Fanfic / Season 8 Redo

Season 8 Redo is a That '70s Show Fan Fic written by tanith75 that's Exactly What It Says on the Tin: a complete overhaul of Season 8 everyone wishes had never come to exist.

This Alternate Continuity begins after the twenty-first episode "2120 Michigan Avenue" from Season 7, where Hyde's half-sister Angie Barnett is gone, Kelso and Fez are sharing their new apartment, and Jackie and Hyde are still together. However, Redo takes a completely different turn of events than the TV series, such as Kelso staying in Point Place instead of leaving for Chicago, Eric re-evaluating his options rather than take a teaching position in Africa, and Hyde making up his mind about his future with Jackie sooner than we thought.

Most importantly: THERE IS NO RANDY PEARSON.

It can be found here, done in the style of an episodic script.

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Season 8 Redo provides examples of:

• Alternate Continuity: Lampshaded in the synopsis of the fic.
  A new, happy version of the end of Season 7 and all of Season 8. Eric/Donna and Jackie/Hyde never break up. Forget about Eric and Kelso leaving. It doesn't happen here!
• Anachronism Stew: As is the case with the original show, in "Joy to the World", Kelso gets a Rubik's Cube for Christmas. The Rubik's Cube first came on the market in the USA during 1980; this chapter takes place in 1979.
• Ascended Extra
  • Since Laurie permanently returns to Point Place, she's (re)included into the main cast; later down the line, Brooke Bell gets the boost when Kelso gets back together with her.
  • Joanne Stupak also counts, but more-or-less shares the same Drop-In Character status as Bob.
  • Mitch Miller, a semi-recurring enemy of Eric and Fez, gets hired by Eric as his subordinate at The Force; Fenton, another of Fez's enemies (and his and Kelso's landlord), also makes a few more appearances.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: When Laurie returns at the beginning of the fic, this tends to show between her and her "husband" Fez initially, as they seemingly can't stand one another, but over the expanse of a few chapters, little bits of romance and defense of their "marriage" between the two signifies that perhaps they aren't as quick to want a divorce as one may think. It comes full circle when Fez realizes Laurie is the perfect Foil for his "needs" and Laurie feels that Fez is more than enough to keep her satiated and tied to one guy. Lampshaded perfectly by Hyde in "Wonderful Tonight".
  Hyde: It's genius. It's like an X-rated fairytale. The horniest guy alive finds the easiest girl alive and they live happily ever after with their 15 children.
• Artifact Title
  • This fic starts out by redoing Season 8, then segues into a Season 9.
  • This goes double with the That 70's Show title: the fic goes into the early 1980s. Irony abounds, as the actual show ended on January 1st, 1980, 12:00 AM.
• Benevolent Boss: WB to Hyde and Eric. Lavish gifts, X-Mas bonuses and, to top it off for Hyde, a promotion to Vice-President of Grooves. WB explains that his abundant generosity is his way of "sharing the wealth" with those that helped him earn it, though at times it can be a little overwhelming for Hyde.
• Beta Couple: Believe it or not, Fez/Laurie. It's even Lampshaded that the biggest obstacle either had was finding someone to fulfill their respective "needs", and they find just that in each other. Compare Eric/Donna and Hyde/Jackie, whose relationships are much more complicated, especially after Hyde proposes to Jackie.
• Big Damn Heroes: Kelso taking out the armed robber in "Someone Saved My Life Tonight".
• Bigger Is Better in Bed: Hyde; it's repeatedly lampshaded he's "gifted in the pants department".
• Brick Joke: The Stinger in "Tonight's The Night" - the girls DO have a "Secret Hot Girls Club" after all.
• The Bus Came Back: Casey Kelso for Hyde and Jackie's wedding, Grandma Bea, Aunt Paula, Cousin Penny, Uncle Marty, Midge Pinciotti, Roy Keene, Pam Macy, and Chloe the "Slurpee Girl" for Eric and Donna's wedding. Dennis, Hyde's old co-worker from Grooves corporate, also makes an appearance or two.
