Would Harry Potter work as a tv series?

So are the movies. The books don't go very many places, and the films cut the least important ones. They talk about more places than they go.

edited 31st Aug '11 7:26:51 PM by TParadox

I feel that the Harry Potter series would best as a seven season show - ten to thirteen episodes per year (maybe even less for the first three years) are more than enough to show the entire years adequately.

I support the idea of an animated show

Ever since I can remember, I've thought that there should be a Saturday-Morning Cartoon Harry Potter series, like Sabrina The Animated Series or Winx Club. I mean it's got an established "good" group (Gryffindors) and an established "evil" group (Slytherins), which kinda reminds me of the schools in Winx Club. What I thought would be best for a Saturday-Morning Cartoon version would be not to have Harry as a main character. At the time I thought a completely "new" group of Gryffindors and Slytherins would be best, though thinking now it could be about Harry's kids or something.

For some reason, I have this image in my head of a group of students, probably Gryffindors (in the style Sabrina The Animated Series was drawn as but slightly "pointier" but not quite as "pointy" as Winx Club) around a cauldron. And the main "conflict" is that the Slytherins keep trying to sabotage the Gryffindors schoolwork (probably why I have that image of the cauldron. 5 seconds later: BOOM. Smoke around Gryffindors with sooty faces. Snape: 5 points from Gryffindor. Slytherins: Smug looks. Or something like that)

More on topic-ish. I think a liveaction series would possibly have been better, in that a lot of the stuff wouldn't have been "lost in translation" as it was adapting to film. The only problem would probably be that it would require more work from the child actors, but loads of kids play main characters in TV series. Though probably most of them are in shows that are more 30 minutes that 45. Which would give a reason for the shift if they did do as someone else suggested and have the first couple of seasons be 30 minutes and the rest 45.

Hmm, that's a good idea. It would go with Rowling's whole maturing with the years thing and allowing for extended time without increasing the episodes per season. I just can't think of any network that would approve of such a change in format.

I'm liking the idea of an animation more and more. It definitely provides more freedom.

I've actually had this idea for a long time now. It's been almost a pet project for me, except I wouldn't be a part of it. I could totally see this fitting in well with the Doctor Who Saturday timeslot, as I imagine that there is a lot of fandom crossover, and in then years, all the Harry Potter fans who grew up with the series will be raising their own children.

I personally like the idea of a live-action series focusing around the books, with seven or eight episodes a series. Actually, this would work well, as each episode would condense 3-4 chapters in the earlier novels.

Besides that, the children would be casted when they were ten or so, and could be the same ages as their characters the entire series run. While this would not be totally nessecary, the original film cast could come and do cameos (Dan Radcliffe said once that he would like to play Snape).

An animated series might be interesting, but as this show would probably be British (with an all-UK cast, I'd assume), aand animation is less of a big deal over there as opposed to live action, I would be afraid the show wouldn't get the treatment it deserves. Besides that, I would be afraid the series would lapse into corny, cartoon dynamics instead of keeping the tone like the book, with irrelevant side-plots and silly schemes as in many children's animated shows.

Also, I think it would be a shame if the Harry Potter series was animated in a CGI style, and would take away from its magic in a way I think a more traditional hand-drawn cartoon wouldn't.

However, I think the show would be most successful following the Trio and the original books very faithfully (a few liberties might be interesting, of course), and in a mood befitting the stores. As I said above, many of the "original" fans will have become thirty-somethings with kids by that time, and may want to rediscover the magic of this bewitching series as well as introduce their children to the books. The "new" audience might get confused about why their favorite characters from the show aren't in the book.

Besides, I think having a totally original class would just be a waste of plot. However, the occasional non-Trio centric episode might be fun, especially if all Harry's doing is homework during the time the episode covers.

My thoughts:

Harry Potter as a Live Action TV Series: If done in UK, it will be the most likely to be faithful to the books, but also, a little less budget than necessary to make it justice (or not, Harry is pretty big). If done in US, we will get a show that was supposed to last 7 seasons and will likely last 10, with the story completely butchered and Harry claiming his love for apple pie and the american way.

Harry Potter as traditionally animated series: Overall best chance to be faithful to the books, without having casting troubles or budget issues. At same time, I feel that is likely to not "take off" and become as popular, no matter how amazing it is. And while it is likely to be faithful, I wouldn't be surprised if went to the opposite direction too.

