TV+to+Movie+Franchises+Are+Ruining+Me

What do Transformers, G.I. Joe, Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, Dudley Do-Right, The Dukes of Hazzard, and Inspector Gadget, and Garfield all have in common? They are all television shows that I enjoyed in my youth, that have now been regurgitated for mass consumption for a new generation by the movie industry. What is the reasoning behind this fairly recent phenomena? Why are movie studios so bound and determined to ruin my fond memories of these youthful TV shows? The answer is money.

Baran says that, "Nothing succeeds like success. That, and the fact that teens and preteens still make up the largest proportion of the movie audience, is the reason so many movies are adaptations of television shows, comic books, and video games (pg. 164)." It would appear that the success of the television shows I mentioned above, as well as their appeal to the youthful audience then, has lead studio executives to believe that "re-imagining" them for todays youth will lead to more and more success. To me, it just seems like a shortcut to thinking. It's a shortcut to coming up with new and fresh ideas and creating a brand new appeal for todays youth. With Transformers and G.I. Joe specifically, they are both TV shows that have had many toys for young boys to buy and enjoy over the years. Hasbro is the company that makes both of these brands of toys. In a New York Times article the author says that, "The pair of films is the payoff of a strategy that the toy company has been cultivating for nearly a decade: infusing movie-friendly story lines into its popular playthings and teaching Hollywood that these stories can be translated to cinema screens (D. Itzkoff, 6/18/09). " This, obviously, creates an easy way to make a buck, by reintroducing these brands of toys to a new generation of young boys through these movies, they cultivate a new and fresh market for these toys. Seems like that's the main concern for alot of studio executives lately. They want to cultivate a new and fresh market for these old ideas, rather than cultivating new and fresh ideas for movies. With Transformers and G.I. Joe doing really well at the box office, and with sequels already made and in the planning, this TV to movie transformation looks like it will continue on with no end in sight. Insuring that every last fond memory of my childhood will be "re-imagined" and, in my opinion, ruined. []  Baran, S. (2010) //Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture.// Boston: McGraw-Hill   D. Itzkoff. (2009) The Movie Industry's New Playthings//.// Retrieved June 18th 2009, from The New York Times Web site: []