Same Story, Different Names: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

Compare [[Spiritual Successor]], which is more angled toward sequels than rehashing. See also [[Expy]], [[Strictly Formula]], and [[Recycled Script]].

== Film ==

* ''[[The Twilight Samurai]]'' and ''[[The Hidden Blade]]'' are both about a poor, extremely humble samurai who just wants to live a simple life. At the same time as he falls in love, he gets dragged into the violent world of politics against his will due to a rare technique of swordsmanship he possesses. Ultimately he uses his technique to escape from his predicament and gets married. Both films are written and directed by Yoji Yamada.

* Two films written and produced by [[John Hughes]] and directed by Howard Deutch in the late '80s, ''[[Pretty in Pink]]'' and ''[[Some Kind of Wonderful]]'', have essentially the same plot but with most of the genders reversed. A poor teenager (Andie/Keith) has an unrequited crush on a rich classmate (Blaine/Amanda), unaware that her/his quirky platonic best friend (Duckie/Watts) is deeply in love with her/him and facing retribution from said rich kid's evil friend/boyfriend (Steff/Hardy). The difference is that, [[Focus Group Ending|because the test audience didn't like the ending]], in ''Pretty in Pink'' Andie ended up with Blaine; Hughes wrote ''Some Kind of Wonderful'' because he was upset at the [[Executive Meddling]]. ''Some Kind of Wonderful'' arguably ends up the better movie for it, too, since the story includes Hughes's personal appreciation for art and music, themes which were largely missing from ''Pretty in Pink''.

* The original ''[[The Little Shop of Horrors|Little Shop of Horrors]]'' by [[Roger Corman]] is a case of [[Same Story, Different Names]]-it's essentially Corman's ''A Bucket of Blood'' for botanists instead of artists. It's also a case of Same ''Score'' Different Names; Corman commissioned the score for both movies, and a later movie, ''The Wasp Woman'', from the same guy. The composer, in the finest traditions of not giving a shit, just handed over the score he wrote for A Bucket of Blood every time.

== Literature ==

* [[Agatha Christie]] sometimes did this in short stories.

** The plot of "The Market Basing Mystery" (1923) was used to create its novella length [[Distaff Counterpart]] "Murder in the Mews" (1937).

* Jack McDevitt: Some [[Adventurer Archaeologist|Adventurer Archaeologists]] find a clue leading them to a lost location full of ancient knowledge. There's probably a government or corporation messing things up, whether [[Obstructive Bureaucrat|unintentionally]] or [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|malignantly]]. Someone WILL [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrifice]] him or herself, either for their comrades or to protect the knowledge (Sometimes this is by way of [[Redemption Equals Death]] (see the next item). There will be a [[Face Heel Turn]] or a [[Heel Face Turn]]. One or two couples will develop - generally someone in one such will die, leaving their partner devastated. When they find the cache, some huge catastrophe will destroy all of what they find except when they can carry while running away, or they'll be an epoch too late. Either way, their discovery [[Nothing Is the Same Anymore|changes everything]].

* ''[[Goosebumps]]''. It's a given that the main character will be 12 years old, that they will be unpopular, and that they are doing at least one of the following things: moving to a new house, going to camp, visiting relatives, or working on a school project. They will encounter strange and spooky things but will make it out fine, until the last second where the surprise [[Twist Ending]] kicks in and they [http://www.bloggerbeware.com/ turn out to be dogs or something].

* [[Jodi Picoult]]'s books all have the same (general) formula after she wrote ''[[My Sister's Keeper]]'', which was(and still is) her most successful book: People (usually centering on the woman) living a normal life(in some New England town), something big happens/happened to them (i.e. husband is cheating, child is arrested) and there ends up being a court case either involving family members (i.e a family member committed a crime) or involving family members suing each other. Usually the court case involves children or teens. Expect one child to be severely ill and wiser than their years. The parents will/already did forget about the other child, if there is one. It is often a [[Tear Jerker]], but is successful because of that(the judge/jury feels sorry for the defendant). Usually there is a Shocking Swerve near the end, and somebody dies. Examples include: ''[[Vanishing Acts]], House Rules, [[Handle with Care]]'', and more.

* [[Sarah Dessen]]'s books almost always follow this formula: . The girl has an annoying, messed up family situation (usually moves a lot), girl doesn't know how to deal with it, girl meets boy, boy fixes everything in girl's hypothetical world, and then there's always that moment when Girl and Boy are going to have a falling out, but they'll be back together by the end. Only some of her earliest novels (''That Summer'', ''Someone Like You'', ''Dreamland'') don't follow this formula.

* Vivian Vande Velde's ''Dragon Bait'' and ''Companions of the Night'' tell virtually the same story: a teenage female protagonist with a [[Missing Mom]] suffers a false accusation due to coincidental circumstances, and subsequently both her and her father's lives are endangered. Enter a [[Tall, Dark and Snarky]] [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]] supernatural male lead who offers to guide the heroine in her quest for vindication. Despite the man's general dangerousness and untrustworthiness, the heroine accepts because she has no one else to turn to, and she quickly finds herself growing attached to him as he leads her around. This culminates in the capture of both the male lead and the heroine by the main villain. The villain is killed in such a way that the heroine is not (fully) responsible. The heroine then saves the male lead from his one weakness - daylight - and the books end on an ambiguously positive note. The difference? The male lead in ''Dragon's Bait'' is [[Our Dragons Are Different|a dragon]]; in ''Companions of the Night,'' he's a much more marketable vampire.

* Felicia Bond's childrens' books hardly even bother with different names. Start with [[If You Give a Mouse a Cookie]], then try If You Give a Bear A Brownie. If you liked that, you're sure to like If You Give A Cat A Cupcake!

** It's also worth noting that most of the characters in ''[[The Mortal Instruments]]'' are [[Expy|expies]] from the ''[[Draco Trilogy]]'', her ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fanfiction.

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]] 1''-''6'' (and ''9'' and ''10'') are infamous for this. They all are essentially exactly the same, gameplay wise, just with different levels and bosses.

* ''[[Sonic Adventure]]'' tells the story of Dr. Eggman discovering a [[Sealed Evil in a Can]], trying to use it to build his evil empire, and finding out at the end that [[Evil Is Not a Toy]]. Switch the title and you have the plot of the next half a dozen games in the series across consoles and handhelds.