A work may be an adaptation of previous media, but that does not mean it has the same tone or style. It will usually hit the same main plot points, but change dramatically the way the plot is presented, sometimes to the point of
changing the genre or changing position on a sliding scale such as the
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism.
Super Trope to
Darker and Edgier and
Lighter and Softer.
Sister Trope to
Tone Shift.
Examples:
- Battlestar Galactica (Reimagined) is the original series turned Darker and Edgier.
- Anything Tim Burton touches turns quirky. This doesn't really apply to movies like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Alice in Wonderland, on account of the source material's pre-existing quirkiness, but definitely applies to Batman, Sleepy Hollow, and Planet of the Apes.
- The Harry Potter movies had different inspirations in visual tone and what the directors emphasized. Goblet of Fire had several boarding school comedy pieces, some of which weren't in the book at all. Alfonso Cuarón gave a candy shop Day of the Dead touches and food, such as candy skulls.
- Most War of the Worlds adaptations have been updated to a later time period and location than the original. The only thing most have in common are alien invaders with tripods and their defeat by our microorganisms:
- The orginal took place in 1890s England at the height of its power.
- The infamous 1938 radio version is set in what was then The Present Day.
- The 1950s version focused on scientists in Los Angeles.
- The 2005 film had an almost war documentary feel to it, focusing on an East Coast family trying to survive.
- Speed Racer had Bullet Time aesthetics.
- This happens a lot to public domain works, since people can be reasonably expected to know the original or at least the gist of it, so instead of doing the same thing for the umpteenth time they make Hamlet IN SPACE!!
- William Shakespeare is one of the most frequent targets of this.
- The Shining novel is unabashedly supernatural; the Stanley Kubrick film favors Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane.
