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Unlike the [[Pilot Movie]], no plan to do this existed at the time the original movie was made. As a result, [[Adaptation Decay]] runs rampant; in particular, it may be necessary to perform a substantial [[Retcon]] on the end of the film, as a self-contained film would generally tie up its concept in such a way that the premise of the series would be preempted. An alternative strategy would be to tell an altogether different story, set in [[The Verse]] of the movie. Of course, the more open-ended the film plot, the easier this is. Sometimes, the series will claim to be a [[Prequel]] to the film, though this idea can run into trouble if the show goes on long enough that the two crash into each other.
Expect a substantial downgrade in visual effects. Also, a whole lot of [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute
[[Animated Adaptation
If the movie has a sequel, it usually won't acknowledge the series; the reverse may or may not be true.
As unlikely an idea as it sounds, there are a surprisingly large number of highly successful examples. Unfortunately, those tend to dwindle next to the far larger number of shows that make you wonder what the heck "someone in Hollywood" was thinking (similar to the effect of watching an [[Animated Adaptation]]).
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== Live Action TV ==
* Probably the most successful example is ''[[
* Coming in second, ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' replaced the entire cast, but was able to leverage the implied potential of the movie's set-up with minimal retconning. They later reversed the process by making two DTV movies in turn [[The Movie|based off the series]].
* ''[[The Odd Couple]]'' is another example of the series improving on the movie, largely due to the talent and commitment of the two leads.
* ''[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander:The Series]]'', which took the tack of focusing on a relative of the film franchise's hero. It did [[Retcon]] the film's ending (though for many years, a number of fans insisted that the entire series took place during an unspecified break in the action of the first film), but then, so did the other three ''Highlander'' films.
* ''[[War of the Worlds (TV series)|War of the Worlds]]'' followed on from the 1953 film, taking the large time lapse as justification for introducing an entirely new set of characters.
* ''[[Friday the
* Similarly, ''[[Poltergeist:
* ''[[
* ''Baby Talk'' was envisioned as an adaptation of the film ''Look Who's Talking'', though it carried over only the film's narrative
* ''Blade The Series'' is the direct sequel to the third ''Blade'' movie, as many events are mentioned from all three movies.
* ''[[Young Indiana Jones
* ''[[Honey I Shrunk the Kids (TV series)|Honey I Shrunk the Kids]]'' supposedly takes place after the first movie, though it has [[The Other Darrin|different appearances for the characters, especially Amy and Quark]], and [[Alternate Continuity|ignoring most of the continuities of the movies]] save for the shrink ray, which was downplayed after the second season until the [[Series Finale]] in the third.
* ''[[Voyage to
* ''[[Fame]]'', a TV show based on a movie. followed later by a musical play.
* ''[[
* ''[[Planet of the Apes]]'' had a live-action series that lasted only a single season in 1974, which more or less followed the same premise as the original 1968 film.
** There was also an [[Animated Adaptation]] dubbed ''Return to the Planet of the Apes'', in which the ape civilization depicted in the series were more advanced than their live-action counterparts.
* ''[[
* Although ''[[Star Trek]]'' was a series before it became [[The Movie]], the many [[Spin
* ''The Paper Chase'', which ran for one year on network TV, then was later picked up on pay cable (one of the first such series) for an additional two years. The series was less brooding in tone than the movie, and allowed much greater character development, while also exploring some complex legal topics.
* ''[[Alien Nation (TV series)|Alien Nation]]'' was another series that arguably improved on the source. Where the movie was pretty much a sci-fi/buddy-cop action flick, the series allowed much more depth to the characters, and was more of a social commentary than a shoot-em-up.
** In an unusual variation on the trope, the series started almost exactly where the movie did, with a few minor changes and a different story, making the original movie non-canon in the series.
* Amazingly, someone thought ''[[Animal House]]'' would make a good TV series; the extremely short run of ''Delta House'' predictably proved that to be wrong.
