X Called. They Want Their Y Back.: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Robert "Fish" Fishman:''' 1991 called, they want their teenage angst back.<br />

'''Amelia:''' No, they just called again. They want that joke back.|''[[The Rocker]]''}}

Runs headfirst into [[Totally Radical]] nowadays. Or in other words, "[[The Nineties]] called, they want their [[Me Me]]Meme back". A common variation is to replace "They want their (word) back" with "They said you can keep the (word)."

Compare [[If I Wanted XIX, I Would Y]]; [[Better Byby a Different Name]].

{{quote| '''Ino:''' Hey, Sakura, [[Christina Ricci]] called. She wants her giant forehead back, and her movie career.<br />

* At the end of ''[[OceansOcean's Eleven (Film)|Oceans Eleven]]'': "[[Ted Nugent]] called. He wants his shirt back."

{{quote| '''Robert "Fish" Fishman:''' 1991 called, they want their teenage angst back.<br />

* A variation: from ''[[The Breakfast Club (Film)|The Breakfast Club]]'', Bender to Vernon; "Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?"

* Esther from ''Film/[[Orphan]]'' gets this from a classmate about her old fashioned, frilly dress. "Oh, look. Little Bo Peep texted me. She wants her outfit back."

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==

* Subverted (but to make it funnier) in ''[[How I Met Your Mother (TV)|How I Met Your Mother]]''. Marshall wants to wear some really tacky pants they called "Joey Buttafuoco pants". Ted says, "[[Bel Biv Devoe]] called, ''even they'' don't want those pants back."

{{quote| '''Sonia Kruger:''' ''(about a wig)'' Willie Mason called. He says he wants his hair back.}}

{{quote| '''Spinner:''' OK, I guess it's Straight Eye for the Gay Guy. OK... this... Enrique called. He wants his shirt back.}}

{{quote| '''Josh Trager:''' Hilary Duff called and she wants her shirt back.}}

{{quote| '''Luke:''' Copernicus called; the universe doesn't revolve around you.<br />

{{quote| '''Andy:''' Oh, by the way, 1985 called. It wants its car back.<br />

'''Dwight:''' [[Back to Thethe Future (Filmfilm)|Well 1985 better have a time machine]] because I drive an '87. }}

* A variation in ''[[Seinfeld (TV)|Seinfeld]]'': "Hey, George! The ocean called, they're running out of shrimp." "Yeah, well, the jerk store called, they're running out of you!" "What's the difference? You're their all-time best seller."

* ''[[Scrubs (TV)|Scrubs]]'' had J.D. describe an elderly patient as a "neat old lady" and Turk tells him "the 1930s called, they want their lingo back." His repeated use of the trope in the conversation led to the page quote.

{{quote| '''Stephanie:''' Hey Kimmy, [[Sesame Street (TV)|Big Bird]] called. He wants his legs back.}}

{{quote| "[[Wonder Woman]] called, she wants her belt back."}}

* ''[[Friends (TV)|Friends]]''

{{quote| '''Chandler:''' Donald Trump wants his blue blazer black.<br />

'''Ross:''' What?<br />

{{quote| '''Paula:''' ''(to Jack Black)'' The [[School of Rock]] called, they want their diploma back...}}

* Kelso attempted this in the ''[[That '70s Show]]'' episode "Bye-Bye Basement". Fez walks in wearing a puffy shirt, and Kelso tries to make fun of him, but isn't very successful.

{{quote| '''Kelso:''' Hey, uh, puffy-shirt guy called, he wants his puffy shirt back.}}

* ''[[30 Rock (TV)|Thirty Rock]]''. Jack uses this line a ''lot'' on Liz.

{{quote| "Siegfried and Roy called, they want their relationship back."}}

{{quote| "[[The Flintstones|Fred Flintstone]] called, he wants his head back."}}

{{quote| Gino: "The 70s called, they want their [sweater] back!"<br />

{{quote| '''Castle''': "Well, how about just a lowkey evening with your girlfriends? You guys can have a John Hughes marathon and fill out a Cosmo quiz.<br />

{{quote| '''Grey Davis(answering the phone mid-sentence):''' "What's that? Okay, I'll tell him." (beat) "That was Skeletor. He wants your wife's face back."}}

* The first image caption from the top down on the TF Wiki article for [[Transformers Cybertron|Crumplezone]] actually reads, "[[He -Man and Thethe Masters of Thethe Universe|Trap-Jaw]] called, he wants his head back."<br />Also, the first image caption from the top fown for the TF Wiki article for [[Transformers Animated|Bulkhead]] actually reads, "Crumplezone called, he wants his head back."

