Television Adapted to Film and How Attack of the Super Monsters (1982) Fits In

Television shows have been getting big screen adaptations for a long time now.  It’s a way to make more money and capitalize on a brand that is already known.  Whether the show is a comedy, a drama, or something in between, the fact that it is popular could constitute a movie adaptation.  Let me edit that last sentence a little bit.  The fact that it is or was popular at some point could constitute a movie adaptation.  That’s why there are so many movies based on television shows.

The reason I am bringing up this post is because of a movie I watched called Attack of the Super Monsters.  This is a movie based on a Japanese television show called Dinosaur War Izenborg.  At least, that’s the English language version of the name.  Watching this movie inspired me to write about how it was adapted for American audiences, and that inspired me to write about the different ways to adapt a television show into a film.  So here comes a list of different ways that television shows get adapted to movie form.

1. The first kind of adaptation is the straight-forward big budget adaptation.   This one is simple enough.  The television show was popular at one time.  Now they are going to remake it in movie form, with a bigger budget.  This will allow the filmmakers to do things that they may not have been able to do when confined to a television show.  This is not too big of a difference from television these days, with the advancements in technology and the emergence of cable channels that are willing to spend more money on their television shows.  For an example of this type of adaptation, check out the Mission: Impossible movies.
2. The next kind of adaptation is to bring a television show to the movie form while the television show is still airing.  This is a way to not only capitalize on the success of a television show, but to also get the cast and behind-the-scenes people working on the show to participate.  There is no need to replace the people, as they are already around and working on the show.  This is especially true of the cast.  The audience has come to know the cast as these specific characters.  Making the movie while the cast is still playing those characters helps to give the audience that recognition that could boost up the financial success.  It’s win-win for both the audience and the studio.  A good example of this would be Glee: The 3D Concert Movie, which wasn’t completely financially successful, but hits all of the beats I was talking about.
3. Third up on the types of adaptations that can be done when bringing a television show into movies is to take a show not known for comedy and add a comedic spin to it.  The first one that comes to mind is the recent film adaptation of 21 Jump Street.  Basically, what happens is that a drama is brought to film by injecting it with a comedic tone.  The movie ends up both paying homage to the series while poking fun at some of the more absurd elements.  This is a way to capitalize on the people that were fond of it in the past, as well as to bring in a new generation of fans.
4. The fourth and final film adaptation of a television series that I would like to discuss right now is the compilation film.  This is a tough form of adapting a series and one that rarely succeeds as an actual film.  Attack of the Super Monsters fits into the compilation section of this discussion.  What happens in this case is simple.  When bringing the series to the movies, the filmmakers decide to take a few episodes of the series and combine them.  Depending on the episodes used, the compilation’s story may not entirely fit together well.  This is especially true when the compilation is made prior to the conclusion of the series.  There will not be a definitive ending to the series’ story.  Rarely, is there a good compilation.

Those are only four of the different ways that a television show can be adapted.  They vary in many ways, but all have one thing in common.  Each adaptation of a television series into a movie relies upon the name recognition that the television series has.  The quality is sometimes secondary to the name value provided by the television series.  Sure, there are some cases in which the name recognition isn’t there.  Attack of the Super Monsters is one of those.  But for most other cases, the name is the selling point.

Television shows have been adapted to movies many, many times and will likely be adapted many times more.  There will be good ones and there will be bad ones.  Attack of the Super Monsters is one of the bad ones.  It is really, really bad.  The effects might be decent, but everything else makes it falls apart.  But there will be good ones to counteract the bad.  Attack of the Super Monsters is not the end of cinema as we know it.  In fact, it helps to breed new cinema.  It sparked this discussion of films, that’s for sure.  And discussion will keep film alive.

Before I go, there are some notes that I would like to make:

• Large portions of Attack of the Super Monsters are animated.  Other animated films covered in the Sunday “Bad” Movies so far are Tappy Toes and A Car’s Life.
• Thanks to CGRunyon for the suggestion of Attack of the Super Monsters.
• If you have any movies to suggest for the Sunday “Bad” Movie, leave a comment below, or message me on Twitter.