Can someone explain the whole "Disney steals ideas" thing?

[I.R Joey]

I was at another board and someone said that the idea of Atlantis was stolen from some anime called Nadia (I've never heard of it, if any of you have feel free to tell me about it.) and that the Lion King was stolen from something called Kimba.

[freakboy86]

Don't know about 'Atlantis', but as for 'Lion King' (which is the ONLY good Disney film) it is actually a remake (rehash, ripoff, your pick) of Hamlet.
As for all of the other 'entertainment' they put out, a good 90% of their animated films are simply retellings of fairytales or classic short stories. Aside from films like 'Toy Story' and 'Dinosaur', the writers at Disney can't seem to come up with an original idea if it bit them on the...well, you get the idea.

"Reality is the only word that should always be used in quotes."

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Originally posted by I.R Joey
I was at another board and someone said that the idea of Atlantis was stolen from some anime called Nadia (I've never heard of it, if any of you have feel free to tell me about it.) and that the Lion King was stolen from something called Kimba.

Actually, Atlantis and Nadia both steal from Jules Verne, but you won't be hearing about that on any board.

Nadia is a 39 episode anime show (aired in Japan in 1991, now on video) about a bespectacled boy inventor who meets a dark-skinned girl and pretty much get into adventures involving Captain Nemo and the lost city of Atlantis. Obviously, there are similarities, but they are too broad to be compared with one another. Better to compare them with the source material instead.

Lion King's similarities to Kimba the White Lion (an anime TV series) are more suspicious. 'Simba' is a neat play on 'Kimba', and they pretty much follow the same path of a father getting killed, IIRC. Kimba the White Lion aired on US television in the 60s-70s in dubbed form, and it was directed by Osamu Tezuka. The Tezuka estate, however, decided not to sue as Tezuka was a Disney fan and they thought that he would be flattered at the fact that they drew inspiration from his work.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Nadia is actually a fascinating series. It aired at a time when anime had hit a ratings slump in Japan, and sponsors were not sure how a dark-skinned female lead would go over with Japanese audiences. It came at the right time, however, and it became a hit. I've a link to a website with some of the characters, so you can judge for yourself. Dr. Belch, if he is reading, may be interested in seeing the *original* Team Rocket right here--Grandis, Sanson and Hanson are arguably the original 'source' for soft-hearted, bumbling crook trios in anime. Or at the very least, the ones who popularized the formula.






Nadia

[I.R Joey]

Here ya go, see for yourselves.

http://www.zero-city.com/nadia/nadia_vs_atlantis.html

[Nightflower]

Here's the link to a website comparing the movie and the anime

http://www.neomedia.it/personal/quee...atlantis-I.htm

If you read it, you can see the similarities *Aren't* that broad. While some things I think are iffy (Like camera angles, and the sub), some members of each crew are almost complete look-alikes.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Originally posted by Nightflower
Here's the link to a website comparing the movie and the anime

http://www.neomedia.it/personal/quee...atlantis-I.htm

If you read it, you can see the similarities *Aren't* that broad. While some things I think are iffy (Like camera angles, and the sub), some members of each crew are almost complete look-alikes.

Hmm, well, seen from the POV, you may have a point here. Wouldn't be the first time for Disney.

[Vigo Sprax]

Kimba also looks very much lika Simba.

[RockItShipper]

Originally posted by Leap Larry Jojo
Dr. Belch, if he is reading, may be interested in seeing the *original* Team Rocket right here--Grandis, Sanson and Hanson are arguably the original 'source' for soft-hearted, bumbling crook trios in anime. Or at the very least, the ones who popularized the formula.

I think it would be the latter. Dragonball started airing in 1986
and gave more 'screentime' for Shu, Pilaf and Mai than the manga did.

[freakboy86]

WOW! just checked out the site comparing 'Nadia' and 'Atlantis'. Very frightening, and an OBVIOUS rip-off.
What gets me, though, is how Disney can blatently steal (never got permission from the original creator) not just an idea but an entire FILM from someone, virtually verbatim, and get praise and a toy line. Yet when someone else writes a PARODY of 'Gone With The Wind' from the slave's point of view they are immediately censored and ordered by the courts to destroy all copies of their novel.
Guess it pays to have good lawyers.

"So do you think Disney are a bunch of crooks?"
"Is Jar-Jar lame?"

