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{{trope}}
A reference to an event taking place earlier than the timeline of the present story. One type of call back is a [[Running Gag]]. This is often used to remind viewers that there ''is'' an ongoing storyline. More or less a [[Shout-Out]] to
Alternately, in comedy: tying a later, seemingly unrelated, joke to one earlier in the show.
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In a masterclass on playwriting, Alan Ayckbourn mentions this [[Trope]] specifically, calling it "The Plant". Early on, one of his two demonstration actors mentions that he has an urge to sneeze when sexually aroused. Then at the very end:
{{quote|
'''Actor:''' Aaaachoo! }}
Sometimes a
The opposite of this is the [[Call Forward]]. See also [[Chekhov's Gun]], [[Brick Joke]], and [[Book Ends]]. See also [[Internal Homage]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]]
* The final season of ''[[
* ''[[
** The Majin Buu saga in ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' is full of Call Backs to events all the way back to ''Dragon Ball'', usually in the form of characters reminiscing about the old days. In one episode, nearly every single villain, no matter how minor, the main characters fought in ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' appears briefly in Hell, cheering on the current [[Big Bad]]... except Babidi, who's still angry that Buu killed ''him''.
** One [[Non-Serial Movie]] has a fairly humorous Call Back hanging a lampshade on the power-creep endemic to the series: as a result of Hell having a slight dead management problem, Freeza is alive and wreaking havoc again, and is dealt with (with one punch!) by post Buu-arc Gohan without even breaking a sweat.
* ''[[Tower of God]]'' has a pretty sweet one: {{spoiler|while being forced to kill her niece and rival/foe Anak, Androssi has a flashback to the training sessions with, where she had with Baam about loneliness and cafeteria food. Deciding get on over on Ren, that smug bastard, she instead kneels down to her and says}} "Anak, when this test is over, let's eat together."
* In ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (
* ''[[
** In an early chapter, Zoro tells Luffy he'll be doomed if he underestimates what the Grand Line can dish, but Luffy insists he'll be able to gather more crew members there because it's a paradise. Over ''a decade'' later, the narration mentions that the one thing everyone who goes to the New World says about the Grand Line is "That world was truly a paradise."
** When Hawk-Eye Mihawk makes his first appearance, he does so by slicing Don Krieg's enormous galleon in two with a single slice of his sword, and then casually floats amongst the wreckage. Later, Zoro, after {{spoiler|having spent two years training with the man}}, makes his entrance by slicing apart a ship headed to the New World and sitting atop the wreckage, commenting on how it was "fate" that brought him to destroy their ship. Sounds like Zoro got more than just the man's skills in those few years, huh.
** Also got his contempt for lesser swordsmen. Mihawk was mocking Zoro during their duel in Chapter 51. {{spoiler|Forward to Chapter 642, and Zoro tells a Fishman that he couldn't even kill his boredom.}}
** A hilarious one occurs in the Fishman Island arc where Luffy states he doesn't want to be a hero because a hero has to share meat and he wants the meat all to himself. Later, Zoro makes the same statement except with beer instead of meat [[Strange Minds Think Alike|despite having never heard Luffy's earlier comment.]]
** There are plenty more Call Back examples in [[One Piece
* [[Belligerent Sexual Tension|Akane and Ranma's]] [[Naked First Impression|fateful first encounter]] in ''[[Ranma ½
** [[Tsundere|Akane]], climbing out of the outdoors bath, runs into Shinnosuke, a very forgetful boy. Like before with [[Jerk
** While spending the night at a Chinese inn, [[Jerk
* ''[[
** There's a little joke in the first episode involving bulbs lighting up as each character [[It Was His Sled|realizes Haruhi is a girl]], which didn't really make much sense until the reveal at the end. And then in the second to last episode {{spoiler|Eclair suddenly has the same type of bulb pop up dark in her head, and then we see it light up when Haruhi interrupts her and Tamaki and walks out of the room again. Which almost doubles as a [[Funny Aneurysm Moment]].}}
** There's also a huge one to chapter 2 in the last chapter. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] a few times.
* In ''[[Naruto]]'', Sasuke having received [[The Corruption|the Cursed Seal of Heaven]] rises up after noticing his teammates in danger from the Sound nin, and declares: "I understand now. I am an avenger!" before showing then uncharacteristic violence and ruthlessness against them. In Part II, Sasuke has gone into full-blown villainy, with other characters noting he has become colder than ever, even when compared to him under the Cursed Seal. When Naruto is confronted by Tobi, and the latter tells him that even after having achieved his goal of {{spoiler|killing Itachi}}, he is still focused on revenge by attacking the summit, Naruto refuses to believe it, to which Tobi replies: "Sasuke is a true avenger!"
** Much like the above. Kabuto once he reveals {{spoiler|Dragon sage mode}} starts using {{spoiler|sound}} ninjutsu. A style which hadn't been brought up in several years and hundreds of chapters.
* In ''[[Pokémon (
* ''[[
** Chapter 253 has multiple Call Backs to the reverse [[Wife Husbandry]] plan as several characters inwardly debate forming a Pactio, coming up against the [[Adorably Precocious Child|age barrier]] around Kotarô and Negi and then remembering Asakura's [[Plot]].
** ''Negima'' has a ''lot'' of Call Backs; seemingly irrelevant events can turn out to be much important later on, the most important of these comes almost 300 chapters in, when {{spoiler|Zazie traps Negi in a [[Lotus Eater Machine]] in which his parents are still alive and none of the events of the manga past chapter 15 had taken place.}} The entire thing is ''loaded'' with Call Backs to the very first chapter of the [[Manga]].
** One particular call back in chapter 330 also serves as an [[Awesome Moment]]: {{spoiler|Evangeline grabs Secundum's arm to stop an attack on Negi and Fate while rising out of a shadow in the ground the exact same way she did when stopping Fate from attacking Negi back in chapter 51.}}
* ''[[
** At the end of the first episode of ''Code Geass'', Lelouch's very first command with the Geass is for the Britannian Soldiers to die. At the end of the first episode of ''Code Geass R2'', Lelouch's very first command with the Geass {{spoiler|upon the return of his memories}} is the very same one.
{{quote|
''(the Britannian soldiers point their guns to themselves)''
'''Soldiers:''' Yes, your highness! ''(pull triggers)'' }}
** The line in the little speech Lelouch gave accompanying that command in the first episode: "Only those who are prepared to be fired upon have the right to shoot others." Near the end of the last episode of the second season, they flashed back to that. {{spoiler|He meant it.}}
* In chapter 249 of ''[[
* Despite the separate continuities across seasons, the ''[[
* In the Throne arc of ''[[
* ''[[
* In ''[[
* Every incarnation of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' adores Call Backs to a point that borders on fetishism. Expect everything that happens to be referenced in a later chapter/episode.
