History SpiritualAdaptation / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/{{Westworld}}'' can be watched not only as a TV remake of the [[Film/{{Westworld}} original film]], but also as a modern day update of Čapek's ''Theatre/{{RUR}}'', given [[ArtificialHuman its highly organic robots]] and themes related to bioethics and corporate short-sightedness.

** ''Firefly'' is also often compared to ''TabletopGame/Traveller'', and there has been [[https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/13668/is-joss-whedons-firefly-based-on-the-traveller-rpg-he-played speculation]] that the series was actually based on a campaign.

** The Upside Down is a DarkWorld filled with monsters, fog, and crackling radio transmissions that has begun leaking into [[EverytownAmerica a small, ordinary American town]]. Among the players are a well-meaning police officer, a parent searching for their child who's starting to doubt their own sanity, a young girl with PsychicPowers who opened the portal between this world and our own, and TheConspiracy searching for this girl. It should be no surprise that the Duffers [[http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/08/26/how-silent-hill-dark-souls-and-the-last-of-us-influenced-stranger-things described it]] as having been heavily inspired by the Otherworld from the ''Franchise/SilentHill'' games. It makes for a damn good translation of the Otherworld to television (even if it was caused by [[MadScience science]] rather than [[ReligionOfEvil the occult]]), the comparisons growing even more apparent with the second season portraying it as downright [[CosmicHorrorStory Lovecraftian]] ([[Creator/HPLovecraft that author]] having been a major influence on the games, along with King).

** Eleven's background, as a young girl subjected to experiments by the government in order to turn her into a weapon, also shares a number of similarities with [[ComicBook/{{X23}} X-23]], the main difference being their power sets and what the government planned to use them for (X-23 has WolverineClaws and a HealingFactor and was created as a SuperSoldier, while Eleven has {{telepathy}} and [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] and was intended to serve as a super-''spy''). [[Creator/MillieBobbyBrown]], Eleven's actress, even auditioned for the role of Laura/X-23 in ''Film/{{Logan}}'' shortly before getting this one instead.

* ''Series/{{Merlin}}'' has been compared to a fantasy version of ''Series/{{Smallville}}''.

* Constance M. Burge has acknowledged that ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' was partly inspired by the 1996 horror film ''Film/TheCraft'', another story about a group of [[HotWitch attractive young witches]], though in this version, the witches are heroic rather than [[WickedWitch evil]]. Creator/RobinTunney and Rachel True, two of the stars of ''The Craft'', [[https://ew.com/movies/2017/10/17/the-craft-oral-history/ were less]] [[http://toofab.com/2017/06/22/the-craft-remake-charmed-rachel-true-thowback-thursday/ diplomatic,]] calling ''Charmed'' a flat-out ripoff. (Tunney even said that, in the past, she'd been mistakenly thought to have starred on ''Charmed''.) The show's RealSongThemeTune, Love Spit Love's cover of [[Music/TheSmiths "How Soon Is Now?"]], was even originally recorded for the soundtrack to ''The Craft''.

* ''Series/SuperhumanSamuraiSyberSquad'' can be seen as a live-action version of ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'', before Creator/MichaelBay's [[Film/{{Transformers}} film adaptation]] arrives. Given the [[Series/DenkouChoujinGridman source material]] being a collaboration between Creator/TsuburayaProductions (''Franchise/UltraSeries'') and Takara (one of the co-shareholders of ''Transformers'' with Hasbro), this isn't a coincidence.

** Convoluted plots with plenty of memory tempering and world-hopping, a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover with just about everything in the Creator/{{Disney}} catalog, and a naive kid caught in the center and trying to set things right. It's also the closest we get to a TV adaptation of ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts''.

* Constance M. Burge has acknowledged that ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' was partly inspired by the 1996 horror film ''Film/TheCraft'', another story about a group of [[HotWitch attractive young witches]], though in this version, the witches are heroic rather than [[WickedWitch evil]]. Creator/RobinTunney and Rachel True, two of the stars of ''The Craft'', [[https://ew.com/movies/2017/10/17/the-craft-oral-history/ were less]] [[http://toofab.com/2017/06/22/the-craft-remake-charmed-rachel-true-thowback-thursday/ diplomatic,]] calling ''Charmed'' a flat-out ripoff. The show's RealSongThemeTune, Love Spit Love's cover of [[Music/TheSmiths "How Soon Is Now?"]], was even originally recorded for the soundtrack to ''The Craft''.

