Was MLP G1 a rip off of the Last Unicorn?

[Empress Celestia]

I've just finished reading the Last Unicorn (the book and the graphic novel) and seen the film, and I've just noticed that the storyline is extremely similar to the pilot episode of MLP. Being as the Last Unicorn film came out two years earlier it seems a bit of a coincidence. What do you think?

[Zapper]

I don't really see how the G1 Pilot is a "rip-off". I am a fan of the Last Unicorn book and the movie and I never made a connection.
To me the G1 pilot makes use of basic High Fantasy material. Bad guy has Evil Power (TM), enslaves good guys, friends of good guys seek to free them, seek to overpower bad guy with White Magic (TM). Something, something Chosen One. In the end victory over darkness, literally.
Last Unicorn shares a small portion of those tropes. That's all I can see *g*

[Empress Celestia]

I don't really see how The G1 Pilot is a "rip-off". I am a fan of the book and the movie and I never made a connection.
To me the G1 pilot makes use of basic High Fantasy material. Bad guy has Evil Power (TM), enslaves good guys, friends of good guys seek to free them, seek to overpower bad guy with White Magic (TM). Something, something Chosen One. In the end victory over darkness, literally.
Last Unicorn shares a small portion of those tropes. That's all I can see *g*

It just seems to me that the plot of escape from midnight castle, Tirek kidnapping unicorns, is extremely close to the basic plot of the Last Unicorn, in which King Haggard kidnapps unicorns, even their lairs look the same.

[lunar_scythe]

There probably are some similarities, but then if you look at a *lot* of the animation of that time, the same thing is true with most of the fantasy ones!

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I highly doubt it was a "rip-off" - Peter Beagle has lawyers and he isn't afraid to use them.    The Last Unicorn novel was around for many years prior to My Little Pony's concept of a TV show or toyline.

I think lunar_Scythe is right on the money with the style of fantasy animated features at that time - they were all pretty similar!  Plus, most fantasy stories are a formula - this is taught in many literature classes - the "quest" story, the "hero" epic, etc. 

[ponycake]

He didn't kidnap unicorns though did he, he just specified ponies.

I don't really see a similarity myself. Not any strong enough to make me think there was a heavy influence. You have a story about ponies, and a story about unicorns. Who will be the villain? For one, it's a man who wants all of the unicorns for himself. For the other, an evil creature who wants to use them for himself to turn into dragons to pull his chariot and make the world dark. Dark castle isn't a surprising new concept for a fantasy thing.

[phoenixsoul85]

I don't really see how The G1 Pilot is a "rip-off". I am a fan of the book and the movie and I never made a connection.
To me the G1 pilot makes use of basic High Fantasy material. Bad guy has Evil Power (TM), enslaves good guys, friends of good guys seek to free them, seek to overpower bad guy with White Magic (TM). Something, something Chosen One. In the end victory over darkness, literally.
Last Unicorn shares a small portion of those tropes. That's all I can see *g*

It just seems to me that the plot of escape from midnight castle, Tirek kidnapping unicorns, is extremely close to the basic plot of the Last Unicorn, in which King Haggard kidnapps unicorns, even their lairs look the same.

Tirak didn't just kidnap unicorns though.  He only got Moondance.  The others were all earth ponies.  The unicorns in TLU weren't transformed into dark monsters either like Tirak did.

[Jennifer2004]

I don't think so.

1. Who they kidnapped was different. - Haggard kidnapped all unicorns. Tirak kidnapped one unicorn, three earth ponies, a baby earth pony, a prince, and a baby dragon.

2. Why they kidnapped them was different. - Haggard kidnapped the unicorns because they were the only thing that made him happy. Tirak kidnapped the ponies and the prince so he could transform them into something else entirely.

3. What they did with them was different. - Haggard kept the unicorns trapped in the sea so he could look at them whenever he wanted. Tirak used the ponies to pull his chariot so he could bring about the night that never ends.

Okay I'll stop now.

~Jennifer

[Elisto]

Wanting to capture magical creatures for some purpose or another is a pretty common thing in fantasy, and the fact that they both involve unicorns isn't really all that surprising since unicorns are one of the more popular fantasy creatures.

