Tropescilloscope: Call-Back

A reference to an earlier event in a series that's relevant for the plot. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Retcon You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Kill It with Fire Television Movie Index Reckless Gun Usage Big Applesauce Facial Horror Hypocritical Humor Does Not Like Shoes The Musical Big Damn Heroes Badass Grandpa Red Herring One-Word Title Beauty Is Never Tarnished Outrun the Fireball Vitriolic Best Buds Dark and Troubled Past Belligerent Sexual Tension Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Broken Aesop Chekhov's Gun Evil-Detecting Dog Bury Your Gays The Bully Green-Eyed Monster Shout-Out Fingore Dwindling Party Rated M for Manly All for Nothing Eagleland Card-Carrying Villain Mind Screw Anti-Villain Gainax Ending Curse Cut Short As Long as It Sounds Foreign Evil Is Hammy Fire-Forged Friends Real Life Writes the Plot And I Must Scream Super Strength Rasputinian Death Vampire Fiction Wham Line Names to Run Away from Really Fast Kick the Son of a Bitch Superhero Vomit Indiscretion Shot The Stinger Eureka Moment "Awesome McCool" Name Abhorrent Admirer Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Put on a Bus Wham Shot Beware the Nice Ones Shown Their Work There Is No Kill Like Overkill Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Red Oni, Blue Oni Important Haircut Missing Mom Awesome, but Impractical Evil Plan The '90s The Starscream Poor Communication Kills Knife Nut Heroic BSoD Reality Has No Subtitles An Axe to Grind Bad Boss Bloodier and Gorier Disproportionate Retribution Adaptational Heroism The Stoic Men Are the Expendable Gender Adaptation Dye-Job Bullying a Dragon Dressing as the Enemy Mama Bear Kubrick Stare Attempted Rape Insane Troll Logic You Killed My Father Biopic Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Faux Affably Evil Our Zombies Are Different Bunny-Ears Lawyer Japanese Films Smug Snake Action Girl The Vamp Villain Protagonist Crucified Hero Shot Laughing Mad For Want of a Nail She's Got Legs Psychological Thriller I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Shipper on Deck Intergenerational Friendship Pet the Dog Market-Based Title Blackmail Karma Houdini Death Glare Sanity Slippage Not So Stoic Action Genre Took a Level in Badass Man on Fire Vomit Discretion Shot Index of Film Westerns I Have Your Wife Funny Foreigner Naïve Newcomer Brainless Beauty Rich Bitch The Alleged Car Adaptational Badass Informed Ability Big Bad Death of a Child Anyone Can Die No-Sell Didn't Think This Through Those Wacky Nazis Ripped from the Headlines Canadian Movies Meaningful Name Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Car Fu Mr. Fanservice The Great Depression Small Name, Big Ego As the Good Book Says... Evil Is Petty Paper-Thin Disguise What Happened to the Mouse? Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Abusive Parents Unresolved Sexual Tension La Résistance Those Two Guys Antagonist Title Hollywood Law Armor-Piercing Question Pragmatic Adaptation Bald of Evil Epic Fail Loophole Abuse Fun with Acronyms Running Gag Berserk Button Scary Black Man This Is Gonna Suck Adapted Out Due to the Dead Mystery and Detective Films Shoot the Shaggy Dog Curb-Stomp Battle Dark Reprise Zombie Stories Badass Normal 20 Minutes into the Future And the Adventure Continues Ghost Fiction Heterosexual Life-Partners Double Entendre Riddle for the Ages Manchild Screw This, I'm Outta Here! The Stoner Alpha Bitch What You Are in the Dark The Ghost Dogged Nice Guy Match Cut Setting Update Dirty Coward Genre Shift Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy The Chick Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Video Credits In Medias Res Star-Crossed Lovers Coming-of-Age Story Storming the Castle Random Events Plot The Alcoholic Retired Badass Neck Snap Bowdlerise He Who Fights Monsters BFG Obstructive Bureaucrat Heroes Want Redheads Covers Always Lie Plot Hole Your Head A-Splode Off-into-the-Distance Ending Recycled IN SPACE! Say My Name Dark Action Girl Annoying Younger Sibling Jerkass Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Never Trust a Trailer Adaptation Distillation Batman Gambit Animal Title Index Big-Bad Ensemble Meaningful Background Event Black and Gray Morality Accidental Murder Bloodless Carnage Beta Couple Drugs Are Bad Fake Shemp Interrupted Suicide Malevolent Masked Men Cat Scare Too Dumb to Live Disappeared Dad Obfuscating Stupidity Failed a Spot Check Kill 'em All Race Lift Worthy Opponent Your Cheating Heart Red Shirt Cruel and Unusual Death I Did What I Had to Do Karmic Death British Films The Dreaded Only a Flesh Wound Mexican Standoff Despair Event Horizon Jump Scare Camera Abuse Martial Arts Movie Translation Convention Action Survivor Deliberate Values Dissonance Science Fiction Films Department of Redundancy Department Married to the Job Big Eater Authority Equals Asskicking Documentary Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Irony Actually Pretty Funny Award-Bait Song Make It Look Like an Accident Precision F-Strike Sports Stories "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Victoria's Secret Compartment Truth in Television Line-of-Sight Name The Dog Bites Back Mr. Exposition Nice Guy Flashback Badass Bookworm The Smart Guy Bond One-Liner Romantic Comedy Lighter and Softer "Well Done, Son!" Guy Rape as Drama All Just a Dream Heel Realization My Greatest Failure Eye Scream Chewing the Scenery Visual Pun Amusing Injuries Creator Cameo The Faceless Cowboy Cop French Films Stealth Pun Only in It for the Money Character Development Extremely Short Timespan Deliberately Monochrome The Voiceless The Mole Oh, Crap! More Dakka The Bad Guy Wins Demoted to Extra Air-Vent Passageway A God Am I Parental Abandonment Adults Are Useless Mistaken for Gay A Date with Rosie Palms Red Eyes, Take Warning Black Dude Dies First Cold-Blooded Torture Stepford Smiler Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Logo Joke German Films Serious Business Bound and Gagged All Men Are Perverts It Will Never Catch On Bare Your Midriff In the Back Comically Missing the Point The Cavalry The Brute Humiliation Conga Evil Brit Face Death with Dignity Villain Opening Scene The Chessmaster Race Against the Clock Demonic Possession Break the Haughty The Load Wretched Hive Back from the Dead Final Girl Military and Warfare Films Happily Married The Place Pyrrhic Victory Cloudcuckoolander Hidden Depths Show Within a Show Apocalypse How Captain Obvious Scenery Gorn From Nobody to Nightmare Lampshade Hanging Half the Man He Used to Be Deadpan Snarker Sole Survivor Broken Pedestal Slashed Throat Manic Pixie Dream Girl Femme Fatale Children Are Innocent Adaptational Villainy The '50s Brutal Honesty Trailers Always Spoil Conspicuous CG Aside Glance Arch-Enemy Made of Explodium Soundtrack Dissonance Insult Backfire Cool Guns Instant Death Bullet Last-Name Basis Canon Foreigner Artistic License – History No Ending Historical In-Joke Woman Scorned Idiot Ball Easily Forgiven Betty and Veronica Spared by the Adaptation I Need a Freaking Drink Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Historical Villain Upgrade What the Hell, Hero? Domestic Abuse Five-Man Band Bittersweet Ending As You Know Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Dutch Angle Determinator Hero Antagonist Artistic License – Law Mad Scientist Redemption Equals Death Auto Erotica Mugging the Monster Exactly What It Says on the Tin folderlabel Brother–Sister Incest The Oner The Power of Love Cat Fight One-Man Army Genre Throwback Those Two Bad Guys Spiteful Spit Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Romantic False Lead Slasher Smile Overprotective Dad Imagine Spot Italian Films Major Injury Underreaction Nice Hat Politically Incorrect Villain Early-Bird Cameo Shower Scene Animated Credits Opening Becoming the Mask Twist Ending Hope Spot Russian Films The '70s Here We Go Again! Leitmotif Parental Neglect Morality Pet Woman in White Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Babies Ever After Stealth Hi/Bye Anachronic Order Based on a True Story Diabolus ex Machina Ass Shove Ungrateful Bastard Better to Die than Be Killed Maybe Ever After Together in Death Damsel in Distress Mighty Whitey Plucky Comic Relief Celebrity Paradox Anachronism Stew I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Love Triangle The End... Or Is It? Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Disney Death Loads and Loads of Characters The Quiet One Affably Evil The Atoner Dropped a Bridge on Him Catch-Phrase Big Brother Instinct A Father to His Men A Minor Kidroduction Reasonable Authority Figure Good Is Not Nice Alas, Poor Villain She Cleans Up Nicely Body Horror No OSHA Compliance Naked People Are Funny Obviously Evil Take a Third Option Drowning My Sorrows Kids Are Cruel Adaptation Name Change The Cameo Empathic Environment Bavarian Fire Drill Have a Gay Old Time Bottomless Magazines Jerk Jock Slasher Movie Eldritch Abomination Overly Long Gag The '60s Silence Is Golden MacGuffin Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Neck Lift Really Gets Around Evil vs. Evil Getting Crap Past the Radar Boom, Headshot! Not Using the "Z" Word Offscreen Moment of Awesome Famous Last Words Danny Peary Cult Movies List Fatal Family Photo Did Not Get the Girl Shut Up, Hannibal! Developing Doomed Characters Sexy Discretion Shot Crazy-Prepared Decoy Protagonist Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Honor Before Reason Spell My Name with an "S" Creative Closing Credits Reality Is Unrealistic Rule of Funny Ax-Crazy Hooker with a Heart of Gold Unspoken Plan Guarantee Leave the Camera Running True Companions Stalker with a Crush Stylistic Suck Depraved Bisexual Animal Motifs timeperiod Tranquil Fury Music Stories Casting Gag Mood Whiplash Rousing Speech N-Word Privileges Fatal Flaw The Big Guy Death by Irony Drives Like Crazy Meet Cute Guns Akimbo Continuity Nod Fanservice Extra A.I. Is a Crapshoot All There in the Script Fiery Redhead Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Noodle Incident Dumb Blonde Bland-Name Product Defrosting Ice Queen All Girls Want Bad Boys The Casanova Pre-Mortem One-Liner Anguished Declaration of Love Pretty Little Headshots Product Placement Downer Ending Took a Level in Jerkass Unusually Uninteresting Sight Word of God Unreliable Narrator Sci-Fi Horror Accidental Misnaming Crapsack World Alliterative Name Wrong Genre Savvy Bi the Way Distracted by the Sexy Contrived Coincidence Central Theme No Celebrities Were Harmed Bilingual Bonus Mundane Made Awesome Fan Disservice Evil Counterpart Punch-Clock Villain Fantastic Racism Handicapped Badass Funny Background Event Heroic Sacrifice Only Known by Their Nickname Film Noir Parental Substitute The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Dull Surprise Love at First Sight Even Evil Has Standards Dirty Old Man Bolivian Army Ending Catapult Nightmare An Aesop Properly Paranoid Eiffel Tower Effect The Remake Death Seeker Double-Meaning Title The X of Y Vacation Films Adorkable Manly Tears Sassy Black Woman Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Blood from the Mouth Closed Circle Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Genre Savvy Spanner in the Works Cluster F-Bomb Dies Wide Open Gilligan Cut Skewed Priorities For the Evulz All There in the Manual Sequel Escalation Corpsing Dramedy Once More, with Clarity! From Bad to Worse Ms. Fanservice Framing Device Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Adaptational Attractiveness Roaring Rampage of Revenge Stock Footage Posthumous Character Unusual Euphemism Meaningful Echo As Himself In Name Only Mooks Suddenly SHOUTING! Room Full of Crazy Very Loosely Based on a True Story The Hero Dies The Reveal Beard of Evil Horror Films Captain Ersatz Older Than They Look Call-Back Age Lift Only Sane Man Mercy Kill Deconstruction The Ace Hollywood Darkness Wicked Cultured Spiritual Successor Title Drop Artistic License – Geography Silent Movie And Starring Homage The Sociopath Pragmatic Villainy Dissonant Serenity Darkest Hour Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Breaking the Fourth Wall Advertised Extra Time Skip Protagonist Title Anti-Hero "The Reason You Suck" Speech Shell-Shocked Veteran Whole Plot Reference Villainous Breakdown Serial Killer Taking You with Me Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Amoral Attorney Male Frontal Nudity Friend to All Children My Beloved Smother Destination Defenestration Cool Old Guy Hate Sink Only One Name Taking the Bullet Defiant to the End Redshirt Army Death by Adaptation Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Ironic Echo Ominous Latin Chanting Film Series Eyepatch of Power Bring My Brown Pants Black Comedy Rape Almost Kiss Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Jerkass Has a Point Not Even Bothering with the Accent Hong Kong Films Nothing Is Scarier Grievous Bottley Harm Toplessness from the Back The '80s Killed Mid-Sentence Undying Loyalty Grey and Gray Morality Drill Sergeant Nasty Author Avatar The Lost Lenore My God, What Have I Done? Blood Knight Dramatic Irony One Steve Limit Public Domain Feature Films Darker and Edgier Knight Templar Cool Old Lady Big Fancy House The Film of the Book Actor Allusion Never Found the Body Frame-Up Playing Gertrude Freudian Excuse Reality Ensues Enemy Mine Shirtless Scene Gorn Self-Deprecation Ambiguous Disorder Improbable Weapon User Rule of Symbolism The Smurfette Principle Let's Get Dangerous! Rule of Cool Driven to Suicide Badass Boast Not So Above It All Sinister Minister An Arm and a Leg Bloody Hilarious Villain Song Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Affectionate Parody Be Careful What You Wish For Scenery Porn Australian Movies Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Tagline '80s Hair Our Vampires Are Different Real Life Foreshadowing Evil Sounds Deep Gender Flip Dramatic Gun Cock Film Noir Index Sealed Evil in a Can Tap on the Head Not So Different Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Early Installment Weirdness Black Best Friend Chase Scene Gone Horribly Right It Can Think May–December Romance Mythology Gag Faking the Dead Improvised Weapon Earn Your Happy Ending B-Movie Extreme Doormat Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Pretty in Mink Agony of the Feet Historical Hero Upgrade It's All About Me Book-Ends Works Set in World War II Black Comedy Broken Bird Expository Hairstyle Change Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Stuff Blowing Up Male Gaze Disguised in Drag Police are Useless Villain with Good Publicity "Shaggy Dog" Story Gratuitous English Fat Bastard Arranged Marriage Adult Fear Fanservice Punny Name The Ditz Fourth Date Marriage Revenge Ascended Extra Costume Porn Combat Pragmatist Daylight Horror Gory Discretion Shot Improbable Aiming Skills Motor Mouth Guile Hero Take That! Fainting Tempting Fate Artistic License – Physics Dirty Cop Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Sir Swears-a-Lot Non-Indicative Name Get Out! Off with His Head! The Mafia Break the Cutie Heel–Face Turn Made of Iron Death by Sex The Un-Reveal Evil Laugh Groin Attack Establishing Character Moment War Is Hell Madness Mantra Badass Longcoat Villain Ball Would Hurt a Child Implacable Man Suspiciously Specific Denial Gold Digger Greater-Scope Villain Psycho for Hire Psychopathic Manchild Deal with the Devil You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Insistent Terminology Peek-a-Boo Corpse It's Personal Unwitting Instigator of Doom Immune to Bullets Arc Words Crazy Jealous Guy Fish out of Water Cassandra Truth Hoist by His Own Petard Intrepid Reporter Artistic License – Biology Call-Forward Humans Are Bastards Pimped-Out Dress Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Author Appeal Dark Is Not Evil Deus ex Machina Horror Comedy Christmas Movies Index Would Hit a Girl Composite Character Yandere Ship Tease Jitter Cam Hair-Trigger Temper Face–Heel Turn Hypocrite Narrator Parental Incest You Have Failed Me Straight Gay Not What It Looks Like Fantasy Films Fate Worse than Death Chekhov's Gunman Dual Wielding Re-Cut Corrupt Corporate Executive Bad "Bad Acting" Kick the Dog Lock and Load Montage Not Quite Dead Ambiguous Ending The Dragon Totally Radical Foregone Conclusion O.O.C. Is Serious Business I'm a Humanitarian Every Car Is a Pinto Police Brutality Country Matters Jerk with a Heart of Gold Red Right Hand NO INDOOR VOICE Thriller Epic Movie Artistic License – Military Bar Brawl Papa Wolf How We Got Here Hell Is That Noise Asshole Victim Historical-Domain Character Four-Temperament Ensemble Never My Fault Action Prologue Scare Chord Light Is Not Good Leaning on the Fourth Wall Up to Eleven World of Ham Rewatch Bonus Even Evil Has Loved Ones Foil Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Sadistic Choice Camp Gay Manipulative Bastard Everyone Has Standards Left the Background Music On Adaptation Expansion Screw the Rules, I Have Money! After the End Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? No Name Given Big Bad Duumvirate Bitch in Sheep's Clothing He Knows Too Much Daddy's Girl Smoking Is Cool Laser-Guided Karma Training Montage Monumental Damage Pay Evil unto Evil Expy Big "NO!" Offscreen Teleportation Novelization Wounded Gazelle Gambit Does This Remind You of Anything? Suspiciously Similar Substitute Same Language Dub Slap-Slap-Kiss Chekhov's Skill Bond Villain Stupidity Freeze-Frame Bonus Creepy Child Ambiguously Gay Well-Intentioned Extremist Cool Shades Credits Gag No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Exact Words Blatant Lies Soft Glass Needs Wiki Magic Love Dying Moment of Awesome Badass in a Nice Suit Token Minority Sequel Hook The Hero Throwing Your Sword Always Works Sacrificial Lion Henpecked Husband Bait-and-Switch Moment Killer No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Large Ham The Lancer Refuge in Audacity Calling the Old Man Out Disney Villain Death Flipping the Bird Cain and Abel No Antagonist Rule of Three Aluminum Christmas Trees Determinator aka: The Determinator Hero of Another Story Brick Joke Retirony Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Butt-Monkey Artistic License – Gun Safety Cool Car Chiaroscuro