** Classic example: {{spoiler|when Winry confronts Scar for the first time, she learns that he was the one who murdered her parents. [[Break the Cutie|She's ready]] [[Tear Jerker|to shoot him]], but Scar charges at her, yelling that if she can't shoot she should just leave. [[Taking the Bullet|Ed dives in the way]], shielding Winry with his body. Scar immediately flashes back to his brother defending him from [[Magnificent Bastard|Kimblee]] in the ''exact same way''. The hesitation is enough for Alphonse to step in and kick his ass.}}
* ''[[
** The most recent chapter of the manga calls all the way back to the first. {{spoiler|Context: Ichigo has spent well over a year without his powers, eventually accepting an offer from Ginjou to try to get them back. This goes all kinds of wrong for various reasons, but as all hope seems lost, he gets stabbed by someone he can't see - meaning a Shinigami. Lo and behold, it's Rukia, and in nearly the exact same manner as he gained his powers in the very first chapter, Ichigo's back. The name of the first chapter is Death and Strawberry. The name of this one? Death and Strawberry 2.}}
** When Hirako Shinji first introduces himself to the class, he writes his name on the board backwards. This is probably a reference to his shikai ability, which creates an illusion of an inverted world where left is right, up is down and forward is back.
* The first episode of ''[[
* The last chapter of ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'' was a [[Book Ends]] to the first chapter, from the chapter title to the surprise at the sudden game to fighting the weakest team in the league for the first game.
** A minor one came in a full-color coverpage showing what all the characters were up to before the Hakushuu game. ''[[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy|Agon]]'' is actually shown training, visibly struggling to do pushups while Yamabushi sits on his back. It's a call back to an earlier chapter where someone mentions his twin brother Unsui trains until he bleeds (while showing Unsui doing pushups ''one-handed'' with Yamabushi on his back) and Agon never had to work for anything.
** In the earlier chapters while in Las Vagas, Monta killed his and Sena's amazing winning streak by betting everything on Red 21 which was the Deimon Devilbats' main color and Eyeshield 21's number respectively. Fast forward before the {{spoiler|Japan/USA game}} where {{spoiler|Yamato}} confronts {{spoiler|Mr Don}} and bets on red. This time, the ball lands on Red 21.
* For a series that starts out very [[Slice of Life]], ''[[
==
* The first scene of ''[[
* 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.]''▼
* Stewart Lee does this all the time, especially in '41st Best Stand-Up Ever'. He also lampshades it after about 25 mins. (Remember that? From the beginning of the show?)▼
* Bill Bailey ends his current tour with a short film (accompanied only by swelling, melancholy piano music, no less) that references several jokes made over the course of the evening, showing things such as him standing next to a potted plant, looking suspiciously at joggers, eating Revels with a bucket over his head and him shouting at traffic with a couple of Tesco bags in hand. [[It Makes Sense in Context]]. The same show sometimes (depending on venue) a final encore after the standard two. Previously, in the first half, he plays the opening of La Bamba and makes the audience sing along and trail off, not knowing the specific words. This last encore sees him return and force the audience to learn the words, with displayed lyrics. Just to hammer it home, he plays it four times at increasingly ridiculous speeds.▼
* One example comes from Ron White. In the middle of his performance, he makes a joke about his dog Sluggo, who he needs to feed medication to by sticking it in a piece of cheese. At the very end of said performance, he was talking about trying to give Midol to his wife while she's PMSing. He ends the joke (and the performance) by saying he stuck the Midol in a piece of cheese. In ''You Can't Fix Stupid'', he even references a joke that was made in a previous special. In the previous special, he made a joke about how Dabeers's slogan "Render her speechless" was just code for "Yeah, that'll shut her up!". In ''Stupid'', he talks about trying to shut up his wife, saying that he was "all out of diamonds".▼
* In the Red Neck Comedy Show, Bill Engvall talks about boarding his dog while they're on vacation. At the kennel, they ask him what type of water the dog would like. He replies that the dog eats his own turds, the type of water probably doesn't matter to him. He also talks about taking the dog to the vet, where the vet gives him medicine to make the dog stop eating his own turds. How does it work? It makes the turds taste bad. During the Ron White portion, Ron talks about how he has dozens of people who work for him, but he is the one who goes outside to pick up the turds his dog had dropped, and pondered rearranging his staff so he wouldn't have to do that anymore. White then mentions that he asked Bill to bring his dog over, but Bill said, "No, he always comes home full."▼
* Australian comedian Josh Thomas does this several times during his show ''Surprise!'', the most notable of which is a story, early in the routine, about how living with his first boyfriend; shortly after they moved in together, they decided to shower together, which ended badly when Josh's boyfriend began urinating, because he forgot Josh was there. This is referenced in the final lines of the show:▼
{{quote| '''Josh:''' I told him, "one of my favourite things about you is that you've never vomited on me."... and he said, "Yeah, but I did kind of pee on you once."}}▼
* [[Gabriel Iglesias]] relates a story about a time he got pulled over with a bunch of his friends in the car. Their antics are hilarious to the officer, who lets them go with a warning, Because they made him laugh. ▼
{{quote| '''Officer:''' The only thing that beats this is the time a buddy of mine pulled over a fat guy who gave him donuts.}}▼
▲* The first scene of ''[[Green Lantern (Comic Book)|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.
* ''Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man'' #1 (2011) opens with Norman Osborn observing an OZ-contaminated spider whilst telling a scientist the myth of Arachne, which happened in the opening panels of ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' #1. There's a bit of [[Fridge Brilliance]] in that the dialogue is just slightly altered to clarify a different moment in time, and that the spider, rather than the original 00, is marked 42.
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==
* The ''[[X
* Done a couple times in ''[[FoxTrot (Comic Strip)|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.▼
▲* 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:
{{quote|
** Later:
{{quote|
* ''[[
{{quote|
* The ''[[Harry Potter (
* ''[[
* ''[[Dragon Ball Abridged]]'': A ''lot'' of the humor in later episodes comes from stuff like this.
** Notably featured are three uses of the Solar Flare attack to blind an enemy. In the first instance, Vegeta shouted it was like "walking in on Frieza in the shower"; the second victim several episodes later saw a brief image of a showering Frieza when hit with the attack. The third victim is Frieza himself, who sees a brief image of the second victim posing.
* ''[[
==
* ''[[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''}}.
** Another interesting example is a cameo from Chris Cooper as Conklin (from ''Identity'') in ''The Bourne Supremacy'', in which he speaks a key piece of dialogue ("Training's over.") that Bourne remembers in the first film.
