Questions tagged [inspiration]
Use this tag for questions about the inspiration behind ideas (names, characters, objects, titles, etc.) in science fiction or fantasy works. Use [influence] for questions about how SF&F works have influenced other works or culture.
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Was T-Bob inspired by astromech droids or something else?
One of the characters I remember most from M.A.S.K was T-Bob who always reminded me of R2D2.
The page on fandom states that Wikipedia used to have a whole page for the character making the connection,...
2
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0answers
120 views
Was "Men Without Bones" inspired by the Yara-ma-yha-who myth?
The story Men Without Bones by Gerald Kersh is very old and ends with the memorable line, "We are the Martians -- they are the men!"
According to legend the Yara-ma-yha-who is a:
creature ...
-3
votes
1answer
214 views
What is the first work to base Hogwarts uniforms on modern school uniforms?
The text of the first Harry Potter book describe the school uniform as a black robe with a black cloak, a hat, and dragon hide gloves when hand protection is needed, and I think that's pretty cool. ...
2
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0answers
129 views
Was this Stargate SG-1 martial arts training montage inspired by The Karate Kid? [closed]
Was the Stargate SG-1 episode "Affinity" (S8E7) martial arts training montage inspired by The Karate Kid? Just wondering if anyone else was getting a Karate Kid vibe during the scene where ...
20
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2answers
4k views
Was Batman based on The Count of Monte Cristo?
I was just watching "So you haven't read" for Alexandre Dumas' "Count of Monte Cristo" (a bit ironic since not only have I read it, I did it in two different translations, English ...
6
votes
1answer
398 views
Has Tolkien ever commented on the similarity between the name "Baggins" and the French word for "ring"?
There is some discussion on the origins of the name Baggins in this question. However, it only revolves around whether or not it is related to Bilbo being a thief, and I am interested in something ...
3
votes
1answer
194 views
Is the character Rigsy a nod to Banksy?
Rigsy was a one-off Doctor Who character who became a two-off when he appeared in both Series 8 "Flatline" and Series 9 "Face the Raven". Originally, he was a graffiti artist doing ...
12
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1answer
943 views
Where did the title of the short story "Allamagoosa" by Eric Frank Russell come from?
The famous (anthologised and adapted for radio) Eric Frank Russell sci-fi short story "Allamagoosa" involves a misunderstood word:
However, the title is a complete, utter mystery to me. Is ...
6
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1answer
94 views
What, if anything, is Eld Vintic Poetry based on?
In the Kingkiller books, Kvothe's friend Simmon studies Eld Vintic poetry.
Here's an excerpt:
Sought we the Scrivani word-work of Surthur
Long-lost in ledger all hope forgotten
Yet fast-found for ...
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0answers
67 views
Are the Black Terror and Knight-Wing based on any pre-existing fictional superheroes?
I just read the short story "The Black Terror Rides Again" by Thaddeus Howze. It's just a few-minutes read and much more interesting if you learn about the characters bit by bit through the ...
6
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0answers
190 views
Why is the protagonist of "Shortsighted" named Calvin Hobbes?
In the story "Shortsighted" by Thaddeus Howze, the protagonist's name is revealed to be Calvin Hobbes.
This seems a reference to the well-known cartoon characters Calvin and Hobbes. Was this ...
3
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0answers
46 views
Viridis and felodon: shared worldbuilding?
A recent question in the "Hal Clement challenge" asked if there was any meaning or significance to the name "felodon", an amphibian carnivore with large fangs that featured in ...
2
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0answers
73 views
Was Corman's The Day the World Ended cited as inspiration for 10 Cloverfield Lane?
The Corman movie has a man (and his daughter) living in a well-stocked house after a nuclear attack. However, unexpected people show up. In both movies, the "prepper" is ex-navy and Goodman ...
10
votes
1answer
196 views
Was Fenoglio based on any real author?
Cornelia Funke's fantasy series beginning with the novel Inkheart features a character named Fenoglio, an old man who wrote a fantasy novel called Inkheart.
Was Fenoglio based on, or inspired by, any ...
6
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0answers
99 views
Is "The Unsettling" inspired by "Manos: The Hands of Fate"?
In the TV series The Unsettling, the plot centers around a cult that worships a deity with heavy hand symbolism, in which the members are constantly saying that "the Hands that pull the strings&...
30
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1answer
7k views
Was the name "Thanos" derived from "Thanatos", the name of the Greek god of death?
