View source for Putting the Band Back Together

{{trope}}
{{quote|''"[[Title Drop|Dude! We're getting the band back together!]]"''|'''Phineas Flynn'''|''[[Phineas and Ferb]]''}}

This nifty little scenario is common in sequels, especially after a [[Time Skip]], but it also happens at the beginning, which basically just means that the original 'Band' existed prior to the beginning.

'Back then', the [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] were kicking ass and taking names all over the place. Alas, the golden days came to an end, and [[The Fellowship Has Ended|they split up, took ordinary jobs, started families]]...

But now [[The World Is Always Doomed|a new threat looms]]! And there's only one team that can solve it, so it's time to put the old band back together. There are two possible ways to do this: One is that the old [[Leader]] picks up where he left off, seeking out his old friends and convincing 'em to join up with him again. But just as often, the old leader isn't available - may be dead, or may have retired, or may have simply disappeared. Or maybe he's just not interested at all. (In that case, he's the first one they visit, only to get turned away, but he'll probably show up anyway just when the rest of the crew has been gathered, or later, [[Changed My Mind, Kid|in the nick of time to save the day.]]) Anyway, if it's a former minor character who's gathering the band, that means that he or she will probably be the new leader.

Either way, various things will happen during this episode. A member may be reluctant, and require our heroes to jump through hoops to get him onboard. Several may be working jobs that are oddly appropriate, or ironically inappropriate, to their former role. Extra characterisation will occur by showing what kind of activities are taking up their free time, or what kind of family they've started. A former big-shot is likely to have become completely washed-up, turned into a drunk and/or bum, and the heroes will have to revitalize his burning spirit to bring him back to his old glory.

Compare [[Everyone Meets Everyone]].

{{examples}}
==  [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]: [[The Movie|Prince of Darkness]]'', in which Ruri reunites the old Nadesico crew after a [[Time Skip]].
** Happened in the anime proper, too. After Nergal {{spoiler|disbands the crew}}, Ruri demonstrates possibly the [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|highest awesome-to-body-mass ratio in anime]] and just about singlehandedly {{spoiler|re-hijacks the ship}}.
* A strange version in ''[[Bubblegum Crash]]''—Sylia calls everyone together to announce that they're reuniting; Nene thought they were being called together to announce that they were breaking up.
* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'': Simon, Yoko, Rossiu, the Black Siblings and {{spoiler|Viral}} put the Gurren Brigade back together to fight {{spoiler|the Anti-Spirals}}.
* Pre-timeskip part of ''[[20th Century Boys]]'' fits this trope really well. When Kenji realizes that disasters he and his gang imagined about during their elementary school years are happening in reality, he contacts his old friends who made up the prophecy together to stop 'Friend' who is from the old gang from elementary school.
** So do both post-timeskip parts really. Although there isn't a moment where they ''all'' meet together {{spoiler|until the very end}}, a lot of time is devoted to the friends trying to reunite with each other after  {{spoiler|15 years apart}}.
** Also happens literally, with  {{spoiler|Kenji's band getting back together for a reunion concert after "Bob Lennon" becomes an underground hit in Friend-ruled Japan.}}
* The first volume of ''[[Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force]]'' has [[Big Good|Commander Hayate]] reconstructing the [[The Squad|Riot Force Six task force]] from ''[[Nanoha Striker S]]'' so they could resolve the Huckebein and Eclipse case before it could grow into a serious incident.
* This happens in ''[[One Piece]]''. After Kuma {{spoiler|scattered the crew to the four corners of the world, Luffy gives them an appointment to meet in Sabaody after two years, after they have powered up, to put the band back together}}.
* An unusual variation in ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya|The Disappearance Of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'', where Kyon reassembles the SOS Brigade... or at least their alternate universe counterparts.
* Putting the Band Back Together drives the plot of ''[[The Legend of Black Heaven]]''.