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* The 2nd half of ''[[Shaun of the Dead]]'' is made of Call Backs. Every line in the 1st half comes back in radically different context. ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'' too, to a lesser extent.
* ''[[Terminator]]''
** All of the ''[[Terminator (franchise)|Terminator'' movies have these in spades. ''"Come with me if you want to live"'' is right up there with ''"I'll be back"''. And ''"[[Get Out!]]"''. Then Connor picks up that scar over his eye. Come to think of it, most of these are [[Call Forward]] as well.
** Also Dr. Silberman, a character who appears in all of the first three movies for essentially this purpose.
** An awesome one in ''[[Terminator Salvation]]''. When John is about to {{spoiler|try and rescue Kyle Reese from a Skynet camp, alone}}, Kate asks him what she should tell his troops. He answers, {{spoiler|"[[Catch Phrase|I'll be back]]."}}
** Another ''Salvation'' example: when John is trying to lure a Terminator to his location, he starts playing music. The song? The same Guns n Roses song he was listening to in T2.
* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]''
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** Half-barrel hinges... leverage.
** During the course of ''Curse of the Black Pearl'', Pintel says loudly to Elizabeth something along the lines of, "Your chariot awaits, sire!" while dropping a boat into the water for her to use. A good two movies later, during ''At World's End'', Pintel says the exact same line to the exact same person, only much more serious since Elizabeth is now {{spoiler|the Pirate King, and thus Pintel's superior}}.
* In ''Live Free or [[
{{quote|
'''John McClane:''' How 'bout... [[Catch Phrase|"Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker"]]?! }}
* The ending of the second ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Ip Man]] 2'', Ip is asked by Wong Leung if he could take on ten people at once. In the first film, he did just that. The payoff comes when {{spoiler|he takes on even more people to save Leung later and Leung reminds him of the query.}}
* In ''[[
* In ''Punch Line'', Tom Hanks's character's stand-up routine uses this to masterful effect. He begins his routine by talking about the peculiar expression the emcee used, "comedy stylings," applying this to various occupations to point out its absurdity (stopping at "hair stylist," because, well, that one is right). He goes on from topic to topic, at the top of his game, but soon devolving into an angry tirade about bank employees, cab drivers and debutantes. He stops and informs the audience, "I don't hate anybody. I'm not a hate monger. I'm a "hate stylist."
* ''Canada Russia 72'', a Canadian tv movie about the fiercely fought hockey tournament between the Canaians and the Soviets had a surprisingly touching example of this. Earlier in the film, Canadian goalie Ken Dryden leaves the dressing room and sees Soviet goalie Vladislav Tretiak practice his goaltending by bouncing rubber balls against the wall. Startled, Tretiak drops a ball and Dryden picks it up, tosses it back to him and they smile at each other. Later in the film, Ken Dryden is seen bouncing rubber balls against the wall. The fact that they are now friends makes it even better. ''http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Tretiak+returns+cause/3898323/story.htm''{{Dead link}}
* The various endings of ''[[Clue (
* ''[[D.E.B.S.]]''
** Two jokes, one near the beginning of the movie and one near the end.
{{quote|
'''Amy:''' You are my best friend.
'''Max:''' And what did I say to you the very first day at the Academy?
'''Amy:''' "That's my bunk, bitch."
'''Max:''' After that. }}
** And:
{{quote|
'''Max:''' "High-protein diets are overrated."
'''Amy:''' After that. }}
* ''[[Big Trouble in Little China]]''. When Jack and Wang first go after Lo Pan, Jack asks why they don't just call the cops. Wang responds "Cops got better things to do than get killed." Later, one of the others asks why they don't call the cops and this time Jack says "Cops got better things to do than get killed."
== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[
** 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]].
** And a certain line from ''Storm Front'' gets a [[Tear Jerker|Tear Jerking]] Call Back twelve books later in ''Ghost Story.''
{{quote|
'''Harry:''' {{spoiler|Paranoid? Maybe. But just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't a wizard's ghost standing next to you with tears in his eyes.}} }}
* ''[[
* A number of authors in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] dabble in this and [[Call Forward]].
** Timothy Zahn is particularly adept at
** ''Survivor's Quest'' and ''[[Outbound Flight]]'', very different novels with 50 years between them, were written together, so there are calls between them. ''Survivor's Quest'' also has at least two Call Backs to the Original Trilogy. "I want to go with you", a young untrained Force-Sensitive who wants to help an older Jedi, and Dean Jinzler, brother of a Jedi, who'd been passing as an ambassador.
{{quote|
* In the ''[[Prydain Chronicles]]'' first book ''The Book of Three'' Taran helps a gwythaint, one of the dark lord's creatures, against the advice of his more experienced companions. The gwythaint appears at the end of the final book ''The High King'' and buys Taran some time at the expense of its own life.
* [[Dale Brown]] does this from time to time. For example, in ''Warrior Class'', {{spoiler|Dave Luger}} is angered and emotionally crippled when he meets one of the former personnel at the Soviet base he was rescued from in ''Night of the Hawk''.
* This gem from ''[[The Hollows]]'' Series by Kim Harrison:
{{quote|
My eyebrows rose and I looked askance at him as he flew alongside, matching my pace exactly. "Grab the fish and run like hell"'' }}
:: Then, two books later, this exchange takes place...
{{quote|
Jenks reddened. "Grab the fish and run like hell," he muttered, and I almost giggled.'' }}
* From ''[[
* ''[[Harry Potter (
* In the third book of the ''[[Knight and Rogue Series]]'' Burke, while boasting about his pack of magic hounds, mentions they're immune to the drug Aquilas. Though it got no mention in the second book, it was discussed several times in the first before the characters actually drug somebody with it.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* ''[[
* ''[[
** Joel and Frank's surprise appearance in the first episode of the final season was a Call Back to earlier seasons on a different network.
** They also love making Call Back jokes about previous movies, especially if they run into the same actor.
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** They even did this when it made no sense, such as having Mike reference movies that were shown during the Joel era. Although it is possible that Mike just deliberately sought out terrible movies and/or had very bad taste.
* Ben Browder's character in the last two seasons of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' does a lot of these. (He read the mission reports.)
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[
* Due to the nature of ''[[
* ''[[
** Including the last scene of the second episode being recreated before the last battle of the last episode.
** Also, in "Innocence", after Buffy slept with Angel and he lost his soul, Angelus was critical of Buffy's "skills" in bed, to which she responded in the shooting script, "Was I... was it... not good?" And in the episode of ''[[
** How about the Call Back with a 5-year gap. In Season 2, Xander is supposed to warn Buffy that Willow is attempting to restore Angel's soul. Since he hates Angel, Xander tells her, "Willow says kick his ass". In Season 7 Buffy mentions this in front of Willow, and Xander is finally caught out in his lie.
