Body swap

A body swap is a storytelling device seen in a variety of fiction, most often in TV shows and movies, in which two people (or beings) exchange minds and end up in each others' bodies. Alternatively, their minds may stay where they are as their bodies adjust.

There are two distinct types of body swapping. Switches caused by magic items such as amulets, heartfelt wishes, or just strange quirks of the universe typically reverse after the subjects have expanded their world views, gained a new appreciation for each others' troubles by literally "walking in another's shoes" and/or caused sufficient amounts of farce. Notable examples include the books Vice Versa (1882), [1] Freaky Friday (1972) [2] as well as the film versions of both.

Switches accomplished by technology, exempting gadgets advanced sufficiently to appear as magic, are the fare of mad scientists. Body-swapping devices are characterized by highly experimental status, straps, helmets with complicated cables that run to a central system and a tendency to direly malfunction before their effects can be reversed. Those without such means may resort to brain transplants. Such experiments can have overtones of horror; evil mad scientists seldom use willing test subjects.

The 1989 film Identity Crisis parodies the body-swap films by having its two characters share the same body, switching between personalities whenever struck, hit, or smacked. [3] The 1984 film All of Me also portrays two characters sharing one body - in this case Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin. [4]

On the internet, many amateur authors write and share body swap stories with one another. Fictionmania is a website publishing and archiving transgender fiction, much of it focusing on male-to-female body swaps. [5]

Science

While swapping bodies remains fictional as of 2008, scientific research points to the possibility of head transplants, whole-body transplants, or mind transfers somewhere in the future.

In 1973 a group of scientists from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland Ohio, led by Dr. Robert White, a neurosurgeon inspired by the work of Vladimir Demikhov, transplanted the head of one monkey onto another monkey's body.[6] [7] The animal was still able to smell, taste, hear, and see.[8] The animal survived for eight days after the operation, even at times attempting to bite some of the staff. [9] In 2001 the operation was successfully repeated again on a monkey by the aforementioned Dr. White. [10]

In 2002, other head transplants were also conducted in Japan involving rats.[11] Unlike the head transplants performed by Dr. White, however, these head transplants involved grafting one rat's head onto the body of another rat that kept its head. Thus the rat ended up with two heads.

Appearances in Media

List of movies with body swaps

18 Again (1988) George Burns and his grandson. [12] [13]
A Saintly Switch (1999) (TV) NFL Quarterback and his wife. [14]
Alison's Birthday Young girl and old crone.
Body Switch Old scientist and teenage boy.
Dame Tu Cuerpo Football team coach and young female ex-model.
Dating the Enemy Boyfriend and Girlfriend [15]
Dogmatic A man and his dog.
Dream a Little Dream Elderly man and young teenager.
Every Dog Has His Date A man and his dog.
Freaky Friday Mother and daughter. Note that Disney has produced several different versions (1976, 1995, and 2003) [16] [17] [18] [19]
Help, I'm a Boy Boy and girl. [20]
The Hot Chick Clive (Rob Schneider) and Jessica (Rachel McAdams) [21] [22]
Scooby-Doo Shaggy, Fred, Daphne and Velma accidentally swap their minds in one scene.
The Immortalizer Mad scientist swaps rich elderly people with young kidnap victims.
It's a Boy Girl Thing Male teen and neighbor girl. [23] [24]
Just Follow Law Supervisor and Subordinate.
Like Father Like Son Father and son.
Mulholland Drive Several or all of the characters are portrayed with other's names.
Pon un Hombre en tu Vida Male sports coach and female singer. [25]
Prelude to a Kiss Bride and mysterious old man. [26] [27]
Sex, Drugs, and Natalie Portman Male teen and neighbor girl. [28]
Shrek the Third Donkey and Puss in Boots
Skeleton Key Voodoo horror movie starring Kate Hudson.
Soowitch Man and woman. [29]
Vice Versa Father and son.
Wish Upon a Star Girl and her sister.
Xchange Multiple sci-fi bodyswaps.