[RockItShipper]

Originally posted by freakboy86
Yet when someone else writes a PARODY of 'Gone With The Wind' from the slave's point of view they are immediately censored and ordered by the courts to destroy all copies of their novel.

I believe that particular ruling was overturned and "The Wind Done Gone" will hit bookshelves soon.

[killercroc]

Originally posted by RockItShipper


I believe that particular ruling was overturned and "The Wind Done Gone" will hit bookshelves soon.

Yup, it was and it will.

[DR. BELCH]

L.L. Jojo:
I've a link to a website with some of the characters [in Nadia], so you can judge for yourself. Dr. Belch, if he is reading, may be interested in seeing the *original* Team Rocket right here...

Mil gracias. Grandis Granva does look like Jessy if she decided to wet her hair and wash out the hair spray (IMO she uses too much; I swear I've heard it clunk when struck on ocassion). I bet, though, she doesn't have Jessy's unique perspective on life and tendency to refuse to take responsibility for her actions--in short, her psychological complexity. That's why Jessy facinates me--she's frigging nuts. I know Rocky wants to see her and Ash together, but Jessy needs psychotherapy badly, and I can't see Ash waiting around years for some dame to get her head straight for him. After whatever fling he and Misty have (see other thread), Ash might do better with Casey (a nice girl who loves baseball and has slight masochist tendencies) or Duplica (although she strikes me as more of a businesswoman; I see her forgetting about love and cutting a deal with Giovanni to open a chain of Ditto brothels).

As far as the whole Kimba/Simba thing, I'm afraid it's been talked to death at Snopes' MB. Plagiarism is a very nebulous thing to prove; there's always some idiot willing to scream "thief!" even if he doesn't have enough evidence to made a wad large enough to stick up his bumhole. Stephen Speiberg just beat a plajo rap a couple of years back with Amistad when some writer bawled lawsuit, and I think if not for his big name and his left-leaning politics, he'd have come out of the scandal a lot worse.

Come to think of it, Electra looks like Mihoshi from Tenchi Muyo, with a couple of cups' worth of brains added.

[Calhoun07]

I agree that Disney "borrows" from many sources to get ideas for their movies, but I just want to know...what did they "borrow" from to come up with the Emperor's New Groove?

[Calhoun07]

Originally posted by freakboy86
WOW! just checked out the site comparing 'Nadia' and 'Atlantis'. Very frightening, and an OBVIOUS rip-off.
What gets me, though, is how Disney can blatently steal (never got permission from the original creator) not just an idea but an entire FILM from someone, virtually verbatim, and get praise and a toy line. Yet when someone else writes a PARODY of 'Gone With The Wind' from the slave's point of view they are immediately censored and ordered by the courts to destroy all copies of their novel.
Guess it pays to have good lawyers.

"So do you think Disney are a bunch of crooks?"
"Is Jar-Jar lame?"

And yet they will sue you if you use the name Mickey in a comic book for a character, or if you arrange three circles or balls in a way that it ALMOST looks like the sillouhette of Mickey Mouse. And I am sure there are lots of other things they would sue you over too if you "borrowed" it from them in such a way. That's quite an example of the pot calling the kettle black!

[Calhoun07]

Nadia is on preorder at Amazon.com (going to get me that!) but Kimba....when you type in "Kimba" it comes up with that dumb Lion King 2 movie, Simba's pride. Grrrr.....

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Originally posted by calhoun07
Nadia is on preorder at Amazon.com (going to get me that!) but Kimba....when you type in "Kimba" it comes up with that dumb Lion King 2 movie, Simba's pride. Grrrr.....

Actually, when I typed in "Kimba," I got Kimba the White Lion VHS tapes.

[The Mad Hatter]

I agree that Disney "borrows" from many sources to get ideas for their movies, but I just want to know...what did they "borrow" from to come up with the Emperor's New Groove?

Well, it started out as an odd take on "The Prince and the Pauper" involving an evil shadow presence, sun-lassoing and, yes, the llama bit, was 50% animated, the execs said it sucked, and was eventually rejiggered into what we see now. I thought it turned out remarkably well, considering the quick 180-degree turn.

[Calhoun07]

Originally posted by Leap Larry Jojo


Actually, when I typed in "Kimba," I got Kimba the White Lion VHS tapes.

I was on their DVD page. I don't search for VHS tapes since I don't buy them anymore.