• Butt-Monkey: Tends to alternate between Kelso and Fez from chapter to chapter; this varies from Kelso initially being the only one without a girlfriend in the group, to Fez getting into his typical "foreigner" hijinks and apparently getting a wedgie on a regular basis.
• Call-Back: Mixed with Continuity Nod, tanith75 really digs out old elements from the previous seasons of the show and inserts them into the fic, such as the Cat Fight between Jackie and Laurie, references to the "Secret Hot Girls Club", and Eric ruining Donna's wedding dress with black shoe polish and pasta sauce.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Jackie gives her mother Pam one hell of a "speech" in the episode "Mother". Given that it is Pam, it's totally justified.
  Jackie: You know what's amazing, Mom, if it weren't for Steven I probably would've ended up just like you - a drunken tramp jumping from one rich man to the next. I mean, that's what you always wanted for me, isn't it? A daughter is a reflection of the mother? That is what you said, right?
  Pam: (frowning her disapproval at Jackie) Jackie, what's happened to you? You were perfect until you started hanging out with these degenerates. (she points towards the gang)
  Donna: (begging Jackie) Jackie, let me hit her. Just once.
  Jackie: All I ever wanted was for us to be a family. You know, I feel sorry for you, Mom. Because you're missing out on me. And I am amazing.
  Hyde: She's perfect.
  HYDE LOOKS A LITTLE SURPRISED AT WHAT HE HAS SAID AND JACKIE TURNS TO QUICKLY SHOOT HIM A SMILE.
  Jackie: Thank you, baby. (the smile is gone and she turns back to Pam) But I don't need you anymore, Mom. I already found my perfect family.
  Pam: Jackie, I'm your family.
  Jackie: No you're not. (she turns around and points to the gang gathered behind her) They are. (she turns back to Pam and looks her up and down) You're just the person who gave birth to me. And I bet you would've hired someone to do that if you could've. (she pauses and then gives Pam a cold smile) Bye, Mom. Enjoy your life.
• Digging Yourself Deeper
  • Eric has virtually mastered the art of making an awkward or bad situation that much worse; Hyde, Kelso, and the others are also prone to this, just not nearly as often as Eric. It's even brought up with Call Backs to earlier seasons on just how many different ways Eric can "Formanize" a situation.
  • See the What the Hell, Hero? entry with regards to Hyde.
• Drop-In Character
  • Bob, more so than usual, which is the focus of the sub-plot with Red and Kitty in "Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude". It's enough that Red actually looks up Joanne so that Bob can have someone to spend time with, as long as it's not him and Kitty. This ultimately culminates with Bob and Joanne getting married.
  • Leo doesn't get much screen time, either, and isn't part of any sub-plot focus in the chapters.
• Dumb Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Hyde and Jackie describe Kelso as this to Brooke after the two get into an argument over him obssessing about seeing his former flame Pam Macy with the "flower guy".
  Hyde: Kelso's like a really nice coffee machine without a filter. You can try like hell to make a good cup of coffee; but without that filter it's gonna taste like grainy, crappy beans in water. Kelso's missing his filter. So, no matter what he tries to say, it comes out tasting like crap.
  Jackie: So it's your job to sift through the crap and get to the good stuff. You're, like, the strainer in his crappy cup of coffee.
  Hyde: That's right. So forget about the whole Pam thing and try to concentrate on the fact that you are the proud owner of one really nice looking coffee maker... and the grocery store is perpetually out of filters.
• Epic Fail: When given a map of the United States, Kelso can't even find Florida.
• Everyone Has Standards: The presence of Grandman Bea, Uncle Marty, and Aunt Paula at Eric and Donna's wedding even has Bob wanting to run for the hills.
  Bea: I knew something like this was bound to happen. Kitty, you smothered him so much, he's acting out.
  Marty: No, that's not it. It's because he feels unloved. He's crying out for help.
  Paula: (to Bea and Marty) Now let's not judge Red and Kitty, they've done the best they could with what they had to work with.
