"Whispers" is a PKD ripoff!

[tighr]

I was watching Whispers on Netflix, and almost immediately I recognized it as almost identical plotwise to the Philip K. Dick short story "Imposter". I thought perhaps the writers were doing an homage to him, so I checked out the Memory-Alpha page for the episode. The writers seem to think they came up with the idea, and were patting themselves on the back for coming up with something no one had ever done before!

They even call the O'Brien clone a "replicant", and reference Blade Runner and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but not Imposter. Even the plot of an assassination attempt matches the story.

I think its a great episode, but I was a little peeved that they didn't give credit where credit is due.

 

[defiantfan]

Devil's advocate: A lot of plots can have identical themes. What if the writers did not read that particular short story? People can have similar ideas its been known to happen. Necessary Evil for example is a classic who-done-it but was every writer from Doyle to Grisham credited?

I agree Whispers is a great episode!

 

[tighr]

I think its mostly the tone of the memory-alpha article that gets me.

Michael Piller thought the episode was "very original." Of the Body Snatchers theme, he said; "We couldn't think of anyone who had done that before. How many times in this life can you find a plot gag that hasn't been used?"

I realize many Trek stories are borrowed, but usually its done as an homage. Lots of TV shows do. Shoot, Law & Order rips most of their stories straight from the headlines. I thought it'd be nice of them to reference the short story, one which a science fiction writer should recognize.

 

[sonak]

well they might not have heard of it. It's kind of a cliche but accurate to say that there are very, very few really "original" premises in sci-fi/fantasy anymore.

What matters is the angle they give it, how well they pull it off, etc.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

I was watching Whispers on Netflix, and almost immediately I recognized it as almost identical plotwise to the Philip K. Dick short story "Imposter". I thought perhaps the writers were doing an homage to him, so I checked out the Memory-Alpha page for the episode. The writers seem to think they came up with the idea, and were patting themselves on the back for coming up with something no one had ever done before!

They even call the O'Brien clone a "replicant", and reference Blade Runner and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but not Imposter. Even the plot of an assassination attempt matches the story.

I think its a great episode, but I was a little peeved that they didn't give credit where credit is due.

Not everyone in Hollywood has read every single one of Phillip K. Dick's books.

Surprising, yes, I know.

 

[Photon]

Doesn't matter to me. I hated all the O'Brien must suffah episodes, esp Whispers.
I have seen Whispers thrice and hated it more every time. I like Move Along Home much more that Whispers and that's saying something

 

[Shatnertage]

No, it's a total rip-off. At the very least it's completely derivative of "The Impostor." With a slightly more upbeat ending.

 

[JRoss]

Really, believe me, there are folks who haven't read everything by your favorite authors. As a teenager I read a book of PKD's short stories and The Man in the High Castle. I found him to be self-indulgent and lacking in discipline. It appeared as if he were submitting his rough drafts to the publisher. Basically, I found him to be the Andy Samberg of Sci Fi.

Same goes for Harlan Ellison. I read I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. Didn't care for it. I found it plodding and over-wrought. The fact that all of these people have been enduring hellish torment and yet I couldn't be made to sympathize with them left me with the realization that Harlan Ellison has no place on my bookshelf.

It's more than possible that a great many SF writers do not read the most popular works of authors. They may not have even heard of many of the works that others have read.

 

[Shatnertage]

The thing is, in another episode the writers cited Dick as an influence. So they can't have it both ways, as I see it. And they actually referenced Blade Runner by calling Fake O'Brien a replicant instead of a clone/android.

 

[Vulagr]

Remember, BSG is a complete rip off of Star Wars.

And lorne green would've made an excellent Jedi.

For that matter, imagine...

Vulcans as Jedis.

THEY'D BE THE AWESOMEST JEDIS IN THE GALAXY!

Control! Control! You must learn control!

 

[defiantfan]

Doesn't matter to me. I hated all the O'Brien must suffah episodes, esp Whispers.
I have seen Whispers thrice and hated it more every time. I like Move Along Home much more that Whispers and that's saying something

That is some strong emotion on the "Torture O'Brien" themed episodes. Wow!

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

The thing is, in another episode the writers cited Dick as an influence. So they can't have it both ways, as I see it. And they actually referenced Blade Runner by calling Fake O'Brien a replicant instead of a clone/android.

So, every single one of the staff writers said "we're very influenced by PKD"?

Grab the quote, and if it's the same person who wrote this episode, you have a point. If not, then you're shooting at a blank wall.

 

[tighr]

From Memory-Alpha:

The decision to use the word "replicant" when referring to the fake O'Brien was motivated by the desire to use something other than "android", which was deemed to be too familiar with the character of Data, or the term "clone" which didn't seem to fit in this instance. Writer Paul Robert Coyle ultimately chose replicant as an homage to the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner and the fact that the term hadn't already been used in Star Trek.

Authors Mark Jones and Lance Parkin wrote of this episode, "A twist that owes a great deal to the works of Philip K Dick, but is nevertheless a surprise. We see that even a duplicate O'Brien is a man of integrity and determination. The episode ends too quickly, but that's preferable to dragging it out." (Beyond the Final Frontier, p. 198)

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

I think its a great episode, but I was a little peeved that they didn't give credit where credit is due.

That sounds like what he's saying.

Authors Mark Jones and Lance Parkin wrote of this episode, "A twist that owes a great deal to the works of Philip K Dick, but is nevertheless a surprise. We see that even a duplicate O'Brien is a man of integrity and determination. The episode ends too quickly, but that's preferable to dragging it out." (Beyond the Final Frontier, p. 198)

 

[zar]

The fact that Mark Jones and Lance Parkin mention it is about as meaningless as the fact that tighr posted this thread.

Neither of them had anything to do with the writing of the episode; they were the writers of an unauthorized reference book published a decade after the episode aired.

 

[JoeD80]

According to the DS9 Companion, the writer's (Paul Robert Coyle) original pitch involved O'Brien finding that Keiko and Molly are gone and no one on the station knows who he is. According to him someone on the writing staff came up with the idea of doing something along the lines of the movie The Parallax View. The staff also came up with the flashback framing. The writer was the one who decided to use the word replicant: "Obviously this guy wasn't a clone or an android or a robot. So what's left? I used replicant and nobody objected." Influences come in from all over the place. But a rip-off? No, because the creative work of how the O'Brien replicant gets through this, and how the characters interact with him, are all part of the Trek-specific story done by the writers of the show.