doppelgangers in film and tv!

[such_heights]

So I'm organising some files and such to get a vid project ticking away in the background for later this summer, and I am in search of source! Specifically, I am thinking of making a multi-fandom vid about doppelgangers and clones etc for my 'mirrors and doubles' kink_bingo square. Originally I was going to keep it in Doctor Who, but really, this is one of my faaaaavourite tropes, so why stick to just one show?

Source already on my radar:

- Battlestar Galactica
- Buffy
- Doctor Who
- Farscape
- Fringe
- Sarah Connor Chronicles
- Stargate Atlantis
- The Vampire Diaries

Star Trek too, but I can only think of the Mirror!verse episodes in TOS and DS9 and am probably missing other examples.

So! I am looking for footage that has doppelgangers/clones/evil twins/parallel universe selves/robot copies/holographic projects/any other variants I can't think of interacting with their original selves. Any show/film, any genre, though I will probably lean more towards more fannish media. Bonus points for canonical instances of characters hitting on themselves (thank you in advance for your services to this cause, mirrorverse!Kira!).

Comments

[monanotlisa]

Friiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinge! ♥

[such_heights]

Hahaha, so glad you approve on many counts! :D

[monanotlisa]

Also, yay, Stargate Atlantis!

[monanotlisa]

And

[coffeesuperhero]

I feel like Legend of the Seeker maybe had something like that? I haven't watched it, I've only seen picspams, mind. Everything else I can think of you have covered! Awesome vid idea, btw.

[such_heights]

Ohhhh you're totally right, it does! How could I forget the hotness of Kahlan x2?! Thanks!

[pocketmouse]

There's a couple Star Trek episodes where the transporters create duplicates. There's the Kirk one that splits him into good and evil (or wimpy and evil, really), and there's a TNG one that splits Riker. That one is awesome, because it's one of the few examples of the duplicate not dying that I can think of, ever, in life. He goes on to become a Maquis and is in later episodes as himself, it's awesome.

[such_heights]

Oh yeah, Tom Riker, that's a good one! I had forgotten about him.

[lorax]

Fringe, as already stated!

The Xena timeline had at least three different other versions of Xena at one point. And one of them might well have hit on the other, given the show. I can't remember exactly though.

Buffy does it multiple times, with The Buffybot and the two-Xanders episodes.

Dark Angel is full of it, since the main characters are all clones. You've got Max interacting with her Clone in an episode or two, and shots of baby clones all identical. Alex/Ben are clones, but they never interact on-screen that we see. Joshua also has a clone.

I believe the new Camelot is doing Morgan(a) in Igraine's body at some point. That's more polyjuice type situation, so I dunno if it applies?

Sarah Connor Chronicles had Allison/Cameron, who were face to face a few times, and Ellison/Terminator Ellison.

That's all I can think of!

Oh wait, Legend of the Seeker had two Kahlan's once, I think?

And there has to be some instances in the X-Men movies, with Mystique running around.

[such_heights]

Awesome, thanks a lot! Sounds like I'm going to have to check out Dark Angel in particular.

[theleaveswant]

Dark Angel had a few moments like this.

[such_heights]

I will investigate, thanks! :D

[futuransky]

DOPPELGANGERS AND CLONES ARE MY FAVOURITE.

Having trouble thinking beyond your list offhand, but I am so excited for this. (You've seen rhoboat's I think I'm a clone now of course...

[such_heights]

ME TOO. :D

Yes, I love that vid so much omg. <3

[acari]

There's also Roswell. Children of Dune has a clone but the original version is already dead so no interaction.

[such_heights]

Oh wow, I had forgotten about the existence of Rowell, hahaha. I loved that show so much, thanks for the tip!

[xtricks]

Star Trek TOS also had an episode where Kirk was split into 'good' but passive and indecisive kirk and 'bad', agressive out of control kirk. Lots of overacting by Shatner there.

[such_heights]

Yes, I do now recall that one. Amazing. :D

[pocky_slash]

Harry Potter!

I know SPN is a can of worms that a lot of fandom doesn't like to open, but I know there are a couple episodes with multiple Deans. Ic an't tell you which ones, but Becca would know and I could ask her.

Hm. I think you've got all the others I would know. I feel like Eureka has an episode with two Jacks, but maybe I'm mistaking...

[such_heights]

Oh god, right, SEVEN HARRYS. Awesome. :D

And yeah, I can think of a few SPN examples but I shall probably stick to sources I like better. *g*

Thanks!

