What’s actually a good/tolerable example of retconning?

Submitted by unitedfan6191 t3_10ok70s in television

Hey.

I cannot quite think of any off the top of my head that are universally loved and a lot of shows have done them but most of the time it seems to be done messily but isn’t universe-breaking, but other times it kinda betrays the story that’s been told and sabotages some important character development.

Sometimes it’s just poor writing and other times a show is rebooted years later and the writers have to make the best of a bad situation and the characters are beloved enough that it is generally tolerated by the fans - Will & Grace probably a decent example of this, even though I personally didn’t like it, but I could accept it.

What are great examples of this actually being done relatively well?

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tylergetsmeajob t1_j6f5mp3 wrote

"You seemed smarter than me when I met you" - Jeff Winger to Britta Perry (Community)

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PsychologYouth01 t1_j6fs1uh wrote

Wait, context for this? Been a while since I've seen it.

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Chilis1 t1_j6fxnn2 wrote

Britta slowly changed from the serious/straight character to a silly/funny one and Jeff throws that line at her at some stage.

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Rubbersoulrevolver t1_j6g2ddd wrote

Britta was a holier-than-thou brainiac liberal kinda character in Season 1 and the later seasons she turned into a dumbfuck

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Stuckinthevortex t1_j6ff12e wrote

Fraiser being an only child in Cheers, a show without Niles would have been far, far worse

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Cocaine_Turkey t1_j6fp1o9 wrote

He also claimed his father was dead, which was retconned into him saying that because they were estranged at the time

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AmIFromA t1_j6h6a93 wrote

So it was true, from a certain point of view.

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nutsotic t1_j6fhy3b wrote

Well, we are definitely going to find out

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unitedfan6191 OP t1_j6fjhk8 wrote

Did he ever actually ever say he’s an only child or is it just that Niles was never mentioned? I cannot remember. I know Martin was dead and was a scientist I think and not a cop prior to the show Frasier.

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ascagnel____ t1_j6g5t50 wrote

They say it, and it’s brought up on the spin-off when Ted Danson’s character has a cameo.

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unitedfan6191 OP t1_j6gp8xd wrote

No, I meant do they mention Frasier having no brother in a Cheers episode? If it was mentioned in one episode in an offhand way, then that may explain why I cannot remember if Frasier mentioned having a brother.

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billythepub t1_j6gw88o wrote

All long running showd are subject to plotholes though or inconsistencies. In season 1 cheers Diane talked about her father in the present and later in the season we find out he's been dead for years.

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Darmok47 t1_j6h0y5n wrote

They recommend more than that. His mother shows up on Cheers and she's nothing like the woman they talk about in Frasier. She's a lot meaner, for one.

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sedeyus t1_j6ftcib wrote

The Sopranos. Tony is already the boss in The Pilot, while the next episode introduces Jackie as the Boss and Tony is just a capo.

David Chase said he didn't think the show was going to get picked up and basically was planning to take what footage he'd had and make a movie out of it.

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sbrockLee t1_j6i91mf wrote

Do they really go into that in the pilot or is it more like a throwaway line? I can't remember.

Also wild to imagine a world where the freakin' Sopranos never gets made.

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Scampipants t1_j6jrx05 wrote

Kind of throwaway. "You may run North Jersey but you don't run your Uncle (Junior)" Something like that

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OrangeSundays19 t1_j6g0g6e wrote

Landry kills a guy in Friday Night Lights and they basically erase it from everybody's memory. It was a stupid idea to begin with and the show is a lot better for it.

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ascagnel____ t1_j6g6lg9 wrote

Bobby kills a guy on Twin Peaks. It’s mentioned once in the show and never mentioned again.

Strangely, the movie includes that scene.

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05110909 t1_j6gn33u wrote

Season 3 was basically a soft reboot of the show. The writers all decided to just give up on the season 2 storylines and start over.

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muad_dibs t1_j6ji5zp wrote

Writer’s Strike messed up a lot the show’s plots. Like Buddy taking in that kid who played TE.

