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I really want to start this up again. For those of you that forgot, I did two threads one on horrible spin-offs/sequel series and one on good/bad adaptations of things(that I called interpretations though as pointed out adaptation is the more appropriate word). So rather than making two sequel threads I decided to combine the two into a thread where people can complain/converse about horrible sequels/spin-offs or complain/converse about adaptions of film, literature or whatever. I'll start with one of my least favorite spin-offs at the top of my head(I'll keep it short as I wanna do a full on review later).



Demeshita! Power Puff Girls Z: Oh my Satan, this show was a piece of work( though I'm not sure if it counts as a bad adaptation or bad spin-off but still). Now, those that have watched the original Craig McCracken series can tell through numerous instances that the animation style, certain character designs, and of course the mad-cap violence are based on numerous aspects of Japanese pop-culture. So a spin-off that was actually MADE in the country where much of the style is inspired by would be just as funny, violent and awesome right? Well that's what we thought, but this show is actually LESS violent than the original version. Apparently Toei thought the original concept was too violent and had them tone it down. Considering they have numerous shows about BOYS engaging in mad-cap violence shows how truly progressive they are.

Violence aside, this show is no-where near as good in quality in terms of writing or style. The best example of this horribleness are the three protagonists themselves. Out of the three, the only one shares a passable resemblance in terms of personality is Buttercup. Bubbles isn't as cute or high pitched as she was in the original series(seriously PPGZ's Bubbles sounds like she's on heroin she sounds so low-pitch) and Blossom...ugh. They decimated her character. The original Blossom was the utmost definition of lawful good, as well as the smartest on the team. Blossom Z(I'm just calling them that for convenience's s on the other hand is a cake obsessed 12 year old, likes being a super-heroine only for the popularity and even worse she is just okay in terms of school-work. BULL-CRAP! Original Blossom was the smartest kid in Pokey Oaks county, this one is an idiot. And the worst thing about Blossom Z....SHE STOLE A CAKE! AND NEVER FELT BAD ABOUT IT! No moral about thievery being wrong, no nothing! Blossom is supposed to represent everything nice and even when she did do bad things in the original series she would either learn a moral because of it or gain proper come-uppance and even if she did the viewers never saw it.

Then we have the supporting characters and dear lord they are even worse changes than what they did to the main characters. Professor Utonium isn't the girl's father in this version so the cute bound we would see them having in the original series is robbed from new audiences. In fact, he is MARRIED and has a son name Ken Kitazawa...wait what? Okay first the Professor being married takes away a big aspect from his original character and 2...Kitazawa? Wouldn't his last name be Utonium? I know they change this in the dub but still. The Mayor and Miss Bellum personality wise are SLIGHTLY like their original counter-parts but design wise they are way different.



New version

Old version.

I'm all for creative license, but for an adaptation it is too much of a stretch especially for the Mayor. What's even worse is that the Z Mayor especially isn't as funny as his previous incarnation and the same for Miss Bellum. They also aren't even close to as enjoyable as their original versions. There a bunch of other characters I can't stand but like I said I'm gonna do a full reveiw later.

And last but not least the antagonists to which I have one statement based on all of the antagonists based on old antagonists. They are all awful mockeries of what made the villains of the Powerpuff girls great and are nowhere near as enjoyable as theire original versions. Some villains are sympathetic when they were originally straight-up jerks, some villains are threatening when they were originally comic relief, and some are comic relief even though they were supposed to be threatening. There are limits to what you can do in an adaptation and this crosses way too many lines. Sweet SATAN this show sucks!I keep hearing from a lot of people it gets better but so far I've gotten up to episode 17 and I still can't stand it.

And that's basically it, make em as long or short as you want!

stienman said:

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Trust me, for as much as I hate that series its short.

A film adaptation I've always felt could've been a lot better was Chuck Jones' animated version of the Phantom Toll-booth. It was just waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too rushed, the voice acting felt forced at times, and it was only about an hour's length! The book was about 200 freakin' pages!

Adaptation. is a great movie

Yoshimickster said:

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God, I hope they don't end up on life-sized pillows...

Charlie Don't Surf said:

Adaptation. is a great movie

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Damn straight. That ending man...DAMN!

sixpackshaker said:

God, I hope they don't end up on life-sized pillows...

