Improved Second Attempt - TV Tropes

"This is the only time in the entire series where the creators just threw an entire Social Link in the trash and started over when making their updated re-release. All the scenes from the OG Link are still in Royal [...] but the fact that the game isn't trying to pretend these scenes are furthering your bond with Akechi makes A WORLD of difference."

• Ace Attorney (2016):
  • Justice for All's third case, "Turnabout Big Top", is considered to be one of the worst cases in the series, with the reasons for this including some rather poor characterizations of the case's cast, as well as the culprit being Unintentionally Unsympathetic. The anime's adaptation of the case is often seen as a significant improvement, adjusting and expanding upon the characterizations of the cast to flesh them out and adjusting the culprit's motives to make them far more sympathetic, as well as adding some fun new scenes the game wasn't able to have due to its visual novel format (such as the circus troupe's reenactment of Russell Berry's death in the courthouse).
  • The anime's version of Trials and Tribulations' third case, "Recipe for Turnabout", addresses a commonly criticized plot hole of the game's version of the case, that being why Furio Tigre didn't just Confess to a Lesser Crime of impersonating Phoenix at the first trial to explain how he knew what bottle the potassium cyanide he used to commit the murder was in. In the anime, Tigre actually does attempt this, to which Phoenix is able to shut him down by pointing out that the only reason Tigre would have had to do this was to frame Maggey for the murder.
• The anime adaptation of Angelic Layer is widely regarded as being better than the original manga due to the Adaptation Expansion giving the story more time for better Character Development and relationship development.
• In Danganronpa: The Animation, the one instance of the anime improving upon the game that many fans agree on is the third case. Things are rewritten and rearranged so that there's more of a mystery as to what's going on, the trial doesn't get bogged down arguing over the details of Hifumi Faking the Dead, and Celeste is far more competent and less obvious as a culprit.
• Digimon Data Squad: Previous series (with the exception of Digimon Tamers) received some flak for The Hero and The Lancer being the only ones able to reach Mega Level, which made the rest of the team be Overshadowed by Awesome. Not only does Data Squad have all the main quartet reach Mega Level, all of them also get access to Burst Mode, which was seen by many as an improvement and one of the better aspects of the season.
• Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel:
  • One common criticism of Shirou falling in love with Sakura was that it felt rather rushed in the original novel due to the time between his realizing his attraction to Sakura and falling so in love with her, that he's willing to throw his ideals away to protect her, is unbelievably short. It comes across less as Shirou awakening to a Childhood Friend Romance he just never noticed, but instead having a switch go off by the writers to make him fall for her. The films provide some major Adaptation Expansion that heavily focuses on their backstory in an effort to specifically avert this.
  • Byakuya Matou was portrayed in the novel as a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who pretended to care about Shinji only to cut all ties with him after he found out the truths about the family. The manga adaptation of Heaven's Feel shows Shinji's backstory from a neutral point of view (while in the novel it was told from Shinji's point of view); revealing that, while distant, Byakuya did care about Shinji at some point or at least wanted him to have a normal life away from magecraft.
• The original TV run of Gundam: Reconguista in G is generally held as a runner-up for the worst series in the Gundam universe with a very messy and nonsensical plot. The compilation movies on the other hand are generally seen as a massive improvement over the TV series by reworking some more bizarre plotlines that plagued the original while also giving the necessary expansion to others that were sorely lacking in information or impact. While they don't fix all the show's issues, they are generally seen as far more watchable and the ideal way to experience the show.
• The King of Fighters XII was almost universally received as an especially weak link of The King of Fighters series, with many writing it off as an Obvious Beta for its sequel. Its manhua adaptation, despite being exclusive to China and thus relatively obscure, is seen as a significant improvement, with praise being given to its larger cast of characters (especially when compared to the game's mere 22 — less than the very first game), its over-the-top plot to make up for the game having no plot at all, and especially its well-regarded fight scenes.
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2016): Thanks to Adaptation Expansion and having the advantage of hindsight (since it was released a near-decade after the game), the manga improves upon the game's story in several ways.
  • The Resistance — which was criticized by fans of the game for being underutilized — receives noticeably more screentime and prominence in the manga. Examples include Ashei helping Link in the Snowpeak Ruins and Shad accompanying Link to the City in the Sky (instead of the two staying behind like in the original game).
  • Ilia's infamous Never Live It Down moment from the beginning of the game, where she gets mad at Link due to thinking he pushed Epona too hard, is absent from the manga.
  • While Zant is still Hijacked by Ganon, Himekawa establishes Ganondorf early on by showing his banishment in the second volume rather than at the story's midpoint, and he generally receives more screen time. He also receives a much more compelling motive in his desire to finally end the Eternal Recurrence that condemns him to constantly lose in a never-ending cycle of conflict and rebirth to Link and Zelda as opposed to simply just conquering Hyrule for the umpteenth time.
• Miraculous Ladybug's 2021 manga adaptation:
  • The manga does not adapt its source material's Out of Order chronology, allowing plot and character development to immediately affect continuity instead of being reset at the end of the episode.
  • In the show, when Hawk Moth suspects Adrien of being Cat Noir, the plot point is brought up and resolved in a single episode completely unintentionally, with Adrien never even knowing his secret identity was at risk. In the manga, Marinette and Hawk Moth are both troubled by the thought for several chapters, and Plagg and Adrien both remark upon the threat if they're discovered. Although Marinette eventually concludes after several chapters of reflecting on their interactions that they can't be the same person because their personalities are so different, Hawk Moth continues to have his suspicions.
  • In the show, Cat Noir's flirting more often than not tends to annoy Ladybug. In the manga, he's more admirative of her and complimentary. Likewise, Marinette's inability to express her feelings to Adrien is instead rendered as her having a tendency to ramble, but she can communicate just fine with him and even objects when he uncharacteristically snaps at Nathaniel. As a result, the two are able to carry conversations not founded upon the two of them crushing on each other, making their interactions feel friendlier and their romance feel less forced.
• Pokémon Horizons: The Series: With Ash out of the picture, Horizons aimed to distinguish itself from its predecessors by addressing several of the glaring flaws of the prior series.
  • One of the biggest complaints about Journeys was the fact that, in spite of its "world travel" premise, it gave a very unequal focus to the 8 regions. A combination of the "home base" of the heroes being in Kanto and the show keeping its episodic nature meant that there were far more episodes in Kanto than in any other region since any episode where Ash and Goh didn't travel would take place in Kanto by default. This also caused Galar to be placed Out of Focus and, outside of Leon, a handful of Gym Leaders, and the Darkest Day storyline (which is shooed out within the first third), get little to no exploration, in spite of it being the Gen 8 anime. This series addresses those problems by giving the heroes a flying ship for a base and introducing a more linear story. Now the main characters spend several episodes in any given region before moving on to the next, and episodes that take place within the Brave Olivine don't favor any region. The series starts in Kanto too, but quickly moves to Paldea to give the new region representation, and after that it moves to Galar, which is allowed much more time to shine. The main character even catches a Hatenna for additional Gen 8 representation.