  (Bob stops by Red's chair, Red is watching the entire scene, silently fuming.)
  Bob: Remember the days when I was the only person around that pissed you off?
  Red: (nodding with a frown) Yep. Those were good times.
• Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Well, more like "Morally Ambiguous Parents", but both Hyde and Jackie have shown that they want what's best for their kids. Hyde makes a vow to cut back on the Circle and to no longer keep "stashes" in the house so that his kids can live a clean life. Jackie decides to have Jagger and Layla baptized so that they have a sense of community and something to believe in, an opportunity that she and Hyde never really had growing up in their respective families, as Brooke lampshades in "Beautiful Child."
• Foreshadowing
  • On each occasion that Pam shows up to a special occasion involving her daughter, Jackie seems less and less excited at the notion of seeing her and listening to her ideals and and notions of "good parenting" like drinking to help with the contractions and money making a "good" gift for her child, the latter a justified point since everyone else, including Hyde's wealthy father, had all gotten Jackie personal gifts instead of just money for her baby shower. This foreshadows Jackie's Character Development from a socialite snob like her mother into a more well-rounded snob that isn't nearly as disapproving of those supposedly beneath her, and eventually disassociating from her mother completely.
  • In a similar but different way, Eric's inevitable shock over The Empire Strikes Back is hinted at in "I Go Crazy" (where Eric freaks out over the Empire previews from The Muppet Movie) and "Carry On Wayward Son" (Eric and Mitch are upset over the Empire poster). On the other hand, both moments involve the Han Solo/Princess Leia aspect and not... well, you know.
  • In "Beautiful Child", the gang discuss the last time they each had sex at church. When Hyde claims it was after the 1978 Christmas Pageant, Kelso wonders how that's possible, since he and Jackie were still dating then. Jackie deliberately dodges the question. In "That's How The Whole Thing Started", Jackie explains to Donna and Laurie what really happened after the pageant.
• Flash Forward: "Don't Do Me Like That", where the gang goes to see The Empire Strikes Back, has a scene in the epilogue with the gang watching Return of the Jedi. Just like with Leia being in love with Han and the "Luke, I Am Your Father" moment from Empire, Eric freaks out over Luke and Leia being twins.
• Frozen in Time: Averted; Season 8 Redo lets the characters move on from the 1970s into the early 1980s.
• Guest Star: John Travolta as obstetrician Dr. Fontana and John Schneider as Midge's new husband Marsh Matthews.
• Headdesk: While Kelso is overhearing Donna and Hyde in "Second Hand News" (who are, unbeknownst to him, assembling a crib), he eventually begins banging his head quietly against a wall.
• Heroic BSoD: Near the end of "I Go Crazy", the news that Jackie is having twins causes Hyde to freeze up and become unresponsive. Not even "the Circle" helps.
  Eric: (paranoid) Should we be concerned that we've been at this for an hour now and Hyde still hasn't talked?
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Sticks with the show's tradition of song titles from the 1970s for chapter titles, but goes with songs from multiple bands rather than just one.
• Incest Subtext: Just when one thinks Eric's Star Wars dream couldn't be weirder with "Luke Skywalker" (him) losing all the "Princess Leias" (Donna, Brooke, Jackie) to "Han" (Hyde), turns out there's one "Leia" left who'll give him a chance...Laurie. Eric reacts appropriately.
• Insult Backfire: In "Second Hand News", when Jackie is manning the register at The Force, she insults one of the customers in the following way, which causes him to buy more merchandise.
  Jackie: Is that all you're buying? Come on, get something else. I know you don't have any bills because you probably still live at home and there's no way you have a girlfriend to buy things for. So, why don't you just go pick out more toys and spend all of your money. (with a peppy smile) It'll make you feel all happy inside.
• Irony: Funny in how "Someone Save My Life Tonight", which deals with an armed robber attempting to rob the "Grooves" record store, opens with the girls watching J.R. get shot. Lampshaded by Laurie.
  Laurie: Wow. It seems kind of funny now that we got so worked up about J.R. getting shot.
