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Prop Recycling: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"I actually recognize this wall. It's been redressed a number of times, most recently for a scene in the ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise]]'' series finale "These are the Voyages...", but it's also been used as a backdrop on a Son'a ship in ''[[Star Trek: Insurrection|Insurrection]]''... This wall, I think, deserves an Emmy for withstanding so much crap."''|''[[The Agony Booth]]'' [http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Star_Trek/Deep_Space_Nine/Let_He_Who_Is_Without_Sin___.aspx?Page=5 recap] of "[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Let He Who is Without Sin...]]"}}
The Hollywood version of "Waste Not, Want Not". When elaborate sets, costumes or props are made for one production, they may turn up again and again in other productions that may need elaborate props but don't have the budget to design and build their own.
The prop may be altered by repainting it or adding or removing widgets but it remains recognizable, especially if the original production was well known. While this may be a cost saving measure, there's something about the practice that just screams "low budget".
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** The sets to Axis chemical factory in ''[[Batman (film)|Batman]]'' were from ''[[Alien (franchise)|AlienS]]''.
** 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
* Old Tucson Studios. Built initially for the movie ''Arizona'' in 1939, its buildings were used as the sets of countless [[Western]] television shows and movies, including episodes of ''[[Gunsmoke]]'', ''[[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|Little House On the Prairie]]'', ''[[Bonanza]]'', and ''[[Have Gun Will Travel]]''. It is also a tourist attraction, though most of the original sets were lost in a fire.
* Defied by ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'': all the original props were unavailable for the sequel ''[[2010: The Year We Make Contact|Two Thousand Ten 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.
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* Miho's swords from ''[[Sin City]]'' were the Crazy 88's from ''[[Kill Bill]]''.
* The PKE meters from ''[[Ghostbusters]]''...
** ... are used as walkie-talkies by the alien security guards in ''[[They Live!]]'' .
** And ''[[Suburban Commando]]'' uses it as a tracking device.
** And so does an episode of ''[[Family Guy]]''. Yes, an ''animated series'' used [[Prop Recycling]].
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== Live-Action TV ==
* The Ford Futura concept car was originally used in the 1959 film ''It Started with a Kiss''. The car was subsequently transformed into the Batmobile for the 1966 ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' TV series.
* Parodied by Conan O'Brien; some time after doing a sketch that involved the use of a large animatronic whale, Conan informed his viewers that NBC had instructed him to re-use the whale in order to make up their investment on it, and thus launched "Whale Week", wherein the whale was used repeatedly in several gags each night. There was also a running joke where they kept using a costume over and over again over one season. It started out as a Giant Grub costume, then turned into a Surrendering Croissant, a Victorious Connoli, a Liposuctioned Jabba the Hutt, a pissed off kreplach, and a Beach Rock. Conan kept asking for suggestions, and even gave out a button as a prize for it.
* ''[[Firefly]]''
** The Alliance armour in the episode "The Train Job" came from ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]]''.
** There were three spacesuits in ''Serenity'''s inventory on ''Firefly''. Two were recycled from a previous space series, but the big yellow one worn by Jayne was originally [[Dolph Lundgren]]'s flight suit.
** Jayne's gun Vera originally appeared in the 2002 movie ''Showtime''.
** Zoe's sawn-off Winchester rifle is the same one used by Bowler in ''[[The Adventures of Brisco County Jr]]''.
* ''[[Power Rangers]]'' tends to use costumes from other Saban works to fit the need of the story.
** The soldiers' armor in ''[[Power Rangers Lost Galaxy]]'' also came from ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]]''.
** ''[[Power Rangers SPD]]'' had several of these leading many fans to form [[Epileptic Trees]].
** The A-Squad suits were repaints of the ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]'' helmets.
** The [[Added Alliterative Appeal|Spiral Saber]] and Andros's [[In the Hood|cloack]] were used in a scene were a [[Mysterious Protector]] saves Z leading many fans to believe it was Andros at first, it wasn't. {{spoiler|It was Doggie.}}
** The ''[[Power Rangers Time Force|Time Force]]'' Red Ranger suit was used in a flashback as the suit worn by Sky's father, leading many fans to think he was Wes's son. Nothing in the series ever contradict this, but it is still just WMG.
** The Machine Generals in "Forever Red" were gutted from various outfits from ''[[Beetleborgs]]''.
** One of the ''[[Beetleborgs]]'' blasters used in "Forever Red" recently returned in ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'', getting used several times.
