Development Gag: Difference between revisions

See [[Call Back]] for references to things that actually appear in the plot, [[Production Throwback]] for development on prior works, and [[Mythology Gag]] for references to things that happen in alternate adaptations. When the backstory behind these gags are explained, that's an example of [[What Could Have Been]], given by [[Word of God]].

 

 

== Anime & Manga ==

== Film -- Animated ==

* The commentary for ''[[Atlantis the Lost Empire]]'' tells a story about how there used to be a mystic named Zoltan (who used to speak in the [[Third Person Person|third person]], for some reason) along for the ride. At one point everybody sounds off after falling down a hole. For the longest time he was still there shouting "Zoltan is okay!" even after his character had been written out of the script.

* Near the end of ''[[Beauty and The Beast (Disney)|Beauty and The Beast]]'', while the enchanted furniture are fighting off the villagers, a music box can be seen among said furniture. That music box was originally going to be Belle's sidekick.

* Near the very beginning of ''[[The Rescuers (Disney)|The Rescuers]]'', [[Big Bad|Madame Medusa]] can actually be seen driving a large red sports car to New York City Airport, not unlike the one driven by [[One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Disney)|Cruella DeVil.]] Originally, the villain of ''The Rescuers'' was actually indeed going to be Cruella DeVil! And that car not only looks like Cruella's, but as a matter of fact, that car ''is'' Cruella's.

** The same joke bled in to an episode of ''[[Mad About You]]'', where someone asks [[Actor Allusion|Paul Reiser's]] character if he had ever seen the movie "Illegal Alien".

* In the film adaptation of ''[[The Flintstones]]'', Fred is accidentally referred to as Mr. Flagstone. The original name for the show was The Flagstones.

** Possibly related: the "Jefferies tubes" that Star Trek characters crawl around in to whenever they need to get into the real guts of their ships may be a nod to his last name and role in ship design for the series.

* The ''[[Indiana Jones (Franchise)|Indiana Jones]]'' films have famously gone through a lot of work before getting to what we saw in theatres. For example, an early version of ''[[The Last Crusade (Film)|The Last Crusade]]'' was set predominantly in a haunted castle, which is reference with Brunwald castle (in which Henry Jones Sr is held captive) and an early title for ''[[Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull (Film)|Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull]]'' was ''Indiana Jones and the Saucermen from Mars'' - Indy dismisses the crystal skulls as belonging to "Saucermen from Mars" when he is interrogated by Irina in the tent.

 

== Web Original ==

 

 

* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', Avatar Roku takes Aang on a spiritual journey, in which Aang learns about Roku's life, and about how strong friendships can transcend spirit and time, but anyone is capable of evil or good. After the revelation, Toph makes a point of asking Aang whether he thinks that friendships can truly transcend lifetimes. It's a thought-provoking philosophical question, but it's mostly also a reference to the fact that some of Toph's development designs (originally a ''large man'') were used to create ''Roku'''s Earthbending teacher.

** Katara and Sokka's mother's name is revealed to be Kya, which was Katara's name in the pilot. Taking it one step further, after the creators found out they couldn't use the name Kya but before they named her Katara, they called her Kanna: currently the name of their grandmother.

** The first season finale has the Water Tribe using an ancient and [[Spikes of Villainy|super-pointy]] Fire Navy uniform for infiltration purposes that is based on the Fire Nation designs from the pilot.

** Also from the original pilot, Zuko was going to have a pet messenger hawk who would be something of an [[Evil Counterpart]] to Momo. Then Sokka got one in season three.

* ''[[Codename Kids Next Door]]'': In Operations "Pool" and "Caramel", we see Numbuh 5 wearing glasses (in the "Pool" case, an alternate universe version thereof), in contrast to her regular apperance. This is a reference to her wearing glasses in the pilot (at one point, the CN website for the show even mentioned that she wears glasses).

* In ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', there are several pictures around the Heinous Manor of [[Satan|Lucius]] in his concept art's outfit as opposed to his ordinary one. In another episode, Jimmy wears a bowtie, which was part of [[Bow Ties Are Cool|his concept suit]].

** One of the photos of Fluttershy pinned to the wall of Photo Finish's studio in "Green Isn't Your Color" is essentially Lauren Faust's concept art of earlier-generation pony Posey, except with wings and an altered cutie mark.

** In "Family Appreciation Day" we get a flashback featuring a young Granny Smith, who looks just like an alternate version of Applejack that [[Lauren Faust]] drew for the series' pitch bible.