The Film of the Series - Television Tropes & Idioms

A film based, sometimes loosely, on a television series. Like The Film of the Book, with one subtle difference. Unlike The Movie and the Reunion Show, which feature the original cast of (whatever incarnation of) the series, these most often happen when the series in question has been off the air for a while, giving it a new cast and updated sensibilities and commonly take place in an Alternate Continuity from the original. Sometimes, though, as Charlie's Angels, the movie is presented as a Sequel to the original. Members of the original cast may appear in cameo roles. In a few cases, as with the film version of Doctor Who and The Twilight Zone, they outright re-make televised episodes.

Usually, these adaptations will raise the stakes and use a more traditional "heroes saving the day" style of plot to ensure that it's a Big Damn Movie. Contrast with The Movie, compare with Continuity Reboot. A subtrope of The Remake. If the movie is made up of scenes pulled directly from the original series it's a Compilation Movie instead.

These were especially popular in The Nineties.

Examples:

Original series		Film version
Title	Years	Title	Year	Notes
Doctor Who	1963-89; 2005-present	Dr. Who and the Daleks	1965	And a sequel (1966). A rare example of The Film of the Series being made while the original is still in production. These directly adapted the first Dalek story, "The Daleks", and the second one, "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", made them Lighter and Fluffier, changed the overall premise of the series and most definitely take place in an Alternate Continuity rather than in the Whoniverse.
The Twilight Zone	1959-64	Twilight Zone The Movie	1983
Dragnet	1949-59	Dragnet	1987	Film was an Affectionate Parody of the original. Harry Morgan plays his character from the 1967-70 Revival series.
The Addams Family	1964-66	The Addams Family	1991	And a sequel (1993). (The 1998 direct-to-video movie is the pilot for the TV series revival.)
The Beverly Hillbillies	1962-71	The Beverly Hillbillies	1993
The Fugitive	1963-67	The Fugitive	1993	The film starred Harrison Ford as the title character and Tommy Lee Jones as the Inspector Javert, and resulted in a sequel in which Tommy Lee Jones pursues a different fugitive.
Car 54 Where Are You	1961-63	Car 54, Where Are You?	1994	Filmed in 1990 but not released until 1994, the film basically tried to turn Car 54 into a Police Academy type movie. Original cast members Al Lewis and Nipsey Russell appeared as their original characters.
The Flintstones	1960-66	The Flintstones	1994	And a prequel (2000). The series was animated, the films were proof that "live action is no substitute for the real thing."
Maverick	1957-62	Maverick	1994	Mel Gibson starred as Bret Maverick. James Garner, the original Bret Maverick, co-starred as Marshal Zane Cooper, who turned out to be Maverick's father, whom he also played in the original series as a secondary role.
The Brady Bunch	1969-74	The Brady Bunch Movie	1995	And a sequel (1996)
The Phil Silvers Show	1955-59	Sgt. Bilko	1996	Steve Martin starred as Sgt. Bilko.
Mission: Impossible	1966-73	Mission: Impossible	1996	And sequels (2000, 2006, 2011). Presented as a sequel to the series, not a reboot.
George of the Jungle	1967	George of the Jungle	1997	Series was animated, film is live action.
Leave It To Beaver	1957-63	Leave It To Beaver	1997
McHale's Navy	1962-66	McHale's Navy	1997	Tom Arnold played McHale. Ernest Borgnine returns as the original McHale, now an admiral, and Arnold is his son, but we're not told these facts until the final scene; Borgnine's McHale uses a codename.
The Avengers	1961-69	The Avengers	1998	Patrick Macnee played John Steed in the original series and appeared in a cameo as Invisible Jones in the film. The film was based - loosely - on the Steed/Emma Peel pairing.
Lost in Space	1965-68	Lost in Space	1998	Most of the original cast have cameos in early scenes set on Earth.
Inspector Gadget	1983-86	Inspector Gadget	1999	Even more proof that live action is no substitute for the original. Not helped by the fact that apart from a few names, and bionic implants, the film has absolutely nothing to do with the series.
The Mod Squad	1968-73	The Mod Squad	1999
My Favorite Martian	1963-66	My Favorite Martian	1999	Ray Walston, who played the Martian in the 1960s series, appears in a supporting role who turns out to be a Martian who's been trapped on Earth since the 1960s.
The Wild Wild West	1965-69	Wild Wild West	1999
