One Hobbit Good, Two Hobbits Bad - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Sauron the White · 02-02-2008, 03:53 PM

Lalwende....Maybe I am being dense but I do not completely get what you mean. And I am trying.

If a film is based on books or stories - like the Hobbit Bridge movie will be- then its a clear adaption regardless of how many dots need to be connected or additional dialogue written. ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE would be an example of something where the source material was rather brief and it had to be extensively rewritten and fleshed out.

Its is a spinoff like a TV show, you can look over the wikipedia list and see that - like most TV shows - most are forgettable. However, if you look at the ALL IN THE FAMILY and MARY TYLER MOORE spinoffs they were of good quality and successful.

My personal favorite was FERNWOOD TONIGHT which was a spinoff of MARY HARTMAN MARY HARTMAN in the early 70's. And then they spunoff AMERICA TONIGHT from that with a bigger budget and more big name stars. Excellent American TV from that period.

I think when you deal with adaptions or spinoffs, the old Sturgeons Law comes into play. Theodore Sturgeon the sci-fi writer said "90% of everything is crap".
But its the other 10% that we like to remember.

02-02-2008, 03:53 PM	#11
Sauron the White Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 903	Lalwende....Maybe I am being dense but I do not completely get what you mean. And I am trying. If a film is based on books or stories - like the Hobbit Bridge movie will be- then its a clear adaption regardless of how many dots need to be connected or additional dialogue written. ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE would be an example of something where the source material was rather brief and it had to be extensively rewritten and fleshed out. Its is a spinoff like a TV show, you can look over the wikipedia list and see that - like most TV shows - most are forgettable. However, if you look at the ALL IN THE FAMILY and MARY TYLER MOORE spinoffs they were of good quality and successful. My personal favorite was FERNWOOD TONIGHT which was a spinoff of MARY HARTMAN MARY HARTMAN in the early 70's. And then they spunoff AMERICA TONIGHT from that with a bigger budget and more big name stars. Excellent American TV from that period. I think when you deal with adaptions or spinoffs, the old Sturgeons Law comes into play. Theodore Sturgeon the sci-fi writer said "90% of everything is crap". But its the other 10% that we like to remember.