7 Movie to TV Adaptations That Were A Long Time In Coming
As we told you earlier this week, Napoleon Dynamite is finally coming to TV as a new animated show… Seven years after it first hit movie theaters. But Napoleon isn’t the only tardy Movie to TV adaptation. Here are ten others that took their sweet time:
Stargate (1994 to 1997)
Three years may not seem like a long time to turn around a hit sci-fi movie like 1994’s Stargate into a TV show, 1997’s Stargate: SG1… Except when putting together this list, we had to get rid of everything from Men in Black to Beetlejuice because they took a year or less to launch*. So in adaptation terms, three years is an eternity. When the show did finally launch, it followed the idea of the movie (ancient aliens who are kind of like Egyptians seed the galaxy with interdimensional teleporters called Stargates), and adapted to a weekly, planet of the week format. Clearly the time they waited was worth it, too, as the show ran for ten years and launched two spin-offs.
Ferris Bueller (1986 to 1990)
Based on 1986’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Ferris Beuller changed nearly everything about the movie, except the names of the characters. Ferris was annoying, a nerd, and unliked. Oh, and you know how people loved the Chicago setting of the movie? The TV show was set in Los Angeles. Though the show lasted for less than a season, it was most notable for recasting Ferris’ sister with a young Jennifer Aniston.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992 to 1997)
In 1992, Joss Whedon’s dream project was finally released on screen, depicting the exploits of a blonde, airhead teenager suddenly thrust into the deadly world of vampire slaying. The film did okay at the box office, but when the fledging WB network launched a TV series five years later, we finally got to see Whedon’s vision in all it’s glory. Careers were launched, legends were made, and the geek revolution began.
Little Shop (1986 to 1991)
The first Little Shop of Horrors was a low budget 1960 Roger Corman film, followed by a successful Off-Broadway musical. The TV series, though, was based on the 1991 film adaptation by Frank Oz, and cast the characters as high school students. It kept the songs, too, but made the plant a friendly, helpful alien being, rather than the murderous monster it’s been in every other incarnation. The TV show only lasted 13 episodes.
Casablanca (1942 to 1955)
Despite a thirteen-year gap between the movie version of Casablanca, and it’s first TV adaptation (there was another one in 1983), the show actually cast some of the featured players from the movie. Oh, and it was performed live. Which is crazy. The show only lasted eight episodes, which is far longer than the run of the Citizen Kane TV show. Which never existed, just kidding you guys.
Parenthood (1989 to 2010)
Okay, this is a little bit of cheat, as there was a TV adaptation of the 1989 Steve Martin comedy launched in 1990. But that show lasted only one season, while the recent adaptation is about to enter its third. Also, it’s surprisingly good, having been created by the same guy who did Friday Night Lights. Should I not be talking about sports shows on MTV Geek? All right then. Anyway, the fun fact here is that even as recently as the second season finale, the writers were still throwing in shout-outs to the movie.
Spaceballs (1987 to 2008)
And our winner for “longest road from movie to animated show is Mel Brooks Spaceballs. The movie spoof hit theaters in 1987, but it wasn’t until 2008 that we were able to see the often threatened animated spin-off from the film. Luckily, during that twenty-one year gap, nobody else made any jokes about Star Wars, so the subject was fair game.
*Oh, and while we’re caveating, we discounted anything like the late premiering “Honey, I Shrunk The TV Show,” because there were sequels between the original movie and the TV adaptation – in that case, 1989 to 1997.
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