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05110909 t1_j6jo28n wrote

All the bad parts of season 2 were written before the strike

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tinoynk t1_j6fiobu wrote

Clearly it’s in Seinfeld when Kramer’s stance on bathing changes between swearing by cold showers, then only taking baths, and then with normal shower habits outside of the addition of a food disposal.

Very dramatic and consequential with seamlessly integrated changes.

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ShirtPants10 t1_j6g8zof wrote

What about kramer in the pilot not having left the building in a decade? Next thing i know he's hitting hole in ones into blowholes

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Coolman_Rosso t1_j6j8jo7 wrote

Or him subleasing his apartment from Paul Reiser's character in Mad About You?

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SuperCreeper69 t1_j6fzboq wrote

If he kept that extreme pressure shower head he bought on the black market he doesn’t have normal shower habits. That thing was from the circus, it was designed for elephants.

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TheElusiveFox t1_j6fzncq wrote

You don't change your lo-flo shower head with a sand blaster when you move into a new apartment?

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Cocaine_Turkey t1_j6fph77 wrote

Erasing the pregnancies (and Bud's Grandmaster B character) in Married...with children. It was actually done as a curtesy to Katey Segal, who suffered a miscarriage during filming.

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bhind45 t1_j6gtie7 wrote

When I glanced Married with Children, I thought you were going to mention them retconning them adopting the kid named 7.

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bttrflyr t1_j6j6ep6 wrote

And Seven when he just disappeared lol

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Sonyguyus t1_j6kf4yz wrote

Just like that kid from the Brady bunch. He was a cousin or something. Cousin Oliver I think

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[deleted] t1_j6g3iqq wrote

[removed]

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PAUMiklo t1_j6g658k wrote

she also had an older sister that midge makes reference to having already gone off to college.

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adjason t1_j6h3d05 wrote

Tolkien Black

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MrZFisher t1_j6h646i wrote

This must be what they mean by the Tolkien black character..

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Wazzoo1 t1_j6l5n5l wrote

The best part was that even Cartman was in on it. I forget the exact line, but he's, like, "what did you think it was?"

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res30stupid t1_j6fsl6a wrote

In Breaking Bad, Tyrus Kitt was stated to be a new hire for Gus' group who was assigned to monitor Walt after Victor's death. This made it seem like he was rather green to Gus' organisation.

This was changed in Better Call Saul, where it's revealed that he was working for Gus for years and was good friends with Victor. This changed the dynamic in the original show, where his frosty attitude towards Walt and Jesse is now due to his suspecting they had something to do with his death and blaming them for it.

Also in Breaking Bad, Saul's legal degree says he graduated from University of American Samoa in 1984, while in Better Call Saul, it's stated that Jimmy only became a lawyer relatively recently in the era where cellphones were already rather common. This would meant that the earlier degree is definitely fake... helped by the fact that you need to be a legal resident of American Samoa in order to be admitted to that university.

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koreth t1_j6fxch4 wrote

Not sure if this counts, but Stargate SG-1 retconned a bunch of elements from the original movie to good effect.

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grandmofftalkin t1_j6i1z7o wrote

Making O'Neill a wisecracker was a good retcon. They explained in show that he was dealing with grief over his son. I always felt like the one thing that would've elevated Stargate the movie would have been a funnier Kurt Russell performance, like his Big Trouble or Tango and Cash roles

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CloudZ1116 t1_j6ltz3e wrote

I honestly don't consider that a retcon, since we already got glimpses of O'Neil's true personality ("Give my regards to King Tut asshole!") in the film. At the start of the film he was suicidal due to what happened with his son (making him the perfect candidate to lead the expedition), but by the end he's come to terms with it and decided to go on living, paving the way for Richard Dean Anderson's subsequent portrayal in the show.

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oriboaz t1_j6glwlg wrote

  1. The introduction of Dawn in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” was excellent.
  2. The replacement of the actor of Greg in “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” was very well done (including multiple in-show references to the character being a different actor).
  3. The series “Roseanne” had two different actresses for Becky. In the revival/The Conners, the first actress played Becky, but they had a nice storyline with the other Becky as well.
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badgersprite t1_j6h0r0c wrote

Does it count as a retcon when it’s literally a plot point that she didn’t exist until season 5?