** One ''Buffy'' Call Back that's arguably a vocabulary [[Brick Joke]], thrown across 19 episodes: In the 6th-season's "Gone", Warren, leader of the evil-nerd trio, declares to Buffy that "We're your arch-nemesises...ses." When they fail to open their escape door, Buffy mockingly says to Willow: "I give you my arch-nemesis...ses...ses." In season 7's "Conversations with Dead People", vampire and former acquaintance Holden marvels that he and Buffy are now enemies, saying, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we became nemeses?". Buffy responds, "Is that how you say the word?"
** In fact, there are at best a small handful of episodes of Buffy that either don't feature a Call Back or are not called back to in a future episode.
* ''[[Everybody Loves Raymond]]'' In the pilot episode, Marie and Raymond have a discussion of the 'Fruit of the Month' club that Raymond has bought a membership for his parents. His parents see it as a cult that continually gives them more fruit than they know what to do with. This is referenced often throughout the series.
* ''[[M*A*S*H (
* ''[[
** In the first two episodes, [[Wrench Wench|Kaylee]] tells [[The Captain|Mal]] that they need a new compression coil or some such part for the ship's engine or they will be [[Space Is an Ocean|dead in the water]]. In the episode "Out of Gas", the failure of this part causes exactly that, thus giving us the [[Plot]] of the episode.
** And in the episode "Ariel", [[Non-Action Guy|Wash]] finds an apparently pristine compression coil in a junkyard, shows it to [[Wrench Wench|Kaylee]], and tosses it aside.
* In ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' "A Clear And Present Danger", Peter ends up as a passenger in Mohinder's cab and asks, "Do you ever get the feeling like you were meant to do something extraordinary?", echoing the first time they met.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]''
** It remains to be seen whether the Time Agents referenced by 51st century Captain Jack Harkness in the new series are a Call Back to the Time Agents mentioned by his contemporary Magnus Greel in the Fourth Doctor's adventure "The Talons of Weng-Chiang".
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** Deadlock seals have been mentioned repeatedly since, to the point where it's stopped being a Call Back to earlier references and started being a standard part of the series.
** "The Lazarus Experiment" also had a hilarious [[Shout-Out]] to a previous Doctor's [[Techno Babble]] of choice, where he complains that it took him longer than usual to "reverse the polarity".
* In the end of the ''[[
* 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".
* Season
* ''[[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:
* ''[[Star Trek:
** In the pilot episode, someone mentions "... [[Star Trek:
** 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 the season 1 episode of ''[[
* ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?
* In an early episode of ''[[
* ''[[The Wire]]''
** In the first season, Bodie, Poot and D'Angelo Barksdale have a conversation about chess and the nature of [[Cannon Fodder|expendable]] [[Badass|pawns]], which concludes with Bodie saying that if you want to get ahead, you'll have to be "one smart-ass pawn". Three seasons later, when Bodie is virtually on his own and sits down for a conversation with Detective McNulty, he mentions that he feels like a pawn, and deliberately references the conversation from the first season.
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** In the series finale's montage, the clip of two boys throwing a rock into the lens of a police camera (seen in the opening sequence of all five seasons) is replayed again, as well as a clip being shown of an empty basement with a phone in it (which is the same office the Major Crimes Unit used throughout the first season).
* ''[[Coupling]]'' does this repeatedly, especially with reference to Jeff's theories of the universe (e.g., the Sock Gap). Another nice example - in the second episode of season 3 ("Faithless"), Jeff uses "hippo" as an example of an accidental word; in the season finale, Steve blurts out "Hippo!" when he learns {{spoiler|Susan is pregnant}}.
* ''[[
* ''[[
** Some dialog is mirrored: when Jerry is horrified at having to wear the "puffy shirt" Kramer's girlfriend designed on a TV charity show, Kramer compliments him, saying "You look like a ''pirate''!" Jerry wails "I don't ''wanna'' be a pirate!" In a later episode, Kramer is going to pull a sting operation to see if an associate is dealing drugs. He wears an ostentatious outfit including an eyepatch, and Jerry tells him how ridiculous he looks:
{{quote|
'''Kramer:''' I ''wanna'' be a pirate! }}
** In the same "puffy shirt" episode, there's a Call Back to the masturbation
* In ''[[
* When aired on TV, the theme song for the show ''[[
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'''s pilot episode ends with Sam and Dean standing at the trunk of the Impala. Sam throws in a gun, shuts the trunk, and says "We've got work to do." At the end of the second season finale, Dean delivers the same line, complete with the gun and the trunk, after {{spoiler|killing the Yellow-Eyed Demon, who had opened a gateway to Hell and released a couple hundred other demons and spirits}}. Also doubles as [[And the Adventure Continues...]].
** In season 2, Dean sarcastically shuts down Sam's hope of angels existing, saying there's also a ton of lore on unicorns, and that he heard they walked on moonbeams and shot rainbows out of their asses. The unicorn in season 7 isn't seen walking on moonbeams, but there is indeed a rainbow streaming out of it's ass as it gallops away.
* The "fish-fry massacre" from ''[[The Walking Dead (TV series)|The Walking Dead]]''s first-season episode "Vatos" (in which walkers attacked the camp when Rick, Daryl, T-Dog and Glenn went to get the bag of guns in Atlanta) continues to be a sticking point between the survivors, long after it happened. In the season 2 episode "Pretty Much Dead Already", Shane calls out Rick for not being around when the attack happened, and specifically mentions that Jim (one of the other survivors who was left behind after the attack) and Amy (Andrea's sister) died as a result of his inaction.
* ''[[Modern Family]]'' has used quite a few:
** The second season's finale, "The One That got Away", has an in-universe video montage, supposedly for Jay's birthday, showing all the characters either dressed or holding a prop in such a way as to indicate a particular episode from the season as they say they're too busy to say something.
** Two second season episodes got callbacks in the third season: the events of "Bixby's Back" (itself a [[Sequel Episode]]) were brought up by Clare's opponent ([[Arrested Development (TV series)|David Cross]]) during a political debate in "Little Bo Bleep", and the outcome of "Caught in the Act" is cited by Mitchell as a reason not to hold a party at a certain restaurant in "Leap Day".
* In an episode of the TV version of ''[[
* An episode of [[Power Rangers RPM]] had characters walk by Jungle Karma Pizza, which was the headquarters of the team from [[Power Rangers Jungle Fury]].
