How long does it have to be until something is not recognized? (1985, spoiler)

[TamaraSavannah]

I was in a CJ class in the early part of this century and one of the students did not realize what a lot of us knew........that "SWAT" (the movie) was a remake of a far earlier TV show.

Similarly, I just got done with a 1985 movie that used a very familiar scene from a few years earlier.........but a lot of people today don't know for the Sci Fi Channel Battlestar Galactica, there was a classic decades before.

So, if you wanted to use someone's old footage, how far back in the current time would you have to go before most people would not recognize it was old footage?

[Cape Cod Todd]

I think it is easy to see the difference between old footage over new by the quality of the image if that is what you mean?
many shows and movies are remakes today that it is like Hollywood doesn't have any new ideas.
I look at my 4 year old niece now and think WOW she has a lot of cool movies to catch up on in her future. I hope she will be into Sci Fi and Fantasy. I want to be there the first time she sees the original Star Wars.

[Restrain]

There were a bunch of tweets when JayZ cut a Paul McCartney song. Fans were talking about giving this unknown writer a bump by recording his song.

Sometimes even within the lifetime of the individual

[TamaraSavannah]

Well, for instance, just got done watching the 1985 flick "Murder in Space". In it, there is very brief footage from an old TV show. It went by so fast that while I recognized it as being from that show, I had to slow down the machine to identify what it was......it was the Viper launch sequence from Classic Galactica.

Equally, a few months ago I was watching "God Told Me To" and the

Spoiler

background of an alien examination made me blink when I realized what it was

. Of course, when the Eagle landed later, it was quite clear of where they had pulled some of the footage from.

But both those source shows are quite familiar to me, to a lot of people......but what is the probably birth year for the viewer when they are not?

Finally, I suppose it does go both ways. I was watching a 1st season Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea this morning where the episode title opened up with footage shot in front of the Pentagon. Except......for a show that was made in the early 60's, the wheeled traffic looked like it was from the 40's.

Shrug. I suppose Irwin just pulled on usable footage to save on the budget (which is one reason why there are a lot of remakes these days; since they already own the rights, they don't have to pay out considerable cash to buy the store); I mean, did he honestly think his show would still be watched decades later?