# Parody beats the original **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320 "2009-03-30T15:52:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/21 "2009-03-30T16:47:02Z")
Saw _Planet of the Apes_ on AMC the other day and didn’t make it 5 minutes before singing to myself “Dr. Zeus, Dr. Zeus” and “You’ve finally made a monkey out of meeeeeee”. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/22 "2009-03-30T16:49:42Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Not even close. Have to agree. The parody is a haphazard collection of uninspired sight gags and unusually dull one-liners. It’s only remotely Star Wars-related, and most of its Star-Wars material was done better years ago. In a weird way, _300_. Simply put, the movie is its own parody. I was sitting in the theater thinking I wanted to keel over and laugh until I vomited. It was so funny, and almost every scene got _worse_. (Or better, if you see it my way.) But there were other people, so I didn’t want to bother them. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/23 "2009-03-30T17:16:50Z")
Not really a parody, but I’ll never hear “Don’t Fear the Reaper” without seeing Chris Walken insisting on more cowbell. And since Anne Hathaway’s appearance on Saturday Night Live, I’ll forever think of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious as a social disease. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/24 "2009-03-30T17:21:58Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Exactly. And, in at least a couple of cases, his videos. I can’t watch Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video without expecting the fat guy to get stuck in the manhole. For me, it’s the song. I can’t hear it without singing “Eat a big dinner, have a nice snack. If you don’t like it you can’t send it back. Just eat it!” My husband totally thinks I’m a Weird Al fan and I’m not! ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/25 "2009-03-30T17:53:51Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > _The Princess Bride_ is a parody of fairy tales (the movie, I mean; the book is more of a satire) that beats them at their own game. You know, I really don’t think of _The Princess Bride_ as being a parody of fairy tales any more than I think of _The Sword in the Stone_ (the book) as being a parody of the Arthurian legend… to me, they’re smart updates of the genre. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/26 "2009-03-30T17:58:59Z")
All of Tom Lehrer’s versions of _Clementine_ were far superior to the original. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/27 "2009-03-30T18:32:00Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > _Galaxy Quest_ is better than a majority of the _Star Trek_ films. Than the odd numbered ones, for sure. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/28 "2009-03-30T18:41:41Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > It’s widely believed that _Airplane!_ is a parody of the _Airport_ movies generally (and I’m not saying there aren’t direct references), but it’s more specifically a parody of a movie called [Zero Hour!](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080339/trivia) Sorry, I just discovered that my above link for [_Zero Hour!_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051221/) actually goes to the IMDb Trivia page for Airplane!, where I harvested the information. This one is corrected. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/29 "2009-03-30T18:50:44Z")
“I can see Russia from my house!” ---
**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:** [March 30, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/30 "2009-03-30T19:00:46Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Hell, there’s a whole generation of people who can’t look at Citizen Kane without thinking of all the Simpsons parodies. I finally saw _Citizen Kane_ last week. During the newsreel intro to Kane’s life at the beginning, all I could think of was Tom Servo from MST3K: The Movie. “See big men sticking screw drivers into things - turning them - AND ADJUSTING THEM!” ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/31 "2009-03-30T19:13:12Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > You know, I really don’t think of _The Princess Bride_ as being a parody of fairy tales any more than I think of _The Sword in the Stone_ (the book) as being a parody of the Arthurian legend… to me, they’re smart updates of the genre. Some parodies are done because people’s talent lies in tweaking something original. Some parodies are done out of contempt for their source material. _The Princess Bride_ was done by people who love fairy tales. The deuling and adventures could have only come from someone who was committed to getting them right. But it is still a parody. There just aren’t very many (none that I can think of) loving parodies to compare it to. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/32 "2009-03-30T19:22:34Z")
I don’t know if they’re parodies or homages, but Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead are outstanding buddy-cop and zombie movies, respectively. Among the best of their genre, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/33 "2009-03-30T19:41:11Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > It’s widely believed that _Airplane!_ is a parody of the _Airport_ movies generally (and I’m not saying there aren’t direct references), but it’s more specifically a parody of a movie called [Zero Hour!](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080339/trivia) I think [The High and the Mighty](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047086/) is a better fit. I can’t watch that movie without busting out laughing at the parallels. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/34 "2009-03-30T19:48:11Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > I think [The High and the Mighty](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047086/) is a better fit. I haven’t seen Zero Hour!, but it’s definitely the basis for Airplane! Much of the dialogue in Airplane! is taken word-for-word from the older movie, and so is the name Ted Stryker. It’s a great example of how you can make something serious become silly by changing the way it’s presented. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/35 "2009-03-30T19:52:27Z")
Who can watch the cheesiest of the Bond films without thinking of Dr. Evil? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/36 "2009-03-30T19:53:06Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > I think [The High and the Mighty](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047086/) is a better fit. I can’t watch that movie without busting out laughing at the parallels. “Airplane!” spoofs many real disaster movies, including “The High and the Mighty” and several of the “Airport” movies, but the Zucker Brothers bought the rights to “Zero Hour!” (yes, the original had an exclamation point in its title), then used real character names and whole chunks of dialogue from that movie. For instance, Ted Stryker was the real name of the pilot played by Dana Andrews in "Zero Hour!! ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/37 "2009-03-30T20:14:10Z")
For me, I can’t listen to “Beat It” without seeing the Undercover Brother in my head; that’s a parody of the video, not really of the song, if that counts. In my mind “The Rabbit of Seville” comes in front of the Wagner parody. How about Jonathon Swift’s “A Modest Proposal…”? Nobody even remembers the whole genre of the pamphlets it is satirizing, let alone any specific examples. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/38 "2009-03-30T20:36:40Z")
My parents are members of the John Birch Society. Yes, it’s still around. I’d rather listen to Sterling Hayden talk about fluoridation of drinking water and maintaining the purity of his precious bodily fluids than try to have a political conversation with my mom. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/39 "2009-03-30T20:43:43Z")
[South Park takes on Family Guy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek95K3fwA_w) ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320/40 "2009-03-30T21:09:19Z")
Not sure they’re better, per se, but the Cthulhu Carols from [A Very Scary Solstice](http://www.cthulhulives.org/Solstice/)are more fun than real Christmas carols. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parody-beats-the-original/491320.md?page=3)