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Earth vs. The ID4 Flying Saucers
Does something look familiar?
08 Dec 96 minor revisions: 22 Dec 1996
INDEPENDENCE DAY (ID4), Wr. Roland Emmerich & Dean Devlin, Dir. Roland Emmerich (20th Century Fox; 143:00), 1996.
EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, Dir. Fred Sears, SFX Ray Harryhausen (Columbia; 83:00), 1956.Note: several of the images below are clickable to expand to full resolution.
With the recent release to video of INDEPENDENCE DAY (ID4), I could at last see, in the privacy of my own home, the wonder, the suspense, and the sheer blast-'em-apart spectacular that so many people raved about this past summer.
ID4 seemed pretty familiar. Aliens attack, we fight 'em back, we are victorious. Very reminiscent of the 1950s genre of "alien invasion" matinee flicks. Very reminiscent....
Too reminiscent.
I suspected that the filmmakers had lifted the plot from the Ray Harryhausen opus, EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, and decided to compare some plot details. Uh-huh. As I suspected, they're not just similar, they're just about the same film. Let's take a look.
(I have to make something clear. The first two images shown here have very similar elements: flying saucer(s) overhead, a building in peril, and a man in the right foreground running to the right, away from the saucer(s). I didn't choose the images for their similarity, I found one on the Internet, and the ID4 version was retrieved from an online service. Just another coincidence, I swear.)
Basic Premise: Ominous Saucermen from outer space come to earth, and decide, "Hey, nice planet, we're taking over" (which, uh, is practically the poster teaser for the yet-to-be- released MARS ATTACKS!, directed by Tim Burton). They launch an attack on earth with superior firepower, but (after some humbling setbacks) Terran ingenuity and grit result in overcoming the cheerless alien bastards, who crumple before our righteous might. We earthlings celebrate and return to our humdrum existence of famine, warfare and environmental blight.
- Both films begin with the arrival of mysterious saucers from space. Uh-oh.
- The saucers seem to be shooting down, or at least interfering with satellites. In 1996, they're using the satellites to coordinate their attack, interfering with global communications and The Comedy Channel.
- It's a studly, techie type (played by Jeff Goldblum) who finds out about this crucial clue. In 1956, he's a rocket scientist (Hugh Marlowe); he has a neat tape recorder, with batteries that run down in the early part of the film. In 1996, he's a cable company engineer (and has a neat notebook computer, with batteries that never seem to run down). They're both pretty nice, if overworked, guys.
- It's the same studly, techie type who breaks the signal and deciphers its meaning. And recognizes its importance to mankind!
- It just so happens that this studly, techie type is very much in love (recently married) to the daughter of the high mucky-muck General-In-Charge, and so he has an inside track when he needs to get his revelation(s) heard. He rushes to the General and insists that he be heard. In 1996, the studly, techie type's ex-wife (for whom the candles still burn bright) just happens to work for the President, and so he has an inside track when he figures out that the signal is a countdown to disaster. He rushes to the Prez and insists that he be heard. (In this version, the President is a former combat pilot, who served in Desert Storm ... another disaster in which we trounced some overbearing entity who attacked and invaded a weaker neighbor.)
- The primary weapon of the Saucermen is a big-ass laser cannon that projects from the center of the saucer. Same in 1996. Some things never change ... though the new one takes a lot longer to deploy and fire up. STAR WARS' Death Star fits this model; it's even the same color.
- The Saucermen ruin lots and lots of international landmarks, including several prominent Washington, DC, buildings. In 1996, audiences were reported cheering during the climactic scene when Congress and The White House are blown to cinders. Forty years have not been kind on the public's opinion of our government.
Click for full size image- The Saucermen use sophisticated suits to protect them, and which make them appear more imposing. Pull off the helmet, and there's a rather frail, vulnerable critter inside. Crunchy outside, soft and chewy inside. In 1996, a new smell has been added.
- After a particularly harrowing, close encounter with a flying saucer, the techie type indulges in the vice of smoking a cigarette. In 1996, after a particularly disturbing, close encounter with his ex-wife, the techie type indulges in the vice of drinking.
- In one suspenseful scene, the techie type and his love interest are taken aboard a saucer, and they travel (briefly) into space. In 1996, the techie type and a pal travel into earth's orbit aboard a saucer, and enter the alien mothership.
- The Saucermen talk to the techie type through a sort of psychic translator. (?) The Saucermen can control our brains, and demonstrate this on the love interest's high mucky-muck dad, making him speak on command. He is later thrown out of a saucer, and falls to Earth amid some sort of attack. In 1996, the captive alien controls a scientist telepathically and makes him speak as a translator for the alien. It then tries this trick on the high mucky-muck President before being terminated with extreme prejudice by several guys with guns. The President later participates in an airborne attack on a saucer, and helps make it fall to Earth.
- Back in the lab, the studly, techie type discovers the Saucermen's weakness: sound. A certain signal (frequency) will make their saucers unstable and vulnerable. Then we can kick some alien butt, blasting them out of the sky with anti-aircraft fire: simple! In 1996, the studly, techie type discovers that the use of earth's satellites is a weakness in their strategy, and concocts a signal (computer virus) which will disable their shields and make the saucers vulnerable to attack. Then we can kick their butts, and knock them out of the sky with our remaining airborne firepower!
- The Saucermen discover the secret laboratory where the studly, techie type and his cronies are developing a secret weapon, and attack. In 1996, the aliens find out that Area 51 is where the counter-offensive is being commanded from, and attack.
- By the end of the film, the techie type is identified as a man of action by wearing an Army A-2 leather flight jacket. In 1996, the techie type dresses for his dangerous mission by donning a DOD Nomex flight suit.
- The studly, techie type assists the Armed Forces in developing and deploying the new weapon, and the saucers come crashing down. The film ends as he hugs his girlfriend, having saved the world. In 1996, the studly, techie type assists a Marine Corps pilot in delivering the computer virus, and the saucers are shot down by what's left of the world's Armed Forces. The film ends as the techie type shakes the President's hand, and hugs his girlfriend, having helped saved the world.
- The one-two punch of the religion of technology, and good ol' American know-how result in overcoming superior forces of cosmic evil. In 1996, the one-two punch of faith in digital technology, and good ol' American patriotism result in leading the world to overcome superior firepower and the onslaught of cosmic evil.
Moral Of The Story: it's our world, damn it, and you're not getting it without a fight! In 1996: "... we're fighting not just for our right to govern ourselves, but for our right to survive." Keep your dirty hands (tentacles) off our planet, asshole!
Once again, Hollywood prevails over the continuous encroachment of originality from independent filmmakers ... by re-wrapping and aggrandizing a film that has, essentially, already been made and proven viable. Like SPECIES, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, THE QUICK AND THE DEAD, DIABOLIQUE, JURASSIC PARK, TWISTER, THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND DOGS, and other recent blockbusters, ID4 is proof that it's safer at the box office not to be original at all. Derivation and plagiarism should be taught in all film schools, if only so that graduates will be able to work and support their kids.
-- D.B. Spalding
D.B. Spalding is a cross-media “infopreneur”: columnist, reviewer, producer, consultant and online content developer. He writes frequently about music, film, computing and the mass- and multimedia. Many of his articles can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.korova.com.
All Independence Day images © Copyright 1996 20th Century Fox, all rights reserved. Earth vs. The Flying Saucers images © Copyright Columbia Pictures, or whoever bought the rights. All images are used under "fair use" doctrines of existing copyright law at the time of publication.
