# When Versions Collide: Biggest Contrast Between Co-incidently-Themed Works **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 4, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455 "2011-08-04T13:47:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/1 "2011-08-04T13:47:07Z")
You know - Deep Impact vs. Armageddon, the one Volcano movie vs. the Devil Volcano movie with Pierce Brosnan. Apparently, now there are competing Snow White updates coming out. There are a bunch of well-known movie examples. But it is more than just movies. I was posting to the [thread about True Crime recommendations](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=577431), and, in suggesting the book Agent Zigzag, recalled this from the review: > [@](#): > > Of the two Zigzag biographies this fall (the other, by Nicholas Booth, is reviewed below), this is clearly superior. It totally sucks to be Nicholas Booth, apparently. 😉 Also, the French Essayist and Philsopher \*\*Michel de Montaigne \*\*is going through a bit of a re-discovery - to which I say “yay!” - but, along with references in a variety of current business and sociology books, there were two books published which were meant to be airport-book-ready, for-folks-who-like-those-books-on-Longitude-Dictionaries-and-other-cool-topics - one of which was a huge success in the book world ([How to Live: a Life of Montaigne](http://www.amazon.com/How-Live-Montaigne-Question-Attempts/dp/0701178922)) and one which didn’t sell well ([When I Am Playing with My Cat, How Do I Know That She Is Not Playing with Me](http://www.amazon.com/When-Playing-Cat-Know-That/dp/0375424717/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312465309&sr=1-1)?). I read them both, and How to Live is much, much better. Again, sucks to be the other guy. In your area of interest, what competing versions have you noticed, especially where they came out very close together and one was much better OR successfully (or both) than the other… I know the movie stories come to mind, but I am more interested in less-well-known stuff with interesting stories or something you would never have expected to have enough interest to warrant competing versions, if that makes sense… ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/2 "2011-08-04T15:53:33Z")
_ **Tombstone** _ was such a great movie that hardly anybody saw a need to watch Kevin Costner’s _ **Wyatt Earp** _, which came out a few months later. ---
**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:** [August 4, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/3 "2011-08-04T16:58:22Z")
Musical adaptations of Phantom of the Opera. I doubt that Ken Hill’s or Murray Yeston’s works will ever see Broadway. The movie Whistle Down the Wind was turned into a musical twice, the latter version by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman. Neither version saw Broadway. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/4 "2011-08-04T17:47:59Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > _ **Tombstone** _ was such a great movie that hardly anybody saw a need to watch Kevin Costner’s _ **Wyatt Earp** _, which came out a few months later. Also, Costner’s film was terrible. I even bought it on dvd to check if it was as terrible as I remember, and it was. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/5 "2011-08-05T01:16:54Z")
Two versions of Dangerous Liaisons came out about the same time. I saw the one with Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Uma Thurman, which was so good that I had no need to see the version that came out the next year, called Valmont. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/6 "2011-08-05T12:12:26Z")
[The Last Broadcast](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122143/) and [The Blair Witch Project](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185937/) [eXistenZ](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120907/) and [The Thirteenth Floor](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139809/) ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/7 "2011-08-05T12:32:08Z")
The other [Robin Hood](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Hood_1991) movie released in 1991 had a very different tone to the Costner one. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/8 "2011-08-05T13:07:21Z")
Cool stuff - and mostly movies. Any other media? ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/9 "2011-08-05T13:22:01Z")
To expand on the Robin Hood version I linked to above, there is no Sheriff of Nottingham, and at the end there is a reconciliation between the Saxons and Normans. Of course, there is no need to limit this to films released in the same year. In [Robin and Marian](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_and_Marian), a middle aged Robin Hood returns from the crusades to find Marian is now a nun. At the end she poisons him instead of attempting to heal him, and then takes poison herself. Neither are particularly good films, but are quite different from the usual Hood story. ---
**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:** [August 5, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/10 "2011-08-05T13:27:38Z")
TV shows with the same premise that ran simultaneously: Addams Family & Munsters Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/11 "2011-08-05T13:33:59Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > TV shows with the same premise that ran simultaneously: > > Addams Family & Munsters > > Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie That’s what I’m talkin’ about. I always thought: Bewitched = I Dream of Jeannie \* Dick Van Dyke Show But I always thought of Elizabeth Montgomery as a blonde Mary Tyler Moore. Mmm, Elizabeth Montgomery and Mary Tyler Moore back in the day… ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/12 "2011-08-05T14:06:47Z")