==  [[Comic Books]] ==
* Happens in the 1990s ''[[Spider-Man]]'' series (and probably a number of other Marvel series) with the Six Forgotten Warriors who team up again years later.
* This is the main plot of the first ''[[Umbrella Academy]]'' volume, Apocalypse Suite, a comic book series written by Gerard Way and drawn by Gabriel BÃ¡.
* Captain Metropolis tried to do this in a flashback in ''[[Watchmen]]'' only for it to fall completely flat.
** The trailers to the movie try to make it seem as if this is the plot proper in true [[Never Trust a Trailer]] spirit.
** However, some of the team members do get back together again as stimulated by Rorschach.
* The original ''[[X Factor]]'' comic started with Jean Grey doing this to her old teammates upon coming [[Back from the Dead]].
* This trope is invoked by name in the new [[Darkwing Duck]] revival comic book. Only in this case, it's the ''villains'' who are getting their band back together, while the hero is still [[Achilles in His Tent|sulking his way through a forced retirement.]]
* This trope is said word for word in [[Brightest Day|Generation Lost]]. [[Justice League of America/Characters|Maxwell Lord]] decides to bring [[Booster Gold]], Ice, Fire, [[Captain Atom]] and the new [[Blue Beetle]] and Rocket Red back together to reform the Justice League International. Of course, Max Lord is a villain this time around, and none of the heroes are too happy about being reunited against their will.
* Specifically invoked by [[Green Arrow]] at the start of [[Brad Meltzer]]'s [[Justice League]] run. Unusually, it's not him that they've come to recruit...

== [[Fan Works]] ==
* Invoked in the title of chapter 4 of ''[[Drunkard's Walk|Drunkard's Walk S: Heart of Steel]]'', "We're Putting The Band Back Together!", at the end of which [[Sailor Moon]], Sailor Mercury and series protagonist Doug Sangnoir perform a magical ritual that ''awakens and summons all the other Sailor Senshi''.

==  [[Film]] ==
* The [[Trope Namer]] is ''[[The Blues Brothers]]'', in which Jake utters the line "We're putting the band back together!" several times while gathering the old members of their band for one last performance to save their old orphanage.
** Happens again in ''[[Blues Brothers 2000]]'', with a few extra additions, though it would've been harder if the band had known ''why'' Elwood was getting them back together that time.
* The movie ''[[Once Upon a Texas Train]]'' has it happen twice: once with a band of train robbers and once with a group of retired Texas Rangers recruited to stop them.
* [[Clint Eastwood]]'s ''[[Space Cowboys]]''—because they are the only astronauts who know COBOL.
* Terry Gilliam's ''[[The Adventures of Baron Munchausen]]''.
* An odd subversion of the trope appears in Quentin Tarantino's [[Kill Bill]] (parts 1 and 2), which sees Uma Thurman's character visiting each member of her once-lethal team of assassins in their new lives and attempting to kill them all rather than reuniting them.
* That other little Dan Aykroyd film ''[[Ghostbusters]] 2''.
* ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture]]''. Kirk had to do some string pulling to get Spock and McCoy back.
** ''[[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country]]'' was slated to feature a similar sequence, with everyone either preparing to retire or move on to other jobs, but they scrapped it and just had a bit of dialogue before the briefing starts.
* For the audience, though not the characters, ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'', the 2009 movie, is essentially this trope as well.
* In ''[[I'm Gonna Git You Sucka]]'', John Slade reassembles the team of black heroes who once took down Mr. Big.
* The first ''[[Scooby Doo]]'' movie had the group disband at the beginning, and then rejoining for another mystery.
** Also done with the animated movie "[[Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island]]."
* ''[[The Mighty Ducks (film)|The Mighty Ducks]]'' sequels. What was [[Egregious]] about this is that each film also resets them to total incompetence so they can be retrained. Never mind that they won [[The Big Game]] in each previous film.
* ''[[Armageddon]]'' arranges for this. NASA wants Bruce Willis's character to help their team; he'll only go if he can take all his own band of oil drillers. They have split up across the country—that's what they do when they're on leave. Government force is gently used to put them back together.
* The Robert Rodriguez film ''[[Desperado]]''. El Mariachi is reuniting his former bandmates, and tells them to bring their guitars, [[Chew Bubblegum|but not to play music.]]
* In ''[[Shaolin Soccer]]'', the protagonist must convince his old training buddies to reunite and begin practicing kung fu again—in order to [[Mundane Utility|play soccer]]. Many of them are of the "unmotivated wash-up" variety, although there's also one who's a businessman comfortable with his new life.
* Happens in ''[[Uncommon Valor]]'' when a wealthy businessman finances a raid to rescue [[wikipedia:POW|POW]]s from Vietnam.
* Basically the premise of ''[[The Country Bears]]''.
* [[Morgan Freeman]] actually says the line in the film version of ''[[RED]]''.
* The 2011 film ''[[The Muppets (film)|The Muppets]]''.

