The Film of the Series

"We're reviving a cancelled undercover police program from The '80s and revamping it for modern times. You see, the guys in charge of this stuff lack creativity and are completely out of ideas, so all they do now is recycle shit from the past and expect us all not to notice."

— Deputy Chief Hardy, 21 Jump Street

A film based, sometimes loosely, on a television series. Like The Film of the Book, with one subtle difference. Unlike The Movie and the Reunion Show, which feature the original cast of (whatever incarnation of) the series, these most often happen when the series in question has been off the air for a while, giving it a new cast and updated sensibilities and commonly take place in an Alternate Continuity from the original. Sometimes, though, as with Charlie's Angels, the movie is presented as a Sequel to the original. Members of the original cast may appear in cameo roles. In a few cases, as with the film versions of Doctor Who and The Twilight Zone (1959), they outright re-make televised episodes.

Usually, these adaptations will raise the stakes and use a more traditional "heroes saving the day" style of plot to ensure that it's a Big Damn Movie. Contrast with The Movie, compare with Continuity Reboot, contrast and compare with Non-Serial Movie. A subtrope of The Remake. If the movie is made up of scenes pulled directly from the original series it's a Compilation Movie instead.

Thanks in no small part to the success of The Addams Family, these were especially popular in The '90s.

The inverse case, where a successful film spawns a TV series continuation or adaptation, is Recycled: The Series.

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Examples:

