Dear Hollywood

[anarky]

I have a great idea for a new movie.

Why don't you go into the archives, back maybe twenty or thirty years, and find some idea that I loved as a kid, as did millions of others. Maybe an old toyline, cartoon, or television show. Then make a big budget summer blockbuster film that takes this concept and brings it into the 21st century, with awesome special effects and big-name actors.

But here's the catch, and it's going to be really tricky:

MAKE THE FUCKING MOVIE NOT SUCK ASS!!!

[Sleazer]

I assume you are not referring to The Flintstones.

[Tom Foolery]

There have been so many, I was toying with the idea of making a "best to worst" (or "worst to best") list of Movies based on adaptations of TV series, kinda like what we did with the Comics Films.

And then making a short list of TV shows that haven't had films, but should.

[anarky]

Would you count things like Serenity, the X-Files movies, the Star Trek movies, and the Twin Peaks movie to be a separate category? They're not, technically speaking, adaptations.

[Diabolical]

Would you count things like Serenity, the X-Files movies, the Star Trek movies, and the Twin Peaks movie to be a separate category? They're not, technically speaking, adaptations.

There could be a few ways to go with that line of thinking, besides the previously mentioned categories:

Best/Worst TV shows that got a great/terrible follow-up movie (could be a short list).

Great TV shows that could use a follow-up movie.

Great TV shows that would be ruined by a follow-up movie.

TV shows that could be adapted for a movie (IE. Bates Motel, Hannibal).

Movies that could be adapted for TV.

[Tom Foolery]

Would you count things like Serenity, the X-Files movies, the Star Trek movies, and the Twin Peaks movie to be a separate category? They're not, technically speaking, adaptations.

I was leaning towards 'no' on those. I was looking at a master list of TV Into Movies on wiki. My Rule of thumb thinking is anything that could just be an episode of the series, only bigger and expensiver, doesn't count. So shit like Hannah Montana and The Wild Thornberries and all 500 Pokemon movies don't count. There might be exceptions (e.g The Naked Gun series) but the films you mentioned would be separate. I'm also hemming on whether SNL skits turned film would be on the list. I'm thinking mention them, but not count. Or again, a separate list.

[anarky]

Naked Gun was a remake. Some of the characters had different actors playing them (Nordberg was originally a white dude), and they used an awful lot of the same jokes (which I doubt even Frank Drebin would do that often).

The SNL movies would have to be done on a case-by-case basis. Wayne's World would be especially troublesome, even if it doesn't seem like it. It clearly falls in the same world where Wayne and Garth do a public access show in the basement, but every skit (unless there was one odd one I'm forgetting) was the show they were doing, not their life around the show.

It goes without saying that The Transformers: The Movie is not a reboot. Well, it was, but it basically served as a sort of season finale to Season 2 and an opening to Season 3, where there was very little connection to the previous season (with only, what, five characters surviving).

Edit: I think there was one skit where Wayne fell asleep on the couch and dreamed he was in a Madonna video. Which would, I guess, give enough precedent for the Wayne's World movies to just be extended episodes.

[Tom Foolery]

I have a tentative list of about 57(not counting sequels) movies. Right now I have some BBC series that were 'remade' as Hollywood films on the list, such as Traffic, Edge of Darkness, and State of Play. Should those stay or go? Part of me says those are just remakes of British "films" that just happened to be six hours long.
I just left all SNL skits off, because then I'd have to deal with other sketch comedies like Monty Python, Kids in the Hall, Mr. Show, etc and it starts getting too subjective.

I also made some judgment calls on cartoon adaptations and other shows that had multiple 'source' material. For instance, I kept Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and GIJoe, but not any Batman or Superman films, even though Joel Schumacher's films clearly owed more to the Camp '66 series, than the source comics. I say yes to Lone Ranger, but maybe to Zorro.
Now the only problem is, I haven't seen a bunch of these, so it's hard to rank them. And I know pretty much which films will rise to the top(Fugitive, Untouchables, M:I, Addams Family, etc) but once you get down in the majority, it's hard to distinguish mediocre from crap without rewatching ALL of them. I mean, is Sgt. Bilko really better or worse than Leave it to Beaver or McHale's Navy or My Favorite Martian or Fat Albert? Those are all kinda Meh. And there are soooo many more just like that on the list. How do rank a big pile of Meh, unless you just say "Hey, 25-way tie between all these movies!"