==  [[Literature]] ==
* Happened in [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[IT]]''.
* ''[[The Three Musketeers (novel)|Twenty Years After]]'', the sequel to ''[[The Three Musketeers (novel)|The Three Musketeers]]'', is both an example and a subversion. Cardinal Mazarin asks d'Artagnan to find his three old friends, who have left the service long ago, and convince them to join back and help the Cardinal against his enemies. But only Porthos [[Jumped At the Call]]; Athos and Aramis excuse themselves... {{spoiler|and we find out several chapters later that the reason is that they are already involved with the other side.}}
* Happened in the ''[[Discworld]]'' book ''[[Thief of Time]]''. It was ''played straight''. In a ''[[Discworld]]'' book. Anyway, what happens is that the world is about to end, and so Death tries to round up the other three members of the Four [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse]]. They all refuse, but later come just in time anyway and decide to {{spoiler|start kicking Auditor butt instead of heralding the end of the world. This includes the fifth horseman, Kaos, who also joins just in the nick of time.}}
** Can it really be played straight when the band is The Horsemen of the Apocalypse?
** The concept of [[Fan Nickname|Pterry]] playing something straight is [[Nightmare Fuel|scary]], but we've got to accept that sometimes, weird things do happen.
** Simple way to look at it, and in the fine tradition of Discworld: It was played straight... for a given value of "straight."
* In [[Iain M Banks]]' ''[[Against a Dark Background]]'', one character brings together her old army unit to help her search for the Lazy Gun.
* In a rather unusual use of this trope, Kyon does exactly this in the fourth ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' novel. Mind you, it's a [[Alternate Universe]], and no one knows about "the band".
* In ''[[Warrior Cats]]'', chosen cats from [[The New Prophecy]] reunite in Outcast for one mission.

==  [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* In Season 9 of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', Cameron makes multiple mentions of 'getting the band back together'.
** And when Colonel Carter returns in episode 6, she asks, "but who's the new backup singer?" about Vala.
* ''The Return of [[The Man from U.N.C.L.E.]]: The Fifteen Years Later Affair''
* The 2002 revival of ''[[Auf Wiedersehen, Pet]]'' begins with the surviving members of the old gang (last seen in 1986) getting together for another member's wake. {{spoiler|It turns out that he's not really dead, but arranged his wake as a stunt specifically to reassemble the old team. They soon learn that another of the old gang has died -- not surprisingly, since the actor who played him had died in 1986.}}
* The second season of ''[[Phoenix Nights]]'' begins this way.
* A season premiere of ''[[Bones]]'' happens this way, with Brennan, Booth, and the Squint Squad reuniting to help Cam with what was thought to be one case (which turned out to be two). And by the way, [[It Makes Sense in Context|CAM is really the lynchpin personality.]]
* [[Sharpe]]'s Waterloo begins with Sharpe, Harper, Harris and Hagman, the last of the Chosen Men, coming back together from France, Ireland and wherever the other two have been to see Napoleon defeated once and for all.
* ''[[NCIS]]'': Vance disbands the entire team in a season finale, but [[Status Quo Is God]], and naturally they put the band back together in the season premiere.
* Lt. Daniels spends most of Season 2 of ''[[The Wire]]'' putting the Barksdale detail from Season 1 back together as the new Sobotka detail, which he hopes to eventually turn into a permanent Major Case Unit.
* The whole point of the [[Disney XD]] show ''[[I'm in The Band]]''.
* Used as a theme with the ensemble in ''[[Leverage]]''. The running gag is that, while each of them used to work solo as criminals, they've gotten [[Good Feels Good|hooked on helping people]] together.

