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Is Monster Island based upon this movie?

screwthisprocessscrewthisprocess Posts: 186 Arc User
in Off Topic
Island of Lost Souls

Old news maybe, but the furry man people, or manimals, plus the Dr.

Comments

  • bulgarexbulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User
    The basis of Monster Island is a very similar concept of the same name from Toho Studios' Godzilla and related kaiju movie franchises -- a sort of nature preserve for various giant monsters, with a connection to hostile aliens. Hero Games essentially translated that concept to PnP Champions before Cryptic Studios bought the IP, just giving the aliens and resident monsters different names; but Cryptic fleshed out the monsters and the Qularr, who until then had little more than passing mentions in Champions books.

    Island of Lost Souls was an adaptation of H.G. Wells's novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau (there have been several over the decades). Since a criminal scientist descendant of that Dr. Moreau, and a new generation of Beast Men/Manimals, were already established parts of the Champions setting, Cryptic conflated Moreau's island with Monster Island. From there they seemed to take a grab-bag approach to throwing all manner of Champions IP connections into the island's mix: VIPER, ARGENT, the Lemurians, the Elder Worm.
  • screwthisprocessscrewthisprocess Posts: 186 Arc User
    Interesting, thanks for that info.
  • fermifermi Posts: 117 Arc User
    I always thought it was an adaptation of Skull Island...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_Island

    ...which contains both dinosaurs and giant apes, and predates Godzilla by twenty years.

    Of course, various 'lost worlds' are a pretty common trope. DC has a 'Dinosaur Island' and Marvel its 'Savage Land'.
  • pantagruel01pantagruel01 Posts: 7,091 Arc User
    fermi wrote: »
    I always thought it was an adaptation of Skull Island...
    I suspect the Toho Monster Island was inspired by Skull Island (given that Monster Island was introduced in 1968, and King Kong vs Godzilla was in 1962, it's rather obvious that Toho was aware of King Kong...).
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  • bluhmanbluhman Posts: 2,410 Arc User
    A lot of Champions lore borrows liberally from old media and stories. Dr. Moreau for example is originally a character that was written up by H.G. wells

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_of_Doctor_Moreau

    So in a sense CO having tacky knockoffs of Twilight, Anchorman, Big Trouble in Little China, A Clockwork Orange, and other sickeningly dated references is par for the course I guess.
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  • bulgarexbulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User
    fermi wrote: »
    I always thought it was an adaptation of Skull Island...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_Island

    ...which contains both dinosaurs and giant apes, and predates Godzilla by twenty years.

    Of course, various 'lost worlds' are a pretty common trope. DC has a 'Dinosaur Island' and Marvel its 'Savage Land'.
    bluhman wrote: »
    A lot of Champions lore borrows liberally from old media and stories. Dr. Moreau for example is originally a character that was written up by H.G. wells

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_of_Doctor_Moreau

    So in a sense CO having tacky knockoffs of Twilight, Anchorman, Big Trouble in Little China, A Clockwork Orange, and other sickeningly dated references is par for the course I guess.

    It's very hard to find anything in pop culture anymore which wasn't likely inspired by something before it. ;) It's very probable Toho's Monster Island drew inspiration from Kong's Skull Island. OTOH Moreau's island predates King Kong by more than three decades, and was first adapted as a silent movie; while dinosaur-infested "lost worlds" like those in DC and Marvel Comics, as well as Skull Island, took much inspiration from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel, The Lost World.

    However, when Hero Games added Monster Island to their official Champions setting, it was just the preserve for unique giant monsters left over from the first Qularr invasion of Earth, so the Toho precedent was clearly what they were basing it on. Cryptic added all the other stuff when they developed the island as a CO zone.

    But I would argue that Monster Island, Skull Island, Moreau's island, are all "timeless" rather than "dated" references. Your other examples, though, I can't argue. :p
  • fermifermi Posts: 117 Arc User
    Re-reading Island of Doctor Moreau. I've always liked it.
    "As it happens, we are biologists here. This is a biological station - of a sort." Moreau's eye rested on the men in white who were busily hauling the puma, on rollers, towards the walled yard. "I and Montgomery, at least," he added.
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