This is intended to be an out-of-universe question
I recently learned of Thanatos the Greek god of death, and I could not help but notice how similar the name Thanos is to the name Thanatos. This got ...
3
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0answers
1k views
Does the name of Shub Niggurath contain or reference a racial slur?
I've always thought that the name of the Lovecraft deity Shub Niggurath was intended to sound vaguely Semitic, but I recently noticed that it seems to encode a certain well-known English-language ...
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1answer
207 views
Where did Saleem Haddad get his idea from for the story, Song of the Birds?
In his short story, Songs of the Birds, Saleem Haddad writes:
"Everything seems so still. You would never think that we are hurtling through the universe at a crazy speed."
"What's ...
8
votes
1answer
528 views
Was Jean-Luc Picard inspired by Hornblower?
I have found the following in Fandom
The Star Trek characters James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard were originally also supposedly modelled after Hornblower by Gene Roddenberry. Nicholas Meyer, director ...
6
votes
0answers
163 views
Is the Orville's Dann inspired by Babylon 5's Narn?
I haven't watched The Orville, but while scrolling through a three-year-old answer I noticed a picture of an alien whom I quickly identified as the character called Dann. The reason why his appearance ...
2
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1answer
84 views
Did David Drake imitate Hornblower or Aubrey
Had David Drake said publicly if his Lt Leary series is a deliberate take off of either Hornblower or Jack Aubrey? It seems to have elements of both.
12
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1answer
3k views
Was the Tumbler Nolan's creation or did something similar already exist?
I've grown up with the Batmobile having the long front and a jet engine in order to be fast. They always slightly changed in design but had the general look I knew from the cartoons:
Then, in Nolan's ...
3
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0answers
203 views
Was Star Wars' Coruscant inpired by Isaac Asimov's Trantor? [duplicate]
They are both the Capitol of their respective Galactic Empire.
Both Star Wars and Foundation trilogy have masters of the mind arts, Jedi and Psycohistorians.
18
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1answer
2k views
Did Total Recall inspire the famous red pill/blue pill scene?
In the 1990 film Total Recall, Dr. Edgemar tells Quaid he is suffering from a 'delusion caused by acute neurochemical trauma'; and the first step to wake up from this delusion is to swallow a red ...
6
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2answers
478 views
Was the Flame and the Void inspired by military techniques used in the Vietnam War?
I was reading recently about the US military assassin Carlos Hathcock, and specifically noticed the following:
Hathcock once said that he survived in his work because of an ability to "get in the ...
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0answers
172 views
Does Shohobohaum Za character allude to the USSR?
The ambassador Shohobohaum Za in The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks shows the following features.
He is a drunkard and has propensity to brawls – a known stereotype of a Russian.
He dismantles a ...
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votes
1answer
1k views
Is there a shared inspiration for the 7 Dwarfs of Snow White and the 7 Dwarves (that received rings of power) from Tolkien's writings?
In The Lord of the Rings Tolkien writes that 7 Dwarves were given rings. I know that Tolkien took a lot of inspiration from different sources including ancient fables and stories, tales of the Pagan ...
42
votes
2answers
6k views
Did Lucille Ball have a creative influence on Star Trek?
There are many articles on the role that Lucille Ball had in saving Star Trek from an early death and how she advocated for the show in its early days. Was her role limited to funding, politics, and ...
10
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2answers
3k views
To what extent were the writers of Bill and Ted's aware of the TARDIS?
I mean, they're both time traveling phone booths....
Doctor Who obviously predates Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, but was also possibly quite obscure for Americans pre-Internet.
3
votes
1answer
202 views
Has a reason ever been given for the decision to use the name Martha?
Superman and Batman mother’s both have the same name, has any writer of these comics ever discussed the reason for this or is it just chance?
2
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1answer
467 views
Is the character Carrie Fisk from The Expanse inspired by Star Wars?
Persepolis Rising, the seventh book of The Expanse series, introduces and features a character named Carrie Fisk; she is the leader of the
Do we know if she, or more specifically her name, was ...
4
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2answers
2k views
Why is her name Michael in Star Trek Discovery?
I see several explanations online, what was the true inspiration for the character's final production name "Michael Burnham?"
Star Trek: Discovery's lead female role was initially announced under the ...
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1answer
1k views
Where did they get the name for Star Trek’s Q?
