Current Events > It's interesting how much creativity is driven by practicality.

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I loved the scenes in the original King Kong where the giant ape fought the dinosaurs. Why did they have dinosaurs in a giant gorilla movie? Because they already made the dinosaur models for a canceled dinosaur movie. Might as well throw them in and get a return on your investment.

Now I just found out that virtually all of the animal toys from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe line were recolors of animals from a 1970s jungle adventure series called Big Jim. Why does a barbarian hero ride a tiger? Why does the Sorceress turn into an eagle? Because they already had the toys made. That's why.

Even when it comes to things which don't involve reusing physical props, there's a lot of shamelessly borrowing/stealing wholesale from sources of inspiration in a lot of characters and narratives. Spider-Man got the web-themed custom, the octopus-themed villain, and the hero being falsely accused of being a menace to society from The Spider. Meanwhile, Star Wars lifted several settings, characters, and concepts from Flash Gordon.

Why stray far for content when good ideas are close by?