Call Back: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* The final season of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' had oodles of references to the first season, mostly in the relationship between Sailor Moon and Sailor Star Fighter, including Usagi and Seiya meeting almost exactly like Usagi and Mamoru did, Seiya calling Usagi "[[Odango]]" (what Mamoru called Usagi, more commonly known as "meatball head" to Americans), and culminating in Seiya throwing a rose to stop a bad guy while wearing an outfit remarkably similar to Tuxedo Mask's (with [[Leitmotif|Tuxedo's theme]] playing in the background, even).

* ''[[Dragon Ball]]''

 

 

* The first scene of ''[[Green Lantern]]: Rebirth'' (which tells the story of Hal Jordan's resurrection and his taking up the Lantern mantle once more) is a call-back to Hal's origin story in the very first issue of the series. It starts with an Oan spaceship crashlanding outside of an Air Force base in the desert with an injured Green Lantern in the cockpit. But this time, the injured Green Lantern is Kyle Rayner.

** In the second issue of the ''[[New 52]]'' reboot of the main Green Lantern magazine, Sinestro creates a [[Green Lantern Ring]] for Hal Jordan, who immediately attacks him with the ring. However, as the ring is a construct of Sinestro's, it doesn't harm him as he is in control of it. Later, at the end of the fourth issue, Sinestro creates additional rings for the imprisioned Korugarans, who attempt to attack him due to their misconception of his Sinestro Corps. The fifth issue begins with the reveal that, like before, Sinestro is not harmed by the rings' attacks.

 

 

* The ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X Men]]'' AU fic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7730502/1/The_Wraith_Saga The Wraith Saga]'' features Jason Wyngarde being [[Grand Theft Me|possessed]] by the Wraith (the Phoenix Force's [[Evil Counterpart]]) as a major plot point. The scene where the Wraith takes hold of him is a reference to the famous scene in ''Uncanny X-Men'' #101, when Jean first became the Phoenix.

** First:

 

 

* ''[[The Bourne Series (film)|The Bourne Series]]''

** In a beautiful moment at the end of ''The Bourne Ultimatum'', {{spoiler|Jason Bourne says to the government assassin sent to kill him, "look at what they make you give", harking back to Clive Owen's final words to him in ''The Bourne Identity''}}.

 

 

* ''[[The Dresden Files]]''

** In ''White Night'', a minor character from ''Storm Front'' comes back and plays a significant role in the plot. Additionally, an aspect of one characters [[Backstory]] which was mentioned only twice in the entire series (Once each in ''Storm Front'' and ''Death Masks'') is expanded on, and becomes a major [[Plot Point]].

 

 

* ''[[Community]]'' is so full of these, it'd be easier just to go read the page.

* ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''

* In the end of the ''[[CSI]]'' episode "Pirates of the Third Reich", Lady Heather, the recurring dominatrix character, has abducted her daughter's killer, tied him up and is beating him bloody with her bullwhip when Grissom arrives to confront her. In a previous episode, the two had discussed the sanctity of the safeword; in a BDSM relationship, when the dominant is told to stop, she ''must'' stop. So when Grissom (who had once engaged in some [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]] with her) grabs the whip as she's swinging it and tells her "I said ''stop''", she caves, and it's a powerful moment to those who realize the significance.

* The US version of ''[[The Office]]'' has a few Call Back jokes throughout the series. One of the more notable of these is the use of the expression "Win-Win-Win" to describe a favorable outcome of a compromise. According to the season 2 episode "Conflict Resolution", both parties win for having a successful compromise, and Michael wins for having successfully managed a conflict. From this point on, "Win-Win" in almost any context is replaced by "Win-Win-Win".

* ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'' is full of these, but you have to be on your toes to pick up on them. The line "The fact that you call making love 'pop-pop' shows me you're not ready" is used in two completely different contexts by two different characters over the course of two seasons.

* ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' (not known for its continuity) has a moment in the "The Deadly Years" where [[The Kirk|Kirk]] references the Corbomite Self-Destruct Device from "The Corbomite Maneuver" in order to bluff some Romulans. Some of the Bridge Crew actually smile when he makes the broadcast. There's another one in "The Trouble with Tribbles" when the Klingon commander makes a reference to the Organian peace treaty. In "Errand of Mercy", the Organians intervened to stop the Klingons and [[The Federation]] trying to kill each other - apparently they're still watching.

* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''

** In the episode "Family", [[The Captain|Picard]] takes shore leave on the French vineyard where he grew up, and before he leaves, his brother gives him a bottle of homemade wine. Later, in the episode "First Contact", before Picard offers a toast to the new friendship between an alien species, he explicitly mentions that he got the wine back home.

* In 1976, Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz was forced to resign because he made a racist joke (cleaned up here): "What blacks want is good sex, loose shoes and a warm place to go to the bathroom." ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', in the News portion of the program, led with this story, stating the joke as given above. At the end of the "news" broadcast, 10 or 15 minutes later, they announced that Muhammad Ali was considering retiring from boxing. According to reader, all Ali wanted was good sex, loose shoes and a warm place to go to the bathroom.

