Superman and The World Of Tomorrow

[mindbomb]

Am I the only one that has noticed this but Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow "borrows" scenes directly from Max Fleischer's 1941 cartoon Superman, the episode I'm referring to particularly is titled "mechanical monsters". If you find the cartoon (I'll see if I can find a link) you will see similarities in scenes, the robots (how they fly) and in particular the scene with the cops shooting at the robots. In the Sky Captain 15 minute original short I believe he also called his episode Mechanical Monsters.
Anyway, I ramble, just thought it a bit too obvious.
Later

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

That's actually kind of interesting. I love Sky Captain, and would definately be interested in seeing the similarities if you get the links.

And welcome to the forums :)

[mindbomb]

Hey LI, here's the link:

http://www.archive.org/details/mechanical_monsters_1941

Also check this bit of silliness out..its pretty campy but done on greenscreen like Space Captain but no budget...There are also some television shows on this link, I think they work better, not Sci-Fi but better.

http://www.bionicbuddha.com/movies_ep2_loop.htm

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Hrm, the streaming didn't work for me, so I'll just download it and check it out. But, from what I could see of the thumbnails, it seemed as though some inspiration was drawn from 'Mechanical Monsters'. It's been a while since I watched all the special features for Sky Captain, so it might have been mentioned that the movie was inspired in part by that Superman cartoon.

But, that being said, I do know that Kerry Conran pulled alot from the old mechanical "future" designs and whatnot. That could possibly be why things in Sky Captain bear such a striking resemblance to those old cartoons.

Maybe I'll pop it in later and listen to the commentary. Been a while since I did that.

[mindbomb]

Hey LI, I love Sky Captain too, and believe me I went through the features and didn't find anything....not that it's a big deal and I don't know if the copyright exists for that old cartoon anyway. I just thought the similarities were striking.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

You can call me s'Il if you want :) Most people do

And you were right about the similarities. The gigantor robots were pretty close, but I won't know much more beyond that until I watch the cartoon :)

Sky Captain was such a treat for me, since I love movies that step outside the mainstream and hearken back to those good old adventure days. Not to mention, I thought they did a superbly classy job - and even if it didn't get as much attention as alot of other movies (I think, at least), it's one of those movies that I plan on showing my kids whenever I decide to have them.

[Liam Jinn]

I remember watching something on the director and he said that he took alot from other movies and put it in his. Stuff he liked as a kid he made sure to incorporate in Sky Captain. I think that's the jist of what he said.

[mindbomb]

Hey Liam, that would seem to make sense then...don't get me wrong I really liked Sky Captain...I mostly liked the opening 20 mins which were basically his 15 minute original film..the CGI and lighting are the best at that point in the film, later on you can see subtle stylistic differences as he farms out the CGI to various companies. Unfortunately, it's a necessary evil to get the film finished in a decade but at times the lack of consistency shows.
I don't think SC did well in the box office, it's a shame I would have loved to have seen sequels. I don't think most people got it.

[Liam Jinn]

I personally wasn't a big fan of the movie from the parts I saw, though I only saw bits and peices.