Original Desmond

Not talking about movie remakes of tv shows like Starsky and Hutch, Charlies Angels etc

Talking about the Sex and the City movie and the upcoming Friends movies

The Sex and the City movie was basically a longer length episode, nothing special over and above

And im sure the Friends movie will be the same

Are we getting ripped off ?

Now if a Buffy and Angel movie was made, they could up the FX budget and that would justify the big screen experience but for these other tv shows, i think we are being taken for a ride

The Bus

I was not aware you were forced to see it.

PopcornTreeCt

I would see a Friends movie on opening night. Same with a Seinfeld movie.

Drexl

More Arrested Development can never be a ripoff.

Deftones

this

Kurt D

(In Comic Book Guy Voice) Getting conned is getting tricked into seeing a movie, not forced!

/snark

(sorry, couldn't resist.)

The Antipodean

Was "Serenity" a con for fans of "Firefly"?

How many of these have there actually been anyway other than "Sex" and "Serenity"? I doubt the "Friends" one will ever be made myself.

Jay G.

Nitpick: Neither Friends nor Sex and the City were canceled. The shows' producers decided to end the series.

As for actually canceled shows that got movies: Police Squad beget The Naked Gun, and Firefly beget Serenity, and neither of those shows were rip-offs.

Those shows aside, I'm not sure that a movie based on a TV show necessarily have to be "bigger" to justify existing. It's nice if the movie takes advantage of the extended story length, but I don't think anyone is expecting flashy effects or explosions from a Sex in the City movie.

If it's just about going to a theater to see something you previously used to watch on TV, you can always wait for the film to hit TV. I paid to rent the Futurama movies on DVD before they hit TV, and I was happy with the money spent, even though I used to watch the TV show for "free" on TV.

Jay G.

Are we talking about just movies made after the show ended? Does the original cast have to be involved, or would adaptations like The Honeymooners & Car 54 count?

Sticking to just original cast:
Star Trek had 6 movies with the original cast.
Star Trek: The Next Generation had 4 movies with the original cast.
The X-Files had a movie released both during and after the show ended.
Police Squad had a movie and 2 sequels made.
The Batman TV series had a movie made between the first and second seasons.
Batman The Animated Series had a movie made between the first and second seasons.
Jetsons: The Movie was released about 27 years after the TV show ended.
Get Smart beget The Nude Bomb
Powerpuff Girls had a movie made.
Mr Bean spawned two theatrical films.
Monty Python made several films after their show ended.
The Kids in the Hall made Brain Candy after their show ended.
DuckTales the Movie
Good Burger came from the sketch show All That
Hannah Montana: The Movie
Hey Arnold!: The Movie
Jackass: The Movie
The Lizzie McGuire Movie
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
The Man Called Flintstone
Doug's 1st Movie
The Gong Show Movie

...probably a number of others. I started going through this list and picking out contenders:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...evision_series

calhoun07

What would the con exactly be here? Are they gaining your confidence and then ripping you off? Do you feel "conned" because you thought the series finales of these show were it and there would be nothing more?

Roybq

Good Burger came from the sketch show All That

This pretty much ends the thread, doesn't it?

RocShemp

SNL had several sketches turned into movies:

The Coneheads
Wayne's World
Wayne's World 2
The Ladies Man
Superstar
It's Pat!
Stuart Saves His Family
Night At The Roxbury

I'm sure there were others but those are the ones I remember.

The Antipodean

Well he said 'cancelled' TV shows so much of that list wouldn't count unless the movie came out as a result of the cancellation I thought -- although I can't believe I didn't think of "Star Trek"! I don't know if I really get the OP's original perspective though.

Jay G.

The OP did write canceled in the title, but then listed 3 shows that were not canceled, but ended: Friends, S&tC, and Buffy.

Also, the person I responded to, Sierra Disc, also mentioned Friends & S&tC. So I included shows that ended as well as shows that were canceled.

I also included movies that premiered while the show was still running, since those would seem to be as big a "rip-off" as a movie of a canceled show.

I did limit myself to theatrical films, since I assume TV movies of a TV show wouldn't be considered a "rip-off" by the OP.

A few more:
The Rugrats Movie
The Wild Thornberrys Movie
Gumby: The Movie
Reno 911!: Miami
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie
My Little Pony: The Movie
Transformers: The Movie
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
Strangers with Candy
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
The Simpsons Movie
Recess: School's Out
City of Men
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
Revival of Evangelion
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
The Muppet Movie
Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!
GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords
Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw

Jay G.

Here's a Wikipedia list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...eries_sketches

Interesting note: Office Space is on that list because the Milton animated shorts ran on SNL.

gmanca

The Chipmunk Adventure is another.

