Dark Reprise of "After the Drop".
  • In the Metal Gear series, this jingle is used for the game over screen. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it instead serves as Snake's victory fanfare.
  • The theme to Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was replaced with a different track in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Absent a muzak version in a cutscene, it stays out of the game until the ending, in which it plays twice over two minutes: a subdued version over a very sad Snake receiving the title of Big Boss, and then, ninety seconds later, a fully orchestrated version over the revelation to the player that the Boss was sent on a suicide mission that was to end with Snake killing her. It ends up being both triumphant and tragic in the same breath.
  • Metroid: Zero Mission gives the player a twofer - near the end of the game, after (re)gaining the Gravity Suit, instead of a remix of the original Item Get! jingle you hear something closer to the music of Metroid Prime. Then you're treated to a kick-ass remix of the the Brinstar theme, the first music heard in the game after the opening titles and Samus's fanfare.
  • Miitopia: "End of the Dark Curse", which plays when you choose to end the dark curse for good, is a more celebratory orchestral version of "The Spoils of War", which plays after a regular battle.
  • In Mother 3, "Mind of a Thief" (also known as "Duster's Theme") is a much more upbeat version of "Sorrowful Tazmilly", which plays earlier after Hinawa's death.
  • The Neverhood: "The Battle of Robot Bil" plays during Big Robot Bil's fight with the Clockwork Beast. The track that plays during the ending, "Time To Goof Off" has a short reprise of the song at the very end when Hoborg returns Bil and Willie to the Neverhood.
  • NieR does this with the themes associated with your party members. "Emil ~ Sacrifice" plays during the game's (frequent) sad moments, but an upbeat, martial remix "Emil ~ Karma" plays during the rare occasions when things unexpectedly get better (which means they're probably about to get sad again shortly afterward). "Kaine ~ Salvation" similarly gets remixed as "Kaine ~ Escape" when its namesake gets over some of her issues.
  • NieR: Automata:
    • The game provides a weird cross-entry example. The heart-rending "Emil ~ Sacrifice" from NieR returns... in the form of an incredibly upbeat shop theme.
    • Probably the best example can be found in Ending E. As you battle through a Bullet Hell credits boss worthy of Touhou Project's infamous Lunatic mode, an 8-bit version of "Weight of the World" plays. When you die — and you will die, as the minigame becomes intentionally impossible by the time you hit the QA team if not before — players connected to their respective system's network will begin to receive messages from other players all around the world, encouraging them. After enough deaths, and if you persist when even the game itself tries to convince you to give up and abandon the task, and you'll receive reinforcements in the form of six ships circling you, comprised of other players' data, forming an impenetrable shield. At this point, "Weight of the World" kicks into a swelling, orchestrated, trilingual chorus as you absolutely curbstomp through the rest of the credits (and any destroyed fighters shielding you are immediately replaced with someone else's).
  • The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge has "A Filthy Finale," Jack's final battle with the giant Oogie Boogie, who has become the Seven Holidays King. This time both Oogie and Jack sing Oogie Boogie's song in the original film, but Jack joins in, countering Oogie's threats and jibes as he takes Oogie down.
  • In no-one has to die., the music that plays in the merged timeline, "Ray of Light", is a more hopeful, upbeat version of "Up In Flames", the music that typically plays during tense scenes and gameplay sections.
  • In Ōkami, the swordsman Oki is introduced with a laid-back but vaguely sad theme. As he becomes dangerously obsessed with slaying strong monsters to awaken his Ancestral Weapon, this is replaced by the off-kilter remix "Oki's Destiny". Once he comes to his senses and pledges to fight by Amaterasu's side, this is again replaced by the upbeat and heroic song "Brave Warrior Oki".
    • "Susano-o's Fight" is the theme that usually plays whenever Susano-o does something heroic (with the help of Amaterasu). "The Seventh Seal" is the Triumphant Reprise that plays when Susano-o finally embraces his destiny and destroys Orochi for good (with some help from Amaterasu).
