History Main / CompressedAdaptation

* InUniverse with the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "The Ember Island Players", where the play version of the Gaang's adventures skips over some of the more boring parts. And then ends with an original ending for events that have yet to happen.

* The original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' movie trilogy, the ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam: A New Translation'' trilogy, the ''Anime/TurnAGundam'' duology, and the ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'' and ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' Special Edition movies are this for their respective series, with the ''Zeta Gundam'' and ''Turn-A'' movies offering new endings.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91'' - Originally planned as a full series, cut down even further. They had 13 full episodes originally scripted which then had to be cut down to a 2 hour movie, thanks to even more staff issues. When watched, a viewer can actually ''see''' the points where they took an episode and made it the "ultra-condensed version."
* The ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Endless Waltz: Glory of the Defeated'' manga is a mixture of this and AdaptationExpansion. While it includes references to events from the ''Episode Zero'' manga and ''Frozen Teardrop'' novel along with new adaptation-exclusive scenes, some episodes' events are relegated to just a silent panel or two, brief recaps, or otherwise happening off-screen. Notably, the events of chapters 46 through 49 are a blended mixture of episodes 23 and 32 with a change in circumstances because Duo and Hilde hadn't met until then. They take the place of episode 32's events, and [[spoiler:Duo does not pilot Gundam Proto Zero]]. Appropriately, the arc is titled "Inverted God of Death".

* ''Anime/GarzeysWing'' compresses several novels into three OVA episodes (a little over an hour of runtime). The result is that most of the dialogue is exposition delivered at breakneck pace, and still most of the plot doesn't make sense.

* ''Garzey's Wing'' compresses several novels into three OVA episodes (a little over an hour of runtime). The result is that most of the dialogue is exposition delivered at breakneck pace, and still most of the plot doesn't make sense.

* The manga adaptation of ''VideoGame/LunarEternalBlue'' reduced entire character arcs from the game into page long summaries. In fact, most of the content from the games aside that weren't directly related to Hiro and Lucia's relationship were cut or abridged, and [[spoiler:Ghaleon]], an important character, was removed entirely.

* ''Manga/ShonanJunaiGumi'': Episode 4 of the OVA adapts the 38-chapter[[labelnote:*]]35 if you cut out the filler chapters[[/labelnote]] Midnight Angel arc, but there's only so much material that can fit into a 52-minute animation. By comparison, the 2020 live-action devoted almost 80 minutes over 2 and a half episodes to the arc (and still had to cut some things out).

* ''Film/{{Casino Royale|1954}}'' (1954) [[note]]The first screen adaptation of a Franchise/JamesBond novel, released as a television movie/episode of the anthology series ''[[Series/{{Climax}} Climax!]]''[[/note]] greatly simplifies relationship between Vesper/Valerie and Bond, one of the effects of which is that the long final section of [[Literature/CasinoRoyale the novel]] portraying the increasing tensions between them and [[spoiler:her confession and suicide]] is completely omitted.

* ''VideoGame/{{Miner 2049er}}'' for the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} had cut out seven of the original Atari 8-bit computer version's ten screens from its release due to the limited memory of the Atari 2600, resulting in a Part 2 release featuring three other screens.

* The ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' episode "Misplaced" is an adaptation of the ''[[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA: A World Without Grown-Ups]]'' mini-series, while "Coldhearted" was an adaptation of the first few issues of the Wally West ''[[ComicBook/TheFlash Flash]]'' series.

* ''Anime/ThePromisedNeverland'': While the first season adapts the first 37 chapters in a mostly faithful way over the course of 12 episodes, the second season, which is only 11 episodes long, attempts to adapt all of the 144 remaining chapters. In order to get to the ending over the course of a shorter-than-average anime season, many story arcs are skimmed over or skipped entirely (most notably, the fan-favorite Goldy Pond Arc), with the ending being turned into a slideshow. A more faithful adaptation may have lasted for several more multiple-cour seasons.

* ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'': The books had LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and it would have been unfeasible to put them all into an hour long animated film, so the Disney adaptation [[PragmaticAdaptation cherry picks the most iconic elements]] of both ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'' and ''Through the Looking Glass'' while using the basic plot structure of ''Wonderland'' for the whole film.

* ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' takes a 1400-page book with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and makes an two-and-three-quarter-hours-long musical with about ten principles and an ensemble of about 20. Granted, it ''works'' wonderfully, but even on stage, it's very stylized to keep the action moving. It feels almost like a three-hour {{Montage}} covering almost all of the subtropes thereof.

* Many films of ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' leave out a number of scenes, although some, like the Alistair Sim version, [[AdaptationExpansion expand upon the story]]. The 70-minute 1938 film omits most of the darker scenes, such as Scrooge's breakup with Belle, Ignorance & Want, and the looting of the deceased Scrooge's belongings. An important scene from the book is rarely included in movie adaptions; a scene where a family who owes Scrooge money celebrates his death, even though their time to repay may only be slightly extended due to transferance. The Albert Finney musical version, however, manages to condense it all into a song where all of London thanks Scrooge for dying while tearing up his debt book and dancing on his coffin.

