TV shows that ripped off movies.
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I think Battlestar Galactica was pitched unsucessfully years before Star Wars.
Kind of a backwards Star Trek.
Kind of a backwards Star Trek.
Larry Young
Master Member
And most serious cats here know that SPACE: 1999 was a re-jiggering of the second mooted season of UFO.
Huge space battles, space fighters and dogfights was done on Space Battleship Yamato years before SW came out.
So SW wasn't the first in that regard.
After Raiders of the Lost Ark, Tales of the Gold Monkey hit TV, which was yes.. pitched unsucessfully before.
I think studio execs in some cases were looking for what they had on hand to use right away to cash in.
Automan was clearly a Tron knock off.
Tomb Raider became Relic Hunter
Colin Droidmilk
Sr Member
Y'gotta bear in mind that for 2001 Kubrick went to the Andersons to bolster his FX team way back in '64. And why did he do that? Because Gerry Anderson's team was acknowledged at that point as world leaders in the art of film visualisation of the 21st Century. The Andersons were on that track before Kubrick.
They refused his request for FX guys, but Kubrick did poach from them Brian Johnson who ended up designing the moonbase for 2001 pretty much singlehandedly. According to him, he also designed an eagle type moonbus for 2001 but it was rejected in favour of the one in the film presumably. So for Space 1999 he ripped off himself with the moonbase, and pulled out of the drawer the old eagle design. PLUS, Gerry Anderson's Captain Scarlet (1967) featured a 'moon-hopper', which is clearly an ancestor of the Eagle - and would've been constructed before 2001 was released. As a moonbus concept, it's every bit as convincing as the 2001 craft. Even costumewise, the Andersons were pioneering 2001-style future clothes pretty much concurrently with Kubrick - Captain Scarlet.
Nevertheless, I do think they were influenced by 2001's view of the frightening desolation of space as an environment. Still, space has always been seen as terrifying in Anderson shows (a notion that was wiped from the culture with Star Wars, and which only Alien and, latterly, Moon, have ever tried to recapture).
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I believe Hogan's Heroes was inspired by the film Stalag 17.
Or even ripped off themselves?
Ferris Bueller became a tv series (look for Jennifer Anniston) but Parker Lewis Can't Lose did it better.
Animal House became Delta House, but it had to get watered down so much for tv they killed it rather than keep fighting the network over content. (Several of the movie's cast were in the series, look for Michelle Pfeiffer)
Blue Thunder became a tv series of it's own (look for Dana Carvey) but they felt Airwolf would win the ratings battle so they killed it.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High became Fast Times, more young talent throughout, and even Ray Walston came back.
Robocop, the series. Eww.
Or the tv series stolen from movies, more like the intent of this thread. McLoud from Coogans Bluff, Dukes of Hazzard from Moonrunners.
Ferris Bueller became a tv series (look for Jennifer Anniston) but Parker Lewis Can't Lose did it better.
Animal House became Delta House, but it had to get watered down so much for tv they killed it rather than keep fighting the network over content. (Several of the movie's cast were in the series, look for Michelle Pfeiffer)
Blue Thunder became a tv series of it's own (look for Dana Carvey) but they felt Airwolf would win the ratings battle so they killed it.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High became Fast Times, more young talent throughout, and even Ray Walston came back.
Robocop, the series. Eww.
Or the tv series stolen from movies, more like the intent of this thread. McLoud from Coogans Bluff, Dukes of Hazzard from Moonrunners.
Coz
Sr Member
Alias Smith & Jones - alias Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
Hunter - the Dirty Harry movies
The Young Riders - Young Guns with less guns
From the 'shortlived' pile (the saddest thing is I remember these!):
Automan - Tron
Desperado - Man with (kinda) No Name
Loose Canon - lukewarm Lethal Weapon
Hardball - Beverly Hills Cop with a long-haired white guy
Total Recall 2070 - kinda Bladerunner-lite
Mutant X - wannabe X-Men
Hunter - the Dirty Harry movies
The Young Riders - Young Guns with less guns
From the 'shortlived' pile (the saddest thing is I remember these!):
Automan - Tron
Desperado - Man with (kinda) No Name
Loose Canon - lukewarm Lethal Weapon
Hardball - Beverly Hills Cop with a long-haired white guy
Total Recall 2070 - kinda Bladerunner-lite
Mutant X - wannabe X-Men
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Alan Cross
Sr Member
I worked on Parker Lewis as a staff writer/producer for three years. Thanks, best bud! (Synchronize swatches)
Alan Cross
MrSinistar
Well-Known Member
Tron Legacy is going to have a TV spinoff series called "Tron: Uprising" in 2012. Hopefully, that will be good </wishful thinking>
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