Line #22 AdaptationSpeciesChange/LiveActionTV


1	AdaptationSpeciesChange in [[{{Series}} Live-Action TV]].
2	----
3	* Variation: the short-lived ''Series/{{Animorphs}}'' TV series rarely used the signature morphs of the protagonists from the books. Rachel never did her bear morph, instead favoring a lion, Marco never went gorilla, etc., possibly because there wasn't the budget for a ton of CGI and they wanted to use animals they could work with decently well. Then the Transformers toys got into it, with things like a Jake-bear and Jake-stingray toy. Then there was Tobias. He was a Red-Tailed Hawk shifter in the books, but a Harris Hawk played him onscreen.
4	* ''Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}'':
5	** ''Series/{{Arrow}}'':
6	*** ComicBook/BlackCanary is a BadassNormal instead of a metahuman like in the comics. [[spoiler:That's the Earth-1 version, though, as the [[AntiHeroSubstitute Earth-2]] version is TruerToTheText.]]
7	*** Amazo is a freighter instead of a KillerRobot. Eventually becomes a case of DecompositeCharacter when an unrelated robot bearing the name A.M.A.Z.O. appears in the ''Series/{{Elseworlds\|2018}}'' crossover.
8	*** Brother Eye is a collective hacker group allied with the HIVE rather than a super computer in the comics.
9	** ''Series/TheFlash2014'':
10	*** In the comics, King Shark is a supernatural demigod. He is made into a normal metahuman in the show instead.
11	*** In the comics, Deathstorm is undead. Like King Shark above, he is made into a normal metahuman in the show.
12	*** Due to being a CompositeCharacter, [[Characters/TheFlashHunterZolomon Hunter Zolomon/Zoom]] [[KarmicTransformation becomes]] the "[[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombie speedster]]" Black Flash in the Season 2 finale.
13	** ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'':
14	*** In the comics, Waverider is a time traveling superhero. He is made into the titular team's time traveling CoolStarship in the show.
15	** ''Series/Supergirl2015''
16	*** In the comics, Hellgrammite is a human named Roderick Rose, who mutated himself into an insectile monster. In the series, he's one of the alien prisoners in Fort Rozz.
17	*** In [[Film/Supergirl1984 the 1984 movie]], Selena is a human sorceress. In the series, she's a Kryptonian priestess.
18	*** In ''ComicBook/YoungJustice'', Rip Roar is a [[Comicbook/NewGods New God]], in the series he's a human named Russell Rogers.
19	*** In ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'', Rama Khan was a powered human from the fictional Asian nation of Jarhanpur, and his associate Gamemnae was Atlantean. In the series, they're both from the ''planet'' Jarhanpur. The season 5 finale introduces their fellow Jarhanpurans Sela and Tezumak, who in the comics were from ancient Africa and Central America respectively.
20	** ''Series/SupermanAndLois'': Partway through Season 1, it's revealed that [[spoiler:Morgan Edge, a human CorruptCorporateExecutive in the comics, is actually a Kryptonian survivor who has been secretly posing as an Earthling for decades]].
21	* Almost happened in ''Series/CowboyBebop2021''. A leak of the casting script suggested that Ein was going to be changed from a Corgi to a Siberian Husky, but later on a brief teaser of the show was posted online focusing on Ein and showing that he is going to be a Corgi like in the original.
22	* In the {{Myth/ArthurianLegend}}s Lancelot is human. In ''Series/Cursed2020'' he's revealed to be an Ash Folk, a rare type of [[OurFairiesAreDifferent Fey]].
23	* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
24	** Robb, Jon, Arya, Rickon, and Sansa are all normal humans, albeit particularly badass ones, making Bran the only [[AdaptationNameChange "warg"]] in the family. However, in the books, both Jon and Arya have been revealed as skinchangers, with Jon being specifically stated as such, Rickon has shown clear signs of being one (such as wolf dreams), and WordOfGod has confirmed that ''all'' six Stark children are wargs.
25	** Bran dreams of a three-eyed raven rather than a three-eyed crow, which is probably PragmaticAdaptation in favour of the animal wranglers but takes away a delightful DoubleMeaning from the books.
26	* ''Literature/HarrysMad'': in the original novel, Mad is an African grey parrot. In the TV adaptation, he's a macaw.
