Films derived from TV Series

[ray gower]

I do enjoy a good film. I also enjoy a good television show and not being an out and out critic, quite a few of both that are not so good.

So can somebody tell me why, when a forthcoming film will be based upon a TV show, or even the old matinee cinema shorts, I cringe?

Is it because:-
1/ They are inevitably an ordinary episode, with lots of padding thrown in (ala Star Trek).
2/ Miss the point of what the original programme was (The Avengers).
3/ Lose all trace of the story behind the special effects (Mission Impossible).
4/ Made on the same budget as a TV production (Flash Gordon)
5/ Or am I just getting old?

I admit not all of them are turkey's (Bilko). Quite a few have done immensely well at the box office and have undoubtedly made somebody money.
But no matter how much I may have enjoyed the film, as a film; when finished I am left wondering why they bothered, or if the people that produced it actually saw the original, or at least the same show as me?

Now rumours abound of a 'live action' Thunderbirds film. Which bodes badly, bearing all the chances of the five points above plus over modernising (Thunderbird 5 now a 'Communications Snooping Satellite') and serious over Americanisation (the fate of Doctor Who). I quiver in fear!

 

[Tabitha]

I get that same feeling too Ray, while there are some movie adaptations I enjoy more than the tv they are based on (Star Trek, for example), generally speaking the translation never quite works. I think it is the same problem as adapting a book - tv series have a lot longer to show us characterisation and background plot, whereas a movie has to try and squeeze all the info into 90 minutes or so.
No matter how good the movies are - I always end up thinking that overall, the series did it better.


By the way, there is a thread a bit similar to this (although not merge-worthy IMO) in the SciFi TV mini forum:
http://www.ascifi.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13429
It lists many of the shows that have been adapted into movies.

 

[nic]

I enjoyed the x-file movie.

I went with 2 friends - 1 an x-file fan like myself and another who has never watched the show.
When we came out the cinema we all agreed it was a good movie. From my point of view it was a story unique to the film, but also related to the tv series.
I wasn't expecting my non-x-file friend to like it, but he thought it was great. I remember him saying "Wow, is every episode like that?"
Me and my other friend just sort of looked at each other.
I think the x-file film had the story of an excellent episode, just with a bigger budget.

 

[BAYLOR]

The Star Trek feature films come to mind .

 

[Rodders]

Babaylon 5 had a few TV movies, but with the exception of "In The Beginning", i didn't rate them too highly. Entertaining enough, though.

There used to be a thing where Pilot episodes were released as "movies". I think Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica come to mind. Did they get a theatrical release as well?

 

[BAYLOR]

Babaylon 5 had a few TV movies, but with the exception of "In The Beginning", i didn't rate them too highly. Entertaining enough, though.

Yes , In the Beginning was excellent could ave been feature film . My second favorite was Third Space and itlovecraftain cosmic horror spin . The Gathering was not very good , Even JMS had issues with it.

There used to be a thing where Pilot episodes were released as "movies". I think Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica come to mind. Did they get a theatrical release as well?

Yes both did end up in the Cinema. Sometimes, I think it would have been better had both kept doing feature films instead of tv series.

 

[BAYLOR]

There was also to Brady Bunch comedy films that brittlely skewered the tv series and popular culture.

 

[KGeo777]

The reference to I Dream of Jeannie was amusing in the Brady Bunch movies.

I wonder what a Star Trek feature film would have been like if made in 1966.
Like Batman and the Munsters did.

 

[Swank]

Film adaptations usually use the TV series as an inspiration (Fugitive) or jumping off point (MI). The point isn't to make a film clone of the original, but a homage to what people liked about the show.

Or sometimes a satire. (Dukes, Starsky & Hutch, etc.) But that still is homage.



I don't find the Star Trek movies to be big versions of episodes. They are usually much grander.

 

[BAYLOR]

The reference to I Dream of Jeannie was amusing in the Brady Bunch movies.

I wonder what a Star Trek feature film would have been like if made in 1966.
Like Batman and the Munsters did.

Gene Roddenberry supposedly wanted to film add scenes to extend the running tiles for his rejected Star Trek pilot The Cage for the purpose of making it a feature film . It probably would have worked as a feature film .

 

[BAYLOR]

Highlander started out as feature film , spawn 3 tv series and it went the feature film way again.

 

[BAYLOR]

Stargate 1994 spawned 5 tv series

 

[Swank]

Stargate 1994 spawned 5 tv series

What does that have to do with the thread topic?

 

[CupofJoe]

I think Firefly / Serenity made the TV to Film leap, pretty well. Not perfectly but the film didn't feel like a bloated TV show.
I think that, this time, having same creative team do both meant they knew how the new film should feel. This gave them a head start on telling its tale in its own way.

 

[BAYLOR]

What does that have to do with the thread topic?

This is a phenomena that goes both ways.

Also the 1950'sJack Webbs police procedural tv series Dragnet. spawned a feature film in 1954. and the less well regard Dragnet series also produced by Jack Webb spanned the 1987 comic Dragnet film.

 

[Glaysher]

Police Squad gave us the Naked Gun films

 

[paranoid marvin]

Police Squad gave us the Naked Gun films

Bingo!

 

[paranoid marvin]

Film adaptations usually use the TV series as an inspiration (Fugitive) or jumping off point (MI). The point isn't to make a film clone of the original, but a homage to what people liked about the show.

Or sometimes a satire. (Dukes, Starsky & Hutch, etc.) But that still is homage.



I don't find the Star Trek movies to be big versions of episodes. They are usually much grander.

I think it depends which ST movies you mean. The Motion Picture was much grander, and for 80% of its running, boring as hell.

Wrath of Khan felt much more like a double-feature episode (in fact it was a sequel to the TOS episode 'Space Seed).

Search for Spock and Voyage home were far grander, but Final Frontier felt more like an episode. In fact (to me at least) FF was a reimagined version of the twin parter 'The Menagerie'.

 

[Karapace]

It's hard when practically every new film seems to based on a TV series, or a book, or a comic, or a game, or an old film. Sometimes they work well (Star Trek after the initial "Motion Picture" which also helped to reboot the TV series) but a lot of the time it seems like a cash in on nostalgia. I am always reminded of those God aweful British Comedys of the 1970's which spawn their own film versions (Holiday on the buses I am looking at you)

 

[BAYLOR]

I think it depends which ST movies you mean. The Motion Picture was much grander, and for 80% of its running, boring as hell.

Often been referred to as The Motionless Picture . The film story was derived from the script In Thy image written for the aborted Star Trek Phase II series. Director Robert Weiss gives the film a grandeur that you dot really see in the subsequent film . Overall, it's not a very good movie . It made money but the heads of Paramount were not happy with the cost which totaled 40 million dollars which back then was quite a princely sum for a movie budget. It was one the reason that they never let Roddenberry run the show in any other subagent films

Wrath of Khan felt much more like a double-feature episode (in fact it was a sequel to the TOS episode 'Space Seed).

And it's a great film still very entertaining and Ricardo Montalban steals the show as Khan

Search for Spock and Voyage home were far grander, but Final Frontier felt more like an episode. In fact (to me at least) FF was a reimagined version of the twin parter 'The Menagerie'.

Search for Spock is my least favorite film in the series. the pacing of the film was very uneven and really didn't like the fact that they killed of David Marcus. The Voyage Home is silly fun and hugely entertaining. The Final Frontier had all of the elements for a goof film but ended up a jumbled mess. The Undiscovered Country and epic send off the original cast, a terrific film.