Many times, a TV show announcement that’s based on a popular movie sounds like a studio trying to squeeze every last ounce of life out of an intellectual property. So many ideas work better as a two-hour film rather than stretched across 10 to 15 episodes. The fact that the top 10 worst TV shows based on movies doesn’t even cover all of the bad ones is a testament to how infrequently this concept works out.
However, there are times when, miraculously, a sci-fi film inspires an even better TV series. Movies often get bigger budgets, which is often a necessity with science fiction. Millions of dollars are needed to bring to life fantastical worlds and horrific creatures. But bigger doesn’t always equal better. Sometimes, the best stories come when a far-out concept gets pared down into something manageable, with intimate details that can be best shown on the small screen.
Of course, determining whether a TV series is better than the film it’s based on is a matter of taste. We backed our decisions with of a combo of general online consensus and our own personal opinions to bring you five sci-fi TV we believe are better than their movie counterparts.
Westworld
Michael Crichton got a lot of mileage out of the idea “What if a futuristic theme park went horribly wrong?” But while “Jurassic Park” became ever-present within the zeitgeist, 1973 ‘s “Westworld,” which Crichton wrote and directed, didn’t exactly light the world on fire. It did just fine commercially and critically, but it always felt like it didn’t make full use of its premise. The movie mostly follows the human guests of Delos’ Westworld, an amusement park occupied by humanlike androids that, of course, go awry. The robots primarily function as antagonists without much depth given to the how or why.
But the HBO series “Westworld” flipped the perspective to great success. The show gives you the androids’ perspectives, as we see them slowly gain sentience and aware of their place in the world as mere tools to be used and thrown away. The show also ups the ante by offering a non-linear storyline, as we see stories in the first season play out across different timelines. The movie’s mostly a survival plot where humans escape androids, which is perfectly fun on its own. But “Westworld” as a show gave this plot newfound depth.
While the show started with a bang, it did fizzle out. “Westworld” was cancelled after four seasons, due to declining viewership and an exorbitant budget. To add insult to injury, the series was even removed from the HBO platform. At least we can chase it around free streamers like Tubi, or pay up for the DVDs. But for a glorious period, we got to see the best version of a killer robot amusement park play out as watercooler TV.
Stargate SG-1
1994’s “Stargate” had the biggest opening weekend for a film in October at the time of its release. This was despite the fact that most critics were pretty lukewarm on the sci-fi picture exploring extraterrestrial beings impacting Earth hated of all time. It’s an inauspicious start to a TV series, but across 10 seasons, “Stargate SG-1” is arguably more well-known than the movie at this point
The film introduced a ton of heady sci-fi concepts that could only be explored in two hours. “Stargate” only had one link between Earth and Abydos and its (controversial, to put it mildly) impact on ancient Egyptian civilization. “Stargate SG-1” was able to flesh out an entire network of connections between planets. It also expanded upon the mythos of Ra as well as other religions throughout Earth’s history, like Norse mythology. Everything becomes connected to offer a thought-provoking meditation on the nature of belief and faith — and the idea that it took aliens to build the pyramids gets left in the rearview.
But more than anything else, “Stargate SG-1” is just a lot more fun than “Stargate.” The film has a serious tone throughout that can make it a slog for many viewers. “Stargate SG-1” has more time to dedicate to the central team and make them feel like a family you want to watch from week to week.
Godzilla: The Series
When the U.S. had a chance to make a Godzilla movie of its own, the results were disastrous. 1998’s “Godzilla” took away Godzilla’s typical powers, like atomic breath, while having a pretty boring plot of the giant lizard running away from the military. The human characters offered nothing interesting, so this was a waste of time for all involved. And, not for nothing, 1998’s “Godzilla” was directed by Roland Emmerich who helmed the aforementioned “Stargate.”
However, “Godzilla: The Series” was pretty fun for kids. It picks up where the film left off: teasing us with one of Godzilla’s eggs remaining. In the show, that baby Godzilla grows up to be a force for humanity after imprinting on Dr. Tatopoulos (not only voiced by Ian Ziering, but homaging Patrick Tatopoulos, the production designer of both “Stargate” and “Godzilla”). With Godzilla working for the good guys, the show mostly followed a monster-of-the-week format where Godzilla was used to protect humanity from various threats. Plus, Godzilla had its atomic breath back, so this was clearly a show that was a fan of Godzilla and wanted to do right by the legendary kaiju.
Due to the film’s failure at the box office, Tristar Pictures didn’t move forward with any “Godzilla” sequels. That’s probably for the best, and the character would be handled much better in the 2014 film. But the series was a fun Saturday morning cartoon where kaiju punched each other, and sometimes, that’s all you want at the end of the day.
12 Monkeys
1995’s “12 Monkeys” is by no means a bad movie. It’s arguably Terry Gilliam’s best film and it offers a fascinating meditation on determinism. James Cole (Bruce Willis) gets sent back in time to acquire a past sample of a virus so that a cure can be made for it in the future after it’s wiped out much of humanity. But as James learns, there’s no escaping fate.
The “12 Monkeys” TV show could be seen as better simply because it takes that premise and offers a wildly different counterpoint. Whereas the film viewed the past as immutable, the series posits that maybe it could be altered, after all. As such, the series follows a similar premise, to send someone back in time to stop the virus from ever spreading but soon leads into a massive conspiracy. For something dealing with far-reaching concepts like time travel and free will, the idea behind “12 Monkeys” is better suited for a show that has enough time to explore everything in detail.
In its four seasons, “12 Monkeys” does a great job of tying up loose ends and ensuring there are no paradoxes left over. It also avoids a lot of the ambiguity that’s present in Gilliam’s “12 Monkeys” (as well as much of his other work). With more time, the show manages to dig deeper into the characters and show just how wonky time travel can become if you’re not careful.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
“Star Wars: The Clone Wars” may not necessarily be better than every single Star Wars film, but it’s certainly better than 2008 “Clone Wars” movie that kickstarted the whole thing. Arguably, the show’s even better than the entire prequel trilogy. Yes, even “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith.” The show feels like everything George Lucas actually wanted to do with this storyline, by showing the how the friendship between Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter) and Obi Wan-Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor) develops before their alliance is inevitably torn apart by Mustafar’s flames.
“The Clone Wars” also introduces fans to Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein). She didn’t make a great impression at first, but over time, she became a favorite through her emotional maturity and later disillusionment toward the Jedi Order. Anakin similarly gets more room to breathe. The prequels tend to show him as more emotional and whiny. He comes across as a bitter teenager than the future right-hand man of a dictator. But in the prequels, we see how he started with the best of intentions, and “The Clone Wars” actually help make “Revenge of the Sith” a better film by showing us how far Anakin has fallen.
The prequels had a lot of work to do. Not only did they have to depict Anakin’s downfall but also show how public trust in the Jedi could erode to allow Palpatine to manipulate the Senate. The best “Clone Wars” episodes offer fun character moments while also depicting a democracy about to crumble, making it one of the most quintessential Star Wars texts out there.