[thefourthvine]

Red Dwarf! There's an episode with two Rimmers, and there's an episode where they split into the good and evil versions of themselves, and there's also an episode where they go to an alternate universe and meet the female versions of themselves, if that's not too far off your remit.

And, uh, is the Matrix too obvious? ALL THOSE SMITHS.

And SG1 has clone Jack and the robot duplicates, though I could not tell you where.

...I notice I incline towards the robots and other mechanical copies. I BELIEVE MY ID IS SHOWING.

[such_heights]

Ooh, excellent suggestions! Yeah, The Matrix is an obvious one but I hadn't even thought of it. YAY ROBOTS.

[some_stars]

Stargate SG:1 does this several times! I actually...have not watched the last half of the show, but from what I've seen and some stuff I've heard about later season, you've got robot doubles, various mirror universes (accessed through an actual physical mirror) whose inhabitants sometimes cross over to the "real" universe, a clone that doesn't actually look like the original because it was clone-grown to a younger age, something from the seasons I've never seen about a Carter made of replicators, and I'm sure there's more stuff I've forgotten or don't know about.

And I KNOW this must have happened in TNG, though I only ever saw a couple dozen episodes but: MUST have happened.

Other other stuff:
1. I'm loathe to go check through Supernatural episodes, but I vaguely remembering hearing about something in S5 or S6 with a future alternate universe. And that episode in s3 where Dean fought with a demon version of himself in a dream.
2. Heroes, you have--in s1/s2 which is all I watched--someone interacting with her alternate personality in mirrors, though they're not physically separate but the camerawork really pushes those mirrored visuals, and then with a shapeshifter taking her form--don't know if that kind of stuff fits your needs. I'm pretty sure there was more shapeshifting going on and given how much of the show I haven't watched, I'd be fairly surprised if there wasn't anything with clones/evil twins/duplicates talking to each other. OH, right, first season has someone meeting himself from the future, that's probably more specifically what you're looking for.
3. Dark Angel--at one point Max fights a younger (ie, doesn't look the same) clone of herself.
4. I don't recall anything from Sanctuary but my memory is poor and I'm ten episodes behind, so: well worth looking into. It's that kind of show.
5. The Justice League episode "A Better World"--haven't seen it in a long time but there's definitely interaction with the evil twins.
6. Don't know the specifics but I KNOW Smallville's done this, probably more than once.

I don't remember any self-flirtation from any of these, alas, but I could be wrong! And a lot of them I haven't even seen! Treasures could await.

[such_heights]

Brilliant, thanks very much! Heroes especially, I'd forgotten that future!Hiro plot, that would be great to use.

[musesfool]

I'm pretty sure Smallville has Clark Kent and and alternate universe Clark Luthor in the later seasons, though I didn't watch, so I can't tell you when that happened.

the SPN eps referenced above: in Dream a Little Dream, there's Dean & demon!Dean, in Skin, there's Dean and shapeshifter!Dean, and in The End there's Dean and future!Dean.

The Dark Angel ep with Max and her clone is She Ain't Heavy. Alec and Ben never interact, but the Ben episode is Pollo Loco, and the episode with Alec in the present and Ben in flashbacks is Hello Goodbye.

[such_heights]

Excellent, thank you! I'm excited to check out some Dark Angel particularly.

[calapine]

Other Trek doppelgangers I can think of are Deanna and Riker meeting their holographic selves in Hollow Pursuits, and Riker talking to himself onscreen in Parallels. And two O'Briens in DS9's Whispers, one's a clone, though they only meet at the very end; two Jadzia's in If Wishes Were Horses. And the whole ship gets duplicated in Voyager's Deadlock, with some scenes of Janeway and Janeway. And B'Elanna gets split in human and Klingon halves in Faces. And Paris with his holographic self in Worst Case Scenario.

[such_heights]

Oh lovely, cheers!

[eruthros]

Ooooh, exciting! Fringe and Farscape and Doctor Who and etc! Very cool.

Middleman! The final episode - The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome - has many AU doubles, though only one set sees each other.

Moon (the movie) - not really fannish, but it has a LOT of footage

I think every version of Superman probably has this - Lois and Clark definitely does (for both Lois and Clark, natch; Clark's clone thinks Lex is his father) and Smallville I think does (Bizarro Clark)

Also, there's the ST: Voy episode "Demons," for maxing out your Treks.

