# A Rose By Any Other Name -- unacknowledged TV/movie adaptations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 14, 2007, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953 "2007-06-14T03:44:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/21 "2007-06-15T00:53:05Z")
Ah, found it. Took a bit of Googling, but… [Lost Flight](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064601/) (From 1969, btw) > [@Lost Flight](#): > > They survived by chance…They lived by fear > > Bridges is the captain of a downed airliner who must help his crew and passengers survive on a deserted jungle island in the midst of a power struggle - an adult version of “Lord of the Flies.” I also found this one, which I thought was interesting too. Does this sound familiar to anyone? [Danger Island](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104049/) (1992) > [@Danger Island](#): > > From the past came an end to the future. > > Mixed assortment of people survive the crash of an airliner at sea; cast upon a shore of mysterious island they discover dangerous creatures, exploding bananas, mutations and a biological weapons research facility. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/22 "2007-06-15T01:49:50Z")
Someone suggested to me that **Pirates of the Caribbean** is an adaptation of the computer game series **Monkey Island**. I don’t really see it, though (and the game is so much better/funnier/shorter) ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/23 "2007-06-15T03:00:37Z")
[QUOTE=Leaper] Yeah, but that’s such a general description that I can’t see a connection. I mean, is every political intrigue story a ripoff of Macbeth, just because it involves a power struggle? [/QUOTE] Exactly. I mean, the first story about people on board an aircraft crash-landing on a mysterious island filled with strange things and struggling to survive is of course, Jules Verne’s “Mysterious Island.” I don’t think this gives Verne the rights to any story involving crash-landing on a desert island. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Hildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Johnny\_Hildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Hildo)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/24 "2007-06-15T03:47:02Z")
[QUOTE=tanstaafl] Well, there’s also _Lord of the Flies_ for that matter. There was also a TV movie from the 70s or early 80s the title of which I can’t find now about a jetliner that crashes on an island somewhere and they are forced to fend for themselves when rescue does not arrive. [/QUOTE] Or for that matter, there’s also 1939’s [Five Came Back](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031314/) which is essentially the same story. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/25 "2007-06-15T04:06:33Z")
[QUOTE=Evil Captor] I’m sure there are a LOT of Tolkein borrowers out there, especially in the gaming world. “World of Warcraft” to cite another example. Neither one is even close to plagiarism, but clearly the idea of groups of warriors allied with the “light” (the Alliance) vs. groups of warriors allied with the dark (the Horde) with both groups including mythical or supernatural creatures, is getting to be a widespread meme. [/QUOTE] Umm…like that “Bible” thing? I wonder if Tolkein’s estate can sue. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/26 "2007-06-15T04:36:34Z")
[QUOTE=tanstaafl] Well, there’s also _Lord of the Flies_ for that matter. There was also a TV movie from the 70s or early 80s the title of which I can’t find now about a jetliner that crashes on an island somewhere and they are forced to fend for themselves when rescue does not arrive. [/QUOTE] Same theme with a '60s Love Generation twist: [The New People](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_People) [Tribute site](http://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/new_people.php) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/27 "2007-06-15T12:32:11Z")
From “Forbidden Hollywood’s” Gump, the Magic Movie: Everyone loves Forrest, but why does no one care That this same plot was used before in a film called “Being There”? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/28 "2007-06-15T12:32:16Z")
[QUOTE=Cat Fight] Someone suggested to me that **Pirates of the Caribbean** is an adaptation of the computer game series **Monkey Island**. I don’t really see it, though (and the game is so much better/funnier/shorter) [/QUOTE] It’s more the setting and a few characters, like Barbossa(LeChuck). It’s not a adaptation, but Monkey Island did inspire parts of Pirates. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/29 "2007-06-15T13:10:23Z")
[QUOTE=tanstaafl] Well, there’s also _Lord of the Flies_ for that matter. [/QUOTE] and \*\*Flight of the Phoenix \*\* (both version) **Lost Horizon** > [@Cat Fight](#): > > Someone suggested to me that Pirates of the Caribbean is an adaptation of the computer game series Monkey Island. I don’t really see it, though (and the game is so much better/funnier/shorter) Monkey Island came out in 1990. The Disney ride has been around since the 60s. For the most part, much of the pirate mythology seen in PotC has more or less been around as long as I can remember. I’m supprised no one mentioned **Independence Day** is essentially a remake of H.G. Wells’ **War of the Worlds** , with a computer virus instead of an actual virus. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/30 "2007-06-15T13:20:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by The New and Improved Superman > Alien (the first movie) was a very obvious copy of the Thing from Another World. > And an even more obvious copy of Voyage of the Space Beagle (enough so that the author sued 20th Century Fox over the movie). We’ve been over this many a time on the SDMB. I think TNaIS is a bit confused – **Alien** doesn’t rip off **The Thing** – it rips off Jerome Bixby’s 1950s cheapie **It!The Terror from Beyond Space**. In a MAJOR way. Bixby can’t have been unaware of E.E. vam Vogt’s dshort story “Black Destroyer”, the first story I know of that features an alien onster loose aboard a starship, but his story is different enough that it’s no more than the basic situation. Whereas Alien really follows the same plot as It! (Van Vogt later wrote another short story, “Discord in Scarlet”, that featured _another_ alien monster loose aboard a starship, that planted eggs in the bodies of crewmen. Both Black Destroyer and Discord in Crimson were later pasted together with other short stories – a practice Van Vogt called a “fix-up” – to make the aforementioned novel **The Voyage of the Space Beagle**.) **It!** didn’t feature eggs being planted by the alien in crewmembers, but I suspect that Dan O’Bannon lifted the idea from another 1950s cheapie, **Night of the Blood Beast**. I know it could’ve been one of the (many) other screenwriters for Alien, and that they could’ve gotten the idea from Van Vogt, but I get the strong impression that O’Bannon was the guiding force, and that he was more influenced by movies than literature. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/31 "2007-06-16T06:40:58Z")