  • While Chloe's search for a goal was meant to be seen as sympathetic, many fans complained that having it last for the entirety of Journeys made it seem like she had no purpose in the series other than just existing as the designated Pokégirl, with her story arc rotating in and out with Ash and Goh's being seen as too disruptive to the pacing. While those complaints began to flare up again towards Liko when it seemed like Roy was growing more as a Trainer and a protagonist than her, Episode 20 reveals that this was intentional on the writers' part, with Kabu himself noticing this flaw and calling her out on being too passive and unambitious to be able to grow as a Trainer compared to Roy and that she needed to figure out a goal for herself, with Liko reflecting on these words at the end of the episode.
  • Chloe was later made into sort of a tritagonist for Journeys a fair bit of the way in, but many thought she still didn't appear enough, had barely any involvement in the main storyline, and she never really developed a dynamic with Ash. Horizons has a character that is kind of the tritagonist as well, but intently fixes all three issues: The character in question, Dot, appears frequently, helps Liko and Roy search for Rayquaza and has battled the Explorers, ensuring she has solid contributions to the story, and she quickly develops a dynamic and growing friendship with Liko where Liko helps her gradually go out of a shell while Liko comes to terms that Dot is actually her idol, the streamer Nidothing.
  • The previous series under Ash's tenure as a whole faced heavy criticism for its abundance of Filler episodes that contributed little to Ash, his companions, his Pokémon, or even Team Rocket's Character Development, especially since it produced largely unmemorable characters-of-the-week with a few exceptions here and there. Horizons has largely reduced, if not outright eliminated, filler stories in favor of episodes favoring development between its main cast, supporting cast, villains, and Pokémon alike, and what weekly guest characters they bring on wind up having a greater contribution to their growth (notably, Kabu is the one who convinces Liko she's being an Extreme Doormat at her own expense).
• Sailor Moon Cosmos:
  • A complaint about the original manga was that after Luna, Artemis and Diana were killed, they were never seen again with only a Shrug of God on if they were revived with everyone else. In the movie, when Usagi returns home, Luna is there with the Tsukinos, alive and well, which means that Artemis and Diana were no doubt also revived.
  • Carrie Keranen was considered a miscast as Sailor Galaxia back during Viz's dub of Sailor Stars, due to not sounding especially threatening. The dub of Cosmos boasts a much stronger voice direction that actually gives Keranen a chance to make Galaxia truly unhinged.

• Dark Knight III: The Master Race:
  • Superman shows intelligence, tactical strategy, might, and retires as a Humble Hero — the direct opposite of his portrayal in the series. Not only that, but it's revealed he had been holding back in all his previous fights against Batman, to the point Bruce himself admits he probably wouldn't have been able to defeat him had he fought at full strength.
  • Miller seems to have gotten his act together in the art department as the backup stories titled "Dark Knight Universe Presents" has artwork by the man that are infinitely better than what we've seen of him recently. Even if it's not Frank but the efforts of the colorist and some clean-up intern, it's still this trope in play.
  • The Last Crusade one shot, a prequel that occurs just before Jason Todd's last days as Robin was likewise very well received.
• The comic adaptation of The Last Jedi does things like attempting to explain Luke's mindset better, having Holdo immediately tell Poe she has a plan and needs his support rather than antagonizing him for no reason, and showing Admiral Ackbar's final moments rather than killing him offscreen.

• Iron117Prime is known for his amazing crossovers, and while it's agreed that all his stories are good, it's clear that he became more skilled and improved his story plot planning in his newer stories by improving story elements from his old stories.
  • Code Prime: The fic borrows elements from Worlds Collide (TMNT) and improves on them here.
    • Worlds Collide notoriously kills off the rest of the supporting antagonists from ATLA as soon as the Foot Clan takes hold of the narrative, effectively diminishing the antagonistic drive of the ATLA universe in the story and shifting it towards the TMNT world. The only ones still in by that time are Azula and Hama, though it's now the Foot's show. Code Prime, while it does kill off some minor villains, manages to keep more major villains from Code Geass alive and still gives them some plans to do in the second cour even after the Decepticons take over. And even if many of the CG antagonists are already dead, the significant damage done by the heroes force the Decepticons to take the route pursued by the minor universe: unleashing Neo Ragnarok. This means that while the newer villains take over the story, the old villains still have some fight left in them.
    • Worlds Collide sets the ATLA universe after the events of Book 1: Water and into Book 2: Earth. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the intention of the Turtles mentoring Aang somehow wouldn't feel connected to the story's beginning, especially since they just came and knew of the situation, leading to some Infodump from the Turtles' perspective. Here, the story begins at the very start of the Code Geass series proper, allowing the Autobots' mentorship to feel more natural and the canon to flow more naturally, and thus, much exposition is saved regarding the matter. Both J-WITCH and A Red Rose In the Blue Wind would follow this, the latter even using the same setup as Worlds Collide albeit starting earlier so as to follow Team RWBY and JNPR's character. The author even stated this in his reason for discontinuing Avengers of the Multiverse, preferring to start the story at the start of their character development.
    • The reason for Shredder attempting to take over the Fire Nation is merely "I cannot share power because I only rely on myself" which, while solid, feels more like a rather flat For the Evulz moment. Here, Megatron's motivations are more solid regarding his Pretext for War against Britannia: Charles had been planning the Ragnarok Connection behind his back for somewhat noble reasons, and Megatron, clearly not a fan of the motivation itself, decides to take over in his stead, even reworking Ragnarok in R2 to fit his overall vision.
    • While Worlds Collide massively shook the status quo by having the Fire Nation be usurped by the Foot Clan, the canonical endgame is still the same (defeating an oppressive force and restore the world to the heroes). Here, the canonical endgame for Code Geass is MASSIVELY changed due to the rise of the Decepticons, allowing for a more unpredictable and engaging story long after the midpoint.
  • However, both Worlds Collide and Code Prime improve on an older fanfic with a similar crossover premise: Transformers: Avatar Chronicles. To wit:
    • Avatar Chronicles was infamous for showing how incredibly imbalanced the Transformers world is compared to the ATLA universe. The two stories split both franchises involved (Transformers and ATLA) and gave them to much more balanced entities; it's quite engaging to see Transformers in a Real Robot setting, while ATLA is paired with the street-level Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, making fights more streamlined.
    • One of the most controversial scenes in Avatar Chronicles was Megatron firing into Aang and forcing him out of the Avatar State, largely because it broke Willing Suspension of Disbelief and even then, Aang would have been completely obliterated no matter what had happened. Worlds Collide rectifies this by having Aang fight the Shredder and ending with him being stabbed by the latter's claws, in effect mortally wounding him and still leaving a body behind to continue the story. Meanwhile, Code Prime has all instances of Megatron firing on humans with his fusion cannon a guaranteed fatality; the only reason V.V. survives these attempts is due to the innate immortality of his Code (something established in canon), and one of the most iconic scenes in the story is Megatron firing his fusion cannon on Charles zi Britannia and subsequent chapters making sure that he was indeed killed off.
