Frustration Friday: Not everything has to be everything
If its a book, it must be a movie.
if it's a movie, it could be a TV series.
if it's a comic, it could be a game.
Look, seriously World Media, I love adaptions. I love media synergy. I'm all for it – I mean come on, aren't I the one always pushing for more cross-media work? Aren't I the guy always speculating on what new technology and media means, and how we should look to Japan for ideas of what to do?
But you know, I think we've got to ask ourselves if some of these media translations and crossovers and the like are a good idea. I of course speak of things like The Last Airbender film, which is dismal. And the A-Team film which really has no where else to go. And The Last Airbender Film. OK, you get my drift here.
There's a time, in short, to stop adapting stuff, because know what? Sometimes it doesn't work. When it fails, it degrades people's opinions and attitudes toward the property. When it's done, it reduces effort put into making cool new things.
I' no Twilight fan, but the manga itself is rather nice and seems to fit the story very well, and from what I can tell they're at least visually nice. Comic adaptions to film have worked. Tremors, as I've noted, made a dynamite TV series. Sometimes adaptions and extensions work.
But seriously, media people, progeeks, and all, sometimes these adaptions and extensions fail. Sometimes they don't work.
Sometimes some things just don't adapt to another media. Trying to make it happen can waste resources, time, and just make you look bad. Plus you loose money.
Sometimes there's nothing more to do with a property. Any new idea or extenuation is just getting blood out of a stone – you can do more with your time and money.
Sometimes there's no reason to do anything. It's done, over with. It had it's time.
So, next time we get some wild idea of adapting things, my fellow media pros and progeeks, let's ask if it's worth it.
– Steven Savage