Older Than They Think/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

* One episode of ''[[The 4400]]'' had as its plot the possibility of the entire premise of the show being an illusion, causing complaints from ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' fans that it was stealing from the latter's episode "Normal Again". Or from ''[[Red Dwarf]]''<nowiki>{{'</nowiki>}}s "Back To Reality", or from ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''<nowiki>{{'</nowiki>}}s "Frame of Mind". Or ''[[Neverwhere]]''. As it happens, the plot ([[Cuckoo Nest]]) is actually among [[The Oldest Ones in the Book]], with classic examples such as Ambrose Bierce's 1886 story "An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge," or Chuang Tzu's tale of the man who dreamt he was a butterfly.

* The reintroduction of the Cybermen in the new ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story "Rise of the Cybermen" prompted some claims that the monsters were a rip-off of ''[[Star Trek]]'''{{"}}s Borg -- in fact, ''[[Doctor Who]]'' fans had been making exactly the opposite claim ever since the Borg were first introduced, almost a quarter century after the Cybermen first appeared.

* In the ''[[Star Trek]]'' franchise, the [[Memetic Hand Gesture|Vulcan salute]], and its accompanying farewells, "Peace and long life" and "Live long and prosper", are both derived from Jewisha benediction delivered during Jewish religious services.{{verify}}<!-- MOD The story was told several times by [[Leonard Nimoy]] and also recounted in the 1968 book ''The Making of Star Trek'' by Stephen E. Whitfield: Whatduring exactlythe isfirst episode with Vulcans other than Spock, Nimoy felt they needed something distinctive for their interactions, and drew upon a "Jewishchildhood benedictionmemory of a service"? where he peeked during a moment when the congregation was supposed to look away from the rabbi as he delivered a blessing --> which he did with both hands in what became the "Vulcan salute".

* Much has been made of how innovative the format of ''[[Law and& Order]]'' was when it first debuted, but there were two obscure earlier shows that had essentially the same structure: ''[[wikipedia:Arrest and Trial|Arrest and Trial]]'' (1963-64) and ''[[wikipedia:The D.A. (1971 TV series)|The D.A.]]'' (1970-71).

** That's because it just exploits a perennial American nightmare for entertainment. Probably every President has been accused by his opponents that way unless he was so mild-mannered as to make it ridiculous (and even then). Certainly Lincoln, Wilson, and FDR not only were but in some circles still are, accused of autocratic pretensions.

* In 1969, a new comedy sketch show debuted that completely tore apart the format of traditional sketch comedy, replacing conventional sketches with sketches that simply stopped mid flow, sketches that ran into each other and a whole lot of silliness. It is, of course, [[Spike Milligan]]'s Q series which preceededpreceded ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' by a few months. (To be fair, the Monty Python team were working on their show at roughly the same time).

** IIRC Montythe PythonPythons acknowledged the''The Goon Show'' as a major influence, so it's unsurprising that ''Flying Circus'' would bear similarities to another work of Milligan's.

** ''Q5'' started just as Pythonthe Pythons had been given their show but didn't really have a concrete idea of how they were going to accomplish what they wanted with it. It's mentioned in interviews and in [[Michael Palin]]'s diary that there was at least one conversation between them about how they'd seen ''Q5'' and thought, "That's what we were going to do, isn't it?"