Remakes, Sequels, and Adaptations...Oh My!

Something that notice is the sudden uprise of sequels and remake shows of original shows. Some examples I can think of are the new "Night Court" series and "That 90s Show" which is a sequel to "That 70s Show." There has also has been the new "Willow" series made to be a sequel to the movie "Willow".

Remakes and Adaptation are typically interchangeable however what I think what sets them apart is the medium. A remake would be the superhero films and series that have been retold. This would be like the spiderman films to give an example. An adaptation in my opinion would be how "Arcane" came from "League of Legends", "The Last of Us" video game receiving a tv show, and Critical Role's creation of "The Legends of Vox Machina" based off their first campaign, not to mention the live action adaptations of Disney animated movies.

There are some adaptations that do not shift over that well but I will not go too deep into that just yet while the pots of those shows are already thoroughly stirred by a multitude of individuals

One may wonder why this occurs, I have a few trains of thought on this: Updating the story to the time, testing out a different medium, using the IP (Intellectual Property) as it is popular. Some of the examples may interconnect.

Updating the story to the times:

I have seen this with a few series where they update some of the setting to relate to the audience. One example that comes to mind is with the cartoon "Animainiacs" which appeared during the 90s and came back during the times of COVID. The series still functioned by having jokes that bust chops of celebrities and the time period, however with the remake of the series there was new material that children to adults and older to enjoy. While keeping up with those times, certain jokes did not cross over as it could be deemed inappropriate.

Testing out mediums:

As previously discussed, "The Last of Us" is a video game turned tv show. Note that this video game is not like the latest Pokémon game where it is just text. The voice actors in the game are the characters with the help of a mocap suit. The difference that is between the two is that the show they spent more time with the events prior to what started the plot for the series. In the game however, the player can decide the pace and trajectory of the story but that is what I can surmise for what I have seen from a walkthrough

Using the IP as it is popular:

However, typically it is that the brand name or IP is so popular that people flock around it. There have been a lot of this as of recent which the rise of Disney+ and their large gathering of brands (Marvel, Lucasfilm, Pixar, and now 20th Century Fox). There is an issue when it comes to this which deals heavily in nostalgia so far that there will be a knee jerk reaction as a result, either positive or negative (and it depends person to person).

An example where the use of the IP went poorly would be for the “Velma” series as which is nostalgic for many people and is speculated to have only been the Scooby Doo brand for how popular it is to make a statement.

Then there’s IP that has simply soured over the years such as the “Harry Potter” Franchise. This is due the views of the creator J.K. Rowling which I do not think need to be said as she makes her point of view quite clear.

It is rather rare when there is an adaption that makes everyone happy. The only one I can think of (and I am biased) is "The Legends of Vox Machina" series as it made a 150 episode campaign (each ep ranging 2-4 hours and still two years of content that was never streamed) to an animated series.

I think adaptations and how they reach the public fluctuates but it is intriguing to see those creators taking a chance with trying to put their voice into something.