==  [[Music]] ==
* [[Truth in Television]]: All the many, many literal bands who have reformed "for ''one last tour'' (seriously, this is it, we promise)!"
** Of particular note is [[Aerosmith]], who formed in the early 70s and broke up in the 80s largely due to rampant drug use and personality conflicts. After they all went to rehab, the original lineup got back together, have been cranking out album after multi-platinum album ever since, and are still going strong as of 2009.
** [[Eagles]] broke up over internal conflicts, but reunited and have been going strong ever since. As Glenn Frey put it:
{{quote|"We never broke up, we just took a fourteen year vacation."}}
* The three surviving members of the [[The Beatles|Fab Four]] got back together for ''[[The Beatles]] Anthology'' and finished two of John Lennon's home recordings. "Free as a Bird" required an entire bridge...
* The quartet of [[Elton John]], guitarist Davey Johnstone, bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson, along with lyricist Bernie Taupin and producer Gus Dudgeon, helped create Elton's most critically and commercially successful period (''Honky Chateau'', ''Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player'', ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'', ''Caribou'', ''Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy''). Elton broke the band up in 1975, which led to a [[Dork Age]] in Elton's career which was only halted when Elton rehired Johnstone, Murray and Olsson in the band, hired Taupin full-time and made the ''Too Low For Zero'' album in 1983. The album was critically and commercially successful, and thanks to [[MTV]] videos like "I'm Still Standing" and "I Guess That's Why The Call It The Blues", led to a [[Career Resurrection]] in the mid-eighties.
* Happened with both [[Pink Floyd]] and [[Led Zeppelin]] at [[Live Aid]] - was supposed to happen to [[The Beatles]] as well (with Julian Lennon standing in from John Lennon), but alas, that one didn't [[Incredibly Lame Pun|come together...]] Also the only time Sting ever performed ''Money For Nothing'' with [[Dire Straits]] after the song's original recording.
* All five members of country-pop band Restless Heart reunited in 2003 for one more album, and they tour sporadically to this day. They pretty much broke up in 1993, save for four of them reuniting temporarily in 1998 to make new songs for a [[Greatest Hits Album]].
* [[Luna Sea]] and Phantasmagoria reunited for the [[Hideto Matsumoto|hide]] memorial summit in 2008, [[Luna Sea]] also for a christmas concert in 2007. Of course, then they reunited for real in 2010.
* Invoked and celebrated by [[Miracle of Sound]] in his song about ''[[Overwatch]]'', [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMUQr0UZiJs "Get The Gang Back"].

==  [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
* [[WCW]]: After Kevin Nash lost a "[[Ten-Minute Retirement|Loser Retires from Wrestling]]" match Nash & Scott Hall were spotted in the audience one ''Nitro''. When asked by the Roving Reporter what's going on since retirement Nash said "We're putting the band back together." Nobody could figure out what he meant by that until a few weeks later when the new [[New World Order|nWo]] debuted.
** For those unfamiliar with wrestling, Hall and Nash were longtime best friends and had worked together in WWE as Razor Ramon (Hall) and Diesel (Nash).
* Hall and Nash like this trope. They've reformed the Outsiders in [[TNA]] a couple times, and as of 2010, have formed "The Band" with fellow Kliq member Sean "X-Pac" Waltman.

