Crichton's SPHERE vs Cameron's ABYSS

[Patrick Sauriol]

When I read Michael Crichton's "Sphere" a couple of years back, I also found
myself recalling certain scenes in "The Abyss", giving me the impression that
Cameron may have swiped some of the ideas from the Crichton book. The 'alien'
presence, the deep water habitat, the military presence, the attempts at
communication...well, there were some similarities, but the Cameron movie went
beyond that as well. It delved deeper into the mis-communication angle
between humans (specifically, relationships), had far more hi-tech science
(the SRVs, fluid-breathing tech, sub, DeepCore, etc).

However, in the light of Cameron's acknowledgement of ideas 'swiped' from
Ellison's work....

[Colin Cunningham]

How 'bout this. The whole premise for Sphere was swiped from Forbidden Planet.
The whole battle with the ID creature is ripped right out of this movie.
--
...................................................................
Colin Cunningham EMail: co...@coredp.com
C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures HTTP://www.coredp.com/index.html
...................................................................

[L.M. Fridael]

patr...@icebox.iceonline.com (Patrick Sauriol) wrote:
>
> When I read Michael Crichton's "Sphere" a couple of years back, I also found
>myself recalling certain scenes in "The Abyss", giving me the impression that
>Cameron may have swiped some of the ideas from the Crichton book. The 'alien'
>presence, the deep water habitat, the military presence, the attempts at

>communication...[sic]

You're right about the similarities the two. Also, they both have a promising beginning and an absolutely abyss-mal ending.
I don't believe Cameron actually read Sphere when/before he wrote The Abyss. In fact, Crichton nicked somebody else's ideas himself. You know the cliche plot; alien presence, people getting killed one by one etc. He just set the scene underwater and added this "imagination" business.

[Mark Sheppard]

patr...@icebox.iceonline.com (Patrick Sauriol) wrote:

> When I read Michael Crichton's "Sphere" a couple of years back, I also found
>myself recalling certain scenes in "The Abyss", giving me the impression that
>Cameron may have swiped some of the ideas from the Crichton book. The 'alien'
>presence, the deep water habitat, the military presence, the attempts at

>communication...well, there were some similarities, but the Cameron movie went
>beyond that as well.

Cameron's original story was also written when he was 17, or so I
understand. It's possible the 'swiping' has happened from Crichton's
end.

> However, in the light of Cameron's acknowledgement of ideas 'swiped' from
>Ellison's work....

There's no such thing as an original idea, anyway. Shakespeare once
said that there are something like 32 plots in existence, based upon
the Italian opera. Someone else later said that there are really only
four:

the mission
the bone of contention
the desire for a change of circumstances and
[one more which I can never remember - anyone?]

It's not the plot that counts, so much, as how you dress it.

Just IMAO, anyway. ;)

Mark Sheppard

[Andrew Self]

In article <DG79...@news.iceonline.com> Patrick Sauriol

wrote:
> When I read Michael Crichton's "Sphere" a couple of years
> back, I also found
>myself recalling certain scenes in "The Abyss", giving me
> the impression that
>Cameron may have swiped some of the ideas from the Crichton
> book. The 'alien'
>presence, the deep water habitat, the military presence, the
> attempts at
>communication...well, there were some similarities, but the
> Cameron movie went

>beyond that as well. It delved deeper into the
> mis-communication angle
>between humans (specifically, relationships), had far more
> hi-tech science
>(the SRVs, fluid-breathing tech, sub, DeepCore, etc).
>

> However, in the light of Cameron's acknowledgement of
> ideas 'swiped' from
>Ellison's work....
>

More high-tech than Crichton? Open ANY of his books (OK, not
all of them, but _Terminal man_, _Jurassic Park_, _Sphere_, or
any other highly technical book) and tell me how many acronyms
you see. Especially _Sphere_, but they're all over! :)

Andrew Self
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