The Displacement of IP that originally started as literary books.

Have you ever stopped to wonder about all those movies who are based on Literature but somehow, despite all that's changed,

Most people seem to think that the movie is where it all started?....

At least some interpretation of it.

Yeah, this has been happening with some literature that has gotten the treatment from Novel to Film.

But there comes a time where the Novel is not that well known but somehow, the film is so well known that it eventually displaces the novel to begin with.

So here's a list of Films based on Novels that have displaced their literary originals.

Note that I will not list Disney Adaptations as for those films, even their literaray original novels are still well known and are still contested on whether their still better than the more well known films we grew up with and still love to this day.

SHREK!

Yes, that Shrek. 

Made by the late WILLIAM STEIG, this picture book was the basis for all the adaptations of DREAMWORK's most famous lovable OGRE.

Most people, especially millennials, Gen-Zers, and beyond don't know that SHREK was originally a picture book but it is.

In fact, the book spent almost an entire decade trying to get a movie off the ground before it became the CGI Classic we all know and love.

Not even the death of Chris Farley, or Dreamwork's lack of faith with the project before the sudden success was enough to stop this OGRE from receiving his fame and glory.

While a lot of us don't know that Shrek was originally a picture book, 

we did at least get exposed to STEIG's other books while we were in Elementary School at points in our early school years.

Such as this one shown below.

Fun Fact: Did you know that the narration for the 1993 adaptation of SYLVESTER AND THE MAGIC PEBBLE was done by Lord Farquaad? 

Yes, it's true. Done by John Lithgow, the tallest actor known to man who ironically voiced the shortest man in all of DULOC.

And while most people remember Shrek for the movies, I did read an interesting find that WILLIAM STEIG liked the fact that the film increased sales of his original 1990 book.

OVER THE HEDGE

Lots of us have seen this film to the point we never realized there was a comic series to begin with....

While the film is more well known, the 1995 comic that was made by Michael Fry, the same guy who made the comic series COMMITTED, from which the film is based on is not as well known....

Go ahead, Prove me wrong but OVER THE HEDGE was originally a comic book and I will hazard a guess that the comics were downright more sardonic than the film is but then again, Executives always demand that we tone down the sardonic nature of the original work just so we can market to children.

With the exception of HAMMY, RJ and VERNE are not thrilled that their sardonic adventures got toned down in the 2006 CGI movie from DREAMWORKS.

THE IRON GIANT

A lot of use grown up with this film regardless of BOX-OFFICE or Thanksgiving airings but half of us barely know that the film was originally a 1968 book made by Ted Hughes.

THE IRON MAN ...

This is the book that spearheaded a BRAD BIRD Classic to all us animation fans but the story behind it's inception is actually tragic than parts of the novel or the end of the film.

The book was made by Ted Hughes in an attempt to calm down his daughters after Sylvia Plath's suicide.

While the film is based on THE IRON MAN, 

The title was changed to THE IRON GIANT so that Warner Bros. won't get sued by MARVEL over the use of the name IRON MAN which happens to be the name of the MARVEL super hero.

And this was a good 10 years before Disney bought MARVEL but I guess a good 9 years before ROBERT DOWNEY JR. got the role of the superhero.

Either way or another, IRON GIANT himself is better off emulating Superman than Ironman....

Just don't introduce the Iron Giant personally to this incarnation of Superman......

though I'm sure he would get along very well with this incarnation of LOIS LANE

And Kara Zor-El.....

THE POLAR EXPRESS

Now this is an interesting case of an adaptation where we are aware of the original book before the film took over.

In case you're wondering what the original book version of POLAR EXPRESS is, here's the front cover of said 1985 book as written and Illustrated by CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG.

This book was what I was exposed to early on in my early school years before I saw ROBERT ZEMECKIS' 2004 adaptation.

Some of use have long since forgotten what the book is like while others mostly remember the film for what it's worth as well as TOM HANKS.

I still remember that December of 2004 when my mother took me to CANADA PLACE in VANCOUVER to watch this film on that bigass IMAX Theater they had there.

