Recycled Script: Difference between revisions

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* This trope was the basis for the early [[Too Good to Last|short lived]] 2000s NBC show called ''[[The Rerun Show]]'' in which a group of actors took actual scripts of old shows such as ''[[Bewitched]]'' and ''[[Married... with Children]]'', and used the same exact dialog, while spoofing the show with props and actions.

* ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man]]'' and ''[[The Bionic Woman]]'' shared a fair number of scripts. The most obvious of these was a plot involving a crash on a remote island, stranding the bionic individual with a lot of extras plus a coworker from OSI (Oscar for Steve, Rudy for Jaime). The coworker is seriously injured, but there is a doctor among the survivors who can save him despite the primitive conditions; to help him do so, though, Steve/Jaime must cut open a finger on their bionic hand and bare two wires so that the doctor can cauterize a blood vessel.

* Not the same show, but from the same writer: Kenneth Johnson wrote the two part ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man]]'' episode intoducing Jaime, who was to be married to Steve until her bionics (recently acquired in the course of the two-parter's first half) malfunctioned and she ran ~~a muck~~ during a tropical storm, after which she died from her condition. A couple of years later Kenny would write the season two opener of ''[[The Incredible Hulk]],'' where David Banner fell in love with a doctor with a terminal brain disease -- that causes her to run amuck in a tropical storm until she died.

* Not the same show, but from the same writer: Kenneth Johnson wrote the two part ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man]]'' episode intoducing Jaime, who was to be married to Steve until her bionics (recently acquired in the course of the two-parter's first half) malfunctioned and she ran amuck during a tropical storm, after which she died from her condition. A couple of years later Kenny would write the season two opener of ''[[The Incredible Hulk]],'' where David Banner fell in love with a doctor with a terminal brain disease -- that causes her to run amuck in a tropical storm until she died.

* ''[[The Bionic Woman]]'' and ''[[Gemini Man]]'' once shared a script about a lookalike for the title character infiltrating the agency where she/he works despite being ignorant of the main character's superhuman abilities. They are an ~~assassin~~, targeting the main character's superior. At the climax, the hero(ine) and the double are both claiming to be the real deal; the hero(ine) proves his/her identity by using their special abilities -- one by bionic-jumping to the top of a tree, the other by turning invisible.

* ''[[The Bionic Woman]]'' and ''[[Gemini Man]]'' once shared a script about a lookalike for the title character infiltrating the agency where she/he works despite being ignorant of the main character's superhuman abilities. They are both assassins, targeting the main character's superior. At the climax, the hero(ine) and the double are both claiming to be the real deal; the hero(ine) proves his/her identity by using their special abilities -- one by bionic-jumping to the top of a tree, the other by turning invisible.

* ''[[Buck Rogers|Buck Rogers in the 25th Century]]'' had a script, "Journey To Oasis", which was very nearly identical to the original ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek the Original Series]]'' episode "Journey To Babel". Actor Marc Lenard even appeared in both, playing very nearly the same character.

* In what is probably a specialized case, ''[[The New Odd Couple]]'' recycled eight scripts that were written for the original version of ''[[The Odd Couple]]''.

* An episode of ''[[Step by Step]]'' had the exact same plot as an episode of ''[[Happy Days]]''. A character is dating a woman. Another character suspects that the woman may secretly be a popular stripper (who wears a mask). They notice that the woman has a very distinctive laugh. So they hire the stripper in order to make her laugh and prove her identity.

* Similarly, ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' recycled two scripts ("The Child" and "Devil's Due") that had been written for ''Star Trek: Phase II'', the original proposed sequel series to ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek the Original Series]]'' (they decided to do movies instead). ''The Next Generation'' also recycled some scripts that ''were'' used in the Original Series (most prominently "The Naked Now", which also referenced the episode it was recycling, "The Naked Time").

** About the first half of the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' episode "Future Imperfect" was suspiciously close to the [[G.I. Joe]] episode "There's No Place Like Springfield," written by the same author. Just swap Riker for Shipwreck and...

** About the first half of the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' episode "Future Imperfect" was suspiciously close to the ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' episode "There's No Place Like Springfield," written by the same author. Just swap Riker for Shipwreck and...

