History Main / ReunionShow

Unlike a {{Revival}} series (such as ''Still the Beaver'' and the [[BradyBunchSpinOffs at-one-time-endless progression of sequels]] to ''Series/TheBradyBunch''), the Reunion Show is a one-shot event. (Sometimes, though, reunions can spawn sequels.) Oddly, "in-character" comedy reunions tend to turn serious, if not outright dramatic, while most other shows are not altered.

* The cast of ''{{Film/Matilda}}'' reenacted the film's chocolate cake and pigtail scenes at a 2013 reunion party, which can be seen on its recent Blu-ray release.

*** This is a bit of an odd example, more of a PanderingToTheBase CrossOver, the "reunion" is a reunion for the fans only. Only [[Anime/DigimonAdventure Taichi]] and [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 Daisuke]] ever met each other in canon; the others all exist in their own AlternateUniverse and never met each other to begin with.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' is unique among all TV series as its reunion episodes feature the different actors who have played ''the same character''. To date there have been: "The Three Doctors" (1972-73; featuring the First, Second and Third Doctors); "The Five Doctors" (1983; featuring the first five Doctors, plus a number of former co-stars); "The Two Doctors" (1985, featuring the Second Doctor and popular 1960s companion character Jamie McCrimmon joining the incumbent Sixth Doctor and Peri); "Dimensions in Time" (1993, a special shown as an item during ''Series/ChildrenInNeed'' that featured the Third to Seventh Doctors and various former companions); "Time Crash" (2007 comedy minisode featuring the Fifth and Tenth Doctors); and the two-parter "The Name of the Doctor" and "The Day of the Doctor" (both for the 50th anniversary in 2013) that saw ''every'' Doctor appear in some form. This list does not count additional episodes such as "Mawdryn Undead" (1983) and "School Reunion" (2006) which featured the return of individual cast members from the show's past.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' was a Reunion Game for the voice casts of several Disney classics through the last century; most of the original cast returned (including people such as James Woods as Hades, and {{BRIAN BLESSED}} as Clayton as well as the original voice of Alice and Wendy a good 50 years after the initial films came out). Some of the cast of ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' returned, as did most of ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}'' (save RobinWilliams, who was already recast since the TV series in the 90's), ''{{Disney/Hercules}}'', ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' (save Samuel E. Wright), ''{{Disney/Tarzan}}'', and ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'' (save Jerry Orbach who had since passed away). The most no-shows were ''Disney/TheLionKing'' with only Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa and Cheech Marin as Banzai, and ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' where the entire cast was shooting the sequels and couldn't make it (although Creator/JohnnyDepp supposedly really wanted to do it). Geoffrey Rush did come back to voice Barbossa, but only in Australian copies.

* ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie: 15 Years Later'' (1985) had all the original cast save Larry Hagman, who couldn't participate due to his role on ''{{Dallas}}''; instead, Wayne Rogers served as [[TheOtherDarrin The Other Tony]]. A second reunion movie, ''I Still Dream of Jeannie'' (1991), kept Tony [[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen offscreen]].

* Raymond Burr's ''other'' well-known series, ''Series/{{Ironside}}'', had one shortly before Burr's death in 1993.

* ''TheSixMillionDollarMan'' and ''Series/TheBionicWoman'' had three reunion movies in the late '80s and early '90s; ''Return of the Six-Million-Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman'', ''Bionic Showdown'' (which included some "Next Generation" bionic operatives) and ''Bionic Ever After'', (in which Steve Austin and Jamie Sommers [[TheyDo finally got married]]).

** In a rare case of a specific team coming back entirely on their own, ''Series/NinpuuSentaiHurricaneger'' had a "Ten Years Later" V-Cinema special in 2013.

* ''Theatre/TheOddCouple: Together Again'' (1993) reunited Jack Klugman (Oscar) and Tony Randall (Felix) from the 1970-75 series. The throat surgery that caused Klugman to lose much of his voice was incorporated into the movie.

* "A Reunion ...", the second-season premiere of ''Series/DontTrustTheBInApartment23'', deconstructed this trope. James van der Beek, [[AdamWesting who plays himself as a regular]], regularly turns down his ''Series/DawsonsCreek'' castmates' letters requesting a reunion. June, a fan when she was a teen, tries to suggest that he do it, and succeeds ... only for Chloe to let her know that she writes the letters, so James will feel powerful by rejecting them and thus she can get him to grant any wish of hers. June is undeterred, so Chloe drugs her and then spends six hours showing him [=DVDs=] of bad reunion shows from other shows (like ''Series/TheFactsOfLife Goes to Paris'') and reveals she's been the one writing the letters. James later reconsiders, but finds out from Busy Phillips that his former castmates all still hate him for not paying his share for a final gift to the crew, and won't say no outright but won't do it, either. Undeterred, he corners [[MalcolmInTheMiddle Frankie Muniz]] in the supermarket to pitch an idea for a combined reunion show, but Chloe again foils that. At the end, [[SavedByTheBell Mark-Paul Gosselaar]] appears to persuade James to live in the present, and they have a VikingFuneral for ''Dawson's Creek'' in the Central Park lake.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' was a Reunion Game for the voice casts of several Disney classics through the last century; most of the original cast returned (including people such as James Woods as Hades, and {{BRIAN BLESSED}} as Clayton as well as the original voice of Alice and Wendy a good 50 years after the initial films came out). Some of the cast of ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' returned, as did most of ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}'' (save RobinWilliams, who was already recast since the TV series in the 90's), ''{{Disney/Hercules}}'', ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' (save Samuel E. Wright), ''{{Disney/Tarzan}}'', and ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'' (save Jerry Orbach who had since passed away). The most no-shows were ''Disney/TheLionKing'' with only Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa and Cheech Marin as Banzai, and ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' where the entire cast was shooting the sequels and couldn't make it (although Creator/JohnnyDepp supposedly really wanted to do it). Geoffrey Rush did voice Barbossa, but only in Australian copies.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' was a Reunion Game for the voice casts of several Disney classics through the last century; most of the original cast returned (including people such as James Woods as Hades, and {{BRIAN BLESSED}} as Clayton as well as the original voice of Alice and Wendy a good 50 years after the initial films came out). Some of the cast of ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' returned, as did most of ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}'' (save RobinWilliams, who was already recast since the TV series in the 90's), ''{{Disney/Hercules}}'', ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' (save Samuel E. Wright), ''{{Disney/Tarzan}}'', and ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'' (save Jerry Orbach who had since passed away). The most no-shows were ''Disney/TheLionKing'' with only Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa and Cheech Marin as Banzai, and ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' where the entire cast was shooting the sequels and couldn't make it (although Creator/JohnnyDepp supposedly really wanted to do it).