==  [[Video Games]] ==
* An interesting videogame example comes from ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', where your party gets split up upon entering the World of Ruin, and you (as former second banana Celes) have to put the party back together. Since it's a game, you don't ''have'' to—but it's expected. Includes a classic case of the former leader, Terra, having retired from fighting and being unwilling to rejoin.
* ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star FOX]] Command'' is a video game example. Various events have led to Fox being all alone by the beginning of the game. Although he's really hesitant to do it at first (going as far to hire his rival Wolf instead in one branch), there's at least one branch of the storyline where Fox gets together the entire original Star Fox team.
* In ''[[Persona 3]]: FES'', two months after  {{spoiler|the Main Character has sealed away [[Cosmic Horror|Nyx]]}}, the ex-SEES members get back together for one last dinner in the dorm before it closes down. While they're there, they get trapped inside the dorm by a mysterious force and [[Groundhog Day Loop|have to relive the same day over and over again]]. They then discover a stairway leading to a new [[The Heartless|Shadow]]-infested dungeon beneath the dining room table...
* ''[[Super Robot Wars]] W'' features this in the second half of the game, and some members hqave been building up for it, too.
* A variation happens in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl's'' adventure mode, {{spoiler|almost everyone becomes an inanimate trophy, and the few remaining characters have to find them to reanimate them and get them back into the group}}.
* The second half of ''[[Breath of Fire III]]'' opens with Garr seeking out Ryu, and the two of them setting out to find the other previous party members. Unlike ''[[Final Fantasy VI]],'' the plot is [[No Sidepaths, No Exploration, No Freedom|totally linear]]; you cannot progress past X area until you've recruited party member Y.
* ''[[Lunar]]: Silver Star Story'' has a failed attempt at bringing the last Dragon Master and his friends back together to fight the new evil. Unfortunately, the new evil keeps getting to the old heroes [[Traveling At the Speed of Plot|just before you do.]] At least you get the [[Replacement Goldfish]] for party members.
* In ''[[Soul Calibur]] 3'''s Chronicles of the Sword mode, after a [[Time Skip]], the player loses their army for a few levels. A few chapters before the end though, the player has the option to get all but one ({{spoiler|whom they killed 2 chapters ago}}) back by {{spoiler|befriending them to knock them out of Soul Edge induced mind control}}.
* ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'' has one of these after the [[Time Skip]] that followed the [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle|Not Quite]] [[Very Definitely Final Dungeon]] .
* Another video game example in ''[[Baten Kaitos]]: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean'', right after [[Disc One Final Boss|Geldoblame]] is revealed to have been manipulated by {{spoiler|Melodia, Fadroh, and Kalas}}, the entire party ends up separated and scattered across the five floating islands, and Xelha has to rescue the other {{spoiler|four}} members before you can travel to Wazn to get the next [[Plot Coupon]].
* Subverted in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'': after [[The Man|the Illusive Man]] offers [[Player Character|Commander Shepard]] a list of candidates for his/her new crew, you can tell him to shove it because you already have a [[Badass Crew]] from the first game. However, it turns out none of them are available anymore (Kaidan/Ashley are on a top-secret mission for the Alliance, Garrus slipped off the radar, Tali is leading an expedition for the Flotilla, Wrex reigns on Tuchanka, and Liara is on a crusade against the Shadow Broker). Doubly subverted, however, when ''some'' of your old crew do come back, namely, {{spoiler|Joker, Dr. Chakwas, Garrus, Tali, and ([[Guest Star Party Member|temporarily]]) Liara}}.
** Kaidan / Ashley and Liara return as full party members in ''[[Mass Effect 3|ME3]]'', as do Garrus and Tali provided they survived the [[Suicide Mission]] (Wrex is still busy leading the krogan). You can also pull in a few Normandy [[Non-Player Character|NPCs]] from both of the previous games.
* Taken rather literally in the Co-op Story Mode of ''[[Guitar Hero]] III: Legends of Rock''. Halfway into it, your band splits up (well, the singer and drummer at least), and then they meet again three months later and rejoin. The subsequent song block is even titled "Getting the Band Back Together".
* ''[[Star Trek Elite Force]] II'' starts with the ''Voyager'' coming home triumphantly... and your Hazard Team being disbanded by an asshole bureaucrat with [[Big Ol' Eyebrows]] who thinks that all's well in [[The Federation|Federation]] space. Some time later, Munro, your [[Player Character]], is teaching combat tactics to cadets at the Academy, when Picard comes along and, after telling to bureaucrat to shove off, asks you to rebuild the Hazard Team, this time on the ''Enterprise''-E. All but one former team members come back (plus two new ones), and the one remaining is later found by pure coincidence.