What inspired the god-like being Q introduced in Star Trek:The Next Generation Encounter at Farpoint? Where did the show's creators get the name and inspiration for Q's character?
75
votes
1answer
9k views
Who or what inspired the character Geordi La Forge?
Fictional characters often are named and inspired by real people, for example Sonequa Martin-Green's character Michael Burnham is named after her character's biological father "Mike" Burnham. Where ...
3
votes
0answers
113 views
Do the hypnotic moths in these works share a common origin?
In The Worst Witch TV series (2017), there's a creature called a hypnapillon. It's a moth, described as feeding off of people's "minds, fears, imagination," and it hypnotizes its prey with patterns on ...
4
votes
1answer
766 views
Were Hecate and Miss Cackle's personalities based on the books?
In the most recent iteration of the TV show The Worst Witch, two of the teachers are Hecate Hardbroom and the headmistress, Miss Ada Cackle. I couldn't help but notice that their personalities seemed ...
8
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1answer
2k views
What is the meaning of this drawing of a combine soldier holding a baby next to the word 'Caste' in Half Life 2?
I used to play the Half Life games a few years ago, and among the many screenshots I had taken, here is the most questionable one:
What is this picture about?
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1answer
553 views
Meaning behind DC Raven's "Rachael Roth" name?
If you swap letters "CH" and "TH" and remove the "a" from "Rachael Roth" you get the words "Rathel Roch" which according to wikitionary "Rathel" has two meanings it's related to "raddle" which is ...
5
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1answer
369 views
Is there an intended relation between Baal and R'hllor?
In Essos, we see many worshipers of the Lord of Light, also known as R'hllor.
In Israel, time of Ahab, we see many worshipers of Baal, the personification of the sun.
I'm wondering. Baal worshipers ...
6
votes
1answer
206 views
What historical event was "A Grand Tour" in the Honorverse based on?
In the anthology More Than Honor (An anthology in the Honorverse, edited by David Weber), there is an author's note following A Grand Tour (By David Drake) claiming that the events are based on ...
4
votes
2answers
744 views
Are Hogwarts houses based on real life UK? [duplicate]
It’s been referred several times that Rowling modelled Hogwarts after standard UK structure for schools, which makes sense given she attended those.
Stuff like OWLS and NEWTs are modelled around ...
3
votes
1answer
343 views
Is Zam Wesell inspired by early Ralp McQuarrie Concept Art of Han Solo & Starkiller Hero?
I was recently looking at some early McQuarrie concept art (and my 30th anniversary action figures based on them) commissioned for George Lucas' second draft, which would eventually become A New Hope.
...
4
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1answer
371 views
Is the way wizard duel in Harry Potter based on fencing?
As in how they (like fencing) put their wand up to their face before they duel and how they have their stance.
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0answers
176 views
Did Douglas Adams get the idea of communication/alien dolphins from "Stationary Orbit" by Peter Macey?
Inspired by this question/answer.
Given that the novel by Macey was written four years prior to the first broadcast of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and subsequent novelization, is there any ...
11
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0answers
179 views
Is Lord Grant based on an actual Jazz musician?
In Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series, Peter, the main character, has a father (Lord Grant) who was repeatedly almost famous. There are enough hints and descriptions of the various events, that ...
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3answers
829 views
Where did the idea of using bottle caps as money come from?
Being a fan of both the DuckTales and the Fallout series, I have only recently noticed that in the former there was an episode The Land of Trala La where the main characters introduce a concept of ...
9
votes
1answer
510 views
Where did the Prime Directive come from?
The Prime Directive is the main principle that Starfleet/the Federation follows, barring them from interfering with the development of another less developed civilization. The question I am asking is ...
10
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1answer
2k views
Was Edna Mode's "No Capes!" rule inspired by Dollar Bill?
In The Incredibles, Edna Marie "E" Mode" famously voices her opinion on capes.
These examples are hardly the first cases of what TV Tropes calls a "cape snag". (...
2
votes
1answer
281 views
What is the significance of the Red Lotus?
The theme of a Red Lotus seems to show up in various fantasy works. For instance:
In Ice Fantasy, where the Red Lotus seems to a magical flower of great power.
In The Legend of Korra, where it is an ...
2
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0answers
53 views
Does this "collecting royal souls" plotline have a common origin?
A few works seem to share a rather specific plotline, regarding the collection of the souls of various royal bloodlines.
For instance, in The Bone Witch and its sequels, by Rin Chupeco, part of the ...