* ''Late Show With [[Stephen Colbert]]'' - lampshaded on March 6th, 2019, when referring to a ''"[[Smoking Gun|smocking gun]]"'' - a misspelled word tweeted out by [[Donald Trump]].<ref>[https://youtu.be/KTPR7FLL13w?t=46 Smocking Gun callback by Stephen Colbert] ''youtube.com''</ref>
== [[Music]] ==
* 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!"
* [[
* Bon Jovi's song "It's My Life" (1999) mentions Tommy and Gina from ''Living on a Prayer'' (1986). Both songs are similar in terms of arrangement (with the talk-box and a climatic guitar solo) and they were both huge hits for the band.
* Although it could be far-fetched, [[
** In terms of videos, "One Vision" begins similarly to "Bohemian Rhapsody", which itself is based on the cover of their second album; in terms of lyrics, "These Are the Days of Our Lives" (1991) ends with "I still love you" -- "Love of My Life" (1975) had the lyric: "when I grow older, I will be there at your side to remind you how I still love you."
** And in "Lily of the Valley" on their third album ''Sheer Heart Attack'', the lines: Messenger from seven seas has flown, To tell the king of Rhye he's lost his
* Beirut's song "Cherbourg" has the same chorus as the earlier song "Nantes," only sang in a different sense, suggesting his longing for the events portrayed in the former.
* It is pretty usual for music in [[Progressive Rock]] genres and concept albums to Call Back at least once. Often, a lot.
* If examples on the same album count, [[
* [[
* The Format
** "The First Single" included the line "I hate what I've become". "Dog Problems", the title track to their next album, calls back to it with "When I said 'I hate what I've become', I lied, I hated who I was".
** Nate Ruess, former lead singer of The Format and current lead singer of fun. is arguably the callback king of modern music:
*** In addition to the callback in "Dog Problems", Ruess calls back to "The First Single" (which included the line ''"let's cause a scene..."'') in fun.'s "Take Your Time (Coming Home)", referring to the breakup of The Format as ''"I'm through with causing a scene."''
*** In several fun. songs ("Take Your Time (Coming Home)", "Some Nights" and "Why Am I The One?") "the desert" and "the sun" are used to refer to Arizona and California, respectively. This is a callback to The Format's "On Your Porch".
*** A callback to two songs from fun.'s debut album is present in the song "Stars", with the line ''"Some nights I rule the world with "Barlights" and "Pretty Girls"."'' The titles are even in quotations in the lyrics, so it's a pretty obvious reference. It's also probably not a coincidence that the debut had a song called "I Want To Be The One", while ''Some Nights'' had "Why Am I The One?".
* The refrain of Shiny Toy Guns' "You are the One" reprises the lyrics of Jeremy Dawson and Chad Petree's old trance production "Neo (The One)" under the name Slyder, featured in ''[[
* [[
** The song "Solidarity" of their second album ''Common Dreads'' ends with a chorus singing "''and still we will be here / standing like statues''", a phrase which is repeated multiple times during their debut album, ''Take To The Skies''.
** "Havok A", also from ''Common Dreads'', makes reference to their song ''Acid Nation'', B-side to ''Jonny Sniper'' (also from ''TTTS'').
* In Mariah Carey's "Fantasy", which [[Sampled Up]] Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love", she interpolates the first verse of the original song for the bridge.
* [[
* Two versions of Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari, the [[Hello! Project
* [[The Beatles (
** They liked this [[Trope]] a lot. "I Am The Walrus" references "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", and "Glass Onion" references "Strawberry Fields", "I Am The Walrus", "The Fool on the Hill", and "Lady Madonna".
** Later, on the "Abbey Road Medley", certain parts of "You Never Give Me Your Money" resemble the "Here Comes the Sun" melody, and "Carry that Weight" has a verse straight out of "You Never Give Me Your Money".
** And directly inspired by "Glass Onion", Veruca Salt's "Volcano Girls" references their first hit "Seether":
{{quote|
The seether's Louise.'' }}
* Future Perfect's "Solitary Star" refers back to "Queen of the Dance Floor", a previous song on the same album with the lines "You wanted your life to be queen of the dance floor, now all you want is the life from before", and "diamonds and bling that are losing their gleam".
* [[
* The title of [[
* [[
* [[
* [[
{{quote|
* Though the Gaelic Storm song "Don't Let the Truth Get in the Way (of a Good Story)" is a long string of completely implausible fish tales, there's a noticeable [[Beat]] after the line "I was in [[Titanic|some blockbuster movie]] and I didn't make a dime."
==
▲* Done a couple times in ''[[
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
* 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.
** A similar segment happened with [[Lita]] and [[Kane (
* In Vickie Guerrero's match at ''Wrestle Mania 26'' she went to the top rope and performed a Frog Splash as a tribute to her late husband [[Eddie Guerrero]] (she had been introduced on WWE TV during Eddie's feud with [[Rey Mysterio, Jr.]]) and danced like he used to in his victory poses.
* Santino Marella started a romance angle with WWE diva Tamina which was quite similar to his pairing with [[Beth Phoenix]]. On a Christmas episode of Smackdown Santino cornered Beth under the mistletoe and suggested they kiss for old time's sake. She kissed his tag team partner Vladimir Kozlov instead.
* The basis for [[Matt Hardy]]'s heel turn after he was drafted to Raw in 2003 was him turning on [[Lita]] whom he had been in a relationship with about a year ago before her neck injury.
== [[Recorded and Stand Up Comedy]] ==
== Tabletop Games ==▼
▲* 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.
* ''[[Geist: The Sin Eaters (Tabletop Game)|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 (Tabletop Game)|New World of Darkness]] book ''Ghost Stories'', in the story "Dust to Dust", about a literal ghost town.▼
▲* ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiFrfeJ8dKM Ladies.]''
▲* Stewart Lee does this all the time, especially in '41st Best Stand-Up Ever'. He also lampshades it after about 25 mins. (Remember that? From the beginning of the show?)
▲* [[Bill Bailey]] ends his current{{when}} tour with a short film (accompanied only by swelling, melancholy piano music, no less) that references several jokes made over the course of the evening, showing things such as him standing next to a potted plant, looking suspiciously at joggers, eating Revels with a bucket over his head and him shouting at traffic with a couple of Tesco bags in hand. [[It Makes Sense in Context]]. The same show sometimes (depending on venue) a final encore after the standard two. Previously, in the first half, he plays the opening of La Bamba and makes the audience sing along and trail off, not knowing the specific words. This last encore sees him return and force the audience to learn the words, with displayed lyrics. Just to hammer it home, he plays it four times at increasingly ridiculous speeds.