==  [[Web Original]] ==
* The [[Red vs. Blue]] Recollections trilogy begins with us being told that most of the old characters had been relocated after the end of season five and so Washington has to re-recruit some of the team members. Although, throughout all three movies, we've never had the entire team restored.  {{spoiler|Some characters have also been apparently [[Killed Off for Real]], but we've yet to see if it sticks. Other characters like Church and Sheila seem to have been replaced with copies like Epsilon and F.I.L.S.S.}}
* In [[TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life (web video)|TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life]], Eric and Dash reunite the [[Five-Man Band]] in order to rescue James.

==  [[Web Comics]] ==
* Parodied in one ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' story arc. Tycho and Gabe briefly break up and try to do their own comic strips, but both fail miserably. They then have a conversation about "getting the band back together". They then ask their guitarist—who presumably provides the strip's music—if he wants to get back together with them.
** [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/4/22/ I SAID FUCK YEAH!!!]
** [[Troperiffic]]ally done with ''[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/6/25/ Paint The Line 2]''.
* ''[[Necessary Monsters]]'': Jonathon putting his team of covert monster-cops back together is part of the opening act.

==  [[Western Animation]] ==
* An episode of ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' is entitled "Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together!", in which the Flynn children try to reassemble the band "Love Händel" (a parody of [[The Eighties|80's music]]) in time for their parents' anniversary. Interestingly, one of the songs from this episode got nominated for a freaking ''[[Emmy Award|Emmy]]'' for best original song.
* ''[[Metalocalypse]]'' plays this straight, when Pickles decides to put back together his old ''[[Glam Rock]]'' band, Snakes N' Barrels.
* The ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' episode "How Long Is Forever?" had Starfire disappearing until Twenty Years Into The Future. When attempting to find her friends, we discover that Cyborg's main power ran out, and so he's trapped in the tower; Beast Boy was sold to the circus (and went bald); Raven was put into an asylum; and Robin became Nightwing.
** And yet, she still manages to put the band back together... definitely an example, although an extreme one where ''everybody'' [[Changed My Mind, Kid|initially refuses and yet shows up in the nick of time to help]].
* [[Wolverine]] begins to do this in the first episode of ''[[Wolverine and the X-Men]]'' to varying degrees of success.
* Used in ''[[Extreme Ghostbusters]]'' when Egon's teammates from the disbanded [[The Real Ghostbusters|Real Ghostbusters]] appeared in a few episodes.
* An episode of ''[[King of the Hill]]'' (Bwah My Nose) had this when Hank and the gang demanded a rematch by playing flag football against the team who beat them in a high school state championchip who are now taunting them. Hank called up every teammate to participate in the rematch.
* The season finale of [[Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated]] has the gang disbanded—Fred to look for his real parents, Daphne to wallow in misery with her family, Velma to ponder what she's done (not coming forward about Angel Dynamite's real identity), Shaggy off to military school and Scooby Doo being sent to a farm. Part of season two's focus will be on Scooby's promise at the conclusion of the season one finale, to get the gang back together and track down Professor Pericles, who has two pieces of the Planispheric Disc.

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[[Category:Team Shuffle Tropes]]