There seem to be more parallels than the tardigrade. One might be happenstance but when you add the rest it screams copy.
Did CBS Steal the Tardigrade Idea?
- Thread starter Prax
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What parallels?
Which begs the question, if you copy a core concept, why would you also copy character "designs" that could be used as a connection between your product and the one you're stealing from when you as a writer could easily come up with different character concepts.
It's from TNG; pretty good if you ask me.
Oh, but it's not. The rationalizations in defense of what is, you must admit, a pretty undistinguished narrative are just silly. Warped, one could reasonably say.
I have no way of knowing whether someone at STD lifted the tardigrade idea from somewhere else.
This guy has no evidence to present on his behalf, apparently, other than similarity. Given that, I don't imagine that he has a case.
It's entirely possible that the similarity between this guy's idea and expression of it and the gimmick used on STD last season is a remarkable coincidence.
The operative phrase, there, is "remarkable coincidence." The claims to "applying critical thinking" in defense of STD here, however, have gone right down a ridiculous track of trying to demonstrate or argue that the premise is somehow generic, or so general and vague and obvious right now that no reasonable person should be passingly surprised or find the question of how the similarity arose at all a curious one.
And that is preposterous.
But it's good to see that no one's perspective or sense of fairness here is warped at all by their fondness for Star Trek.
It doesn't speak well of Discovery that their version is so generic that there's no way it couldn't have possibly lifted the idea from somewhere else.
The only question it begs in my mind is the date the concept/s was first made publicly available. As for the legalities I'm not even sure if the originator (whoever they may be) can claim actual 'publication' or if appropriating can be proved. I'm just a simple girl. I see this game idea from 2014 with a big blue tardigrade, a character like Michael and a couple like Stamets and Culber. Not identical but very much similar. One version came before the other.
There are two things going on in STD that are, as skiffy notions, at all unusual or unexpected for Star Trek. One is the tardigrade. The second, arguably, is the mycelial network.
Really, what's unusual about the network is just that the producers committed to it as a major part of the show premise. In and of itself it's not that odd, but it's the kind of thing that TNG used to throw away in a week never to be heard of again - some largely-successful but odd variation to fast travel that's put on the shelf because of unforeseen ramifications.
Really, what's unusual about the network is just that the producers committed to it as a major part of the show premise. In and of itself it's not that odd, but it's the kind of thing that TNG used to throw away in a week never to be heard of again - some largely-successful but odd variation to fast travel that's put on the shelf because of unforeseen ramifications.
He's cheating a bit with Stamets and Culber though, he compares Stamets to a character called Maciek even though Maciek isn't the boyfriend of Aziz (who he claims Culber is "based on".) The actual boyfriend really looks nothing like Stamets:
He also compares a character named Natasha to Tilly based on them having a similar hair color and facial structure and no further connection. In fact Natasha is apparantly a rival/love interest for "you". Tilly's actress probably didn't rip off this game with how she looks all the time.
As for Yolanda, she's a communications engineer responsible for all inter planetary messages sent and received to and from Marsi-3, which is some station. I'm honestly not quite sure where I got her being a sort of lead, nothing from her character bio on that guy's website suggest it and the Natasha entry suggests that the player is the main character (in a "customize" way, of course the player plays the most important character) Oh, and of course Yolanda and Burnham have no physical similarities beyond being black women.
What about the tardigrade? That's the meat of this.
Optics. They aren't exact copies of course not but there are some pretty bigly co-incidences there. Don't you see it?He's cheating a bit with Stamets and Culber though, he compares Stamets to a character called Maciek even though Maciek isn't the boyfriend of Aziz (who he claims Culber is "based on".) The actual boyfriend really looks nothing like Stamets:
He also compares a character named Natasha to Tilly based on them having a similar hair color and facial structure and no further connection. In fact Natasha is apparantly a rival/love interest for "you". Tilly's actress probably didn't rip off this game with how she looks all the time.
As for Yolanda, she's a communications engineer responsible for all inter planetary messages sent and received to and from Marsi-3, which is some station. I'm honestly not quite sure where I got her being a sort of lead, nothing from her character bio on that guy's website suggest it and the Natasha entry suggests that the player is the main character (in a "customize" way, of course the player plays the most important character) Oh, and of course Yolanda and Burnham have no similarities beyond being black women.
Yeah, you're right. The tardigrade is the one thing that holds any water (heh). I do think that the styles of transportation the tardigrade is used in are different in the game and the show, in the game the tardigrade grabs someone and then they teleport, in the show there's a Mycelial network that allows instant transportation and the Federation tries to access with the Spore Drive, using a tardigrade as a pilot. That being said the tardigrade is able to teleport on its own too, or at least something similar. As I said before I think it is possible that someone on the Discovery staff somehow came across this and got inspired by the game. But I also think that the concepts are very different beyond the surface level "tardigrade teleports" thing; Discovery has build a bigger mythology around it that isn't entirely dependant on the tardigrade.
The reason why I mostly talk about these other claims is that I think they are basically there to make his overall claim look bigger than it is, even though the other claims really have nothing to them at all.
Well, no, not really. For Stamets and Burnham not at all (beyond skin color and for Stamets hair color), a bit for Culber and while I think that Natasha and Tilly generally look similar that's just how Mary Wiseman looks. And I find the idea that they casted their actors so that they look like characters from a game that they have no similarities at all rather unlikely.
Also add to that that our little waterbear friend is the only known critter with the ability to survive in space. From animal planet to you tube there have been a score of clips focusing on this little fella. I think I have even seen some clips speculating that they may have even come from space.
With the entire list of Earth critters that can survive in space being ONE, what are the odds that two writers would pick the same critter.
If it weren't big there would be no plot in "Context Is for Kings" and everything in Discovery is blue.What are the odd that they both had to be big and blueDoh.
I think that is probably more or less true - hit them with everything that might conceivably serve as the basis for a claim, however tenuous. There was some of that in CBS's suit against Axanar as well., while knowing that that they had 'em dead to rights on stuff like Graham playing a Vulcan named Soval.
Interestingly, that timeline does not appear in the actual legal complaint, which you think it would since it would favor the guy's case.
Doomcock is far from a reliable source here.
Yeah but it's not just the grades but the idea of instantaneous cosmic travel, plus, from what I understand, some similar characters. It's the convergence of coincidences that makes it more unlikely. Also, apparently the DSC spore idea at first was very different, but it got changed after they changed showrunners.
He might not be able to prove it in court, but just suing makes the thing public, which is what he may want. CBS will pay just to make it go away which, assuming he's actually correct, will compensate him at least.
It's the combination of all these things, not each element individually. Don't miss the forest for the trees. I'm not saying that he DID get his idea stolen, just that it's a plausible scenario.
Really? What do you know that I don't?
How did you determine it was more likely, given all the convergent elements?
Doomcock is an entertainer first, whacko conspiracy trufan second.*
*Got a nice little Patreon goin'.
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I think you're confusing NBC and Paramount with CBS, here. It's been with CBS only since 2005, after Enterprise and Nemesis.
Would you repost your math? I must've missed it. Unless your claim is that someone hit the "random" button, if there is on, on Steam and found the game. Like, no one could possibly have told someone else about this game or found it in a search, right? It's the 747-by-tornado argument, essentially.
Neither was The Magnificent Seven.
Pretty much my default response to your constantly shifting spins on how this mysterious "one guy" for reasons unknown decided to exercise his producing power and influence hundreds of people to adapt bits of some random game in a very high profile show while absolutely making sure that it's "obvious" that he's stealing from that game...
Huh. I guess you answered Rahul's "did you read my post" question with a resounding "no".
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