* Classic movies that spawned justifiably forgotten TV series include ''[[Shane]]'', ''[[The Thin Man (
* A ''Topper'' series aired from 1953 to 1955, using the first film's premise.
* ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' spun off the Terminator movies, and specifically movies 1 and 2, [[Canon
* A strange borderline case is ''That's Hollywood'', which is a sort-of spinoff of the ''[[Clip Show|That's Entertainment]]'' movies. The executive producer came from the film and the film and show had similar subject matter and titles, but ''That's Hollywood'' came from 20th Century Fox instead of MGM. Not to mention that this is a rare case where a ''documentary'' spun off a TV series this way.
* Another documentary-to-series came about when the History Channel aired a documentary called ''Breaking Vegas'', about the MIT blackjack team of the 1990's, the same people the book ''Bringing Down the House'' and the movie ''21'' are about. It was successful enough that it spun off into a short-lived but entertaining series about similar casino tricksters and cheats who tried to decode roulette wheels, rig slot machines, and so forth. This might actually have been a case of a [[Backdoor Pilot]].
** A more straight-up example is ''[[Life After People]]'', originally an obvious one-shot documentary about [[Ragnarok Proofing|what happens to the world]] [[After the End|after people are gone]], cashing in on the popularity of then-[[Time (magazine)|''Time'' Magazine]]'s book of the year, ''
** It's also interesting to note that ''Swamp Loggers'' and ''Ice Road Truckers'' share the same subject material as two episodes of ''Modern Marvels'' (in ''Ice Road Truckers'''s case, the ''Modern Marvels'' episode is actually a reworking of a documentary originally shown on parent network A&E).
* ''[[Weird Science]]'' - A 90s teen comedy series based on the 80s movie. It even used the Oingo Boingo song "Weird Science" from the original film as its theme song.
** Of course, being a nineties series and not an eighties movie, it pretty much lacked all of the things that made the original so fun. Lisa went from being a reality-warping sexpot to something more like a superpowered babysitter. The series wasn't ''bad'', necessarily, but it was an episodic problem-of-the-week show suitable for (and aimed at) tweens to watch after school.
* ''Private Benjamin''.
* ''[[Parenthood (
* ''[[Logan's Run (novel)|Logan's Run]]'', the novel, was adapted as ''[
* In 1975 ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'' was made into a TV pilot, ''Black Bart'' (never picked up as a series; the pilot appears on the movie DVD). The titular black sheriff is [[The Other Darrin]] (with a moustache for some reason), other characters are [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute|replaced]], and the script completely lacks the spoofing and humour style of the film it spun off from.
* ''Crash'', the series. Besides the setting, general theme, name, and producer, it had little to do with the film. It received a mixed reception from critics and ran for two seasons before going on hiatus following the [[Author Existence Failure|death]] of its star, [[Dennis Hopper]].
* ''The Courtship of Eddie's Father''
* ''[[Clueless]]'', from writer/director Amy Heckerling, is a fairly successful example (possibly because the movie was originally conceived as a TV series), becoming part of ABC's TGIF line-up for many years. It kept almost the entire movie cast, save of course main character Cher and her father, and got rid of the boyfriend she'd won by movie's end to leave plotlines open for relationships. And the gay friend.
* ''[[Fast Times
* ''[[Casablanca]]'' had [http://www.vincasa.com/indextvseries.html two forgotten television adaptions.]
* A rare British example was long-running cop show ''[[Dixon of Dock Green]]'', taken from the 1950 movie ''The Blue Lamp '' despite the fact that {{spoiler|Dixon was killed in the movie}}.
* ''[[Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels]]'' had a surprisingly good but short-lived spin-off series of hour-long episodes.
* ''[[The Witches of Eastwick]]'', released in 1987 (and based on a novel), became a TV series called ''[[Eastwick]]''. Interestingly, one of actresses from the original movie is in the series as someone entirely different. This was the third attempt to adapt it to television, lasting half a season while the previous never moved beyond pilot.