Too bad the IMAX Theater has long since closed down and now in it's place is this attraction called FLYOVER CANADA. 

The Brave Little Toaster

Yes, I know this is Disney but BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER is not based on anything fairytale-wise so I can exempt this from my NO-DISNEY examples of Adaptation displacement.

Also, the film is not even remotely Disney despite the original film being distributed by the MOUSE HOUSE.

The reality is THE BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER is an Independent film who's source material somehow originated from the then relatively new back in the 1980s Novella by Thomas M. Disch.

It originally had it's start on the August 1980 Issue of....

Then the novella got reprinted later in 1986.... 

so roughly a year before the HYPERION PICTURES animated classic was released into theaters.

But before the reprint, a certain animator at Disney named JOHN LASSETER read the original short story and was so mesmerized by it that he decided to turn it into an animated film but not just any animated film but rather a 2D Animated Film using the then BRAND SPANKING NEW CGI for Backgrounds and props.

2D Characters on 3DCG environments?

Nowadays, especially with ANIME Fans, this is very controversial combination...

but Back in the 1980s, this was seen as revolutionary.

In fact, John Lasseter wanted to use CGI to innovate in animation because just like with Don Bluth, he felt that the MOUSE HOUSE under RON MILLER was stagnating in Animation after Walt and brother Roy's deaths in 1966 and 1971.

So to reintroduce Multiplane and bring back innovation, Lasseter decided to render a 2D/3DCG test animation based on Maurice Sendak's WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE to show the executives what the style of animation Lasseter was going for.

While Ron Miller and Ed Hansen were impressed, the were not sold on the project so they fired Lasseter after the presentation as well as his comments on the projected budget of the film.

But not wanting to waste the TOASTER concept, Disney transferred production towards the Newly opened HYPERION PICTURES and the film was instead made as the fully 2D Animated film we all know and love since 1987.

But for me, I'll only watch the Original 1987 film.

I personally don't care for the sequels TO THE RESCUE or GOES TO MARS.

Regardless if MARS is the only sequel based on DISCH's books.

The funny thing is that the Original film is not on DISNEY+.

I'm guessing the film is too INDEPENDANT enough to be allowed to be on the MOUSE HOUSE's streaming service but I've done research and as it turns out, it's a rights issue due to the fact that the film was mostly shown at Film Festivals and Disney Channel back in the day.

Oh well, At least I have this 4K Restored Print from ARCHIVE.ORG:

https://archive.org/details/youtube-iAaabmic2pw

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

To all those who still fiercely believe the 1987 cartoon is 10x better than the future adaptations of of the TMNT, you're not going to like this revelation but....

TMNT originally started as a comic book series back in December 1980.

And a pretty dark one by the looks of it.

Take a look at this below:

KEVIN EASTMAN and PETER LAIRD, the original creators of the Comics, were not happy with MURAKAMI-WOLF's Television adaptation due to the toned down nature of the Comics but hey, no creator of Dark and Edgy Comics were happy with Animation Studios toning down their content just to meet strict Animation Television Guidelines.

but then again, we the viewers don't care what those original creators think. 

If the 1987 Cartoon was what we grew up with and spearheaded the animation renaissance, then we stick with it.

The Magic School Bus

How many people you see on social media talk about the books?

When people think of MAGIC SCHOOL BUS, they think of the 1994 PBS series but not the book series that it originated from.

And yes, I've read the original MAGIC SCHOOL BUS books back in elementary school so that should give you an idea that the books existed.

DOUBLY SO,

Since we lost JOANNA COLE on July 12 2020,

and most recently BRUCE DEGEN on November 7 2024.

R.I.P to the original Writer and Illustrator. You both earned your rest.

ARTHUR

Once again, I will confirm that the ARTHUR books are a thing.

And yes, I've read the books back when I was in Elementary School too.

What's funny is that half of Social Media either never read the books or they have read the original Arthur Books but have promptly forgotten about them due to the everlasting longevity of the PBS animated series.

