MovieChat Forums > Troll (1986) Discussion > JK Ripped This Off! How Disappointing!

JK Ripped This Off! How Disappointing!

posted 19 years ago by mel_anie_98
65 replies | jump to latest

When I first heard the name of J.K. Rowling's books, I told my mother (who introduced me to them) that I had already heard of it. But I was puzzled when she told me that the books just came out that year. I even argued with her about it, telling her that I've known about it since I was a little girl. I just assumed that I was wrong when I finally did read the books.

Then, just 2 weeks ago, I was watching HBO when "Troll" came on. That's when it hit me where I had heard about a Harry Potter being a wizard. So I watched the movie again and was PISSED OFF! How could she dare act like she came up with an original idea?!?! Even though the movie is completely different, it still has the same general idea of a boy named Harry Potter living in a parallel magical world, just finding out that he's a wizard and having to be a special person for being one of the only people to destroy a great evil.

The kid even resembles Harry Potter! J.K. stole the lanky figure and dark-haired look of the Harry Potter in "Troll". Also, the father's name in the movie is Harry Potter Sr. and J.K.'s Harry Potter's father's name is James HARRY POTTER!

I give her credit for what she did, but I don't like it when people front like they're completely original when they're not. It doesn't give the proper respect to the people she was inspired by.

[–] That_Beatles_Girl 17 years ago

Actually, JK got the name "Potter" from one of her childhood friends,and Harry was a name that she just liked.

To say that Rowling ripped off "Troll" is ludicrous. Boarding school adventures, parallel universes, wise mentors, magic... it's all been done before. She just put her own spin on it.

"To the organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."- Albus Dumbledore

[–] Defy_Gravity18 17 years ago

I'm sorry, but Rowling's work far outshines this pile.

Alison: I'm pregnant.
Ben: Pregnant... with emotion?
Alison: Pregnant with a baby.

[–] poetbynature1785 17 years ago

im not going to say rowling stole the idea and Troll wasn't great but I think she was HEAVILY influenced by it. Many fans don't want to accept, it but its true Potter books are famous and good but not original.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] BadWebDiver 17 years ago

I think you're stretching a bit too much.

Harry Potter is a fairly common British type name. There would be literally hundreds of people with that name, or variations on it. It would be like two stories having a "David Smith" in them. Way too common top accuse of copying.

Same with the father/son variants on the same name. That's very common practice in the UK and the USA. It's not gonna mean a direct connection between the two stories.

And the magic kingdom thing is only vaguely similar. The Hary of TROLL never gets really trained as a wizard. The one thing I thought of when I watched this movie that it was a little unfair for the witch to throw the teenager into the battle with only the most cursory uinformation to the story, and one sword with no actual training. ANd we later see in the final battle he's almost entirely useless. More of a diversionary tactic than anything really heroic.

JK Rowling shows her art as a storyteller in that her magic story seems a lot more grounded, fleshed out and plausible. Harry in the HP series is like an average kid who has some inate ability, but is going through extensive straining, experiences, friendships, and has a well fleshed out history. He's got friends, guardians, counsellors. He's not getting thrown in the deep end with just the slightest brief of what the history war, and why the war exists.

SO while the idea of a Harry Potter fighing in a magical realm may be vaguely similar in the two stories; there's enough substancial differences to say that they're two entirely seperate stories with a great variation in style and quality.

The similarities can all be attributed to common themes in the fantasy genre, while the huge differences mark them off as totally seperate works.

I am - SUPERFLUOUS!!!

[–] Zan-tastic 17 years ago

If you ask me, I think that if J.K. Rowling did any ripping off at all (I did say if), I think she borrowed more heavily from The Worst Witch than she did from Troll.

I thought I was the only one who thought so, until I found this:

http://www.geocities.com/audrahammer/hpvsww.html

You can't deny they are very similar.

I don't need to "get a life." I'm a gamer, I have lots of lives!

[–] Promontorium 17 years ago

What? The kid wasn't a wizard. He had no powers. He prooved useless in the end, only able to survive because the Troll sympathized with the girl. He failed at his only task of stabbing the big troll. He didn't "live in a parallel magical world" he stepped into one for about 10 minutes. He wasn't "special" in the context that you imply, he simply piqued the interest of a witch.

