Smallville Episode Strikingly Similer to "Normal Again"

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

So I'm watching Smallville right now (don't laugh) and there's an episode in S6 called "Labyrinth" that really reminds me of "Normal Again". I think the Smallville writers ripped off Joss. Which I guess is sort of a compliment in a way...but not really.

Here's a short summary of the episode:

Clark is attacked and wakes up in a mental asylum where the attending physician, Dr. Hudson, tells him he has been there for five years due to his elaborate fantasy that he has alien superpowers. In this new world, Martha is married to Lionel Luthor, Chloe is deemed insane, and Lana chose Clark over Lex. Only one person, another patient named John believes Clark and urges him to fight.

Has anyone seen this episode? I'm curious what you all think about this.

 

[Fusions2]

My god that makes me think of that Charmed episode they did in season 4, but yes I see a big Buffy resemblence to this, shows today really need to stop going over other shows ideas.

 

[Old Master 3.0]

Good call. I always did think that episode's premise was a little too familiar. I watch that show on occasion, and have found that a lot of those episodes throughout the series are ripoffs (or as they like to say in the industry, "homages", pfft!!) of other shows....or even movies.
I remember one of those episodes that featured Lionel Luthor (I forget which season) was clearly an "homage" to the movie "Saw". *shakes head in disgust*

On another note, if you ever want to discuss Smallville and other sci-fi/horror TV shows without the fear of jeers and snickers 😛, you should join our Admin Buffy Summers' companion website to the BB..........

After-Darkness - A SciFi Forum


:: tu :: :: tu ::

 

[Silum]

To be fair, most series have a similarity.

Wiki:

Numerous other shows have used the plot of a character finding themselves in a mental institution and questioning the reality of their experiences. Examples include:

-The storyline in Batman:Legends of the Dark Knight 30-40, called "Masks", explains that Bruce Wayne's life as caped vigilante was nothing more than his illusion and depicted him as a poor costumed man having a mental problem thinking he is a crime fighter.

-The Charmed episode "Brain Drain", in which Piper finds herself in an asylum and is told that the world she believes to be true is in fact a delusion.

-The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Frame of Mind", where Commander Riker is unsure what is "real": his life on a starship, or in a mental institution.

-The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Shadows and Symbols" where Benjamin Sisko is nearly convinced that he is a mental patient in a hospital who can no longer distinguish between the fictional story he has written about Deep Space Nine and reality.

-The Lost episode "Dave," in which Hurley begins to believe the world he has been living in for several years is false. This episode also contains an ending sequence that implies that the mental institution may be the "true reality."

-The Stargate Atlantis episode "The Real World," in which Dr. Elizabeth Weir is infected by Replicator nanites and is rendered comatose. While unconscious, she dreams that she is in a psychiatric hospital and that her entire experience in Atlantis was solely a figment of her imagination.

-The Smallville episode "Labyrinth" has Clark waking up in a mental asylum where the attending physician, Dr. Hudson, tells him he has been there for five years due to his elaborate fantasy that he has alien superpowers.

-The finale of Hospital drama St Elsewhere implies that the whole series was being imagined in the mind of Tommy Westphall.No conclusion was drawn as to the truth.

 

[Uncle Rory]

I had a similar true life experience. There was a problem with our cable company and we were down to just one channel. I fell asleep after a Smallville / Charmed marathon and when I woke up I was in a mental institute.

Uncle Rory

 

[Lemon]

As orignial as this plot sounds, I think it's mildly common.

 

[Cohen]

My god that makes me think of that Charmed episode they did in season 4, but yes I see a big Buffy resemblence to this, shows today really need to stop going over other shows ideas.

I just want to point out that Charmed's "mental" episode was before Buffy's so anyone who says Charmed copied Buffy in this way is just plain stupid.

And then, I'd refer them to the above post by Silum.