Well, for TV shows how about [Captain Nice](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Nice) and [Mister Terrific](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Terrific_%28TV_series%29) ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/13 "2011-08-05T14:08:50Z")
…and back in the 50’s those talking animal ones, Mr. Ed the Talking Horse and Francis the Talking Mule… ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/14 "2011-08-05T15:22:27Z")
In 1989, three “underwater monster” movies came out: Leviathan, Deep Star Six, and The Abyss. Granted, The Abyss had a somewhat different slant, but the first two were practically identical. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/15 "2011-08-05T15:23:31Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > …and back in the 50’s those talking animal ones, Mr. Ed the Talking Horse and Francis the Talking Mule… No coincidence here: they had the same producer. And they didn’t come out at the same time: The last Francis film was in 1956 and Mr. Ed began in 1961. Finally, Francis was a series of movies; Mr. Ed was a TV show. The best example of movies is [Harlow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlow_(Paramount_film)) and [Harlow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlow_(Magna_film)), which came out within five weeks of each other in 1965. Critics are divided as to which is better. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/16 "2011-08-05T16:07:37Z")
It is interesting to compare Red Dragon (2002) and Manhunter (1986). Both are based on the same novel but diverge from it in different ways. Very different takes on the characters by the actors. > [@Tapiotar](#): > > Two versions of Dangerous Liaisons came out about the same time. I saw the one with Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Uma Thurman, which was so good that I had no need to see the version that came out the next year, called Valmont. This is a shame because IMHO Valmont has a lot going for it. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/17 "2011-08-05T16:29:45Z")
After \*Animal House \*came out ABC, CBS and NBC all came out with zany college frat kids sitcoms (one of them, _Delta House_, was the official adaptation of the movie). Of course, they all bombed, because none of them had John Belushi. Then there’s the moive [FM](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077532/) about a group of hip deejays at a radio station, whose characters include a black, ultracool nighttime guy, and one who was a complete burnout. That movie came out in April 1978, shortly after a struggling sitcom writer named Hugh Wilson dug into his background to shoot a series pilot about a group of hip deejays at a radio station, whose characters include a black, ultracool nighttime guy, and one who was a complete burnout. CBS bought the show, called [WKRP in Cincinatti](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077097/), which premiered the following September and ran for four seasons. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/18 "2011-08-05T16:33:08Z")
The X-Men vs. [the Doom Patrol](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_Patrol). **The Doom Patrol** : DC superhero team that originally debuted in the spring of 1963, the premise was that a paraplegic mentor figure gathers together a team of super-hero “freaks” (characters whose unusual powers / attributes make them appear hideous and frightening to the common man) to fight the good fight against villains such as the Brotherhood of Evil. Aside from their wheelchair-bound mentor, the DP members all wore matching uniforms (all slightly varying from character to character.) **the X-Men** : Marvel superhero team that originally debuted in the Fall of 1963 (about three months after DP), the premise was that a paraplegic mentor figure gathers together a team of super-hero “freaks” (in this case, the fact that they were all born with these powers and essentially made up a new species of homonids to rival homo sapiens made them appear frightening to the common man) to fight the good fight against villains such as the Brotherhood of Evil _Mutants_. Aside from their wheelchair-bound mentor, the X-Men all wore matching uniforms (all slightly varying from character to character.) Of course, comic book superheroes are nothing if not derivitive, so even if the X-Men were a copy of the Doom Patrol (as the DP creator asserts in the wikipedia article), it is more than likely that the DP were themselves aped from Marvel’s already very popular **Fantastic Four** team, who all dressed in similar outfits and at least one of the members - the Thing - was considered a hideous freak by the general public. And Stan Lee willingly admits that the FF were created deliberately to rival DC’s _Justice League of America_ (and there’s more than a slight resemblance between the FF and DC’s earlier **Challengers of the Unknown**. And there’s the “Superman vs. Captain Marvel (Shazam!)” rivalry. But that’s a whole other story. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/19 "2011-08-05T17:50:46Z")
I had not appreciated all that - thanks. And I had Giant-size X-Men issue #1, the Neal Adams Sentinal issues etc… ---
**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:** [August 5, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/20 "2011-08-05T18:10:49Z")
There were two movies about Steve Prefontaine that came out witin a year of each other - [Prefontaine](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119937/) and [Without Limits](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119934/). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455.md?page=2)