History Main / TheNthDoctor

* In the English dub of ''[[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood]]'', when the [[OurHomunculiAreDifferent homunculus]] Greed was [[spoiler:reabsorbed into Father then brought back into a new body]], he changed voice actors from Creator/ChrisPatton to Creator/TroyBaker. Said plot element was in the manga long before the story was adapted into animation and dubbed into English, and it's actually a good old fashioned case of TheOtherDarrin, as Patton had quit the business (both had the same voice in the Japanese version, and later on a character recognizes Greed by his voice) but the timing serendipitously makes it look like this trope.

* In ''Series/BlakesSeven'', the character of Travis (first played by Creator/StephenGreif in the first season, then replaced by Brian Croucher in Season 2) was given a combination of plastic surgery and psychological re-conditioning.

* George Sunday from ''Series/MyHero2000'' is a StarfishAlien using a fake human body, so when Ardal O'Hanlon quit the show in the final season, George lost his body in a poker game and got a new one that looked like James Dreyfus. Characters who didn't know he was an alien were told that he left his wife and that she got a new lodger called George Monday.

* ''[[Film/{{War}} Rogue Assassin]]'' had the whole point of the mystery of the eponymous Assassin having plastic surgery to remain unknown. [[spoiler:We don't actually see any of the eponymous Assassin's face, and instead the one we THINK is the Assassin was actually his last target who took over his identity.]]

* In ''Series/BlakesSeven'', the character of Travis (first played by Stephen Greif in the first season, then replaced by Brian Croucher in Season 2) was given a combination of plastic surgery and psychological re-conditioning.

* George Sunday from ''Series/MyHero'' is a StarfishAlien using a fake human body, so when Ardal O'Hanlon quit the show in the final season, George lost his body in a poker game and got a new one that looked like James Dreyfus. Characters who didn't know he was an alien were told that he left his wife and that she got a new lodger called George Monday.

* In the English dub of ''[[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Pokémon]]'', when Ash upgrades his Pokédex from Professor Oak, he's told that it will also have a new voice.

This is a catch-all for the recasting of a character using an in-continuity explanation. It takes its name from ''Series/DoctorWho'', whose eponymous Doctor is an alien capable of "[[ResurrectiveImmortality regenerating]]" into a new form when mortally wounded. This trope, both in the original show and others which employ it, has two benefits; not only can it increase the series' run by offering a method to depict an immortal main character on a long-running show, it is also a wonderful way to derive drama, with the added bonus of implying that AnyoneCanDie, without having to lose major characters. Depending on the importance of the character, changing him or her in such a way can serve as a "soft reboot" of an ongoing production.

* In the Creator/FUNimation dub of Anime/DragonBallGT, Goku is played by Stephanie Naldony in his kid form, Creator/SeanSchemmel in his Super Saiyan 4 transformation, and Shane Ray in his Golden Ape transformation.
** Yasuhiko Kawazu voiced Goku and his son Gohan's Great Ape forms in Japanese. For the English dub of the original ''Dragon Ball'', Creator/JustinCook provided Great Ape Goku's roars while Shane Ray would voice Gohan's ape form in ''Dragon Ball Z''.
* For the first ''Manga/DragonBall'' anime, Piccolo was given this treatment in the Japanese original with Creator/TakeshiAono voicing the original Demon King Piccolo (and later his good counterpart Kami-sama) whereas Junior (the Piccolo that most people are familiar with) was voiced by Creator/ToshioFurukawa who made the character his own going forward.

* Solomon Grundy works like this. As explained in ''ComicBook/{{Starman}}'', every time he dies, he comes back with a different personality and/or intelligence level (and sometimes even a new appearance). This means he can go from being an evil GeniusBruiser one issue to a KindheartedSimpleton the next.

