Talk:The Running Man (novel)

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The Running Man clearly draws from previous work, although the exact line of inspiration/plagiarism is hard to determine.

• The first instance is Robert Sheckley's short story "The Prize of Peril" (1958).
• Sheckley's story was turned into the German TV movie Das Millionenspiel (1970). This movie is probably very obscure outside Germany and in fact couldn't be rebroadcast for 30 years due to legal issues (cf. de:Das Millionenspiel).
• Sheckley is again credited for the French movie Le Prix du danger (1983), starring Michel Piccoli as the smarmy show host. The movie version of The Running Man very much looks like a Hollywood remake of this French movie.

Not having read King's novel, I don't know how it fits in there. —Naddy 16:18, 17 May 2005 (UTC)

Plagiarism?

Can someone explain why the book "Running man" is so much the same as the Robert Sheckley's "The prize of Peril", and why is this not a plagiarism? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.122.34.134 (talk) 04:01, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Plagiarism refers to direct copying of a actual text from a book. You cannot put very many protections on ideas. If the book you mentioned is indeed copied word for word, (which I doubt, given that there are political messages in Running Man tied directly to the era) or parts are copied, than that might be illegal. But this idea really is nothing new. Redcard (talk) 19:35, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

Havn't actually read the other book but based on the wikipedia entry there are similarities in theme but there are also some major differences. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.29.103.73 (talk) 06:45, 25 November 2010 (UTC)

Redcard is quite wrong; plagiarism is not restricted to "direct copying of a actual text from a book" [sic]. From the page on plagiarism: "Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work".

To answer Anon's question: The Running Man is so similar to The Prize of Peril because Stephen King has plagiarised the key ideas, structure, themes and plot points from Sheckley's book. The idea that The Running Man is laced with political commentary is quite accurate, but to say that such commentary is not present in The Prize of Peril is an indication that you have not read it.

To answer Anon's second question: Every Stephen King book I have read has been highly derivative, verging on plagiarism, and most of his ideas have been stolen from old pulp Sci-fi and fantasy stories (such as Robert Sheckley) or old Twilight Zone and Outer Limits episodes. The reason it is not described as plagiarism is that nobody cares. Welcome to the world. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.3.81.201 (talk) 00:09, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

The Running Man 2: A rumor of a possible sequel?

While I was watching The Running Man on Turner South I began to look up the same name on the internet, but sometime after the movie has ended I found two sites that may have something to do with a sequel to the Governator's dystopian blood run. Here are the sites I found in order:

• http://www.countingdown.com/movies/3240268
• http://www.liljas-library.com/run2.html

Split

This should be split into two articles. One for the book and one for the film.

Error

At the trivia sector of "The Running Man" it is reported that the plane was almost fully loaded with fuel prior to it's finale..At the book it is written exactly that:"Its tanks were still better than a quarter full". Since I am unaware of how to properly edit the main article page, I'd appreciate if sb would amend it accordingly..

You're absolutely right. However, I recommend the 9/11 references be REMOVED. The only thing the book and 9/11 share is that a plane was deliberately crashed into a building. There are a lot of stories in which this scenario occurs. This book has nothing to do with 9/11. I'm going to remove the reference if no one objects. But first I'm going to fix the fuel tank error. Globe199 22:02, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

I changed my mind and removed the 9/11 section entirely. It was very poorly written and completely irrelevant. Globe199 22:04, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Runningmanbachman.jpg

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BetacommandBot (talk) 04:59, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Other media with same plot idea

In addition to "The Prize of Peril", the 1970 German made-for-TV movie Das Millionenspiel, which created a media scandal when it was first shown on that nation's main TV channel ARD, also has pretty much the same setting (though it is set in a "dsystopian present" rather than a dystopian future). Maybe some mentions of these and other treatments of the same idea wouldn't be out of place in the article? -- 77.7.171.213 (talk) 13:48, 4 October 2010 (UTC)

Ok, I didn't see this was already mentioned above. -- 77.7.171.213 (talk) 13:52, 4 October 2010 (UTC)