** The Red Rangers helmet from ''[[Power Rangers Operation Overdrive|Operation Overdrive]]'' was used in one episode of ''RPM''.
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** In ''[[Power Rangers Lost Galaxy]]'', the [[Sixth Ranger]]'s [[Transformation Trinket]] was actually the Trinket from ''[[Gosei Sentai Dairanger]]'', a series that didn't get a ''[[Power Rangers]]'' equivalent (though its [[Humongous Mecha]] and [[Sixth Ranger]] were used in the second season of ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers|Mighty Morphin]]'').
* ''Series/The [[Twilight Zone]]'' is famous for recycling pieces of the set. Some examples:
** The staircase can be seen in "Elegy", "The 16 Millimeter Shrine", and "The Purple Testament".
** The fireplace, and big wooden doors are seen in numerous episodes.
** The soda fountain seen in the pilot episode ("Where is Everybody?") is also seen in "Walking Distance".
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** This is most prominent in the late 70s and early 80s between ''[[Doctor Who]]'' and ''[[Blake's Seven|Blakes Seven]]'', where the shows shared an excessive amount of props and costumes. Romana I and Servalan wore the same white feather cloak, the guards in Frontios wore the Federation guards' helmets from B7 and certain idiosyncratic wall panels show up ''all the time''. Of course, the series shared writers and producers as well and Terry Nation even planned a real crossover at one point.
** Several sets constructed in Italy for [[HBO]]'s ''Rome'' were reused for the episode "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 E2 The Fires of Pompeii|The Fires of Pompeii]]" in the new series.
** Also, the {{spoiler|Sontaran cloning table on which Martha was held}} in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 E4 The Sontaran Stratagem|The Sontaran Stratagem]]" is obviously made from a Cyber Conversion Unit.
** The spaceship set used in "The Lodger" showed up again, slightly modified, in "Day of the Moon", with no clear connection between the two uses. Some fans believe that they are meant to be the same, but this is not stated in the show.
* The duck lamp seen in Newman's appartment in some episodes of ''[[Seinfeld]]'' comes from the little-known 1980s sitcom ''The Duck Factory''.
* The Vogon spaceship interiors in the TV version of ''[[The
* A phone from the failed ''[[Global Frequency]]'' pilot was [http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=3124 recycled] in ''[[Smallville]]''.
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' re-used spacesuits from ''2010''. They didn't realize where the costumes were from at first, and did what they could to disguise them, but ultimately, they were what they were. Ironically, the second time ''Babylon 5'' needed the ''2010'' spacesuits they weren't available, so they had to make new replicas anyway.
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** ''Galactica'' itself averted this trope by auctioning off a huge number of props, uniforms, set pieces, and curios to raise money for ''[[Caprica]]''. [[Shaggy Dog Story|Which was canceled after less than one season.]]
** The 1970's series of ''[[Battlestar Galactica Classic]]'' used the botanical ships from ''[[Silent Running]]'' as part of the rag-tag fleet fleeing the Cylon tyranny.
** Scenes from ''[[Battlestar Galactica Classic]]'', including use of the ship, the shuttle, and Vipers were all re-used to make the movie ''[[Space Mutiny]]'', which was then parodied by [[Mystery Science Theater 3000]].
* ''[[Star Trek]]''
** The Federation transporter pads in the various series all use parts of the original one from ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek the Original Series]]'', usually flipping it or swapping out decals. This sort of thing was done fairly often, using parts of one show's sets for the ones that follow.
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* ''[[The Outer Limits]]'', an anthology series, does this with their own props so much you can practically make a drinking game of it.
* ''[[Kamen Rider]]''
** The franchise has recycled settings several times the last couple of series. That river under the bridge? The construction site full of concrete pipes? That building with all the windows? [[Tokusatsu]] in general is kind of bad about this. Despite every ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' and ''[[Super Sentai]]'' series supposedly using a distinct set of enemies and for the most part being distinct some costumes have clearly been used in at least a dozen series over the years. There's one in particular (yellowy brown with lots of spiky appendages sticking out) that seems to have been used at least once every couple of years since the early nineties.
** ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'' has this built right in naturally. Decade can turn into past Riders, [[The Rival|Diend]] can summon copies of them, and visiting [[Alternate Universe]] versions of past series allowed the re-use of Rider '''and''' [[Monster of the Week]] costumes and props. In a smaller example, Diend's card holder originally belonged to [[Kamen Rider Den-O|Kamen Rider Zeronos]], the only change being a small disc with Diend's logo being put on the front.