** Music/ChinaAnneMcClain departed from ''Series/{{Black Lightning|2018}}'' midway through the final season to pursue other venues. Jennifer Pierce was subsequently recast with Laura Kariuki for the final seven episodes, with an in-universe explanation of Jennifer experiencing a power overload and turning into raw energy. When she was reconstructed, she had to live with a new body. However [[spoiler: the GrandFinale reveals that this isn't true, with [=McClain=]'s Jennifer returning, and Kariuki's being exposed as an EnergyBeing posing as her.]]

* In ''Series/BlakesSeven'', the character of Travis (first played by Stephen Greif in the first season, then replaced by Brian Croucher in season 2) was given a combination of plastic surgery and psychological re-conditioning.
* After Greg Serrano (as played by Santino Fontana) leaves ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'' early in season 2, he later comes back in the fourth (and final) season, but this time played by Skyler Astin. Co-creators Aline Brosh [=McKenna=] and Rachel Bloom explain the swap as it being a result of Greg's original completed character arc, and a reflection of how your perception of people (in this case, protagonist Rebecca's) can change over time.
* At the conclusion of the 10th season of ''Series/{{Dallas}}'', Victoria Principal chose to leave the series and as a result her character Pam was severely burned in a tanker explosion. Pam later reappeared in one episode two seasons later, now played by Margaret Michaels, with [[MagicPlasticSurgery some plastic surgery]] to explain the change in appearance.
* ''Series/DeadRingers:'' The TropeNamer was parodied in one sketch, when Tony Blair collapses during an interview, and regenerates into ''Creator/DavidTennant''.

* The TropeNamer is the Doctor from ''Series/DoctorWho'', as mentioned above. The show has its [[TheNthDoctor/DoctorWho own page]].

* In ''Series/{{Gotham}},'' Poison Ivy is onto actor number three as of mid-season four. First, she was a teenager played by the 12-to-13-at-the-time Clare Foley, until a villain who drains people's LifeEnergy and causes RapidAging got a hand on her, not long enough to leave her as the usual ancient-looking corpse but long enough to turn her into the 28-year-old Maggie Geha.[[note]]The writers admit it's because the sex appeal that Poison Ivy is known for in the comics would be {{Squick}}y if they did it with someone so young. The {{Squick}} is not avoided for viewers, who pretty universally say that her merely ''looking'' older makes no difference![[/note]] After a season and a half as Geha, Ivy gets tired of not being taken seriously (she's pretty badass but nowhere near the league of those who control the city's underworld) and concocts a potion to amp up her powers. It causes her to go into a giant pod, and she emerges with a power set more akin to her comics self... and yet a third face, that of Creator/PeytonList. (No, she didn't get back the years the earlier villain stole; she's not Creator/DisneyChannel's Peyton List, but an unrelated 31-year-old actress who's a familiar face at Creator/TheCW. Fans of comic adaptations will recognize her as ''Series/TheFlash2014''’s Lisa Snart/Golden Glider and ''Series/{{Smallville}}''’s Lucy Lane.)

* In the second season of ''Series/JessicaJones'', [[spoiler:Jessica's mother Alisa]] is unrecognizable to Jessica after having extensive facial-reconstruction surgery.
* ''Series/JoanOfArcadia'' and ''Series/TheCollector'' have different actors play {{God}} & TheDevil, respectively. Lampshaded in the first example, where God points out that he/she/it is in reality, beyond all comprehension and so is simply taking AFormYouAreComfortableWith, one that's not always going to look the same. Sometimes they're [[DeadpanSnarker even snippy]], because it's what [[StealthInsult Joan understands]].

* Holly, the A.I. from ''Series/RedDwarf'', became a female character at the end of series 2 and stayed female for the next three series, before later switching back to male.

* On ''Series/{{Sliders}}'', Quinn Mallory's replacement by his non-identical counterpart from another universe, when Creator/JerryOConnell left the show, is half this and half SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute.
** They actually almost never refer to the replacement as "Quinn" or "Q-Ball" (Rembrandt's nickname for the original). Instead, it's always "Mallory". He doesn't seem to mind. Remmy eventually takes to calling him "Fog Boy".
** However, before she warmed up to the gang, Maggie called Quinn "Mallory". As she [[DefrostingIceQueen defrosts]] she gets to FirstNameBasis. Now she gets to go back to calling him "Mallory" despite being on friendlier terms.

