Do we really want an adaptation/general adaptation discussion

[YeerkSalad]

I've been thinking about an Animovie* or TV series. I mulled over the ramifications of making one, and I began to wonder if we really want an adaptation. Here are a few of the reasons I'm not so sure I want another adaptation.

1. Fandom Expansion - I think that most of us enjoy being part of a small, cult fandom. RAF is a small group of close-ish people. Should there be a successful movie/TV series, the fans will become a bit more faceless. RAF will become bigger and less personal. If thousands of fans come pouring in, the Animorphs fandom might feel... shallow.

2. The Age Gap - We're mostly in our 20's and 30's. As a matter of fact, I don't know of any fans younger than Dpsb5 or me. Having an older fandom (mostly) removes the potential for screeching 8-year-olds bashing the keyboard and instead has fairly mature, civilized conversations.

3. The Possibility of Sucking - Visser-on-a-stick and a crappy script. That's what happened before. Who's to say that it won't happen again?

4. Bowdlerization - Some people think that the market is now ready for something such as Animorphs to show up on screens. I disagree. Moral Guardians still rule, and thanks to the people who believe that video games cause violence, having a series like this one being viewed by young audiences can't happen without lots of editing.

5. The Potential for Cancellation - Whether it's a TV or movie series, Animorphs could sure as heck fall apart thanks to the huge budget needed even if it becomes animated. Ever heard of the British Sci-Fi show Primeval? It was well received and popular, but really darn expensive. It was cancelled on a cliffhanger.

There are a zillion ways this could go very right, but I'm too tired to write a few of those reasons. Additions? Comments? Death threats? Reply with all you've got!

*special thanks to Dpsb5 for coining the term

UPDATE: This has evolved into a general Animorphs adaptation discussion. Feel free to switch between the originally intended discussion and the general one.

[Chad32]

There are some improvements that could have been made to the series, as with practically anything, but an adaptation might suffer from a low budget or go off in a weird direction. Probably not worth it.

[Teirae]

It will never be as good as you dream it

[NothingFromSomething]

Yeah, there's zero audience for it, they'd be going after new people, the teenage crowd now.  And that'd demand changes, big-time.

They's sanitize the whole thing too, it'd have to be way more marketable to justify the budget it'd need.

Won't happen, probably shouldn't happen.

EDIT:  Another thought, the industry is just saturated with all of these young-adult series turned into teen movies nowadays, it'd just get lost in the crowd and not make a dent.  If it were to happen, it'd be best leaving it like 15 years until something else is popular, and come out from left field with a bang with something feeling different.

[Phoenix004]

If they had a decent budget, good writers and competent actors, it's possible to make a potentially brilliant Animorphs TV show. It's highly unlikely, but possible. More likely they'll make a crappy movie instead that's only loosely based on the source material, in order to cash in on the popularity of YA books becoming successful films. Animorphs can't realistically work as a movie, or even a series of films, because there's just too much source material to cover even if you remove all the filler books.

[RYTX]

1. Fandom Expansion - I think that most of us enjoy being part of a small, cult fandom. RAF is a small group of close-ish people. Should there be a successful movie/TV series, the fans will become a bit more faceless. RAF will become bigger and less personal. If thousands of fans come pouring in, the Animorphs fandom might feel... shallow.

Absolutely no a factor to me. I am here because of my affection for these books, and winning in the the Last Person to Post Wins thread. Honestly I'd love more people, because it potentially means more angles to talk about. I potential because we've been talking about a finished series for years, and most everything on this forum as been brought up multiple times.

2. The Age Gap - We're mostly in our 20's and 30's. As a matter of fact, I don't know of any fans younger than Dpsb5 or me. Having an older fandom (mostly) removes the potential for screeching 8-year-olds bashing the keyboard and instead has fairly mature, civilized conversations.

Probably should be a concern, but again, not. I'd like to think that any kid who gets into animorphs would be in it for the deeper aspects of it, they may not have as well developed thoughts, but it wouldn't just be saying "Radical" or whatever kids say today. I know there are exceptions to that, but I"m a dream

3. The Possibility of Sucking - Visser-on-a-stick and a crappy script. That's what happened before. Who's to say that it won't happen again?

Only real concern, and why it shouldn't happen.

[YeerkSalad]

1. Fandom Expansion - I think that most of us enjoy being part of a small, cult fandom. RAF is a small group of close-ish people. Should there be a successful movie/TV series, the fans will become a bit more faceless. RAF will become bigger and less personal. If thousands of fans come pouring in, the Animorphs fandom might feel... shallow.

2. The Age Gap - We're mostly in our 20's and 30's. As a matter of fact, I don't know of any fans younger than Dpsb5 or me. Having an older fandom (mostly) removes the potential for screeching 8-year-olds bashing the keyboard and instead has fairly mature, civilized conversations.

Let's face it, new fans are not likely going to flock to RAF. Fandom spaces like forums are a dying breed like mailing lists, chats, and now livejournal. Fandom in social media is a lot more popular and easier to tailor and personalize. And actually, I do find newer, younger fans to be very interesting and engaging.

Smaller, older fandoms often operate under outdated fandom ideals where everyone all seem to have similar opinions, it can make things boring and predictable.

It would be nice to have new opinions.

Yeah, there's zero audience for it, they'd be going after new people, the teenage crowd now.  And that'd demand changes, big-time.

They's sanitize the whole thing too, it'd have to be way more marketable to justify the budget it'd need.

Won't happen, probably shouldn't happen.

EDIT:  Another thought, the industry is just saturated with all of these young-adult series turned into teen movies nowadays, it'd just get lost in the crowd and not make a dent.  If it were to happen, it'd be best leaving it like 15 years until something else is popular, and come out from left field with a bang with something feeling different.