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Their female characters from a cartoon animated by Toei...so probably *shivers*.

The only reason they made PPGZ is because Japanese televisions stations wouldn't play the original because it wasn't made in Japan. So they made this thing instead. It's pretty horrible, but it lead to Cartoon Network actually setting up shop and developing series explictly for Japan, some of which (like Teen Titans) were a huge hit.

AshburnerX said:

The only reason they made PPGZ is because Japanese televisions stations wouldn't play the original because it wasn't made in Japan. So they made this thing instead. It's pretty horrible, but it lead to Cartoon Network actually setting up shop and developing series explictly for Japan, some of which (like Teen Titans) were a huge hit.

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Yes but Teen Titans was smartly written, had good writing, and while it didn't follow exactly the original "New Teen Titans" tale the characters at least gave a similar feel. Powerpuff Girls Z thought they could just for lack of a better word Japanize the original idea and thought it would be just as good.

And its WEIRD how Japanese networks wouldn't show it right? This is the country where they air drinking, jiggling breasts, and just as much violence in their cartoons and Powerpuff Girls is too violent. My theory about it being a show about GIRLS being engaged in super violence as a reason for them not wanting it probably stands true.


This is probably one of the worst written spin-offs to any series I've ever seen(even for toy-show standards). None of the mysteries from the first season were resolved, any good idea introduced is thrown to the back-burner, and it just wasn't a proper end to the series. It bugs me even more because I rewatched the original first season over the summer which is great, and I now realize how horrible this sequel series is. You know how much it SUCKS realizing something you liked from as a kid is god awful? Of course you do, your human. I'm just glad the original writer didn't write this so I can use that as a flimsy excuse to call it not cannon.

Yoshimickster said:

And its WEIRD how Japanese networks wouldn't show it right? This is the country where they air drinking, jiggling breasts, and just as much violence in their cartoons and Powerpuff Girls is too violent. My theory about it being a show about GIRLS being engaged in super violence as a reason for them not wanting it probably stands true.

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No, the explicit reason is because it wasn't Japanese and the networks wanted to promote Japanese shows over American ones. It was a nationalism thing and nothing more. This is why HiHi Puffy Ami Yumi and Teen Titans were made by Japanese animation studios and designed for Japanese audiences. PPZ was in the same boat.

You need to understand that it's really rare for Japan to import shows, unless it's for a cable network. South Park and The Simpsons are the major ones, and Supernatural is the first and only American produced drama series translated for Japanese consumption.

AshburnerX said:

No, the explicit reason is because it wasn't Japanese and the networks wanted to promote Japanese shows over American ones. It was a nationalism thing and nothing more. This is why HiHi Puffy Ami Yumi and Teen Titans were made by Japanese animation studios and designed for Japanese audiences. PPZ was in the same boat.

You need to understand that it's really rare for Japan to import shows, unless it's for a cable network. South Park and The Simpsons are the major ones, and Supernatural is the first and only American produced drama series translated for Japanese consumption.

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Weird thing about South Park, you know the guy who does L from Death Note and Usopp from One Piece does Kyle Broflowski? He was also in PPGZ....as a two-shot love interest character. Considering he only had like 2 lines, I assume ol' Yamaguchi must not have been busy that day. OR they wanted to psychologically trick kids into liking it by having a voice from literally the most popular cartoon in Japan.

Back to PPG, the show did in fact have a some-what following over there so the fact that they didn't import it makes no damn sense! Wouldn't it have been easier to higher translators and dubbers than make a bad cartoon? I guess this way they would've just cashed in on a bulk of the merchandise themselves.

It sounds a little similar to Canada's rule about their television stations: there must be X amount of Canadian content at all times. This is why the Canadian Netflix isn't as good as the American. It's because the CRTC demands Netflix have a certain percentage of Canadian content.

ThatNickGuy said:

It sounds a little similar to Canada's rule about their television stations: there must be X amount of Canadian content at all times. This is why the Canadian Netflix isn't as good as the American. It's because the CRTC demands Netflix have a certain percentage of Canadian content.

