# 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:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/41 "2011-08-09T19:52:14Z")
> [@Johnny\_Q](#): > > Nobody mentioned Dr. Strangelove/Fail Safe yet? Interesting, that was the first example that popped into my head. Though on reflection I reckon that they feel more akin than many of the others in this thread. Yes, “fail safe” was played perfectly straight but given the overall frightening absurdity of the subject matter, and that both were very well executed, I always have them in my mind as having equal merit. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/42 "2011-08-10T14:58:40Z")
In 1979 Arthur C. Clarke brought out a novel, [_The Fountains of Paradise_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountains_of_Paradise), in which Dr. Vannevar Morgan is chief engineer of a project to build a ‘beanstalk’, a space elevator linking Earth’s surface to synchronous ‘Clarke’ orbit. Also in 1979, Charles Sheffield brought out [_The Web Between the Worlds_](http://www.baen.com/chapters/W200011/0671319736.htm?blurb), in which Rob Merlin is chief engineer of a project to build a space elevator… Both men’s literary reputations were above reproach – Clarke had been writing SF for 30+ years and had come up with the idea of the synchronous communication satellite in the 1950s. Sheffield was a leading space scientist who was newer to fiction but widely respected by the SF community. From [TVTropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpaceElevator): > [@](#): > > Charles Sheffield’s novel The Web Between the Worlds was published almost simultaneously with Clarke’s, and bears some close similarities, including a near miss with the name of the protagonist. However in a foreword to Sheffield’s novel, Clarke discounts any suggestion of plagiarism, pointing out merely that the space elevator was an idea whose time had come. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/43 "2011-08-10T18:01:54Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Interesting, that was the first example that popped into my head. Though on reflection I reckon that they feel more akin than many of the others in this thread. > > Yes, “fail safe” was played perfectly straight but given the overall frightening absurdity of the subject matter, and that both were very well executed, I always have them in my mind as having equal merit. Another interesting fact: Peter George, the author of the 1958 novel _Red Alert_ (a serious thriller which was the basis of _Dr Strangelove_) sued Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, the authors of the 1962 novel _Fail-Safe_ for plagiarism and received an out-of-court settlement. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/44 "2011-08-11T07:10:20Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Another interesting fact: Peter George, the author of the 1958 novel _Red Alert_ (a serious thriller which was the basis of _Dr Strangelove_) sued Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, the authors of the 1962 novel _Fail-Safe_ for plagiarism and received an out-of-court settlement. I never knew that. Interesting. Mind you, as with Polycarp’s example, I suspect both books and films were a product of their time. Cold War paranoia contributing to the similarities as much as direct plagiarism. Good films nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455/45 "2011-08-12T02:54:29Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > [eXistenZ](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120907/) and [The Thirteenth Floor](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139809/) \*The Matrix \*came out the same year – actually I saw all three of these movies within a 3 month period. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-versions-collide-biggest-contrast-between-co-incidently-themed-works/591455.md?page=2)