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unitedfan6191 OP t1_j6gotuh wrote

I didn’t initially like the introduction of Dawn because it made no sense as it happened, but then that season ended up being so engrossing and felt like a return to form for the show I’ve always been a big fan of.

Honestly, I think there was a more sloppy retcon that screwed a little with continuity from the show, though.

You think you can fool me?! You were my sire, man! You were my... Yoda!

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Uncle_Joey t1_j6ho72s wrote

Karate Kid 3 Terry Silver is an OVER the top cackling 80s villain. 30 years later in Cobra Kai, “I was so high on cocaine and revenge”.

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ArchDucky t1_j6ij9hm wrote

I legit laughed so hard during that scene I had to pause the show and rewind it.

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HPmoni t1_j6g3ids wrote

The Simpsons did the right thing by never addressing the fake Skinner plotline.

Breaking Bad addressed why the pizza was not precut.

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unitedfan6191 OP t1_j6gq18q wrote

I haven’t seen The Simpsons since like season 30 I think but I believe Lisa did mention Armin Tamzarian once in an episode in the mid-teens I think.

Lisa: But to save money on a new dish, we'll just call you Snowball ll and pretend this whole thing never happened.

Skinner: That's really a cheat, isn't it?

Lisa: I guess you're right, Principal Tamzarian.

Skinner: I'll just be moving along,

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[deleted] t1_j6gs24n wrote

[deleted]

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DMonitor t1_j6hca3l wrote

> Seymour walks by

i hate these kinds of jokes on the shows with huge character rosters. just have characters materialize for a single joke at their expense rather than spend any amount of time setting up the bit.

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Indigocell t1_j6jc3g1 wrote

Did you want a B plot about Skinner going on his evening walks?

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DMonitor t1_j6jhous wrote

no, but you can just include him in the plot somehow or just not have the joke there. characters appearing for a single joke just contributes to flanderization.

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bhind45 t1_j6gtlz1 wrote

>The Simpsons did the right thing by never addressing the fake Skinner plotline.

Isn't the episode parodying this though? I recall a scene at the end where someone says none of this will ever be mentioned again.

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awh t1_j6h1358 wrote

> Breaking Bad addressed why the pizza was not precut.

They did? Where was that?

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Perfect_Ad_505 t1_j6h1lk9 wrote

Don’t remember the episode but Jesse orders a pizza to his party in S4 I think and Badger says it’s a hipster ‘thing’ that they make you cut your own pizza.

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tinoynk t1_j6hsrex wrote

Not a hipster thing, it's so "they pass the savings on to you."

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drogyn1701 t1_j6gwfyi wrote

The opening scene of the film Serenity retcons how Simon got his sister out of government custody. It doesn't line up at all with his explanation in the Firefly pilot. I don't mind though, it's an exciting scene and you can handwave it away by saying his original explanation was just a very, very loose summary.

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jsteph67 t1_j6hk5r1 wrote

Well and the fact Simon could have been lying. That way the team would not expect him to go out on robberies as much.

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twbrn t1_j6js5xu wrote

> It doesn't line up at all with his explanation in the Firefly pilot.

It also doesn't line up with his downplaying of River's mental talents, when he's been expressly told by the project head that she was a psychic. But it makes perfect sense if you consider he's trying to cover that fact up, along with the lengths that he went to to break her out.

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stopmakingsents t1_j6gg0tp wrote

Jack Donaghy had several siblings in season one of 30 Rock (one of them played by Nathan Lane, no less) but this was pretty quickly retconned. This was maybe the most significant retool of the show as a whole because it allowed them to establish and solidify the dynamic between Jack and Colleen.

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trimonkeys t1_j6gu4qg wrote

I think Jack references them off hand a few times but they never appear again.

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throwawayamasub t1_j6glzvr wrote

how did they retcon the siblings I don't remember. I do remember never seeing them again

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PerfectZeong t1_j6idncu wrote

They just never engage the idea again and all references are jack as an only child like in flash backs etc. They never out an out say he's an only child but that more or less becomes the dynamic.