Original series		Film version
Title	Years	Title	Year	Notes
Doctor Who	1963-89; 2005-present	Dr. Who and the Daleks	1965	And a sequel (1966). A rare example of The Film of the Series being made while the original is still in production. These directly adapted the first Dalek story, "The Daleks", and the second one, "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", made them Lighter and Softer, changed the overall premise of the series and most definitely take place in an Alternate Continuity rather than in the Whoniverse.
Monty Python's Flying Circus	1969-74	And Now For Something Completely Different	1972?	Basically a series of sketches from the TV series remade for cinema, with some new linking sequences. Intended to break the team into the US market.
Lupin III: Part 1	1971	Strange Psychokinetic Strategy	1974	It is hard to say if the film was based more on the Manga, or the Anime series, but either way, the film takes many liberties with the basic characters, forming a new story specific to the film, as well as serving as an Origins Episode for Lupin, Jigen, and Fujiko. Since Lupin tends to operate on Negative Continuity, an Alternate Continuity is perfectly acceptable explanation of events and clothes.
The Twilight Zone (1959)	1959-64	Twilight Zone: The Movie	1983	Narrated by Burgess Meredith, who appeared in four episodes of the series. Scored by Jerry Goldsmith, who scored eight episodes of the series.
Dragnet	1949-59	Dragnet	1987	Film was an Affectionate Parody of the original. Harry Morgan plays his character from the 1967-70 Revival series. (The 1954 film was The Movie.)
Tales from the Darkside	1984-88	Tales from the Darkside: The Movie	1990	The movie is a collection of short stories with a framing device of a child reading from a book in order to stall being eaten by a witch.
The Addams Family	1964-66	The Addams Family	1991	And a sequel (1993). (1998's Addams Family Reunion is the direct-to-video pilot for the TV series revival.)
The Beverly Hillbillies	1962-71	The Beverly Hillbillies	1993	Buddy Ebsen, who played Jed in the original series, had a cameo as his other famous role, Barnaby Jones.
The Fugitive	1963-67	The Fugitive	1993	And a sequel (1998). The film starred Harrison Ford as the title character and Tommy Lee Jones as the Inspector Javert. In the sequel, Jones pursues a different fugitive.
Car 54, Where Are You?	1961-63	Car 54, Where Are You?	1994	Filmed in 1990 but not released until 1994, the film basically tried to turn Car 54 into a Police Academy type movie. Original cast members Al Lewis and Nipsey Russell appeared as their original characters.
The Flintstones	1960-66	The Flintstones	1994	And a prequel (2000). The series was animated, the films were live-action.
Maverick	1957-62	Maverick	1994	Mel Gibson starred as Bret Maverick. James Garner, the original Bret Maverick, co-starred as Marshal Zane Cooper, who turned out to be Maverick's father, whom he also played in the original series as a secondary role.
The Brady Bunch	1969-74	The Brady Bunch Movie	1995	And two sequels (1996; 2002 as a Made-for-TV Movie). All three were Affectionate Parodies.
The Phil Silvers Show	1955-59	Sgt. Bilko	1996	Steve Martin starred as Sgt. Bilko.
Mission: Impossible	1966-73	Mission: Impossible	1996	And sequels (2000, 2006, 2011, 2015, 2018, 2023). Presented as a sequel to the series, not a reboot.
George of the Jungle	1967	George of the Jungle	1997	And a direct-to-video sequel (2003). Series was animated, film is live action.
Leave It to Beaver	1957-63	Leave It To Beaver	1997	Original series actors Barbara Billingsley (June Cleaver), Ken Osmond (Eddie Haskell) and Frank Bank ("Lumpy" Rutherford) made cameo appearances.
McHale's Navy	1962-66	McHale's Navy	1997	Tom Arnold played McHale. Ernest Borgnine returns as the original McHale, now an admiral, and Arnold is his son, but we're not told these facts until the final scene; Borgnine's McHale uses a codename. (The 1964 film was The Movie.)
The Avengers (1960s)	1961-69	The Avengers	1998	Patrick Macnee played John Steed in the original series and appeared in a cameo as Invisible Jones in the film. The film was based - loosely - on the Steed/Emma Peel pairing.
Lost in Space	1965-68	Lost in Space	1998	Most of the original cast have cameos in early scenes set on Earth.
Inspector Gadget	1983-86	Inspector Gadget	1999	And a direct-to-video sequel (2003). Series was animated, film is live-action.
The Mod Squad	1968-73	The Mod Squad	1999
My Favorite Martian	1963-66	My Favorite Martian	1999	Ray Walston, who played the Martian in the 1960s series, appears in a supporting role who turns out to be a Martian who's been trapped on Earth since the 1960s.
The Wild Wild West	1965-69	Wild Wild West	1999	Technically based on the original series.
Dudley Do-Right	1969-70	Dudley Do-Right	1999	Series was animated, and originally appeared as a segment on The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle. The film is live-action.
Rocky and His Friends/The Bullwinkle Show	1959-64	The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle	2000	Original series was animated; film was mostly live action. The title characters remained animated (and June Foray was brought back as the voice of Rocky), but this was still a Human-Focused Adaptation.
Charlie's Angels	1976-81	Charlie's Angels	2000	And a sequel (2003). John Forsythe returned to the role of Charlie. None of the original Angels had cameos in the 2000 film (Farrah Fawcett reportedly said that she'd only appear if she could be Charlie), but Jaclyn Smith had a cameo in the sequel. The trope is referred to at the start of the film as LL Cool J's character watches a T.J. Hooker film.
I Spy	1965-68	I Spy	2002	The characters of Kelly Robinson and Alexander Scott switched jobs and nationalities.
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?	1969-70	Scooby-Doo	2002	And a sequel (2004) and two made-for-TV prequels (2009, 2010). Series was animated, films are live action.
S.W.A.T.	1975-76	S.W.A.T.	2003	The original series is actually watched in the movie by the members of the S.W.A.T.
Starsky & Hutch	1975-79	Starsky & Hutch	2004	The film was partly an Affectionate Parody of the original. The original leads make cameoes near the end.
Thunderbirds	1965-66	Thunderbirds	2004	Series was supermarionation; film is live action. The art direction was the only part that was a faithful adaptation. (1966's Thunderbirds Are GO and 1968's Thunderbird 6 are both examples of The Movie.)
