Should a TV show movie cater to a new audience?? by lwaves

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Should a TV show movie cater to a new audience??

POSTED BY: LWAVES
UPDATED: Friday, November 30, 2007 10:56
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Monday, November 26, 2007 7:23 AM

This question came about from a review in another thread about the new BSG: Razor movie.
The reviewer stated that any newcomers or casual viewers of the series wouldn't have a clue what was going on.
I read this as a negative comment against the show and have seen similar comments about other movies based on TV shows.

Why should an established show cater to a new audience?
If the movie is intended for the cinema (i.e. Serenity, X-Files or even Star Trek) then I can see the point because who will pay a lot of money to see a film they won't understand. Also people seem to watch films at the cinema that they may not bother with at home (look how many converts saw Serenity first and then caught up with the series).

But if the movie is intended for TV viewing (and I include DVD movies as they are watched at home) I really don't see why they should bother.
I see it that if you haven't been caught up in the show by now then a new movie isn't going to grab you.
Maybe this is just my way of thinking as I like to see shows in order, from the start. I find it difficult to 'jump in' part way through. If a show grabs my attention mid-run then I will always go back to the pilot/first series to see if that gets me too. If it does, great, if not then I probably won't continue.

If shows like Lost or Heroes ever do a movie I'd hate to think of them spending time allowing for a new audience by establishing characters and settings again.

Anyone else with views on this, or am I alone?

"I don't believe in suicide, but if you'd like to try it it might cheer me up to watch."

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Monday, November 26, 2007 7:57 AM

CRYSTALKEI

If shows like Lost or Heroes ever do a movie I'd hate to think of them spending time allowing for a new audience by establishing characters and settings again.

preach it! that would be pointless...but ya know the studios would try it.

Jayne Cobb, the Dick Casablancas of Firefly

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Monday, November 26, 2007 8:20 AM

STORYMARK

It depends on what they're trying to to. Razor wasn't really designed to bring in new fans. If it does, bonus - but that didn't really seem like their intent. Serenity, on the other hand, was made to attract new fans.

Budget also plays a factor. Razor was done for, essentially, the budget of 2 episodes, so it wasn't nessesary to draw a lot of new people in order to make it's money back. Serenity cost several magnitudes more money than an episode, and thus needed new folks to justify the expense.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

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Monday, November 26, 2007 8:32 AM

BLUEBOMBER

Movie studios are interested in one thing - the bottom line $$$. It'd be hard for them to justify green-lighting a project that only a relatively small viewing population would be able to get. In order for them to make any money, it has to have some sort of mass appeal. Not saying that "genre" films don't make money (take "Spiderman" or "Pirates of the Caribbean"), but it's gotta attract more than just a handfull of fans. It has to, if it's going to be commercially successful.

Television and film are two separate media. These stories just can't be told the same way. For a series to leap to the big screen, a lot of stuff ends up getting left out (which we are all familiar with). So it usually boils down to one of two choices. You can (A) make a box-office hit that alienates and pisses off a large portion of your fan base, or (2) make an enjoyable movie for the fans that's true to the source material and go broke.

There are, of course, some notable exceptions. The premise of Star Trek is pretty straightforward, I think (at least ST:TOS and ST:TNG), and the episodes were mostly self-contained, so it was less of a stretch for those movies to attempt to draw viewers who weren't familiar with the Trek universe. Same with "The Simpsons." But I agree: a "Lost" or "Heroes" feature would be an absolute travesty.

"Mwah ha ha ha...mine is an evil laugh. Now die."

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Monday, November 26, 2007 8:36 AM

THESOMNAMBULIST

Well part of making a TV show is for people to watch it, so I believe that at the core of every great show you should be trying to attract an audience. Partly through great story telling and partly by show direction. The new audience is just as important as the established audience. Had the newer audiences flocked in during the airing of Firefly, it may have helped to the continuation of the series... Maybe.

Buffy managed it very succesfully.

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Monday, November 26, 2007 8:39 AM

BLUEBOMBER

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
It depends on what they're trying to to. Razor wasn't really designed to bring in new fans. If it does, bonus - but that didn't really seem like their intent. Serenity, on the other hand, was made to attract new fans.