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I think one of the main things that keeps Canadian Netflix down is Canada's copyright laws, actually. Studios don't want to cooperate with businesses in Canada because so much online piracy stems from here.
The standards for something to be deemed Canadian content are pretty low, movies aren't even subjected to the CanCon laws. It's pretty much strictly TV and music.
And I mean, Goon, a movie written and directed by a Canadian, featuring a purely Canadian artist soundtrack, taking place in Halifax, St Johns and Quebec, filmed in Manitoba, and starring an almost purely Canadian cast, is available on American netflix, but not Netflix Canada.

Ah, thanks Checkster. I'm obviously not an expert on CRTC dealings, so I was just going by what I'd heard.

Canada: Full health care, half-full entertainment.

Anyone remember the Outsiders? Just as good as the book in my opinion.

I have so far refused to see the newest interpretation of The Three Musketeers on the silver screen for one reason alone.

Airships.

Mother-fuckin' airships.

I loves me some steampunk, okay.

I love The Three Musketeers in their various incarnations.

I also like chocolate and sausages. That being said, I would not pour chocolate sauce on a sausage.

Nor do I think %&=?"#£$ airships have any %&=?"#£$ business in The %&=?"#£$ Three Musketeers.

North_Ranger said:

I have so far refused to see the newest interpretation of The Three Musketeers on the silver screen for one reason alone.

Airships.

Mother-fuckin' airships.

I loves me some steampunk, okay.

I love The Three Musketeers in their various incarnations.

I also like chocolate and sausages. That being said, I would not pour chocolate sauce on a sausage.

Nor do I think %&=?"#£$ airships have any %&=?"#£$ business in The %&=?"#£$ Three Musketeers.

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You should watch Mickeys Three Muskateers.

You will roll around sobbing if you knwo anything about the actual story. It's not a bad little film...it cliche as he;; but Jet LOVES it. I can stand it better than Cars 2 all the time.

The bright side is that now Jet is REALLY interested in 'period' pieces. Muskateers, swashbuckling, and that kind of stuff. He also found a junior reader version of the book at theu sed book store and now we're going a chapter a night..or until her gets bored.

He also now interested in 'romance' and has begun delcaring me his 'princess' and fighting his daddy when ever he gets close to me.

North_Ranger said:

I have so far refused to see the newest interpretation of The Three Musketeers on the silver screen for one reason alone.

Airships.

Mother-fuckin' airships.

I loves me some steampunk, okay.

I love The Three Musketeers in their various incarnations.

I also like chocolate and sausages. That being said, I would not pour chocolate sauce on a sausage.

Nor do I think %&=?"#£$ airships have any %&=?"#£$ business in The %&=?"#£$ Three Musketeers.

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That movie is greatest piece of shit I have ever seen. No joke. It's side-splittingly, gloriously awful.

And the best part?

Every single actor in that movie realizes it, and appears to have concluded, "well, w/e, I'm going to ham it the fuck up and have a good time".

Milla Jovovich is awesome, Ray Stevenson is bombastically hysterical, Christoph Waltz and Mads Mikkelsen are perfect stereotypical villains, and Orlando Bloom smarms the shit out of everything. He chews so much scenery that you expect him to run out, and then he pulls more out of nowhere and mashes it. And his pompadour practically has its own part. I could not recommend it more, especially with friends.

The only people who actually suck in this film are the shrimpy kid playing D'Artagnan who has no screen presence whatsoever, and poor, poor Matthew Macfayden who apparently didn't get the memo and tried to add a proper sense of gravitas.

North_Ranger said:

... pour chocolate sauce on a sausage.

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/sigh

Nick's Prom Night...

One movie that takes a slight dip from original source material...and is surprisingly BETTER is "That was then this is now." I fuckin' hated the ending of that book and while the ending in the movie was a bit somber it wasn't as needlessly realistic as in the book. Notice how I said "needlessly realistic". Well in the book- I'm guessing the author wanted to throw reality right into the faces of the readers but it just comes off as making the protagonist feeling like a jack-ass. In "The Outsiders" it ended on a somber note but it made sense with plot and worked well to make a memorable ending. TWTTIN on the other hand feels needlessly depressing, incredibly forgettable and worst of all sucked. Just goes to show that not everything an author makes is good.

Poor M&Ms.