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Anon_user666 t1_j6go1z6 wrote

I wish, wish, wish I was posting about the new Quantum Leap retconning that Sam leapt into the body of a NCIS agent in New Orleans and saved the city multiple times.

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bhind45 t1_j6gtw5j wrote

I'm still disappointed New Orleans didn't finish with Pride leaping

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grahamnortonsdad t1_j6hia5j wrote

Charlie from Always Sunny had a sister in the first season that was never mentioned again.

Definitely an improvement as it would potentially ruin his relationship with his Mother and Uncle Jack

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ArchDucky t1_j6ijgnw wrote

They guys have addressed a few of those on the podcast. I think it was Rob that said "well... we didn't have a Meg back then." or something like that.

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NuPNua t1_j6mw4r7 wrote

Don't both Jerry and George mention siblings in Seinfeld that are never seen or heard about again too?

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Kalse1229 t1_j6gtw2e wrote

Sort of a retcon, but I argue that the entirety of the Clone Wars animated series makes the Star Wars prequels retroactively better. Hell, most of what people like about that era of Star Wars is in large due to the Clone Wars.

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nomorepartiezz t1_j6jbmz1 wrote

i grew up on revenge of the sith and the clone wars so whenever i think of star wars the first thing i think of are clone troopers, battle droids, jedi generals, badass heroic anakin, etc. still my favorite era at age 22

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Delicious-Tachyons t1_j6m6131 wrote

i love that due to our age differences we get an entire different rich backstory for Star Wars in our heads.

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DMonitor t1_j6hchmc wrote

yeah, because it’s a huge tv show that they watched when they were kids. of course that’s what they’d associate with Star Wars

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grandmofftalkin t1_j6i2yyf wrote

I'm trying to think of something the show actually retconned from the prequels. I think it just did a great job filling in the gaps between movies, better contextualizing the impact of major events.

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GamingTatertot t1_j6ifkfq wrote

Pretty famous fun fact, but I do love that the Clone Wars does gymnastics around Anakin meeting Grievous all for the sake of one line in Revenge of the Sith

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PerfectZeong t1_j6ie07m wrote

A lot happened in 2 years. I feel like the clone wars should have gone on for like a decade but that wasnt an option for when they made the show.

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DMPunk t1_j6mrr07 wrote

If anything, it makes the prequels worse by really shining a light on how badly Lucas fucked up

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Kalse1229 t1_j6nniu7 wrote

I mean, perhaps. Although maybe it was more Lucas realizing he was best left as overseer, and allowed folks like Dave Filoni to assist in the minutiae of storytelling.

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CharlieAllnut t1_j6fcclv wrote

Twin Peaks did a great job of reconning. Specifically Mark Frost. David Lynch would film some crazy abstract scenes and Frost would work backwards and explain them. (Bob, Judy, the Red Room...)

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Mattyzooks t1_j6gfm8t wrote

Twin Peaks: The Return had some aggressive retcons. They are generally were fine though imo.

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Dear-Attempt-2182 t1_j6gy6zi wrote

Succession actually changes a decent amount over the first season, as they hone in on a show about the adult children vying for a kiss from daddy. Some of it is just downplayed until eventually written out, like the old media vs new media angle of Kendall going all-in on a blog.

But they also eliminate like half of the family, with varying levels of abruptness. Greg's mom, played by Reno 911's Mary Birdsong, disappears after the pilot. Roman's first girlfriend was originally credited in the pilot as his wife, and there was a daughter never seen again; they break up a few eps later. I think Connor's also implied to be married? Marcia's son gets a promotion to Europe in a dramatic reveal, then is never heard from again. Kendall's kids become only talked about, and then essentially forgotten. (Interestingly, most of these result in the generation of the Roy family younger than the main characters basically being eliminated.)

Edit: Also, they bring it back for the 'cat under the chair' episode, but it does feel like the show became uninterested in Logan's dementia after season 1, as the story demanded the character be more consistently cunning and ruthless.

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HenroTee t1_j6i3upz wrote

Been a while since I have seen the first two seasons, but some points I don't agree. Like Kendall's children do come back as a story point as he really wants to find their gift at his birthday. They don't appear on screen most probably due to aging.

