Title: The Adaptation

Otherwise known as Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game.

When a work is adapted into a different medium, there is a tendency to subtitle that work with the format of the new adaptation. For example, a TV show called Bob and Alice, when adapted into a movie, will be called Bob and Alice: The Movie.

Because this is an uncreative and predictable method of naming something, it's a good sign that the adaptation is a cheap tie-in product knocked out to ride the coattails of a more popular work (this is especially true of things adapted into video games). This is not necessarily true, however, and just as frequently the system is simply used as a way to disambiguate different works in a franchise.

This is a fluid trope. Sometimes, if an adaptation becomes more popular than the original work, it'll drop the subtitle, while in other cases, if a new adaptation is produced, a show that didn't originally have a subtitle will have one added on. Many times, these are even added on by fans.

Colon Cancer is a frequent result of this trope, especially if an adaptation of an adaptation is made. Take, for example, this gem: Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Manga.

Common subtitles include The Board Game (adaptation in the tabletop medium), The Movie (adaptation in the film medium), and The Role-Playing Game (adaptation as an RPG, usually in the tabletop medium). Compare Super Title 64 Advance (where the work uses the platform name as a subtrope). Contrast Oddly Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo, The Original Series. See also The Foreign Subtitle.

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Examples (listed by medium):

The Animated Series/The Animation

• Star Trek: The Animated Series (on screen title was merely Star Trek, used on video releases)
• Batman: The Animated Series
• Superman: The Animated Series (well before this one came out, there had been several Superman cartoons that didn't get this treatment)
• Marvel Universe:
  • X-Men: The Animated Series — initially an unofficial title, though some DVD releases and official Marvel retrospectives have called it that.
  • Spider-Man: The Animated Series — same case as above.
  • Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (actually the official title this time)
  • The Spectacular Spider-Man Animated Series — That's what it says in the title sequence.
• Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!: The Animated Series
• Back to the Future: The Animated Series
• The Mask: The Animated Series
• Sabrina: The Animated Series
• Friday: The Animated Series
• Spaceballs: The Animated Series
• Alf: The Animated Series
• Robo Cop The Animated Series
• Clerks: The Animated Series
• Kong: The Animated Series
• Azumanga Daioh: The Animation (Because Azuanime just doesn't sound right.)
• Ragnarok the Animation
• Police Academy: The Animated Series
• Persona 4: The Animation
• Persona 4: The Golden Animation
• Persona 5: The Animation
• Xenosaga The Animation (There's no colon)
• Transformers: Animated (though it's not exactly an adaptation, but one Alternate Continuity of many in an ongoing franchise)
• Kurokami: The Animation
• Rayman: The Animated Series
• The Mummy: The Animated Series
• Evolution: The Animated Series, better known as Alienators: Evolution Continues
• IRIA: Zeiram the Animation (based on a Japanese live-action movie called Zeiram)
• El Chavo: La Serie Animada (or alternately, "El Chavo Animado")
  • El Chapulín Colorado: La Serie Animada (or alternately, "El Chapulín Animado")
• Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series
• Beetlejuice: The Animated Series
• In French, The Real Ghostbusters was known as S.O.S. Fantômes: La Serie Animée^note Had the previous unrelated live-action series by Filmation not existed, the show likely would have invoked this trope in the U.S. as well.
• Green Lantern: The Animated Series
• Disney's Hercules: The Animated Series
• Supernatural: The Animation
• Punky Brewster: The Animated Series (more commonly referred to as "It's Punky Brewster"; however, it was never called by this exact name onscreen)
• Pigs in Space: The Animated Series (aired as part of the very short-lived Muppet Babies companion series Little Muppet Monsters)
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Animation
• Danganronpa: The Animation
• Nyanpire: The Animation
• R.O.D the TV, the Sequel Series to an OVA.
• "Sonic Toon" (in Japan)
• Casper: The Animated Series (also known as The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper)
• Manga^note In Japanese, the word "manga" is used similarly to the English word "cartoon", which can refer to either comics or animated productions. Mito Komon, an anime adaptation of a long-running jidaigeki drama called "Mito Komon".^note Itself loosely based on actual events.
• "Anime Hachijuu (80) Nikan Sekai Isshu"^note Literally "Anime Around the World in 80 Days", but can also be interpreted as "Around the World in 80 Days: The Animated Series".
• Ping Pong: The Animation
• Laverne & Shirley: The Animated Series (also known as "Laverne and Shirley in the Army" in order to distinguish it from the live action show)
• Kikaider: The Animation
• Teen Wolf: The Animated Series (also known as "The Cartoon Adventures of Teen Wolf")
• Shazam: The Animated Series (aired as part of "The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam!")
• Tsukiuta the Animation
• Giant Robo: the Animation
• Sakura Wars the Animation
• The World Ends With You: The Animation

