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Monkey Island ripped off Pirates of the Caribbean!

posted by Thriftweed Fancy Pants on - last edited - Viewed by 1.1K users

Just kidding...:p

I've read here and there on this forum that Pirates of the Caribbean ripped off Monkey Island, but I have yet to hear the whole story on this.

Anybody know?

(Actually, I think I read somewhere that Ron Gilbert was inspired by Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean ride, so maybe Monkey Island wasn't the original...?)

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  • from what i've heard PotC the ride inspired Ron Gilbert when he was making the first MI game; however, the storyline was not in existance and that was completely Ron Gilberts mind...

    i think the general consensus is that since monkey islands STORY came before PotC the movie (even though the ride was in existance before MI) and since alot of the PotC movies' plot elements are extremely dead on similar to MI (ghost pirates, voodoo ladies, smart-ass main characters, the heroine is the governors daughter, davy jones and lechuck both had tragic romances, set in the carribean, etc etc etc) that obviously PotC ripped off MI, which truly isnt that much of a stretch.

  • POTC borrowed parts from Monkey Island since it was based on the same thing. 1 and 2 are the most similar. POTC3 is the worse because it's the most original.

    However it got to the extent that Lucas Arts said it wouldn't do a film due to the similarities between the two. Either way POTC is the best film based on a game yet.

  • As I understood it, the writer of PoTC previously wrote the MI script, which would certainly account for any similarities. Yes, MI was inspired by the ride and contains a few direct references to it (the dog with the key in the jail, CMI's intro w/Guybrush floating into the middle of a ship/fort battle). But SMI also contained a few references to Treasure Island (Herman Toothrot is definitely a nod to Ben Gunn), and Treasure Island, being the iconic work of pirate fiction that it is, undoubtedly influenced the PoTC ride. So in other words, it's all pretty incestuous.

  • Hmm, according to Wikipedia, it would seem the "original" is actually a book called "On Stranger Tides."

    Now that you mention it, there ARE a lot of similarities between PotC and MI...

    No wonder I like PotC movie so much!

    But maybe Tales of MI has some inspiration from PotC as well?

    Davy Jones vs. LeChuck (Bearded similarities?)

  • It seems that in POTC, you have two characters that make up the personality of the one of the main characters in Monkey Island. Will and Jack make up Guybrush. On one hand, he's a very clean cut, likable guy who only wants to be with the girl of his dreams. On the other hand, he is an incredibly selfish anti-hero and commits numerous crimes for the most trivial reason. Yet it's impossible not to like him and he has his own limits and a conscience. There are simply some lengths he will never resort to.

    Barbossa and Davy Jones are LeChuck. One is in control of undead pirates and plunders the Caribbean and abducts a young woman, using a deserted, cursed, and almost impossible to find island as a base of operations, while the other is known as the devil of the seas and kills and destroys due to his own love for another woman.

    Elizabeth is Elaine due to her ability to take care of herself, her love of piracy and a man being a pirate, but also has a good heart and despises the pirates that seek to only murder and accumulate wealth and power (LeChuck). Strangely Governor Swann also makes up Elaine for the simple reason that he's a governor.

  • I've just finished reading On Stranger Tides... it's got the whole pirate/daring escapades/voodoo magic thing that both MI and POTC (I'm talking about the movie, never seen the rides) have. It's very very dark in places, reminds me a lot of MI2 in that respect.

    But MI wasn't a direct ripoff by any means - I think it's more "inspired by" On Stranger Tides. The plots have certain similarities, but major differences, just like MI and POTC.

    It's certainly worth a read though - found it at the local library :)

  • Fans have been talking about "On Stranger Tides" ever since Ron namechecked it. Sounds interesting, I'll have to check it out one of these days.

  • Here what Ron Gilbert wrote in his blog:
    So, I'm looking through my neighbor's window with a pair of binoculars, trying to see the TV to figure out if they have HBO that I can steal when the latest trailer for the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie comes on and I'm thinking to myself, "Hey, I've seen this before... no... I've played this before... no... I've designed this before!" I'm thinking "This is the Monkey Island Movie!" Yeah, they kind of screwed up his beard, but that's LeChuck, and let's be honest, if I'd thought of the squid tentacles for a beard, I would have done that.

    So I rush out to my mailbox like an six-year old hopped up on Pixy Sticks with a Pop Rocks chaser figuring there must be a big fat royalty check waiting for me. No such luck. Two overdue credit card bills and a flier from some guy offering to Trim My Hedges, which I'm sure is just an innuendo for Wash My Cars, and I think we all know what that means. I tuck the flier away so I'll know where to find it later and head back to the house.

    I'm not worried. Disney will do the right thing.

    Its quite funny actually. But i didn't get the irony in the endI'm not worried. Disney will do the right thing Why did he said that?

  • Do the right thing by paying him royalties?

  • I think Disney was responsible for leaving the hedge-trimming flier in Ron's mailbox

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