History Main / AdaptationDecay

* The second episode of ''CromatieHighSchool'' opens with Takashi talking about how fans constantly complain about design changes and voice acting whenever a manga is adapted into an anime, and briefly transforms into a blond, [[GenderFlip female]] {{Moe}} version of himself.

* In {{Neil Gaiman}}'s short story "The Goldfish Pool", a young writer struggles to adapt one of his novels to film. Due to ExecutiveMeddling, he is forced to discard the title, plot, characters, themes and even genre of his original book; ultimately changing it from a psychological horror story into a romantic comedy.

* Fans' typical [[BerserkButton reaction]] was [[http://www.weregeek.com/2007/05/09/ reflected here]] in ''{{Weregeek}}''.

* ''TurtlesForever'' features the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 1987]] and the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 2003]] Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles meeting and constantly getting confused over the differences in their worlds. They also note how they are LighterAndSofter than the [[Comicbook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage 1984 comic book Ninja Turtles]] they are based on.
* ''FamilyGuy''
** Peter Griffin takes this to unseen levels with "his" play of ''{{The King and I}}'' -- which, ironically, ends up being a huge success much to Lois's chagrin.

* JimmyNeutron gave us Principal Willoughby's play {{Macbeth}} [[RecycledInSpace In Space!]] It was somehow even less faithful than you would think it'd be.

* In ''Manga/TheDaughterOfTwentyFaces'', Shunka approaches one of her friends to draw a manga based off the adventures of the Bishoujo Girl Detectives (a group she is a part of). Upon reading the finished product, Shunka is annoyed to find that the artist has inserted a fictitious LoveTriangle in order to make the story more appealing to publishers.

* In ''Manga/DaughterOfTwentyFaces'', Shunka approaches one of her friends to draw a manga based off the adventures of the Bishoujo Girl Detectives (a group she is a part of). Upon reading the finished product, Shunka is annoyed to find that the artist inserted a fictitious LoveTriangle in order to make the story more appealing to publishers.

* The various film adaptations of ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' in ''Literature/AnnoDracula: Johnny Alucard'' take massive liberties with the source text. The title film in "Francis Ford Coppolla's Dracula" was made instead of ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' and is simply that film with the names and locations changed. In "The Other Side of Midnight", [[spoiler: John wants as many versions of ''Dracula'' out there as possible as part of a PostModernMagic ritual to get everyone to ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve in the Count; it doesn't matter if most of them are any good or not.]]

* The various film adaptations of ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' in ''Literature/AnnoDracula: Johnny Alucard'' take massive liberties with the source text. In "The Other Side of Midnight", [[spoiler: John wants as many versions of ''Dracula'' out there as possible as part of a PostModernMagic ritual to get everyone to ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve in the Count; it doesn't matter if most of them are any good or not.]]

* The various film adaptations of ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' in ''Literature/AnnoDracula: Johnny Alucard'' take massive liberties with the source text. In "The Other Side of Midnight", [[spoiler: John wants as many versions of ''Dracula'' out there as possible to as part of a PostModernMagic ritual to get everyone to ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve in the Count; it doesn't matter if most of them are any good or not.]]

* ''TheXFiles'' episode "Hollywood AD" centred around a film being made based on Mulder and Scully's work. The BigBad is an insane bishop using a magical artifact to take over the world, his henchmen are gun-toting zombies, Mulder (played by Garry Shandling!) cracks cheesy one-liners during fight scenes and there is a romantic subplot between the two agents.

!!This page is for InUniverseExamplesOnly. For RealLife examples of Adaptation Decay, please go to one of these subtropes:

* ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk9oa_PiXAk The Brothers Mario]]'' is a ''[[InvokedTrope deliberate]]'' attempt at this, in the style of a parody, turning Mario and Luigi into standard BrooklynRage action heroes and Bowser into a ScaryBlackMan heading a [[TheCartel drug cartel]]. In short, the [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV GTA4]]-based {{machinima}} makes the ''actual'' [[{{Film/SuperMarioBros}} Mario Brothers film]], well-known for its AdaptationDecay, look like a PragmaticAdaptation. ''The Brothers Mario'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw7CKnfk4JY&feature=relmfu It got a sequel]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpZUHNvFubg and its own theme song]].

* An AlternateCharacterInterpretation of the ''ElMariachi'' trilogy features this. Instead of each movie being a true sequel to its predecessors, they are instead retelling the same story: the first movie is how events actually happened, the second is the underground rumor and second-hand talk, and the third is the story as fullblown legend. The third movie especially makes this feasible, with several characters from flashbacks taking on each other's traits.

** Most fans pretty much say the same thing to [[TheLastAirbender the film of the series]].

!!This page is for InUniverseExamplesOnly. For RealLife examples of Adaptation Decay, go to one of these subtropes:

Distantly related to {{sequelitis}}. TheyJustDidntCare is most of the times related to this trope.

''Note: if you see an example of this trope on a work's YMMV page, please remove it. If it is in-universe example, then please move it to the main page.''

('''Note: if you see an example of this trope on a work's YMMV page, please ''remove it''. Unless the example is in-universe, in which case, move it back to the main page.''')

Distantly related to {{Sequelitis}}. TheyJustDidntCare is most of the times related to this trope.

* JimmyNeutron gave us Prinipal Wilabee's play {{Macbeth}} [[RecycledInSpace In Space!]]. It was somehow even less faithful than you would think it'd be.

* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' played around with this type in the ''[[Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder Dino Thunder]]'' episode "Lost and Found in Translation". In it, the Rangers discover a Japanese television show which seems to be based off of their adventures (which is really an episode of ''BakuryuuSentaiAbaranger'', the show used to create ''Dino Thunder''). Conner is initially upset with the show for, in his opinion, making a mockery of both the Rangers and America, but by the end of the episode he learns AnAesop about diversity.

* Invoked in-universe in ''Anime/AquarionEVOL'' with "Skies of Aquaria", [[SadlyMythstaken a "Hollywood" version]] of the events and legend in [[Anime/{{Aquarion}} the first anime]]

* In ''{{Californication}}'', David Duchovny's character wrote a book called ''[[Music/{{Slayer}} God Hates Us All]]''. The movie adaptation became a romantic comedy called ''[[{{Queen}} Crazy Little Thing Called Love]]''. His daughter points out that that shows his work reflected his deeply-buried idealistic side when trying to sweet-talk him.

Every step away from the original property involves new input from multiple directions which dilutes and changes the flavor and behavior of the story. Adaptation Decay can sometimes be minimized, and each generation of the process will remain reasonably faithful to the original. A strong example would become an InNameOnly adaptation.

The gradual distortion or even disintegration of a world and its characters during its odyssey from original source material to movie to TV movie then to television series then to video game and finally to licensed derivative work. The dramatic equivalent of photocopying a photocopy of a photocopy.

Every step away from the original property involves new input from multiple directions which dilutes and changes the flavor and behavior of the story. When handled well, Adaptation Decay can be minimized, and each generation of the process will remain reasonably faithful to the original. Handled poorly, and the TV series version of a favorite novel will look like a completely different product that just happens to have [[InNameOnly some of the same names]].

{{Anime}} frequently suffer some degree of Adaptation Decay, since many series are based on either manga or video games, which are subject to less censorship than TV shows. More {{egregious}} examples include dropping or adding characters. Additionally, when an anime series is brought to the United States, it may suffer [[{{Macekre}} further decay]] if it is being translated with an eye toward broadcast markets -- dialogue may be arbitrarily changed or censored, and entire plotlines may be removed.