    • The fanfic was notorious for introducing so many characters from Transformers in large increments into the Avatar universe in the early chapters, making it hard for the story to follow just who's who is in the fanfic. TMNT's roster is rather small and much of the story focuses on just the Gaaang and the Turtles, with the only ones following being more major characters. Meanwhile, Code Prime R1 focuses solely on a reasonable set of Transformers characters, the new additions it made throughout its story are rather small but all playing major roles, and when it's time to start bumping up the cast, it was done in R2, right after Megatron had just summoned reinforcements to obliterate Britannia and making it clear that the fight has just escalated.

• DC Animated Movie Universe: This is DC's second attempt to create a Shared Universe with their Direct-to-DVD line of animated films, and the Tomorrowverse quick attempts to avert some of the criticisms people had with the DC Universe Animated Original Movies.
  • The DCAMU was controversial for heavily adapting the Darker and Edgier New 52 comics, which were largely considered a Broken Base amongst DC fans. While the DCAMU eventually moved on from its original source material, many felt it was too late, so many have welcomed this new Lighter and Softer animated movie universe due to taking inspiration from more popular eras of DC's history in terms of stories and tone.
  • The DCAMU was also criticized for the overuse of Batman in its films, with the character appearing in twelve out of the sixteen films while also having four solo films. The Tomorrowverse has so far used him more sparingly such as in the two-part adaption of The Long Halloween and a minor role in Legion of Super-Heroes, satisfying fans of the character as well as those who are tired of Batman being a Spotlight-Stealing Squad.
• The Grinch (2018): People disliked the Whos (aside from Cindy) in the live-action movie for being unlikable jerks that made fun of the Grinch both as a kid and an adult, as well as displaying the negative aspects of the Christmas season. The Whos in this film, however, resemble those of the original book and Chuck Jones special who simply enjoy Christmas for what it is and are genuinely friendly folks. The Grinch himself was shown being more antagonistic with his hatred coming more from jealousy than his mistreatment by them.
• Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie: The film has made some adjustments and fixes to address long-standing issues that the fandom had with the main series.
  • Many fans are more satisfied with the conclusion of the movie than they were with the season 5 finale, giving not only a more fitting conclusion to the Agreste family arc, but making Adrien and Gabriel learn each other's secret identities, which is something the show didn't officially do as there were numerous episodes that did just that, only to be Ret-Gone at the end of them.
  • The show proper never did musicals before outside of the Christmas special, which most people agree is So Bad, It's Good. The film is a musical, but the bigger budget and more cinematic feel allows them to make songs that are leagues better than what the special had.
  • The romance between Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Cat Noir has also been seen as a marked improvement over the show. Thanks to the duo's characters being rerailed back to their original personalities, as well as toning down/removing the problematic behavior both halves showed, it makes the development of their relationship much more rewarding and much less awkward.
  • One of the notable changes is that Marinette is portrayed as being actually clumsy (to the point she's a disaster magnet) and not as proficient in many things, which significantly impacts her self-confidence and causes severe doubts about her worthiness as Ladybug. Even more notably, her Character Development actually sticks all the way throughout the movie instead of her becoming a victim of Status Quo Is God and returning to her initial self at the end.
  • Moreover, Marinette's feelings for Adrien have been toned down to be more endearing and less intrusive, moving away from the previous stalkery behavior in the main series; she's even able to hold proper conversations with him. Similarly, Adrien/Cat Noir's interactions with Ladybug show a flirty yet teasing and comforting dynamic, toning down his own Entitled to Have You tendencies in the series proper; the worst it gets is him following Nino's bad romantic advice at the worst possible time, which he immediately stops once Plagg alerts him to the disaster at hand.
  • Additionally, the film emphasizes that Adrien is just as vital as Ladybug's partner, balancing their powers, bringing them to their true potential and showcasing his ability to handle adversaries just as effectively as Ladybug herself.
  • Adrien is the one who calls out his father's terrible behavior and later, manages to make him realize how messed up he was as Hawk Moth. Unlike his series self, Gabriel becomes remorseful upon realizing he's hurting his son and willingly surrenders.
  • Master Fu doesn't show favoritism and reveals himself not only to Ladybug but also to Cat Noir. He even advises the two to get along so they can unlock their full powers.
  • Some folks had issues with Marinette and Adrien needing to keep their identities a secret from each other (despite knowing the rest of the Miraculous heroes' identities) and going through a very long Will They or Won't They? situation. The films, on the other hand, did not make this a big deal and had Marinette reveal her identity to Adrien after discovering he is Cat Noir, and they get together by the end of the film.
  • The identity stuff results in the duo not being able to contact each other when trouble arises, resulting in numerous instances where one of them (almost always Cat Noir), is unable to show up to an Akuma attack. Here the movie gives them the ability to alert the other in their civilian identities via the flashing lights of their Miraculouses.
  • Chloé grew to become more and more vile until she was ultimately banned from Paris and became Public Enemy #1. Here, Chloé gets a brief scene of showing concern for Sabrina, and even decides to make a truce with Marinette at the end of the film (before admitting that she'll go back to harassing her after New Year's).
• The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea:
  • For what faults it has, the movie does rectify one of the complaints levied at the original film- Ariel's decision to leave her home and family behind to marry a man she just met three days ago and that this was treated as an acceptable thing to do. While Melody does demolish the wall that kept her family divided for so long, when presented with the same choice her mother was, her decision is to remain on land as a human, where her life, parents, and (ultimately) responsibilities are.
  • Though it's a result of awfully convenient circumstances, Melody doesn't know about Morgana's less-than-savory reputation when she meets her like Ariel did Ursula's. Morgana reaches out to her when she's completely alone and plays upon her insecurities like a real manipulator would, making Melody look less foolish for choosing to trust her.
• Mufasa: The Lion King: While the photorealistic style is still a major point of contention, many have made note of the characters' much less stiff facial expressions and the much more vibrant landscapes and colors, both of which were especially infamous arguments against the previous film.
• While the Super Mario Bros.-game franchise continues to be very successful and big, the live-action movie based on the games was very ill-reviewed, was a massive Box Office Bomb, and an immediate Franchise Killer for any cinematic adaptations of the games for 30 years, till Nintendo and Illumination teamed-up for an animated adaptation. The Super Mario Bros. Movie got far better reviews, grossed more than the live-action movie did in its entire lifetime in one day, and is seen as a more faithful adaptation of the games by far with a lot of easter eggs and storylines that make it an entertaining ride for longtime fans and newcomers alike.

