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In another thread, I mentioned how rare it is that the TV show M*A*S*H was better than the movie it was based on. And that it was equally rare that the movie was better than the book(s) it was based on.
Can you think of any other TV shows made from movies that were better than their source? The first couple of seasons of Fame, I think. Anything else?
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From what people seem to say, Stargate. Though I was so turned off by the movie, I didn't ever really try to watch the show.
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Parker Lewis Can't Lose was pretty good, but I don't think that it was better than Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
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I can't believe I'm going to say this, but Sabrina the Teenage Witch. I recently watched the movie again (don't ask) and I was astonished by how bad it actually was. The TV show was a lot better.
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Here is an odd and obscure fact, after the Ferris Bueller movie, they started a Ferris Bueller TV show that went no where, mainly because Fox came out with "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" that out 'Ferris Buellered' Ferris Bueller himself.
Parker Lewis was on the air for years, and TV Ferris Bueller hardly is a blip in the memory of TV audiences.
I was sad to see that Corin Nemec (Parker Lewis) had such a limited career as an adult. Even as an adult, he was still impossibly cute. Most notably he was in the Stargate TV series. Still, he does have over 60 movie and TV credits, as well as credits of being a Producer and writer.
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Before I even opened the thread, I was going to say M*A*S*H.
I can't think of any movies that are better than the books but I would say that the LOTR movies come pretty darn close to being as good as the books, in my mind.
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Yeah, Stargate and Buffy are the ones that come to mind for me. Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles might eventually reach that point if it keeps up as good as it's been. But it's got quite a ways to reach before it gets there.
Just gonna say Corin Nemec was awesome as Jonas Quinn in Stargate. And as much as I missed Daniel Jackson, I wish Jonas woulda stuck around. Plus the interplay between him and Jackson would have been priceless.
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quote:I can't think of any movies that are better than the books but I would say that the LOTR movies come pretty darn close to being as good as the books, in my mind.
I think you need to re-read the books, then.
I liked Jonas a lot more than Daniel Jackson. I was really annoyed when they booted Jonas to bring back Jackson.
But what's weird is that after Jackson came back, and I was already predisposed to be annoyed with him, I liked Jackson more than I ever had before.
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As far as LOTR, I'll have to second Porter in urging you to read the books again. IMO, as well-made as the movies were in terms of special effects, they did not even come close to the complexity and power of the books.
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I liked the Stargate movie a lot, and what little I saw of the TV show seemed extraordinarily cheesy to me. Judging from the large number of fans on hatrack, I guess that's just something needed to be accepted before you can enjoy the material, sort of like Star Trek.
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My Big Fat Greek Life... oh... wait. The show and the movie were bad.
The Godfather was a better movie than book (I actually read the book because I love the movie so much) and the Shawshank Redemption (haven't read the short story, but I doubt it's as good as the movie)
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I should have remembered Buffy. There was a Friday Night Lights movie?
I've tried reading LotR three times in my life (once after I saw Fellowship in the theater). I thought the movies were great, and I'd love to read a good novelization of them, but Tolkein's books aren't that.
I'm suspecting that the Sword of Truth TV show isn't going to live up to the promise of the books.
I'm going to have to check out this Parker Lewis show. It must have aired while I was living in Israel, because I've never heard of it. And Ferris Bueller is one of my favorite movies of all times. It sounds like the TV version was as good as the Delta House TV show that was based on Animal House.
Oh, I just remembered another one! The Showtime series Paper Chase was at least as good, if not better, than the movie.
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quote:Originally posted by Lisa: I should have remembered Buffy. There was a Friday Night Lights movie?
And book. The book was nonfiction and the movie was based on the book and the T.V. show was inspired by the movie.
I haven't read the book but I love the movie. If you enjoy the show for interactions with any of the female characters you won't see much of that in the movie. It's much more about the football culture of Odessa, TX.
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I liked the movie version of Contact better than the book. But that may have been because I saw it before I read the book. So I'd like to hear other people's opinions on that one.
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I definitely preferred the book (which I read first). I thought the ending of the movie was lame and wishy-washy.
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quote:Originally posted by dkw: I liked the movie version of Contact better than the book. But that may have been because I saw it before I read the book. So I'd like to hear other people's opinions on that one.
No. It's because Carl Sagan was a crappy writer.
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I agree that the ending of the movie is a bit wishy-washy, but I also agree Sagan is a crappy writer. So, I have to weigh in on the side of preferring the movie version of Contact more than the book. Though the book was an interesting read.
