Very interesting points here. I must agree with Paul's initial post and simply "sadly say" don't be angry. The writer(s) know the truth and what comes around goes around ... This isn't the first time I've seen a blatant similarity between Paul's work and someone else's.

Better than getting ripped off by your least favorite show!

Truth is, you're all right. Sometimes, it's two people who, drawing from the same well of inspiration, come up with the same idea and even the same execution of that idea. (It's happened to me many times. Hell, I've found myself working on ideas and later learned FPW did it or something much like it already!)

Sometimes, the second person subconsciously draws upon an idea that they were inspired by, not realizing it. (Happens to us all.)

And sometimes, it's just plain old theft.

I do agree that nearly everything has been done, redone, and done again. It's become increasingly hard to come up with new, engaging story lines. And F. Paul already wrote everything! :p

I remember in college studying that there's really only a few stories told different ways. As far as this argument though shapeshifting has been a common aspect in many stories, look at Morph and Mystique in X-Men, and Mission Impossible 2 (I think it was 2) where they're peeling faces on and off. In an old version of Merlin I saw growing up Merlin used magic to turn King Arthur into his enemy so he could sleep with a woman. I'm not saying outright that Abrams didn't copy FPW only that just because ideas are similar doesn't necessarily prove anything. I do remember watching a movie not too long ago though and thinking that there was no way it wasn't directly influenced by Mirage. (I can't remember the movie)

I'm about halfway through season 3 in fringe though


Edit: grammatical error

I just watched all of season three on netflix.
wasn't all of it a basic rip off of Nightworld?
right down to a vortex in sheeps meadow.
the author of the first people books uses anagrams to publish under different names. Like Rasalom. One of his was Losmara if I recall. Nina figures out the anagrams by writing sel, les, mara.
Paul, did you ever get a nod of acknowldgment? Or were the writers operating from an alternate universe where they were developing their own Nightworld mythology?

I haven't watched the Fringe episode in question, but, Dr. Wilson, sadly your being ripped off does not appear to be something new. Have you heard of the show Burn Notice? I would be willing to bet a lot of money that the writers of that show are familiar with Repairman Jack; yes, Michael Westin is a former spy, but the line of work he gets into after settling in Miami, i.e. taking on "fix-its" that no one else can manage, is eerily similar to RJ (except for the supernatural angle).

It's also similar to The Equalizer, not to mention The A-Team. And also Leverage. Let's face it, "some guy(s) with special skills who help(s) out regular people in bad situations" is a pretty generic set-up for novels, movies, TV, what-have-you. Also, Burn Notice is very loosely biographical, with aspects of the Michael Westen character based on those of Michael Wilson, a person who is a consultant for the show and who has a background in private intelligence and security. I recall him posting a few times on The Engine, Warren Ellis' successor forum to The Warren Ellis Forum, in 2007. According to him, the real-life inspirations for the characters of Fiona and Sam Axe are much, much scarier than the TV versions on the show.

On a related topic, I'm a pretty avid paper and pencil RPG player (D&D, etc.) One of the character I tend to play in modern or futuristic settings is a kind of stoner/slacker tech prodigy named Andru Clayton. I first started playing the character regularly around 1998 or so. Andru was a kind of blend between David Lightman from Wargames and Bill from the Bill and Ted movie. I remember being a little startled and slightly pissed when the Dell Computer ads featuring the so-called Dell Dude hit the air because it felt like they'd somehow reached into my brain and "stolen" the character and mannerism of Andru, who was, of course, my original character.

Except that he wasn't. About a year ago I was going through some old book boxes and I found a book called Captive Planet.

http://www.gamebooks.org/gallery/eq1-17.jpg

It was still in pretty good condition despite being in a box for over 30 years. And it told the story of Andru Clayton, young computer prodigy. I'd read this book when I was 15 or 16, put it away and pretty much forgotten that it had ever existed. However, many years later, I claimed the book's protagonist as my own character. Up until I found that book, I'd have sworn before God that Andru (obvious previously named influences aside) was completely original to me, instead of being based on a character I'd played as 14 years previously.

Did Fringe steal Dr. Wilson's ideas? Maybe. Yes, I can see some writer recalling Masque/DNA Wars and consciously copying those ideas. But I can also see someone who read that book over a decade ago putting those ideas into Fringe's shapeshifters but completely forgetting from where they'd originally came, because that's what happened with Andru. And it caused me to shitcan a series of stories I'd written about him and for which I was planning to seek publication.