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Post by rberman on Jul 19, 2020 7:55:26 GMT -5
So I’m watching Community, one of the geekiest, smartest sitcoms ever made. Late in Season 3, character Ben Chang boasts, “I ate my twin sister in utero.” This seems to be a blatant allusion to Grant Morrison’s 2002 X-Men story in which Xavier Killed his twin sister in a prenatal struggle.This got me wondering what other specific comic book details had been taken into TV and movies. Not just general character mentions like “strong like Superman,” but something more specific that showed a deeper knowledge of our hobby.
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Post by Icctrombone on Jul 19, 2020 13:16:50 GMT -5
George Lucas used the Force which sounded a like like the source from the 4th world books.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 20, 2020 7:58:06 GMT -5
So I’m watching Community, one of the geekiest, smartest sitcoms ever made. Late in Season 3, character Ben Chang boasts, “I ate my twin sister in utero.” This seems to be a blatant allusion to Grant Morrison’s 2002 X-Men story in which Xavier Killed his twin sister in a prenatal struggle.This got me wondering what other specific comic book details had been taken into TV and movies. Not just general character mentions like “strong like Superman,” but something more specific that showed a deeper knowledge of our hobby. Mmmh... In the recent TV iteration of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Lucifer calls John Constantine by his proper comic-book name of Constan- tyne, contrasting with the Hollywood "Constanteen" pronunciation. There were several comic-book references in Babylon 5; one of them is that a certain alien species wears a headgear resembling that of Dream of the Endless; that species is referred to as the Gaim, after Neil Gaiman.  |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 20, 2020 18:39:31 GMT -5
So I’m watching Community, one of the geekiest, smartest sitcoms ever made. Late in Season 3, character Ben Chang boasts, “I ate my twin sister in utero.” This seems to be a blatant allusion to Grant Morrison’s 2002 X-Men story in which Xavier Killed his twin sister in a prenatal struggle.This got me wondering what other specific comic book details had been taken into TV and movies. Not just general character mentions like “strong like Superman,” but something more specific that showed a deeper knowledge of our hobby. Dwight Schrute says the same thing in The Office, which is more likely what they are playing off of. As for where he got the reference from, who knows? |
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Post by rberman on Jul 20, 2020 19:13:08 GMT -5
So I’m watching Community, one of the geekiest, smartest sitcoms ever made. Late in Season 3, character Ben Chang boasts, “I ate my twin sister in utero.” This seems to be a blatant allusion to Grant Morrison’s 2002 X-Men story in which Xavier Killed his twin sister in a prenatal struggle.This got me wondering what other specific comic book details had been taken into TV and movies. Not just general character mentions like “strong like Superman,” but something more specific that showed a deeper knowledge of our hobby. Dwight Schrute says the same thing in The Office, which is more likely what they are playing off of. As for where he got the reference from, who knows? Only the writers know for sure. But Community is so overflowing with geek humor that authorial familiarity with comic books is certain. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 20, 2020 19:18:21 GMT -5
Dwight Schrute says the same thing in The Office, which is more likely what they are playing off of. As for where he got the reference from, who knows? Only the writers know for sure. But Community is so overflowing with geek humor that authorial familiarity with comic books is certain. Community certainly loves throwing out semi-obscure references, but they're seldom more than semi obscure. The only Star Trek joke they ever make is about the Mirror Universe (a reference pretty much anyone gets), their only real Doctor Who references are about the uselessness of the companions and the absurdity of the Daleks (again, anyone would get this), and I don't recall their ever making a comic book reference. |
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Post by brianf on Jul 21, 2020 1:44:03 GMT -5
Only the writers know for sure. But Community is so overflowing with geek humor that authorial familiarity with comic books is certain. Community certainly loves throwing out semi-obscure references, but they're seldom more than semi obscure. The only Star Trek joke they ever make is about the Mirror Universe (a reference pretty much anyone gets), their only real Doctor Who references are about the uselessness of the companions and the absurdity of the Daleks (again, anyone would get this), and I don't recall their ever making a comic book reference. I love Community - I'm re-watching it. I remember a bunch of Dr Who - oops, I mean Inspector Spacetime - jokes. And I bet I can find more comic book references than this. |
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Post by Dizzy D on Jul 21, 2020 4:30:47 GMT -5
So I’m watching Community, one of the geekiest, smartest sitcoms ever made. Late in Season 3, character Ben Chang boasts, “I ate my twin sister in utero.” This seems to be a blatant allusion to Grant Morrison’s 2002 X-Men story in which Xavier Killed his twin sister in a prenatal struggle.This got me wondering what other specific comic book details had been taken into TV and movies. Not just general character mentions like “strong like Superman,” but something more specific that showed a deeper knowledge of our hobby. Dwight Schrute says the same thing in The Office, which is more likely what they are playing off of. As for where he got the reference from, who knows? Vanishing Twin is a thing in real life and is pretty common (like 1 in 5 to 1 in 10 odds with a twin pregnancy, so common that most parents never realised that the mother was pregnant with twins). The "I ate my twin" is a thing that has been going around for a long time (probably taken from biology, there are other species, like sharks where it actually is a common occurence), in reality a dead twin is probably absorbed by the mother if it dies during the early stages.
