Battle Beyond the Stars is more like Seven Samurai in space, and we'll have it on Blu Ray before the OT.
It's a little unfair to lump Galactica and The Black Hole in with the obvious rip offs, as both were being developed long before Star Wars even came out. Of course, SW is what got them finally greenlighted.
And Fox was so lawsuit happy at the time, they wanted to even go after Hardware Wars, but Lucas liked it. I'm surprised the owners of Flash Gordon didn't think about suing Fox. After all, Lucas pursued the movie rights before making up his own space opera!
The mother of all rip offs has to be The War in Space. Quickly conceived after some Toho studio people saw Star Wars in Hollywood, and released in Japanese cinemas before Star Wars! The horned Wookiee ripoff with the battle axe still cracks me up to this day.
Where were you in '77?
Both Galactica and The Black Hole gained extra funding and had their production designs changed after Star Wars.
The Black Hole before Star Wars was a very different looking film with a very different tone before R2D2 and C3PO became the big hit that they did.
Watching the film when it came out it certainly felt like a Star Wars rip-off.
Now I'm struck by how Maximilian resembles a certain cyborg general (only more cool).
The Black Hole was definitely in the pipeline before Star Wars, but I thought it turned out Glen Larson was full of shit about Galactica? That guy is pretty notorious for ripping off stuff.
edit: found this, is it time for secret history of Galactica?:
http://www.battlestargalactica.com/classicdocs/pop_art0028.htm
I can only recall the it being called "Captain Nemo in outer space" at the time. I've seen production art dated '74 or '75 with a robot that eventually became Vincent.
At least Maximillian doesn't smoke four packs a day.
If you've seen the Tron Legacy trailer, there's a little hint about Disney's next remake project. ;)
Whatever Galactica's true origins, it's a no brainer every studio that turned Lucas down would try to come up with something of their own. Star Wars even played a part in Star Trek's transformation into a big screen movie.
And wasn't it Lucas himself who was quoted saying how he knew people would copy Star Wars, and he would sit down and enjoy the copies?
If the Space Battleship Yamato live action film comes out in the states, you just know some clueless idiot is going to call it an SW rip.
Where were you in '77?
SilverWook said:
The horned Wookiee ripoff with the battle axe still cracks me up to this day.
**speaking of horned wookies--I believe there is a second season episode of Lost in Space featuring space pirates-one had a green head with a bright orange vest(made me think of Greedo), and another is a big brown hairy creature ( with horns) and what appears very much like a belt running diagonally across the chest.
Always wanted to look it up again to see if I was imagining the bandoleer.
Here's the "Official" response to this story
http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/index.php/2010/11/15/major-empire-spoiler-actually-dropped-in-1977/
Is it just me or does LFL's attitude towards these story's stink. An article surfaces suggesting Prowse knew about Empire's secret plot reveal, they trace the evidence back to an old fanzine who interviewed Prowse and all they have to say about it is correct the date to 1977!
We've all been told Prowse didn't know the big secret plot twist, we find evidence that he may have known as far back as 1977 and all they can do is comment on the incorrect dating in the original article!
Typical LFL BS. This, along with their reaction to the 3-D backlash just proofs that they're not in touch with a large portion of their fans.
Sorry, that's my rant over. Just wanted to share this.
Your brain just makes s**t up!
A fate worse than death? Having your head digitally replaced with that of Hayden Christensen!
Bobby Jay said:
An article surfaces suggesting Prowse knew about Empire's secret plot reveal, they trace the evidence back to an old fanzine who interviewed Prowse and all they have to say about it is correct the date to 1977!
They only correct the date because it's completely self-serving. Makes all the revisionist lies seem like there may be some truth to them. It's well documented that Lucas first hired Foster to write a sequel story, then Brackett not long after.
He just needs to plant some doubt in the minds of the TFNers and they'll blindly buy whatever he's selling. In this case, they want to believe he had it all planned in 1975, just as he keeps trying to assert. They aren't going to go to the trouble of researching the truth. That would be something that would contradict the lies they've chosen to believe - the lies they want to believe. The lies they need to believe.
Instead of telling the truth - there is no way Prowse knew the story - that hadn't been written yet - he turns it into "...uh...yeah...Prowse, he...uh...he found out my original story somehow".
Lucas is a lot of things, but he's first & foremost very media savvy. He's always looking for ways to push that Original Story bullshit. With this old newspaper clipping, the fan base just served him one on a silver platter. Genius on Lucas' part to play this one the way he has.
Frankly I don't think George has any input on what the official site or blog puts out at all. It's run by a small team of fans who get paid to post about their favorite film series. Heck, look at what they posted to their blog just the other day. That doesn't exactly paint Lucas in a very good light. For the Prowse article I think they just asked around and happened to stumble upon an even earlier instance of Prowse throwing out his theory and posted it because they thought it was cool.
Semi-update?
http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/index.php/2011/01/11/another-1978-father-spoiler-discovered/
Another 1978 “Father” Spoiler Discovered January 11, 2011
As an addendum to our original post about the “Vader is Luke’s father” spoiler appearing in the April 1978 issue of Little Shoppe of Horrors, Star Wars author Ryder Windham recently sent us a heads-up on another instance of this spoiler showing up in early 1978:
“Earlier today, I found myself perusing the first issue of Future magazine, cover date April 1978,” says Windham. “The issue has a ‘Databank’ feature for ‘News Items from the World of the Present’ on pages 6-7, and includes this entry for Star Wars…”
“In the realm of the Wars, George Lucas has approached all of the original film’s principals, including Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, Dave Prowse, Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker. Noted SF author Leigh Brackett has been approached with the task of writing the screenplay for the big-budgeted sequel. One of the key elements in the second script may be the origin of the Dark Lord, Darth Vader. One version of his life being considered for the forthcoming production will reveal a young, handsome Darth turning rogue Jedi, killing Luke Skywalker’s father and being pushed into a pool of molten lava by avenging angel Ben Kenobi. Darth is so badly scarred that he dons his black armor forever. It serves as a combination exoskeleton and walking iron lung. The second version portrays Darth as being, in reality, Luke Skywalker’s father. After a psychological trauma, Luke’s father succumbs to the darker nature of The Force and allows all that is good within him to die. And rising from the ashes of his soul is Darth, the arch-foe of all that is righteous. Whatever Vader’s fate in the as-yet-embryonic script, the film began pre-production in London in January.”
The first scenario mentioned – the one where Vader is pushed into molten lava by Kenobi – was likely lifted from a Rolling Stone interview with George Lucas in 1977. The source for the second scenario – the father one – is uncertain, unless the reporter was within earshot of Prowse’s comments recorded at the October 1977 Horror Elite Convention (and referenced in our original post).
In any case, that cat was out of the bag by April ’78, although it fortunately didn’t get picked up by the mainstream media, allowing the Dark Lord’s identity — as Kenobi says — to remain safely anonymous until 1980.
"Well here's a big bag of rock salt" - Patton Oswalt
Why that little bombshell didn't run in sister publication Starlog I'll never know. Future Life didn't have a very long publication run. And only Fangoria is left today.
Where were you in '77?