▲* One example comes from [[Ron White]]. In the middle of his performance, he makes a joke about his dog Sluggo, who he needs to feed medication to by sticking it in a piece of cheese. At the very end of said performance, he was talking about trying to give Midol to his wife while she's PMSing. He ends the joke (and the performance) by saying he stuck the Midol in a piece of cheese. In ''You Can't Fix Stupid'', he even references a joke that was made in a previous special. In the previous special, he made a joke about how Dabeers's slogan "Render her speechless" was just code for "Yeah, that'll shut her up!". In ''Stupid'', he talks about trying to shut up his wife, saying that he was "all out of diamonds".
▲* In the ''Red Neck Comedy Show'', [[Bill Engvall]] talks about boarding his dog while they're on vacation. At the kennel, they ask him what type of water the dog would like. He replies that the dog eats his own turds, the type of water probably doesn't matter to him. He also talks about taking the dog to the vet, where the vet gives him medicine to make the dog stop eating his own turds. How does it work? It makes the turds taste bad. During the Ron White portion, Ron talks about how he has dozens of people who work for him, but he is the one who goes outside to pick up the turds his dog had dropped, and pondered rearranging his staff so he wouldn't have to do that anymore. White then mentions that he asked Bill to bring his dog over, but Bill said, "No, he always comes home full."
▲* Australian comedian Josh Thomas does this several times during his show ''Surprise!'', the most notable of which is a story, early in the routine, about how living with his first boyfriend; shortly after they moved in together, they decided to shower together, which ended badly when Josh's boyfriend began urinating, because he forgot Josh was there. This is referenced in the final lines of the show:
▲{{quote|
▲* [[Gabriel Iglesias]] relates a story about a time he got pulled over with a bunch of his friends in the car. Their antics are hilarious to the officer, who lets them go with a warning, Because they made him laugh.
▲{{quote|
▲== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
▲* ''[[
== [[Theater]] ==
* Roy Cohn's first line in ''[[
* 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."
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Alice
* ''[[Marathon
** The first level has a half-open door that leads to the end of the level, a small shaft that one must drop down, a mysterious locked door behind the player, an alien ship out the window, compilers operating terminals, a hidden stash of weapons through a door textured like a wall which is near ranged [[Mooks|Fighters]], and overall darkness and eerie-ness. All of these are also present in the first level of the first game. The whole thing is pretty creepy.
** And then there's the Vidmaster Challenge levels, which are the hardest level (at least in Bungie's opinion) from each game, with added enemies that you never see anywhere else in the game, such as red vacuum suit-clad Simulacrums and Super-Hunters for double the fun!
* Towards the end of the first ''[[
* And in ''[[
* Used in the [[Final Battle]] of ''[[
* ''[[
* The Yellow Devil from the first ''[[Mega Man (
** ''9'' ends with Mega pointing out all of Dr. Wily's past failures with a holographic slide show in which Dr. Wily is shown to be kneeling for forgiveness over and over and over again.
* One of Ryu's win quotes in ''[[Video Game/Capcom Vs SNK Millenium Fight 2000|Capcom Vs SNK Millenium Fight 2000]]'' is "What strength! I will remember there are guys like you all over the world!" Whenever you beat an opponent in the original ''[[Street Fighter (
* ''[[Metal Gear]]''
** {{spoiler|Big Boss's}} first lines in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'' are a word-for-word Call Back to a similar scene in ''Metal Gear''.
** The series is full of them, really. For example, the members of the Beauty and the Beast Unit act as Call Backs to previous bosses in the series. Another example; Laughing Octopus takes her name from Decoy Octopus from the first ''[[
* In the opening sequence of ''[[
* In ''[[
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts (
** In ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days
** In ''[[
* ''[[
* The ''[[Phantasy Star]]'' series often makes references to things that happened in the previous [[Video Game|games]] - the exception is ''[[Phantasy Star]] III'', which appears to have almost nothing to do with the rest of the series {{spoiler|until the end,}} and has only one reference in an optional dungeon in the fourth [[Video Game|game]].
* One of the NOD missions in ''[[Command
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* One of the last levels of ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[T Zelda]]'' series has had an increasingly large number in recent entries.
** In particular, ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** Remember that Fishing Rod you got in the beginning of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
* At the beginning of ''[[Half-Life]] 2'' Barney mentions the beer he owes Gordon Freeman referencing the first ''Half-Life'' game.
* Upon Augustus "Cole Train" Cole's introduction in ''[[
* In the ''[[
** The long-term call back related to Price's handgun. In ''MW1'', the gun is {{spoiler|slid over to Soap by Price in order to finally kill [[Big Bad]] Imran Zakhaev}}. Soap keeps the gun, and in the second game, {{spoiler|gives it back to Price when they meet again at the Russian gulag, with Soap remarking, "This belongs to you, sir."}}. In the third game, {{spoiler|Price "gives" the gun back by placing it on Soap's body after he's died, before having to escape}}.
** In the third game, {{spoiler|Price}} places a call into the SAS in order to get clearance to contact the U.S. Delta Force unit led by Sandman. The operative who gives the clearance is only referred to as "Mac", and {{spoiler|Price}} references the person "{{spoiler|owing me for Pripyat}}". This is a reference to "{{spoiler|One Shot, One Kill}}" from the first game - the operative is none other than {{spoiler|1=(the retired) Captain MacMillan}}.
Line 332 ⟶ 333:
* [[Mass Effect]]: My name is Garrus Vakarian and this is now my favorite spot on the citadel!
** Also shows up in the form of an [[Old Save Bonus]]: many of the emails in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' and War Assets in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' are references to quests and conversations from previous games.
* ''[[Quake (
* ''[[
== [[Visual
* 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''
** Atou's last question for Setsumi in the original <ref>"Do you want me to stop you, this time? Or do you want me to give you a push off?"</ref> is echoed in Setsumi's narration towards the end of side 2nd
** There are several phrases that reoccur in the narration of ''Side 2nd''
* Happens a lot in the ''[[
** One of the more serious ones is the dream Phoenix has during 2-4, which is exactly the same as the one he had at the beginning of 2-1, {{spoiler|but it makes much more sense in the context of Phoenix having to defend an obviously guilty man to rescue Maya.}}
== [[Web Animation]] ==
* 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|
'''Tucker:''' Whoopdee-fucking-doo. }}
** Recently been surpassed by Sarge's epic [[Rousing Speech]] in "Revelations 18" {{spoiler|starting with the ''first line'' in the series, "Do you ever wonder why we're here?"}}
Line 354 ⟶ 355:
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* [
* ''[[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.
