# Monty Python fans and collectors: is this plagiarized? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2004, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-fans-and-collectors-is-this-plagiarized/245176 "2004-05-14T21:32:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-fans-and-collectors-is-this-plagiarized/245176/1 "2004-05-14T21:32:56Z")
In addition to being a Doper, I’m also a “noder” – one of the writers at [Everything2](http://www.everything2.com). I also happen to be an editor, which is what this post is about. I suspect that [this piece](http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1141566) may have been plagiarized (which we frown on severely), but Google comes up blank. It’s entitled **The Animations of Terry Gilliam** , and is written in a style that clashes with the rest of what the author has posted. If you’ve got books about Monty Python ( **The Pythons** , **Pocket Full of Python** , etc.) at home, or happen to be an insufferable know-it-all regarding the fine British lads, I’d appreciate it if you’d take a look at the piece, and let me know if it rings a bell. If it _is_ plagiarized from a printed source, then it should be a pretty simple job – I imagine it’s lifted wholesale from a chapter of the same name. I appreciate any help you can give. What’s that? Oh, alright. “Pip, pip, cheerio, God Save the Queen.” There. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-fans-and-collectors-is-this-plagiarized/245176/2 "2004-05-14T22:42:26Z")
I have a number of Python books (and just picked up the autobiography published recently) and it doesn’t ring a bell. I’ll check further. The essay’s not a little disjointed, and its incoherence is matched by its dullness. There are a few good facts sprinkled throughout, though. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-fans-and-collectors-is-this-plagiarized/245176/3 "2004-05-14T22:56:42Z")
It doesn’t ring any bells here either, but by Yiminy that’s one seriously crap essay. Reading it down, I would guess that any plagarized bits are likely to be from the Gilliam book referenced (Animations of Mortality), with which I am unfamiliar. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-fans-and-collectors-is-this-plagiarized/245176/4 "2004-05-14T23:22:04Z")
It rings a bell here. Try videos, the one with Steve Martin doing the introductions? I think maybe that’s the one. Titled I think “The Life of Python”. The person has posted a transcript from an anniversary (been so long since I’ve seen it _grumble_) collection as his own work. The movie is a kind of video biography. Good Luck. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-fans-and-collectors-is-this-plagiarized/245176/5 "2004-05-14T23:25:55Z")
Thinking about it, he’s probably ripped parts (like the bit about the foot) from the video I mentioned, and parts from a book, adding in the links to “make it his own”. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-fans-and-collectors-is-this-plagiarized/245176/6 "2004-05-15T00:04:27Z")
I have several books on Gilliam, and this does ring a faint bell. It might be from _Dark Knights and Holy Fools_, but I’d have to check.