As for Logan's "dementia". The story makes it unclear whether he is mentally declining or not. The entire setup of the show leans on the old man getting too old. And the inconsistent signs makes it a tougher argument for the family to lean on.

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PerfectZeong t1_j6iee35 wrote

Yeah part of the entire thrust of the show is the kids thinking they can take the old man down while he's weak and then oops Logan ain't that down.

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Dear-Attempt-2182 t1_j6jb0fd wrote

I also have totally believed ageing was the reason Kendall's kids aren't on screen, but they're still mostly invoked in the most recent season in a "you never see them and don't care about them" way. It's not really a retcon but I thought it was interesting that they were kinda lumped into the show phasing out anyone younger than the main characters (some of them definitely as retcons). You'd think there'd be something to explore about the adult kids, constantly questioning their loyalty to Logan, having their own heirs to worry about or fear.

Generally I don't think what I said about Logan's dementia was wrong. It's the catalyst for the start of the series, and the first season plays with to what degree it's a real concern, but once he announces he's staying on and the show shifts to merger storylines, or Shiv and Roman getting moments in the sun, (outside the 'cat under the chair' episode) Logan's not pissing on carpets anymore or making business moves that seem less than calculated.

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pheldegression t1_j6h4qqp wrote

Wolverine getting his adamantium skeleton/backstory.

Edit to add: I am not a comic book guy, but it is my understanding that the whole weapon x experiments are actually a retcon of Wolverine's original story, and so well done and compelling that it seems like it's always been

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Ionlypostwhenstoned0 t1_j6hg8h5 wrote

From memory he originally had the claws on the gloves, they weren’t in him, when he faced the Hulk.

Then it was that Alpha Flight found him in the snow and his bones and claws were unbreakable metal. He had no memory of who he was.

Then the Weapon X Program was hinted at more and more in X-Men and then finally fully explained in the Weapon X story by Claremont and Windsor-Smith.

Then it was added to and altered with new characters being added to the origin and Weapon X.

Until finally they came out with the bone claws thing where he wasn’t “Logan” but “James Howlett” and the adamantium was added to existing claws rather than pure adamantium.

And now who knows where it’s at. Guy definitely gets fucked around a lot though.

I could be wrong about some of this…happy to stand corrected.

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MonolithJones t1_j6i8pl9 wrote

The claws were meant to be part of his gloves, that’s correct, but it wasn’t mentioned in the comics so it’s not something that needed to be retconned. I think the claws were shown to be a part of him within a year of being introduced.

And another minor thing-BWS wrote and drew Weapon X, Claremont had no involvement.

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PerfectZeong t1_j6ifdlv wrote

Yeah theres a scene early in Claremont x men where Storm is shocked to find out the claws were in Logan's hands and that was the first time it was made explicit that the claws are in his body.

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muad_dibs t1_j6jkl5a wrote

The bone claws came way before Origins came out. Magneto ripped the adamantium off his bones and that’s when people found out they were his claws. I remember before reading it, they wanted to do the story in the comics before the movies made up their own origin story about him.

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dem0nhunter t1_j6hhtk1 wrote

>whole weapon x experiments are actually a retcon of Wolverine's original story

I don't think so

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bttrflyr t1_j6j6kj7 wrote

Season 10/ reboot of Roseanne/ The Conners completely retconning all of season 9 in the first episode was solid.

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NotARandomNumber t1_j6gc33r wrote

Stargate SG-1 massively retconned the movie to make it fit a series.

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Delicious-Tachyons t1_j6iujxr wrote

yeah the movie was basically ... the stargate went to one planet in a distant galaxy(!), that was it. The alien had been just sorta chilling out there for several thousand years for no particular raisin.

The TV show was a massive improvement even if visually it didn't have the money to out-cinematic the movie

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JubalHarshaw23 t1_j6k9p99 wrote

It never would have made any sense to have all of those symbols on the gate if it was only going to one place.

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Delicious-Tachyons t1_j6kcqh3 wrote

well if it was a combination lock maybe. Maybe it was originally set up to obliterate people if they got it wrong?