• Left Hanging: Seemingly the case for Donna, Laurie, and Jackie herself in "That's How The Whole Thing Started". Jackie giving Hyde an Art Garfunkel record in the Forman basement is the last thing she says she remembered from the Flashback to post-Christmas in 1978, when the two slept together in the church basement. Readers, however, find out a little more about what happened after Jackie left - Hyde listens to the record and it's implied he realizes he definitely is in love with Jackie and vice versa, and it's not going to end well if (and when) Kelso finds out.
  • This may also explain why Hyde wasn't nearly as opposed to hooking up with Jackie in the fifth season of the show, as it was then that Jackie truly became infatuated with him.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Donna and Eric, Bob and Joanne
• Mr. Fanservice: Hyde deliberately invokes this in "Baby Come Back" to get Jackie to forgive him for missing out on seeing A Christmas Carol, coming out of the shower in Donna's house in a towel and pretending to work out the kinks in his "sore body". Donna and Jackie both know what he's trying to do, but Jackie just can't help herself.
  Jackie: What am I supposed to do, Donna? He's all wet and sexy looking.
• Mundane Utility: At one point, when a ton of snow gets dumped on Point Place, Kelso and Fez use skis and snowshoes, respectively, to get to the Forman house as Kelso's car gets blocked in.
• My Beloved Smother
  • Invoked by Kitty in "Family Affair" as part of a Batman Gambit to get Eric and Donna to move into their new house sooner than later by spoiling them, something Eric had become well accustomed to, then serving them breakfast in bed...while the two were about to do it. It works.
  • Earlier in "Someone Saved My Life Tonight", Kitty insists and lampshades on doing this to Eric and Hyde after the robbery, or else she will have a mental breakdown.
• Noodle Incident: A few are mentioned, like when the gang goes to Florida and Fez gets "stuck in a revolving door again", according to Eric.
• Not So Above It All: In "C'mon Everybody", the gang only goes to a Star Wars convention with Eric for the swank hotel rooms and the free cable porn. At the end of the chapter, Eric and the guys are mock-lightsaber dueling at the convention; even the girls get in on it.
• Not What It Looks Like: The driving force of "Second Hand News" - Kelso thinks Hyde and Donna are having an affair when in reality they are buying and putting together a baby crib for Jackie.

• Off the Rails: Any wedding celebrations involving the gang are bound to be fraught with shenanigans, but the Eric/Donna wedding takes the cake when Pam Macy's return has Kelso at odds with Brooke, Eric's cousin Penny gets Jackie's hackles raised over the former having an one-time makeout session with Hyde years ago, and all the kids end up in jail after getting into a big bar fight. W.B. bails out Hyde and Jackie, and later on Red bails out Eric and the others, but not before explaining to Eric that the wedding isn't the only thing going "off the rails" at the moment...
  Red: (angrily) Do you have any idea the state your mother is in right now?
  Eric: (dryly) Um...is it Wisconsin?...Ok, that was really uncalled for, I'm sorry.
  Red: I had to call the zoo and get some elephant tranquilizers just to get her calm enough to have a glass of wine. She's trying to plan a wedding, while fending off her evil mother and loopy sister, and then she finds out that all of her children are in jail. That made her just a little upset. No...(He pauses and gives a sarcastic smile) I take that back. The Cuban Missile Crisis made her a little upset. You, Laurie and Steven in jail has made her a lunatic.
• Only Sane Man: Brooke, most of the time, though this is played with whenever she gets tipsy.
• Open-Minded Parent: W.B. is definitely not above spreading the wealth to his son, his daughter-in-law, and his grandchildren, giving Hyde and Jackie a two-week pass to Hawaii for their honeymoon, buying loads of gifts for his future grandkids, and promoting Hyde to vice-president of the Grooves record company.
• Pair the Spares: Hilariously enough, Mitch/Fenton
• Personality Swap: In "What a Fool Believes", Hyde has a dream where everyone in the gang experiences this. No one is happy.