Rocky and Bullwinkle	1959-64	The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle	2000	Original series was animated; film was mostly live action. The title characters remained animated (and June Foray was brought back as the voice of Rocky), but this was still a Human Focused Adaptation.
Charlie's Angels	1976-81	Charlie's Angels	2000	And a sequel (2003). John Forsythe returned to the role of Charlie. None of the original Angels had cameos in the 2000 film (Farrah Fawcett reportedly said that she'd only appear if she could be Charlie), but Jaclyn Smith had a cameo in the sequel. The trope is referred to at the start of the film as LL Cool J's character watches a TJ Hooker film.
I Spy	1965-68	I Spy	2002
Scooby-Doo	1969-70	Scooby Doo	2002	And sequel (2004), prequel (2009). Series was animated, films are live action.
SWAT	1975-76	SWAT	2003
Starsky And Hutch	1975-79	Starsky And Hutch	2004	The film was partly an Affectionate Parody of the original. The original leads make cameoes near the end.
Thunderbirds	1965-68	Thunderbirds	2004	Series was supermarionation; film is live action. The art direction was the only part that was a faithful adaptation.
Bewitched	1964-72	Bewitched	2005	Took an unexpected left turn by telling the story of a fictional remake of the original series — that starred a real witch.
The Dukes of Hazzard	1979-85	The Dukes of Hazzard	2005	R-rated parody remake of the family friendly TV series with Bo and Luke dumbed down, Boss Hogg and Uncle Jessie slimmed down and Sherrif Roscoe still dumb but more menacing.
The Honeymooners	1955-56	The Honeymooners	2005	Film made all the characters African Americans.
Miami Vice	1984-90	Miami Vice	2006
Sukeban Deka	1985	Sukeban Deka	2006	The actress who played the original Sukeban Deka cameos as the mother of the new one; the movie can be interpreted as a remake or a sequel (the mother is implied to have been a Sukeban Deka, and could be the character from the original series; the coincidence in both characters being named Asamiya Saki is explained by it being a code name). US title of remake is "Yo-yo Girl Cop".
Alvin And The Chipmunks	1983-90	Alvin and the Chipmunks	2007	And sequels (2009, 2011). Series was animated; films are live-action/CGI mix. Characters had first appeared on The Alvin Show (1961-62).
Neon Genesis Evangelion	1995-96			with Evangelion: Death and Rebirth and End Of Evangelion covering the original series (both films released in 1997). And currently being "retold" in the Rebuild films. Original and films are all animated. In addition, a western live-action adaptation of the series has been in the works for quite the while.
Get Smart	1965-70	Get Smart	2008	Steve Carrell starred as Maxwell Smart. (1980's The Nude Bomb was The Movie.)
Speed Racer	1967-68	Speed Racer	2008	Series was animated; film is live action (not counting all the CGI).
Land of the Lost	1974-76	Land of the Lost	2009	The film is more comedic than the series.
Star Trek	1966-69	Star Trek	2009	Leonard Nimoy reprised his role as the Spock from the main Star Trek universe, via Time Travel. Further films are planned. (The previous Star Trek films, by contrast, were straight examples of The Movie.)
Avatar The Last Airbender	2005-08	The Last Airbender	2010	Series is animated; the film is live action.
The A-Team	1983-87	The A-Team	2010
Edge Of Darkness	1985	Edge of Darkness	2010	Hollywood remake starring Mel Gibson.
The Yogi Bear Show	1961	Yogi Bear	2010	Series was animated; film is live-action/CGI mix.
Twenty One Jump Street	1987-91	Twenty One Jump Street	2012	Series was drama; film is played for laughs.
Dark Shadows	1966-71	Dark Shadows	2012	Series was drama; film is played for laughs.
Fraggle Rock	1983-87		2012	(projected)
The Equalizer	1985-89		2013	(projected)
MacGyver	1985-92		2013	(projected; currently in Development Hell due to executive producer's death)
Cowboy Bebop	1998-99		?	Release year currently unknown. Series is animated; film will be live action.
Gilligan's Island	1964-67		?	Release year currently unknown.
Magnum, P.I.	1980-88		?	Release year currently unknown.

Semi-example: The 1987 film The Untouchables was pitched as the film of the 1950s TV series, but the director and writer went back to the original historical source material, then completely ignored that history and made up a totally fictional story. Coming full circle, it was adapted into a syndicated Revival series six years later.
Despite what you might think, the live action Transformers films are not an example as it's not based exclusively on the original series, but just the latest part of a franchise that actually pre-dates the cartoon and has run continuously since then. Similarly, the recent The Smurfs film does not apply for these reasons, as the original comics were around longer than the cartoon.