I highly recommend reading the original books but if it were up to me, I prefer if you read the original prints of the books because just like every other Cartoon/Literary Character, Arthur had to go through an evolution where he started with a long nose like a real-life Aardvark.

But as the years went by since 1976, Arthur's Aardvark nose gradually shrank.

Before culminating in the October 1996 Series that has since overtaken anything in ARTHUR media.... until 2023 when the show aired it's final episode.

CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG

Yes, Clifford was originally a book series.

It didn't originally start with the 2000 Tv Series starring the late JOHN RITTER.

I've read a few of the original books before so that should give you some insight.

And despite what everybody thinks, Clifford's Puppy Days was not created to get around John Ritter's sudden death in 2003.

Sorry I don't have any images as I'm sorely lacking of any.

THE SMURFS

Before you ask, yes, THE SMURFS originally started as a Belgian Comic Series in 1958 under the original French Title LES SCHTROUMPFS.

It started originally within SPIROU magazine but eventually branched into it's own series.

About half the time, I see people on Social Media say that it was HANNA-BARBERA that created the SMURFS, 

including John Kricfalusi 

(Who hated working on HB's adaptation of the Belgian Comic.)

.... or maybe we knew all along that the SMURFS originated as a comic....

but like with ASTERIX, the SMURFS rarely gets printed into AMERICAN Newspapers so don't ask how HANNA-BARBERA got the rights to make their TV Series in the 80s.

And HANNA-BARBERA wasn't the first to make a cartoon based on a Belgian Comic as there was also a version of THE SMURFS made in the 1960s

But just like with THE ALVIN SHOW from 1961,

almost nobody wants to admit that the 60s version of said I.P was a thing and would fiercely state that it's the 80s version that what started.

Blame the whole perception on I.P Copyright snarls.

BABAR

Now admittingly, I've only ever watched the 1989 CBC/HBO Cartoon based on BABAR but I was surprised to hear it was even based on a book written way back at the relative start of the GREAT DEPRESSION.... 1931.

I'll have to find relatively good 480P resolution prints of the 1989 Cartoon and PDFs of the Book on ARCHIVE.ORG when the time permits.

and last but not least DOUG....

well sort of.

It's been said that DOUG was originally a picture book..... or Novella..... 

as Written by JOE AARON and Illustrated by JIM JENKINS.

but unfortunately, JIM couldn't find a publisher for the original 1984 book so he instead relegated his character into Commercials before giving his cartoon kid his big break as the ABSOLUTE VERY FIRST NICKTOON before selling the kid off to DISNEY in 1996.

But he didn't waste the plotline of the book DOUG'S GOT A NEW PAIR OF SNEAKERS.

Half of the book's plot was sort of reused in the 1991 Nickelodeon episode

DOUG'S COOL SHOES

while the book, with some minor tweaks to reflect what series it's associated with, would finally be published by DISNEY PRESS in 1997 under the title:

DOUG'S BIG SHOE DISASTER.

But by then, DOUG's shoes have lost the redness in the design.

All because he took Sky Davis' advice on footwear preservation too literally in 1991.

"Guess I should have warned him about TV NETWORK's and Voice Actor Billy West's salary dispute."

And that concludes this post.

I had some others teased back in November but I lost track due to other posts as well as my Job at the Airport.

Also, I've changed Keyboards once again.

I'm no longer using the Razer Tenkeyless Linear Board I was using throughout 2024 but rather I'm using my newly PURCHASED on CYBER-MONDAY

EPOMAKER DYNATAB75 Tactile Keyboard.

It's nice and Tactile and very thocky to type on.

Perfect for the Productivity Obsessed Typist...

But part of the reason why I went with the Keyboard was because I wanted something that's Gasket-Mounted and can let me change the switches in the future.

Something my Previous Razer Board can't let me do......

If only I bought the V4 Model since that let you swap out the switches.....

Oh well, let's see how well these WISTERIA Tactile switches work for me....

If by January these aren't to my liking, I can always go on AMAZON and buy myself some GATERON, AKKO, or whatever switches I want.