*** Parodied on ''Series/{{Friends}}'' (and crossing over with TheBusCameBack) where ''Series/DaysOfOurLives'' exists as a ShowWithinAShow when Joey is brought back to the show by having his character (who had been in a coma for 5 years) receive a brain transplant from a female character who was being killed off. Dr. Drake Remoray was back, but with Jessica Lockhart's mind.

** The Borg Queen's hard to tell. She appears to be destroyed in almost every appearance -- even by way of ''retcon,'' revealing herself to have been on the cube in "The Best of Both Worlds". Yes, her ''debut'' is an UnexplainedRecovery. She's indicated and proven repeatedly that physical death is a minor inconvenience to her, and it's easy to imagine that her data just goes elsewhere when one body's in mortal danger, though that's not said outright. Coincidentally or not, she's sometimes Alice Krige and sometimes Susanna Thompson, and with so much make-up it's hard to tell who is who.
** ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'': A particularly unusual case: Adira (though a human), in a flashback, is shown to have become the subsequent host of their own Trill boyfriend's symbiont after he was [[BuryYourGays tragically killed in an accident]]. However, very much ''contrary'' to standard Trill experience, the boyfriend keeps appearing vividly in Adira's thoughts, an AI detects him as a separate presence and gives him a holographic form, and he may be somehow regaining physical existence later on. On top of that, Adira ''also'' turns out to be a subsequent host of an admiral who the crew is trying to find.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Demons can possess different human bodies, so any demon character can be played by more than one actor. It happened with Lilith in Season 3 and 4, and then with [[spoiler:Ruby/"Kristy"]] between seasons 3 and 4.

* ''Videogame/DawnOfWar'' explains the difference in Space Marine voice actors between instalments as a product of a mutation in one of the many extra BioAugmentation organs that differentiates [[SuperSoldier Space Marines]] from normal humans. Specifically, the organ in their throat which usually allows a Space Marine to spit acid doesn't work properly, and instead causes their voice to change every few years.

* A non-actor example in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}'': As of Season 8, the ninja are redesigned to match their [[WesternAnimation/TheLEGONinjagoMovie movie counterparts]]. It's implied in the [[Recap/NinjagoS8E75TheMaskOfDeception first episode]] of Season 8 that [[ForWantOfANail time travel effects]] from the previous season caused this. However, the ninja still sport their old designs in photographs and flashbacks from before Season 8, calling this explanation into question.
-->'''Cole:''' If someone goes back in time and alters the past, our reality as we know it would change. We could look totally different and not even know it. ''(Takes off mask to reveal new face and hair design)''\\
'''Jay: ''' [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall But we don't.]] ''(Also takes off mask to reveal new design)''
** An actor example also happened in the same episode. As Samuel Vincent replaced Jillian Michaels (to make him sound older like in the movie), the Ninja remark on how Lloyd getting older has deepened his voice.

* The 2021 soft reboot of ''ComicBook/{{Eternals|2021}}'' establishes a resurrection process for the Eternals, which sometimes leads to characters being given vastly different appearances. Sprite and Makkari, for example, change from male to female, while the latter also gains a [[RaceLift darker skin tone]] than previously depicted with. This coincided with the release of [[Film/{{Eternals}} the MCU film]] that same year, giving them justification to depict the characters more in line with the actors playing them.

* This is how Marvel's ComicBook/{{Loki}} works since he erased his name from Hela's books some years ago. Thanks to this move, Loki has no afterlife, basically making death as permanent as it's even possible in a comic book for the character. ''A'' Loki will come back sooner or later if the current one happens to die... it just won't be the same person (changed design, personality, etc.).
* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', it's revealed that the current Despair is not the original – she was killed, and somehow, a new one replaced her. (A [[{{Fanon}} popular but unconfirmed theory]] is that her murderer was punished with the position.) The other Endless still consider Despair II their sister, however. [[spoiler:Eventually, Morpheus dies too, and his appointed heir, Daniel Hall, takes his place. He refers to himself as "Dream", claiming that both "Morpheus" and "Daniel" are, or at least ''feel'' like, different people than who he is now]].