* In early September 2004, production of a Reunion Show for ''Series/HappyDays'' was announced.

* ''TheLoveBoat: A Valentine Voyage'' came several years after the show's end.

* ''Back to the Streets of San Francisco'' (1992)
* ''TheRockfordFiles'' had several reunion movies in the '90s.

* ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow''

* ''WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' will have one in 2013 titled ''The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex'', where the plot will have a magic spell going awry, [[LiteralSplitPersonality splitting Alex into a good and bad Alex]] and the family must stop the bad clone from [[TakeOverTheWorld taking over the world]].

* ''DoctorWho'' is unique among all TV series as its reunion episodes feature the different actors who have played ''the same character''. To date there have been: "The Three Doctors" (1972-73; featuring the First, Second and Third Doctors); "The Five Doctors" (1983; featuring the first five Doctors, plus a number of former co-stars); "The Two Doctors" (1985, featuring the Second Doctor and popular 1960s companion character Jamie McCrimmon joining the incumbent Sixth Doctor and Peri); "Dimensions in Time" (1993, a special shown as an item during ''Series/ChildrenInNeed'' that featured the Third to Seventh Doctors and various former companions); "Time Crash" (2007 comedy minisode featuring the Fifth and Tenth Doctors); and the two-parter "The Name of the Doctor" and "The Day of the Doctor" (both for the 50th anniversary in 2013) that saw ''every'' Doctor appear in some form. This list does not count additional episodes such as "Mawdryn Undead" (1983) and "School Reunion" (2006) which featured the return of individual cast members from the show's past.

* ''DoctorWho'' is unique among all TV series as its reunion episodes feature the different actors who have played ''the same character''. To date there have been: "The Three Doctors" (1972-73; featuring the First, Second and Third Doctors); "The Five Doctors" (1983; featuring the first five Doctors, plus a number of former co-stars); "The Two Doctors" (1985, featuring the Second Doctor and popular 1960s companion character Jamie McCrimmon); "Time Crash" (2007 minisode featuring the Fifth Doctor); and the two-parter "The Name of the Doctor" and "The Day of the Doctor" (both for the 50th anniversary in 2013) that saw ''every'' Doctor appear in some form. This list does not count additional episodes such as "Mawdryn Undead" (1983) and "School Reunion" (2006) which featured the return of individual cast members from the show's past.

* ''ISpy'' got two. One was a standard made-for-TV movie titled ''I Spy Returns'' that featured Robert Culp and BillCosby reprising their TV roles in a backdoor pilot for a "next generation" spin-off that never sold. And in 1999, Culp and Cosby reunited on Cosby's sitcom - conveniently titled ''Cosby'' for an AllJustADream episode in which Cosby's sitcom character, after watching an episode of ''I Spy'' on TV, dreams that he is Alexander Scott, sharing an adventure with Kelly Robinson (Culp).

* The 1937 ''[[Film/TheLittleRascals Our Gang'' short "Reunion in Rhythm", which takes place at a school reunion, features cameos from four original cast members from the silent era alongside their successors.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent {{Christmas Episode}}s of ''BluePeter'', in which the presenters do a {{Panto}} or {{Musical}} of some sort, often rope in previous presenters to round out the cast.

** The seventh season, ''Anime/DigimonXrosWarsTheYoungHuntersLeapingThroughTime'', brought us a brief meeting of [[Anime/DigimonAdventure Taichi]], [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 Daisuke]], [[Anime/DigimonTamers Takato]], [[Anime/DigimonFrontier Takuya]], and [[Anime/DigimonSavers Masaru]].

** In a rare case of a specific team coming back entirely on their own, ''Series/NinpuuSentaiHurricaneger'' has a "Ten Years Later" V-Cinema special coming in 2013.

* Happens at the end of pretty much all [[RealityShow reality shows]], especially those airing on {{VH-1}}.

** There has been confirmed to be a 15th anniversary movie that will feature the leader of every season ([[CaptainObvious that's seven, for those counting]]), coming in June.