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: For those who think that Charlie Bucket is a Useless Protagonist who only won the factory simply because he was the last kid on the trip, the book's endless number of adaptations fix this by giving him a reason as to why he won the factory in the first place.
• Jeff the Killer (2015): Jeff only kills his parents (who are intentionally less sympathetic) and spares Liu, with little implication Jeff will kill anyone else. This helps address criticisms that the version of Jeff from the original creepypasta came off as Unintentionally Unsympathetic.
• Several reviews for The Missus noted that Alessia and Maxim's romance comes off as much healthier and less fraught with drama than Ana and Christian's romance from E. L. James' previous series; some readers have even found this book's depiction of their relationship to be an improvement from The Mister due to it toning down the power imbalance. A recurring criticism of Ana and Christian's romance was that it unintentionally came off as dysfunctional and abusive rather than a flawed yet loving relationship, and arguably glamourised abusive behaviour. While Maxim and Alessia's relationship still has some issues, comparatively they come off as much more affectionate and supportive towards each other and they tend to use clear, honest communication to resolve relationship conflicts. While it's been pointed out that the Official Couple so easily and quickly resolving most of their problems causes some narrative issues (namely contributing to the story's lack of long-term stakes and tension), their relationship comes as a breath of fresh air compared to the toxicity of Christian and Ana (not to mention other fictional couples inspired by Fifty Shades who were similarly problematic).
• Throne of Glass: There was some controversy over Nehemia's role early in the series, namely that she's one of the only major characters of color and her role essentially boils down to being Celaena's friend and dying horribly less than halfway through the series purely to motivate Celaena. It doesn't help that something very similar happens to Sorscha (who is implied to have mixed ancestry) in the third book. We're later introduced to Yrene Towers, a biracial woman whose father is from Eyllwe (Nehemia's country). Her meaty role in the later books and in particular her being the one to take out the Big Bad almost seems to have been added to make up for the Nehemia controversy.

• Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024): Despite how polarizing some changes to the source material have been for certain fans, there are inclusions and alterations that have been generally seen as improvements over the original:
  • Having Zuko's crew be the division of soldiers that he spoke up for, a decision that led to Ozai exiling him, is almost unanimously agreed to be one of the best changes the show makes from the original.
  • In the cartoon, some felt the Mechanist was Unintentionally Unsympathetic because he desecrated the Northern Air Temple and caused Aang distress, even if he was merely trying to find shelter. With him and Teo being encountered in Omashu instead, this problem doesn't occur.
  • One of the biggest missed opportunities of the original was how Iroh and Ozai never interacted on-screen despite the fact that they're meant to be brothers. Here, they actually speak to each other a few times, and we even see him call Ozai out for challenging Zuko to an Agni Kai and then exiling him afterward.
  • Ozai's portrayal in general here has been praised by many fans for having better characterization, and more character nuances that humanizes him a little, while still being an irredeemable villain to the core. This was something that was lacking in the original Ozai due to him being portrayed as a Flat Character, and they rarely showcased why he was the biggest threat in the show until the series' finale. While some fans missed The Faceless nature of Ozai's character in the first two seasons, others felt that his actions on-screen more than make up for it, showcasing his intelligence, firebending powers, and sheer ruthlessness that truly established the Fire Lord as Aang's ultimate enemy.
  • Kyoshi manifesting through Aang to defeat the Fire Nation soldiers who are threatening the inhabitants of her island is considered even better than Aang's method in the cartoon (recruiting a nearby sea monster to put out the blaze the soldiers caused).
  • When Iroh is captured by the Earth Kingdom, one of the soldiers expresses legitimate grievances against him for his siege of Ba Sing Se.
  • Zhao doesn't merely beat Zuko to capture the Avatar; Zuko loses Aang to Zhao's forces! This gives Zuko an even stronger motivation to "rescue" Aang as the Blue Spirit.
  • Yue's link to the Moon Spirit is made more pronounced beyond just her hair being white by having her both be a waterbender and capable of interacting with the Spirit World.
  • The spirit oasis was expanded from a tiny park to a reasonably-sized forest.
  • Several episodes that were important to the characters, but not the overall plot, were intertwined with more important plot beats to keep them relevant without deviating from the show's greater focus on the main story. For example, the Mechanist, Teo, and Jet have their storylines worked into the gang's visit to Omashu, which also includes new versions of the secret tunnels and Zuko saving Iroh from Earth Kingdom soldiers. All of these are addressed throughout two episodes, without any major part of it feeling rushed or overlooked.
  • One original aspect that was added to this show was Zuko's notebook containing information about all the past Avatars before Avatar Aang. This particular addition gave a natural way of providing information to the main characters and by extension, the audience, without the need of other characters explaining it to them. It also suited well for Zuko's obsession with finding the Avatar and thus becoming like an Avatar historian, and it gave Aang a reason to like Zuko eventually developing their first amicable relationship between them in episode 6.
  • The mere concept of a live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender was met with skepticism after the first attempt crashed and burned, both critically and financially. This one, while not without its faults, has been seen as an overall better take on the idea.
• Doctor Who:
  • The Sixth Doctor was intended as a Darker and Edgier take on the character, being a morally gray Defrosting Ice Queen as a throwback to the First Doctor. However, he made such a bad first impression with viewers, who derided him for decades as the worst Doctor in the show's history, that Colin Baker was fired from the role by The BBC, cutting off his tenure prematurely. Years later, the Ninth and Twelfth Doctors would revisit the basic outline behind Six to much more acclaimed results, this time placing more emphasis on the Doctor's heroism and giving a number of What the Hell, Hero? moments at the hands of both himself and his companions. Furthermore, Nine and Twelve's darker qualities were made the results of trauma as a veteran of a Great Offscreen War and lingering post-regenerative insecurity, respectively, rather than making them inherent parts of the incarnations' personalities. Incidentally, the better reception of Nine and Twelve would also contribute to Six's positive reappraisal by the fandom, who now view him as simply being a victim of wasted potential prior to his Character Development in Big Finish Doctor Who.
  • "Sleep No More" is an infamous episode for its reveal that the Sandmen were made out of eye boogers because it was still Played for Drama, and thus hard to take seriously. "Space Babies", on the other hand, revealed that the villain was made of snot, but Whovians prefer that episode to "Sleep No More", since the snot reveal was played as a gag.
• House of the Dragon:
  • The original series had been criticised for non-straight characters apparently only existing to be oppressed, suffer and die (even moreso than usual for characters in its setting), regardless of any intentions of invoking Deliberate Values Dissonance, and House even came in for more of the same criticism after the gratuitously brutal death of Joffrey Lonmouth. This is probably the reason why Laenor, who died in the books, was Spared by the Adaptation, allowed to escape from Westeros alive with his new lover after faking his death, instead of just becoming the latest in a long line of dead gay guys.