** Bond himself is generally considered more an example of TheOtherDarrin, since the films don't explain his change in appearance. However, in the first movie where Bond's actor changed, the film begins with Bond being rejected by a woman. He then remarks "this never happened to the other fellow!" Some fans have taken this as evidence for the theory that "James Bond" is an alias passed from one 007 agent to the next. The producers of ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' did briefly consider the plastic surgery idea for Bond, but (wisely for the long run) dropped the idea. ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' was supposed to make this theory canon, but ExecutiveMeddling stopped that plan. As was ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' until further ExecutiveMeddling nixed that idea (Creator/DanielCraig's Bond has Creator/SeanConnery's Bond car, all other agents use pseudonyms except 007). [[MindScrew Which raises more questions than it answers, really...]]
** (This theory '' was'' made canon in ''Film/CasinoRoyale1967'', except for that the fact that the film itself is not canon.)

** Following the death of Susan Sheridan, the Hexagonal Phase explains that Trillian has been merged with her alternate-Earth counterpart, Tricia Macmillan, who had appeared in the Quintessential Phase played by Sandra Dickinson (the TV Trillian).

* In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', Zamasu is voiced by Creator/ShinichiroMiki. An alternate version of him [[spoiler:switched bodies with Goku to become Goku Black, leading to his voice actor being changed to Creator/MasakoNozawa.]]

* In the English dub of ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemistBrotherhood'', when the [[OurHomunculiAreDifferent homunculus]] Greed was [[spoiler:reabsorbed into Father then brought back into a new body]] he changed voice actors from Creator/ChrisPatton to Creator/TroyBaker. Said plot element was in the manga long before the story was adapted into animation and dubbed into English, and it's actually a good old fashioned case of TheOtherDarrin, as Patton had quit the business (both had the same voice in the Japanese version, and later on a character recognizes Greed by his voice) but the timing serendipitously makes it look like this trope.

* In the English dub of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', when Ash upgrades his Pokédex from Professor Oak, he's told that it will also have a new voice.

* This is how Marvel's Comicbook/{{Loki}} works since he erased his name from Hela's books some years ago. Thanks to this move, Loki has no afterlife, basically making death as permanent as it's even possible in a comic book for the character. ''A'' Loki will come back sooner or later if the current one happens to die... it just won't be the same person (changed design, personality, etc.).
* In ''Comicbook/TheSandman'', it's revealed that the current Despair is not the original – she was killed, and somehow, a new one replaced her. (A [[{{Fanon}} popular but unconfirmed theory]] is that her murderer was punished with the position.) The other Endless still consider Despair II their sister, however. [[spoiler:Eventually, Morpheus dies too, and his appointed heir, Daniel Hall, takes his place. He refers to himself as "Dream", claiming that both "Morpheus" and "Daniel" are, or at least ''feel'' like, different people than who he is now]].

* Solomon Grundy works like this. As explained in ''Comicbook/{{Starman}}'', every time he dies, he comes back with a different personality and/or intelligence level (and sometimes even a new appearance). This means he can go from being an evil GeniusBruiser one issue to a KindheartedSimpleton the next.

* ''Videogame/{{Ingress}}'': Whatever the Shapers did that brought Roland Jarvis back from the dead also changed his appearance significantly, as the Roland Jarvis that died and the one that came out to greet his agents, thanking them for his revival, were entirely different, despite being the same mind.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'', when Heihachi Mishima's [[Creator/DaisukeGori old voice actor]] died and was replaced with [[Creator/UnshoIshizuka a new one]], they justified it in-universe by having Heihachi reverse his age with an experimental drug. This plot point is introduced in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and re-iterated in ''VideoGame/PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale'' and ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'' for those out of the loop. It then seems strange to have elderly Heihachi with his new voice in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken'' and ''Tekken 7''.

