Comments on: Who did Wall-E rip off more, Idiocracy or Short Circuit?

By: rei

rei — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 02:25:46 +0000

you aren’t the first to claim wall-e ripped of idiocracy, but seriously, how little exposure to literature must you have to not realize that there are always more stories in the world than there are themes?

themes are themes because they concern values that we all share. if we didn’t have common values, there would be no point in telling stories.

likewise, there are only a handful of character archetypes in the world. i’m an asshole, you’re an idiot, wall-e and johnny 5 are naive. chances are, if 10 artists drew you and i based on what they read in this post, they would all draw me with some strikingly similar features, and they would all draw you with some strikingly similar features.

By: outsidedown

outsidedown — Sun, 17 May 2009 03:22:03 +0000

WALL E most definitely lifted not only several themes but a ton of visuals from Idiocracy. Both are good, but I prefer Idiocracy’s satire a lot more.

By: worble

worble — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:12:45 +0000

Pixar animated films have enormous budgets and take a
long time to make. They didn’t rip off Idiocracy, they
started first and finished second. Idiocracy was poorly
done. They have a shared theme, but Wall-e did it well.

He has some similarities to Johnny 5 from short circuit,
but also a lot of differences. Wall-e is a solar powered
cube with no elbows, no mouth, no torso to rotate, and
his arms extend and retract in a hydraulic fashion.
He doesn’t look human like Johnny 5 and doesn’t have a
big vocabulary like him either. There are a whole lot
of robots and aliens in TV and film up to this point so
it’s pretty much a certainty that any creation will bear
a resemblance to some older creation. Binocular eyes and
treads are not some amazingly unique combination. They
are both objects unmodified from reality, they are
commonplace. Also, there are only a few decent options
for movement: Feet, wheels, treads, flying/hovering.

So in answer to your question, Wall-e ripped of neither
Idiocracy nor Short Circuit.

By: John McCain

John McCain — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:52:55 +0000

There were no robots in Idiocracy.

By: John McCain

John McCain — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:51:01 +0000

Johnny 5 isn’t a trash compactor. Treads are a logical mode of transport for robots. Binocular eyes would be helpful in all robots.

By: John McCain

John McCain — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:49:11 +0000

Also, Wall E is more like ET than Johnny 5. ET is brought to a forgiegn land where he helps bring a plant back to life and his mission is to go back home with the help of his friends he finds on the new planet.

By: John McCain

John McCain — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:47:29 +0000

I thought Wall E was more like Crimson Tide where the two captains are fighting for control.

By: MidgardDragon

MidgardDragon — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 11:06:26 +0000

Answer: neither. Much of great Sci-Fi shares much in common with its predecessors, and these aren’t “rip-offs”. You’re simply seeing what you want to see. Similar ideas are not the same as plagiarism. As far as Short Circuit, it shares NOTHING in common with the plot, and the only similarities between robots are the eyes. Since WALL-E’s eyes were inspired by binoculars, no one has a leg to stand on as far as Johnny 5 looking like WALL-E, he doesn’t.