List of TV shows with body swaps

2 Stupid Dogs-In the episode both the dogs might have swtched their bodies or their personalities.
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius - Jimmy and Cindy in the episode "Trading Faces".
American Dragon: Jake Long - "Switcheroo" - Jake and Haley switched bodies due to a magic mirror, then later Huntsboy #88 and #89 switch because of the mirror as well.
Angel - Carpe Noctem- Angel and Marcus because of a spell.
Ben 10 - "A Change of Face" - Charmcaster and Gwen, then later Ben and Gwen.
Big Wolf on Campus - In an episode which features a body jumper named Alice, who switches bodies with Lori, then the face-eater that Merton had on his public-access television show.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Faith swaps bodies with Buffy using a magical device in the episode "Who Are You?". Also, In an earlier episode, "Witch", a dark witch switches bodies with her daughter Amy to relive her cheerleading glory days.
Charmed - Phoebe and Paige, Piper and the Zen Master in the episode "Enter the Demon". Phoebe and Amara in the episode "Freaky Phoebe". Piper and Leo in the episode "The Lost Picture Show".
Code Lyoko - "A Fine Mess" - Yumi Ishiyama and Odd Della Robbia due to the error in the materialisation program.
Danny Phantom - "Splitting Images"- Danny and ghost nerd Sidney Poindexter switch bodies when Poindexter possesses Danny and kicks the latter out.
Darkwing Duck - "Trading Faces"- Darkwing and Gosalyn, also Launchpad and Honker due to Darkwing's computer gone haywire.
Dragon Ball Z - Ginyu has the power to switch bodies with people at will. He switches bodies with Goku in order to become more powerful, but is quickly conned into switching bodies with a frog.
The Edwin J. Hill Social Club - "Versa Vice" - George and Drew swap bodies after forgetting to return the movie Vice Versa to the video store. They must learn to be each other before midnight, which means Drew has to go on a date with George's girlfriend and Drew has to fight zombies.
Eerie, Indiana - "No Brain, No Gain" - Simon Holmes's mind is transferred into the Brainalyzer and replaced by Charles "Chappy" Furnell, saying that he would gladly go through puberty again (by not abandoning Simon's body) until his rightful body is found. Then Chappy is transferred to his own body. Then his wife shows up and the Brainalyzer discharges, leaving it Marshall in the woman's body, Chappy back into Simon's body, Simon in Chappy's body and the woman in Marshall's body.
8 Simple Rules - "Freaky Friday" - Grandpa and C.J., Bridget and her mother, Rory and his hamster.
El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera: - "These Freaky Riveras" - Manny and Frida swapped their bodies and look at their mirrors. Then, Grandpapi and Rodolfo.
Family Guy- "Lois Kills Stewie"- Peter and Lois shortly switch bodies due to one of Stewie's inventions.
Farscape - The Moya crew swap bodies twice due to the effects of an alien weapon in the episode "Out of Their Minds."
Fullmetal Alchemist - The character of Dante has lived for hundreds of years by continually switching bodies with others.
Gilligan's Island - "The Friendly Physician" - A mad scientist lands on the island and takes the castaways to his castle on a nearby island to perform mind-swapping experiments on them. The castaways are locked in a dungeon and trapped in the wrong bodies thanks to the mind-swapping machine (originally aired 4/7/1966).
Garfield and friends-Though the episode fair exchange does not have a body switch episode it shows both garfield and jons heads in different bodies in a dream
Intergalactic Kitchen - Everyone in the kitchen swaps bodies as follows: Kirk and Kirstie, Robin in Jay's body, Jay in Fleur's body and Fleur in Robin's body. At one point, Kirstie and Snoo share Kirk's body. This happens in the episode "Take me to your Larder" when an alien removes the Kitchenaut's brains and Snoo unsuccessfully tries to put their brains back.
Jackie Chan Adventures - Jackie Chan and Jade.
Justice League Unlimited - the Flash and Lex Luthor swap bodies due to a combination of a spell cast by Doctor Fate and a mental scan getting carried out by Luthor on Gorilla Grodd in the episode, "The Great Brain Robbery".
Kappa Mikey-Lili and Mitsuki swap bodys in the episode "Manic Monday"
Kim Possible - Kim and Ron swap bodies due to an accident in the episode "Mind Games".
Krypto the Superdog - Krypto and Kevin Whitney swap bodies in a red kryptonite incident in "Dog-Gone Kevin".
Lilo & Stitch: The Series - "Swapper" - An experiment causes various characters to swap bodies.
Lizzie McGuire - Matt and Lizzie, "Those Freaky McGuires"
Lloyd in Space - Lloyd and his Sister in the episode "Lloyd Changes His Mind".
Murder Princess- After nearly falling to their death, a proper princess and a notorious bounty hunter swap bodies. The show follows the adventures of the bounty hunter now princess.
Mahou Sentai Magiranger - Kai Ozu and his sister Houka Ozu are zapped by one of their foes which causes them to switch bodies with each other while losing their ability to morph in the episode(s) "Contrary Brother and Sister" and continued in "The Gorgon's Garden".
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers - Squat sabotages a machine invented by Billy, causing the latter to temporarily switch bodies with Kimberly in the episode Switching Places. The episode involves each ranger teaching a class and using the Ranger Powers specific to the body they are in.
Papa to Musume no Nanokakan (パパと娘の七日間) - Kawahara father and daughter.　
Pepper Ann - Pepper Ann and Lydia
Phil of the Future - In the episode "Neander Phil", Phil and Curtis switch their personalities and bodies due to a malfunctioning gadget. In "Versa Day", Phil and Pim are forced to switch bodies by Lloyd.
Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea - Team Rocket, then Ash, and Jackie due to Manaphy's Heart Swap.
Power Rangers: S.P.D. - Wootox switched bodies with Sky so that the rangers would chase Sky instead of him in the episode "Recognition", similar to the adaptation of the episode "Fake Blue" in Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger.
Red Dwarf - In the Series 3 episode "Body Swap", Rimmer and Lister.
Smallville - Clark and Lionel swap bodies using a Kryptonian artifact in the episode "Transference".
Strange Days at Blake Holsey High - Lucas (played by Michael Seater) and Vaughn (played by Robert Clark) switch bodies accidentally in the episode "Brainwaves". While in Lucas's body, Vaughn experiences Lucas' asthma and Lucas, in Vaughn's body, discovers Vaughn's closeted dyslexia.
Stargate Atlantis - Rodney and Lt Laura Cadman switch bodies in the episode Duet after they're released from a Wraith Dart.
Stargate SG-1 - At least four episodes to date have dealt with body swapping.
Star Trek - "Turnabout Intruder" - Kirk and Dr. Janice Lester. William Shatner performs like a hysterical woman for the better part of an hour.[30]
Star Trek: Voyager - "Vis à Vis" - An alien has the ability to swap bodies and does so, first with Tom Paris, then with Captain Janeway.
TaleSpin - Baloo and Kit Cloudkicker, and later Rebecca Cunningham and Don Karnage, switch bodies due to a magical idol in the episode "A Baloo Switcheroo."
Teen Titans - In the episode "Switched", Starfire and Raven swap bodies during a confrontation with the Puppet King.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Splinter (aka Hamato Yoshi) and Shredder (aka Oroku Saki) in "The Big Switcheroo"

