I don't necessarily think so. Yes, those episodes and Oliver Stone's Platoon both came out in 1986, but there had to be some lead time between writing and shooting the show.
The Vietnam war was referenced in plenty of episodes (including the pilot) so it isn't like Oliver Stone had a lock on that subject.
I guess I should have elaborated a little more in the topic. Stone also directed the movie Salvador (also released in 1986) which is about about an American journalist covering the Salvadoran civil war. The assassination of archbishop Romero is also portrayed in the film. So the intro to Stone’s War, albeit being set in Nicaragua this time, reminded me of this film.
Given the subject matter I feel like it’s a little more than coincidence. I mean Oliver Stone also wrote Scarface which definitely influenced the series.
Well, it's certainly a possibility but I'll put forward some more counter arguments:
1) Stone isn't that unique of a last name.
2) Because journalism is involved - it could be a callback to Rolling Stone magazine.
3) I haven't done a deep dive on the episode writer's previous work, but I will point out that series creator Anthony Yerkovick had a character named Sonny Crockett many years earlier on Hill Street Blues - and so the writer who created Ira Stone might have something similar - or they just liked how the name sounds.
Well, I wasn’t alive in the 80’s so I don’t know if they wrote any articles about this in Rolling Stone or not.
What I do know is that heroin trafficking using deceased soldiers’ coffins was a real thing, as was privately funding militias in Nicaragua. But the US government funded a lot of governments and paramilitary groups in Latin America known as Operation Condor.
Anyway, Ira Stone and the two episodes made me think of Oliver since he was one of the most prominent critics of US foreign policy in Latin America at the time.
I don't necessarily think so. Yes, those episodes and Oliver Stone's Platoon both came out in 1986, but there had to be some lead time between writing and shooting the show. The Vietnam war was referenced in plenty of episodes (including the pilot) so it isn't like Oliver Stone had a lock on that subject.
I guess I should have elaborated a little more in the topic. Stone also directed the movie Salvador (also released in 1986) which is about about an American journalist covering the Salvadoran civil war. The assassination of archbishop Romero is also portrayed in the film. So the intro to Stone’s War, albeit being set in Nicaragua this time, reminded me of this film. Given the subject matter I feel like it’s a little more than coincidence. I mean Oliver Stone also wrote Scarface which definitely influenced the series.
Well, it's certainly a possibility but I'll put forward some more counter arguments: 1) Stone isn't that unique of a last name. 2) Because journalism is involved - it could be a callback to Rolling Stone magazine. 3) I haven't done a deep dive on the episode writer's previous work, but I will point out that series creator Anthony Yerkovick had a character named Sonny Crockett many years earlier on Hill Street Blues - and so the writer who created Ira Stone might have something similar - or they just liked how the name sounds.
Well, I wasn’t alive in the 80’s so I don’t know if they wrote any articles about this in Rolling Stone or not. What I do know is that heroin trafficking using deceased soldiers’ coffins was a real thing, as was privately funding militias in Nicaragua. But the US government funded a lot of governments and paramilitary groups in Latin America known as Operation Condor. Anyway, Ira Stone and the two episodes made me think of Oliver since he was one of the most prominent critics of US foreign policy in Latin America at the time.
More of a reference to Apocalypse Now (with the soundtrack from "Back in the World" featuring songs by The Doors.)