JK Rowling look out! - Troll (1986) Discussion

[–] timegirl13 18 years ago

Ooooh, such angry squeaks from the Potterheads!

Rowling has simply taken many established and well-known stories, tossed them up in the air and when the pieces fell, she called them hers.

The initial reason for her popularity is the death of Roald Dahl. England was desperately looking for something to fill the famous shoes and Rowling used this well.

If the fanatics would step back and take off their rosy glasses for a second, they would see that the story, while entertaining, is NOT THAT GOOD. Her plots have so many holes in them you can drive a mack truck through them!

Worst Witch! I love the books. Rowling must have loved them too, but she wasn't a good enough writer to come up with a new story that simply "felt" like the book, and instead showed her untalented hand at plagerism.

(Ah yes, and we mustn't forget the strange little 1986 movie called "Troll" that featured the name Harry Potter. Rowling would need a Disney lawyer in order to deny that she didn't see *this* movie.)

All I ask of Rowling is that she stop being so damned coy about where she got the story. Yes, many writers are inspired by other author's works, but the HONORABLE writers are those who give credit where it's due.

Melynda
Proud Heretic against the Church of Saint Potter.

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[–] MaluStoner 18 years ago

I love Roald Dahl too, but his witches and Rowling's witches are no where CLOSE to being similar.

The Potters were friends of J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter isn't exactly an original name

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[–] mr_jizzbob 18 years ago

Man, How many time has the name Harry Potter been typed within this debate, Mrs Rowling's gonna make a killing after all the sueing.lol

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[–] virtualmetal 18 years ago

Can you point out said plot holes in Harry Potter please? Also which books are you reading, American or British? As there is some mysterious extra text in the American versions.

-VM-

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[–] bobh-23 18 years ago

Well, let's see:

A young boy, who just happens to have dark hair, wear glasses and bear the name of "Harry Potter", finds out he's a wizard and is thrown into an alternate world of magic at the exact same time J. K. Rowling begins writing down ideas for her Harry Potter novels.

Naw - NOBODY would ever be so stupid as to attempt such a blatant rip off.

Ain't that right, J. K. Rowling? (insert evil glare here)

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[–] Jamesgordon_uk 18 years ago

guys! Everyone keeps accusing JKR of stealing other peoples ideas left right and centre, but as an earlier poster pointed out, all those ideas were stolen from other people anyway, and all those in turn were stolen from other people

Storytelling is all a formula: Good guy starts weak, he encounters a nemisis, fails to defeat him, goes away and gets stronger, comes back faces nemisis again and wins.

One of the greatest storytellers of all time, Mr William Shakespeare stole every idea he ever wrote from other works, he just reworked them a little, just as Rowling does. You gonna sue him? No, of course your'e not!

Of course she took things from other pieces in her genre, EVERYBODY DOES. There are only so many dam storys people can tell before they become the same basic story just retold a new way!

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[–] Heather23Renae 18 years ago

You obviously haven't read the books. Or you'd know that they have very unique ideas. JK has put so much research and effort into her books that I can't even begin to tell you. The wand woods come from the ancient Celtic calendar. There's things to do with Solstices and dates and Halloween and there's just so many different elements that I can't even begin to cover them in one post. One of the big things with these books is that they are mysteries. You have to solve clues and put pieces hidden throughout all the books to find out what will happen next. The mere fact that you're saying that she ripped things off.... that's crazy. go read them!! Then you'll understand!! You won't get it until you read them. All of them. Like me, my favorite is the fifth book. At this point, for the older people, starting with books 1-4 might be a bit hard because they are a tad childish compared to the last two. But once you're hooked on those, you'll want to read the others. Just don't make fun of it unless you've read it.

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[–] Steeevil 18 years ago

I read all the books.

JKR stole the name and the wand from Troll.

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[–] danzig187 18 years ago

i actually think "harry potter jr!....harry potter jr!.." , the taunting in this movie....whenever i hear that name...

i think harry potter jr....we'll beat the current harry potter to death with his own wand.....

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[–] mr_jizzbob 18 years ago

All i can say is that J.K Rowling's books Suck Ass big time! They dont even deserve the time im wasting in writing this sentence. Loking forward to watching Harry Potter and The Pension Stone though!

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[–] chunter52 16 years ago

Rowling ripped off Wizard of Earth Sea with Potter. She stole the name from this movie. She is hot, so she got away with it.

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[–] evilreincarnated 16 years ago

I think JK should get her ass sued. From what I understand, Intellectual Property, that is anything you or anyone comes up with is automatically copyrighted, you don't need to fill out tons of forms or anything like a patent. So those millions she has been earning really belong to the people who made this film.

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[–] Rhen2002 15 years ago

She is getting sued for this movie. But just like that another author that attempted to sue her, I think it will be dismissed in court.

The only proof I have on hand of this, is unfortunately the Wikipedia entry of this movie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28film%29

The dismissed case was from Nancy Stouffer, who wrote the 1984 books The Legend of Rah and the Muggles, and Larry Potter and His Best Friend Lilly.

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[–] Great_Gazoo 15 years ago

They would really have no basis for the suit. But mostly, it's obviously just a coincidence. Rowling definitely did not rip this film off.

If you're going to rip something off, you would never just directly use the exact same parallel. If you're going to make a book about a man who invites children to his chocolate factory, you do not name him Willy Wonka. That's just silly. Rowling is far too smart for that. If she had ripped this film off she would have changed the characters name to something like Harry Plants or whatever, not use the same thing as what you're ripping off.

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[–] image-2 15 years ago

Wow! So you're saying that because the parallel is so exact, AND the name is absolutely identical that it is not a rip off!????????

Gimmie a break! When she wrote her first book, she was an out of work school teacher who couldn't make her house payments. TROLL, and THE WORST WITCH, and all the other influences were out there, with very easy access at the time she wrote the book.

Why wouldn't she rip it off? She probably thought her book was a one shot deal at best. If it would've sold 30,000 units in the UK, she'd have been enormously happy. Other than that it would more than likely have stayed completely obscure. For all we know, she probably thought that the name HARRY POTTER was in the public domain... In the movie TROLL the Harry Potter name is used at least 10 times in the first 2 reels! It obviously had a secondary meaning. It IS a great whacky magical name!

No one could possibly believe that in her wildest dreams that her book would take off like it did! Maybe when she was researching her sources (for contemporary works that contained children, fantasy, and magic), she thought that the TROLL movie was was just and old obscure little movie and no one would notice or care...

It doesn't matter. It is obvious that J. K. Rowling ripped off the movie TROLL.

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[–] jamesabutler44 14 years ago

For as long as this thread as debated this matter, did it occur to anyone to Google the name Harry Potter, Jr.? Apparently the writer of the original Troll movie is planning a remake, and is aledging that because his screenplay predates J.K. Rowlings works, that she got the name from him....Seems like he's planning legal action. I'm not sure he's got a case, but has that ever stopped anyone from suing?

http://web.archive.org/web/20080501051319/http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/artman2/publish/movie_news/Helmer_says_he_invented_Harry_Potter_21140408.php

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[–] dlmedley2003 14 years ago

It doesn't seem that astronomical for such a common name to be thought of by 2 different writers...If both stories had a character named Zigsaby McStingbat then we might have something...

BOO!

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