Prop Recycling: Difference between revisions

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== Films -- Animation ==

* Two vehicles from ''[[101 Dalmatians|One Hundred and One Dalmatians]]'' actually made a reappearance in ''[[The Aristocats]]'': The Baduns' truck (as a milk truck the cats ride in at one point while heading back to Paris) and the moving van (as the truck that comes to pick up Edgar and take him to Timbuktu at the end of the film). These were actual physical props, painted white with "outlines" drawn on the edges, that were filmed in front of white backgrounds and photocopied onto the cels in a manner similar to [[Rotoscoping]].

** Cruella de Vil's car also made a brief cameo near the beginning of ''[[The Rescuers (Disney film)|The Rescuers]]'' as the car Madame Medusa used to drive to the airport.

** IG-88's head was originally used as a drink dispenser in Ep. IV.

** Darth Vader's lightsaber in ''[[Return of the Jedi]]'' is a repainted prop of Luke's saber from the previous two movies (the two props were similar, but not identical, in shape). Apparently the original prop of Vader's lightsaber was stolen.

* Likewise, the bathroom from the ''[[Saw]]'' parody was later used by the producers of ''Saw III'' to save money.

* [[Mel Brooks]] reused Kenneth Strickfaden's original electrical equipment from the 1931 version of ''[[Frankenstein (film)|Frankenstein]]'' in his [[Affectionate Parody]], ''[[Young Frankenstein]]''. This was done not to save money but as an homage to the original film.

** Another reused prop from ''[[Alien (franchise)|Alien]]'' is a console in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Earthshock".

** The griddle-like corridor panels have shown up in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy (TV series)|The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy]]'', ''[[Blake's 7|Blakes Seven]]'' and ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' ''at least'', and probably in various other productions.

* Defied by ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'': all the original props were unavailable for the sequel ''[[2010: The Year We Make Contact]]'' because Stanley Kubrick deliberately destroyed them all, along with any design notes, after filming was completed, specifically to avert this trope. The prop department for ''2010'' had no choice but to make replicas of everything from scratch based on examining what was visible in the film.

** In spite of which, the audio commentary for ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'' claims that one of the original ''Discovery'' EVA pods can be seen in Watto's scrapyard on Tatooine. More likely it's the EVA pod built for ''2010''.

** Used more straight, the cow from that same episode can be briefly seen in the third episode of ''[[Wallace and Gromit]] Grand Adventures''. Although it's hidden behind a door, you can see it and it's extremely obvious it's the same cow since it doesn't fit the art style at all.

* There are obviously re-used props in ''[[Call of Duty]]: [[Call of Duty: Modern Warfare|Modern Warfare]] 2'', like American police cars from the Virginia levels appearing on the tarmac at a Moscow airport. Or American taxicabs [[Mind Screw|appearing in Afghanistan]].

** Valve in general reuses props, textures, and [[Stock Sound Effect|sound effects]] across franchises whenever they can; this is due in a large part to the fact that nearly all of their games started out as mods of the others. Since every game except ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' has essentially the same visual style, and the engine itself does not support significantly higher-detail graphics than it did when it was first created, it still looks natural. Open up Hammer's prop browser for either of the ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' games or ''[[Portal 2]]'' if you're so inclined; many of the props that were lifted from ''[[Counter-Strike]] Source'' are still in folders named for their respective maps.

** The "Aperture Science High-Energy Pellet" in ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'' uses the same sprite and sounds as the Combine orbs in ''[[Half-Life (series)|Half-Life]] 2''. The orbs used to fuel the security systems, at least, appear to be completely harmless, so they can't be the same as the [[One-Hit Kill]] High-Energy Pellet, not that that stopped this editor (who had played ''Portal'' first) from panicking when he hit it with the Gravity Gun and it started bouncing all over the place...

** The good doctor's freeze/death ray is an Alliance stun gun from ''[[Firefly]]'' held upside-down. The gun later appeared on an episode of ''[[The Middleman]]''.

** And his lab coat was from the ''Firefly'' episode "Ariel".