** After three years of the original series and ''eighteen'' years for its spin-offs, scripts began to be borrowed and recycled from within each show and across the franchise as a whole. For example, the basic script for the original series episode "Elaan of Troyius" was recycled ''twice.'' It got particularly bad with ''Enterprise,'' which was accused of being a recycle of ''Voyager'' as a whole set in the past.

* The ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise]]'' episode "Doctor's Orders" is virtually identical to the ''Voyager'' episode "One."

** The ending of ''[[Star Trek Nemesis]]'' was basically the ending of ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]''. And the first half of ''Nemesis'' was basically the first half of ''[[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country|Star Trek VI the Undiscovered Country]]''.

** Not only was ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture|Star Trek the Motion Picture]]'''s plot based on the script for the cancelled Phase II pilot, but it bore a striking similarity to an episode from the original series, "The Changeling".

** The ''Enterprise'' episode "Home" was similar to the ''Next Generation'' episode "Family". Both dealt with the ''Enterprise'' returning to Earth and the crew going on shore leave to visit their families and friends. Both were basically done so the characters and viewers could recover from the previous episodes, which had been emotionally trying for everyone ("Best of Both Worlds" for ''Next Generation'', the entire Xindi arc for ''Enterprise''). However, "Home" did serve a higher purpose, introducing three plot elements that would be expanded upon later (T'Pol's political problems and arranged marriage, human xenophobia, and the character of Erika Hernandez, captain of the starship ''Columbia''). Short version: "Home" was "Family" with a few [[Chekhov's Gun|Chekhov's Guns]]. (No [[Chekov's Gun|Chekov's]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Guns]], though.)

** "Oasis" from ''Enterprise'' was extremely similar to "Shadowplay" from ''Deep Space Nine'', both being about isolated societies that turn out to mostly consist of holograms created by the one real person to stave off loneliness after the people they're based on were all killed. "Oasis" even brought back ''Deep Space Nine'' cast member Rene Auberjonois, who immediately pointed out the similarity.

** ''Enterprise'' also has the episode "Chosen Realm," an obvious redo of the original series' "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield." Both deal with aliens who are at war over a trivial matter reflecting society at the time(having different colored skin, or a trivial religious debate), who ultimately return to their planet to discover that everyone has long since killed each other.

* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Star Trek Voyager]]'' was often considered just a recycle of ''[[Star Trek: The ~~Next Generation|Star Trek the~~ Next Generation]]''. For example, the ''Next Generation'' episode "Lonely Among Us" featured an [[Energy Beings|Energy Being]] that is able to possess people and machines, and takes over the ship. ''Voyager'''s "The Haunting of Deck Twelve" used almost exactly the same plotline, but with the [[Framing Device]] of having Neelix telling the story of what happened to some children. By chance (probably), the ''Voyager'' episode ended up airing back-to-back with a repeat of the ''Next Generation'' episode when it was shown on [[The BBC|BBC2]].

* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Star Trek Voyager]]'' was often considered just a recycle of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''. For example, the ''Next Generation'' episode "Lonely Among Us" featured an [[Energy Beings|Energy Being]] that is able to possess people and machines, and takes over the ship. ''Voyager'''s "The Haunting of Deck Twelve" used almost exactly the same plotline, but with the [[Framing Device]] of having Neelix telling the story of what happened to some children. By chance (probably), the ''Voyager'' episode ended up airing back-to-back with a repeat of the ''Next Generation'' episode when it was shown on [[The BBC|BBC2]].

** Similarly, the Voyager two-parter "Future's End" takes a lot of story elements from ''[[Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home|Star Trek IV the Voyage Home]]''.

* 24 scripts on ''[[Bewitched]]'' were recycled scene by scene. One was recycled ''twice''. Most of these were episodes featuring the first Darrin that were recycled with [[The Other Darrin]]. Since some were two-parters, this means a total of 55 of the 254 episodes, 22% of the entire show, weren't unique. In addition to these completely recycled scripts, there were also many that had similar premises but were different in the particulars, and many individual scenes and gags that were recycled in otherwise original episodes.

** Some of the black and white episodes were redone after the show went to color.

* [[Boy Meets World]] and [[That's So Raven]] both had a [[Very Special Episode]] about racism. In both, the black friend gets denied a job because he's black and video evidence is used to get the word out. Both shows were made by [[Disney]].

* ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' and ''[[That's So Raven]]'' both had a [[Very Special Episode]] about racism. In both, the black friend gets denied a job because he's black and video evidence is used to get the word out. Both shows were made by [[Disney]].

* ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' has reused a few scripts from ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', usually with a [[Lampshade Hanging]]. In the Atlantis episode, "The Intruder", McKay comments on how the SGC faced a similar situation before (in the SG-1 episode "Entity"). The SG-1 episode "Grace" has a sister Atlantis episode "Grace Under Pressure". There was even a week in which the two shows, airing back-to-back, featured very similar, yet unrelated enemies haunting each team's base: SG-1 had to deal with Anubis in "Lockdown", and the Atlantis team faced an alien being in "Hide and Seek". Both enemies took the form of inky black [[Energy Beings]] and were disposed of the same way -- through the stargate.

** Two episodes of ''Stargate SG-1'' several years apart both featured O'Neill being implanted with an Ancient [[Magical Database]] that gave him access to tremendous lost wisdom but was slowly killing him. In both episodes, his fading language ability was a serious obstacle, and in both episodes, the solution depended on him using his newfound mysterious knowledge to activate some powerful [[Applied Phlebotinum]] to reach the [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|Asgard]] for help. However, this was more of a twist or deconstruction of the [[Recycled Script]] trope rather than playing it straight, because differences between the episodes highlighted how the show had changed over the years. The first time, downloading the [[Magical Database]] was by accident and O'Neill had to [[MacGyvering|MacGyver]] the Phlebotinum from scratch to reach the Asgard, who they barely knew anything about at this point, and that was the whole point of the episode. The second time, downloading the database was a last-ditch attempt to resolve the season's [[Plot Arc]], so actually finding a cure wasn't as important as finding something else in the database. The team had access to a fair amount of alien technology of their own by this point, and Daniel could even speak a bit of Ancient to translate for Jack.

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** In a plot spanning several episodes, the home base has been infiltrated and all but conquered by a ruthless enemy; simultaneously, a cataclysm outside is threatening to destroy the base if the conflict cannot be ended quickly enough. ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' ("The Storm") and ''[[Stargate Universe]]'' ("Incursion").

* The late-1980s remake of ''[[Mission Impossible (TV series)|Mission Impossible]]'' recycled four scripts from the original series virtually verbatim.

** Justified, actually, since the show did debut right in the middle of the 1988 Writer's Strike. (Which didn't prevent two of the writers taking their names off the remakes.)

** Justified, actually, since the show did debut right in the middle of the 1988 Writer's Strike (Which didn't prevent two of the writers taking their names off the remakes).

** And one episode argueably improved on the original when Greg Morris guest starred as a retired Barney who gets wrongfully imprisoned in Turkey instead of the original episode's random victim-of-the-week.

{{quote| '''Barney''' Jim?!? Is that you? Hell, you retired before I did!"<br />

'''Jim Phelps''' Do any of us really retire? }}

** So Jim didn't have to ask, "Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"

** So Jim didn't have to ask, [[Airplane!|"Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"]]

*** Incidentally, the original series also reworked some episodes in its final season (compare "Two Thousand" to season one's "Operation Rogosh," both of which involve men plotting to wipe out millions of Americans and a plan to unmask the scheme by making the villain think it's the future).

* ''[[The X-Files]]'' reworked season one episode "Ice" (about a parasitic alien that caused its victims to turn psychopathic and eventually die) into the season two episode "Firewalker" (you can probably guess the main difference). ''Both'' were based, in turn, on the classic [[John W. Campbell]] ~~short story~~ "[[Who Goes There]]".

* ''[[The X-Files]]'' reworked season one episode "Ice" (about a parasitic alien that caused its victims to turn psychopathic and eventually die) into the season two episode "Firewalker" (you can probably guess the main difference). ''Both'' were based, in turn, on the classic [[John W. Campbell]] novella "[[Who Goes There]]".

* ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'' occasionally recycled its ''own'' scripts during the Emma Peel seasons, when Cathy Gale scripts would be given an overhaul. For example, "The Joker" is a creepier version of the Gale story "Don't Look Behind You," and "The £50,000 Breakfast" is a remake of "Death Of A Great Dane."

** Likewise the ''New Avengers'' episode "Complex" is essentially a remake of the original series episode "Killer".

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*** The above paragraph was recycled from the [[Broken Aesop]] entry.

* In its last two seasons, ''[[MacGyver]]'' started recycling material from its earlier seasons, but with more emphasis on the Aesop than on the story itself.

* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S13 E6 The Seeds of Doom|The Seeds of Doom]]" (by Robert Banks Stewart) was recycled from ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'' "Man-Eater of Surrey Green". (Stewart had written for ''The Avengers'', but not that episode, which was by Philip Levene.) "The Seeds of Doom" feels wrong for a ''Doctor Who'' story in many ways, since it follows the ''Avengers'' formula. For example, the (Fourth) Doctor casually jumps on top of a bad guy and punches him out.

* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S13 E6 The Seeds of Doom|The Seeds of Doom]]" (by Robert Banks Stewart) was recycled from ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'' "Man-Eater of Surrey Green" (Stewart had written for ''The Avengers'', but not that episode, which was by Philip Levene). "The Seeds of Doom" feels wrong for a ''Doctor Who'' story in many ways, since it follows the ''Avengers'' formula. For example, the (Fourth) Doctor casually jumps on top of a bad guy and punches him out.

** Also the story "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S32 E9 Night Terrors|Night Terrors]]". A child in an everyday contemporary Earth environment turns out to be an alien whose reality-warping powers cause his fears to threaten his family and neighbours. [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S2 E11 Fear Her|When did we see that before?]]

* ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' reused several of the films they riffed on during their initial season on a local UHF station after going national. Several host segment sketches were also remade later.

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* Possible case: Both ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' and ''Rules Of Engagement'' featured an episode where the show's resident Lothario runs into the older woman to whom he lost his virginity (complete with "Mrs. Robinson" reference). The Lothario, reminded of his poor early performance, determines to sleep with her again despite her having gone from middle-aged to a senior citizen, and [[Hilarity Ensues]]. What made this example stick out so much is the the episodes in question first aired on the same night, on the same channel, within an hour of each other.

* Two episodes in the fourth series of ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' consisted largely of material lifted from the first draft of ''[[Monty Python and The Holy Grail]]''. Some of this material was written by John Cleese, who otherwise had nothing to do with the fourth series.

* One of the episodes of ABC's revival of ''Columbo'' - "Uneasy Lies the Crown" - was a remake of an episode of ''[[McMillan and Wife]]'' (by then just called ''McMillan'') titled "Affair of the Heart" in which a dentist manages to kill someone and not be anywhere near the crime scene by {{spoiler|placing digitalis under a newly capped tooth}}.

* One of the episodes of ABC's revival of ''Columbo'' ("Uneasy Lies the Crown") was a remake of an episode of ''[[McMillan and Wife]]'' (by then just called ''McMillan'') titled "Affair of the Heart" in which a dentist manages to kill someone and not be anywhere near the crime scene by {{spoiler|placing digitalis under a newly capped tooth}}.

* The season 3 ''[[MASH the Series|M* A* S* H]]'' episode "White Gold" has a scene where Hawkeye and Trapper slip a mickey to Col. Flagg so they can perform an unnecessary appendectomy on him and put him out of commission, thus allowing the soldier Flagg's after (an aid-station medic who'd stolen some much-needed penicillin from the 4077th) to return to his unit unscathed. While it's more or less played for laughs, a very similar plot would be used to much more serious effect in season 8's "Preventative Medicine": in that episode, Hawkeye performs the unnecessary surgery on a gung-ho colonel so he can't lead his troops into a suicidal objective, but B.J. will have nothing to do with it, accusing Hawkeye of [[What the Hell, Hero?|violating their ethical code as doctors]].

** Ken Levine, one of the show's executive story editors at the time of the later episode, has stated that the similar plot was entirely unintentional, and that when they discovered it they were so embarrassed that they [http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2007/01/mash-oscar-show.html deliberately had their episode scheduled opposite the Academy Awards ceremony] so it would be seen by the smallest possible audience.

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* ''[[Dragnet]]'' liked to recycle scripts at various points. One notable one was the Christmas episode involving a poor boy who took the statue of the child Jesus from the church he attended because he'd finally gotten the red wagon he asked for and wanted to give the child Jesus the first ride. It was done on the radio show, the black and white TV series and the color remake.

* ''[[Forever Knight]]'' recycled several unused first season scripts into season 3, which was why Captains Stonetree and Reese were both named Joe. All they had to do was switch last names and replace Nick's first partner, Don Schanke, with his second partner, Tracy Vetter.

== Musical Theatre ==