So how close was Underworld to White Wolf's setting?
- Thread starter Kai Lord
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jdavis
First Post
Well it had a lot of differences but there were a few glaring similarities, most of those also had to do with the story from the book. If it wasn't for the book similarities I doubt White Wolf would have much of a case. I went with somebody who had read the short story and they said the movie was real close to the short story. It's obvious the story was inspired by White Wolf but it's not obvious enough to make for a sure thing in the court case.
Kobold Avenger
Legend
One thing I wonder about the movie is whether or not there was any referrence to vampires being descendants of Cain, since that might actually be valid point for a lawsuit since I'm pretty sure nowhere else makes the connection between vampires and Cain. Even the part about Cain being cursed to eat ashes and blood doesn't necessarily mean vampire. And Grendel is referred to as a descendant of Cain, but nowhere in Beowulf did it say he was a vampire.
Vocenoctum
First Post
I wonder about Past Lives my self. Never really remember anything like racial memory for werewolves before WW.
This post has spoilers. Duh.
Before I saw the movie, it seemed fairly similar, from previews and whatnot. After seeing it, I'm much less convinced.
There were a lot of similarities that are trivial, things from mythology (sunlight kills vamps, silver hurts werewolves, get bit to get infected, blah blah). There were also some differences from mythology, but they aren't WW-specific. For instance, Underworld vampires didn't have to be invited into a house. WW vamps don't either, Buffy vamps do, Anne Rice vamps don't, Blade vamps don't. Flip a coin, apparently.
Underworld vamps and werewolves were infected beings, you get the virus and you turn. You don't have to die first to be a vamp, apparently. That's not WW at all.
Underworld werewolves weren't clan-based, there was just one group of them apparently. They were also apparently immortal, like vamps. Not WW.
Underworld vamps weren't clan-based. There was apparently an american coven and european coven, but that's not WW-specific, anne rice and Buffy both had organizations of vampires. Had there been different clans with different powers, I might have bought it.
Never really saw many powers from either group, except they were all strong and fast. Eh. The vamps seemed to get stronger as they got older, but that's not WW specific either. There was no concept of generations like you find it Vampire: the Masquerade.
The part that killed most of the similarities for me was the virus. Both groups were descendants of one man, some nobleman in the 4th or 5th century, who survived some kind of plague. His children inherited the virus, which made one of them a vampire, one a werewolf, and one normal but a carrier. There's nothing like that in WW at all. WW is "Caine is the angsty forefather of vamps" and "Garou are the tree-hugging children of Gaia", and they have no familial tie.
WW claimed in their suit that a bunch of trivial elements added up to make the Underworld setting similar enough to the World of Darkness that it was infringing. I didn't see it. The clans and tribes of the WoD are central to the setting, and they just weren't in the movie. The look and feel was "vampire-werewolf shoot-em-up w/Matrix", not WoD.
The one part that screamed WoD to me was the "abomination". The concept of it could go either way, and the method of creating one wasn't the same as the game world, but to use that name for that concept was pretty blatent.
The story WW is saying is similar, "Love of Monsters", I haven't read, there could be some plot similarities in there. That might be where they got the "abomination" concept too. So the whole case really has to do with that story, I think, because the movie isn't very WW-ish at all.
They set it up so there could be a sequel, and this one was fun eye-candy for a couple hours, so I'll probably give the sequel a go too.
Before I saw the movie, it seemed fairly similar, from previews and whatnot. After seeing it, I'm much less convinced.
There were a lot of similarities that are trivial, things from mythology (sunlight kills vamps, silver hurts werewolves, get bit to get infected, blah blah). There were also some differences from mythology, but they aren't WW-specific. For instance, Underworld vampires didn't have to be invited into a house. WW vamps don't either, Buffy vamps do, Anne Rice vamps don't, Blade vamps don't. Flip a coin, apparently.
Underworld vamps and werewolves were infected beings, you get the virus and you turn. You don't have to die first to be a vamp, apparently. That's not WW at all.
Underworld werewolves weren't clan-based, there was just one group of them apparently. They were also apparently immortal, like vamps. Not WW.
Underworld vamps weren't clan-based. There was apparently an american coven and european coven, but that's not WW-specific, anne rice and Buffy both had organizations of vampires. Had there been different clans with different powers, I might have bought it.
Never really saw many powers from either group, except they were all strong and fast. Eh. The vamps seemed to get stronger as they got older, but that's not WW specific either. There was no concept of generations like you find it Vampire: the Masquerade.
The part that killed most of the similarities for me was the virus. Both groups were descendants of one man, some nobleman in the 4th or 5th century, who survived some kind of plague. His children inherited the virus, which made one of them a vampire, one a werewolf, and one normal but a carrier. There's nothing like that in WW at all. WW is "Caine is the angsty forefather of vamps" and "Garou are the tree-hugging children of Gaia", and they have no familial tie.
WW claimed in their suit that a bunch of trivial elements added up to make the Underworld setting similar enough to the World of Darkness that it was infringing. I didn't see it. The clans and tribes of the WoD are central to the setting, and they just weren't in the movie. The look and feel was "vampire-werewolf shoot-em-up w/Matrix", not WoD.
The one part that screamed WoD to me was the "abomination". The concept of it could go either way, and the method of creating one wasn't the same as the game world, but to use that name for that concept was pretty blatent.
The story WW is saying is similar, "Love of Monsters", I haven't read, there could be some plot similarities in there. That might be where they got the "abomination" concept too. So the whole case really has to do with that story, I think, because the movie isn't very WW-ish at all.
They set it up so there could be a sequel, and this one was fun eye-candy for a couple hours, so I'll probably give the sequel a go too.
Enforcer
Explorer
S'mon said:
True, but vampires from the World of Darkness are descended from Caine, who was cursed by God with vampirism as punishment for killing Abel (actually, God had some angels curse Caine, but he's the man who gave the order). Notice the "e" in Caine; not exactly biblical canon. But, Lilith was Caine's lover/teacher right after he was cursed according to World of Darkness teachings.
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