* ''Mama'', based on ''I Remember Mama'', was an early television example.
* There was a short-lived spinoff of ''[[
* ''[[The Crow]]: Stairway to Heaven'', a [[Lighter and Softer]] series based on the first movie.
* ''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]'' was based on the little-recalled movie ''Moonrunners''.
* In 1966, ''[[Shane]]'' got turned into a TV series. Because David Carradine is the natural substitute for Alan Ladd.
* One whole ''decade'' after the movie's premiere, ABC Family decided to recycle ''[[
* [[
* [[NBC]]'s ''[[Outsourced (TV series)]]'' is an adaptation of [[Outsourced (
* ''[[Westworld]]'' had a critically acclaimed but short lived TV series called ''Beyond Westworld'' which explored more deeply the issues raised in the first film (and [[Canon
* ''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis'', based on short stories by Max Shulman which had also been adapted into the 1953 film ''The Affairs of Dobie Gillis''.
* ''[[The Man Who Fell to Earth]]'' was remade as a [[Made for TV Movie]] in 1987 (both the original novel and screenplay were credited) -- it was intended as a pilot for a series and, among other alterations, completely changed the ending to set one up.
* The 1982 comedy ''[[Diner]]'' was made into a pilot the following year that aired on CBS but wasn't made into a series. Barry Levinson directed both, but Paul Reiser was the only cast member in both.
* ''[[The King and I]]'' has the short-lived 1970s sitcom ''Anna and the King'', not to be confused with [[Anna and
* There's several planned film-to-screen adaptations that never got past the [[Pilot]]:
** A pilot for a ''[[Fargo]]'' series was shot in 1997 starring Edie Falco as Marge Gunderson and directed by Kathy Bates.
** There was a live-action ''[[Clerks]]'' sitcom commissioned by Disney (who owned the film's distributor, Miramax) in 1995. In attempt to attract family viewers, the show's tone was [[Genre Shift|markedly different from the film's]] and starred Jim Breuer as Randall. Attempts by [[Kevin Smith]] and original stars Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson to be involved with the project were shot down (Smith's script idea was rejected and O'Halloran and Anderson auditioned for the part of Dante, as Jim Breuer was already given the Randall part) and the show never survived past the pilot anyway. The later, Smith-approved [[Clerks the Animated Series|animated series]] did better, in that it actually made it to air.
** There was an attempt to make ''Mr. and Mrs. Smith'' into a TV series. It wasn't ordered to series and, according to [[The Futon Critic]], the pilot was awful.
** There was a pilot for an [[
** There was an unsold pilot for a ''[[Catch
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' is an unusual example, in that the 1992 movie wasn't all that popular. The script writer, [[Joss Whedon]], [[Executive Meddling|didn't think the final product matched his original vision]], so he jumped at the chance to remake it as a TV series in 1996. The TV-series is a sequel to the original movie script, ignoring the changes made that resulted in the final product. He later made a comic of the version of the movie's events considered canon in the series.
* ''[[Ferris
* The 1997 movie ''Kiss Me, Guido'', about a gay man renting out his spare room to a straight Italian man (hence the "guido") actually started life as a rejected sitcom pilot in 1991, becoming a stageplay along the way. It finally became the very short-lived sitcom ''Some of My Best Friends'' with Jason Bateman and Danny Nucci in 2001.
* ''[[Friday Night Lights]]'' spawned a critically acclaimed series which aired for five years.
* ''[[Time Cop]]'' spawned a series which aired for nine episodes.
* Although it wasn't directly based on a movie, Aaron Sorkin drew inspiration for his series ''[[The West Wing]]'' from his film ''[[The American President]]''.