Travis McClain

Technicalities about the OP's language aside, I think--and I could easily be mistaken--that the idea was to question whether big screen stories around TV characters and situations were incongruous with their respective series in the following manners:

1) By following the series's TV run, there is a sense that we are being asked to pay for further material involving characters we'd followed previously in the comfort of our own living rooms.

2) By following the series finale, there is a sense that, perhaps, the all-important finale was, in fact, just a pre-movie "special episode." It's not very much final if there's more material, is it?

3) When we contrast film and television, there is a sense that we should get more bang for the buck with a film; there's more time and money for them to really "wow" us, and often there is a sense that what was on the big screen could easily have been on TV. I know many fans complain that, with the possible exception of First Contact, all four of the Star Trek films featuring the Next Generation cast felt more like double-length episodes than films.

I, too, question the use of the word "con" in the OP's statement, but I believe I understand the gist of his point, as described. That being said, I think I understand his disappointment. For example, I passed on accompanying my wife and her gal pals to see Sex and the City, but I did watch it on DVD when she bought it. I felt that, every thirty minutes, the plot shifted. It really did feel like a five-part mini-season cut as a singular piece, rather than reflecting the kind of singular structure one expects from a film.

But, hey, for every Naked Gun, there's a Bewitched. Film versions of TV series have historically been a very mixed bag, and I doubt this will change any time soon, for all kinds of reasons. Primarily, the strengths and weaknesses of the two media are different enough that it's hard to make good use of each while still meeting--or exceeding--the expectations of the audience, especially one that's as invested as an audience that has followed characters and plot lines for several seasons on TV.

Jay G.

This is true, but you don't have to see the movie in theaters, and it will eventually be shown on TV. Also, with S&tC, you were likely either paying for HBO or watching the DVDs, so there already was payment for that show.

This is only true if the show had a proper finale. Serenity was essentially the series finale of Firefly, which was canceled before a finale was made.

Also, I think people typically want new adventures of a show. I didn't like TV movies, but shows like Gilligan's Island and I Dream of Jeanie had "reunion" TV movies made after the show ended. It's sometimes fun to revisit the characters. Think of all the press the recent Seinfeld cast reunion on Curb Your Enthusiasm has gotten, and that's after a definitive finale for the show nearly 10 years ago.

Well, I'm not sure what kind of "bang" people are expecting from film adaptations of Friends or S&tC. I do think the ST:TNG movies were clearly more visually expensive and exciting. I think those disappointed with those films, and with S&tC, are disappointed with the stories, not the money on the screen.


That's true of any type or genre of film. Book adaptations are a mixed bag. Sequels are a mixed bag. Films with original screenplays are a mixed bag. Horror films are a mixed bag. Comedies are a mixed bag. It's part of the creative process that a lot of what gets released is going to be crap, and I don't really see anything about adaptations of TV shows that make them either more or less likely to be crap than any other type of film.

KaBluie

The first episode of Battlestar Galactica was shown in theaters after it was canceled.
The first episode of Buck Rogers In The 25th Century was shown in theaters before it's TV debut.

Drexl

I think it's mostly about providing more material for a show that still has a following (which in some cases was slow to build or came later). The problem is that after the show ends, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to just resume production of the show. It's too hard to get commitments from all of the actors to go back to a series when they've gone in different directions and have new obligations. So, they do a movie instead, which the actors are going to be more happy about doing anyway.

At least that's for the movies of recent shows. Obviously The Naked Gun, which had the same creative team and star of its show, was going to turn out differently from something like Bewitched, made 40 years later and "updated" for today.

Hokeyboy

I tell you what... if you are lured into theaters with false promises of seeing a sneak preview of the latest Wong Kar-Wei film, and then forced (at gunpoint) to watch "Caroline in the City: The Motion Picture"... then yes, I will agree that you have been conned.

Otherwise you're just being silly.

Ash Ketchum

Ummm...Wong Kar Wai actually directed "Caroline in the City: The Motion Picture." (He just happened to call it "My Blueberry Nights." Or am I just being silly?)

OldBoy

is there seriously a "Friends" movie in the works? i had not heard. i liked the tv show alot, but unless some of the Friends die or are mutilated or have on-screen sex or Joey violently kills Chandler, i probably won't pay to see it.

Count Dooku

Obviously, the expectation is that a Friends movie would make a lot of money, so from Warner Bros perspective, the project is always "in the works".

Whatever tabloid tidbits come floating along, don't believe for a second that they are actually making the movie until it's confirmed that all six stars have signed contracts.

Groucho

Signing all six principles would put the budget for a Friends movie to match the most effects-ridden CGI fest -- before even a frame was shot.