27	* ''{{Series/Hercules}}'':
28	** Herc's second wife Deianeira was just a normal human princess in Greek Mythology, while she is depicted as a wood nymph in the miniseries.
29	** The Cretan Bull and Cerberus were all inhuman monsters faced by Hercules as part of his labors. Here, they are just aliases adopted by human characters, to be specific, [[spoiler:one man only, Anteus]].
30	* In the ''Literature/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'' books Jack is an English Bulldog however his breed was changed in the [[Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie tv adaptation]].
31	* In the ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'', Sauron goes in Eregion disguised as human, whereas in the books, he goes disguised as Annatar, an emissary sent by the Valar, who knows blacksmithing and magic. It not clear what Race he is embodying in the books, but according the ''Unfinished Tales'', his Annatar form supposed to be some sort of proto-Istar: "In Eregion Sauron posed as an emissary of the Valar, sent by them to Middle-earth ("thus anticipating the Istari") or ordered by them to remain there to give aid to the Elves."
32	* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
33	** ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'':
34	*** In the ''Comicbook/SecretWarriors'' comics, both Quake and Slingshot were human women who gained superpowers as a result of having superhuman fathers (Mister Hyde and Griffin, respectively). In the show, they're both {{Series/Inhumans}}.
35	*** Likewise, Hive was a human Comicbook/{{HYDRA}} agent who was subjected to an experiment involving ravenous parasites that ended up bonding with him. The series has him as an ancient and powerful Inhuman.
36	*** In the comics, Hellfire's powers are supernatural in nature, and stem from him being the grandson of Carter Slade, the original Comicbook/GhostRider. In the show, Hellfire is yet another Inhuman.
37	** In ''Series/CloakAndDagger2018'', D'Spayre is a human who gained powers from a scientific accident rather than a demon.
38	** The first season finale of ''Series/MsMarvel2022'' reveals that Kamala Khan is [[spoiler:an [[Comicbook/XMen X-gene Mutant]]]], unlike in the comics, where she's an [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Inhuman]].
39	** ''Series/Runaways2017'':
40	*** Molly is a mutant in the comics, but because the ''ComicBook/XMen'' franchise was [[ExiledFromContinuity off-limits at the time]], the TV show depicts her as a human who got powers from [[GreenRocks extraterrestrial rocks]] that her parents had been studying.
41	*** Likewise, Xavin is a Skrull in the comics, but a Xartan (an existing but far more obscure race of alien shapeshifters in the comics) in the series.
42	* In the original ''Literature/PickmansModel'' short story, Robert Upton Pickman was a normal guy, and his connection to the monstrous creatures in his paintings was never really made clear. In the TV adaptation featured in ''Series/NightGallery'', Pickman is heavily implied to be a HalfHumanHybrid whose mother was [[ChildByRape raped by one of the creatures]] many years ago, explaining how he knows so much about them.
43	* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', some characters have this. In ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'', Mother Gothel is a human witch, but in season 7 of OUAT she's a [[WhenTreesAttack dryad]] driven mad by the destruction of nature. Tiger Lily was human in the book and film of ''Literature/PeterPan'', but is a fairy (albeit a de-powered fairy) on the show. Rumplestiltskin is a double example: he's not only changed from the [[OurGnomesAreWeirder gnome/fairy thing]] of his own original story to a [[WasOnceAMan human corrupted by dark magic]], he also represents [[Literature/PeterPan Captain Hook's crocodile]], which was originally just [[AnimalNemesis a literal crocodile]] (and if you count [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast him as the Beast]] it's a triple example, as both he and the Beast in the film are cursed humans, but one is a lion/pig thing and one is a golden, scaly man.)
44	* In ''Series/OnceUponATimeInWonderland'', the character of Elizabeth is inspired by Bill the Lizard in ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'', but in addition to being {{Gender Flip}}ped, she's a human who's ''nicknamed'' "Lizard". She seems to be the only talking animal Wonderland character to get this treatment in the series. (A comic book about ''Series/OnceUponATime'''s Mad Hatter also introduced a human March Hare.)
45	* In ''Series/OrphanBlack'', TheHero Sarah Manning and her long lost twin Helena are both clones along with the rest of Creator/TatianaMaslany's characters. In the [[Series/OrphanBlack7Genes Japanese remake]] the twins are now natural humans, as they are the original hosts in this version.