== Radio ==
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'' was an [[Animated Adaptation]] of the ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' film series, and the series actually dealt with the [[Celebrity Paradox]] by having the live-action movies exist in-universe as movies "based on" the events of the cartoon series (the cartoon Ghostbusters even attend the first movie's premiere). The "real" in the title, though, comes from a legal dispute over [[Filmation]]'s own ''[[
* All three of [[Jim Carrey]]'s 1994 breakout hits (''[[Ace Ventura|Ace Ventura: Pet Detective]]'' ''[[Dumb and Dumber]]'', and ''[[The Mask (
* Likewise, ''[[Beetlejuice (
* ''[[Godzilla:
** Yeah! What's up with that?
** Another example of how the adaptation can indeed [[Adaptation Distillation|be better than the original]]. While the 1998 "Godzilla" movie was widely reviled, the animated adaptation was far better received, what with that Godzilla actually acting like the [[Kaiju]] we all know and love.
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* ''[[Clerks the Animated Series]]'', which had similar humor with many more fantastic elements.
** This was lampshaded in the beginning of the last episode (ironically titled "The Last Episode Ever") where fans complained how much the show is almost nothing like the movie. Plus, they think Dante and Randal are gay.
* A ''[[Star Wars]]'' live-action television series is currently in [[Development Hell]]. As well, ''[[Star Wars: Clone Wars]]'' took place in between ''Attack of the Clones'' and ''Revenge of the Sith''.
** There were two earlier animated spin-offs (Ewoks and Droids), a few live-action Ewok TV movies, and the new Clone Wars series. The [[Pilot Movie]] was released in theaters because George Lucas loved it so much. [[Your Mileage May Vary|Opinions were... mixed, let's leave it at that.]]
* The second ''[[Men in Black (
** This was actually [[Handwaved]] in [[Men in Black (
** "So that's why they keep making the same movies over and over again!"
** Interestingly, they made light of the fact that neither Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones reprised their roles in the animated series by having Jay and Kay comment on the choice of actors for the Hollywood movie made within the series (with the characters onscreen in the movie trailer looking like dead ringers for the original movie actors)
** Marvel Comics made a one-shot that explains why Kay is still an agent. They needed him in an unseen case.
* For ''[[Back to The Future The Animated Series]]'', Doc created a second DeLorean time machine after the first one was destroyed in the end of the third movie; the new version was capable of going through space as well as time. Sometimes, the episode plots directly contradicted the way time travel was established to work in the movie trilogy.
* ''[[Alienators
* ''Ozzy and Drix'' took the entertaining concept of the movie ''[[Osmosis Jones]]'' and made a kids' TV show out of it. The results were far different from the adult slapstick of the movie, and arguably more intuitive (and better).
** Yeah, but how did the microbes get transferred from Bill Murray to the Mexican kid in the cartoon? Er, maybe I don't want to know.
*** They actually explained it in the first episode -- "alien abduction", or, in human terms, a mosquito bite. However, this episode also contradicts the ending of the film, where Bill Murray's near-death experience convinces him to finally start watching out for his health, as he's more slovenly than ever at the start of the episode.
*** [[Aesop Amnesia]], plain and simple.
* ''[[
* Like ''[[
** The ''Rambo'' animated series was [[Merchandise
* "Hey, someone forgot a cartoon based on an R-rated movie!" "''I'll'' fix it!" ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOE0F4i7GK8 Police Academy: The Series]''! HOORAY!!
** "Hey, let's cut down production costs by taking out the funniest element of the movies, Michael Winslow's voice effects, and replace them with stock audio clips of the actual things he duplicates with his voice!"
* ''Starship Troopers'' spawned a CGI-series ''The Roughneck Chronicles''. It was surprisingly well done, but massive ongoing behind-the-scenes production problems doomed it.
** An interesting case, since while they lifted a few ideas and characters from the [[So Bad
** They took their sweet time dooming it though; it only got cancelled [[Cliff Hanger|three episodes from the end]]. This troper remembers seeing a fan-run online fundraiser to get the series finished just because it was ''so damn close'', but it sadly didn't get off the ground.
* Much modern [[Disney Animated Canon]] produces these.
** ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' is a well-received TV series that took place after the events of movie's sequel.