  • OMORI:
    • A more uplifting version of the title screen music is incorporated into "DUET", which plays as Sunny rids himself of Omori, the personification of his suicidal ideation.
    • Initiating the climax of the game has a distorted jingle aptly-named "Bad Morning" play during the process. The credits of the good ending plays "Good Morning", a more calm and tranquil remix of the jingle.
  • Ori and the Blind Forest:
  • Ori and the Will of the Wisps:
    • The climax of the battle with Mora the Spider reprises the Mouldwood Depths theme in the style of the aforementioned "Restoring the Light, Facing the Dark", which is also reprised during the Wellspring escape and the second half of the Final Boss battle.
    • "Escaping the Sandworm" is a triumphant arrangement of the Wisps leitmotif "Fading of the Light", also incorporating Ori's theme for added awesomeness.
    • As Bookends to the first game's intro, the last section of the ending suite, "Ori, Embracing The Light", is a reprise of "Ori, Lost in the Storm".
  • Persona
    • Persona 3:
      • The final boss theme "The Battle For Everyone's Soul" is a battle remix of the Velvet Room theme ("Poem for Everyone's Soul"). This makes a bit more sense when you realize that Nyx is usually portrayed as an opera diva clad in black in the other games (both tracks contain a One-Woman Wail).
      • "Memories of the City", a sombre piano-centric piece that plays as you walk around various city locales after the revelation of Nyx inside Ryoji. The reprise comes in the form of "Memories of You", a more pop-sounding piece played over the credits and emphasizes the bittersweet but ultimately uplifting ending.
    • Persona 4:
      • "The Genesis," the music to the True Final Boss. About half of it is composed of a new, orchestrated song that's largely silent, and very dark in tone. About halfway through, the main boss theme "I'll Face Myself" has its own orchestrated version - while definitely far more striking than the first half, it's generally neutral in tone. Then, soon afterwards, comes the orchestrated version of the normal battle theme, "Reach Out to the Truth." While the original version was actually quite optimistic, the version in The Genesis lands right here.
      • Then there's "I'll Face Myself," the piece that plays whenever a character receives their Persona. Whereas this tune is first heard as dark, heavy boss theme, an upbeat version of it is heard after the fights.
    • Persona 5: The Phantom Thieves' "Life Will Change" theme is a faster, more upbeat version of the opening "Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There" theme. It also replaces the questioning, lamenting lyrics of the opening with a triumphant promise that the singers will change the world themselves.
      • The Final Boss theme, "Jaldabaoth", is as ominous and brutal as one would expect from the situation. Get to the end of the fight, and the music transitions to "Our Beginning", which is best described as the protagonist stealing Yaldabaoth's theme and making it his own - rather fitting, given that he's now using the source of Yaldabaoth's power against him. It starts as a triumphant version of first theme before transitioning into a mix of "New Beginning", a 'happy times' track, and then into a mix of "Swear to My Bones", the max Confidant theme.
      • The Royal has "I Believe", a sort of 'sequel' to "Life Will Change" that plays during the final day of the new final Palace, adding a 'grand finale' feel to the instrumentation and lyrics that simultaneously call out the new antagonist's twisted ideals and reafirming that the singers will stick with who they are and what they fight for and seize the life that they want with their own power.
  • The final Pokémon Gym theme in Pokémon Black and White is mixture of this and Near Victory Fanfare. It gets an even more triumphant remix in Pokémon Black and White 2.
    • Cross-medium example: Remember all those chiptune Pokémon themes you heard in the first generation of games? They've all gotten full orchestral/rock remixes in the animé.
    • A cross-game variation exists between the Pokémon Games of Gen 1 and Gen 2. In Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow and their remakes, Viridian Forest has an ominous tune, and Lavender Town's music is even more dissonant and scarier. In Gold/Silver and their remakes, the music for the same areas retain some of the riffs, but has entirely new melodies, and are cheerier and lighthearted. Makes sense in that a) the threats in Viridian Forest/Pokemon Tower are either all gone or made insignificant; b) there is a sense of achievement for coming this far, when you started from Johto; and c) it's all good nostalgia.