* ''[[8-Bit Theater
** One of Brian Clevinger's related blog posts read this: Anyone confused by [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/09/19/episode-1174-oh-thats-what/ today's comic] needs [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2006/01/21/episode-651-thief-of-time/ a history lesson]. Also counts as Foreshadowing...
** More recently, the aptly titled strip "Longest set up in webcomic history" has a [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2010/02/20/episode-1221-longest-set-up-in-webcomic-history/ Call Back] to a throwaway line over [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/03/20/episode-007-kamehameha-or-something/ 1200 pages ago].
* ''[[
* ''[[
** An example has Nanase making a reference to a spontaneously changing hair-color gag from ''six years ago''.
** Remember [http://www.egscomics.com/bg/egs_bg_0038_thumb.gif that background] with dejected Susan and critters, a bunny sitting on her head, back from 2006? In Jule 2010 [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-07-07 a scene in the continuity brought it back]
* ''[[
** At one point, Belkar suggests selling a captured female antagonist into slavery because he "knows a guy who knows a guy". Several plot-arcs later, the party runs into said guy-his-guy-knew, Buggy Lou, as he's out catching slaves in the desert.
** 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.
* ''[[
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'':
*
* ''[[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Homestuck]]'' is absolutely loaded with Call Backs, from the phrasing of words to reused art panels.▼
** Remember Gil's [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20031001 disappeared letters]? Eventually we meet a classy lady who "[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20151030 have been intercepting Gil's mail] [[Unlucky Childhood Friend|since she was a ''child'']]".
** Andrew Hussie discusses it [http://www.formspring.me/andrewhussie/q/898135176 here.]▼
▲* ''[[
▲** Andrew Hussie discusses it [http://www.formspring.me/andrewhussie/q/898135176 here.]{{Dead link}}
** According to Doc Scratch, Call Backs are a rule of Paradox Space.
** And [[Meta Guy|uu]] ''hates'' the frequent
* ''[[
* A ''[[Wapsi Square]]'' strip from [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/you-got-that/ December 2009] featured a reference to the dialogue in the [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/09092001/ very first strip] back in 2001.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[General Protection Fault]]'', after Trent sues Fred for libel, Fooker proposes breaking into his house again, like they did to clear Trudy's name. Nick, however, refuses and points out that it [[Cerebus Retcon|comes off in a new light now that they know he's a secret agent]]. The "To Thine Own Self" arc is based around a universe in which an alternate universe's Nick and Ki enacted a scheme their prime counterparts dreamed about in a brief arc in the early comic and took over the world.
* The most recent, and furthest one in ''[[
* [http://www.kiwisbybeat.com/minus50.html This strip] of ''[[Minus (Webcomic)|Minus]]'' mentions several previous one-off gags.
* ''[[Bob and George]]'': Overlooking all the [[Running Gag
* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]''. Remember [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=125 that] hair clip? Eventually it returned.
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]''
** History of Ennesby as the AI formerly [[Virtual Celebrity|known as]] boy band "New Sync Boys" (hence the name) — a dozen books later [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-08-30 we discover "their" former fangirl], after which it was used as a plot point. But in-jokes and minor references pop up even after that: a [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-10-13 straightforward mention with backup chorus], naming his new ship "[//www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-03-13 Neosynchronicity]", being considered for [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-11-16 mixing a song].
** Para Ventura (who was {{spoiler|on a receiving end of a somewhat misguided [[Anti-Mutiny]] once}}) got [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2019-07-09 assigned] to assist Vaal (who had to {{spoiler|kill some friends and colleagues… per suggestion from one of them, issued immediately before being brain-hacked}}, and Chelle was the first to find him in that room). And everyone except Schlock is in a rather dark mood (on account of being stuck deep behind the enemy lines without reinforcements before it's over).
{{quote|'''Chelle''': Just don't mention what became of your last assistants.
'''Vaal''': There's no reason that should come up.
'''Schlock''': [[Don't Explain the Joke|He killed them during a mutiny]]. }}
== [[Web Original]] ==
* In ''[[
* Lots in ''[[
** In Episode 4, [[Jerkass|Tom]] tells [[Only Sane Man|Dana]] that all he has to offer her to eat is rice, but she can "add salt" if she's "feeling adventurous". Then, in Episode 6, Tom is depicted making rice. Dana has a plate in front of her, but she conspicuously does not help herself to any.
** The eighth episode's [[Girl of the Week]], Porn Girl, first appeared briefly in [[Terrible Interviewees Montage]], an episode which also set up the character of [[Psycho Ex-Girlfriend|Shannon]], who had her day in the limelight in Episode 6.
** A [[Just for Pun|literal call back]] in Episode 5, which features a [[Moment Killer]] phone call. Episode 6 implies that this phone call was from Shannon.
* ''[[
* ''[[I Am Not Infected]]'' has Amanda repeating the phrase "I can't hear you through the door" to Hartley, who had originally told this to Handcuff Guy. Who could hear him perfectly.
* [[
* ''[[
* [[
* ''[[Two Best Friends Play]]'' has a couple of Call Backs. Usually they are in the form of Pat making Matt play something because Matt made Pat play something earlier.
* Whenever something is repeated in ''[[Regular Ordinary Swedish Meal Time]]'', the last videos where they appeared are put on top of the current one.
* [[
* ''[[Cheap Arse Film Review]]'' has one in the Christmas Special:
{{quote|
'''Cheapus:''' ''(looks uncomfortable)'' [[What Did I Do Last Night?|...]] }}
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[
** 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.
** Also, in "The Western Air Temple", the Gaang reminds [[Deuteragonist|Zuko]] and each other of all the bad things he did to them in the first season. And they continue to reference them throughout the rest of the season.
* ''[[Transformers]]''
** The second season finale of ''Transformers: [[
** ''[[
* In the "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" two-parter on ''[[The Simpsons (
* ''[[
** When Demona's plan to betray the humans of her castle so that the gargoyles would have it to themselves went wrong and resulted in the deaths of most of her clan and the rest being frozen as stone for good, she says "[[My God, What Have I Done?|What have I]]... [[Ignored Epiphany|what have they done?!!]]" At the very end of the show, John, a human hunting gargoyles, accidentally shoots his brother while attempting to shoot Goliath, and says the exact same words.
** "Hunter's Moon" is full of Call Backs to previous episodes, especially in "Awakening" and "City of Stone." For example, in the very beginning of "Awakening", Elisa is investigating the battle on top of the Eyrie Building and comes across a stone with claw marks in it, to which she muses, "What could be strong enough to leave claw marks in solid stone?" Then, in "Hunter's Moon," Elisa and her partner are investigating a crime scene in which a gargoyle tore a steel door off of its hinges, and Elisa's partner asked "What could be strong enough to leave claw marks in solid steel?"
