Everyone has their favourite TV show. Be it Eastenders, Doctor Who, Gardeners World or Countdown. A show that they love, they never miss and will literally step over their own mother to watch. Anyone? Just me then? So you have your favourite show, which you cherish, and all of a sudden you hear the news you have been waiting for with both over-bearing joy and unbridled fear; They are going to make your show into a movie! All you can think about is how fantastic it will be to see it on the big screen. But then the fear starts to kick in. Will they do it justice? Will the cast be up to scratch? Will it be another Dukes of Hazard?
Well don’t fear, because I have compiled a list for you of the best films that started life as a TV show. So you don’t have to go through the emotional roller-coaster that I had to go through. And if you watch a film on the list and hate it, you can always blame me!
5) The A Team
‘I love it when a plan comes together!’ the hallowed words of Colonel Hannibal Smith who lead his band of outlaws into many a barn, only to come out with a fully armoured tank/car, rescue the girl, and not kill a single person. The show is a massive cult favourite and not many men my age will not have uttered the words ‘I ain’t getting on no plane, fool’ whilst diving around the back-garden as a child, and arguing who gets to be ‘BA’ and who gets to be ‘Face’. So its not a surprise that the film drew a massive sway in opinion from its fan base. But to be fair to the film, the plot was solid, the casting was solid and the film was a very good action blockbuster. I think that Liam Neeson did George Peppard justice as Colonel Smith and that if you stop for a minute and see the two as separate entities, The A Team is a very good film.
4) The Fugitive
Harrison Ford, check. Tommy Lee-Jones, check. Fantastic film that’s probably better than the TV show original, triple check. The Fugitive see’s Harrison Ford cast as Dr Richard Kimble, the role played by David Jansson in the 60’s show. Dr Kimble is wrongly accused of killing his wife, so when the opportunity for freedom arises he sets out to clear his name. Chasing him is US Marshall Sam Gerrard, played by the brilliant Tommy Lee-Jones, who comes out with my favourite line in the film:
Alright, listen up, people. Our fugitive has been on the run for ninety minutes. Average foot speed over uneven ground barring injuries is 4 miles-per-hour. That gives us a radius of six miles. What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area. Checkpoints go up at fifteen miles. Your fugitive’s name is Dr. Richard Kimble. Go get him.
Erm, goosebumps….. What is left is an action packed game of cat-and-mouse between two extremely powerful characters. A five star film that, if you haven’t already seen, should go and see right now. Go on then…..
3) South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Back in the late nineties, South Park was the hottest topic of controversy in town. You could turn on the TV without seeing someone debating South Park. They were on every media type, kids were talking about it, adults were arguing over it, teenagers were lapping it up. Personally I loved the show and was a massive fan, so when the news of the film hit the media I almost had a breakdown of excitement. For me, South Park still holds the record of being the only film I have ever watched at the cinema that made me fall off my chair with laughter. The films title is probably one of the most accurate title’s in film history. It is South Park, but bigger plot-lines, longer in length, and oh boy is it uncut. Despite my love for this film and its absolutely epic standing, I won’t be telling you to watch it, because that in itself is futile. If you are a South Park fan, you’ll have already seen it. But if you aren’t a South Park fan, then the film will almost certainly offend you, so stay away.
2) Star Trek
The Star Trek franchise has spawned three types of movie. The Original cast movies, the Next Generation movies and the one that I’m talking about, the JJ Abrams 2009 re-boot. I would bet that almost every person in the western world has at least heard of Star Trek. The TV show was an epic, the Daddy of the TV Sci-Fi genre. The original films, using the same cast as the TV show, were just as epic. The show was reborn with a ‘New Generation’ and the films followed suit. Then, just as you thought the brand had finished, had died off into prequel hell, up pops JJ Abrams of Lost fame and smashes the franchise wide open with a reboot of the original characters with a brand new cast. The thing I love the most about the new film, is that they have set it up so that they don’t have to follow the original path. They came up with a plot that allows them to remake the original characters in a totally new light. This is a very brave thing to do and Abrams did it so well, its left me practically salivating over my keyboard, waiting for the next instalment.
1) Transformers
As a child, I was literally Transformers mad. My mums loft contains every Transformer comic ever released in the UK (from the 80’s anyway). One year I woke my mum up at 4.30am one Christmas as I’d asked Father Christmas for Optimus Prime and Megatron toys. I used to stop whatever it was that I was doing when the cartoon started and I have owned the animated original movie on practically every format known to man. So in 2006, when the Transformers movie trailer hit the cinema and the internet, I was overjoyed. I couldn’t wait to catch a glimpse of Opitmus and Megatron. I was instantly turned from a 20 something year old man into that 7 year old child who was nearly throttled by his moth on that Christmas morning. The film itself is brilliant. It has launched the series to a whole new generation of fans. It has removed the 80’s cheesyness for the 00’s child and replaced the original robots with a newer, more sensible robot. Yet they appealed to even the most hardcore of fanboys by having the original voice of Optimus Prime, Peter Cullen, return in the new films. And there is also Megan Fox, the sultry new female face of the film. I needn’t say more…..