Lets have fun: Popular story descriptions turned on their head

[Rater202]

A couple more:

After getting a promotion, a middle-aged man feels out of place in the world. His midlife crisis runs headlong into that of an old acquaintance, whose wife has recently passed away. The two men struggle together, each trying to carve out a place in the world for themselves. Herman Melville is referenced fairly frequently.

In order to save a beautiful princess from a fearsome dragon, a lord makes a bargain with a disgusting, hideous monster, only to discover that this bargain may not end up working out in the lord's favor.

I'll stick the answers in spoilers if no one gets them.

The second one is clearly Shrek.

[Hiro Protagonest]

In order to save a beautiful princess from a fearsome dragon, a lord makes a bargain with a disgusting, hideous monster, only to discover that this bargain may not end up working out in the lord's favor.

Shrek, of course. I haven't even seen it in ages.

[Celestia]

A youth is abandoned by his father then witnesses the murder of his mother. He flees his home for many years, and when he returns, the whole place burns to the ground.

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Bambi

The main character enslaves numerous sentient beings and pits them against one another in gladiatorial combat.

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Pokémon

An eccentric and possibly unhinged individual terrorizes the locals with various bizarre divides before finally creating a machine that leads to the destruction of the entire city.

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Cloudy With a Chance for Meatballs

Two children from opposite worlds become unlikely friends, but are forcibly split and grow up separately. After reuiniting, an unfortunate accident leads to hatred and resentment tearing them apart again, and one attempts to murder the other.

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The Fox and the Hound

Two individuals terrorize children for sadistic pleasure. When the local authority attempts to detain and punish them, they brainwash him into following their commands and order him to run through the streets without his clothes whereupon he is almost killed by a vicious criminal.

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Captain Underpants

[Benthesquid]

A couple more:

After getting a promotion, a middle-aged man feels out of place in the world. His midlife crisis runs headlong into that of an old acquaintance, whose wife has recently passed away. The two men struggle together, each trying to carve out a place in the world for themselves. Herman Melville is referenced fairly frequently.

Wrath of Khan?

[russdm]

I apologize for believing people here were more capable than they appear to be, since apparently the plot is completely required before anyone can guess. Can't be vague because that would be to hard....

A few that I can think of:

1) An order of religious followers fight against another order of religious followers while a member of one of those orders reacts blandly to everything that happens, then passes up an opportunity to fix problems causing a bunch of people to die. Oh, and a woman dies, so he kills someone, leading to adventure! as an escaped criminal.

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Kingdom of Heaven

2) A leader of a band of heroes forcibly co-opts his followers to take on one more mission despite promises they could go free, then gets nearly all of them killed, and then joins forces with their enemies to fight even more enemies.

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King Arthur

3) A group of individuals with an unique perspective on life have a rather violent disagreement over the fact.

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Highlander

4) A religious icon is sought by crazies and a guy that if he hadn't gotten involved much, the crazies would never have found it.

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Raiders of the Lost Ark

5) The same guy from above helps more crazies find another religious icon, which he could have avoided, but the guy is a bit daft.

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The Last Crusade

6) A bunch of soldiers help a bunch idiot scientists try to fix up their mess but, this being scientists, everybody dies. Well, nearly everyone.

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Doom Movie

7) A hero with good intentions promptly wrecks everything by being heroic, helping the bad guy win a plan that makes little sense beyond "For the Evulz"

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A Song of Ice and Fire

8) A group of heroes tries to save people, while fighting against their kind lead by a person that has a point, but is evil just cause.

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X-Men

9) A Villain tries to save their homeworld, but are opposed by the Heroes on a technicality that could have been fixed easily enough and to another group's benefit.

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Third Transformers Movie

[Mato]

Persuasive cop convinces a man to stop smoking before killing his drug addicted replacement.

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Robocop 2

Broken. Is. Narrative. The.

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Memento

A doctor spends several months attempting suicide after a car accident and his partners leave him when he needs them the most.

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Dr Strange

Thin guy in a green suit with questionable motives steals your private data before 9/11 makes it legal.

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Batman Forever

Mostly male space crew attempt to raise a child, only female on board blows the ship up and loses the child through the air lock.

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Alien

[Cikomyr]

I apologize for believing people here were more capable than they appear to be, since apparently the plot is completely required before anyone can guess. Can't be vague because that would be to hard....

You just cant be bothered to put more than 15 seconds of work into each ones.

I am sorry (nah, not really), but even with you revealing the titles, i wouldnt even have came even close to guessing half of them.

[The Glyphstone]

A hero defeats a villain.