46	* ''Script/{{Powerpuff}}'': Both Mojo and Jojo are humans, rather than [[UpliftedAnimal uplifted monkeys]] like the character that they were inspired by. Played with in Mojo's case, as his mind was later transferred into the body of his pet monkey; instead of becoming a monkey with human-like intelligence, he's a human brain in a monkey body.
47	* ''Series/RoswellNewMexico'': In the book series and the original show [[spoiler: Maria]] is a human, here it's revealed that she's actually descended from an alien survivor of the '47 crash.
48	* Madame Dorothea is a [[{{Muggles}} mundane]] in ''Literature/{{City of Bones\|2007}}'', but "Dot" is a witch in ''Series/{{Shadowhunters}}''.
49	* In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', ComicBook/{{Brainiac}} is not a Coluan, but rather a Kryptonian AI, similar to ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''.
50	* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' made certain changes from ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' over the course of its run.
51	** The Green Ranger from ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'' is actually an undead, but his ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' counterpart is a normal (well, aside from being a ranger) human being from the get go.
52	** The titular heroes from the ''Mighty Morphin' Alien Rangers'' mini-series were [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin aliens]] from the planet Aquitar. This is in contrast to their counterparts from ''Series/NinjaSentaiKakuranger'', who were simply a group of young humans descended from legendary ninjas.
53	** The Red Ranger from ''Series/DenjiSentaiMegaranger'' is human, but his ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'' counterpart is a HumanAlien.
54	** ''Series/SeijuuSentaiGingaman'' to ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' made two notable and interesting changes:
55	*** The Yellow Ranger goes from a (male) human to a ([[ShesAManInJapan female]]) HumanAlien.
56	*** The Pink Ranger is an interesting case, as she has [[DecompositeCharacter two counterparts]] in the adaptation. The first Pink Ranger is a human, much like her original Sentai counterpart, but the second Pink Ranger is a HumanAlien (sister of the aforementioned Red Space Ranger, in fact).
57	** ''Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive'' made two notable changes from ''Series/GoGoSentaiBoukenger'':
58	*** The Red Ranger goes from a normal human being to [[ArtificialHuman an android]].
59	*** The Silver Ranger goes from a HalfHumanHybrid to a HumanAlien.
60	** ''Series/PowerRangersMegaforce'': Due to using footage from [[Series/TensouSentaiGoseiger two diff]][[Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger erent series]] for its first and second half, the series' human rangers were adapted from a team of [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels]] and a team of HumanAlien SpacePirates. Funny enough, the second half's HumanAlien Silver Ranger was just a human in ''Gokaiger''.
61	** This also extends to villains and their MonstersOfTheWeek.
62	*** In ''Zyuranger'', Rita and her goons were a human and some mythical creatures who lived in ancient times instead of aliens (Goldar was a griffin, Finster was a leprechaun, Squatt and Baboo were a troll and a vampire, etc.). Additionally, ''Mighty Morphin''[='=] Season 2's monsters were evil humans able to become monsters in ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger'' instead of inanimate objects brought to life by Lord Zedd and Season 3's were {{Youkai}} in ''Series/NinjaSentaiKakuranger'' instead of more aliens.
63	*** Similar to the case of ''Dairanger''[='=]s [=MotWs=], ''Series/JukenSentaiGekiranger''[='=]s monsters were undead humans able to turn into beast-men, but in ''Series/PowerRangersJungleFury'' became animal spirits.
64	*** ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaSteel'''s villains are all aliens whereas their counterparts in ''Series/ShurikenSentaiNinninger'' were {{Youkai}}, with the lead baddies being an evil feudal warlord and his followers reincarnated as such and the MonstersOfTheWeek being transformed inanimate objects.
65	** Some of the individual Zords in various series have been changed.
66	*** In ''Zyuranger'', the Black Ranger's Guardian Beast is a Mammoth. ''Mighty Morphin''[='=] changes it into a Mastodon.
67	*** In ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger'', the Blue and Yellow Ranger's Chi Beasts are respectively a pegasus and a Kirin, but ''Mighty Morphin''[='=] changes them respectively into a unicorn and a griffin.
68	*** In ''Gingaman'', the Green and Pink Ranger's Starbeasts are respectively a falcon and a cat. ''Lost Galaxy'' turns them into a condor and a wildcat.
