# Was (this) inspired by (that)? Similar plots in movies/TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2004, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462 "2004-02-22T03:50:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [February 24, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/41 "2004-02-24T16:16:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Wasn’t Cal Meacham the name of the hero of the novel (and movie) This Island Earth? The one who had to construct an “interociter” from odd (and extremely advanced parts, of which the cathemarine tube was just one? Ahh – I’d forgotten the names of the parts. If you’d said “interociter” I would’ve known what you were onto right off. Ignore the movie (unless you’re watching the MST3K version, or are just grooving on the effects). Read Raymond F. Jones’ original novel (which is, at long last, back in print). They tossed most of the book out when they made the film. The book makes _sense_ (and explains the title). In the book, by the way, some of the parts _break_, and Cal Meacham has to buold new ones from scratch. And there’s no circuit diagram. He has to work it all out himself (it _is_ supposed to be a test, after all.) ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/42 "2004-02-24T16:22:50Z")
Ah, my reference was a bit too obscure. Oh, well. Perhaps I should have quoted from _The Seven Samurai_. The novel is one of my favorite stories, as the whole concept of building an unknown machine from scratch based only on the catalog seems to sum up the hacker\* mentality quite nicely. Actually, I don’t know if I have read the entire novel… the part I have read may only be an extract, ending with Cal flying off in the pilotless airplane. The bulk of the movie had nothing whatever to do with the novel, but I have always attributed that to Hollywood. - I am using “hacker” in its classic sense, NOT to mean someone who cracks into other people’s computer systems ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/43 "2004-02-24T16:25:01Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > In the book, by the way, some of the parts _break_, and Cal Meacham has to buold new ones from scratch. The part that broke was one of the six cathemarine tubes… He had to have one of his standard contractors reconstruct it. When he got it back, he found that it’s albion factor was off by ten percent, but several of the originals had that much variation, so it worked… ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/44 "2004-02-24T18:58:35Z")
Going back to the OP, the idea of a family taking a spaceship to avoid the atomic war comes from Ray Bradbury’s _The Million Year Picnic_, but that is more clearly is inspired by the story of Noah & his ark (it has two families, matched for breeding). Virgil’s _Aeneid_ is a shameless rip-off of _O Brother, Where Art Thou?_. I felt _Cold Mountain_ (the movie at least) dipped into that same well without much acknowledgement (unlike _O Brother …_). ---
**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:** [February 24, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/45 "2004-02-24T19:34:08Z")
**Brother Cadfael** – you may have read Raymond F. Jones’ original story “The Alien Machine” which, combined with several other stories of his, and a lot of filler (what Van Vogt called a “fix-up”) became the novel **This Island Earth** : [http://isfdb.tamu.edu/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Raymond\_F.\_Jones](http://isfdb.tamu.edu/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Raymond_F._Jones) I know it has been anthologized as a short, as in this volume: [http://www.locusmag.com/index/yr1999/t1.html](http://www.locusmag.com/index/yr1999/t1.html) > [@](#): > > Virgil’s Aeneid is a shameless rip-off of O Brother, Where Art Thou?. I felt Cold Mountain (the movie at least) dipped into that same well without much acknowledgement (unlike O Brother …). > Today 11:25 AM It’s worse than you think. Homer’s **The Odyssey** shamelessly rips off **Brother, Where Art Thou?** , although it’s clear that Homer didn’t pay really close attention, only parodying the more salient points. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/46 "2004-02-24T19:56:16Z")
There are also a billlion version of _The Most Dangerous Game_ wherein the protagonist finds himself on an island/spaceship/planet/mansion as the prey of a hunter who has hunted every “great beast” and wants a new challege. My favourite version was the _Hulk_ TV series. Er, was the short story based on anything? (Legend of antiquity?) ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/47 "2004-02-24T20:29:19Z")
In the 1990 HBO movie “Cast a Deadly Spell,” a man is protecting his daughter from all outside influences so he can make sure she’s a virgin when he sacrifices her so he can have godly powers. (From what he’s yelling at the end, I have to assume Cthulhu.) In (I can’t believe I’m admitting I watch this) “Angel,” season 2, there’s an episode called “Guise will be Guise” in which a man is protecting his daughter from outside influences so that she will be a virgin when he sacrifices her so he can have godly powers. (Some gross-looking demon thing that looks like old oatmeal this time.) “Cast a Deadly Spell” is better than “Guise will be Guise” because there are detectives named Lovecraft and Bradbury, and it stars Fred Ward. A young Julianne Moore is in it too. Oh, and the King of the Bad Guys…David Warner. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/48 "2004-02-24T20:55:43Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > I’d swear that Stephen King was thinking of _Watership Down_ and _The Lord of the Rings_ when he wrote _The Stand._ Well, IIRC, _Watership Down_ was one of the few books Stu Redman read cover to cover. He hearkens back to it at one point, thinking about how a story about rabbits didn’t really seem up his alley, but once he got started he was hooked. Also, _Shardik_, also by Richard Adams, is echoed quite blatantly in _The Drawing of the Three_. So King seems to be a fan of his work. And now a question regarding similar plots, quite apropos considering Hamadryad’s post just above: In _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_, Season 7, when the potentials are being killed off, I believe it is the second potential who is in Germany, has pink hair, and runs for her life to the driving beat of some kind of techno music (or whatever it is those darned kids listen to these days). Is that a deliberate riff on _Run Lola Run_ or just an amazing coincidence? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/49 "2004-02-24T21:26:55Z")
> [@](#): > > **CalMeacham** : It’s worse than you think. Homer’s _The Odyssey_ shamelessly rips off _Brother, Where Art Thou?_, although it’s clear that Homer didn’t pay really close attention, only parodying the more salient points. Actually, Homer was riffing off James Joyce’s _Ulysses_, which was a _direct_ rip-off of _O Brother Where Art Thou_. This is why there are many parallels between _OBWAT_ and _U_, which didn’t make it into Homer’s homage. For example, Homer’s Polyphemus bears little resemblance to the bigoted brobdignagian bully that Joyce borrowed from the Cohen brothers, although Joyce changed the Klan member to a general anti-semite. Anyway… There’s a _Star Trek_ episode where Kirk is forced by a third party to fight to the death with a big green lizard-man on some desert planet. Adapted from Frederick Brown’s classic story “Arena,” but with a cornier alien. (The original alien was a compact little organic _wheel_.) I _think_ that one was credited. ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/50 "2004-02-24T21:34:59Z")
_Yojimbo_, _A Fistful of Dollars_, and _Last Man Standing_ are all the same movie (so much so that the writers of _Yohimbo_ sued the writer of _Fistful_ over copyright, and won; _Last Man Standing_ credits the writers of _Yojimbo_). To add one more stage of “inspiration”, _Yojimbo_ is directly based on Dashiell Hammet’s novel _Red Harvest_. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/51 "2004-02-24T21:50:16Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > There’s a _Star Trek_ episode where Kirk is forced by a third party to fight to the death with a big green lizard-man on some desert planet. Adapted from Frederick Brown’s classic story “Arena,” but with a cornier alien. (The original alien was a compact little organic _wheel_.) I _think_ that one was credited. Fredric Brown did receive Story By credit on that episode, though supposedly TREK producer/writer Gene L. Coon wrote the first draft without being aware of Brown’s story. When the similarities were pointed out to him, Coon immediately contacted Brown, bought his story, and used more elements from it. Normally I’d say “hogwash,” but I have heard nothing but testimonials to the ethics and fair dealings of the late Mr. Coon (unlike the late Mr. Roddenberry), so I’ll say it could have happened exactly that way. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/52 "2004-02-24T22:51:49Z")
What irks me the most are when TV commercials or music videos clearly rip off an earlier Movie and give no credit. (Although I’m not sure if they have to pay to do so). My two examples: McDonald’s commercial: the guy that repeats everything twice “little hungry, little hungry” was in a restaurant and thought this woman was making eyes at him, so he returned the favor, thinking they were flirting. Turns out the woman had a baby and was making faces for the baby. This entire commercial was ripped off from the movie _Swingers_. The “Stacey’s Mom” video rips off the famous jerking off scene from _Fast Times as Ridgemont High_, leaving an entire generation of teens thinking that was original. (Like my nephew, who got all angst-ridden when I explained to him and his friends that it was stolen from a movie from my generation). ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/53 "2004-02-24T23:06:55Z")
> [@AerynSun](#): > > In _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_, Season 7, when the potentials are being killed off, I believe it is the second potential who is in Germany, has pink hair, and runs for her life to the driving beat of some kind of techno music (or whatever it is those darned kids listen to these days). Is that a deliberate riff on _Run Lola Run_ or just an amazing coincidence? I think it HAS to have been…the timing is just too close, you know? A nice little shout-out is what I think it was. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/54 "2004-02-24T23:51:33Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Actually, Homer was riffing off James Joyce’s _Ulysses_, which was a _direct_ rip-off of _O Brother Where Art Thou_. This is why there are many parallels between _OBWAT_ and _U_, which didn’t make it into Homer’s homage. For example, Homer’s Polyphemus bears little resemblance to the bigoted brobdignagian bully that Joyce borrowed from the Cohen brothers, although Joyce changed the Klan member to a general anti-semite. It goes further back. O Brother is a direct swipe of [The Warriors](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080120/) It’s little things like a gang dressed in baseball uniforms and mime make up, or a villian sticking his fingers in beer bottles and clanging them togethr to intimidate his opponents ( Warrr eee yers, come out and play yay.) that tip you off that this is the original Homer and all the others can only imitate. > [@](#): > > Anyway… > > There’s a _Star Trek_ episode where Kirk is forced by a third party to fight to the death with a big green lizard-man on some desert planet. Adapted from Frederick Brown’s classic story “Arena,” but with a cornier alien. (The original alien was a compact little organic _wheel_.) I _think_ that one was credited. A quick check of the story confirms my memory that the alien is yard-tall _sphere_. **Hamadryad** IIRC that would be Yeska. Back to the OP Hamlet, though cleverly disguised, is lifted from the McKenzie brothers’ _Strange Brew_. And as was mentioned in _Shadow Of The Vampire_, Murnau’s _Nosferatu_ was Bram Stoker’s _Dracula_ with the characters and locations renamed in an attempt to avoid having to pay Stoker’s estate. It didn’t work. The estate sued. The court found against Murnau, and most copies of the film were seized and destroyed. _The Matrix_ takes a lot from Alice. Besides the obvious “Follow the white rabbit.” ‘One side of the mushroom will make you bigger. The other will make you small.’ ‘One pill will show you the truth. The other will make you fall asleep and think this was all a dream’ Tea party with the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Door Mouse. In the mess hall with Mouse. ‘You’re all a pack of cards!’ ‘You’re all a bunch of code!’ ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/55 "2004-02-25T06:07:23Z")
I’d always heard that _The Lion King_ was a (rather loose) adaptation of _Hamlet_. It’s got a ghost father, a murderous uncle, a pair of distracting friends, etc. Sure, the details are a bit off, but it seems like a reasonable explanation to me. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2004, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/56 "2004-02-25T07:27:15Z")
> [@Dooku](#): > > The “Stacey’s Mom” video rips off the famous jerking off scene from _Fast Times as Ridgemont High_, leaving an entire generation of teens thinking that was original. (Like my nephew, who got all angst-ridden when I explained to him and his friends that it was stolen from a movie from my generation). There’s a fine line between parody and ripping off. This was obviously parody. And as for the Buffy Season 7 Potential killing. I always assumed it was a riff on the latest female TV action star, Alias’ Sydney Bristow. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2004, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/57 "2004-02-25T08:38:51Z")
> [@Hamadryad](#): > > In the 1990 HBO movie “Cast a Deadly Spell,” a man is protecting his daughter from all outside influences so he can make sure she’s a virgin when he sacrifices her so he can have godly powers. (From what he’s yelling at the end, I have to assume Cthulhu.) > > In (I can’t believe I’m admitting I watch this) “Angel,” season 2, there’s an episode called “Guise will be Guise” in which a man is protecting his daughter from outside influences so that she will be a virgin when he sacrifices her so he can have godly powers. (Some gross-looking demon thing that looks like old oatmeal this time.) > > “Cast a Deadly Spell” is better than “Guise will be Guise” because there are detectives named Lovecraft and Bradbury, and it stars Fred Ward. A young Julianne Moore is in it too. Oh, and the King of the Bad Guys…David Warner. I can go you one better than that: the diner scene in _Cast a Deadly Spell_ was taken from a short story called, IIRC, “Casting the Runes,” although I forget the author. Speaking of Lovecraft references… well, that’s a whole thread in itself, but so far as I know, I’m the only person who noticed a striking similarity between the Cthonians\* of the Lovecraft mythos, and the Graboids from _Tremors_. \*Originally from a story by Brian Lumley, if I’m not mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/58 "2004-02-25T09:24:40Z")
[QUOTE=Fish] I’d swear that Stephen King was thinking of _Watership Down_ and _The Lord of the Rings_ when he wrote _The Stand._ QUOTE] AND _Night of the Hunter_… Lillian Gish as Mother Abigail & Robert Mitchum as Randall Flagg! Leaning, leaning… leaning on the everlasting arms! RE Dory in FINDING NEMO- the short-term memory of fish was part of Ellen DeG’s original standup… “Look! Cool castle!.._swims_ Look! Cool castle!.._swims_ Look! Cool castle!..” ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/59 "2004-02-25T11:00:01Z")
And more Star Trek. The TNG episode (which I saw again just yesterday) where Picard gets tortured by the Cardassians seems very similar to Orwell’s 1984. Especially the “how many lights can you see?” bit. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462/60 "2004-02-26T01:13:16Z")
That would be _Chain Of Command_ part two. I’ve been a fan of David Warner ever since I saw _Tron_. In CoC2, he gives a wonderful performance as a Cardassian who sees nothing wrong with torture, and is also a doting father who thinks the world of his little girl. I’ve never gotten around to reading 1984. So many of the great books I read in school turned out to be such worthless crap. So, I can’t say for sure that the scene wasn’t inspired by room 101. But I doubt it. Picard is ready to resist questioning. Asking for codes or positions or any similar information would only result in “Jean Luc Picard, Captain, 24601”. The process with the lights is to confuse him, and break him. The goal is to turn his mind to jello. At that point, he’ll tell the interogator anything. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-inspired-by-that-similar-plots-in-movies-tv/230462.md?page=4)