copying doesn't always work . . .

here's a german crew that did their own take on the america central station improv (which was subsequently copied by a dance crew from liverpool) from a few months back. imitation is the sincerest form of admiration, but often it doesn't expand itself far enough into a new creation. the liverpool crew brought new life to the original idea...but the german crew did not. why is it that the sequel is rarely as good as the original? if creativity is the natural outworking of foundational ideas we're all copying, what makes one copy better than another? what makes one copy creative, and another copy a dull sequel? put this in different terms: what makes coldplay a fresh creative band (which clearly copies many elements of u2 and radiohead), while millions of other radiohead/u2 imitators have never risen beyond imitating their influences?