* {{Parodied}} in the ''Website/ClickHole'' article "[[https://clickhole.com/all-the-seinfelds-ranked-1825122591/ All The Seinfelds, Ranked]]", which straight-facedly pays tribute to the various actors who supposedly played the character of Creator/JerrySeinfeld in various seasons, including John Cusack, George Lazenby, Kadeem Hardison ("the first black Seinfeld") and Louis C.K., among others. Also, in one season, the supporting cast is mentioned as "Elaine (Khandi Alexander), George ([=LeVar=] Burton), and Kramer (Eddie Murphy)", without further explanation. What makes this all the more amazing is that the ''actual'' Jerry Seinfeld is on the list... '''as "Peter Harrick"'''.

* In the TV series ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperboy'', Lex Luthor was Nth Doctored through plastic surgery while Superboy himself was Other Darrined.

* {{Parodied}} in the ''Website/ClickHole'' article "[[http://www.clickhole.com/article/all-seinfelds-ranked-1748 All The Seinfelds, Ranked]]", which straight-facedly pays tribute to the various actors who supposedly played the character of Creator/JerrySeinfeld in various seasons, including John Cusack, George Lazenby, Kadeem Hardison ("the first black Seinfeld") and Louis C.K., among others. Also, in one season, the supporting cast is mentioned as "Elaine (Khandi Alexander), George ([=LeVar=] Burton), and Kramer (Eddie Murphy)", without further explanation. What makes this all the more amazing is that the ''actual'' Jerry Seinfeld is on the list... '''as "Peter Harrick"'''.

** Because scheduling conflicts prevented Hugo Weaving from returning in ''Film/MatrixResurrections'', Agent Smith has been reintegrated into the new iteration of the Matrix with a new avatar now played by Jonathan Groff.

* ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'': Mary Alice replaced Gloria Foster as The Oracle because the character's appearance had changed due to The Merovingian being given her "termination code". In reality, this was an ad hoc handwave made up by the writers because Gloria Foster had died.

* The 2021 soft reboot of ''ComicBook/{{Eternals|2021}}'' establishes a resurrection process for the Eternals, which sometimes leads to characters being given vastly different appearances. Sprite and Makkari, for example, change from male to female, while the latter also gains a [[RaceLift darker skin tone]] than previously depicted with. This coincided with the release of [[Film/{{Eternals|2021}} the MCU film]] that same year, giving them justification to depict the characters more in line with the actors playing them.

->''"Splendid fellows... all of you!"''
-->-- '''[[TheBrigadier Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart]]''', ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors "The Five Doctors"]]

** When Megatron was rebuilt as Galvatron in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie'', his voice changed from Creator/FrankWelker to Creator/LeonardNimoy. (Galvatron in the series proper was still voiced by Welker[[note]]with a slightly different pitch to differentiate the two[[/note]] and this vocal change is explained by him being undergoing SanitySlippage due to taking a plasma bath.

** When Megatron was rebuilt as Galvatron in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie'', his voice changed from Creator/FrankWelker to Creator/LeonardNimoy. (Galvatron in the series proper was still voiced by Welker though, but with a slightly different pitch to differentiate the two.)

* To replace the late Peter Jones in the Tertiary Phase of ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', the guide receives an "update" during the first scene of the play. Thanks to some clever editing, the voice of the Guide changes in mid-sentence, and occasionally reverts back for a second, using recycled audio from the original series.

** Music/ChinaAnneMcClain departed from ''Series/{{Black Lightning|2018}}'' midway through the final season to pursue other venues. Jennifer Pierce was subsequently recast with Laura Kariuki for the final seven episodes, with an in-universe explanation of Jennifer experiencing a power overload and turning into raw energy. When she was reconstructed, she had to live with a new body.