I think that the most Philip K. Dick-like movie ever made is _They Live_, which is not based on any of Dick’s works. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/32 "2007-06-16T09:19:11Z")
I’d have said _ **Eternal Sunshine…** _ was the best non-Dick Dick. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/33 "2007-06-16T16:36:41Z")
[QUOTE=msmith537] I’m supprised no one mentioned **Independence Day** is essentially a remake of H.G. Wells’ **War of the Worlds** , with a computer virus instead of an actual virus. [/QUOTE] The filmmakers have actually acknowledged that and admitted that they realize how unrealisitic the virus scene is, but it was required for the War of the Worlds tone. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/34 "2007-06-16T18:14:40Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] Umm…like that “Bible” thing? I wonder if Tolkein’s estate can sue. -Joe [/QUOTE] Tolkein got his stuff from the Bible, which is public domain, so he’s safe, dude. (Good thing the Bible IS public domain because the authorship thing is a real can o’ worms.) ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/35 "2007-06-16T18:39:22Z")
[QUOTE=Cat Fight] Someone suggested to me that **Pirates of the Caribbean** is an adaptation of the computer game series **Monkey Island**. I don’t really see it, though (and the game is so much better/funnier/shorter) [/QUOTE] No, what PotC is, is an adaptation of is Tim Powers’ novel “On Stranger Tides.” Consider: Both stories have a protagonist whose life is altered powerfully by the absence of their father. In PotC, the protagonist believes his father was murdered by pirates and has become a blacksmith specializing in swords with a fixation on killing pirates. In Stranger Tides, the protagonist is a puppeteer who travels to the Caribbean to collect on an inheritance after his puppeteer father is robbed and murdered. In both stories, the female love interest is a beautiful woman with a weak father who does not protect her. Each female love interest unknowingly carries powerful magic (in PotC, she has one of the coins from Davy Jones’ locker, in Stranger Tides, she’s been raised for years on a special diet so she can serve as a guide to The Fountain of Youth). In each story, the plot is driven by the actions of the bad guy, who is a pirate seeking to remove magical afflictions. In PotC it’s the captain and crew of the Black Pearl, seeking to remove the curse of Davy Jones’ locker. In Stranger Tides it’s Blackbeard seeking to remove an affliction of spirits gained by an earlier attempt on the Fountain of Youth. In each story, magic of the voodoo variety is central to the plot, and is casually used and referenced by pirates. PotC is not a plagiarism of Stranger Tides, but I’m pretty sure that whoever wrote the script read “Stranger Tides” quite carefully and took notes. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/36 "2007-06-16T18:40:58Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] I’d have said _ **Eternal Sunshine…** _ was the best non-Dick Dick. [/QUOTE] I agree with Eternal Sunshine as the best non-Dick Dick. They Live definitely has Dickish influences, but it’s too fun and upbeat to really be Dick. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/37 "2007-06-16T18:48:23Z")
I wrote: \> I think that the most Philip K. Dick-like movie ever made is _They Live_, which is \> not based on any of Dick’s works. MrDibble wrote: \> I’d have said Eternal Sunshine… was the best non-Dick Dick. Note that these are two different claims. I said that the movie which was _most Dick-like_ was _They Live_ (which was not adapted from a Dick work). MrDibble said that the _best_ Dick-like film not adapted from a Dick work was _Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind_. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/38 "2007-06-16T18:53:45Z")
Well, I think years after the fact, George Romero admitted that the original “Night of the Living Dead” was largely inspired by Richard Matheson’s “I Am Legend.” Romero changed just enough things around to avoid possible lawsuits. Not that Romero had enough money at the time to make a lawsuit worthwhile, from Matheson’s standpoint. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/39 "2007-06-16T19:15:11Z")
Evil Captor writes: \> They Live definitely has Dickish influences, but it’s too fun and upbeat to really \> be Dick. Hmm. I consider _Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind_ to be more upbeat than _They Live_. _Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind_ ends with the couple deciding that, even though their relationship didn’t work the last time, maybe this time they can make it work. _They Live_ ends with the hero dying, although he knows that his actions have helped turn the tide against the enemy. But for an example of a truly non-Dick-like ending, even though it’s from a great movie, there’s _Blade Runner_, where the hero accomplishes his mission and rides off into the sunset with his new girlfriend, who’s not doomed to die in a few years. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953/40 "2007-06-16T19:57:15Z")
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou] John Carpenter’s brilliantly creepy movie _In the Mouth of Madness_ is an excellent H.P. Lovecraft tribute that outshines any of the other poor attempts to directly adapt Lovecraft’s works to film. (I have not seen the recent silent version of _The Call of Cthulhu_, though.) [/QUOTE] I laways thought that movie was a bit crap. For my money, the movie that best “got” what Lovecraft was all about is _Quatermass and the Pit_. In that movie: Earth was the colony of a race of extra-terrestrial grasshoppers, who engineered humans as telepathically controlled slave stock, before disappearing mysteriously some 30 million years ago. In that movie, humans aren’t blessed, or special, or unique. We’re just industrial waste, a meaningless blip on the vast, unending timeline of a cold, uncaring universe. And that, more than tentacle monsters or make-you-go-crazy books, is what Lovecraft was all about. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-rose-by-any-other-name-unacknowledged-tv-movie-adaptations/407953.md?page=3)