The Coaster

• The Incredible Hulk Coaster at Universal's Islands of Adventure
• Fairly Odd Coaster at Nickelodeon Universe
• At Six Flags:
  • The Dark Knight Coaster
  • The Joker Funhouse Coaster
  • Superman: Krypton Coaster

The Comic Book/The Manga

• The aforementioned Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Manga.
  • Likewise, Star Trek - The Manga
• Clerks: The Comic Book
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's/StrikerS The Comics
• Prince of Persia: The Graphic Novel
• Sakura Wars: The Comic
• Turning Red: 4*Town 4*Real: The Manga

The Game/The Video Game/The Board Game/Other-Titles-In-The-Vein-Of-The-Game

• Activision's Licensed Game of Aliens was subtitled The Computer Game on its US packaging, though most foreign releases and the actual title screen omitted this.
• Back to the Future: The Game
• Batman: The Telltale Series
• Batman: The Video Game
• Beowulf: The Game
• Black★Rock Shooter: The Game
• Coraline: The Game
• Cosmo Gang: The Video. (The original Cosmo Gang game, recreated in this video game's Bonus Stages, used only electromechanical components.)
  • Cosmo Gang: The Puzzle (which served as the "inspiration" behind Pac-Attack)
• Friday the 13th: The Computer Game
• Friday the 13th: The Game
• Ghostbusters: The Video Game
• Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series
• Disney's Hercules: Action Game
• Hell's Kitchen: The Video Game
• Hannah Montana: The Movie: The Game
• James Cameron's Avatar: The Game
• Jaws: The Computer Game
• Jurassic Park: The Game
• Labyrinth: The Computer Game
• LEGO Adaptation Game:
  • LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
  • LEGO Batman: The Videogame
  • The LEGO Movie Videogame
• Lost: The Game^note You just did and Lost: The Video Game (also known as Lost: Via Domus in North America)
• Miami Vice: The Game
• Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
• Saw: The Video Game
• Sentinels of the Multiverse: The Video Game
• The Simpsons Game
• Spider-Man: The Video Game
• Star Wars: The Arcade Game, which was used by Parker Brothers for their home releases of the Atari arcade game from 1983.
• Konami's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game was given the title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game when it was ported over to the NES. Home computer ports of the same game were published in Europe as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: The Coin-Op!.
• TV Tropes: The Party Game. No, really.
• Up: The Game
• The Frankie Goes to Hollywood Licensed Game (yes, there was one) has "Frankie: The Computer Game" on its title screen, though this is not displayed on the packaging.

