Robot/droid design plagiarism?

[Vandervecken]

HERBIE (on right, obviously) from 1978 Fantastic Four animated series:

VINCENT from The Black Hole, 1979:

BB-8 from the Force Awakens, 2015:

 

[sojourner]

nope.

 

[Nerys Myk]

nope

 

[Vandervecken]

ok. they sure look similar to me, and The Black Hole was very shortly after HERBIE.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, don't really see it either. If anything, I see more resemblance with NES's R.O.B. Between Vincent and BB-8, I see more of a possible inspiration. Vincent hovers and BB-8 doesn't, though, which make them two very different types of robots.

 

[Nerys Myk]

ok. they sure look similar to me, and The Black Hole was very shortly after HERBIE.

Similar doesn't equal plagiarism

 

[theenglish]

The Black Hole designs would have already been completed by the time the FF series came along, I think.

BB was designed on the basis of creating a working robot with a cool way to move around.

 

[Tosk]

Is it plagiarism that 3PO looks like Maria?

 

[JD]

They are similar but still very different.

 

[Awesome Possum]

Is it plagiarism that 3PO looks like Maria?

C-3PO was originally meant to be a male version of Maria, but the final design was so different than the concept art that the inspiration is completely lost. The only similarity is that both are metal and humanoid.

BB-8 is just R2's head on a ball. Since BB-8 is meant to be a more advanced model by the same manufacturer there would have to be some similarities.

The others aren't even close.

 

[Vandervecken]

Similar doesn't equal plagiarism

No, strong similarity equals ground for suspicion.

The others aren't even close.

Close is exactly what they are. However, I accept that the Black Hole design for Vincent had already been made independently; I hadn't understood the timing. But to suggest that it's reaching and unfair to the creatives here to suggest that there might be plagiarism in the similarity of a small head on a squat body, and in two cases both spherical bodies with very short protrusions, is itself to be unreasonably dismissive. Given the VERY wide range of choices that might be made for robot/droid body designs--just look at Maximillian from the Black Hole, or the tentacular things from the Matrix--these three are indeed very similar.

 

[Awesome Possum]

No, strong similarity equals ground for suspicion.






Close is exactly what they are. However, I accept that the Black Hole design for Vincent had already been made independently; I hadn't understood the timing. But to suggest that it's reaching and unfair to the creatives here to suggest that there might be plagiarism in the similarity of a small head on a squat body, and in two cases both spherical bodies with very short protrusions, is itself to be unreasonably dismissive. Given the VERY wide range of choices that might be made for robot/droid body designs--just look at Maximillian from the Black Hole, or the tentacular things from the Matrix--these three are indeed very similar.

BB-8 was inspired by R2-D2 and Vincent is probably a rip-off of him.

 

[sojourner]

similar doesn't equal plagiarism.

 

[Awesome Possum]

similar doesn't equal plagiarism.

Especially since a lot of movies and shows share design teams or have the same influence.

 

[RJDiogenes]

All these types of robots have existed in fiction for the better part of a century. They were everywhere in comics and Pulp fiction. Asimov wrote about humanoid robots like C3P0 extensively and Dan Barry had a whole planet full of R2D2s in Flash Gordon in the late 60s.

 

[Mudd]

...strong similarity equals ground for suspicion.

No.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Also no.

 

[Vandervecken]

No.

I beg to differ. It is exactly what causes investigations for copyright infringement and for academic or creative plagiarism. It doesn't necessarily mean anything is there, but, in the everyday, real world, strong similarity is absolutely ground for such suspicion, all the time.

 

[Starscream2112]

So what about the Lost in Space Robot B-9 and the forbidden planet robot Robbie? Same designer. Similar robots to be sure.

 

[Vandervecken]

So what about the Lost in Space Robot B-9 and the forbidden planet robot Robbie? Same designer. Similar robots to be sure.

I do accept that it is an accident--the timing of the projects, which I didn't take into account, breaks any link to HERBIE, and I can see how BB-8 could just be a re-do of r2, but cuter (ugh). And common designers would make it happen too. What I can't possibly agree with is the idea that mere suspicion based on similarity is wrong. It is exactly what causes people to look into these things. Someone says "huh! look at that! looks just like my thing" and they investigate. That's all. Doesn't mean it's so. But sometimes it is and leads to embarrassment and lawsuits. Just not here.