[zahrawithaz.livejournal.com]

BEST MIDDLEMAN EPISODE EVER. Which is really saying something.

And oh how I wish Moon had more of a fannish following, though Source Code was much better...

[axiom_of_stripe]

Sky High has a student whose superpower is creating multiples of herself.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_samalander/]

The Parent Trap, both new and old, a few episodes of Full House, Futurama has an episode, Hannah Montanna has an evil cousin, Vamp!Willow from Buffy hits in her human counterpart, most superheroes have doppelgängers, but the Infinity War arc inMarvel comes to mind. Bart Simpson had an evil twin, and the last two seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race had competitions to create drag mothers/sisters, which might qualify.

[happydork]

Sliders! Every week the team slid into another parallel universe and got up to wacky hijinks with / because of their parallel selves.

Does Due South's two Rays count?

In the various X-Men movies, Mystique copies various people, sometimes while in the same shot as them.

Various sitcoms have the almost-dopplegangers thing going on -- like Ross and Russ in Friends ("The One With Russ") or Niles in Frasier ("Mixed Doubles") or Abed and white Abed in Community ("Physical Education"). Ooh, all the actors that Abed gets to play him and Troy in Community.

[filomena]

The ur-doppelgänger is Maria in Fritz Lang's Metropolis (direct ancestor of the Cybermen and especially Cyber-Lisa).

And of course, the Nostrovite in Torchwood (I don't think anyone mentioned that yet?).

Both utter eye candy for vid purposes.

[sol_se]

I dropped in to mention SG-1, but lcsbanana beat me to it. There are quite a few doubles eps in that.

Also, Supernatural's finale just had Sam fighting & confronting other Sams. It actually made me think that an evil twin video would be cool. But now I don't have to make it because you'll do it for me! Score! \o/

Also, Army of Darkness has Bruce Campbell fighting Evil Bruce Campbell.

[sol_se]

Oh, and Alias! There is an awesome surreal dream sequence where Sydney fights herself.

[giandujakiss]

How far back do you want to go? Because Samantha on Bewitched had an evil dark haired twin - and so, I think, did Jeannie on I Dream Of. And there was an evil!Mirrorverse story on Charmed.

Jamie on the Bionic Woman had a woman who was surgically altered to be her twin - who showed up in more than one episode. Odds on a Dead Pigeon is an episode of Scarecrow and Mrs. King with the same premise, i.e., bad guy gets surgically altered to look just like Amanda and replace her.

Starsky & Hutch had an episode with doppelgangers who were not identical - they just sort of dressed up as S&H and beat people up, so that S&H would get a bad reputation. The same story was then retold on Charlie's Angels and Star Trek Voyager - similar, but not identical, people impersonating the originals.

Don't forget the Stepford Wives.

Lois & Clark had a couple of different doppelganger episodes. Superman himself was cloned from a lock of Clark's hair, and Lois was cloned by Lex Luthor.

And the Christopher Reeve Superman III had an identical evil Superman.

Wonder Woman had an episode with a competing Wonder Woman - not an exact duplicate, just wore a similar outfit.

V, the series (original, not reboot), had an episode where Elizabeth, the Star Child, had an evil clone.

Camelot, airing on Starz now, just completed an episode where Morgan using magic to disguise herself as Igraine.

Mystique from Xmen.

All I can think of off the top of my head...

[sophia_sol]

I see multiple other people have already mentioned SG1! My other suggestion is Fake News fandom, specifically the Colbert Report, where there's quite a few alternate-universe versions of Colbert -- Happy Stephen and Liberal Stephen, to take two examples. But I don't remember how closely they interact with the usual Stephen. But there's also the recurring segment Formidable Opponent (I think that's what it's called) where there are two versions of Stephen on the screen and they argue with each other, and I think that would work pretty well for what you're going for! (and there may well be other useful multiple-Stephen interactions that I don't happen to know about since most of my knowledge of the show comes from fic, not from actually watching it....)

[were_duck]

AH HAH HAH I AM SMILING A GREAT NUMBER OF SMILES AT YOU. Unfortunately I have already discussed at length my love of dopplegangers with you, so I don't have much to offer on this front. There are all the Samanthas on the X-Files in that one episode?

[calvinahobbes]

Pirates of the Caribbean! In the 3rd movie where Jack hallucinates a crew made up of only him? And that amazing scene in the 4th movie from which I have still not recovered (ack, although source might be a problem there :o/ )