69	*** ''Series/EngineSentaiGoOnger'' haves half-vehicle, half animal mechas. The Red, Black, Green and Gold Ranger's vehicles are based respectively on a condor, a German shepherd, an orca and a rooster, but ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' changes them to an eagle, a wolf, a shark and a falcon. Also one of the extra vehicles is changed from an alligator to a crocodile.
70	*** In ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'', the Gold Ranger's optional mech is a squid, but in ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai'' it was changed to an octopus. An optional mech for the Red Ranger was also changed from a dinosaur to a shark.
71	*** Bragigas from ''Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger'' is a Brachiosaur, but its equivalent in ''Series/PowerRangersDinoCharge'', the Titano Zord, is a Titanosaur instead.
72	*** In ''Series/TokumeiSentaiGoBusters'', the Yellow, Gold and Silver Ranger's mechas are respectively a rabbit, a rhinoceros beetle and a stag beetle, but ''Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers'' changes them to a jackrabbit, a mantis and a scarab.
73	*** Two of the mechs from ''Series/KishiryuSentaiRyusoulger'' are fictional species called the Needlesaurus and the Tigersaurus. ''Series/PowerRangersDinoFury'' rectifies this changing them into actual prehistorical creatures, a Stegosaur and a Saber-Toothed Tiger.
74	* The titular ''Series/KamenRiderBlackRX'' is a {{Cyborg}}, but his [[Series/MaskedRider American counterpart]] is a HumanAlien.
75	* The titular ''Series/ChoujinkiMetalder'' is a RidiculouslyHumanRobot, but his ''Series/VRTroopers'' counterpart Ryan Steele is human.
76	* ''Series/BirdsOfPrey2002'' made [[ComicBook/{{Huntress}} Helena Wayne/Kyle]], her mother [[ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} Selena Kyle]], and [[ComicBook/BlackCanary Dinah Drake-Lance]] ([[AdaptationNameChange renamed]] Carolyn Lance) metahumans. While not elaborated on, ComicBook/TheJoker is seen [[PsychoElectro blasting people with electricity]] through his palm in a flashback.
77	* ''Series/LostInSpace2018'' makes two "species" changes from previous versions, more or less. One is the change of the Robot from a Earth-manufactured device brought along on the trip to an alien robot discovered on the planet that the characters crash-land on in Season 1. The second is the change of Debbie the Bloop (an alien that is adopted by Don West as a pet in the film version) to Debbie the Chicken.
78	* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E20Elegy Elegy]]", the caretaker of the cemetery asteroid Happy Glades Jeremy Wickwire is a [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots robot]]. In the short story by Charles Beaumont, his counterpart Mr. Greypoole is a human who became a cyborg after being augmented with artificial parts to restore his health and keep him alive for centuries.
79	* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'':
80	** Elena in the books is revealed to be half human/half angel. In the series, she starts out as a normal human and then becomes a vampire.
81	** Tyler is a werewolf in the books. In the show, this remains true, though he becomes a vampire-werewolf hybrid later on.
82	** Klaus is a pure-blooded vampire in the books. In the show he is made into a vampire-werewolf hybrid.
83	* ''Series/VRTroopers'' is a CompressedAdaptation of ''Series/ChoujinkiMetalder'', ''Series/JikuuSenshiSpielban'', and ''Series/SpaceSheriffShaider''. Ryan Steele, the counterpart of the titular Metalder who is [[ArtificialHuman an android]], is a normal human.
84	* ''Series/Titans2018'':
85	** [[Comicbook/WonderGirl Donna Troy]] has a [[ContinuitySnarl notoriously convoluted backstory]] in the comics, with her origins variously depicting her as a human child raised by Amazons, a magical clone of Comicbook/WonderWoman created by an evil sorceress, and even a HumanWeapon made from magic clay. In the TV show, however, she's stated to be a [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human, half-Amazonian hybrid]] who was taken in by the Amazons after her father died in an apartment fire.
86	* InUniverse example in the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS7E18AuthorAuthor Author, Author]]"; the Doctor's holonovel "Photons Be Free" portrays the characters based on Tuvok and Torres as human, the character based on Chakotay as Bajoran (with his facial tattoo becoming a snake wrapped round the Bajoran oval), and the one based on Kim as a Trill.

Context AdaptationSpeciesChange / LiveActionTV