History Main / AdaptationalExplanation

This happens a lot with book adaptations of films, where we get a look at the characters' thought processes concerning their actions and extended scenes. The book may be adapted from an early draft of the script, and hence may include explanations and details that ended up being cut from the movie for the sake of pace or brevity (or changed, just to confuse the issue). The tabletop roleplaying game adaptation of a film or book will often include huge amounts of explanation or expansion, because player-characters and scenario plots may want to poke around areas of the setting that didn't feature much in the original. Compare AllThereInTheManual.

* ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'': A couple of unexplained plot threads from the original ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' are given explanations here:

** It's never explainded why the marines that stuffed Gordon in the trash compactor in "Residual Processing" never checked to MakeSureHesDead. Here, examining the control room of the compactor reveals one guard as a Headcrab zombie and the other reduced to LudicrousGibs, implying that Headcrabs teleported into the room and attacked them, with one marine accidentally blowing himself up with a grenade in panic.

* This is the purpose of the ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'' fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/41644779/chapters/104459511 "We finally found something a bit meatier."]]'' Every chapter expands on something from the game, from minor {{Plot Hole}}s (showing how Lanz and Sena went from TeethClenchedTeamwork to best buds literally overnight) to longer backstory expansions (how Triton became Moebius, what the Vandham family was doing while away from the City for centuries).

* This is the purpose of the ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'' fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/41644779/chapters/106016460 "We finally found something a bit meatier."]] Every chapter expands on something from the game, from minor {{Plot Hole}}s (showing how Lanz and Sena went from TeethClenchedTeamwork to best buds literally overnight) to longer backstory expansions (how Triton became Moebius, what the Vandham family was doing while away from the City for centuries).

* In ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', Marinette seems to have no ties to her Chinese heritage and doesn't speak a word of Chinese. In ''Fanfic/TrueSightSecretsOfTheMiraculous'', it is explained that the discrimination Sabine faced in her youth for being the child of a couple of Chinese immigrants made her feel like she didn't belong anywhere, so when Marinette was born, she thought that it would be easy for Marinette to be raised exclusively as a French girl. When Marinette expresses desire to reconnect with her Chinese heritage, Sabine wonders if she didn't go a little overboard since society is more accepting of minorities now that it was during Sabine's youth.

* Jim Sangster's ''Literature/DoctorWhoNovelisations'' style [[https://escapetodanger.net/tag/dimensions-in-time/ adaptation]] of "[[Recap/DoctorWho30thASDimensionsInTime Dimensions of Time]]" has an explanation for why the Rani chooses Albert Square for her scheme, which plays on the nature of ''Series/EastEnders'':

* The anime adaption of ''LightNovel/TheCaseFilesOfJewelerRichard'' introduces [[spoiler:lapis lazuli and ultramarine]] a couple of episodes before it’s actually needed; in the novels, the reader is just meant to assume Richard explaining the properties of this gem happened off screen at some point.

* ''Machinima/FinalFantasyVIIMachinabridged'' does this for the original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' regarding Shinra's plan to use Huge Materia to blow up Meteor. In the original game, no reason was given for the party stopping their plan, making Shinra look like a DesignatedVillain as a result, as Shinra was still trying to stop a meteor from obliterating the planet. In this version, the party members point out how dangerous blowing up Huge Materia in the atmosphere would be, essentially treating it like detonating a magical nuke, which would lead to horrible aftereffects for the planet, thus giving the heroes a good reason to stop Shinra's plan.

* ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'': A couple of unexplained plot threads from the original ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' are given explanations here.

** It's never explainded why the marines that stuffed Gordon in the trash compactor in "Residual Processing" never checked to MakeSureHesDead. Here, examining the control room of the compactor reveals one guard as a headcrab zombie and the other reduced to ludicrous gibs, implying that headcrabs teleported into the room and attacked them, with one marine accidentally blowing himself up with a grenade in panic.
** The original game does state that the HECU is getting pounded by the Xen Invaders and are ultimately forced to flee because of this, but this came off as an InformedAttribute because HECU forces would usually win against the Xenians in individual skirmishes. Here, [[AdaptationalBadass while all NPCs gained several levels in badass, the Xenians took more, and will usually win skirmishes against the HECU]]. Additionally, [[AdaptationExpansion several new scenes are added that emphasize the Xenians' might]], such as two scenes where Alien Crafts use attacks to destroy tanks, and an Emergency Broadcast System announcement reveals that ''they're invading all of New Mexico'', making the retreat look more justified,

* The exact reason the king that Itsuki killed was overtaxing his people was never explained in ''LiteratureTheRisingOfTheShieldHero''. In ''Fanfic/ASpecialKindOfMagic'', his lands had an extremely poor harvest and he's using the taxes to try and recultivate the land.

* The exact reason the king that Itsuki killed was overtaxing his people was never explained in ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero''. In ''Fanfic/ASpecialKindOfMagic'', his lands had an extremely poor harvest and he's using the taxes to try and recultivate the land.

** ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' explains why Harry couldn't use Parseltongue to communicate with the basilisk when he fought it in the chamber. In the book, he never even tried for no adequately explored reason, but in the film, Riddle immediately dissuades him from doing so by telling him that the basilisk will only obey the Heir of Slytherin. [[note]]The book does have Professor Binns explaining that "the Heir of Slytherin alone" can control the monster that lives in the Chamber of Secrets, but at that time it is not yet established that the monster is a basilisk[[/note]]

* The two-hour episode "The Way of the Warrior" in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' had a minor subplot where Drex and some other Klingons assault Garak on the station and a second one where after the Klingons threaten to open fire on Deep Space Nine they dismiss Sisko's threats as "thoron fields and duranium shadows". The novelization of the episode ties these two together -- Drex was assigned by Martok to get intel on [=DS9=]'s defenses, and Garak figured it out. Garak then ''provoked'' Drex and his thugs to beat him up by making them think he had the information. Only Garak had dummied up a fake report by a "Chief [[NiceHat Tam O'Shanter]]" saying that [=DS9=] [[FakeWeakness had minimal weapons and any scans would show false readings]].

* ''Anime/{{Yu-Gi-Oh GX}}'' never explains why some {{Muggles}} have the power to see and communicate with monster spirits. The American dub gives Sartorius a line explaining that monsters choose to reveal themselves to those they trust.