** In "The Edge" Owen mentions a meeting with an Emir to Xanatos. Later, in "Grief" the Emir is actually a character.
** Goliath occasionally mentions "needing a detective."
* ''[[
** An episode has Cleveland [[Hypocritical Humor|complaining about shows that cut away from the main story for some bullcrap.]] Cut to Hitler on a unicycle, juggling fish. Later on in the episode:"It's the right thing to do, like killing Hitler." The scene is revisited and Peter does just that: [[Lampshade Hanging|"See? We had a plan for that all along."]]
** Yet another good example is on the episode "The Fat Guy Strangler", where Brian throws a rock at Peter, saying, "That's for rolling up the windows when I tried to jump in to the The General Lee!", a reference the episode, "To Love and Die in Dixie".
** Another example is when Peter becomes a redneck he starts chewing tobacco. Brian tells him to spit in a cup. Later Stewie comes along and takes the cup and is about to drink it. Brian starts to warn him, but flashes back to the episode "Patriot Games" (where Stewie horribly beat Brian for not immediately paying a gambling debt) and changes his mind, letting Stewie drink it.
** Likewise, Peter's attempt to integrate into Southern "good old boy" culture is derailed when he reveals that he is legally retarded, which was a major plot point in a previous episode.
** Brian's novel is a particularly long-running example. He mentioned writing one in the early seasons; after the show was revived, there was a brief [[Running Gag]] of Stewie mocking him for not having gotten any work done in three years. Later we hear excerpts from the novel, which the family mocks for being a [[Cliché Storm]]; later still it's finally published and is a total flop, owing to being a cheap ripoff of the ''[[
** "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing" in which Peter blows up a Children's hospital and ends up losing his promotion.
** Season 9 episode "Brian writes a Bestseller": Stewie says "[[Tempting Fate|At least it's not raining]]" [[Subverted Trope|and get's stabbed by a random guy]]. One Season later in episode "Stewie goes for a Drive" he says "[[Bait and Switch|At least I'm not getting stabbed by some random guy on the street]]". It starts raining and he says "[[No Fourth Wall|See? It's the exact opposite.]]" {{spoiler|He than gets stabbed anyway.}}
* There are a few call backs in ''[[
* ''[[As Told
* ''[[
* An episode of ''[[
* In the second episode of ''[[
* ''[[Justice League]]''
** That kryptonite Batman carries around? That came into play when fighting Amazo? He got it twenty episodes earlier, in "Injustice for All", when fighting Luthor, who, at the time, was armed with kryptonite. Green Lantern took it from Luthor with his ring, but Batman grabbed it from midair and put it in his utility belt, where it stayed for almost a full season.
** It gets better. Amazo blasts the kryptonite into splinters, leaving only a single useful piece. This piece is the one Bruce gives to Terry McGinnis in the ''[[
* ''[[
** "Ask" is pronounced "aks" from the moment it's mentioned that "ask" is an archaic pronunciation (like "Christmas" instead of "Xmas"), for the rest of the series.
** In "Neutopia", a [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]] [[Gender Bender|inverts the main cast's genders]]. Fem!Bender is Coilette, the identity he adopted when he got a sex change in the episode "Bend Her".
** The plot of Fry being his own grandfather as a result of "Doing the nasty in the past-y," later becomes an explicit plot point.
* ''[[Clerks the Animated Series]]'' repeatedly references a scene from the first episode where Dante and Randall appear to be climbing a building, only to pull back and reveal that they're simply doing a [[Batman (TV series)|Bat-Climb]].
* In one episode of ''[[
* ''[[Frisky Dingo]]'' loves these. It's packed with Call Backs and [[Running Gag|recurring jokes]], but special mention should go to one involving [[Steven Seagal]], The Taliban, and a Penguin.
* ''[[Total Drama World Tour]]''
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* Amusingly blatant example in ''[[The Garfield Show]]''. When asked why he's so concerned about a bluebird, Garfield flat-out says "Don't you remember [[No Fourth Wall|the episode last season]] when I rescued the baby bluebirds?"
* In ''[[The Problem Solverz]]'' episode "Magic Clock", the Eternitron from "Time Twister" can be seen in the background of the clock museum. Also, Fauxboro, from the previous episode, is the setting for Roba and Katrina's wedding.
* ''[[
** One episode shows Stan sending a realtor/hand model to Guantanamo Bay. When she borrows another inmate's napkin, they say they will cut off her "beautiful hands". Later episodes show her with a hook for a hand, and at one point was even introduced as a "former hand model".
** Another episode features a subplot involving a cat that constantly attacks Steve. The end of a later episode shows the cat using a gun to kill Steve's clone.
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** An early episode has Francine mentioning George Clooney as her "one free kill". A later episode reveals that she really hates him for stealing her chance at fame, and she spends the entire episode trying to make him suffer by breaking his heart.
** In season one, Stan casually mentions having a half-brother. Guess which member of his family we meet much later on?
* In ''[[Teen Titans (
* In an early episode of ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'', Spidey saves a geeky guy and a hot girl and in his rush webs them up together and hollars "You can thank me later!" to the guy who is now making eyes at the girl. Later in the latter part of the second season, the geeky guy is proposing to her.
* ''[[
** [[w:Archer_(season_9)|Season 9]] is an extended call back to the first 3 episodes of [[wiki:Archer_(season_3)|Season 3]], the ''Heart of Archness Trilogy.''
* In part 2 of the 5-part, "Super [[Duck Tales]]" story on ''[[Duck Tales (Animation)|Duck Tales]]'', when Fenton first accidentally gets the Gizmo Duck suit, he shouts out "I'm being canned like a tuna!" In a much later episode, "A Case of Mistaken Secret Identity," when Launchpad is trapped in the Gizmo Duck suit, he describes himself as "feeling like a canned tuna." Coincidence? I think not!▼
** Also in season 9, there are call backs to the pilot "Mole Hunt" - the "this is how you get ants" joke, and [[Why We Can't Have Nice Things|This is why we can't have nice things]].
▲* In part 2 of the 5-part, "Super [[
* [[The Powerpuff Girls]] episode "Reeking Havoc:" Buttercup asks Blossom where she got a giant match to battle a giant fart monster.
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* ''[[Rick and Morty]]'': In Season 2 Episode 2 ("Mortynight Run"), a few scenes later after playing [[Simulation Game|"Roy"]], Morty crashes the craft into K. Michael. In a call back to a customer asking 'Roy' about a particular type of carpet, Morty emerges from the craft, confusedly saying:
{{quote|'''Morty''': We are out of off-white Persian.}}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Continuity Tropes]]
[[Category:Universal Tropes]]
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