    • Another cross-game example comes in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. All of the Rainbow Rocket leaders get remixes of their battle themes (save Giovanni who didn't have his own until this game). However, these versions come from universes where they succeeded in their plans, and they've all got Legendary Pokemon on their teams. Consequently, their themes tend to be far harsher and more bombastic, which fits with the horrifying implications of their victories.
    • Pokémon Scarlet and Violet gets one of the Southern Province theme where you meet Koraidon/Miraidon, during the Post-Final Boss against the second Koraidon/Miraidon that bullied yours into never assuming battle form and killed your game's professor. After everyone's Pokeballs are locked down, only the Pokeball containing your Paradox Pokemon, having formerly belonged to the professor is still a viable option. Having been nursed back to health by the player and Arven, it overcomes its fear of its counterpart in order to reassume its battle form and utterly annihilate its counterpart through sheer determination to protect its new companions.
  • Rigid Force Alpha uses an extended reprise of its main theme for the final stage, "The Hive". On the Bandcamp OST, "Mining Outpost Alpha"(Stage 1) has an unused reprise as "Return to Base".
  • In Runescape, "But We Can Fight" is this to "Zanik's Theme," and "On the Up" is this to "Down and Out".
  • The Samurai Warriors games will often punctuate the grand climax of a battle with a triumphant remix of the main theme.
  • Some of the games in the Sonic the Hedgehog series have a triumphant version of the main theme after a certain point in the final boss battle.
  • Splatoon 2:
  • Split/Second (2010) has this happen during the Elite Races, when the theme reaches its peak. Specifically, this compared to this.
  • The music played when Mario/Luigi obtains a Power Star at the end of a level from either Super Mario Galaxy and/or Super Mario Galaxy 2 is actually a Triumphant Reprise of the music played when said level is introduced. The only levels that do not have this music are the ones where you either have to fight Bowser and/or Bowser Jr., due to them having Grand Stars instead.
    • The music played during "The Perfect Run", the real final level of Galaxy 2, are actually Triumphant Reprises of the World S, World 1, and the ending of Story Mode themes, which in turn are Dark Reprises of the "Gusty Garden Galaxy", "Good Egg Galaxy", and "Comet Observatory" themes from Galaxy 1 (which are actually reused in this game).
  • Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz has the credits music be a medley of the Background Music of the individual worlds with a victorious tone.
  • In Tales of the Abyss, Luke's theme receives both this and Dark Reprise... twice each, ending with five versions of the same theme (Motoi Sakuraba apparently loves to do this).
  • In Terraria, after you defeat the Wall of Flesh and unleash the Hallow and Corruption, Hallowed biomes get an upbeat, holy-sounding remix of their mundane counterparts's BGM — this despite the Hallow being just about as deadly as the Corruption, which gets a more-appropriate Dark Reprise instead.
  • The High Security Compound level in Tomb Raider III is a No-Gear Level where you spend the majority of the level either avoiding guards or busting out other prisoners so they can attack the guards for you. You eventually find a room containing your pistols and a desert eagle. When you go up a ramp leading to an outside portion of the compound, the full version of the game's title theme starts to play in its bombastic glory since you're now finally capable of fighting back and you do so as several guards and attack dogs try to stop you.
  • Tomodachi Life:
    • The music during a couple's wedding is a romantic orchestral waltz rendition of the Mii Maker theme.
    • The music played when a child Mii is grown up is a modern remix of the music box melody when the child was born.
  • In Undertale the Boss Remixes featured in two ending's final bosses.
    • The final boss of the Neutral path features a hopeful remix of the boss's theme, Your Best Friend, Flowey's theme, once the tide of the battle turns in your favor, and replaces an unsettling Dark Reprise of the theme.
    • In the Pacifist run, the final boss theme is an upbeat and soaring piece that takes the melody of the above and combines it with the melody of the usually melancholic main theme. The final phase of the fight plays a piece which is this trope and a Sad Battle Music at the same time.