[anarky]

Not trying to hijack, but what about The Brady Bunch, which is more a parody than an adaptation? You included Fat Albert, though, so I guess it counts.

I'd lean toward yes on Smurfs, since no one in America knew the original comic. I'm wagering 58th place out of 57.

[Tom Foolery]

Brady Bunch and Smurfs were both on the list. Here's what I have so far. Alphabetically(ish). Again, assume sequels included with original film. I thought of a couple more which weren't on the wiki list.
If you can think of others or maybe question why something is or isn't on the list, let me know.


A-Team
Addams Family
Æon Flux
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Astro Boy
Last Airbender
Avengers(Steed and Peel, not Marvel)
Beverly Hillbillies
Bewitched
Brady Bunch
Car 54 Where Are You
Charlie's Angels
Dark Shadows
Dragnet
Dudley Do Right
Dukes of Hazzard
Edge of Darkness
Fat Albert
Fugitive
Flintstones
George of the Jungle
Get Smart
GIJoe
Green Hornet
Masters of the Universe
Honeymooners
Inspector Gadget
I Spy
Land of the Lost
Leave it to Beaver
Lone Ranger
Lost in Space
Maverick
McHales Navy
Miami Vice
Mission:Impossible
Mod Squad
Mr. Magoo
My Favorite Martian
Naked Gun
Sgt. Bilko
Popeye
Rocky and Bullwinkle
The Saint
Scooby Doo
Smurfs
Speed Racer
Starsky and Hutch
State of Play
S.W.A.T.
TMNT
Traffic
Transformers
21 Jump Street
Twilight Zone
Underdog
Untouchables
Wanted Dead Or Alive
Wild Wild West
Yogi Bear

[Tom Foolery]

Not trying to hijack, but what about The Brady Bunch, which is more a parody than an adaptation? You included Fat Albert, though, so I guess it counts.

If we left out all the 'parody' films we wouldn't have any films left. I believe just about every film on the list has some parody to it. I would say every TV show on the list was more...I guess Sincere...in its presentation. Shows like Brady Bunch and Dukes of Hazzard weren't being ironic when they were on the air. So I think the question is, which films did the best job of balancing the sincerity of the respect of the original work with the winking at its "faults". I think films like Brady Bunch and Charlie's Angels did a good job of evening out the two. Sorta "I loved this show from the 70s! Lets celebrate its campiness!" Whereas, Starsky and Hutch and Land of the Lost skewed more contemptible of the source show. Those were more "Gee, remember that corny show from the 70s? Let's make fun of it!!"

I guess, in rating the films, you can ask how well the film works on its own, as an objective narrative. And then ask how well it adapted the source. It might very well be a decent movie, but a shitty adaptation.

I'd lean toward yes on Smurfs, since no one in America knew the original comic. I'm wagering 58th place out of 57.

Having seen Smurfs with my kids, I can tell you a lot of the shit on the list is worse than the Smurfs movie. For example, I'd rewatch Smurfs over Bewitched. Or the Honeymooners.

[anarky]

I'd add Speed Racer and Astro Boy. Both were originally cartoons, IIRC.

I'd also scratch TMNT from the list. Regardless of what those of us in the know are aware of, G.I. Joe and Transformers are mostly remembered as being shows. The show started around the same time as the comics and toylines. TMNT was a rather successful comic for, what, five years before the TV show and toys hit? So I'd say it's definitely different from the other two.

Yeah, I know that should probably technically take Popeye from the list, too, but even when it was made, no one remembered Popeye had been a comic strip except for geeks.

[Tom Foolery]

Fuck me, I'm ashamed I forgot Speed Racer. EDIT. Added them.

The reason I left TMNT on is because the tone of the film is closer to that of the cartoon than it is the original satirical nature of the B/W comic series. And the film would not have happened but for the cartoon and toys. The comic was a cult thing until whomever came along and 'kiddified' it.

It's the reason I put Lone Ranger on. Yeah, it was in other media first, but when you think Lone Ranger, you think Clayton Moore. Or you damn well should, you sonofabitch.

[anarky]

Really? I always thought the films (at least the first and fourth) were more toned-down versions of the comic. I know a lot of people were shocked as hell when the first movie came out.

[Diabolical]

Its been a while since I've watched it, but wasn't TMNT basically Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4?
I seem to remember a bunch of nods to the earlier live-action films.