SPECTRE - Parodies and Clones

Parodies and Clones

SPECTRE is often parodied in films, video games, and novels. The most obvious is the Austin Powers series of movies. In this, a man named Dr. Evil (a parody of Ernst Stavro Blofeld) is the leader of a villainous organisation called Virtucon. Dr. Evil's second in command, known only as "Number Two", is a parody of Emilio Largo, Blofeld's second in command.

• The Belgian comics series Spirou et Fantasio features an international criminal organisation called the Triangle whose members also address each other by numbers.
• Prior to Dr. No, The Road to Hong Kong featured a "third force" organisation the Third Echelon.
• In the video game series No One Lives Forever a man simply called "The director" leads a similar organisation called "H.A.R.M.". A running joke during the series is that no one actually knows what H.A.R.M. stands for. H.A.R.M may jokingly refer to Human Aetiological Relations Machine, the name of a fictional intelligence agency featured in the 1960s spy film Agent for H.A.R.M..
• The TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. had, as its adversary, a shadowy organisation known as THRUSH.
• The James Bond spinoff animated series, James Bond Jr., featured a clone of SPECTRE called "S.C.U.M." (Saboteurs and Criminals United in Mayhem).
• The animated series Inspector Gadget featured a clone of SPECTRE called "M.A.D." (Mean And Dirty). Dr. Claw, the head of M.A.D. is also based on the villain Blofeld.
• The Mexican movies Chabelo y Pepito vs los Monstruos (Chabelo and Pepito vs the Monsters) and Chabelo y Pepito Detectives feature a criminal organisation named S.P.E.C.T.R.U.M., which carries two plans to dominate the world. In "vs the Monsters", they extract uranium from a hill in the Mexican countryside, while in "Detectives" they sell toys that hypnotise children to make them work for them.
• The TV series Get Smart featured a SPECTRE-like organisation called KAOS.
• In 1983, a highly successful James Bond tabletop RPG was released. With the films as inspirations, the stories were adapted for players. Minor changes to plots and villains were made; for example, Wint and Kidd were freelance assassins working for SPECTRE. They in fact leased out services to other terrorist organisations and various crime syndicates. The most noted changes were to SPECTRE: Blofeld's name was changed to Karl Ferenc Skorpios, and he was given a greyhound instead of a white cat; the organisation itself was renamed TAROT (Technological Accession, Revenge, and Organized Terrorism), with the face cards representing various departments. This was due to the copyright issues referenced above. Victory Games (http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/jamesbond007/) worked with Eon productions (the film producers) for the rights to Bond, and were told they were not allowed to negotiate with McClory for the rights to SPECTRE, hence the hasty renaming.
• The Disney animated series Darkwing Duck featured a masked crimefighter who often worked with an agency called S.H.U.S.H. against the forces of F.O.W.L. (the Fiendish Organization of World Larceny).
• The THUNDER Agents comic featured an enemy called S.P.I.D.E.R. (Secret People's International Directorate for Extralegal Revenue).
• The Galaxy organisation features in Our Man Flint where "Agent 0008" tells Flint that Galaxy is "bigger than SPECTRE".
• Tom Clancy's novel Rainbow Six features a terrorist organisation that the characters compare to SPECTRE once they learn that the terrorists are using chemical warfare similar to that in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
• The video game Evil Genius places the player in command of a SPECTRE-like organisation.
• In the British television show "The Secret Show" the evil Organization T.H.E.M. (The Horrible Evil Menace) is similar to SPECTRE.
• The Spanish comic book Mortadelo y Filemón features a parody of SPECTRE called ABUELA (Agentes Bélicos Ultramarinos Especialistas en Líos Aberrantes – warlike agents overseas specialists in aberrant messes).
• The Matt Helm films featured the Brotherhood of International Government and Order abbreviated as "BIG O".
• Synthesizers company "Waldorf" has a model named "Blofeld". The editor for the samples used by this synth is called "Spectre", and one of his virtual synths is called "Largo".
• In SpyDogs cartoon, the evil leader of cats, Katastrophe, always appears fondling a rubber mouse.
• An evil organisation named STENCH features in the film "Carry On Spying".
• An organisation known as SCORPIA (Sabotage, CORruPtion, Intelligence, and Assassination) appears in the Alex Rider series of novels.
• James Earl Ray, the killer of Martin Luther King, used the alias Eric Starvo Galt, almost certainly a mixture of Ian Fleming and Ayn Rand. "Ernst" and "Stavro" are peculiar sounds and spellings to American ears and eyes, and he mentally transposed them into "Eric" and "Starvo." And "who is John Galt?--who is Eric Starvo Galt?"
• In The Simpsons episode You Only Move Twice appears an organisation called Globex Corporation directed by supervillain Hank Scorpio who successfully takes control of the East Coast.
• The Marvel Comics universe has the organizations HYDRA and AIM, which are both opposed by Nick Fury and SHIELD, and are sometimes also opposed by Captain America and the other Marvel heroes, while DC Comics came up with the organization H.I.V.E. for its universe.
• The TV series Kim Possible has the organization WEE (Worldwide Evil Empire), which is opposed by GJ (Global Justice) and Kim Possible herself at times.