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' was partly inspired by the 1996 horror film ''Film/TheCraft'', another story about a group of [[HotWitch attractive young witches]], though in this version, the witches are more heroic. Creator/RobinTunney and Rachel True, two of the stars of ''The Craft'', [[https://ew.com/movies/2017/10/17/the-craft-oral-history/ were less]] [[http://toofab.com/2017/06/22/the-craft-remake-charmed-rachel-true-thowback-thursday/ diplomatic,]] calling ''Charmed'' a flat-out ripoff. The show's RealSongThemeTune, Love Spit Love's cover of [[Music/TheSmiths "How Soon Is Now?"]], was even originally recorded for the soundtrack to ''The Craft''.

** Eleven's background, as a young girl subjected to experiments by the government in order to turn her into a weapon, also shares a number of similarities with [[ComicBook/{{X23}} X-23]], the main difference being their power sets and what the government planned to use them for (X-23 has WolverineClaws and a HealingFactor and was created as a SuperSoldier, while Eleven has {{telepathy}} and [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] and was intended to serve as a super-''spy''). [[Creator/MillieBrown Millie Bobby Brown]], Eleven's actress, even auditioned for the role of Laura/X-23 in ''Film/{{Logan}}'' shortly before getting this one instead.

* Creator/JossWhedon created ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' because he was disappointed with [[Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer the original movie he wrote]]. While the show retains the lead character of the film and some of its mythology, the actual meat of the show feels like it was adapting a different vampire film: ''Film/TheLostBoys''. Both are horror-comedies about teenagers raised by single mothers who move to a small California beach town only to find it crawling with vampires, and team up with other local kids and an older mentor in order to fight back against them, all while wearing the style, music, and attitude of their respective decades on their sleeves and frequently making GenreSavvy comments about vampire stories. Whedon has acknowledged the influence, saying that the character of Spike, a bleached-blond vampire with [[TheQuincyPunk punk-rock mannerisms and fashion sense]] who was initially introduced as the BigBad of ''Buffy''[='=]s second season, was [[http://www.slayage.com/news/020609-joss_dvd.html partly inspired]] by David, the villain of ''The Lost Boys'', and that he [[http://mentalfloss.com/article/73728/9-found-facts-about-lost-boys took the idea]] of the vampires' GameFace on ''Buffy'' from ''The Lost Boys''.

* ''Series/TheBorgias'': This show is just close enough to being an adaptation of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'' that one half-expects [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood Ezio and company]] to show up at any time.

** Eleven's arc in the first season is probably the closest we're ever going to come to a live-action adaptation of ''Manga/ElfenLied'' (albeit with interdimensional monsters instead of {{gorn}}), right down to calling Dr. Brenner "Papa", with the Duffers [[https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-stranger-things-the-duffer-bros-on-how-they-made-the-tv-hit-of-the-summer citing the show as an influence]]. Her background also shares a number of similarities with ComicBook/{{X23}}, the main difference being their power sets ({{telepathy}} and [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] rather than WolverineClaws and a HealingFactor). [[Creator/MillieBrown Millie Bobby Brown]], Eleven's actress, even auditioned for the role of Laura/X-23 in ''Film/{{Logan}}'' shortly before getting this one instead.

** It's also a pretty good TV adaptation of the computer game ''VideoGame/{{Afterlife}}'', with Michael serving as the PlayerCharacter from that game designing a custom [[{{Heaven}} "Good Place"]] for the main characters. [[spoiler:It still works even after TheReveal, when it turns out that he was ''actually'' designing a custom [[{{Hell}} "Bad Place"]] to torment them.]]

* The CruelTwistEnding of Season One of ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' makes it one to Creator/JeanPaulSartre's ''Theatre/NoExit''.

** The premise of "Hated In The Nation" sounds like it came right out of the ''Manga/GhostInTheShell'' manga series - especially its anime adaptation ''[[Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex Stand Alone Complex]]''. Some fans would argue that this is more [Manga/GhostInTheShell GitS]] than its 2017 live-action film adaptation.

* The ''Series/BlackMirror'' episode "San Junipero", upon TheReveal, can be said to be an unofficial TV adaptation of [[spoiler:''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'', with both works revolving around virtual worlds rooted in the iconography of TheEighties. (In ''Ready Player One'', it was '80s geek culture, while "San Junipero" is based more on the broader pop culture of the time.)]]