    • Related to this, in A Song of Ice and Fire both major queens of the series, Cersei and Daenerys, had situational trysts with women at their courts, none of which was included in Game of Thrones. Here, Rhaenyra starts a relationship with Mysaria.
  • Though it was given a bit of leeway due to being a Pragmatic Adaptation, the previous series was criticized for having a much smaller scale than the books, which became more prevalent as it went on. Due to it having a much higher production value than the previous series, this series is a much closer depiction of how big Westeros is, especially when it comes to the different locations and social events like hunting. Even the Iron Throne is redesigned to be grander than it was in Game of Thrones.
  • As the original series went on, the costumes drifted further and further away from historical inspiration until by the final two seasons basically all the characters were wearing very modern-looking brown or black leather jackets decorated with random pieces of metal. HotD reverses this trend, and from the outset the costumes look much more authentic to a medieval world, featuring lots of bright colours and material variety.
• Interview with the Vampire (2022): Jacob Anderson's Louis de Pointe du Lac is considered far and away much better than Brad Pitt's version from the 1994 movie. Not just the fact that his being Black lends a whole other dimension to being a queer vampire (plus Anderson was a lot more enthusiastic to play the character than Pitt, who was famously miserable while filming), but his flaws and tragedy are a lot more interesting.
• Moon Knight (2022): A common criticism of Love Interest Marlene Alraune and a significant reason for her controversial reputation within comics fandom is that her favoritism towards the Steven Grant alter and the way she discusses Marc Spector's DID with him, while Fair for Its Day, could frequently come off as ableist to modern viewers. Here, Layla El-Faouly (essentially Marlene merged with the Scarlet Scarab (comic book alias of Abdul and Mehemet Faoul)) is depicted as being immediately sympathetic to Marc/Steven's DID, with any initial hostility having all to do with misunderstandings resulting from Marc's communication issues. In fact, when Steven tells her of Marc's plan to essentially undergo Death of Personality so that he can front exclusively for her benefit, Layla is horrified, and her characterization as an Understanding Boyfriend resulted in her being much more well-received by the fandom.
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2023): In general, this series strives to course-correct a lot of problems that the movies had, and even improve some stuff from the original Lightning Thief book.
  • Backlash over her Race Lift aside, many fans agree that this version of Annabeth is an improvement over her film counterpart, who was criticized for not having any of their book counterpart's personality, being a Composite Character with Clarisse, and being reduced to a Damsel in Distress in the second film. Show Annabeth incorporates more of her book counterpart's characteristics, is a completely separate character from Clarisse, and proves herself to be resourceful and helpful on the quest, which a lot of fans appreciated.
  • The encounter with Medusa in the book hinged on the trio being too gullible to realize that a person named "Auntie Em" who had a collection of statues was actually Medusa. Here, Annabeth figures out Auntie Em is Medusa right away, and they only end up in her clutches because she fed them as a peace offering.
  • After the Percy Jackson and the Olympians film was criticized for having Ares be completely Adapted Out despite his prominence in the first book, this series has him appear and play a major part similar to how he was depicted in the novel.
  • In the movie, Percy's main motivation for completing the quest given to him was so he could rescue his mother from the underworld at any cost, to the point where he even left Grover with Persephone just so he could get her back. Here, Percy decides to retrieve the Helm of Darkness and return it to Hades in exchange for Sally, making him far less selfish and more in line with what happened in the book.
  • By far, one of the biggest complaints about the movie was its straightforward depiction of Everyone Hates Hades when the book actively went out of its way to avert the trope. By contrast, this series depicts Hades as an Adaptational Nice Guy even by the book's standards. He is polite and cordial to Percy and Grover, wanting to sincerely return Sally Jackson to them in exchange for his Helm, and offers to protect them both from Kronos by offering them sanctuary in the Underworld. While he does later desire the Master Bolt like his movie counterpart, it's only so he can protect himself and the Underworld from Kronos, and not out of malice or personal gain on his part.
• Reacher: The series is considered a better Jack Reacher adaptation than the Tom Cruise films (Jack Reacher and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back) with the title character being Truer to the Text both physically (played by the very tall and muscular Alan Ritchson) and in behavior, and the plot being given more time to develop over a season compared to a two-hour film.
• A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017):
  • A common criticism leveled at the book series is that the sheer amount of misery makes it a case of Too Bleak, Stopped Caring and some readers plain give up on it. While the show didn't completely escape accusations of this from some, others praised it for being whimsical/outlandish enough not to go too far with it.
  • The first four books are extremely episodic, with the hints of a broader developing story only beginning in the fifth. The show integrates the VFD plot right from the start and the four stories are tied together much more tightly.
  • Aunt Josephine was more or less considered a selfish character in The Wide Window due to her willingness to give the kids to Count Olaf to save herself. In the series, however, she stands up to Count Olaf and rips him a new one in a misguided way, a far cry from her book counterpart.
  • The series does away with the bit in "The Ersatz Elevator" that many fans found too horribly contrived even for this series, where Violet and Klaus actively stop the Quagmires from explaining the entire VFD mystery and then find them gone before they can follow up on it.
  • Some people found the Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender in the book to be offensive when combined with Fat Bastard. The show reworks the Henchperson as a lethargic Cloudcuckoolander with several Hidden Depths, who was much better received by audiences.
  • The show gives a much more believable but remaining misinformed reason for the villagers to believe that the Baudelaires are murderers. In the original book, Olaf gives rather flimsy evidence for the orphans being at the scene of the crime, despite them having solid alibis. In the TV series, however, the orphans use an invention to try and break Jacques, who was mistaken for Count Olaf, out of the jail cell. This gives Olaf a stronger case because not only were the orphans breaking the village's strict rules about technology, but it also made it look like they were trying to break into the cell to kill Count Olaf.
  • Season 3 also greatly tones down the Baudelaires' Black-and-White Insanity, as many book fans had grown increasingly irritated at their acting like any action with the slightest hint of moral ambiguity instantly made them as bad as Olaf. It ends up going with a more nuanced view that there are no truly completely good or bad people in the world.
  • The show removes the part in "The Slippery Slope" where the Baudelaires deliberately release the villain they just took hostage, an action which seemed a bit naive considering the circumstances.
  • "The End" was criticized by some for leaving the fates of many characters vague and bleak. The adaptation gives a more optimistic conclusion: Quigley is reunited with his siblings, Fernald and Fiona are reunited and have finally located their stepfather, Count Olaf's henchpeople start their own acting troupe, the Incredibly Deadly Viper is strongly implied to have successfully reached Ishmael's boat to deliver the life-saving apple, and the Baudelaires take off on their boat and are implied to have gone on many more adventures with Beatrice the Second.
  • The show finally goes into detail about Count Olaf's backstory, something that was only hinted at in the books.
  • Kit's death by poison when she refused the apple cure was widely panned as contrived and based on science that had been discredited by the time of The End's release. In the show, Kit does take the cure she needs... but it only delays her symptoms long enough to give birth.
• Sesame Street: Early on, the writers tried making a Very Special Episode about divorce, that had Snuffy revealing his parents were divorcing and his dad was moving into another cage. However, it never aired, since the test audience, consisting of kids, all cried. Later, they'd do a divorce-themed episode revealing that Abby's parents were divorced, but the audience was fine with it, since not only is Abby perkier than Snuffy in general, in her case, the divorce was far in the past and thus she was no longer sad about it.
• The Wheel of Time (2021): In the books, it's mentioned that Moiraine had "pillow friends" among her fellow Aes Sedai in her youth, including Siuan, although it's presented as a case of Situational Sexuality due to a lack of boys to hang around with and as an adult her love interests are all men, most notably Thom Merrilin. Nowadays, this depiction of same-sex relationships is regarded as a bit problematic due to the suggestion that such relationships are a 'phase' or less mature than heterosexual romances. The series instead approaches it by depicting Moiraine and Siuan has having a serious romantic relationship that has continued up to the present (albeit in secret for political reasons); their romance ended up being well-received by viewers.

• The original edition of 7 Wonders came with a two-player variation that involved a dummy player and was poorly received due to its clunkiness. This was a factor in the creation of 7 Wonders Duel, a dedicated two-player version that revamps the Drafting Mechanic and introduces new twists like instant-win conditions. Duel was even better reviewed than its parent game as a whole, and the original two-player variation was dropped from the second edition of 7 Wonders.
• During Warhammer: The End Times, Sigmar is able to possess the body of Emperor Karl Franz of the Empire of Man to violently burn away all of Nurgle's rot that had been tainting the Empire. While this moment was seen as impressive, the Retcons involved in its occurrence along with the fact that it was ultimately All for Nothing (as the End Times were the Grand Finale for Warhammer Fantasy itself) made it feel "too little, too late" for many Fantasy fans. Several real-life years later, in Warhammer 40,000, a similar event occurs with the Emperor possessing his Primarch "son" Roboute Guilliman to burn much of Nurgle's Garden to ash, but this wasn't criticized that much since both 40K's Darker and Edgier setting made this event feel more "earned" to many fans along with (most importantly) the event having actual, provable lingering effects on the setting as a whole and not feeling like it was All for Nothing since the setting was not being ended like it was in Fantasy.

• Legally Blonde
  • In the movie, Elle figures out that Brooke's pool boy is gay (and thus lying about having an affair with Brooke that could possibly be the motive for her husband's murder) because he is knowledgeable about shoes. In the stage musical, what tips her off is his lack of response to the Bend and Snap, a move that has been established to be "99.999% effective on straight men". This change firmly establishes him as categorically being not attracted to women — not bisexual, not Camp Straight. It also pays off the earlier Bend and Snap scene, which, while iconic in the film, doesn't come back later in the narrative.
  • When Elle goes to get Paulette's dog back from her ex, in the movie she represents herself as a lawyer, which she isn't yet. That's illegal. In the musical she uses the more nebulous term "legal team". Emmett (a licensed attorney) is there too. So now it's not illegal.

• Monster High:
  • While G2 is still widely considered an Audience-Alienating Era, the era's dolls have been positively received in at least two aspects. One, more sculpted details were added to the dolls to exemplify their monster types better (e.g. werebeasts got sculpted-on fur at their wrists and ankles, Cleo got molded bandages on her arms and legs), making them stand out more compared to their earlier plain sculpts. Two, the doll bodies are overall sturdier than they were in G1, with less fragile joints and Lagoona and Gil (who had flimsy paint jobs to give them semi-transluscent limbs and hands) were reworked so they didn't have the same risk of paint damage. All of these changes were retained for the following generation.
  • G3 managed to become this to both generations that preceded it.
    • G1 was already fairly diverse, but it caught some flack for both lack of accuracy in some of the cultures depicted and for sticking to Only One Female Mold. G3 managed to improve upon this, with more complex ethnic/racial backgrounds being represented without being objectified or overplayed (and being made more accurate in some ways, like Abbey Bominable being more authentically depicted as ethnically Himalayan) and a wider variety of body types. Additionally, G3 also has more representation for physically disabled characters and introduces several openly queer and neurodivergent characters, something G1 lacked.
    • G3 is also considered a much better attempt at rebooting the franchise than G2 was. While G2 was unclear about whether it was a reboot or not and had a habit of shooing out established characters in favor of Suspiciously Similar Substitutes, G3's status as a reboot is much clearer, and in terms of major characters it's largely stuck to those established in G1.

• The Beginning After the End: The Webcomic adaptation has several changes that serve to fix elements of the original novel, oftentimes through better set up, execution, and payoff as well as Adaptation Expansion.
  • Sebastian, the antagonist of the Auction House Arc who covets Sylvie for himself, comes out of nowhere during said arc. The webcomic teases his involvement earlier by not only showing the moment he first noticed Sylvie during Arthur's day off, but also has a scene where his henchmen are talking about how they can secure Sylvie for him.
  • In the novel, the Lances' introduction at the announcement of the Council is just a single passage with none of them being individually named until a much later chapter. In the webcomic, all of them are individually named at that moment. This serves to define the individual Lances much earlier than in the novel given their role as Arthur's main allies from the War Arc and onward.
    • Speaking of the Lances, in the novel Alea was only introduced when Arthur found her dying at the bottom of Widow's Crypt. In the webcomic she is given much more character development prior to her death through the addition of a few original scenes, which makes her death have much more impact as the audience gets to know her earlier on. Not only do these show the lead up to her taking up that fateful mission into the dungeon, but she actually gets to interact with Arthur in one scene where she confides her insecurities to him, which enhances how It's Personal for Arthur to avenge her death as he actually got to know her beforehand.
    • As for another Lance, Bairon, the older brother of Arthur's nemesis Lucas Wykes. His earlier introduction as a Lance serves to underscore to Arthur just how dangerous an enemy he made in Lucas and his house and provides further context for the measures he takes to protect his family from them. Bairon also meets Arthur much earlier in that same scene with Alea, showing that at least he is familiar with him prior to Arthur killing Lucas. These changes serve to better set up their inevitable rivalry, as in the webcomic Arthur knows who Bairon is when he shows up to arrest him for killing his brother when in the novel he gets completely blindsided by the fact.
  • The class demonstration gone wrong in Arthur's Practical Mana Manipulation class that leads to him becoming the replacement teacher is given prior set up. Namely, it turns out that Geist - the professor in charge of said class - had encountered Arthur beforehand where the boy got on his bad side. As such, seeing Arthur in attendance led to him wanting to get back at him.
  • Adam's death comes out of left field at the start of the War Arc and gets completely glossed over in the novel other than it being the reason why Arthur's parents choose to rejoin the Twin Horns. In the webcomic, the events leading up to his death are depicted in full, making it seem less shockingly unexpected. In addition, it also depicts his funeral, proving his death with some closure.

• DEATH BATTLE!: The second joke battle involving real people of "Chuck Norris vs. Segata Sanshiro" is held in far more esteem than the first of "Justin Bieber vs Rebecca Black", especially in hindsight. While the first had a rather baffling premise of pitting up two then-widely hated teen pop singers against each other, went out of its way to portray both in an unflattering light (which many viewers considered to be actively contributing towards the increasingly frowned-upon practice of harassing vulnerable child stars) and had an ending that came across as a gratuitous and unnecessary Take That! towards not only both Bieber and Black, but also The Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus (more specifically, through having all of the aforementioned musicians die in a car crash), the second instead chose to star two famous Memetic Badasses far more suited for a fight, treated both of them admirably throughout, and culminated in a far more spectacle-filled ending befitting their reputations in which the two of them destroy the universe and each other, with their fight being immortalized as a constellation.

• Arcane: One longstanding criticism of League of Legends is the lack of variation regarding its female character designs, where even with more recent female champions, they tend to have similarly slim builds and generically "pretty" faces regardless of their background. Arcane addresses this and adds more variation among the women, and also isn't afraid of having them looking realistically "plain" even within its stylized art style. Preexisting female champions get subtle tweaks that make them better stand out among each other and feel more appropriate, such as giving Vi actual defined muscles.
• The Fairly OddParents!: A New Wish is considered a huge step up from the first attempt at a Fairly OddParents Sequel Series, The Fairly OddParents!: Fairly Odder. Whereas Fairly Odder is a generic Kid Com with rampant Special Effect Failure, a cast of characters ranging from base-breaking to flat-out irritating, and references to the original that were completely meaningless beyond shallow fanservice, A New Wish has a more relatable main cast, a pleasant Painted CGI art style, much stronger and more natural attempts at integrating older characters, and a surprisingly wide range of Continuity Nods, even to the less popular parts of the original. Overall, fans view it as more of a celebration of FOP, warts and all, than Fairly Odder's flaccid attempts at relevancy.
• Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles episode "And Justice for All" was infamously gutted by Disney from Greg Weisman's original script, turning a legal exploration of gargoyle citizenship into a generic but nonsensical Courtroom Episode. The Dynamite comics finally allowed Weisman to explore his original concept, with Goliath being tried on gargoyle sentience and the repercussions that would mean for the clan going forward.
• Invincible (2021): It's notorious that Robert Kirkman himself has gone on record saying that he learned a lot from his time working in The Walking Dead TV adaptation, so while the adaptation tends to keep major character moments and plot developments, never deviating from the main story, there are a number of changes that were very well received by the fanbase.
  • Fights between Viltrumites and other characters tend to be less one-sided than in the comicbook. While this allows for better cinematography and pacing, it also has the side-effect of making it more believable that Mark, Omni-Man and co., need help from others managing major crisis, and their latter defeats more plausible.
  • Rex Splode's characterization in the show is greatly expanded, giving him more sympathetic traits, character development and pairing him up with Shrinking Rae. He also gets to call-out the Immortal on his hypocrisy multiple times, which given his status as the fandom's punching bag only makes Rex more enjoyable to watch. All of this makes his death during Invincible War sting even more for the audience.
  • A relatively minor change during Invincible War is that Omni-Mark is shown to be one of the eight surviving Evil Invincibles at the end of the whole thing, avoiding his infamous death in the comicbook, in which he was done in by a yo-yo of all things. And this was after claiming that he killed his universe's Omni-Man to boot. To say fans were rejoiced when none of this happened in the show, would be an understatement.
  • A complaint of the comics were that the female characters didn't have that much agency in general and their stories mostly revolved around the male characters, with characters like Eve at least getting comparatively more focus. The show's expanded their stories immensely, giving Eve an entire special all to herself, Debbie a lot more focus on her and her storylines, and Amber not being mostly defined by her relationship with Mark.
• Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny: Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness was a divisive series, being the first KFP animated spinoff. You had just as many people who loved the series as they hated it and even then, negative opinions of the show aren't hard to find online, with criticism directed towards Po being an Adaptational Jerkass, Shifu and the Furious Five being mishandled, how the show doesn't deserve to be canon, etc. Being the second animated show of the franchise, The Paws of Destiny managed to bring Po back in line with his movie characterization and show newfound maturity in training a new generation. Additionally, it took certain elements of the first series that fans did enjoy, such as the more arc-driven "Enter the Dragon" two-parter centered on an evil dragon Big Bad and the series finale "Emperor's Rule" based on an ancient female mystic coming back to menace the heroes and remade them into more well-received full season story arcs involving Jindiao and the White Bone Demon. While The Paws of Destiny doesn't fix every issue fans had with LoA (considering that Shifu and the Furious Five aren't included), it's safe to say this second spinoff series managed to smooth over many issues people had with the first and give fans a second, more presentable KFP show that built upon the strong points of Legends of Awesomeness.
• The Loud House:
  • "Brawl in the Family" was an infamous episode, since it showed all of the Loud sisters fighting over a petty issue (Lori and Leni having identical dresses) and making up a protocol for the fight that viewers found nonsensical, while Lincoln was a Butt-Monkey for the whole episode. "Room With a Feud", on the other hand, also had the Loud sisters having petty fights and Lincoln trying to resolve them, but was better received because the fights themselves, though petty, were less contrived, Lincoln had a better time, and most of the bad luck he did have wasn't the sisters' faults.
  • "No Such Luck" is considered one of the show's worst episodes because it involved Lincoln's family shunning him for allegedly being bad luck. "Bizarritorium" is seen by viewers (who don't mind the more outlandish episodes) as "No Such Luck" done better, since it has a similar premise, except this time, Lincoln really is suffering from bad luck due to being cursed by a mummy, and while his family does chew him out for starting off the curse, they don't shun him, and work to undo the curse.
• Miraculous Ladybug: The New York special is one to the New York-based story from the comics. Both have similar premises (Ladybug and Cat Noir go to New York and meet its heroes); however, the comics story attracted considerable criticism for having scenes where the underage Marinette runs through the city nude before running into a group of stereotypically thuggish-looking black men (one of them outright being named Ghetto Blaster) and immediately assuming that they're robbing a building and will attack her (they're actually charity workers). The special, while not without its own flaws, was seen as a marked improvement — Marinette's antics were limited to the usual Love Square shenanigans, and it had two non-white characters (a black girl and a Native American girl) feature prominently and positively.
• While Not Quite Narwhal managed to be a best-seller, the book has earned some flak from critics for oversimplifying its conflict by having Kelp deciding he "doesn't have to choose" between the Narwhals and Unicorns and showing the two groups mingling literally at the last page, implying that everything will just magically work out. The cartoon, by contrast, makes it clear that Kelp can't be part of both communities at all times and that he considers the Narwhals who raised him as his true family, with many episodes either focusing on the difficulties of being a Child of Two Worlds or being entirely confined to one biome.
• The Patrick Star Show:
  • "The Prehistoric Patrick Star Show" is another time-shift episode taking place in prehistoric times, just like "Ugh" from the parent show. While it's not hated, "Ugh" has a Broken Base and is usually considered one of the weakest episodes of the first three seasons due to the slow pacing of its SpongeBob segments. "Prehistoric Patrick" is a much faster-paced episode, with the jokes landing very quick, and it does a lot of things in its runtime rather than just focusing on the discovery of fire. While "Ugh"'s comedy entirely revolves on visual gags since the caveman characters can't speak, they can in "Prehistoric Patrick", giving it some new jokes. It also helps that it's a regular-length episode and not a special, avoiding Hype Backlash and being less fatiguing.
  • The fan-favorite episode "The Patrick Show Cashes In" can be seen as another take on the divisive "Mid-Season Finale". Both are meta episodes that mainly revolve around a series of different skits. While "Mid-Season" had segments that had no thematic throughline and were often random for the sake of random, every single one in "Cashes In" takes the form of a Parody Commercial with hilarious satire of both Misaimed Merchandising and overly dangerous branded products, which is rooted in the episode's setup. "Cashes In" also throws a curveball in its plot with a business executive objecting to how unsafe the advertised products are, while "Mid-Season" remains with no stakes the entire time. Even the endings are different; "Mid-Season" ends with some indulgent Gushing About Guest Stars from Patrick, but "Cashes In" delivers An Aesop that TV shows don't exist to be merchandised and just making something that people like watching is enough.
  • "Star Cruise" is a Recycled Script of "Gas Station Vacation": the Stars go somewhere and think they're at a resort/cruise, only to cause chaos and mess everything up. "Gas Station Vacation" had a Designated Villain with the Gas Land manager, who's meant to be seen as an unfair killjoy. However, the Stars' actions include shooting golf balls at employees, unleashing rabid animals on innocent people, and exploding the station by cramming a bunch of stuff into the microwave, while not listening to the reasonable rules the manager sets down, so it's hard to side with them. "Star Cruise", in contrast, has the receiving end of the torment be an alien captain who's intent on invading Earth. The Stars also actually end up saving a couple of people in jars from people harvested through their exploits. It ends up making the protagonists way more likeable and the episode a more enjoyable experience.
  • Pinkeye and Ouchie quickly went Out of Focus after having scenes in "Enemies a la Mode" and "Uncredible Journey", and it's clear why: both segments had extensive, unnecessary narration that distracted from the silent Tom and Jerry style slapstick they wanted to be. Season 3's "Get Ouch" is another take that has the talking characters locked in a basement for half the episode and lets the focus be entirely on the animals' grunts and body language, making it a way more faithful parody and eliminating the needless dialogue.
• The Simpsons: The season 11 episode "Beyond Blunderdome" follows the very same beats as the season 2 episode "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?", as it features a rich man recruiting Homer so he can provide the perspective of an average, everyday man in their next project, only to realize that Homer isn't a common man but an idiot with absurd, impractical ideas, and the project ends in failure. However, while the latter episode was lambasted for Herb blaming Homer for ruining his company despite the fact that he never bothered to check on Homer's progress, or even see the car he was designing (the car that, again, would either save or break Herb's company) before unveiling it to the public, the former episode has Mel Gibson supervising and approving all of Homer's changes to his movie, and takes most of the blame when it inevitably crashes and burns.
• Sonic Boom: In the videogames, especially during her Flanderization in the 2000s, Amy was a Stalker with a Crush towards Sonic, bordering on Yandere, with him being constantly put-off by her advances in spite of occasional Ship Tease. In the show, Amy is one of his True Companions who just happens to have a (very poorly hidden) crush on him, and Sonic treats her as a mutual friend he denies having further feelings for. This allows their relationship to remain a source of comedy while being far more tolerable, and also averts Satellite Love Interest by making her personality not entirely revolve around him.
• Thomas & Friends: Season 19's "Very Important Sheep" is widely seen as one to "Wonky Whistle", one of the most infamous episodes of the fifteenth season, and the series in general. Like "Wonky Whistle", "Very Important Sheep" involves an engine losing animals that they were assigned to transport. However, the conflict of "Wonky Whistle" was caused by Thomas' carelessness, namely rushing off quickly despite there being no real reason to and constantly ignoring the advice of everyone around him, whereas the conflict of "Very Important Sheep" is caused by Percy being rushed due to his mail run taking longer than usual. Also despite being rushed, breaking a hole in his wagon, and forgetting his brake van, Percy doesn't move away too quickly while Farmer McColl's sheep are being transported. Thomas' character is also rerailed since he spends "Very Important Sheep" rounding up Percy's missing sheep, whereas in "Wonky Whistle", he had to round up the animals that he lost in the first place.
• Tiny Toons Looniversity: One of the criticisms thrown at the original show was that it never truly took advantage of its school setting, instead veering into fantastical adventures unrelated to it. Looniversity places focus on the titular school and has most of its plots about the main cast hanging around.
• The Venture Bros.: One idea the creators tried to do fairly early on was to create a parody of Doctor Doom, in the form of Baron Ünderbheit. Unfortunately, the parody amounted to just taking Doctor Doom and making him dumber and lamer, which left him unable to work as a Knight of Cerebus and didn't leave him with an interesting personality or much that was actually funny. The creators became so frustrated with him that they wrote him out of the show entirely, and when he returned, it was in a marginal role as a dimwitted muscle for the Revenge Society before vanishing again. When they revisited the idea again in the form of Professor Victor von Helping, it was with a much clearer concept in mind: von Helping was the son of a Doctor Doom Expy who had inherited a fair bit of his power and intelligence... but had no interest in supervillainy, and so used his scientific genius to become a friendly college professor and a No Celebrities Were Harmed version of Carl Sagan. This time, the character had a strong defining joke (his genial demeanor contrasting with his intimidating heritage and abilities), and managed to fit into the show much better, as an antagonist for the Monarch and a mentor for Dean, with his presence being noted as a highlight of the episode.
• Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: "I Am Jackie Robinson," while well-received at first, also faced criticism for comparing disagreements between kids (i.e the playground bully not liking Yadina's red jacket) to racism, and potentially teaching kids to befriend racists by having Jackie befriend Sarah. This led to the episode being banned in August 2020. The episode was later remade for Season 2, similar to how Arthur remade "The Great Mac Grady." It improves upon the original's flaws by extending the runtime to 22 minutes, fleshing out Jackie's story more by showing the hardships he went through on his way to the major leagues, and having the initial conflict stem from actual racism (i.e Xavier getting bullied for his cultural lunch). Jackie also does not befriend Sarah in this version, and the moral is "When something isn't right, it takes courage to change it" instead of "Treat everyone fairly, no matter what."