Episode titles shared by multiple franchises

[Andrew_Kearley]

Not really an episode title, but BSG had a line which was used for a soundtrack title, "The Shape of Things to Come". That was later used for an episode title on Lost.

It's the title of a book by H G Wells. I should think they're both paying homage to that.

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

Both "The Twilight Zone" and "The Invaders" series have episodes titled "Valley of the Shadow". And the plots of each involve aliens wiping the memories of recent events from humans at the end.

It's a quote from the 23rd Psalm. You see a lot of Biblical and Shakespearean allusions in episode titles, especially in the sixties when tv writers were more literate.

Incidentally, they weren't aliens in the Twilight Zone episode...

 

[Christopher]

Incidentally, they weren't aliens in the Twilight Zone episode...

But their advanced technology may have been of alien (or possibly future) origin.

 

[Ben Sisko3]

Episode titles likely never to be duplicated:

I would add most of the season two episode titles to 'Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles' will most likely not be used on other series or movies -

'Samson & Delilah'
'Automatic for the People'
'The Mousetrap'
'Allison From Palmdale'
'Goodbye To All That'
'The Tower is Tall But the Fall is Short'
'Brothers of Nablus'
'Mr. Ferguson is Ill Today'
'Complications'
'Strange Things Happen at the One Two Point'
'Self Made Man'
'Alpine Fields'
'Earthlings Welcome Here'

I don't think "Samson & Delilah" is all that unique, given its Biblical connotations. "Goodbye to All That" is not only the title of a well-known autobiography, but also the name of the series finale of MillenniuM. "Complications" is also the name of a Deadwood episode.

Both "The Twilight Zone" and "The Invaders" series have episodes titled "Valley of the Shadow". And the plots of each involve aliens wiping the memories of recent events from humans at the end.

"Valley of the Shadow" is also the name of the second season premiere of The Dead Zone.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Episode titles likely never to be duplicated:

Supernatural--"Criss Angel is a Douchebag." Airing in January.

 

[Ben Sisko3]

Episode titles likely never to be duplicated:

Supernatural--"Criss Angel is a Douchebag." Airing in January.

Cannot wait for that one, ever since I heard the title.

Also never likely to be duplicated:
"A Very Supernatural Christmas" - Supernatural
"The Benders" - Supernatural
"Ghostfacers" - Supernatural
"Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'" - The X-Files
"Jose Chung's 'Doomsday Defense'" - MillenniuM
"The Curse of Frank Black" - MillenniuM
"Tricia Tanaka is Dead" - Lost
"The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" - Lost
"PK Tech Girl" - Farscape
"A Clockwork Nebari" - Farscape
"Bringing Home the Beacon" - Farscape
"Probe 7, Over and Out" - The Twilight Zone
"The Seventh Is Made Up of Phantoms" - The Twilight Zone
"Number Twelve Looks Just Like You" - The Twilight Zone
"The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine" - The Twilight Zone
"Hocus-Pocus and Frisby" - The Twilight Zone
"Printer's Devil" - The Twilight Zone
"On Thursday We Leave For Home" - The Twilight Zone
"Escape From Dragon House" - True Blood
"The Fourth Man in the Fire" - True Blood
"Plaisir d'amour" - True Blood

 

[Christopher]

Also never likely to be duplicated:
"A Very Supernatural Christmas" - Supernatural

Well, that's sort of cheating, since the title is itself a pastiche of A Very Brady Christmas, a title that's been parodied surprisingly often. So in a way it is a duplication, of a pattern if not the specific words.

"Printer's Devil" - The Twilight Zone

That's a duplication already, even aside from the fact that it's adapted from a short story. There's a 1923 movie called The Printer's Devil, and of course they're both plays on the actual term "printer's devil," meaning a printer's apprentice.

"Plaisir d'amour" - True Blood

Also a duplication already. It's the title of a well-known French song written in 1780, and it has been used as the title of a 1991 French film.

 

[John Clark]

Cannot wait for that one, ever since I heard the title.

Also never likely to be duplicated:

"Number Twelve Looks Just Like You" - The Twilight Zone

If we didn't already know the titles of the BSG episodes to come, that one might have fitted in somewhere

 

[DWF]

Blink(Doctor Who, Eureka, CSI:NY, Law & Order CI)

 

[ToddPence]

Also never likely to be duplicated:

"Printer's Devil" - The Twilight Zone

"Printer's Devil" was the title of a 1957 episode of "The Buccaneers" and a 1986 episode of "Tales From the Darkside". Also there was a "Rin Tin Tin" episode entitled "Rin Tin Tin and the Printer's Devil."

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

"Sins of the Father" or its variant "Sins of the Fathers" pops up in a huge number of series. Biblical reference again of course. And Shakespeare too (Merchant of Venice, I think...)

 

[V]

"Resistance" -- every other scifi series has an episode named this

 

[Harvey]

"Resistance" -- every other scifi series has an episode named this

In fact Battlestar Galactica used it twice, first in the second season as "Resistance" and then as the name of the first series of webisodes, with the article attached, "The Resistance."

Hasn't this thread been dead for a bit long now, though?

 

[Davros]

Face Of Evil has been used more than once iirc.

 

[Greg Cox]

"Sins of the Father" or its variant "Sins of the Fathers" pops up in a huge number of series. Biblical reference again of course. And Shakespeare too (Merchant of Venice, I think...)

The Merchant of Venice is also the source of "The Quality of Mercy," which was cited earlier.

 

[ltcmmanderdata]

shadowplay name of twilight zone episode and episode of ds9