** ''[[Kamen Rider Ryuki]]'' borrows the masks of the [[Jikuu Senshi Spielban|Kinclons]]/[[VR Troopers|Skugs]].
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* ''[[Remote Control]]'' used game stage props from earlier seasons as decorations in the [[Studio Audience]] section in later seasons; the show also used props from ''[[Finders Keepers (TV series)|Finders Keepers]]'' on the set.
* ''[[The Munsters]]'' episode "If It's a Martian, Hang Up" features a gag at the end of the episode in which one of the alien suits from the original ''[[The Outer Limits]]'' makes a cameo appearance.
* The producers of ''[[UHF]]'' struck a deal with KOED to build a news set in their studio. The Tulsa network used the set for their own broadcasts for a couple years afterward.
* The [[Cold War]] [[Day of the Jackboot]] mini-series ''Amerika'' has the [[Dirty Communists]] flying over the United States in helicopters reused from ''[[Blue Thunder]]''. Except they're [[Black Helicopter|no longer blue]].
* Most of the set from the failed 2001 revival of ''[[Card Sharks]]'' was reused for ''[[Whammy (TV series)|Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck]]'', as was announcer Gary Kroeger.
* One of ''[[Ultraman]]'s'' earliest monster battles was against Jirass, a monster that was very clearly a old [[Godzilla]] costume painted green and a neck frill added. Said frill is ripped off very early in the fight, presumably because the scriptwriters knew they wouldn't be fooling anybody.
* In season 25, ''[[Wheel of Fortune]]'' introduced a special electronic wedge called the Big Money Wedge, which featured neon and a video screen that alternated among dollar amounts. When it was retired at the end of the season, the wedge was recycled for a redesign of the Jackpot Wedge.
* ''[[The Love Boat]]'' literally ''will not'' "be taking another run". [http://now.msn.com/entertainment/0309-love-boat-ship-scrapped.aspx It was scrapped (recycled!) in March of 2012].
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* [[Disney Theme Parks]]
**
In the Disneyland version of ''[[The Haunted Mansion]]'', the organ in the dining room is the same one used in Disney's version of ''[[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]]''.
** Also, several animatronics from the now-closed ''America Sings'' show were reused in [[Song of the South|Splash Mountain]].
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* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]''
** In ''[[Super Robot Wars W]]'', a sprite of the (broken) [[Tokyo Tower]] used on a ''[[GaoGaiGar|Gao Gai Gar]]'' chapter is later re-used as a (broken) [[Eiffel Tower]] for a ''[[Mazinkaiser]]'' one. Except ''the Eiffel Tower isn't red''.
** ''W'' in general reused a lot of sprites from series' it shared with ''[[[[Super Robot Wars Judgment]] Super Robot Wars J''. ''[[Super Robot Wars K|K]]'' and ''[[Super Robot Wars L|L]]'' also did the same. Most of the games did however add to or improved the animations and effects for many attacks.
* In the ''[[Mass Effect 2]]: Arrival'' DLC, the animation and prop seen when Dr. Amanda Kenson breaks out of her restraints after being rescued by Shepard uses the same motions (she uses both hands to rip the neck collar off, and grimaces while doing so, before staggering to her feet) as Jack does during her recruitment mission in the same game.
* Some of the objects and scenery in the game ''[[Super Mario 3D Land]]'' were actually taken from the games ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' and ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]''.
* ''[[Serious Sam]] 3 BFE'' uses many props and models from a cancelled generic military shooter which the developer Croteam failed to find a publisher to.
* The ''[[Darkstalkers]]'' series is notorious for not redrawing a character unless they have to. This was especially notable in the [[Capcom vs. Whatever|Capcom vs. Series]], where Morrigan's sprite always stood out against the newer sprites of other characters. ''[[Tatsunokovs Capcom]]'' greatly amused many gamers as, due to the game being in 3D, Capcom finally ''had'' to re-animate her. How much model and motion data was retained for Morrigan, [[Mega Man X|Zero]], and [[Dead Rising|FrankWest]] (Not to mention [[Street Fighter|Ryu and Chun Li]]) from ''Tatsunoko'' to ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]'' varies.
* The galaxy seen in World 4's map screen in ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'' is actually taken from the Final Destination stage from [[Super Smash Bros.|''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'']].
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