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Movies => Bad Movies => Topic started by: AndyC on November 27, 2003, 12:38:33 PM

Title: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: AndyC on November 27, 2003, 12:38:33 PM
Was thinking about Star Blazers on another thread, and it reminded me of one of the strangest wholesale plot ripoffs I can remember.

I've been a Star Blazers fan since it first aired in Canada, when I was just a lad. I watched every episode of the Quest for Iscandar and the Comet Empire war.

In the latter, the Argo is considered obsolete and much of the team has been reassigned. Wildstar and friends are invited to a mysterious planet that might hold the answer to why a white comet is headed for Earth and how to stop it. Their superiors refuse, so they steal the Argo, making a narrow escape from the dock, and evading the new Andromeda, the biggest, fastest, snazziest ship in the fleet.

Some time later, Star Trek III came out. In that movie, as you know, the Enterprise is considered obsolete and much of the team has been reassigned. Kirk and friends are invited to a mysterious planet that might hold the answer to what happened to Spock and how to rejoin his body and soul. Their superiors refuse, so they steal the Enterprise, making a narrow escape from the dock, and evading the new Excelsior, the biggest, fastest, snazziest ship in the fleet.

At the time, it just amazed me that the mighty Star Trek franchise would copy a big chunk of a major motion picture directly from a relatively obscure Japanese cartoon.

Anybody else recall a plot ripoff that just made your jaw drop?

Title: Re: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: Jamtoy on November 27, 2003, 01:39:01 PM
Look at what Star Trek is doing now, Just on rip off after another.  Mostly rehashes of old story lines.  

The Crew returns to Earth of the past and it happens to be OUR day!

Some strange "Time Travel like thing"  has occured and the show end up with all the crew being killed and one of the members wakes up just about where the show started so that NONE OF THE EVENTS IN THE SHOW EVER HAPPEN!

When the ratings fall, strip the women naked, fire up the phasers and kill a bunch of people per episode.

WAR!  WAR!  WAR!  WAR!

Title: Re: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: JohnL on November 27, 2003, 09:38:37 PM
Judge Dread follows about 80% of the plot of Demolition Man. One of Dean Cain's direct to video/cable movies not only ripped off the shootout at the Cyberdyne building from Terminator II, they used the actual T2 footage!
Title: Re: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: Brother Ragnarok on November 28, 2003, 05:26:47 AM
There are any number of movies that rip things off totally wholesale, but I think I'll use my favorite example, Beyond Darkness.  In one movie you have first and foremost an Exorcist ripoff, complete with a "The power of Christ compels" you style line that's just different enough to not be sued over.  Much like those bacon-wrapped steak fillets (mmmmmm) that I'm terribly fond of, this film also comes wrapped in ripoffs of various themes from Evil Dead, Poltergeist and Hellraiser, as well as a musical theme that is just this side of Halloween.  

Brother R

Title: Re: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: Vermin Boy on November 28, 2003, 11:32:27 AM
The more I think about it, the more I realize that the Super Mario Bros. movie stole a lot from Buckaroo Banzai: an alternate dimension, accessed by going through solid rock, ruled by a manic character actor with goofy hair bent on merging and ruling both dimensions.

Title: Re: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: Conrad on November 29, 2003, 05:41:15 PM
Right.  My thunderbolts are out for Super Mario Bros, then.  

Super Mario Bros?  Is that the howlingly unsuccessful video-game transcription? That tanked big-time?  Major-league failure Super Mario Bros?

Okay, perhaps the curse of Buckaroo has stricken it already.  Heh heh!

Title: Re: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: Conrad on November 29, 2003, 05:43:14 PM
More a soundtrack item; the theme from "Friday the 13th" rips off "Halloween" in a big way, but manages to be just different enough to avoid lawsuits.  Then again, Friday the 13th and Halloween  - ah, what more can I say!

Title: Re: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: AndyC on November 29, 2003, 06:45:04 PM
Yeah, lots of successful movies have cheap imitators, and lots of general story ideas get borrowed again and again, but I'm looking for something a little more specific. The big budget Hollywood picture that almost copies directly from the script of a low budget indie film, b-movie, cartoon, etc. I mean, you look at the two, and it's practically the same story.

Title: Re: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: Evil Matt on November 30, 2003, 01:22:06 AM
Disney's "The Lion King" was damn near a direct rip of Tezuka's "Kimba the White Lion", right down to the evil uncle and the talking bird.

Title: Re: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: akiratubo on November 30, 2003, 09:47:17 AM
At the end of Godzilla 2000, Godzilla fought a shape-changing monster that wanted to absorb his power.  He destroyed it by unleashing all his power at once, which it could not contain.

At the end of Hulk, the Hulk fought a shape changing monster that wanted to absorb his power.  He destroyed it by unleashing all his power at once, which it could not contain.
Title: Re: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: Conrad on November 30, 2003, 12:07:56 PM
Dunno if it's really what you're after, but "Heat" (big$ movie) is mostly derived from "LA Takedown" (little$ TV film).

Title: Re: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: Flangepart on November 30, 2003, 04:05:55 PM
Comming up with totaly original storys is demanding.
    And Hollywood has "Blockbusteritis", that means they are afraid of anything that is not gurrenteed cash out the wazoo.
    They just don't take risks.
    Which means, we get the characters and plots the big wigs think most people want to see. Or, do we? Hummm....
    Audience identification....how many people can see themselves as characters , particulary the leads, in the film at hand? How much does that affect the choices the movers and shakers make in choosing a story to film?
    How much does that define the market?
    Like, you can get an audience to identify with an anti-hero. Hitchcocks FRENZY, for example, but then, how much does that encourage repeat viewing, by the majority of the film going audience?
    Just how willing are people to view "Original" storys, anyway?

Title: Re: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: FearlessFreep on November 30, 2003, 05:03:11 PM
They just don't take risks.

This is because execs have gotten very good at 'marketing product' rather then developing talent.  It's worse in the music industry.  Why take a chance on something new, on developing new talent,  when you can just produce something yuo know yuo can sell?
Title: Re: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: jmc on November 30, 2003, 07:37:10 PM
I think both HEAT and LA TAKEDOWN were directed by MIchael Mann, though, so it's more a case of a director remaking his own work on the big screen with a bigger budget and cast.   Though I've heard that some of the dialogue is word-for-word identical.
Title: Re: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: Eirik on December 02, 2003, 06:02:22 AM
Try to imagine the script for "Fast and the Furious"  (I know, I know - but try).  Now, everywhere it says "racing souped up piece of crap Japanese economy cars" erase that and write "surfing."  Voila!  You now have the script for "Point Break."

Also, I'm pretty sure the entire Matrix Trilogy is pretty much ripped off from an episode of the old PacMan cartoon.  

just kidding :)
Title: Re: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: trekgeezer on December 02, 2003, 10:58:57 PM
There are no new concepts left, therefore the story must be made original by it's execution .  In other  words people are going to keep making remakes and using plots from previously  made sources.  The trouble is most of the dolts making these remakes don't have a clue on how to put an original spin on the plot.  

It can be done. I give as example Alien,  a plot  (group of people trapped somewhere inescapable being terrorized by a monster).  Ripley Scott and Dan O'Bannon did a great job of putting a new spin on it.

Title: Re: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: Eirik on December 03, 2003, 03:36:20 AM
That's true geezer.  An English professor once told me there were only eight basic plots.  I can't remember all of them, but here are some...

FORBIDDEN LOVE- two people love each other but it can't work for whatever reason. (Romeo&Juliet is the obvious one here, as are practically every teen movie ever made)
REVENGE - bad guys kill hero's family/friend/dog.  Hero kills them.  (Outlaw Josey Wales, anything with Steven Segal, etc)
SURVIVAL TALE - hero is stripped of or isolated from that which makes him secure and must survive against the odds (many horror flicks, including Alien fit here, also Watership Down is a good non-horror one).
EXCALIBER TALE - an unknown finds himself suddenly thrust into a great struggle where he holds the key to good prevailing (think Star Wars or Lord of the Rings as a good example, or The Rock as a crap example).
SIN AND REDEMPTION - Hero screws up and struggles to make things right.
WHODUNIT - Basic mystery plot.

That's all I can remember, but there's at least two more.  Basically it isn't the plot that matters so much as what you use it to say.  Some good movies might use the revenge plot to send the message that vengence is an empty fruitless act...  while Stallone or Segal might use the revenge plot to send the message that it sure feels good to blow the head off a guy who killed your partnet - makes things all better.
Title: Re: That is totally ripped off!
Post by: akiratubo on December 04, 2003, 12:11:00 PM
True, Eirik & Geezer, there are only so many plots.  However, that doesn't excuse making a *nearly exact copy* of certain scenes, dialouge, or situations in previous movies.