John Constantine also had a twin that died/was killed by him before their birth (according to who you believe in his story). |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 21, 2020 5:57:51 GMT -5
Community certainly loves throwing out semi-obscure references, but they're seldom more than semi obscure. The only Star Trek joke they ever make is about the Mirror Universe (a reference pretty much anyone gets), their only real Doctor Who references are about the uselessness of the companions and the absurdity of the Daleks (again, anyone would get this), and I don't recall their ever making a comic book reference. I love Community - I'm re-watching it. I remember a bunch of Dr Who - oops, I mean Inspector Spacetime - jokes. And I bet I can find more comic book references than this. The Inspector Space-Time jokes really only ever harp on two general things everyone knows about Dr. Who: The uselessness of the companions and the absurdity of the Daleks. There is an episode that makes fun of a horrendous Christmas Special, but I think that's a reference to the Star Wars Holiday Special. The Batman reference is explicitly about The Dark Knight film, and the Spider-Man reference isn't a specific reference to any Spider-Man comic -- just the multimedia franchise in general. I LOVE Community, but I've never known it to appeal to my comic book side, nor to go into much detail about nerd culture. |
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Post by rberman on Jul 21, 2020 6:38:35 GMT -5
I love Community - I'm re-watching it. I remember a bunch of Dr Who - oops, I mean Inspector Spacetime - jokes. The Inspector Space-Time jokes really only ever harp on two general things everyone knows about Dr. Who: The uselessness of the companions and the absurdity of the Daleks. There is an episode that makes fun of a horrendous Christmas Special, but I think that's a reference to the Star Wars Holiday Special. The Batman reference is explicitly about The Dark Knight film, and the Spider-Man reference isn't a specific reference to any Spider-Man comic -- just the multimedia franchise in general. I LOVE Community, but I've never known it to appeal to my comic book side, nor to go into much detail about nerd culture. There’s a whole episode set at an Inspector Spacetime convention. Matt Lucas (a future Doctor Who companion) and BSG’s Tricia Helfer (Playing a temptress again) are guest stars. Among other hijinks, Pierce and Shirley get roped into focus group interviews for an upcoming American adaptation of the programme. The resulting show is a TV movie set in San Francisco with an overly American feel and inappropriate sexual content. This is a clear allusion to details of Fox’s failed 1996 TV pilot. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 21, 2020 6:42:22 GMT -5
I LOVE Community, but I've never known it to appeal to my comic book side, nor to go into much detail about nerd culture. There’s a whole episode set at an Inspector Spacetime convention. Matt Lucas (a future Doctor Who companion) and BSG’s Tricia Helfer (Playing a temptress again) are guest stars. Among other hijinks, Pierce and Shirley get roped into focus group interviews for an upcoming American adaptation of the programme. The resulting show is a TV movie set in San Francisco with an overly American feel and inappropriate sexual content. This is a clear allusion to details of Fox’s failed 1996 TV pilot. Hmmmm. I always enjoyed that pilot and don't think the jokes made in the episode you're referencing really apply to it. Instead, they're harping on a trope that also often shows up in comedy shows -- pandering to demographics. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia did a similar episode about the new Thundergun Express Film (which, in that case, seemed at least partially targeted at Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull). So yes, I think there is a nod to the Americanized television film, but it's also playing out an extremely familiar comedy trope that isn't overly targeted to a specific fanbase, certainly not obscure and specific enough to match the kind of reference you speculated in the op. |
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Post by rberman on Jul 21, 2020 6:52:40 GMT -5
Welll, bastardization of genre material is certainly not unique to the 1996 pilot. The San Francisco setting of this parody seems way too specific to be a coincidence.
As for the 1996 production, it did some things right, like starting with McCoy. The TARDIS control room looked great and influenced the one on the reboot series. Paul McGann did a fine job and has been embraced as a legitimate Doctor, even be looked on with awe by his peers in the amusing “The Five(ish) Doctors” film made by Peter Davison. The biggest problems with the 1996 film were (1) the shoehorned romance, and (2) the overly serious tone.
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Post by rberman on Jul 21, 2020 7:06:21 GMT -5
Another episode of Community has an amusing bit where Britta sneaks out of Troy’s bedroom in her undies and does a whole Spider-Man quick-change routine on the fire escape, including acrobatic tumbling, swinging on a cable, crouching on a windowsill, and hiding her stuff inside a ceiling panel.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2020 11:57:57 GMT -5
Welll, bastardization of genre material is certainly not unique to the 1996 pilot. The San Francisco setting of this parody seems way too specific to be a coincidence. As for the 1996 production, it did some things right, like starting with McCoy. The TARDIS control room looked great and influenced the one on the reboot series. Paul McGann did a fine job and has been embraced as a legitimate Doctor, even be looked on with awe by his peers in the amusing “The Five(ish) Doctors” film made by Peter Davison. The biggest problems with the 1996 film were (1) the shoehorned romance, and (2) the overly serious tone. And the "the Doctor is half human" revelation. I enjoyed McGann as the Doctor quite a bit and have listened to many of the Eighth Doctor Big Finish audio dramas with him. And of course, Steven Moffat gave us the excellent Night of the Doctor short (which would even appear to cannonize the BF stories as he mentions his companions): |
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