That's enough to identify which story I'm thinking of, right?

[Razade]

A hero defeats a villain.

That's enough to identify which story I'm thinking of, right?

Is it...The Secret Life of Pets?

[Lord Raziere]

A hero defeats a villain.

That's enough to identify which story I'm thinking of, right?

Clearly your actually referring to.....A villain defeats a hero! what a masterful display of turning the story on its head! Greater than that time The Villain Is Not the Protagonist's Father, I mean what I twist! You thought it was the protagonists father, but it was just the villain!

[sparky9042]

The second one is clearly Shrek.

Shrek, of course. I haven't even seen it in ages.

Wrath of Khan?

Yep. Clearly I need to step my game up here.

A smuggler legitimate businessman sets up shop in a military base, but his job becomes difficult when the base is captured by a different army and the base becomes strategically and logistically important. Worse, for some reason both of the people who hold the military base choose to hire the same sheriff.

A red-haired man is in love with two women, one blond and the other brunette, and has difficulty deciding between the two. His friend, rather than partake in romance, offers often-cryptic and sarcastic commentary about those involved in the love triangle and life more generally.

[Cikomyr]

Yep. Clearly I need to step my game up here.

A smuggler legitimate businessman sets up shop in a military base, but his job becomes difficult when the base is captured by a different army and the base becomes strategically and logistically important. Worse, for some reason both of the people who hold the military base choose to hire the same sheriff.

Thats a good one! Deep Space 9 : The Life of Quark

A red-haired man is in love with two women, one blond and the other brunette, and has difficulty deciding between the two. His friend, rather than partake in romance, offers often-cryptic and sarcastic commentary about those involved in the love triangle and life more generally.

That one was easy ;) Archie and his Harem


Lemme try another:

A prince desperately tries to limit the consequences of his brother's obsession to throw the peaceful kingdom into a genocidal war. He stages a masterful plot to both have the King realize the danger of his brother's warmongering as well as showing off his unfitness to assume the throne.

Sadly, the prince discovers his father still irrationally favors the outcast warmongerer over him.

During that time, the outcast prince meets girls, have lots of drinks and gets into brawls against local authorities.

[JeenLeen]

A runaway annoys his family and town after being forced to move to the family estate. Despite (or because of?) wacky antics with the aid of a talking bird, his nerdy sister, and his streetwise friends, he manages to gain the trust of the family and town just in time to save the day.

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Wildbow's Pact

It was hard to write such that it wouldn't spoil the book for someone who hadn't read it.

[Wookieetank]

A small town group of friends playing at being murderhobos experiment with advanced physics and end up on the run from a government agency. One of their friends goes missing and the missing friend's mom and brother cope with the loss in ever increasingly unstable ways.

[thirsting]

A metal can full of apparent sentients (so small!) appears. Interesting! They tickle you with beams (communication attempt?). You try your darnest to be friendly towards your visitors, even rummaging through their memories to remake their dearest past acquaintances. They try to annihilate the constructs? Lets try again. Maybe they like them this time. ..... No. Nope. Oh it's no use, they just don't get it. Fine, be by yourself then, tiny can-sentients.
I think I'm bad at this

Spoiler: Book, or either of the movies

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Solaris

[thatSeniorGuy]

A small town group of friends playing at being murderhobos experiment with advanced physics and end up on the run from a government agency. One of their friends goes missing and the missing friend's mom and brother cope with the loss in ever increasingly unstable ways.

Stranger Things?

[Dragonexx]

Can anyone guess this?

A young terminally ill boy is visited by a dictator and declared by him his successor in an attempt to loophole a tenet of his religion. Instead the boy survives and usurps control of the dictators kingdom, and then being declared a messianic figure proceed to usurp more leaders in an increasingly escalating war that ends with the destruction of all life. On the side, there's child abduction, bio-terrorism and oppressive government actions.

[sparky9042]

Thats a good one! Deep Space 9 : The Life of Quark



That one was easy ;) Archie and his Harem

The first one is correct, the second... well, that would be too easy. But no, that description wouldn't really be turning the premise of Archie Comics on its head.

[Cikomyr]

The first one is correct, the second... well, that would be too easy. But no, that description wouldn't really be turning the premise of Archie Comics on its head.

Damn it. Care to give more clues?

[Wookieetank]

Stranger Things?

Yup!

Unable to cope with being at peace with their more powerful neighboring country, a group of terrorists commit a continent wide spree of crimes ranging from prison breaking a known traitor, destroying an entire military fleet with a WMD, and consorting with supernatural creatures among other things. Ultimately they end up assassinating the more powerful country's leader, only to end up right where they started, at peace with the neighboring country.