Raphael once switched bodies with a cab driver in a rather humorous season 4 episode.

Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger - Wojon Seijin Jinche switched bodies with Hoji to escape deletion in hope that the other four Dekarangers would delete Hoji instead in the episode "Fake Blue". His plan backfired when "Hoji" called Ban partner when the real Hoji would have replied with "Don't call me partner." This was adapted into Power Rangers: S.P.D..
Xena: Warrior Princess - Callisto, works with Ares, god of war to invade Xena's dreams and switch bodies with Xena, so that she is free and Xena is trapped in Tartarus. But Xena persuades Hades to let her return to earth, although still trapped in Callisto's body, where she defeats Callisto and sends her back to Tartarus. Xena remains trapped in Callisto's body for one episode before Ares restores them to their normal selves.
Yvon of the Yukon - Tommy and Yvon swap bodies with a wish that was accidentally granted while they were near the Aurora Borealis in the episode "The Siamese Twits".

List of video games with body swaps

Geist - You are forced to take the form of a ghost and switch from body to body.
Chrono Cross - Serge and Lynx due to the Dragon Tear.
Pitfall: The Lost Expedition - The title character gets body switched by each of three animal spirits in the boss levels.
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door - The Twilight Town chapter. After battling the Creepy Steeple boss, the boss and Mario swap bodies until Mario can defeat the boss with the help of Vivian.
Avenging Spirit - The entire game focuses around switching bodies in order to fight your way through the levels.
Various Dragon Ball Z games - Captain Ginyu in some games has the power to switch bodies with the opponent.