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids	1972-81	Fat Albert	2004	Series was animated; film is live action (with the cartoon characters travelling to the real world and transforming into live people).
Bewitched	1964-72	Bewitched	2005	Took an unexpected left turn by telling the story of a fictional remake of the original series — that starred a real witch.
The Dukes of Hazzard	1979-85	The Dukes of Hazzard	2005	R-rated parody remake of the family friendly TV series with Bo and Luke dumbed down, Boss Hogg and Uncle Jessie slimmed down and Sheriff Roscoe still dumb but more menacing.
The Honeymooners	1955-56	The Honeymooners	2005	Film made all the characters African Americans.
Miami Vice	1984-90	Miami Vice	2006	Done by the original creator of the series. A modern redux.
Sukeban Deka	1985	Sukeban Deka	2006	The actress who played the original Sukeban Deka cameos as the mother of the new one; the movie can be interpreted as a remake or a sequel (the mother is implied to have been a Sukeban Deka, and could be the character from the original series; the coincidence in both characters being named Asamiya Saki is explained by it being a code name). US title of remake is "Yo-yo Girl Cop".
Alvin and the Chipmunks	1983-90	Alvin and the Chipmunks	2007	And sequels (2009, 2011, 2015). Series was animated; films are live-action/CGI mix. Characters had first appeared on The Alvin Show (1961-62).
Underdog	1964-67	Underdog	2007	Series was animated, set in a world of talking animals; film is live-action and set in the real world, with a normal dog given superpowers and the ability to speak by Science.
Neon Genesis Evangelion	1995-96			with Evangelion: Death and Rebirth and End of Evangelion covering the original series (both films released in 1997). And currently being "retold" in the Rebuild films. Original and films are all animated. In addition, a western live-action adaptation of the series has been in the works for quite the while.
Get Smart	1965-70	Get Smart	2008	Steve Carrell starred as Maxwell Smart. (1980's The Nude Bomb was The Movie.)
Speed Racer	1967-68	Speed Racer	2008	Series was animated; film is live action (not counting all the CGI).
Land of the Lost	1974-76	Land of the Lost	2009	The film is more comedic than the series.
Star Trek	1966-69	Star Trek	2009	And sequels (2013, 2016). Leonard Nimoy reprised his role as the Spock from the main Star Trek universe, via Time Travel, in the first two films; the actor and character died before the third. Further films are planned. (The previous Star Trek films, by contrast, were straight examples of The Movie.) Special note that this series is not exactly a reboot, but almost a spin-off in an Alternate Timeline.
Avatar: The Last Airbender	2005-08	The Last Airbender	2010	Series is animated; the film is live action.
The A-Team	1983-87	The A-Team	2010	Could almost be considered a Prequel-Reboot as it finally tells the story of the crime that the team was accused of committing, but with a Setting Update (making the team veterans of Iraq instead of Vietnam).
Edge of Darkness	1985	Edge of Darkness	2010	Hollywood remake starring Mel Gibson.
The Yogi Bear Show	1961	Yogi Bear	2010	Series was animated; film is live-action/CGI mix.
The Sweeney	1975-78	The Sweeney	2012
21 Jump Street	1987-91	21 Jump Street	2012	And sequel 22 Jump Street (2014). Series was drama; films are played for laughs. Cameo appearance by two of the original cast.
Dark Shadows	1966-71	Dark Shadows	2012	Series was drama; film is played for laughs.
Walking with Dinosaurs	1999	Walking with Dinosaurs 3D	2013	The series was a serious speculative Mockumentary on dinosaurs, the film was turned at the last minute into a kid-oriented, comedic action-adventure movie with talking animals. In both, the animals are special effects, while the backgrounds were real-life sceneries shot on location.
Peabody's Improbable History	1959-64	Mr. Peabody & Sherman	2014	Originally an animated segment of the various Rocky and Bullwinkle series. The first of the Rocky and Bullwinkle adaptations to be entirely animated (albeit in CGI).
The Equalizer	1985-89	The Equalizer	2014	Series was drama; so was the film.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.	1964-68	The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)	2015
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers	1993-96note though Power Rangers as a franchise is still on the air	Saban's Power Rangers	2017	The nationalities of certain Rangers were switched. Bryan Cranston, who voiced two monsters in the original series, plays Zordon here. Amy Jo Johnson and Jason David Frank appear in cameos. (The 1995 film was a Non-Serial Movie.)
CHiPs	1977-83	CHIPS	2017	Affectionate Parody of the original series.
Baywatch	1989-2001	Baywatch (2017)	2017	Affectionate Parody of the original series. David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson are featured in cameos.
Widows	1983	Widows	2018	Relocates the setting from London to Chicago and makes the titular widows a more culturally diverse group.
Charlie's Angels	1976-81	Charlie's Angels	2019	Semi-reboot of the film franchise, but still set in the same continuity as the above films (and the original series). Elizabeth Banks serves as co-producer, writer and director, and co-stars as Rebecca Bosley.
Fraggle Rock	1983-87		?	Release year currently unknown.
Gilligan's Island	1964-67		?	Release year currently unknown.
MacGyver	1985-92		?	Release year currently unknown. In Development Hell due to executive producer's death; likely scrapped in favor of the the 2016 reboot.
Magnum, P.I.	1980-88		?	Release year currently unknown.

• Semi-example: The 1987 film The Untouchables (1987) was pitched as the film of the 1950s TV series, but the director and writer went back to the original historical source material, then completely ignored that history and made up a totally fictional story. Coming full circle, it was adapted into a syndicated Revival series six years later.
• Despite what you might think, the live action Transformers Film Series films are not an example as they're not based exclusively on the original animated series, but instead on the Transformers franchise as a whole. Similarly, the 2011 The Smurfs film does not apply for these reasons, as the original comics were around longer than the cartoon.

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