  • As upbeat as "Pushing Onwards" from VVVVVV already was, it gets an even more energetic reprise in the form of "Positive Force".
  • Vector Thrust has "Strike Force," a Triumphant Reprise to the Dreamers's theme, and then the "Vector Thrust Main Theme" is a Triumphant Reprise to the Triumphant Reprise of "Strike Force" while having a Triumphant Reprise to itself in the same song.
  • World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade featured The Black Temple, a place corrupted by Illidan Stormrage that served as a raid instance. The upcoming Warlords of Draenor features the original non-corrupted Temple of Karabor as an Alliance base, complete with its own music. Notable in that these two expansions' release dates are approximately 7 years apart.
  • Whenever your soldiers suit up for a mission in XCOM: Enemy Unknown, they're accompanied by a tense but heroic piece called "Ready for Battle." The same tune gets an even better remix that plays over certain cutscenes and the end credits
  • XCOM 2:
    • The base game's menu screen music, the somber piece "Out of the Ashes," is the first introduction to XCOM's theme, which is heard in other tracks throughout the game, but definitely hits Triumphant Reprise status in the campaign "Victory" music. The Background Music aboard the Avenger undergoes a similar transformation, going from the atmospheric and tense "Stage One" at the start to the calmly confident "Stage Three" toward the end of the campaign, incorporating the aforementioned XCOM theme.
    • The game's battle music is a Zig-Zagged Trope version thanks to its turn-based setting and Variable Mix. When your turn ends and ADVENT goes on the offensive, the track shifts to menacing electronica as a Dark Reprise of the previous piece, but when it's XCOM's turn again the instrumentation changes to a heroic orchestra, becoming a Triumphant Reprise - all without missing a single note.
  • Sam & Max: Freelance Police will occasionally play an upbeat, bouncy remix of the office theme, usually when the Big Bad of the episode is in the process of being killed or otherwise foiled. The Series Finale also uses it as Sam and the alternate Max either walk into the sunset or hop into the time machine to go on more adventures.
  • In Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim, "Collapse of the Ark" and "Zeme's Protection" are triumphal reprises of "Revival of the Ark" and Olha's theme, respectively. "Spread Blue View" also contains a triumphant reprise of "Reconciled People".
  • Zone of the Enders has two triumphant versions of "Beyond the Bounds:" "Jehuty Returns" and "Trusting Peace."

    Webcomics 

    Web Original 

    Western Animation 
  • In the Adventure Time episode "Incendium", Finn sings the mournful song "All Gummed Up Inside" about his Unrequited Love for Princess Bubblegum. Later in the episode, Jake switches the lyrics to make the song a Silly Love Song asking the Flame King to let his daughter date Finn ("All Warmed Up Inside").
  • Amphibia:
    • When Anne activates her Super Mode in the S2 finale "True Colors", the background score is accompanied by triumphant instrumental samples of her song from the previous episode, "No Big Deal".
    • Similarly, when Sasha fights the robot guardian in "The Third Temple", the Background Music is a slower, more heroic orchestral version of her "I Am Great!" Song, "Heartstomper".
    • In "Froggy Little Christmas", when Anne and the Plantars use the Boonchuy's float tree to destroy Andrias' prototype drone which controls the giant inflatable Santa, an instrumental of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" is heard just before quickly changing to a celebratory orchestral remix of "Anne's Theme".
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender features a reprise of the Avatar State theme at the end of the first season when Aang merges with the ocean spirit and turns into a giant leviathan. They proceed to drive off the invading Fire Nation fleet by themselves. Like the original theme it has a darker edge, as this form of the avatar state is no more merciful than the other.
  • The Backyardigans episode "The Secret of Snow" has the song "I Love Snow", which is sung by Uniqua, and later Pablo and Tyrone, every time they travel north to discover the secret of snow. When it snows at the end without anyone actually learning the secret, they sing the song again, as this is the first time that Pablo and Tyrone have seen snow (at least in the kids' imaginations).
