Would Harry Potter work as a tv series?

And there's a lot of 'Harry Potter, anime version' illustrations around the internet already LOL

Yeah. Abuse the hell out of those artists and get this thing done. With decent rates of pay obviously.

I wonder who would make the cut for the voice cast?

.. Now I am trying to guess at just how much it would cost to do a tv series set after the seventh film. Eh. Ouch. Emma and Radcliffe alone would be breathtakingly expensive. I guess you could do a series set in the universe without using the trio much/at all - Fleur N' Bill Delacour-Weasley Curse-breakers Extraordinaire sort of thing, but..

... Goddammit. I really, really want that now. Heck, any sf/action series with a married couple as partners in mayhem would be nice.

edited 1st Mar '13 7:40:48 AM by Izeinspring

It's hard for me to picture Harry Potter for TV since the movies were made larger than life.

Would an anime run into the same licensing problems with Warner Brothers? Because Japanese takeoffs on comic book properties may be cause for hope there, from what little I know about them.

edited 4th Mar '13 4:17:50 PM by DomaDoma

Any anime would have to be licensed. I thought that was taken for granted, ?

But seriously, an anime adaptation would be the ONLY way that they could do a proper job of putting the books on screen. The films were all well and good, but there was a ton of really good stuff cut out of the plots of each of the books that I watched the films of. So much so I actually stopped watching them.

There is no doubt in my mind at all that the anime would be hugely successful in Japan. They have that long tradition of shounen and shoujo gakuen manga and anime and they love mahou shounen/mahou shoujo. Like the books and the films, they would have MASSIVE appeal across every demographic.

I remember one April Fool's Day a few years back when IGN made a fake trailer for a live-action Aurors TV Show. And it was awesome. Of course, I had forgotten what day it was, so that ended up being a crushing disappointment...

I've actually always wanted a live-action TV Show. I've never been a huge fan of any of the movies, because they were always either changing stuff, leaving stuff out, simplifying it (seriously, it's like EVERY spell just knocks a person back), or just straight up giving us massive unexplained plot holes (this happened as early as the third movie). My favorite thing about the books was always the funny little details Rowling threw in; there were many secondary characters who never had any plot impact or direct "screen time", but you still felt like you got to know them because they would be doing something (often something hilarious) in the background of plot-relevant conversations or events. A movie series would never be able to add those details; a TV show, though? Definitely a possibility.

And it should probably be a UK series. Us Americans tend to screw the pooch whenever we adapt stories from other countries.

So true; I recall how she described how Neville came into the common room with burning pants as Harry was in the middle of something; Harry having earlier dodged Peeves, who was trying to force whoever was coming down the corridor to light their pants on fire. The books were definitely great when it came to humour.

I don't see how people think that a TV shows would be better. I personally think that either books 4-6 were made into two parters or (stuff that was ommit in the films 4-6) were in the (said films) and at a certain point (maybe right after the 2nd task for Goblet of Fire?, Right after Harry is transported to Sirus' place-that was if the movie hadn't been so fast,etc) there was a movie intermission and you the watcher would go either to the washroom, or you would go get re-fills of (popcorn, or drinks).

Either way, Harry Potter the animated Series is my dream, but it will most likely never happen as long as JKR is alive. Still, I feel the books are made for it. A big problem of the movies was always that there was never enough time so add all the little twists and hints. I mean, you can make a whole episode just out of Dudley's birthday, and a second one just about Harry getting his letter.

^^I think it is because TV is seen as the new cinema in regards to who has the better storytelling

Cinema used to be fairly niche while TV was for a boarder audience and more restricted in regards to content and narrative.

Now with cable TV allowing more diverse content and Hollywood growing more and more heavily risk averse and focusing on popcorn cinema you're seeing a bigger push to adapt stuff into TV shows and rather then cinema.

There is no reason why Harry Potter can't be live-action TV show, or a Video-game or a Anime or a radio play in the hands of a competent creator with the right tools it's just TV is where the cultural Zeitgeist is right now.

edited 9th Jan '14 9:23:47 AM by joeyjojo

I wouldn't do Harry Potter as a live action show because of the aging issue. That was already a problem with the movies, but with a TV show, the quality would suffer way more.

