Nickelodeon is rebooting School of Rock as a TV series!
What are some other movies, not necessarily kids movies (School of Rock involved kids but wasn’t really a “kids movie”) that have been adapted for kids’ TV?
Ghostbusters spawned a children’s TV show.
As did The Mask.
And the Godzilla franchise spawned several (2 in the US (one in the 70s, one in the 90s), 1 in Japan (in the 70s)).
As did Star Wars (Ewoks, Droids).
There was a period when Disney seemed to refuse to put out movies without spinning a TV series out of them.
How could I forget Beetlejuice?
With a lot of desperate effort? (The cartoon was just so wrong…)
Robocop was adapted to a childrens’ cartoon. Twice.
The first one was actually good. It still had a lot of mature themes. What has Murphy lost to become RoboCop? Can he ever be accepted by society? I recall one episode in which Murphy has to rein in his temper to avoid punching an enemy to death.
Robocop-Alpha Commando was thoroughly stupid. He had a weapon in his arm that shot golf balls.
The Real Ghostbusters was simply excellent. It had good writing and voice acting. It also dealt with mature themes (I never once saw Filmation’s Ghostbusters deal with issues of death or dying. TRG did that all the time). Peter Venkman was obviously after sex. It produced one of my favorite conversations
“So, what’re you guys fighting for? The fate of the world?”
“One. Human. Soul.”
“You’re doing all this for one soul?”
“Isn’t one soul worth all this and more?”
Rambo- IIRC each episode starting with Rambo doing some kindness for wild animals. I don’t want to remember more.
While it didn’t produce a series the original Alien did get a boardgame (I have one somewhere) and a 12 inch xenomorph archeronsis doll. In the nineties, Kenner released a whole line of toys (Colonial Marines, various Aliens- rhino, snake, gorilla, scorpion, etc) that came with little comic books.
Oh! I can’t believe I forgot—all those 90s Aliens toys and comics? Apparently, those were originally intended as tie-ins for an animated series, “Operation: Aliens.” This explains some of the more cartoony, but internally-consistent redesigns of the (now surviving) Colonial Marines in the toyline and comics.
Some stills exist, but the full animated pilot has never leaked out, and was likely never completed. Game over, man.
Highlander- In a dystopian future ruled by an evil Immortal, a young McCleod is on a quest to gather the knowledge of the other Immortals and free the world. Also there were dinosaurs. I am NOT making this up.
Stargate- The movie spawned action figures. At some point (I suspect it was after Stargate SG1 became popular) there was Stargate Infinity. An SG team including a half alien, an Ancient who hatched from an egg the team rescued, a grizzled old vet, and some punk chicks tries to avoid the Tlakkon and get back to Earth.
A list of TV shows based on movies:
I see:
Planet of the Apes (2 separate series)
Karate Kid
Back To The Future
Kung Fu Panda
The Odd Couple - (Children’s series - the Oddball Couple)
Lilo & Stich
Dumb & Dumber
Muppet Babies
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures
…
etc.