Total Rip Of Buffy!

[Azriel]

There was an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer that had this exact same premise. I mean come on! Jeez.

[griffyn612]

i agree. in Buffy, it was a demon that stabbed her and injected her with a poison or whatever that led her to believe she was going crazy and would 'kill' her if she bought into the dream.

I swear MM even said in this one that the Phantom had injected itself into him or something. Can we find out who wrote this one and determine if there's one person going around with this plot to all the shows?

They did it on Stargate: Atlantis too, where the chick was halucinating in an imaginary world where she was in a mental institution.

[oberyn]

Originally posted by Azriel
There was an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer that had this exact same premise. I mean come on! Jeez.

In fairness, that premise had been used on tv shows before Buffy, as well.

[emily feist]

Well, I've also seen this on Charmed,the X-files, and the 4400. I think there are certain plots every sci-fi show does eventually. Especially in shows like the ones mentioned. The hero wishes that they were normal or that their life is just some crazy dream but they always realize at the end that they must embrace their destiny. It helps in character development.

[Azriel]

my point exactly. writers got to come up with something original. i mean i don't know about you i don't like rehashes of already done premises.

[emily feist]

I get what you're saying. But Smallville is notorious for ripping off of other shows or movies so you kind of have to expect it. I wish they would jump out of their box and try totally different stuff but the writers seem nervous about trying something new. However, I did like this episode, atleast until the Clark loving Lana line.

[MidgardDragon]

The premise has been used in just about ALL forms of storytelling throughout the centuries. It's not ripping off Buffy, it's not ripping off anyone unless you can pinpoint the exact first person to use the premise, which I doubt can be done.

[griffyn612]

Originally posted by emily feist
I get what you're saying. But Smallville is notorious for ripping off of other shows or movies so you kind of have to expect it. I wish they would jump out of their box and try totally different stuff but the writers seem nervous about trying something new. However, I did like this episode, atleast until the Clark loving Lana line.

there is nothing original left anywhere. the last original thought was '24', and that was 5 or 6 years ago. Nothing since then. Creativity is dead. Long live monotonous brain-sucking television.

[Kalel x2x2]

Remember 'Mercy' ? ...

[sstray72]

Star Trek: TNG did this premise too. So Buffy isn't the be all and end all of TV. :rolleyes:

[Jaded Wolf]

Star Trek: The Next Generation "Frames of Minds" and Buffy the Vampire Slayer "Normal Again" are the two that come to mind. Buffy was injected by a demon to cause her hallucinations. Like I said in another post, I find it funny that the creators who work for the network formerly known as theWB copy Joss Whedon's work who happened to have been screwed twice by said former network. Maybe they shouldn't have got rid of his shows after all.

[Piiike]

IT also sorta reminds me of season 5 on Angel when Spike is going hellbound.

[Azriel]

I'm not saying that Buffy is the Holy Grail of t.v. I am saying that it's been done. So, why do it again? I mean Heroes is almost the same as X-Men but atleast they keep it fresh. Smallville is starting to get stail, I have been watching it since the start and it sucks that it's getting tired.

[mctor]

I think there was a big difference between the buffy episode and the smallville episode. in the buffy episode you werent realy given a clear answer which place was real and what place was not(slayer/not slayer) i thought that in smallville it was made pretty clear that he was in an alternate universe that the phantom created from his memories

[MidgardDragon]

Originally posted by Azriel
I'm not saying that Buffy is the Holy Grail of t.v. I am saying that it's been done. So, why do it again? I mean Heroes is almost the same as X-Men but atleast they keep it fresh. Smallville is starting to get stail, I have been watching it since the start and it sucks that it's getting tired.

Why do it if it's been done before? Because *everything* has been done before. Trying to avoid doing anything that someone might recognize from some other show or book is nigh impossible. Also, as for Heroes originality, it's a great show, but it most certainly has done plenty that's been done before. One, the relationship between Claire and Zach, the popular girl learning to love the geeky guy (or at least be friends with him). Seen it. Did you see the last Heroes episode? Hiro is on a quest for a magic sword that will focus his powers. Also been done before.

[jack1487]

Well if you look back on all the movies and TV shows over the years you will find that someone somewhere has all readly done something like it before... Just check out some old Betty Davis movies and you will see what I mean...

Jack

[Welling_is_pretty]

When I saw the trailer, heard the details to Labyrinth I went "oh, like that Buffy episode". But the plot has been seen many times before (in the comics as well). If you have a hero of any kind, especially one with powers, you always have to have a "what if it weren't true?" story (and an amnesia story, and a lose their powers story, and a what if the one person I don't want to find out about me finds out about me, etc., etc., etc.).

I just wasn't ready for how much like that Buffy episode it was.

Still, if you're going to borrow, borrow from the best, I say! (and frankly, there are few better than Joss Whedon!)

