Movies and TV

The intersection of movies and television holds many interesting, and stupid things. Many cancellations, many box office bombs, but far more success than when movies and video games get together.

Turning TV shows into movies happens for usually one of three reasons. Okay, it’s only one reason, and that reason is money. But there are three other reasons to convert a TV show to a movie.

The first is nostalgia. Many movie executives hope to capitalize on the nostalgia of adults, so we get movies of the A-team, Get Smart, Charlie’s Angels, and The Avengers. The last one kicked off the recent trend, which is really odd, since it’s supposedly awful. Why anyone kept making more movies of old TV shows is anyone’s guess, but at least the rest of them are pretty fun. These are usually made many years (like 20) after the TV ended.

The second is to get the gang back together, or to tie up loose ends. Movies like Sex and the City, or Serenity (the film from the criminally cancelled show Firefly) are examples. I can understand the desire to make them. After working for years with the same people, you start to miss them after a few months by yourself. That, and the large amounts of money thrown at the actors, are why they do them. Sometime they’re successful (Sex and the City) and sometimes not. Despite the fan outcry when Fox cancelled Firefly, and the millions of fans that support it after its death, the movie made less than $40 million in theatres worldwide. The direct to DVD movies from Futurama would also fit in here, and they were so popular they helped uncancel the show. So kudos to fans for that one. These movies are usually made few months or years after the show ends.

The third reason is because the writers have an idea that wouldn’t fit in a normal episode. Or the producers think they can sucker in fans to go see a movie, so they set about writing one. These are made during the show’s run. The best example I can think of is probably the Simpsons Movie, although many Pokemon movies probably fit in here too. I’m guessing it’s easier for an animated show to make a movie during the show’s run than a live action show, because the production of the movie can be spread out and the show can be made at the same time. Trying to make a live-action movie would require a significant break in the filming schedule of the show so that the actors could film their scenes in the movie. It has been done with The X-files, and the made for TV movie 24: Redemption.

There is one last reason that I haven’t seen much, and don’t really think it works that well. It’s used when a movie tries to sum up what happens in a TV show. The only example that comes to mind is The Last Airbender, based on a TV show called Avatar – the Last Airbender (it’s quite good, by the way). It’s bad mainly because of M. Night Shyamalan, but also because it had to hack out many of the things that made the show great in an attempt to fit the important plot points into 90 minutes. It … was … awful!

It failed because turning a TV show into a movie is about one of two things. Either the TV show had an idea that the movie ran with (4 war veterans get unjustly jailed, break out, and now get hired to do actiony things: the A-Team). Or the TV show created a universe that the Movie can be set in (Serenity, in the Firefly universe. Which Joss Whedon then used to kill popular characters. Thanks a lot, Joss). You can’t just sum up a TV show to make a movie. It’d be like summing up a video game to make a movie, and we know how well that goes over.

Turning a movie into a TV show works on the same principles. The movie creates a universe that the TV show is set in. Usually it follows on with the same characters, after the adventures of the movies. Sometimes it’ll just be a small cartoon (Clerks: the Animated Series, MIB: The Animated Series, Droids, Ewoks), but mostly it’ll be live-action, sometimes even with the same actors. This is especially true if the movies is a made-for TV movie, as it can serve as a pilot to the show (as in the case of Due South, a fish-out-of-water show about a Mountie in Chicago. It’s very good). A lot of times, nothing gets off the ground (see: Mr. & Mrs. Smith). Sometimes the movie is forgotten when the TV show rockets to popularity (see: Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

And of course, sometimes interesting things are just bound to happen. Star Trek wasn’t terribly popular when it originally aired in the 60’s. Once it ran on syndication, though, a lot more people tuned in. With money to be made, thoughts of a new Star Trek soon formed, and filming for a new series (called Star Trek 2) was planned with the original cast. What they had was too big/good for TV, and became Star Trek: The Motion Picture. And now we have Star Trek movies, something fans are alternately grateful for and hateful of.

This was also the case of Star Wars, the Clone Wars. A new animated series was being made, so they jammed the first four episodes together and released it on the big screen. And it was awful. In fact, pretend I never mentioned it. There were only 6 Star Wars movies in theatres. You know what? You can forget about the most recent ones, too. There are only 3 Star Wars movies, and George Lucas retired after Return of the Jedi. Got it? GOT IT?!?