 

 

* In DMX's ''Damien III,'' Damien mentions "What happened to the right hand, Light Man?", referring to DMX's line in the first ''Damien,'' "For that nigga, I would bleed, give him my right hand, now that I think about it, yo, that's my man!"

* [[Britney Spears]] does this quite nicely in the song "Stronger", where she sings, "The loneliness ain't killing me no more," a call back to "My loneliness is killing me" from her debut single "Baby One More Time."

 

 

* Done a couple times in ''[[FoxTrot]]'', such as during the Grinch arc when Jason looks through Andy's wallet and suggests cleaning out all the old Titanic ticket stubs, referring to a previous arc in which she became obsessed with Titanic and saw it dozens of times.

 

 

* Melina Perez faced [[Lay Cool|Michelle McCool]] at ''Night of Champions'' 2009 and Michelle dropkicked her off the apron while she was doing the splits as part of her entrance. They faced each other again at the next ''Night of Champions'' event and Michelle tried to do the same thing again. This time however, Melina was ready for her and lifted herself out of the way.

* When [[Trish Stratus]] guest hosted Raw she was involved in an awkward backstage segment with [[Chris Jericho]] where he mentioned their history together and led to Stratus having a return match against him that night.

 

 

* In general, one of the marks of a good [[Recorded and Stand Up Comedy|stand-up comedian]] is a good understanding of how to use a Call Back well. It's a great way of keeping a show buzzing.

* ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiFrfeJ8dKM Ladies.]''

 

 

* ''[[Geist: The Sin Eaters]]'' has an "Fetter" Memento (a magic item made by binding a ghost to its own anchor) called the Thirty-Thirty. This is a rifle once owned by a man named Donnie Pritchard, who once tried to sacrifice several people to a ghost town he was convinced was haunted by the ghost of its past. (Pritchard's captives overpowered him and beat him to death with the rifle.) Donnie Pritchard was a character in the [[New World of Darkness]] book ''Ghost Stories'', in the story "Dust to Dust", about a literal ghost town.

 

 

* Roy Cohn's first line in ''[[Angels in America]]'' ("I wish I was an octopus, a fucking octopus") is referenced in his final line {{spoiler|before dying.}}

* The Man in Chair in ''[[The Drowsy Chaperone]]'' mentions at the very beginning that he is feeling "blue." At the end of the show, he is emotionally drained, and he mentions that it's not a perfect show, but it gives you a tune to hum "for when you're feeling blue."

 

 

* ''[[Alice: Madness Returns]]'' is full of Call Backs to [[American McGee's Alice]] - odd lines from various characters, a few riddles, and some statues and depictions. If you haven't played the first game, they won't bother you, but if you have, they're beautiful familiarity.

* ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]] Infinity: Blood Tides of L'howon''

 

 

* Frequently used between ''[[Narcissu]]'' and its [[Prequel]], ''Narcissu ~ side 2nd''

** Setsumi's last words from the original game are identical to the last thing Himeko said to Setsumi in ''Side 2nd''

 

 

* Practically every good joke in ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'' eventually gets a Call Back.

** The longest gap between joke and Call Back - which would probably be a [[Brick Joke]] if not for the [[Memetic Mutation]] of the quote—was Simmons' observation in the first episode that "Even if we pull out today, and they come and take our base, they would have two bases in the middle of a box canyon. Whoopdee-fucking-doo." In episode ninety-five, when the Blues take over the Red Base:

 

 

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160314110226/http://th3rdworld.com/web-comic/holiday-wars/episode/holiday-wars-episode-50 In this strip] of ''[[Holiday Wars]]'', [[Labor Day]] makes a reference to some sort event that happened ten years ago in Venice. It's the first time in the webcomic that really hints that there is a large history between all the main characters.

* ''[[Concerned]]'' has a lot of these. In one strip Frohman find out he can use the force (that's what he said, not me) to pick stuff up. For most of the rest of the comic, whenever he holds something it floats in front of him.

** V's raven familiar fails to recognize her/him when s/he is transformed into a lizard. [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0714.html 536 strips later], he learns of his mistake.

* ''[[Walkyverse|It's Walky!]]'' celebrated its tenth anniversary (and the birth of a new character) with a Call Back to its first two strips.

* ''[[Homestuck]]'' is absolutely loaded with Call Backs, from the phrasing of words to reused art panels.

** Andrew Hussie discusses it [http://www.formspring.me/andrewhussie/q/898135176 here.]{{Dead link}}

'''Schlock''': [[Don't Explain the Joke|He killed them during a mutiny]]. }}

 

* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance]]'', various story arcs feature quite a few Call Backs to previous storylines. For example, Leon recognizes the lich Drishnek whom he met several years earlier during another plot, and Ax references Refan's attempted rape during their second encounter.

* Lots in ''[[Echo Chamber]]'', the [[TV Tropes]] original webshow.

 

 

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''

** There's a fun little Call Back involving turtleducks: In a [[Flash Back]] [[Deuteragonist|Zuko]] shows his mother "How Azula feeds turtleducks" by throwing a loaf at them. In the present, while [[Deuteragonist|Zuko]] is feeding the turtleducks they suddenly scatter... Because Azula shows up.