** Due to shared inspiration (specifically, the real life UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses), fans have considered ''Television/GameOfThrones'' the closest thing to a DarkerAndEdgier (as if that was necessary) live action adaptation of VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics they're ever likely to see.

* The CruelTwistEnding of Season One of ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' makes it one to Jean-Paul Sartre's ''Theater/NoExit''.

* ''Series/TheOrville'': Creator/SethMacFarlane pitched a Franchise/StarTrek series idea and was turned down. So he [[StartMyOwn started his own]] [[Series/{{Futurama}} with blackjack and hookers]]. Well, maybe not those, but he did recruit a "who's who" of ''Next Generation'' and ''Voyager'' alumni. It's very much a Franchise/StarTrek series, just one with a rude sense of humor and a lot of [[AffectionateParody loving]] [[DeconReconSwitch deconstruction and reconstruction]] of Trek tropes.

* ''Series/VeronicaMars'' is essentially the best ''Franchise/NancyDrew'' TV series ever made, albeit updated for the 2000s with a DarkerAndEdgier tone. Its creator Rob Thomas even explicitly [[http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/sxsw-director-rob-thomas-predicts-nancy-drew-like-future-for-veronica-mars-1201128474/ compared the two]].

** It's also been called a cynical, deconstructed version of ''Series/{{Friends}}''.

** The Upside Down is a DarkWorld filled with monsters, fog, and crackling radio transmissions that has begun leaking into [[EverytownAmerica a small, ordinary American town]]. Among the players are a well-meaning police officer, a parent searching for their child who's starting to doubt their own sanity, a young girl with PsychicPowers who opened the portal between this world and our own, and TheConspiracy searching for this girl. It should be no surprise that the Duffers [[http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/08/26/how-silent-hill-dark-souls-and-the-last-of-us-influenced-stranger-things described it]] as having been heavily inspired by the Otherworld from the ''Franchise/SilentHill'' games. It makes for a damn good translation of the Otherworld to television (even if it was caused by [[science]] rather than [[ReligionOfEvil the occult]]), the comparisons growing even more apparent with the second season portraying it as downright [[CosmicHorrorStory Lovecraftian]] ([[Creator/HPLovecraft that author]] having been a major influence on the games, along with King).

** Eleven's arc in the first season is probably the closest we're ever going to come to a live-action adaptation of ''Manga/ElfenLied'' (albeit with interdimensional monsters instead of {{gorn}}), right down to calling Dr. Brenner "Papa". Her background also shares a number of similarities with ComicBook/{{X23}}, the main difference being their power sets ({{telepathy}} and [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] rather than WolverineClaws and a HealingFactor). [[Creator/MillieBrown Millie Bobby Brown]], Eleven's actress, even auditioned for the role of Laura/X-23 in ''Film/{{Logan}}'' shortly before getting this one instead.

** The show's creators Matt and Ross Duffer were originally planning on doing a new adaptation of ''Literature/{{It}}'', but they couldn't get the rights. The influence of both that miniseries and Creator/StephenKing's work in general [[GenreThrowback shines through heavily]], such that one fan [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCH8mIYqpNo mashed up]] the trailer for the [[Film/{{It 2017}} 2017 adaptation]] of ''It'' with the theme to ''Stranger Things'', the two going together almost perfectly. The 2017 version of ''It'' even wound up starring one of the young actors from ''Stranger Things'', Creator/FinnWolfhard.
** The Upside Down is a DarkWorld filled with monsters, fog, and crackling radio transmissions that has begun leaking into [[EverytownAmerica a small, ordinary American town]]. Among the players are a well-meaning police officer, a parent searching for their child who's starting to doubt their own sanity, a young girl with PsychicPowers who opened the portal between this world and our own, and TheConspiracy searching for this girl. It should be no surprise that the Duffers [[http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/08/26/how-silent-hill-dark-souls-and-the-last-of-us-influenced-stranger-things described it]] as having been heavily inspired by the Otherworld from the ''Franchise/SilentHill'' games. It makes for a damn good translation of the Otherworld to television (even if it was caused by science rather than the occult), the comparisons growing even more apparent with the second season portraying it as downright [[CosmicHorrorStory Lovecraftian]] ([[Creator/HPLovecraft that author]] having been a major influence on the games, along with King).