Recycled in Space



"Hell, it's just another horse opera except they ride in a spaceship instead of a nag."

- Gene Roddenberry's pitch for Star Trek

Stories are often recycled from other shows, with the setting changed with just enough of a gimmick to make it look different. The characters will have the same character types, sometimes even the same voice actors. Sometimes these will be direct spinoffs, with the same characters with one major time or setting change. Later varieties included " AS KIDS !"

Putting the series into space, though, is the big one.

See also Animated Adaptation, Gender Flip, Whole-Plot Reference, Recycled: the Series, Setting Update, X Meets Y, This Is Your Premise on Drugs, and Better by a Different Name. See also Space X for what this trope first sounds like.

Note: Please make sure you understand what this trope means before posting examples. It does not refer to a normal sequel, a remake, an adaptation, or to something that is simply like something else in the same genre.

Some common things to avoid.
 * This trope is not literal. Just because you can define something as "in space" doesn't mean it counts. It still needs to be recycled from an older idea. Even if it has "In Space" in the title. Zap in Space, for example, was removed, because there's no Zap NOT-in-Space.
 * A game or story following (or if you want to get negative, "stealing") the tropes or concepts laid down by earlier games/stories is Follow the Leader, not this. Most platformers are not "Mario " (except perhaps Super Mario Galaxy) and most fighting anime are not "Dragonball Z In Space" (mostly because they get off Earth fairly quick by the series's standard).
 * If an idea seems to be ripping off another idea, it's Better by a Different Name. It needs to be blatant in its advertising that it is a copy for it to count. You could argue that "Eragon was better when it was called Star Wars" but since nothing ever advertises the similarities, it doesn't count as this.
 * If an idea seems to be crossing two different ideas it's X Meets Y.
 * If an idea seems to be stealing the plot/premise/pitch of another idea, but the characters and setting are different, it's Whole-Plot Reference.
 * If the story has just been moved into modern time, but is otherwise more or less the same it's Setting Update
 * If the "gimmick" is more than 6 words long or includes the word 'and', think hard before adding it. It might still count, but it might be too stretched to fit.


 * Animated Film
 * Anime And Manga
 * Comic Books
 * Literature
 * Live Action Film
 * Live Action TV
 * Tabletop Games
 * Theater
 * Video Games
 * Western Animation
 * Other Media