[RedPhoenix23]

Originally posted by Azriel
I'm not saying that Buffy is the Holy Grail of t.v. I am saying that it's been done. So, why do it again? I mean Heroes is almost the same as X-Men but atleast they keep it fresh. Smallville is starting to get stail, I have been watching it since the start and it sucks that it's getting tired.

I think the main problem here is, you can't say Smallville was copying Buffy and that was a baad and unoriginal thing to do and NOT point out that Buffy just stole that idea from another source anyways. I loved Buffy too, but most of their plot ideas did come from other sources first. They just did it so damn it good, it's easy to forget sometimes, hehe.

[shirkie]

Joss Whedon is THE MAN.
shirkie

[Jaded Wolf]

Originally posted by Welling_is_pretty
When I saw the trailer, heard the details to Labyrinth I went "oh, like that Buffy episode". But the plot has been seen many times before (in the comics as well). If you have a hero of any kind, especially one with powers, you always have to have a "what if it weren't true?" story (and an amnesia story, and a lose their powers story, and a what if the one person I don't want to find out about me finds out about me, etc., etc., etc.).

I just wasn't ready for how much like that Buffy episode it was.

Still, if you're going to borrow, borrow from the best, I say! (and frankly, there are few better than Joss Whedon!)

:mad: Joss Whedon is one of the greatest writers. The WB and Fox screwed him over! If it hadn't been for Whedon's Buffy and Angel making theWB a steady network, Smallville might not have come into existence.

[XxKidMenuxX]

Who cares buffy went downhill, and it was a good ep anyway.

[RedPhoenix23]

Originally posted by XxKidMenuxX
Who cares buffy went downhill, and it was a good ep anyway.

:eek: Blaspemy!!!!

[XFlamez]

if you guys ever saw the superman cartoon, it was very similar to this episode, you guys gotta stop thinking its ripping anyone off.

i think smallville is getting better and better
you guys always saying how boring its getting how bad its getting
if you can come up with something better, why don't you write a script and lets see if we like it or not.

[Antithesis]

Originally posted by Jaded Wolf
Star Trek: The Next Generation "Frames of Minds" and Buffy the Vampire Slayer "Normal Again" are the two that come to mind. Buffy was injected by a demon to cause her hallucinations. Like I said in another post, I find it funny that the creators who work for the network formerly known as theWB copy Joss Whedon's work who happened to have been screwed twice by said former network. Maybe they shouldn't have got rid of his shows after all.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Voyager to lesser extent did it too. DS9 even had a mini arc or several episodes doing it.(at least two eps maybe three)

I think this was the first Superman based show to do it though..

[chloefan5]

at least this episode didn't try to become The Buffy Show. James Marsters and those vampires in Thirst almost made that episode feel like 100% Buffy

[hansioux]

ST:DS9's Far Beyond the Stars is similar but that Sisko wouldn't have died from it and no one sinister is behind the visions. Rather it was the Prophets giving him signs of what's to come.

[sstray72]

:eek: mctor stole my Chlark Side avatar that LexGirl made special for me!! :mad: :mad:

on topic: Old concept, retold with new characters. Nothing new in the realm of storytelling, including the great Buffy.

[AngelaV]

Since we are naming t.v. shows :)
Farscape, Season 2, Episode 15 "Won't Get Fooled Again". One of my favourite twists on main hero in straighjacket being told things are different than what he/she thinks!

I've read a lot of science fiction. There's many stories like this in print too. But every show/story makes it their own.

[Antithesis]

Originally posted by hansioux
ST:DS9's Far Beyond the Stars is similar but that Sisko wouldn't have died from it and no one sinister is behind the visions. Rather it was the Prophets giving him signs of what's to come.

True, but I was actually thinking of the second part of the season 7 opener "Shadows and Symbols". It has Sisco as the Benny character from "Far Beyond the Stars" in an asylum because of his stories.

[Hermes X]

ok you ever here of the superman comic "for the man who has everything" look it up

[Antithesis]

I've seen the JLU ep by the same name.

[angelus666]

Originally posted by Azriel
I'm not saying that Buffy is the Holy Grail of t.v.

I am :D. But seriously the story has been used before buffy. It's funny I read a foiler for the Buffy finalie and it sounded a lot like this episode in the foiler Buffy was really in an asylum, Willow was her cell mate and Xander was the prison guard.

[jimmyolsenblues]

Originally posted by Azriel
There was an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer that had this exact same premise. I mean come on! Jeez.


shhhh ("we don't mind when they ripoff buffy")

sincerely we don't mind.

its when they rip off three's company , I get mad.

[Welling_is_pretty]

Originally posted by jimmyolsenblues
shhhh ("we don't mind when they ripoff buffy")

sincerely we don't mind.

its when they rip off three's company , I get mad.
yeah, if you're going to steal from someone do it from the best! And there are few out there better than Joss Whedon!

