How Mystery Science Theater 3000 Helped Expose a Plagiarism

Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) is a show that is best known for lampooning films of questionable quality for laughs. Each episode, a host and their robot friends watch “cheesy movies” as part of an experiment conducted by mad scientists.

It’s a genuinely silly concept that is difficult to take seriously, even without the theme song reminding you to “Repeat to yourself it’s just a show, I should really just relax…”

That said, sometimes the show has the impact of exposing forgotten or little-known films to a larger audience. This can include now-cult favorites like Manos: The Hands of Fate, Mitchell, Space Mutiny and Hobgoblins, all of which have found popularity both inside and outside the MST3K community.

However, one time that exposure ended up playing a key role in a copyright infringement lawsuit. There, an independent filmmaker filed a lawsuit over a 2005 Michael Bay film that had a similar premise.

The director found out about the possible infringement from his fans, many of whom learned about it from MST3K.

It’s a rare story, but definitely one worth remembering.

Parts: The Clonus Horror vs. The Island

Disclosure: As I’ve discussed before, I am a huge fan of MST3K. I even have various props in the background of my YouTube set. So, while this is an interesting story, I lay no claims to impartiality here.

Parts: The Clonus Horror, sometimes referred to as just Clonus, is a 1979 film by director Robert Fiveson. The story is about a hidden island where clones are grown to provide spare organs for wealthy individuals.

The film did well at the box office when compared to its meager budget. It earned an estimate $3 million but only cost $350,000 to produce. Still, the film was not well received and didn’t have a significant impact after release.

However, in 1997, MST3K opted to include the film as part of their eighth season. This brought widespread attention to the film for the first time in nearly two decades.

Eight years later, that attention would be crucial. In 2005, DreamWorks released the Michael Bay-directed film The Island, which had a very similar premise to Clonus.

According to a Variety interview with Fiveson, he was alerted to the similarities by a fan that asked him if it was an official remake. He decided to watch a trailer for The Island and noticed many similarities between the films. He then attended a sneak preview of it in Washington DC and said, “I can honestly say that my every hope then was there wouldn’t be enough similarities and I could just walk away.”

He then teamed up with his co-producer Myrl A. Schreibman to file a lawsuit against DreamWorks over The Island. They highlighted some 90 different similarities between the two films, including many small details that overlapped perfectly.

DreamWorks attempted to get the lawsuit dismissed. However, the judge said that there was enough evidence to move toward a trial. After that, the two sides reached a settlement.

Though the details of the settlement are not known, Fiveson has said it was in the “seven figures.”

MST3K’s Role

To be clear, it’s difficult to say what MST3K’s role was in actually exposing this issue. Even if the film had not been featured, Fiveson or someone else might have noticed the similarities and things would have progressed similarly.

However, there’s also no guarantee that it would have.

The Island, by most metrics, was a box office bomb. According to Fiveson, his attention was only drawn to it because of a fan and that fan likely learned about it from MST3K. Given how little impact The Island had, it’s entirely possible he could have missed it completely.

Likewise, it’s also unclear if DreamWorks would have been as quick to settle if the source film didn’t have some notoriety. If Clonus had remained relatively unknown, DreamWorks might have felt stronger about their case.

However, it’s unlikely that Bay or the writers of The Isleand learned about it from MST3K. The MST3K episode aired in 1997. While it’s possible for a major film to go from concept to release in eight years, it seems unlikely.

According to Fiveson, he screened the film for DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg when Kratzenberg was an executive at Paramount. That, however, also seems unlikely. A single screening decades before production started is a pretty tenuous connection.

If the film was plagiarized, which seems to be most likely, it is probable that it was being shared within the industry. Though MST3K brought it into the public consciousness, that doesn’t mean others within the industry weren’t familiar with it.

Bottom Line

To be clear, DreamWorks has not admitted to any wrongdoing. The settlement suggests that Fiveson had a strong case, but there has never been a confession or legal judgment of wrongdoing.

As for what Fiveson thought of The Island, in the same interview with Variety, he said the following:

“Honestly, I really liked it, because this is the way the movie should have been done.”

Robert Fiveson

Still, it’s fascinating to wonder what would have happened if Clonus had not been featured in MST3K. Would this alleged plagiarism have come to light? Would DreamWorks have settled the case? Would anyone have noticed the similarities?

It’s impossible to say. But it’s still fun to know that a silly TV show about riffing on cheesy movies may have helped expose a case of creative wrongdoing.