I read a post earlier that criticized the "viral marketing" campaign Universal used for the BDM. Do you think "Serenity" would've done better at the box office if it'd had a more conventional marketing plan?

"Mwah ha ha ha...mine is an evil laugh. Now die."

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Monday, November 26, 2007 10:38 AM

STORYMARK

That's hard to say. Despite all the complaining I see around here that Universal didn't promote Serenity, I'd seen the trailer in the theatre several times, saw a LOT of TV spots for it, and a number of print ads, as well. So, from my perspective, it did receieve a standard marketing push.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

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Monday, November 26, 2007 4:46 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

I think if they were planning on having a spinoff series about the Pegasus, then it would make sense to open this up to an entirely new audience (like Atlantis did), but we already know how that story ends. I see no reason why they should have written this so newcomers would know every detail of what was happening. Look what happened when Lucas put together a story we all knew the outcome of and wrote it for a whole new audience.

Besides... the plot behind Battlestar is so deep that to be able to provide that to newcomers in the span of a few hours would be impossible to accomplish. I thought the first XMen was pretty boring with all the character development they did and I would assume that it would be at least that bad were they to rehash everything that fans already knew, for the benefit of a few thousand or so new viewers.

Why waste time trying to bring it to a new audience if they've already announced that this is the last season of the show? Particularly when a lot of fans have invested many hours of their lives keeping up with three seasons of the show already.

I think Battlestar is great enough that, if Razor is on par, it would bring with it enough intrigue to sell DVDs or entice people to see the marathons of the first 3 seasons they will no doubt be running before the 4th season.

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." http://www.myspace.com/6ixstringjack

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Monday, November 26, 2007 4:50 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
That's hard to say. Despite all the complaining I see around here that Universal didn't promote Serenity, I'd seen the trailer in the theatre several times, saw a LOT of TV spots for it, and a number of print ads, as well. So, from my perspective, it did receieve a standard marketing push.

Not calling you a liar by any means, just giving my perspective here.

I watch a lot more TV than I probably should and I don't ever once recall hearing about Serenety until my brother finally got me to watch Firefly back in early 2006. I watch Sci-Fi too, but I don't think I really watched much on Sci-Fi back then except for the occasional episode of Stargate.

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." http://www.myspace.com/6ixstringjack

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Monday, November 26, 2007 5:26 PM

THEHEROOFWILLIAMTOWN

Yeah i hate this kind of stuff. If you didn't watch the show well bad luck. I don't believe a movie which only has soo much time to tell a story and it shouldn't have to waste time on those who didn't follow the show before the movie. This is the same for Big screen or TV in my book.

It's pretty poor form to completely ignore a show and then go see a movie and sook about it not explaining enough. I mean if you were planning to go see it a little bit of research goes a long way.

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Friday, November 30, 2007 5:04 AM

KACEK

Also works for movies based on books. Re: The Lord of the Rings and the Narnia series.
Research helps.

Maybe that isn't quite the same, because most books have some kind of retelling if they are a sequel.

It's one of the reasons I'm hesitant to go see The Golden Compass . It's a book I've never read, and the previews are not giving me enough info to decide if I want to spend all that money on fancy-dress polar bears.

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Friday, November 30, 2007 7:50 AM

STORYMARK

While I understand fans the existing properties wanting a movie to not pander to new folks - the do your own research mentality - it really is unrelaistic in business terms. That approach will only draw in existing fans, and that is a quick way to die at the boxoffice.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

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Friday, November 30, 2007 10:56 AM

RALLEM

I would say that a television show would have to pander to a new audience as well because movies cost lots of money to make and they need as many people to attend as they can, but that goes doubley for a failed television show which lacked the ratings needed to keep it afloat. I will grant you that Fox did not really give Joss or Firefly a fighting chance at attaining those ratings, but that does not change things for the movie's sake of having to pander to new customers. I myself am a new fan of Firefly/Serenity and I would not have known about it if I didn't see the Firefly Box set for sale. I had a vague recollection of the series when I purchased the box set, but no actual knowledge of seeing the show.

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