• Pursue the Dream Job: In "Takin' Care of Business", W.B. offers up what seems like an absolute dream opportunity for Eric - Managing his own "Star Wars" souvenir store. Eric is initially hesitant because it means he stays in Point Place for the foreseeable future, as well as wanting to discuss it with Donna first, figuring she would be leaning more towards wanting him to become a teacher. As it turns out though, Donna was just glad Eric wanted to find a job in the first place, no matter what it was, and is adamant about him taking the job so that they can stay in Point Place with their friends and families. Eric ultimately accepts the job.
• Put on a Bus: Angie does not appear in the fic; explained In-Universe - Hyde states W.B. discovered she was sleeping with Kelso, so he had her transferred to Los Angeles.
• Racist Grandma: The basis behind Pam's reasoning that her opponent won't be elected as head of the "LOPPs" (Ladies Of Point Place) is that she's black, despite the fact she's just as high in society as Pam or any other rich people in Point Place.
  • Pam also insists to Jackie that she tell no one about Hyde's biological father William "W.B." Barnett and origins, something that sends Jackie into Heroic BSoD and ends up being the last straw as far as tolerating Pam's ignorance and involvement (or lack thereof) in her family's life.
• Retool: tanith75 goes with the notion that Penny is Aunt Paula's daughter, using Kitty's statement from the show that she was there when Penny's mother gave birth to her.
• Running Gag: Aside from the usual circle moments, Red threatening to "put his foot up someone's ass" and Kelso's "Ow! My eye!", the act of "frogging" someone (arm-punching and/or head-smacking) is rather abundant in Season 8 Redo than usual.
• Side Bet: One is made during Hyde and Jackie's wedding to see how long Hyde wouldn't Freak Out without his sunglasses. Jackie wins...except Hyde is also in on the bet.
• Sincerity Mode: Hyde, normally a master Deadpan Snarker, is completely earnest and straight-forward when Eric tells him he plans to propose to Donna again.
  Hyde: Forman, you weren't here to see Donna after you didn't show up for the wedding. She was really hurt, man...I'm telling you, man, if you do this again, if you propose to her and you bail...you won't get Donna back this time.
• Taking the Bullet: Readers see in "Somebody Saved My Life Tonight" that Hyde is perfectly willing to put Jackie's life ahead of his when a robber holds up Grooves with a gun, telling the thief to keep the gun pointed at him instead of her.
• Tranquil Fury: In "Somebody Saved My Life Tonight", it takes every ounce of Zen for Hyde to not beat an armed robber into a bloody swath on the floor when they point their gun at Jackie.
  Hyde: Point. The gun. At me.
• Very Special Episode: The closest readers get this is in "Someone Saved My Life Tonight", which deals with the gang facing an armed robber at Grooves and the repercussions of it. ...No, no one dies or gets shot; rather, this is the emotional kind of repercussion.
• Viewers Are Goldfish: Near the end of "What a Fool Believes", following (among other things) Hyde's Personality Swap dream and him briefly explaining it to Donna ("Let's just say I've seen a different side to all of us and it ain't pretty, Donna."), there's a scene of Eric and Donna talking in the Forman driveway. However, the trope is in effect due to the choice of background music - "Just the Way You Are" by Billy Joel.
• What the Hell, Hero?
  • Hyde seems to have a bad habit of stepping in this when it comes to handling Jackie and her pregnancy, with the first instance coming in "Oh Daddy" when Jackie tries to tell Hyde the news, but gets blown off by him as he's ticked off at Kelso and Fez over the Father's Day barbeque being ruined.
  • In another occasion during "Sweet Emotion", due to Jackie's pregnancy mood swings, Hyde digs himself deeper and deeper by unintentionally calling her "fat", "ridiculous", "stupid" and "nuts". The rest of the gang is legitimately pissed at him.
  • Earlier still in "Get It Right For The First Time", after Hyde proposes to Jackie in "Question", he doesn't remember on account of being too drunk the night before that he proposes to her again, this time in front of his friends and family.

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