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ihedenius t1_j6fopmn wrote

Buffy retconned so hard, still it worked.

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IgnoreMe733 t1_j6hooul wrote

What did Buffy retcon? I've only watched it one time through, so I don't recall a reason happening.

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ihedenius t1_j6hud7j wrote

Watchers Council. It felt like every new season tons of new things appeared.

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IgnoreMe733 t1_j6hw00p wrote

Is this a retcon, or adding more lore? I'm genuinely curious as I have no recollection.

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moaningsalmon t1_j6jlrin wrote

Did they though? Retconning isn't the same as just adding more backstory. I'm a big fan of the Buffy and Angel series and I can't think of any glaring problems.

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Delicious-Tachyons t1_j6its2f wrote

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine changed everything about the "Trill" species in order to make for better TV.

When introduced on Star Trek: The Next Generation, they were your standard bump-on-forehead alien (kinda very ugly look). They couldn't use the transporters or it would kill the symbiont, and the symbiont completely subsumed the host's personality, as if the host was just a shell for the symbiont to inhabit. In addition, noone outside of their people knew they were a 'joined' species as they apparently weren't part of the Federation but just some aliens.

For DS9 my guess is the makeup didn't look good on the gorgeous Terry Farrell and having no transporters would have severely limited what kinds of scenes her character could participate in. They also retconned them to have been not only in the Federation but in Starfleet.

This led to a much more interesting character and backstory for Dax.

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stubbywoods t1_j6hwqv3 wrote

I don't know if its a genuine retcon but the difference in Cpt Pike from the original pilot where he was kind of an out of touch guy getting used to changes in Starfleet to what's essentially the perfect execution of the boy scout trope is great.

Characters like Pike, Cpt America and Superman when done well are so good because I find characters maintaining their moral code in difficult times way more interesting than the flawed anti heroes that have been popular the last few decades.

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grandmofftalkin t1_j6i5w0t wrote

The new Star Trek series has a bunch of silly retcons (Burnham is Spock's sister, Picard and Data were best friends, etc.) but the best ones are from Strange New Worlds, in particular Pike being shown his future and aware that he'll someday be horribly injured in an accident.

The other was giving Spock and T'Pring a full romantic relationship. In TOS, she was Spock's wife and the crew had no idea but on SNW it's a public long distance relationship and it adds a lot to the series.

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Delicious-Tachyons t1_j6iuvuq wrote

> Picard and Data were best friends,

no no the show Picard said that Picard loved Data in a soulmate kinda way.

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grandmofftalkin t1_j6ixw5h wrote

Right and TNG both the series and movies never showed a relationship with the two of them beyond captain/crewman. Data had a stronger friendship with Geordi, Troi and Worf

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Delicious-Tachyons t1_j6j0cgr wrote

Yeah well Picard was only ever close to Crusher ... he's the captain. Everyone else was at arm's length.

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twbrn t1_j6jt8mr wrote

> Right and TNG both the series and movies never showed a relationship with the two of them beyond captain/crewman.

I wouldn't agree with that. Data routinely went to Picard for a lot of things. Picard's the man who was teaching him humanity through acting. The man who stood between Data and Starfleet first when they wanted to experiment on Data, then when they wanted to experiment on his daughter. Data was more than anyone else responsible for saving Picard from the Borg. And Data sacrificed himself to save Picard's life.

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grandmofftalkin t1_j6jzlog wrote

Yes but how many times did Picard confide in Data? He mostly confided in Troi, Beverly and Riker. So it was bizarre to me for him in the Picard finale to be like "I've never gotten over your loss my dearest friend"

A stronger way to hang that plot point would've been for Picard to be like "As your captain I've helped shepherd you on your journey to be more human, there's not a more human experience than death I'll be here for you." But they retconned a closeness these two characters never mutually shared on screen before

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DMPunk t1_j6mrwbj wrote

On the flip side, the Gorn retcons are just really dumb and unnecessary

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nomorepartiezz t1_j6jbayd wrote

in the pilot of Succession Roman clearly has a wife and kids but they’re never seen again and i think are retconned as his ex girlfriend and her kids

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Sonyguyus t1_j6kfb7b wrote

I don’t know if this is a example but whatever happened to Laura’s little sister on “Family Matters?” She just up and disappeared and no one said anything and then the little boy was introduced

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MeatMeAfterClass t1_j6klkdt wrote

The way that the Watchmen series (taking place after the written works) retconned the identity of Hooded Justice (from the source material) was really clever. As a Watchmen fan, I thought that the payoff was tremendous.