SpecialKO said:

That movie is greatest piece of shit I have ever seen. No joke. It's side-splittingly, gloriously awful.

And the best part?

Every single actor in that movie realizes it, and appears to have concluded, "well, w/e, I'm going to ham it the fuck up and have a good time".

Milla Jovovich is awesome, Ray Stevenson is bombastically hysterical, Christoph Waltz and Mads Mikkelsen are perfect stereotypical villains, and Orlando Bloom smarms the shit out of everything. He chews so much scenery that you expect him to run out, and then he pulls more out of nowhere and mashes it. And his pompadour practically has its own part. I could not recommend it more, especially with friends.

The only people who actually suck in this film are the shrimpy kid playing D'Artagnan who has no screen presence whatsoever, and poor, poor Matthew Macfayden who apparently didn't get the memo and tried to add a proper sense of gravitas.

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I particularly loved Orlando Bloom in this. I agree with your assessment 100%. Definitely worth a watch, with friends, but it is not by any stretch a good movie. It's just enjoyable because of how much the actors milk the script.

Does the new Looney Tunes show count as an adaptation, spin-off, reboot, or sequel series? Either way I feel...conflicted about it. Is the show funny at times? Yes. Is it like the original Looney Tunes? Eeeeeeeeeh-not so much. Bugs can dish out some funny lines but his stories in the show don't make him seem nearly as cool as in the original shorts. Daffy is still a jerk but he's no-where near as ambitious and angry as he was in the original shorts, in-fact he's more just weird than angry. Speedy talks waaaaaaay too slowly, and Porky hasn't said "That's all folks" ONCE during the show. Also Elmer Fudd is a weather man who hasn't talked to Bugs or Daffy once in the series. This bugs me a lot. I like Sam though, he's pretty funny. I guess I feel the show would work better if the episodes were more sketch like rather than full on sitcom style plots. Like I said, I like the show but I feel there is a bit missing.

Looney Tunes doesn't really have an ongoing story or anything, Id say it's an adaptation/ "re-imagining". And yeah... it's not the Looney Tunes. It's entirely dialogue driven, as is the style with most animated shows nowadays because it's cheaper and easier. Most anybody would agree it's backwards development though, cause the trend is turning a visual medium into radio. Looney Tunes proper should be all about slapstick and visual humour.
You can laugh at the new Looney Tunes without picture, but you could laugh at the old ones without sound.

Yoshimickster said:

Weird thing about South Park, you know the guy who does L from Death Note and Usopp from One Piece does Kyle Broflowski?

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This is probably the most incorrect statement ever posted on this board. Kyle is voiced by series co-creator Matt Stone.

Bowielee said:

This is probably the most incorrect statement ever posted on this board. Kyle is voiced by series co-creator Matt Stone.

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Okay I meant to say in the Japanese dub he is voiced by the guy who does Ussopp and L. I really need to be more specific with posts and I apologize.

checkeredhat said:

You can laugh at the new Looney Tunes without picture, but you could laugh at the old ones without sound.

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That is probably the best analogy for the new series I've ever heard. I also agree on how the series could use more slap-stick, the new show just doesn't feel as cartoony as it should be. I mean hell, drop an anvil on some-body! You're friggin' talking animals for Satan's sake, stop being so generally normal! Dear lord...I just called the Looney Tunes NORMAL! I feel I need to lie down.

I'd still take the bad sitcom Looney Tunes over that weird-ass space heroes rebot that put them all in black costumes.

Zappit said:

I'd still take the bad sitcom Looney Tunes over that weird-ass space heroes rebot that put them all in black costumes.

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Ugh, Loonatics Unleashed. Thanks, I'd almost forgotten that abomination.

Bowielee said:

Ugh, Loonatics Unleashed. Thanks, I'd almost forgotten that abomination.

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For me it is something that will lie deep in the bowels of my soul. THE BOWELS! Apparently the original version was supposed to be about a hyper-violent cussing version of Bugs Bunny who sold crack or something. I...I am not sure which one would be worse. That is how bad Loonatics Unleashed is, when I think a version where the characters are crack dealers might've been better.

I wrote an essay on why Loonatics Unleashed was a horrible idea when I was retaking my english classes after graduating high school. Got an A.

Anyone remember "The Real Johnny Quest"? I remember some Tron style episodes in it.