Harry Potter as CGI series: Likely to be popular, also likely to completely destroy the story for the sake of popularity.

Personally I'd prefer a mixture of CGI and hand-drawn because lets face it,as nice as hand-drawn is and the magic it can capture with some things,it just won't do justice to others parts.

I mean some creatures absolutely need to reach Uncanny Valley in order to qualify for the Nightmare Fuel they were originally like the Basilisk or the dragons in book 4 or Aragog,or the goblins at Gringotts. If it can't be CGI it has to be rotoscoped in a manner similar to the 1978 LOTR cartoons.

The rest on the other hand would be best animated, and hopefully the original cast could make cameo appearences,like Daniel Radcliffe could voice Ludo Bagman,or idk Tom Felton as Voldemort. And hopefully they'll add some scenes where the books and films fall flat such as the Harry/Ginny ship or Ginny actually working with Riddle or for that matter any of the ships in the 6th book,becuase they all appear to be Strangled by the Red String. And maybe one A Day in the Limelight episode for the rest of them at Hogwarts when Harry leaves.

I'm not sure how Live-Action could be sustained,but I'm sure it would be great to in it's own right.

edited 12th Sep '11 3:12:19 PM by terlwyth

Not so hot on Harry potter as a series but a series set in that universe (with of course monitering by the authoress0 that I'd like to see.

I'd like to see a series set in the universe too. I think the Hogwarts setting is a great concept for a tv series (boarding school for young wizards) but I don't really like the idea of them being directly based on the books. Movies have already been done and we know everything that happens. I think it would be cool for it to be set after the last book ends and have it focus on another group of students. Maybe it could be about the next generation (the Potter kids, the Weasley kids, Draco's son, etc...). I'm not sure if I'd like it to be more of a school series or more of an action/adventure one though.

edited 13th Feb '13 3:31:28 PM by Waterlily

Series set on the universe would be balls to the walls awesome.

I always thought someone should do a tv-series focused on the most interesting part (for me) of the HP universe: The goddamn Aurors. Those guys have "neutralizing the world's most dangerous sorcerors" as a freakin' job description. Of course we need a series about them.

Nah, we need a series focusing on Muggle-Wizard relations. We know they exist to some extent, what with the whole PM-knowing-about-them-thing. Now we need to expand on that.

That could also reduce the budget, since focusing on the relations would mean at least sizeable chunk of the series would take place in normal cities with less freaky-shit instead of huge medieval castles.

Maybe we could merge the two ideas: An Auror division that hunts Dark Wizards who try to escape to the muggle world.

Auror procedural starring Harry and Ron as a Buddy Cop duo. This needs to be done.

My money says that, within 10 to 15 years, someone DOES turn Harry Potter into a high-end live action tv series.

Actually, there's a fan-made Aurors TV show in the works, though it's suffered from delays.

(5) So we need Yes Minister but with magic?

One short season per book seems awesome, but that would mean we still don't get Neville in book seven. (Someone must have done Neville's seventh year besides that sexist goreporner Thanfiction, right?)

The problem with Harry Potter being an animated series is that a lot of Networks still abide by the [[65EpisodesCartoon 65 episode]] guideline. Even extremely popular cartoons will get axed.

That 65 episode thing is hardly a hard-and-fast rule. I've known plenty where that hasn't held true.

You could probably get a decent series out of the events of Hogwarts students in book 7. That way people would also manage to get their Neville fix.

A show about the brutal, bloody First War would be awesome. Centered around an anti-heroic Minister of Magic who rules wizarding Britain like an absolute monarch while still fighting Voldemort.

That's heavily implied to be Crouch's idea more than Bagnold's. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement seems to have a lot of room to flex. Anyway, according to the principle we probably have somewhere on this wiki that the more powerful you are, the less your character actually gets to do anything interesting, let's focus on the Aurors. Or maybe the Marauders' sixth year, because that's when they pull their heads out their butts and the war is probably the reason.

It would work as a tv series, though not live action. They couldn't afford the adult cast, and the actors who played Harry and his chums are far too old to be convincing firsties.

And no-one else would do, let's be honest. Getting another Harry, Hermione, and that other one that so many folks hate (though not me) as perfect as Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint would be impossible.

Solution? Anime the hell out of that mofo. Get CLAMP to do it in collaboration with Studio Ghibli and let it fly.