I think the franchise would make for a spectacular setting for a TV series. I'm uncertain about the books themselves, though, but it could work. Expect loads and loads of filler, though; while the books themselves have lots of material that could be adapted into the show, putting it in a serial format means that each individual episode needs to have enough content to justify its existence, because an hour of Harry, Ron, and Hermione taking a Potions class and then having lunch wouldn't be particularly engaging. There would be a lot of Adaptation Expansion, especially in the earlier, shorter books to provide action between the important plot episodes, especially if the show has standard 20-24 episode seasons.

Especially the early books have next to no filler..practically every chapter ends with an important revelation.

But does every chapter end with an exhilarating climax that would make a thrilling and satisfying conclusion to an episode?

edited 9th Jan '14 3:07:32 PM by TobiasDrake

I think it could work, especially the first book which is really episodic. I think it should have been animated from the start.

You can end the first episode with Harry getting locked in after the Zoo incident. The second with Hagrid knocking at the door of the hut. The third with Harry being left alone at Kings Cross station. The forth with his encounter with Severus Snape. The fifth at the point when he gets caught flying without permission, believing that he will get expelled. aso.

Would any of those episodes have a satisfyingly engaging rising action, climax, and resolution?

The ending of a television episode has to be entertaining in its own right, not just as a part of the whole. Each episode has to have a narrative structure in its own right. A television episode and a book chapter are completely different, because even in shows with a strong sense of continuity that are trying to tell one large story broken into individual parts, television episodes are still designed to be consumed individually, with great lengths of time between them.

edited 10th Jan '14 2:48:01 PM by TobiasDrake

^ that certainly was true. But DVD box sets and Netflix have made it less of an issue.

It just depends on what kind of show you do. I grew up with TV-shows geared to children, which were basically one long story. Usually 6-parter, but sometimes also 13-parter, and nowadays those things are even longer. Just because the US never really tried the format, it doesn't mean that it doesn't work. It works very well in other countries. And we are not talking about a new concept here. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, those series were widely popular.

edited 10th Jan '14 4:09:10 PM by Swanpride

Rather than a Harry Potter tv series, I actually prefer to see a spin off that takes place after Harry graduates.

Oh wait, did Harry ever graduate? He quit school in book 7 didn't he?

word of god is that he didn't but instead went into the Auror program immediately. Only Hermione came back to finish her education.

An anime series would be awesome. To be honest though, I'd be more psyched for an animated series set in the universe, but set maybe when Harry and his peers are adults. Maybe even about their children? That way, the writers and artists aren't going to be as bound by making an adaptation. New dark wizards, new dastardly plots, new heroes. Obviously the book characters can be part of it—I rather like books where the main character of one book becomes a legend in another book. Then you'd have room for plenty of conflict, like the kids struggling to live up to their parents' reputations and whatnot. And live down the name Albus Severus Potter.

For that to work it would be better to build upon a series about the actual books - for the poor sods who only watched the movies and therefore missed more than half of the story.

I'm against the idea of an Animated series. I think its too easy for that to go horribly wrong, particularly with places like CN axing good shows because 'the merchandise wasn't selling well' regardless of said merch never having existed in the first place. Not saying CN would be the ones creating it but... television based animation is going through a Dark Ages.

I think a 21-Episode Hour-per-episode (read: 45-50 mins) series could work fine. The early books can dedicate the extra time for character and world building and exploring how classes go and stuff. And, actually, I don't think the magic would be too complex. It doesn't have to get flashy, and that would be a wonderful contrast to the original film series.

Like, Philosopher's Stone's climax in the films wasn't really that tech intensive besides Quirrlmort and the books say that Harry never saw him die before passing out. The big flashy shows of magic don't come until much later in the series, like Oot P and DH.

I actually don't mind the Dawson Casting simply because working with kids is REALLY difficult at times. Its an acceptable break from reality for me and, finding enough kid actors that are good enough to pick up the role would be difficult.

Do you think they should cast Dan and Bonnie as James and Lilly Potter? Sounds like a good cameo? And maybe Rupert as Arthur and Emma as Molly depending on their careers at the time? I think it'd be hilarious to see that cameo.