Yoshimickster said:

For me it is something that will lie deep in the bowels of my soul. THE BOWELS! Apparently the original version was supposed to be about a hyper-violent cussing version of Bugs Bunny who sold crack or something. I...I am not sure which one would be worse. That is how bad Loonatics Unleashed is, when I think a version where the characters are crack dealers might've been better.

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I think this is what you're referring to. It was a parody in response to the announcement of the revamp.

EXTREMELY NSFW

Yeah, that was not ever intended to be the idea behind it. BUT, the ugly as elephant balls character designs were actually originally even uglier. An 11 year old kid got a petition going, which is why they changed the designs.

Bowielee said:

I think this is what you're referring to. It was a parody in response to the announcement of the revamp.

EXTREMELY NSFW

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Yeah that's it I remember that when it came out on Newgrounds, classic. And I just looked up the original designs....

Balloons must fucking hate them.

checkeredhat said:

I think one of the main things that keeps Canadian Netflix down is Canada's copyright laws, actually. Studios don't want to cooperate with businesses in Canada because so much online piracy stems from here.
The standards for something to be deemed Canadian content are pretty low, movies aren't even subjected to the CanCon laws. It's pretty much strictly TV and music.
And I mean, Goon, a movie written and directed by a Canadian, featuring a purely Canadian artist soundtrack, taking place in Halifax, St Johns and Quebec, filmed in Manitoba, and starring an almost purely Canadian cast, is available on American netflix, but not Netflix Canada.

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Yeah. There was a point where the big 5 telecoms were petitioning the CRTC to rule that Netflix should have to follow Cancon content like a TV station but that was eventually tossed.

Frank said:

Yeah. There was a point where the big 5 telecoms were petitioning the CRTC to rule that Netflix should have to follow Cancon content like a TV station but that was eventually tossed.

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I feel you guys, its like how my region doesn't carry certain channels I'd like to buy. Like I would buy them but they don't have stations for my freakin' region. I WANNA WATCH BOOMERANG DAMMIT!


This along with Digimon 02 are on a list of things I liked as a kid but now realize are satan awful. Though the toys were kind-of cool.

I still have a promotional item from that movie. It is Godzilla drink holder that you hang in the window of your car. I looks as though Godzilla is hugging your drink. Just too bad that my new car is too small to use it. It is probably the only cool thing that came from that movie.

sixpackshaker said:

I still have a promotional item from that movie. It is Godzilla drink holder that you hang in the window of your car. I looks as though Godzilla is hugging your drink. Just too bad that my new car is too small to use it. It is probably the only cool thing that came from that movie.

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I had this posable animatronic toy, it was pretty cool. Not as cool as my Burning Godzilla toy but still.

I loved the third series of Digimon. :3

Gusto said:

I loved the third series of Digimon. :3

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That was a good one, if only because it went some really dark places at the end.

AshburnerX said:

That was a good one, if only because it went some really dark places at the end.

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Hell yeah son. And Beelzemon was boss.

Gusto said:

Hell yeah son. And Beelzemon was boss.

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He really was! A very good tragic villain turned good-guy character.

Season 3 along with the first season are my favorites. What I always found weird about some fans is that some of them thought it was "too dark". Riiiiiiiiiight, because the death of Wizardmon, and the show talking about mature concepts such as divorce, adoption, and purpose was ALWAYS light-hearted. Just ridiculous.

...I kinda wanna rewatch Season 1 now. I remember the Myotismon prophecy arc being pretty epic at the time.

Gusto said:

...I kinda wanna rewatch Season 1 now. I remember the Myotismon prophecy arc being pretty epic at the time.

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Oh it definitely was! And while the Saban version does change a few things here and there, it keeps the core story in-tact which is really all that matters to me(plus I like some of the jokes they put in). But if you want a more mature version, check out the original Japanese dub. You can probably find all the original English dub episodes on youtube, but the Japanese version I suggest goodanime.net. A few adds here and there but at least they don't edit out the theme song.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: All-right movie, HOOOOOOOOOOORIBLE adaptation. Trillian and Arthur get together, Zaphod was lame, and the ending was changed almost completely. But it still gave us this:

This song freaking MADE that movie.