# Are there any SF or Fantasy "underdog" movies?



## Scifi fan (Dec 20, 2008)

We agree that most stories are re telling of earlier stories, and that our experience may in fact be one large story. The same also goes for SF and Fantasy, of course, so, with that in mind, I ask if there are any "underdog" stories in SF or Fantasy.

A different way of describing such a story would be "the engine that could" story. This involves the main character who is not the greatest and does his very best to achieve success. Examples would be "Rocky", "The Karate Kid", and, yes, "The Engine that could". 

In SF, there's David Brin's Startide Universe, where an underdog humanity is the only species that rose from barbarism without help from a progenitor race, and, despite being technologically behind, manages to outwit its enemies time and again. Star Trek: Enterprise had a bit of this in the beginning, but it never developed it to any great extent. I've seen some odd pieces in Fantasy on this theme, but none of any great fame. 

Are there any other great SF books or movies involving the underdog who makes good?


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## BookStop (Dec 20, 2008)

LOR
Willow
Shaun of the Dead
Titan Ae

I just glanced at a stack of movies I have sitting by the tv. I think it's a very common theme.


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## Scifi fan (Dec 20, 2008)

I never saw any of those. Is your LOR referring to the Lord of the Rings? If so, then yes, that's a sort of underdog movie. 

How about in books? 

I can think of an episode in the British TV series, Dad's Army, in which they were supposed to be tested for their competency, but, of course, they never quite made it, until the end. The thing that interested me, however, was one scene where they had 30 minutes to perform a task, but they couldn't do it in time, and they kept asking for just a little more time. The next scene had the tester sitting in a bar in the late hours of the evening, and they still hadn't done it. Still, he gave them one star for trying. 

In the final scene, they had an ingenious way of passing the test, and it was so ingenious that the examiner passed them with flying colors. That, to me, was an excellent underdog story.


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## Dozmonic (Dec 20, 2008)

Sounds almost exactly like the concept behind Stargate too, with the technological disadvantages and yet managed to get through ;-)


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## sloweye (Dec 20, 2008)

I think thats the same with most of the TV series though. Battlestar is another, most superhero types seem to start by getting whoped and then make good in the end, _(Independence Day is a good example too.)
_


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## BookStop (Dec 20, 2008)

sloweye said:


> I think thats the same with most of the TV series though. Battlestar is another, most superhero types seem to start by getting whoped and then make good in the end, _(Independence Day is a good example too.)_


 
Randy Quaid's character definitely fits the bill. 

Nice hat, SE.


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## Duchessprozac (Dec 20, 2008)

I think The Last Starfighter would come under such a description.


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## Scifi fan (Dec 22, 2008)

Stargate is a good example, and so is the Last Starfighter.


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## ravenus (Dec 22, 2008)

*Star Wars* - rookie farmer becomes Jedi pimp-mastah and savior of the galaxy far, far away


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## biodroid (Dec 22, 2008)

Dragonslayer - can't remember the story but it was a cool movie about amulets and dragons? Conan - he was enslaved and his whole tribe was murdered?


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## Scifi fan (Dec 22, 2008)

Conan is an underdog, but I was thinking it was a different kind of underdog - I mean, in the beginning he was enslaved, but, later on, he was a king killer. 

That wasn't true of Rocky and the Karate Kid in the first movie. All through their respective first movies, they were trying NOT to be the underdog. Of course, as time wore on, they became the top dogs, so their series began going down/stale.


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## Moonbat (Dec 22, 2008)

What about something like 'the faculty' I know I know, teribnle movie, appalling attempt at sci-fi, but the character played by Elijah Wood is the underdog.

Galaxy Quest, they were sort of underdogs, and out of their depth

just two examples, one not very good.


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## Omphalos (Dec 22, 2008)

Personally I found it a bit confusing that Underdog was never really the Underdog.  Those villains were pushovers!


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## Scifi fan (Dec 25, 2008)

Omphalos said:


> Personally I found it a bit confusing that Underdog was never really the Underdog.  Those villains were pushovers!



Which story are you talking about?


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## Omphalos (Dec 25, 2008)

This one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underdog_(TV_series)

I loved it when I was a kid.


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## Scifi fan (Dec 25, 2008)

I can't quite access your link, but I found this Wiki reference to the series. Yes, a story named "Underdog" could fit that category of underdog stories. 

That said, there doesn't seem to be a plot about someone who was at the bottom who gets to struggle to the top, beating the top bully. Rocky Balboa is more of an underdog than Underdog the canine hero.


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## Omphalos (Dec 25, 2008)

Which is why I said in the first post that Underdog did not seem to be an underdog.


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## Scifi fan (Dec 25, 2008)

Omphalos said:


> Which is why I said in the first post that Underdog did not seem to be an underdog.



Too bad. That could have been a good sub theme for the series. Peter Parker aka Spiderman was an underdog, and he was a very successful franchise. 


Another underdog story would be the Japanese anime, Starblazers. It's not really underdog in the sense of Rocky or the Engine that Could; it's more like a cross between Rocky and the Quest for the Holy Grail (serious version of the Arthurian legend). But it's a good series, and I may be starting a thread on it soon.


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## dialibra (Jan 12, 2009)

of course there are hundreds of them


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## Rodders (Jan 18, 2009)

Soldier?


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