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NuPNua t1_j6mwlbm wrote

That wasn't really a retcon it was more filling in information we didn't have.

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MeatMeAfterClass t1_j6myc1r wrote

Hooded Justice was portrayed as a white man in the source material (at least heavily implied without any indication that it was a diversion). I’d file it under retroactive continuity.

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rpgriffs t1_j6le4wg wrote

Look it's me, I'm here. Deal with it. let's move on.

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Reddoughnut t1_j6ltv9x wrote

King of the hill Last episode they said a lot of events were a dream like the stealing tank incident

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Yotsubauniverse t1_j6lyhwk wrote

Calling season 4 of Community a gas leak season.

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NuPNua t1_j6mws6r wrote

Series 3 of Red Dwarf retconning the end of series 2 with a ultra fast Star Wars style scrawl then launching into its peak era Series 3-6.

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highmodulus t1_j6ovla7 wrote

the prototype: Chuck Cunningham added nothing to Happy Days, went upstairs one day and was never seen again, and then was retconned out of existence entirely.

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vibroguy t1_j6h5go4 wrote

the Superman reboot in 86

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[deleted] t1_j6iysry wrote

[deleted]

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Tradman86 t1_j6l70u2 wrote

There was no retconning there. Just a good sequel doing what good sequels do.

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[deleted] t1_j6fa1lv wrote

[deleted]

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unitedfan6191 OP t1_j6fcq8x wrote

I have one for you that may or may not count as retconning.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Seinfeld, but it’s said that Kramer at the start of the show hasn’t left the building in years, yet that is never really a thing as the next season progresses. It actually completely ignores this revelation about him pretty quickly and he’s like a completely different guy soon after this and you’d never think he was this recluse who never left his apartment for years.

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squished_hedgehog t1_j6fcc3a wrote

"No. I am your father."

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WrongKindaGrowth t1_j6fkwqs wrote

That's not what a retconn is

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Petrichor02 t1_j6fr0sj wrote

A retcon is any retroactive continuity regardless of whether it contradicts information that came before or not. If new information is treated as having always been true, it’s technically a retcon.

Though technically the Vader thing is kind of a retcon that contradicts previous information since the previous movie said Anakin was killed by Vader. (This is especially the case with that example since it wasn’t Lucas’s original plan for Vader to be Anakin.)

However OP is presumably asking about TV retcons, so it wouldn’t count on those grounds.

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GuyKopski t1_j6fyyob wrote

That's what makes a good retcon. Obi-Wan's dialogue about Anakin and Vader in ANH was meant to be true when it was written, but it still works with the post-Empire story because it makes complete sense that Obi-Wan would want to hide the truth of Luke's heritage from him. Even the way it's acted fits perfectly, with Alec Guiness visibly hesitating before telling the lie. It's so smooth that it's completely believable that it was always the original intention, even though it wasn't.

Where retcons become problematic is when you just have to straight up ignore details that don't fit the later version because they don't make sense anymore.

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RSquared t1_j6gecd9 wrote

"It was true, from a certain point of view." No, it fucking wasn't; Obi-wan just still had his blind spots regarding his apprentice. The Jedi are far more interesting when you see that they fail at their own Code repeatedly.

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PerfectZeong t1_j6ig04x wrote

But it was true, from a certain point of view. The man who was his friend and brother is gone and he doesn't believe he can ever return.

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Rubbersoulrevolver t1_j6g2tgo wrote

That doesn't seem to be true. From wikipedia: " Lucas has said that he knew Vader was Luke's father while writing the first film,[23]"

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orangemaroon25 t1_j6g5jyn wrote

Lucas was lying when he said that then, because he wasn't even the writer who came up with it.

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