[Kato]

To my embarrassment I'm afraid I can't contribute to any open question
But I have a few new ones. I feel I saw the first one somewhere but... The others are less well known but more straight described I think.

A senior employee sees his position threatened by a new, more "modern" but mentally unstable coworker. But both are forced to work together to not only keep their job but likely also their life, saving a few others from a psychopath along the way.

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Toy Story

Speaking of psychopath, a few characters with varying degrees of mental instability ranging from idiocy to genocidal sociopathy, are hired and later forced to commit heroic acts only to in the end be upstaged by "true heroes".

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8 Bit Theater. Oh, wait, we're meant to twist this, right?

Also, a young person is confused about their sexuality, which is worsened by a tendency to attract people of both genders and their father's plan to elope them to every available person on the planet for his own benefit. Also, they need to protect their life by mastering a variety of skills, nobody should ever need to use in self defense.

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Ranma 1/2

[Hiro Protagonest]

which is worsened by a tendency to attract people of both genders

This line alone makes it too obvious, as someone who has only ever read a quick blurb on it.

[Cikomyr]

A prince desperately tries to limit the consequences of his brother's obsession to throw the peaceful kingdom into a genocidal war. He stages a masterful plot to both have the King realize the danger of his brother's warmongering as well as showing off his unfitness to assume the throne.

Sadly, the prince discovers his father still irrationally favors the outcast warmongerer over him.

During that time, the outcast prince meets girls, have lots of drinks and gets into brawls against local authorities.

Nobody guess

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Thor

?

Darn.

[Durkoala]

Can anyone guess this?

A young terminally ill boy is visited by a dictator and declared by him his successor in an attempt to loophole a tenet of his religion. Instead the boy survives and usurps control of the dictators kingdom, and then being declared a messianic figure proceed to usurp more leaders in an increasingly escalating war that ends with the destruction of all life. On the side, there's child abduction, bio-terrorism and oppressive government actions.

Spoiler: guess

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Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom?

Umm... A boy is stranded far from his home in the process of meeting a girl. Despite their dislike, they band together for a long journey back to his home and fall in love. Pursuing them is the girl's adoptive father, and part of their journey is uncovering the world-changing discoveries of her deceased mother. At the end of the story, the girl meets her remaining biological family in the boy's hometown and they come to terms with her existence.

[An Enemy Spy]

Mostly male space crew attempt to raise a child, only female on board blows the ship up and loses the child through the air lock.

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Alien

That's actually wrong. There were two female members of the crew.

[DataNinja]

A man illegally defying industrial progression is suddenly kidnapped by his friend, who has in actuality been living undercover for a decade in service to his job. Despite protests, the man is dragged along as his friend joins up with a high-ranking government official, who is currently on the run for theft. Despite being pursued relentlessly by law enforcement, the official seems to be more interested in chasing legends, and finding a place to eat.

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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[Kato]

This line alone makes it too obvious, as someone who has only ever read a quick blurb on it.

Really? Damn...
How about...

A young athlete is pressured into joining a terrorist organization attempting to overthrow the government and with little choice in that regard at least gets to pick between a childhood friend and a somewhat obsessive stalker. (the stalker wins)

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Mockingjay trilogy

[theNater]

Alright, I'm gonna give one a try.

A deranged criminal genius travels far and wide; slaughtering, rescuing, and kidnapping people according to his own mercurial whims. Those who attempt to stop him tend to fare poorly, to the point that multiple governments have agreed to give him free reign within their jurisdictions in the hopes that his ire will more frequently fall on their enemies than on themselves.

I can provide more hints for those who want, but for those who just want the answer:

Spoiler: The Answer

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Doctor Who

[Pex]

Lost girl commits manslaughter, twice, holding onto stolen goods and picks up strangers. They seek a genie to grant them their wishes, but he turns out to be a fakir.

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The Wizard Of Oz

Sprinter scientist can only save the world with the help of smarter people all the while crying for his mommy.

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The Flash CW tv series

New Year's Eve party gets literally tipsy. Small group defies authority to climb to the bottom.

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The Poseidon Adventure

[sparky9042]

A red-haired man is in love with two women, one blond and the other brunette, and has difficulty deciding between the two. His friend, rather than partake in romance, offers often-cryptic and sarcastic commentary about those involved in the love triangle and life more generally.

Damn it. Care to give more clues?

The previously-mentioned friend who isn't partaking in romance is dealing with a chronic health issue, the causes of and his responses to which are the source of serious tension between him and his family.