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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
 Posted - 10/03/2005 : 11:11:16 PM
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... are usually ripped-off from previous movie ideas. Or book ideas. Our recent discussion of the Matrix movies comes to mind. The first one was good (I thought) but of course it was highly derivative.
So I thought it might be useful to start a thread that would act as a clearing house of information. Those of you who are fanboys (and fangirls) feel free to let us know what famous movies/TV shows are clearly rip-offs of material that preceded it.
I'll start with an obvious example: as most of you know, George Romero is widely credited for inventing the modern zombie film (emphasis on "modern"). But as he even admits, he stole his idea was greatly inspired by Richard Matheson's novella "I Am Legend".
Another example: Event Horizon. Paul Aaaugh-nderson felt free to rip-off the Soviet film Solaris since he correctly assumed that most Americans had never heard of his Russian predecessor. (Even after the Soderbergh-Cameron remake of Solaris, most fans still seem to be in the dark.)
A final example: file this under the know-can't-prove category. After I posted a message about The Blob in the botched films thread, I was reminded of how much the original Blob reminded me of Joseph Payne Brennan's short story "Slime", which appeared in Weird Tales back in the early fifties. Coincidence? Possibly. I don't know if Irwin Yeaworth ever read Weird Tales. Still, it's interesting to note that Brennan's infinitely superior story involved an indestructible shapeless whatchamacallit which devours everything that moves and lays siege to a small town. (The big difference that this creature comes from inner, not outer, space.)
So feel free to spout off: any movies/books/graphic novels out there that you feel have been unfairly ripped off and never given their fair due? |
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Culfy
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
United Kingdom
113 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2005 : 02:17:59 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by zombiewhacker
... are usually ripped-off from previous movie ideas. Or book ideas. Our recent discussion of the Matrix movies comes to mind. The first one was good (I thought) but of course it was highly derivative.
So I thought it might be useful to start a thread that would act as a clearing house of information. Those of you who are fanboys (and fangirls) feel free to let us know what famous movies/TV shows are clearly rip-offs of material that preceded it.
I'll start with an obvious example: as most of you know, George Romero is widely credited for inventing the modern zombie film (emphasis on "modern"). But as he even admits, he stole his idea was greatly inspired by Richard Matheson's novella "I Am Legend".
Another example: Event Horizon. Paul Aaaugh-nderson felt free to rip-off the Soviet film Solaris since he correctly assumed that most Americans had never heard of his Russian predecessor. (Even after the Soderbergh-Cameron remake of Solaris, most fans still seem to be in the dark.)
A final example: file this under the know-can't-prove category. After I posted a message about The Blob in the botched films thread, I was reminded of how much the original Blob reminded me of Joseph Payne Brennan's short story "Slime", which appeared in Weird Tales back in the early fifties. Coincidence? Possibly. I don't know if Irwin Yeaworth ever read Weird Tales. Still, it's interesting to note that Brennan's infinitely superior story involved an indestructible shapeless whatchamacallit which devours everything that moves and lays siege to a small town. (The big difference that this creature comes from inner, not outer, space.)
So feel free to spout off: any movies/books/graphic novels out there that you feel have been unfairly ripped off and never given their fair due?
Well, I sure I'm not the only one who feels that the plot of Alien Vs Predator was largely ripped off from the Lovecraft Novella The Mountains of Madness.
Consider; in Lovecraft's novella; a group of explorers discover strange structures in Antartica; and deciphering the hieroglyphics; discover that they were built by an alien race responsible for the creation of mankind.
The big difference I can see is that Lovecraft's novella didn't suck.
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Notes from a small cavy
www.culfy.blogspot.com |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2005 : 06:28:50 AM
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Well, on the subject of Predator, that movie took a LOT from "The Most Dangerous Game."
And I really wish anyone remaking The Blob would go ahead and make it closer to the storyline of "Slime." It'd be hard to do a straight adaptation; there really was no main character in the short story. But I'm with you on this one, Zombie; it WAS a lot better than the movie. |
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MikeC
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
749 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2005 : 08:34:48 AM
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Well, there is the fact that BARB WIRE is an
unacknoweldged remake of CASABLANCA.
