Animated Spinoffs of Live-Action Hits, Ranked From Weird to Wonderful
Somebody in a meeting said "What if it was a cartoon?" Here's what happened next.
In the 1980s and '90s, if a movie was a hit, there was a good chance it would show up as a Saturday-morning cartoon a year later. Some of these were strange. Some were lazy. And a few turned out better than anyone expected.
Let's count them down, from "Why?" to "Wait, this is great."
8. Mister T (1983)
The pitch: Mr. T, the tough guy from TV's The A-Team, as a cartoon.
What we got: Mr. T coaches a team of teenage gymnasts who solve mysteries while traveling in a van. REAL: the real Mr. T appeared in live-action segments at the start and end of each episode to teach a lesson.
The roast: The toughest man on TV became a gymnastics coach. There's also a dog with a mohawk.
The toast: It was sincere. Mr. T really wanted kids to learn something.
7. The Karate Kid (1989)
The pitch: The movie about patience and martial arts, as a weekly cartoon.
What we got: REAL: Daniel and Mr. Miyagi travel the world searching for a missing magical shrine. There's very little karate. It lasted 13 episodes.
The roast: They took the movie about learning to stand your ground and turned it into a treasure hunt.
The toast: Mr. Miyagi still drops wisdom like a pro.
6. Men in Black: The Series (1997)
The pitch: The funny sci-fi buddy movie, now with unlimited aliens.
What we got: A more serious, action-heavy show with way more alien designs than the movie could ever afford.
The roast: Without Will Smith's jokes, it lost some of the fun.
The toast: REAL: it ran for four seasons, longer than many shows on this list. The alien designs are a blast.
5. Extreme Ghostbusters (1997)
The pitch: Ghostbusters, but '90s.
What we got: Egon trains a new team of college students to bust ghosts.
The roast: Everything in the late '90s had to be "extreme," including ghost-catching.
The toast: It's actually a well-made show with a diverse cast, solid writing and some truly spooky episodes.
4. Jumanji (1996)
The pitch: The jungle board-game movie, every week.
What we got: Judy and Peter get sucked into the game's world each episode and must solve a riddle to escape.
The roast: The art style is wild. Characters look like they were drawn by someone who'd just discovered angles.
The toast: That wild style was on purpose, and it gives the show a creepy, unique jungle feel nobody else had.
3. Back to the Future: The Animated Series (1991)
The pitch: Doc Brown and Marty, still traveling through time.
What we got: Doc's family takes the stage, with adventures across history. REAL: Christopher Lloyd appeared as Doc in live-action segments, and a young Bill Nye did science demonstrations on the show before he got his own series.
The roast: Marty mostly takes a back seat in his own franchise.
The toast: Bill Nye. That's the toast.
2. The Real Ghostbusters (1986)
The pitch: The hit comedy, as a kids' show.
What we got: REAL: the characters look nothing like the actors, and Slimer became so popular that he got his name in the title.
The roast: Slimer went from movie villain to the team's pet.
The toast: It's genuinely great. Smart scripts, spooky ideas and a theme song that still works. Many fans like it as much as the movie.
1. Beetlejuice (1989)
The pitch: A spooky, strange movie turned into a Saturday-morning cartoon.
What we got: Lydia and Beetlejuice become best friends and go on adventures in the weird world of the Neitherworld. REAL: it was created with director Tim Burton's involvement as executive producer, and it won a Daytime Emmy.
The roast: The movie's scary ghost became a goofy prankster.
The toast: That change is why it works. The show found its own heart: a friendship between an outsider girl and a ridiculous ghost.
The lesson
The worst spinoffs copy the name and forget the heart. The best spinoffs keep the heart and change everything else. The Real Ghostbusters and Beetlejuice didn't try to be the movie. They tried to be a great cartoon.
What's the strangest spinoff you remember? Tell us in the comments.
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