Yep. I can't get myself to read teen novels anymore. Started Gone but barely got past 100 pages.

If they had a decent budget, good writers and competent actors, it's possible to make a potentially brilliant Animorphs TV show. It's highly unlikely, but possible. More likely they'll make a crappy movie instead that's only loosely based on the source material, in order to cash in on the popularity of YA books becoming successful films. Animorphs can't realistically work as a movie, or even a series of films, because there's just too much source material to cover even if you remove all the filler books.

If an adaptation were to happen, I would hope for a 3-season show with 10 episodes per season because it's so expensive. The story could be executed well with 30 episodes, I think.

1. Fandom Expansion - I think that most of us enjoy being part of a small, cult fandom. RAF is a small group of close-ish people. Should there be a successful movie/TV series, the fans will become a bit more faceless. RAF will become bigger and less personal. If thousands of fans come pouring in, the Animorphs fandom might feel... shallow.

Absolutely no a factor to me. I am here because of my affection for these books, and winning in the the Last Person to Post Wins thread. Honestly I'd love more people, because it potentially means more angles to talk about. I potential because we've been talking about a finished series for years, and most everything on this forum as been brought up multiple times.

2. The Age Gap - We're mostly in our 20's and 30's. As a matter of fact, I don't know of any fans younger than Dpsb5 or me. Having an older fandom (mostly) removes the potential for screeching 8-year-olds bashing the keyboard and instead has fairly mature, civilized conversations.

Probably should be a concern, but again, not. I'd like to think that any kid who gets into animorphs would be in it for the deeper aspects of it, they may not have as well developed thoughts, but it wouldn't just be saying "Radical" or whatever kids say today. I know there are exceptions to that, but I"m a dream

3. The Possibility of Sucking - Visser-on-a-stick and a crappy script. That's what happened before. Who's to say that it won't happen again?

Only real concern, and why it shouldn't happen.

The only thing you said with which I really disagree is the "deeper aspect" thing. I spend about 7.5 hours a day with these people, and I can tell you that most of them wouldn't be in it for the deeper stuff. There'd be plenty of people in it because it's popular or cool. They don't take a second to think about the themes.
Some of them would certainly be in it for the deeper aspects, but a large portion of the fans would not.

[Dylan]

I'd personally want a movie or show.

1. Fandom Expansion - I think that most of us enjoy being part of a small, cult fandom. RAF is a small group of close-ish people. Should there be a successful movie/TV series, the fans will become a bit more faceless. RAF will become bigger and less personal. If thousands of fans come pouring in, the Animorphs fandom might feel... shallow.

I honestly don't think many new people wouldn't flock to RAF if a movie happened. Tumblr, Twitter, and Deviantart (and Rule 34, but we're not talking about that) are the biggest place where I've seen fandoms gather. Forum boards aren't really all that popular anymore.

2. The Age Gap - We're mostly in our 20's and 30's. As a matter of fact, I don't know of any fans younger than Dpsb5 or me. Having an older fandom (mostly) removes the potential for screeching 8-year-olds bashing the keyboard and instead has fairly mature, civilized conversations.

You saying this reminds me of this.    (THIS IS THE FUTURE OF ANIMORPHS)
But in all honesty, I like getting new opinions. Even if I think they are stupid, I'll listen to them.

*special thanks to Dpsb5 for coining the term

Yessssssss +1

[tigz]

since the series does lend itself to an episodic style, but a full tv series has been done before and has far too high production costs, why not update the books to a modern day setting and release them as specific webcast episodes on some youtube channel. better yet, make it an animated series. no need to try make things look like they exist in real life (and do an awful job with poor CGI). descriptions of places and objects is generally decent in book and theres certainly plenty of stuff already out there on deviant art etc. and the majority of the art created could be reused time and again. would that work?

[YeerkSalad]

3-season animated TV series with 10 eps. per season. That's all I'm saying.

[Tim Bruening]

3-season animated TV series with 10 eps. per season. That's all I'm saying.

I vote yes.  Now how would it be funded?  Would RAF have to stage a crowdfunding campaign?

[tigz]

well im sure there are plenty of talented people around here who could come up with some idea of a pilot episode. how long would an episode be btw?

[Chad32]

I would expect them to be an hour long. This shouldn't be a "Saturday morning cartoon" type show.

[YeerkSalad]

3-season animated TV series with 10 eps. per season. That's all I'm saying.

10 per season?

An animated series would be the best option IMO! The question is, what style would it be in? I like the idea of it looking something like the CW's Vixen or the Avatar/Legend of Korra series.

It'd still be really expensive to make an animated series, thus the small amount of episodes. Think of it as 3 miniseries. Not sure what the art style would be.

I would expect them to be an hour long. This shouldn't be a "Saturday morning cartoon" type show.

Yeah. 42-47 minutes + commercials.

[NothingFromSomething]

The problem with an animated series is that, sure, theoretically you can get away with more, it'd be a more PG-13 thing when animated than a hard-PG-13/soft-R when in live-action, but there's such a small market for more "adult" cartoons, you wouldn't really be able to market the thing.

It'd certainly be cheaper than a live-action flick though.

I think what'd bug me the most about an Animorphs adaptation, is you just know some suit somewhere is going to make the decision to age up the kids.  No way in hell are we ever getting 13 year olds fighting a war and dealing with combat trauma in anything mainstream. 

I didn't mind it so much in Ender's Game for whatever reason, but it's the same basic principle.  Animorphs'd just be changed pretty fundamentally, if you want to keep them the same ages you're going to get something really neutered & acceptable, none of the grit.