In the end you've got a name, and magic. That's about the extent of it. I don't particularly give a crap about Harry Potter stories, and I liked Troll but I don't suggest you go around trying to cut people down simply because of coincidence. You can't seriously suggest that the elements of the first Harry Potter book, let alone the sequels, were the plagarization of remote similarities to a low budget 80s fantasy.

That's like saying C.S. Lewis Plagarized Robert Lewis Stevenson because there are pirates in several of the Chronicles of Narnia. It's ridiculous. Too much creative energy was poured into the work. Even if Rowling had deliberately lifted the name and magic elements of Troll, she still produced something so unique it couldn't be called a "rip off".

It's "must have" "should have" "could have" and "would have" for God's sakes there's no "of".

[–] Vesey 17 years ago

First of all there is a huge difference between ripping off a character and ripping off a story, and if you were to rip off a character (or story) wouldn't you change the name to throw suspicion.

Then again I suppose you can always say doing what least suspected (not changing the name) would throw suspicion just as much.

Honestly I think it's just a coincidence, if they had different names would you see enough similarities between the two to label it a rip off. I Don't.

[–] am_buglet_82 16 years ago

"In the end you've got a name, and magic. That's about the extent of it. I don't particularly give a crap about Harry Potter stories, and I liked Troll but I don't suggest you go around trying to cut people down simply because of coincidence. You can't seriously suggest that the elements of the first Harry Potter book, let alone the sequels, were the plagarization of remote similarities to a low budget 80s fantasy.

That's like saying C.S. Lewis Plagarized Robert Lewis Stevenson because there are pirates in several of the Chronicles of Narnia. It's ridiculous. Too much creative energy was poured into the work. Even if Rowling had deliberately lifted the name and magic elements of Troll, she still produced something so unique it couldn't be called a "rip off"."

I agree with you totally.

People get so angry about such dumb little things!

-Amanda

"She will remember your heart when men are fairy tales in storybooks written by rabbits"

[–] image-2 16 years ago

Plagiarism? Who knows?

The original Troll's Harry Potter was a dark haired, pre teenage boy who learned about magic and magical worlds from an elderly witch named Eunice. He had to enter the parrallel world of witches, wizards, fairys and trolls, with a magic lance to fight an ancient troll wizard who was trying to take over the world.

True, there's no Hogwarts. It's also true that Harry Potter from the original Troll movie is an American kid, not a Brit.

The Hogagwarts element is very British. Very like the "Worst Witch" a British TV series that was playing in the UK in 1986,(around the time that Troll was out) and the series involved a young child who attended a "witching academy" to learn about how to use her powers. Many of the prototypes for the Potter books characters are there, the Head Master (or Mistress, the best friends, the rival, the creepy teacher, ...)

And while it is true that the hero of the Worst Witch was a young female, not a boy, many of the situations are there. Let's say that you decided to switch genders and then make the student a young boy, instead of a girl, like say for example, Harry Potter from Troll, and then use many of the same story elements such as the evil wizard who has the ability to hide inside others, who plots to to change the world into a dark and evil place...

Who knows?

Certainly the concept was taken from many sources. The creepy thing is that Harry Potter is the hero of both pieces and that the plot and story elements are so similar. Take Troll, add the Worst Witch and you got the Potter books and movies.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] chips-19 16 years ago

Yes she did.The only originakl movie ever was attack of the killer tomtoes.It spawned countless rippoffs(Roundhay garden scene,jaws,nosferatu,schindlers list,the godfater,bugs bunny,death race,preadator,mirrors edge,pulp fiction,and spider man to name a few.aotkt is the best,though)

Killer tomatoes forever

Proud regular of Spidey 2 vido game.

[–] Pomacea 16 years ago

There is a rumor that John Carl Buechler filed a lawsuit against J.K. Rowling on June 18, 2009.

[–] clocksnmirrors-932-761321 10 years ago

JKRs stories are nothing at all like Troll. You sound like a conspiracy theorist.