MikeC, who imagines Ingrid Bergman wouldn't have
done the credits being hosed down. Not that
I would have minded if she did.... |
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dmilroy
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
281 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2005 : 5:26:00 PM
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The first Star Wars film (ANH) and Hidden Fortress. Beleive it or not, I've talked with some rabid SW fans who completely and utterly deny any connections. Which only serves to remind one of the roots of the word 'fan'.
~D ( The Bangles did NOT write _A Hazy Shade of Winter_ ) |
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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2005 : 5:33:08 PM
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7 Samarai=Magnificent 7.
Both have good stuff, but I think that the Japanese origonal handled it's characters better.
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
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Triviachamp
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
254 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2005 : 10:05:33 PM
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| Yojimbo, A Fistful of Dollars and Last Man Standing are all from Hammett's Red Harvest. |
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Zev
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
USA
182 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2005 : 11:38:04 PM
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Let's not forget that Star Trek 2 was heavily inspired by Horatio Hornblower.
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quote:
Originally posted by TheFoywonder
Now they need to make a movie where soldiers in Iraq actually find one of Saddam Hussein's secret underground chemical weapons facilities only to find it overrrun with big mutant sand spiders. And the the film will be called IRAQNID!
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BT
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
USA
168 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2005 : 09:59:05 AM
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quote:
The first Star Wars film (ANH) and Hidden Fortress. Beleive it or not, I've talked with some rabid SW fans who completely and utterly deny any connections. Which only serves to remind one of the roots of the word 'fan'.
Have them watch Hidden Fortress again, and then show them the scene in "Return of the Jedi" in which Luke chases after a couple of storm troopers through the woods on the "hover bikes". It is ripped off from Hidden Fortress so completely that you could do a shot by shot comparison. Of course there were far fewer hover bikes in Hidden Fortress, so they had to use horses. |
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KurtVon
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
387 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2005 : 12:16:27 PM
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Heh, the first time I saw The Hidden Fortress I didn't know of the connection, and I still saw it. There was even a point where the two bumbling protagonists stumbled onto screen and I turned to my wife and said "Oh look, it's R2-D2 and C-3PO again." we were both amused later when I looked it up and found Star Wars had been influenced by this admittedly brilliant film.
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Freschel
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
USA
150 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2005 : 2:13:09 PM
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Here's another know-can't-prove, The Lion King. How many of us watch that movie and not think of Kimba The White Lion?
It's Coacoa Puffs, Bob. I have no idea why, but it fits the equation. |
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SFfilmfan
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
67 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2005 : 4:14:45 PM
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Just because both SIMBA and KIMBA have a talking bird and a wise old baboon, and the enemies are a dark-maned lion and some hyenas doesn't mean that they have a lot in common.
In fact, the plot of a young prince learning his uncle murdered his father and usurped the kingdom goes back to Hamlet--only in THE LION KING, we get a happy ending. |
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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2005 : 7:33:17 PM
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I mentioned a year or two ago that Disney had copied from a Lou Ferigno "Sinbad" movie. In it were a charicter named "Prince Ali" and a Grad Visier and a Sultan who were exact doubles for the ones in the Aladdin cartoon
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
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Triviachamp
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
254 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2005 : 8:55:02 PM
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| I read Aladdin was based on "The Thief of Bagdad" (the 1940 version apparently). |
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Hinda
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Israel
229 Posts |
Posted - 10/06/2005 : 04:54:13 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by zombiewhacker
A final example: file this under the know-can't-prove category. After I posted a message about The Blob in the botched films thread, I was reminded of how much the original Blob reminded me of Joseph Payne Brennan's short story "Slime", which appeared in Weird Tales back in the early fifties. Coincidence? Possibly. I don't know if Irwin Yeaworth ever read Weird Tales. Still, it's interesting to note that Brennan's infinitely superior story involved an indestructible shapeless whatchamacallit which devours everything that moves and lays siege to a small town. (The big difference that this creature comes from inner, not outer, space.)
Under "know, can't prove" I put that the plot of an early episode of "The Simpsons," the one where Crusty the Clown is framed for robbery, was based on a short story that Young Miss Magazine published, sometime in the late '60s or early '70s. |
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MikeC
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
749 Posts |
Posted - 10/06/2005 : 07:00:59 AM
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My life is based on the life of Frank Sinatra.
Only without the musical talent, angular good looks,
fashion sense or Ava Gardner or Angie Dickinson.
MikeC, But other than that..... |
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