Another possible origin to Cleopatra 2525?

[august]

We've discussed the roots of Cleo before, going all the way back to the Studios USA site; some of the main themes are discussed here and here.

Basically take one part Amazon High (which was one part Amazons from "Hooves and Harlots" on XWP, one part Connecticut Yankee, and one part Young Hercules) and mix with Tumithak of the Corridors.... and add in visual nods to the Terminator and Matrix films..... along with possible influences from Roddenberry's Planet Earth and Genesis Two pilot movies... and you've got a series!

BUT... check out this little description of a post-apocalyptic world, that Rob and Sam (and Bruce and Josh) would have heard on the radio while they were in college, working on the beginnings of Renaissance Pictures and the Evil Dead films:

We're gonna build a whole new world for ourselves. Look, they clap eyes on us and we're dead, right? So we gotta make a new life where they'll never find us. You know where?

Underground.

You should see it down there - hundreds of miles of drains - sweet and clean now after the rain, dark, quiet, safe. We can build houses and everything, start again from scratch.

And what's so bad about living underground eh? It's not been so great living up here, if you want my opinion.
.....

We'll send scouting parties to collect books and stuff, and men like you'll teach the kids. Not poems and rubbish - science, so we can get everything working.

Listen, maybe one day we'll capture a Fighting Machine, eh? Learn how to make 'em ourselves and then wallop! Our turn to do some wiping out! Whoosh with our Heat Ray - Whoosh! And them running and dying, beaten at their own game. Man on top again!

......

.... if mankind is to survive
The people left alive
They're gonna have to build this world anew
And it's going to have to start with me and you
.....

Slowly from the ashes the phoenix will arise

In a brave new world
With just a handful of men
We'll start all over again!

Sound familiar?

It's not H. G. Wells, exactly, but it's taken from his book War of the Worlds, as paraphresed in the lyrics on Jeff Wayne's concept album. I looked up the original, i.e. the passage from the book, and the similarities are not nearly as close.

But boy doesn't that sound like it could come straight from some missing flashback episode of Cleo!

[Boomstick]

Has someone ever put the question of influences to the show's creators?

[august]

Not that I kow of. Rob has done a few convention appearances, but as far as I know, he mainly gets Xena questions, since they're Xena conventions. He did answer some fan questions at another site a few years back, but again, they were all Xena questions. R. J. has only recently turned up at any conventions, and he also did a fan Q & A, and I did ask him a couple of Cleo questions (click here) but not specifically about influences. The main source for the Tumithak stuff was of course Josh Becker, as detailed in the threads linked above. I think the Matrix and Terminator stuff is so obvious that it doesn't need to be asked, but as far as Roddenberry's pilots or the song lyric above (which is almost certainly a big coincidence) or things like Magnus Robot Fighter, as far as I know, no one has ever asked.

[Mr. Pants 2525]

Thank you very much for sharing, I had read about Amazon High but didn't know about the others.

[Boomstick]

I may have asked this elsewhere, I can't remember, did "Amazon High" make it to DVD anywhere? An extra on one of the Xena season collections, maybe?

[august]

Mr. Pants 2525!!! Welcome back! Always a treat to see you here!

Originally Posted by Boomstick

I may have asked this elsewhere, I can't remember, did "Amazon High" make it to DVD anywhere? An extra on one of the Xena season collections, maybe?

I would have thought so, but apparently not. Apparently not even as an extra on the season 5 dvd where Lifeblood appears, although it does refer to "alternate director's cuts and deleted scenes," so perhaps some of it survives there, along with the 25 or so minutes in the ep itself.

[Mr. Pants 2525]

It's a pity we didn't get to watch the full movie, I would have loved to watch more scenes with those fantastics actors, especially Claudia Black!

[Boomstick]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pants 2525

It's a pity we didn't get to watch the full movie, I would have loved to watch more scenes with those fantastics actors, especially Claudia Black!

Exactly, it seems like a missed opportunity for them. If they had they released it in some form when Xena was recently over, and Farscape was newer, there probably would have been a good market for it.