*** The second movie was intentionally a pilot, introducing a recurring villain and the new voice cast. The third movie was the finale, and watching the movie trilogy without knowledge of the series things don't make any sense.
** ''[[Timon and Pumbaa]]'' spun off from ''[[The Lion King]]''; it was notable for surprisingly good imitations of the film's voice actors.
** ''[[The
** ''[[
*** Of course, since she no longer was a mermaid at the end of the first movie, naming the series "The Little Mermaid" in a post-movie setting would have been a bit silly.
** ''[[
** There was also a ''[[Hercules (
** And ''[[Lilo and Stitch]]'' and ''[[Tarzan (Disney film)|Tarzan]]''.
** ''[[The Mighty Ducks (
** Even ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' managed to inspire its own ''[[
*** The show also was born out of the direct-to-video movie of the same name, which later became the [[Five Episode Pilot]].
** A kinda sorta inversion: Disney was planning to make a series out of ''[[Atlantis:
** Also averted with ''[[The Rescuers (Disney film)|The Rescuers]]''. Similar to ''Atlantis'', originally, Disney was actually going to make a TV series off of that film, but due to the financial failure of ''Down Under'' (which became the only true flop of Disney's Renaissance era), combined with [[Author Existence Failure|the death of]] Eva Gabor, it, as with all future ''Rescuers'' films were scrapped, and was actually eventually reworked into the show ''[[
** ''[[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|The Jungle Book]]'' had a series in the '90s called ''[[Western Animation/Jungle Cubs|Jungle Cubs]]'', about Baloo and company when they were...well, cubs. Strangely, Shere Khan goes back and forth from being the [[Aloof Ally]] to an actual friend. Kaa is also played as a mischevious friend rather than an outright villain (which actually leads to [[Fridge Brilliance]] considering his role in the original books).
*** ''[[
** Arguably, the most popular, and most remembered Disney cartoon, airing just after ''[[
*** ''New Adventures'' was actually just the start of the series' expansion, followed by numerous movies (both theatrical and direct-to-video) and pre-school series ''[[My Friends Tigger And Pooh]]''. While not without its detractors, the ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'' franchise has arguably garnered the most positive response [[Sequelitis|compared to other Disney continuations]].
* ''Spider-Man: The New Animated Series'' takes place after the first live-action movie. It was canceled after one season.
** Sadly considering how some fans considered to be pretty damn good (at least it dealt well with Peter's emotions, rather than the loads of drama pushed on us by the sequels).
* Dreamworks Animation broke into the business with ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'', and has ''[[
* An almost example: [[Fanfic|Fans]] of ''[[Snakes
* In the late '90s, an attempt was made to develop a TV series for the Fox network based on ''[[The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension]]'', to be titled ''Buckaroo Banzai: Ancient Secrets and New Mysteries''. The project was on the verge of shooting the pilot, when Fox pulled the plug. The reason given was that the [[Viewers Are Geniuses|highly cerebral]] script was [[Viewers
* ''Fievel's American Tails'' was a short-lived spin-off of ''[[An American Tail]]: Fievel Goes West''. Though three of the original voice actors were recast, the quality of the writing and animation was noticeably much worse than the movies, and focused on slapstick a hell of a lot more. Also had many [[Off
* [[Toxic Avenger|Toxic Crusaders]]! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roq0lQ43dlQ&feature=PlayList&p=8BE2F57B94956D2C&index=39 Toxic Crusaders]! Warning: [[Ear Worm]]
* MGM's ''[[All Dogs Go to Heaven]]'' had a series, fittingly titled ''All Dogs Go To Heaven: The Series'' (with a pretty nice, sitcom-y [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c46RanY5CV0 theme song]). According to the [
* ''[[Bill and Ted]]'' had an [[Animated Adaptation]] titled ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'''s''''', which lasted for two seasons. The first season of the animated series aired on CBS and was produced by [[Hanna
* ''[[He
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:The Renaissance Age of Animation]]
[[Category:Derivative Works]]
[[Category:Recycled:
[[Category:
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