I haven't seen the movie though, so I can't say if I see any similarities, but on the surface, nothing seems unusual.

[PrincessStarlily]

I highly doubt it was a "rip-off" - Peter Beagle has lawyers and he isn't afraid to use them.    The Last Unicorn novel was around for many years prior to My Little Pony's concept of a TV show or toyline.

I think lunar_Scythe is right on the money with the style of fantasy animated features at that time - they were all pretty similar!  Plus, most fantasy stories are a formula - this is taught in many literature classes - the "quest" story, the "hero" epic, etc. 

I agree with this...I don't believe MLP was in any way a rip-off of TLU. True, there are similarities, but the subject of copyrights gets in the way. Plus, there are so many stories in the world, it makes sense that certain ideas would be reused. It's what we readers and writers call "cliche".

I don't think so.

1. Who they kidnapped was different. - Haggard kidnapped all unicorns. Tirak kidnapped one unicorn, three earth ponies, a baby earth pony, a prince, and a baby dragon.

2. Why they kidnapped them was different. - Haggard kidnapped the unicorns because they were the only thing that made him happy. Tirak kidnapped the ponies and the prince so he could transform them into something else entirely.

3. What they did with them was different. - Haggard kept the unicorns trapped in the sea so he could look at them whenever he wanted. Tirak used the ponies to pull his chariot so he could bring about the night that never ends.

Okay I'll stop now.

~Jennifer

And here we go! There were some differences.

As a last comment, though, it's really great to hear from other people who have read/watched The Last Unicorn and love it as much as I do! My childhood was basically composed of that movie and MLP. I would watch the DVD a million times over, checking it out from the library time after time...and when I finally got around to reading the book, I came to fully appreciate how great a story it is. Peter S. Beagle certainly has a wonderful way with words!

[Majesty]

Nope they are pretty unrelated.  Most of the TV shows and movies in the 80's were where a bad guy does something bad, people have to defeat the bad guy and everyone survives the day and gets to go home.  In each MLP episode just about there was a bad guy of some sort and the ponies had to conquer them and save the day.  There was only one Unicorn kidnapped and I think she was just random, because they pretty much just grabbed the four ponies who they could get since everyone scattered.

Besides, the main story of The Last Unicorn is of a single unicorn who goes on a journey to find the other Unicorns in the world who have disappeared.  Totally unrelated.  Yes, I did read the book.  I own it and I've seen my DVD dozens of times so I know what I'm talking about. 

[Empress Celestia]

To be honest though I've only ever seen Escape from Midnight Castle once, more than 15 years ago and I wasn't paying that much attention!

[KarentheUnicorn]

The last unicorn was actually published originally in 1968

The film first appeared in 1982.

I would not say it was a ripoff of the last unicorn.


The first MLP cartoon came out in 1984. The My little pony toy started in 1981. I don't see it as a ripoff, its more that unicorns started to become popular again in the 80's. That is why we see Unicorn and Pegasus ponies show up in MLP. I would say the last unicorn influenced the love of unicorns for those who grew up in the 80's, thus it created a demand for magical creatures in toys, etc.

So I wouldn't call it a ripoff, I'd call it more a direct reflection of what was becoming popular in the culture at the time.

[Carrehz]

To be honest though I've only ever seen Escape from Midnight Castle once, more than 15 years ago and I wasn't paying that much attention!

Then.. why ask? Not to seem rude or anything, I'm just curious.

[FarDreamer]

The last unicorn was actually published originally in 1968

The film first appeared in 1982.

I would not say it was a ripoff of the last unicorn.


The first MLP cartoon came out in 1984. The My little pony toy started in 1981. I don't see it as a ripoff, its more that unicorns started to become popular again in the 80's. That is why we see Unicorn and Pegasus ponies show up in MLP. I would say the last unicorn influenced the love of unicorns for those who grew up in the 80's, thus it created a demand for magical creatures in toys, etc.

So I wouldn't call it a ripoff, I'd call it more a direct reflection of what was becoming popular in the culture at the time.

This.   Karen is always so logical.