Dear Internets:

[beccaelizabeth]

Quite a lot of things were in Buffy and Angel. They ran for how many seasons between them? They went through all the horror / dark fantasy genre standards. Quite a lot of episodes picked up ideas you will find in other films and quite a lot of episodes will echo in stories of the future.

This does not mean 'OMG they totally stoled from Buffy!'
It means there's a genre formed from preoccupation with certain themes as expressed in particular metaphorical constructs, usually involving Big Teeth and Scary Masks and stuff.

Nothing is original. Nothing. Ever.

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Nothing is original, but each new creative effort rewrites the paradigm. Recycling ideas is what keeps them fresh and meaningful.

Torchwood doesn't steal from Buffy, it uses it as a springboard for ideas, and it uses it well.

The quality of a show is built on its conceptual forebears.

[beccaelizabeth]

*nods*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

And of course it suits my own imagination and history very well, that both Buffy and Torchwood have taken ideas from Marvel comics.