[Hermes X]

sigh its a retelling of a superman comic "for the man who has everything"

[Dannyblue1]

When it comes to genre TV shows, you have to expect them to use similar themes. It really can't be helped. Invisible foes. Amnesia. Evil twins. Body swapping. Mind whammies. They all get used by genre shows at some point, and just because one show uses the same theme another used doesn't mean they are ripping the other show off.

However, when two shows do episodes based on a similar theme, you can definately compare the episodes and judge which show handled things better.

I actually didn't care for "Normal Again" (BtVS), while I didn't mind "Labyrinth" quite as much. Not that "Normal Again" wasn't well done, but I hated that, "Is the dream world actually the real one? Is everything we've been watching for the past six years an illusion in Buffy's head?" thing they did at the end. It struck me as an attempt to be "deep" that didn't really work for me.

That being said, BtVS still rules! BtVS reached it's potential (and maintain its high quality for several seasons) in a way SV has never quite managed.

[meteor_phreak]

I never watched Buffy, so i can't speak on that, but i still gotta side with all the people that say similar themes and similar concepts make some similar stories inevitable. just like all spy movies have guns, girls and explosions. all sports movies have some underdog element. meh, it's part of tv.

[Mischael12]

They actually did the same thing in Charmed called Brain Drain; its nothing new.

[Freemind]

Originally posted by griffyn612
there is nothing original left anywhere. the last original thought was '24', and that was 5 or 6 years ago. Nothing since then. Creativity is dead. Long live monotonous brain-sucking television.

How is 24 original?

[Antithesis]

It's the first show to be in real time.

[Welling_is_pretty]

Originally posted by Dannyblue1
When it comes to genre TV shows, you have to expect them to use similar themes. It really can't be helped. Invisible foes. Amnesia. Evil twins. Body swapping. Mind whammies. They all get used by genre shows at some point, and just because one show uses the same theme another used doesn't mean they are ripping the other show off.

However, when two shows do episodes based on a similar theme, you can definately compare the episodes and judge which show handled things better.

I actually didn't care for "Normal Again" (BtVS), while I didn't mind "Labyrinth" quite as much. Not that "Normal Again" wasn't well done, but I hated that, "Is the dream world actually the real one? Is everything we've been watching for the past six years an illusion in Buffy's head?" thing they did at the end. It struck me as an attempt to be "deep" that didn't really work for me.

That being said, BtVS still rules! BtVS reached it's potential (and maintain its high quality for several seasons) in a way SV has never quite managed.
Exactly, Danny. some themes are just recurring.

And i feel the exact same way about Buffy and the episode "Normal Again".

[hansioux]

Originally posted by Antithesis
True, but I was actually thinking of the second part of the season 7 opener "Shadows and Symbols". It has Sisco as the Benny character from "Far Beyond the Stars" in an asylum because of his stories.

Oh yeah, the Pah-wraith vision. It took me a few times to realize the guy at the assylum was Damar out of custome.....

[Mr. Wrong]

I agree, originality has given way to redundancy. However, like Buffy, Smallville can forge ahead successfully if they only would focus on more heroism from CK. He should be seriously kicking butt. Instead, he seems incapable of beating anyone without a helping hand half the time. The whole soap opera angle gets sickening and quite frankly makes the world's greatest superhero look like nothing but a big, dumb farmboy. How come Oliver was able to put saving the world ahead of his relationship with Lois but CK keeps orbiting Lana like a bad smell. I thought he was supposed to be focusing on zoners!

[kyl-el]

You know, if I actually watched buffy I might care.....actually I probably wouldn't. The fact is that this "type" of episode is done a lot, but in the case of Labyrinth, I felt it was done so well that it doesn't matter.

[jon-el87]

i agree. in Buffy, it was a demon that stabbed her and injected her with a poison or whatever that led her to believe she was going crazy and would 'kill' her if she bought into the dream.

I swear MM even said in this one that the Phantom had injected itself into him or something. Can we find out who wrote this one and determine if there's one person going around with this plot to all the shows?

They did it on Stargate: Atlantis too, where the chick was halucinating in an imaginary world where she was in a mental institution.

Yeah, I remember those episodes of Buffy and Stargate Atlantis. I must say that when it comes to episodes such as this, I prefer the Buffy episode ("Normal Again"), over the Stargate episode and Labyrinth. In both those episodes, it ends with the whole thing being fake and the lives they've believed themselves to live are true. "Normal Again" was much better, it left the question open; Is Buffy really the slayer or is she a young girl in a mental hospital?

[Boycott SF:Movie]

I thought that too. I called it when I saw it. I don't memmer how Smallville's went. No one can top Buffy! In the comics she was in a mental hospital in the beginning.