* The ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' analysis blog ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20180324184235/http://tardiseruditorum.blogspot.co.uk/ TARDIS Eruditorum: A Psychochronography In Blue]'' has a photo caption for ''[[K -9 and Company]]'' reading "The 1980s called. They said you can keep their bloody title card."

== Pro[[Professional Wrestling]] ==

{{quote| '''Edge:''' 1998 called, they're sick and tired of you, so feel free to join us in the year 2001 at any time.}}

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[Xkcd (Webcomic)|Xkcdxkcd]]'' [http://xkcd.com/875/ confronts this trope] with [[Fridge Logic]].

* ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]]'', [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0327.html strip #327]:

{{quote| '''Vaarsuvius:''' [[Cutting the Knot|Gordium called]] -- they have a knot that you may want to take a look at.}}

* ''[[Sinfest (Webcomic)|Sinfest]]'' received [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20140209170825/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=1823 a call] too.

{{quote| "Todd McFarlane called. [[Spawn]] wants his cape back."}}

{{quote| "''[[Final Fantasy IX (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IX]]'' called, they want [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|their unexpected final boss]] back."}}

* Related, [http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/finalfantasy/ff4/ff4-1.htm Hardcore Gaming], talking about [[Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|Zeromus]] (the original [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|unexpected final boss]]): "[[Phantasy Star]] called; it wants its critter back."

* A variation occurs in the video where [[The Nostalgia Critic (Web Video)|The Nostalgia Critic]] and [[The Angry Video Game Nerd (Web Video)|The Angry Video Game Nerd]] reviewed ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]: The Making of the Coming Out of Our Shells Tour''.

{{quote| '''Nostalgia Critic:''' Hey, [[MC Hammer]] called. He's being outsucked.}}

** From ''[[Atop the Fourth Wall (Web Video)|Atop the Fourth Wall]]'', while Linkara is on the phone with [[The Cinema Snob (Web Video)|The Cinema Snob]].

{{quote| '''Linkara:''' Oh, and by the way, George Clooney in Ocean's 11 called, he wants his fashion sense back}}

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* Hilariously subverted in ''[[The Venture Brothers (Animation)|The Venture Bros]]'' episode "The Invisible Hand of Fate":

{{quote| '''Shoreleave:''' Waylon Flowers called, he wants his madam back. Boom!<br />

'''Hunter Gathers:''' Oh yeah? Well [[The Village People]] called, '''AND THEY WANT YOU TO GO FUCKING KILL YOURSELVES YOU PRANCEY BASTARDS!''' }}

* ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]''. Said to Marge, commenting on her hairdo:

{{quote| '''Lisa:''' Buckingham Palace called. They want their hat back.}}

* Subverted in ''[[American Dad (Animation)|American Dad]]'':

{{quote| '''Stan:''' Steve, a homosexual giant called, he wants his shirt back.<br />

''[[Literal Metaphor|(phone rings)]]''<br />

* MTV's CGI ''[[Spider -Man: theThe New Animated Series]]'' had this in "The Party", as Harry is drinking a martini.

{{quote| '''Peter:''' Harry, [[James Bond|Double Oh Seven]] called, he wants his life back.}}

* In ''[[Regular Show (Animation)|Regular Show]]'', using this phrase will literally send Y back to X. The whole plot of the episode was that Mordecai and Rigby, the lead characters, have cell phones from the 1980's. When they get a call that says, "The 80's called, they want their cell phones back!", since the two were holding the phone, they went back to the 80's. This was hilariously used at the end of the episode, where the two call their boss and (since they now know it's possible,) send the recliner he's sitting in back to the 1970's.

* Played with in ''[[Archer (Animation)|Archer]]'':

{{quote| ''"Hi, it's the 1930s. Can we have our words, clothes, and shitty airplane back?...Call you back, 1930s! And hey, watch out for that Adolf Hitler. He's a bad egg!"''}}