There were some really good actors in the movie that helped make it memorable, for me.
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I liked the book a bit better, and I saw the movie first. I think that the romance was kind of an unnecessary plot point (and the less new-agey Palmer in the book was more interesting in some ways). Also, I loved the ending of the book.
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I agree with every show that has been mentioned (Stargate, Highlander, MASH, Buffy etc), and reiterate what Porter said about reading LOTR. Sorry but the movies were entertaining, but nowhere NEAR better than the books.
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So far as books being better than films, I've heard tell that the movie version of Forrest Gump is far superior to the original novel. I haven't read the book. But that movie is, of course, awesome.
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quote:Originally posted by Shawshank: The Godfather was a better movie than book (I actually read the book because I love the movie so much)
Same. The book was enjoyable, but the movie was a better movie than the book was a book. But I liked the non-linearity of the book, as well as some of the plots threads that were left out of the movie. But I thought the characters of the movie were much better defined than they were in the book.
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I was totally going to start a thread called, "tv shows that are better than the movies they're based on which are worse than the books they're based on", but I couldn't think of anything and made up that other thread title instead.
quote:Originally posted by SteveRogers: So far as books being better than films, I've heard tell that the movie version of Forrest Gump is far superior to the original novel. I haven't read the book. But that movie is, of course, awesome.
I thought the movie was way too schmaltzy. I've read the book and liked it better; the Gump in the book is a bit more complex and makes mistakes, where in the movie he's just this nice, simple, victim guy who waits for the woman to realize how great he is.
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I'm stretching the definition of "based on" but the animated Clone Wars was much better than the prequel trilogy that exists around it.
EDIT, because I couldn't let this go - the point of Forrest Gump (or at least one of the big points) is that he is most definitely NOT a victim.
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quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: The SciFi Channel version of Dune was not based on any movie.
But I'll agree with you that it is better than the 1984 movie.
Yeah, I know. I've read the series.
And I have seen the 1984 version umpteen times, and the newer version seemed to me to be based on the 1984 Dino de Laurentis version, in the sense that it was the opposite of the 1984 version.
That is, the parts where the 1984 version departed from the book, the newer version covered well, but then it also neglected areas the previous film had done well.
It's such an even give-and-take that it felt more like SciFi Channel kept watching the 1984 version and saying, "Okay, let's NOT do that! Or that either! And let's do the opposite of that thing!" but sort of forgot about the book, except insofar as it inspired the beginning of DUNE films.
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quote:Originally posted by Juxtapose: According to Wikipedia, the movie was first.
Ah, thank you.
I think the TV show was marginally less creepy, with the added bonus of Lawrence Fishburne as Cowboy Curtis.
Also: the Disney-Hercules movie was nice, bit I really, really liked the Disney-Hercules TV show. VERY funny.
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quote:I can't think of any movies that are better than the books but I would say that the LOTR movies come pretty darn close to being as good as the books, in my mind.
For some reason when I read this I had a hilarious vision of them making LOTR into a TV show. The hobbits would bicker over who got the extra apple, while Aragon and Boromir just shook their heads and chuckled.
It could happen. TV producers are just that cruel.
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I'm a bit late to this party, but I've been wracking my brains on this one and have come up with a couple more:
The Day of the Triffids The 1954(?) film version was worse than bad, but the 1980s adaptation by the BBC of Wyndham's classis was excellent.
All Creatures great and Small They made a film versionin the 60s which was OK, but the 1970s TV version was very good. The original books are as much about the characters as the situations in which they find themselves, and obviously the TV series gave more time and scope for character development.
M*A*S*H I'm already on record as saying the series was beeter than the film in my opinion. I just grew up with Alan Alda as Hawkeye and willexcept no substitute
I can't think of any more examples off the top of my head.
quote:Originally posted by dkw: I liked the movie version of Contact better than the book. But that may have been because I saw it before I read the book. So I'd like to hear other people's opinions on that one.
I saw the movie before reading the book and it's one of my favorite movies. I think the book is great too, but I'm not sure how it compares to the movie. I guess I know what I'll do when I have a little free time: "Contact" marathon!
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I'm not usually a "movie > book" guy, but the LOTR movies had the advantage of being shorter and much less boring than the books. Don't get me wrong, I liked the story in the books (ok, maybe not the nevereverending ending, which the movie captured oh! so well...), but they could probably have been half as long without losing anything important.
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Don't get me wrong, I liked the story in the books (ok, maybe not the nevereverending ending, which the movie captured oh! so well...), but they could probably have been half as long without losing anything important.