* Alongside the main game of the Super Famicom ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblem Fire Emblem: Monshou no Nazo]]'' is a remake of the first Famicom ''Fire Emblem''--Minus five of the 25 chapters.

* ''Anime/Persona5TheAnimation'' largely relegates [[DungeonCrawling the exploration of Palaces by the Phantom Thieves]] to a montage of events from that Palace. The major boss battles get expanded quite a bit, but the Palaces themselves are mostly skipped over. Most of the run time is devoted to Confidants, Joker's expanding social circle, and events from outside the Palaces.

* Alongside the main game of the Super Famicom ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblem Fire Emblem: Monshou No Nazo]]'' is a remake of the first Famicom ''Fire Emblem''--Minus five of the 25 chapters.

* The anime adaptation of ''Manga/ASilentVoice'' is an impressively [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] version of this; almost the ''entire'' 62-chapter manga is adapted faithfully into a single 129-minute movie without feeling rushed at all. The only significant aspects of the story cut were the characters forming a movie-making club to make movies of their own, and the DistantFinale.

* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' trilogy. And it's still 11 hours long. The Extended Editions do a better job of remaining faithful to the books. Still, it's more of an AdaptationDistillation and some major scenes are left out for continuity and pacing reasons. The sequence describing the transformation of Isengard from a green treegarden to an iron hell compresses 150 years of slow change (before the books actually begin) into ''five minutes''.

* ''Film/TheTenCommandments'' skips the whole "wandering in the desert for 40 years" part, which admittedly wouldn't make for exciting filmmaking, opting to make Moses 40 years older when he returns from the mountain.

* ''Anime/ThePromisedNeverland'': While the first season adapts the first 37 chapters in a mostly faithful way over the course of 12 episodes, the second season, which is only 11 episodes long, attempts to adapt every remaining chapter. In order to get to the ending over the course of a shorter-than-average anime season, many story arcs are skimmed over or skipped entirely (most notably, the fan-favorite Goldy Pond Arc), with the ending being turned into a slideshow. A more faithful adaptation may have lasted for several more multiple-cour seasons.

* ''Anime/ThePromisedNeverland'': The second season of the anime is notorious for cutting out or rushing through massive chunks of the manga's story (which was made especially egregious because the manga already received some criticisms for rushing through the later parts), including skipping entire arcs and condensing the ending into a quick slideshow, which resulted in a messy adaptation fans and critics nigh-universally considered deeply disappointing and [[SeasonalRot a huge drop-off in quality from the first season]].

* The [=PS2=] adaptation of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo'' is mostly faithful to the original manga, but it speeds up the plot a little bit after Giorno joins Passione, cutting out the fights with [[MightyGlacier Zucchero]] and [[MadeOfIron Sale]] and skipping straight to Trish being entrusted with Bruno's group. Additionally, the fight between Doppio and Risotto is barely shown, and all that is shown is a cutscene regarding [[spoiler:Leone's death]].

* ''VideoGame/YourBizarreAdventure'' is a FanGame with a story mode adapting ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo'', retaining the basic plot while stripping out ''many'' characters and plot points. For instance, after the player defeats Bruno (or [[WritingAroundTrademarks "Bruce"]]), he mentions that he's started to work together with Giorno, with his original motivation for doing so (learning that they both despise the criminal drug trade) being ignored entirely.

* ''Film/CasinoRoyale1954''[[note]]The first screen adaptation of a Franchise/JamesBond novel, released in 1954 as a television movie/episode of the anthology series ''[[Series/{{Climax}} Climax!]]''[[/note]] greatly simplifies relationship between Vesper/Valerie and Bond, one of the effects of which is that the long final section of [[Literature/CasinoRoyale the novel]] portraying the increasing tensions between them and [[spoiler:her confession and suicide]] is completely omitted.

* ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'''s first game, Spring Breeze, is a compressed adaptation of ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand'', the first game of the series.

* ''Theatre/GuysAndDolls'' takes an interesting track of combining two short stories by Creator/DamonRunyon, adding in characters from his other stories and giving them songs. It works incredibly well; the fact that they did not include [[ScaryBlackMan a character called]] [[UnfortunateNames Big Nig]] helped immensely.

* ''VideoGame/YourBizarreAdventure'' is a FanGame with a story mode adapting ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo'', retaining the basic plot while stripping out ''many'' characters and plot points. For instance, after the player defeats Bruno (or [[WritingAroundTrademarks "Bruce"]], he mentions that he's started to work together with Giorno, with his original motivation for doing so (learning that they both despise the criminal drug trade) being ignored entirely.

* WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine: