similarities

[ummm]

So my wife and I consider ourselves MSTies. We were watching episode 822 the other night - "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank".

The main characters name is Aram who finds himself caught up hacking a large corporation's population controlling computer system. The company's name is Novicorp and is run by a character known only as "the chairman". There is even a computer voice that sounds very close to Mitch's instant messaging voice in AIO. You can read more about the episode here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overdrawn_ ... emory_Bank.

I think the similarities are there for a reason. It is clear with the British character Arthur Dent that some AIO writers must be fans of HG2G, and I wonder if any of the AIO writers have said publicly that they are MSTies.

[Trixie Belden]

Wow! I don't know if some of that was intentional, like the name Aram, but that's a little too close for comfort! What a cool find that answers a lot of questions!

[31899]

I think there might be a bit of plagiarism going on here on someones part, two people had the same idea, or Duckies are attacking and brainwashing us to think the same things, or they had a mix up in they're brainwashing satellite.

31899

[ummm]

I doubt it is plagiarism. I expect that someone is paying homage to mst3k, but I don't know who.

[Crazy 4 Pugs]

Mmm, nope, that's plagiarism. Granted, I haven't seen that ep of MST3K, but that doesn't sound like "paying homage", that's straight up copying. They also drew heavy insiration from the X-Files episode "Wetwired" (season 3, ep 23) with the whole signals-from-tv-affecting-people's-minds thing. Also bordering on plagiarism.

Honestly, I think sometimes AIO doesn't know the difference between paying tribute or giving a nod to their favorite TV shows and plagiarizing. There was another episode "A Class Reenactment" that had an entire section of dialog lifted almost word-for-word from another X-Files ep- "Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" (season 7, ep 2).

On the one hand, it's sorta amusing that AIO, a family/children's show takes their inspiration from relatively obscure (or at least not wildly popular) TV shows. But on the other hand, I think that especially as a Christian program, they need to show a little more integrity and stop with the plagiarism.

(Sorry for the rant, but the president of my college just retired suddenly because of a plagiarism issue, so let's just say I have some firm opinions about it these days.)

[31899]

I doubt FOTF would intentionally plagiarize or another big corporation. I think it is the same idea.

31899

[The Top Crusader]

Most movies shown on MST3K are public domain... not sure if thats the case here. But assuming it is, can you really plagiarize something thats public domain? I have no idea, just throwing it out there.

Although if its intention, I hope Odyssey randomly has footage of the Hitler Building being blown up.

[Moontide]

But assuming it is, can you really plagiarize something thats public domain?

No, if it is in the public domain you can do any thing to it.

[JoyElectric]

Actually yes, plagiarism isn't a legal definition so much as it is a general one. It means to copy or heavily derive one's work from another without credit. If you copy or derive from a public domain film, it's still plagiarism even if there are no legal repercussions.

That said, I love MST3k. I've seen the movie is question numerous times thanks to the stupidity of the plot and rather awful graphics. There are similarities, but the over-arching story is much different (man caught in computer) from the Novacomm saga (plans to send commercials straight into the mind).

The idea of subliminal ads, bait-and-switch miracle technology, and evil corporations forcing themselves into your mind isn't hardly new. As the Internet Age crept along, we saw a ton of stories like this such as The Matrix. There were even two Christian Rock albums (Under Midnight, Eric Champion's Vertical Reality) with themes like this back in the 90s. I don't think they ripped anyone off.

And if there was a bad Sci-Fi movie about an evil computer and their nefarious leader, MST3k would have covered it. I really miss that show.

[ummm]

We just noticed that a new character, Simon Jones, shares the name with the actor who played Arthur Dent in HG2G. There are definitely some science fiction fans among the AIO crew.

[Gandalf]

If AIO or FotF were in the slightest way guilty of plagerism, we can be assured that someone would press charges. Focus is so hated, especially by Hollywood types, that they would kill to have the chance to try to smear them (see the latest episode with the Super Bowl commercial).

Just my 2 cents.

[jelly]

phh... the AIO team copies stuff so much sometimes it's it's just ridiculous.

[StrongNChrist]

If you think AIO copies stuff you should try watching veggietales....

[SoccerLOTR]

There is, however, a difference from copying something word-for-word and copying an idea. They probably should have changed some of the names a little more, but otherwise there is no reason to draw attention to it. A lot of their stuff is based off of real-life shows--like twilife zone vs. twilight zone...and since it's a radio drama for kids vs. TV show or movie for adults, I doubt it's really considered serious competition.

[Jeremy]

Mmm, nope, that's plagiarism. Granted, I haven't seen that ep of MST3K, but that doesn't sound like "paying homage", that's straight up copying. They also drew heavy insiration from the X-Files episode "Wetwired" (season 3, ep 23) with the whole signals-from-tv-affecting-people's-minds thing. Also bordering on plagiarism.

Honestly, I think sometimes AIO doesn't know the difference between paying tribute or giving a nod to their favorite TV shows and plagiarizing. There was another episode "A Class Reenactment" that had an entire section of dialog lifted almost word-for-word from another X-Files ep- "Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" (season 7, ep 2).

On the one hand, it's sorta amusing that AIO, a family/children's show takes their inspiration from relatively obscure (or at least not wildly popular) TV shows. But on the other hand, I think that especially as a Christian program, they need to show a little more integrity and stop with the plagiarism.

(Sorry for the rant, but the president of my college just retired suddenly because of a plagiarism issue, so let's just say I have some firm opinions about it these days.)

Yeah, I've been noticing AIO's plagiarism more and more, as I've watched old TV shows. Whole scenes/storylines/episodes have been taken from many different TV shows, from Leave It To Beaver to The Andy Griffith Show to Family Ties, and more.

Jeremy