  • The Batman: The Brave and the Bold Musical Episode "Mayhem of the Music Meister" features a reprise of Black Canary's song "If only he could love me" in the first version the villain joins in and it ends with a fight, in the second version Green Arrow does, and well... it doesn't.
  • Several Classic Disney Shorts incorporate this.
    • The Three Little Pigs ends with a reprise of "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" after the pigs defeat the wolf.
    • Lambert the Sheepish Lion has the other sheep mocking Lambert with a song about him being different from the others. At the end, when an adult Lambert saves his mother from a wolf, the sheep "change their tune" and sing the song again, with different lyrics that praise him.
  • The first of the Color Classics, "Poor Cinderella", has the title song, which was a melancholy "I Want" Song, now sung in the past tense once Cinderella (played by Betty Boop) gets her wish.
  • In one episode of Darkwing Duck the antagonist of the episode gets a Villain Song early on claiming how powerful and untouchable he is. Near the end of the episode, Darkwing gets a heroic version that states how he's bringing said villain to justice which even mixes in a bit of "The Villain Sucks" Song.
  • Gravity Falls: The main theme gets this in the Grand Finale, where a rocked out version plays as the main cast, surviving townspeople and various creatures fight Bill’s Henchmaniacs with the Shacktron in order to save Ford.
  • Gabby’s Dollhouse: the season 3 episode "DJ Catnip Gets His Groove Back" ends with DJ Catnip singing a victory reprise of his song "The Music In You" upon getting his groove back, thanking his friends for helping him getting it back.
  • HBO Storybook Musicals
    • The song "No One Wants Us Anymore" from Mike Mulligan And His Steam Shovel is first sung when Mike Mulligan is singing sadly about how nobody in town wants to use a steam shovel anymore after the newer shovels came along. At the very end of the episode, Mike Mulligan sings "Someone wants us, someone needs us" which is a positive version of that song after he and Mary Ann decide to stay in the town hall as a janitor after the town loved the work he and Mary Ann did to dig a hole.
    • "So Near And Yet So Far" from Peter Rabbit starts out as a lament song sung by Peter after he starts missing home, since he can't find a way out of Mr. McGregor's garden. After Peter finally escapes his garden and returns home, He is in bed with his mother giving him tea and medicine. After he gives an explanation for how he lost his shirt and shoes, Mrs. Rabbit tells Peter to not do it again and mentions that home is not far away. She sings a more uplifting version of the song but changes the lyrics and the song to "So Far And Yet So Near".
  • From Jay Jay the Jet Plane:
    • Jay Jay's song "Breezy" in "Jay Jay's Butterfly Adventure" is about his titular mute butterfly sidekick; he is joined by Old Oscar in the reprise describing he found his home for the winter.
    • Tracy is joined by all of her friends, including Brenda, for a reprise of "Where Does the Music Come From?", which makes a brief mention that she found the source of music.
    • Both the songs "Full-Of-Wonder, Wonderful Day" and "An Amazing Blazing Light Parade" features the entire cast singing about finally getting Thanksgiving Dinner and a parade for Jay Jay, respectively.
    • Big Jake's Pep-Talk Song to Snuffy, "You Are Unique" is reprised by Snuffy himself as he realizes he is in fact, unique.
    • Snuffy's sad song "Bubble Gum Friend" has a happier reprise after Big Jake returns from his weeklong trip.
    • "Up Is Up" is Jay Jay's Deadpan Snarker song about the laws of nature; the reprise explains Snuffy was right all along.
    • Big Jake joins Jay Jay and Tracy for a reprise of "Watch and Listen", after learning to never give up.
  • In Katy Caterpillar, Katy has an "I Want" Song early on, which gets reprised near the end. At the very end of the film, however, she sings a reprise that turns her earlier song into an I Got What I Wanted Song.
  • Metalocalypse, of all shows has Rejoining Earth which is a reprise of "The Beginning" where Dethklok returns to Earth and declares peace.
  • The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show has Sherman realize the cyborg Mrs. Hughes can be defeated with song and dance, and re-purposes the previous episode's "Tonight we're going to finally get it right tonight" into "Tonight we're gonna save the world tonight".
  • My Little Pony 'n Friends, "The End of Flutter Valley": While the original wasn't dark or anything, the reprise of "From the Sun" at the end definitely counts.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
    • The second part of the Crystal Empire two-parter has one of the "Failure Success Song" Twilight sung in the first part, now by the rest of the main cast about how Twilight passed the test Princess Celestia gave her.
    • The title song in "Winter Wrap Up" has a triumphant instrumental reprise when, thanks to Twilight's organization, the teams properly carry out their duties so that spring arrives on time.
    • The Musical Episode "Magical Mystery Cure" opens with "Morning in Ponyville", basically amounting to Twilight enjoying a good morning... until she finds out that she accidentally switched her friends cutie marks. It ends with "Life in Equestria", applying the "good morning" on a much larger scale in both time and scope.
    • Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom successfully invoke a triumphant reprise of "Hearts Strong as Horses" in Flight To The Finish, cheering up Scootaloo and spurring them on to win the competition the CMC had entered.
    • In "Pinkie Pride", "Pinkie's Lament" gets this when she reviews the photos of her past parties and snaps out of her Heroic BSoD.
    • Filli Vanilli does a combined reprise of the Ponytones' "Find The Music in You" and Fluttershy's aria "Music in the Treetops".
    • The MLP theme has a orchestral Theme Music Power-Up reprise in Twilight's Kingdom Part 2 when the Mane Six transform into Rainbow Power mode.
    • In Canterlot Boutique, "The Rules of Rarity", in addition to its Dark Reprise in the middle, has a triumphant reprise at the end after Rarity saves the boutique from failure.
    • "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" has two such reprises. Diamond Tiara first gets an incredibly sad song titled 'The Pony I Want To Be' as she laments that all she wants is to be good, but doesn't know how. The CMC try to persuade her to pull off a Heel–Face Turn with a song called "Light of Your Cutie Mark". Diamond Tiara's Triumphant Reprise mixes both songs, as she sings about how she will become the pony she wants to be. Additionally "We'll Make Our Mark" opens the episode and details the CMC's raison d'etre. A Triumphant Reprise plays in the end when they finally get their cutie marks after five years.
    • In A Canterlot Wedding Part 2, Queen Chrysalis sings a triumphant reprise to This Day Aria, in which she gloats about the success of her evil plan. In the original This Day Aria, Chrysalis (transformed into Princess Cadence) gloats about how her evil plan to marry Shining Armor in place of the real Princess Cadence is going to succeed, as the real Princess Cadence laments the loss of her beloved Shining Armor to the Changeling Queen, who in the song admits to not caring in the least bit about his well-being.
  • At the end of Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor, Popeye turns Sindbad's Villain Song into his own anthem.
    "Who's the most remarkable, extraordinary fella?"
    "You! Popeye the sailor!"
  • Rocko's Modern Life Musical Episode "Zanzibar" had the citizens of O-Town crashing Conglom-O's meeting with a rousing reprise of "Recycle". After the successful meeting, the citizens then sing "Rocko Fought City Hall" which is the reprise of "You Can't Fight City Hall".
  • The Simpsons:
    • In "Stark Raving Dad", Homer meets a man in a mental institution who thinks he's Michael Jackson. He and Bart compose and perform "Happy Birthday, Lisa". "Michael" then admits that his real name is Leon and he sings it again in his real voice as he leaves, implying that he is cured.
    • In "When Flanders Failed", when Ned's store for left-handed people goes bankrupt and is about to close down, Ned's family sings "Put on a Happy Face" to cheer themselves up. At the very end of the episode, Homer has saved the store, and they sing the song again, this time in celebration of the store's success.
    • In "The Otto Show", after Otto is temporarily fired from his job as school bus driver, and Seymour Skinner tries to fill in for him. When the students sing "Hail to the Bus Driver" on the bus trip, at first Skinner sings along with it and laughs, but as he gets delayed longer and longer in traffic (because of his inexperience), he starts getting very irritated at the song, eventually shouting "shut up" at the only student still singing it. Toward the end of the episode, Otto gets re-hired. When the students sing "Hail to the Bus Driver" again, Skinner, who's overhearing the singing from a window, looks at the bus and says "yes, hail to the bus driver" in a more serious but happy manner, with a few electric guitar notes playing in the background.
  • The Star Wars Rebels episode "Empire Day" plays an upbeat, major-key rendition of the iconic Imperial March called "Glory to the Empire" during a parade celebrating the titular holiday. Much like the Emperor's theme in The Phantom Menace, it is played chronologically before the theme's original appearance, but cues of the original theme are played throughout the series beforehand.
  • Steven Universe:
    • In "Giant Woman", Steven sings the title "I Want" Song about wishing to see Amethyst and Pearl's fusion, Opal. When Amethyst and Pearl finally fuse later in the episode, Opal sings a few bars of "Giant Woman" to let Steven know that she recognizes him.
    • In the Musical Episode "Mr. Greg", Steven reprises the Grief Song "It's Over, Isn't It?", except this time with relief, knowing that Pearl and Greg are finally ready to start moving on and build a friendship after decades of resentment.
  • Tangled: The Series has a reprise of "Life After Happily Ever After" (first used way back in the series' Pilot Movie) for its Grand Finale. New lyrics are added to make it more meaningful, and the whole kingdom joins in. It really is happily-ever-after this time.
  • The Thomas & Friends movies have this on occasion.
    • Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure has the song "We Make A Team Together". The first occurrence is during the scene of Thomas helping Sailor John, which doubles as Lyrical Dissonance as Sailor John wants to keep the treasure for himself. At the end of the movie, the song is heard again, but in a more celebratory manner as it points out Thomas and his friends really do make a team.
    • The Great Race features the song "You Can Only Be You", where Ashima tells Thomas the moral that he doesn't have to be different, while Thomas doubts it. The song is reprised by the whole Sodor team at the end of the movie as "Be Who You Are, And Go Far" after both Thomas and Ashima win the shunting race and Thomas happily agrees to be himself.
    • Journey Beyond Sodor has "Somebody Has To Be The Favorite", which James sings repeatedly when showing off. It is reprised by Thomas after tricking James into taking over for his duty of taking a long line of troublesome trucks to the mainland. It is reprised again at the end of the movie, as "The Most Important Thing Is Being Friends", as the two apologize and reaffirm their friendship, and are also joined by the friends Thomas made on the mainland as well.
    • Big World! Big Adventures! gives us "We're Friends", which is dedicated to the friendship of Thomas and his new friend from Africa, Nia. This song, however, is only one-sided as Thomas is too anxious to catch up with Ace and, thanks to his "free and easy" nature, believes Nia will be following him everywhere just to annoy him, unaware she's genuinely nice for the sake of it. The song reprises with a more celebratory manner near the end as the two are heading back to Sodor and officially declare they're friends indeed.
  • This happens in-song during Total Drama World Tour's song "This is How We Will End It", sung by Alejandro. The song starts off as Alejandro talking about all the girls he's manipulated in the past, and how now he is going to leave Heather to basically die. However, in the middle of the song, the music stops for about 35 seconds, and Heather is able to convince him to help her. The song ends like this:
    This is not how we'll end it.
    This game we have played!
    This is not how we'll end it.
    But there's a bill to be paid!
  • In the Underdog episode "Riffraffville", the main theme, which previously had a Dark Reprise when he was nearly out of energy, has a Theme Music Power-Up reprise after he recovers his Super Energy Pill and begins kicking ass again.
  • The Wind in the Willows (1983): "Auberon's Return" plays an upbeat swing arrangement of Mole's leitmotif once his eponymous playwright cousin overcomes his creative funk.

Alternative Title(s): Bright Reprise

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Solving a Problem like Maria

How do you solve a problem like Maria? By marrying her off to a wealthy baron with a bunch of kids.

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