I’ve long been the “Read the original issues!” guy on our various podcasts, the one who questions the need for any adaptation of existing material. (Seriously, though: A panel-for-panel remake of existing material seems unnecessary, as the source material already exists, and if you’re going to make sweeping changes, why do you need to option an existing story?) Even with all that fooferaw, I admit that there’s no wrong way to be a fan, and remember that my own introduction to the works of Clive Barker came from the movie, ‘Nightbreed’, an oh-so-90s hunk of film that I still enjoy on occasion. The book version, however, disappointed me as I enjoyed some of the narrative changes and adjustments of the movie, leading to today’s expanded universe query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) appreciates Clive as an author, and even loves several of his works, so you don’t need to yell at me about his literary skills, asking: Which adaptations do you feel actually work better than their source material?
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One thing that comes to mind is Sherlock Holmes. I prefer the 1984 TV series to original novels.
Trollhunters comes to mind. That isn’t to say the source is bad, but the animated series adds some depth to the setting that wasn’t covered in the original book.
While I did enjoy Zyuranger quite well and generally prefer Super Sentai, this is one of two exceptions where I think the Power Rangers counterpart was better in some respects (the other being Time Force). Probably a 52/48 split in favor of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, so it just barely counts.
And then there is the television Stargate franchise. I really disliked the Stargate movie (it had moments I liked, but overall I wasn’t thrilled), so it was actually surprising to me when I enjoyed “Stargate SG-1” and the eventual spin-offs quite well.
I’m one of the camp that prefers the movie version of Watchmen. The original ending from the comics worked at the time, but is a little dated nowadays. The one from the movie ties in better with the rest of the plot.