The Movie and similar

• Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Pokémon: The First Movie, Pokémon 2000 and Pokémon 3: The Movie.
  • All the films from the fourteenth onward begin with Pokémon the Movie, followed by the subtitle.
• Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie.
• The Transformers: The Movie
• The Simpsons Movie
• The Sponge Bob Square Pants Movie
  • The Sponge Bob Movie Sponge Out Of Water
  • The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run
• Superman (1978) was also called Superman: The Movie
• Santa Claus: The Movie (called that everywhere except in the opening credits)
• Batman: The Movie
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The Movie 1st/2nd A's
• Slugs: The Movie
• Subversion: The live-action film adaptation of Street Fighter II is simply called Street Fighter. However, the two video game versions that were released both carried the title of Street Fighter: The Movie.
  • The anime version on the other hand, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, plays this straight. The Japanese release, which predated the live-action version, is known simply as Street Fighter II MOVIE (with "MOVIE" spelled using the same fonts used to spell "Super" on the Super Street Fighter II logo).
• Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie
• Digimon: The Movie (Two Digimon Adventure films and one Digimon Adventure 02 film edited together)
• Looney Tunes: Back in Action is retronymed to have a ": The Movie" tag on its DVD case.
• The 1986 anime movie version of Fist of the North Star was released as Fist of the North Star: The Movie on DVD by Discotek. The Japanese DVD release is known by the much lengthier title of Gekijōban Seikimatsu Kyūseishu Densetsu Hokuto no Ken (which roughly translates to Fist of Ursa Major: Legend of the Century's End Savior: The Movie)
• Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa and Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: The Sacred Star of Milos
• Naruto The Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow
  • Naruto The Movie 2: Legend of the Stone of Gelel
  • Naruto The Movie 3: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom
  • Naruto: Shippuden: the Movie
• Bleach The Movie: Memories of Nobody
  • Bleach The Movie 2: The DiamondDust Rebellion
• One Piece the Movie: Dead End no Boken (Dead End Adventure)
  • ''The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventures in Alabasta'
  • One Piece Film: Strong World
• Chou Gekijou-ban Keroro Gunsou (literally, "Sgt. Frog: The Super Movie")
  • Gekijouban, literally meaning Theater Edition, is commonly prefixed before movie adaptations of Japanese series.
• Zeitgeist The Movie, technically not an adaptation of anything, but the name makes a lot of people think that it is.
• Cardcaptors: The Movie (or Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie depending which version you get)
• The Garbage Pail Kids Movie
• G.I. Joe: The Movie
• Hannah Montana: The Movie
• The Gong Show Movie
• My Little Pony: The Movie (1986)
• My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)
• The Powerpuff Girls Movie
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie
• The Suite Life Movie
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie
• Tom and Jerry: The Movie
• Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie
• The LEGO Movie
  • The LEGO Batman Movie
  • The LEGO Ninjago Movie
  • The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part
• There is a Script Fic "movie" series that features Luke Cage: The Movie, Iron Fist: The Movie, and Heroes For Hire: The Movie.
• Totally Spies!: Le Film
• Left Behind: The Movie (the 2000 film adaptation featuring Kirk Cameron, as opposed to the 2014 effort featuring Nicolas Cage).
• Top Cat: The Movie^note Or rather, "Don Gato y su Pandilla: La Pelicula", since it was made in (Latin-American) Spanish first.
• Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (onscreen title is "Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker")
• Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture
• Homicide: The Movie, a Made-for-TV Movie of Homicide: Life on the Street
• Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
• Odd Squad: The Movie
• Steven Universe: The Movie (another Made-for-TV Movie example)
• We Bare Bears: The Movie
• Sailor Moon The orginal 90s anime had three movies, and thus three examples.
  • Sailor Moon R: The Movie. Officially the full title in Japan is (translated to) Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon R: The Movie, much like the series. The 90's dub made it Sailor Moon R: The Movie: Promise of the Rose, tacking on a subtitle that ties into the villain's motivation and the last minute reveal that Sailor Moon as a child was the catalyst for said promise; the rose in question came from her originally.
  • Sailor Moon S: The Movie. Again the full title in Japan is Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon S: The Movie. 90s dub again added a subtitle, Sailor Moon S the Movie: Hearts in Ice, referring to the ice based villain and the romance subplot involving Luna and two new characters.
  • Sailor Moon SuperS: The movie is a semi aversion as it's full title in Japan is Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Super S: The Nine Sailor Soldiers Unite! Miracle of the Black Dream Hole , being styled after a more traditional episode title. The first English dub however plays it straight in it's full title, Sailor Moon Super S: The Movie: Black Dream Hole
• Persona 3: The Movie
• Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door was simply titled Cowboy Bebop: The Movie outside of Japan.
• Tamagotchi: The Movie
• The first Happy Heroes movie is known roughly as Happy Heroes: The Movie, though many times "The Movie" will be dropped.
• Regular Show: The Movie (another Made-for-TV Movie example)
• Mulawin: The Movie
• Banzi's Secret Diary - Theatrical Version is an odd variation, but it still clearly tells you that it's a theatrical adaptation of the series.
• 4 Angies: The Movie
• The Bob's Burgers Movie
• Hey Arnold! The Movie
  • Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie
• The Loud House Movie
• The Rugrats movie is of course called The Rugrats Movie, to distinguish it from the TV series.
  • Less sensible is its sequel, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, since there is no "Rugrats in Paris" series it needed distinction from.
    • Even less sensible than that is the video game adaptation, which is called "Rugrats in Paris: The Movie".
• The Wild Thornberrys Movie
• Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension
  • Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe
• Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie
• Jetsons: The Movie
• El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
• Playmobil: The Movie
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters
• Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
• Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama
• The Proud Family Movie
• PAW Patrol: The Movie
• The Muppet Movie
• Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie
• Psych: The Movie
• The Tigger Movie
  • Piglet's Big Movie
  • Pooh's Heffalump Movie
• The Peanuts Movie
• Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie
  • The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie
• Atop the Fourth Wall: The Movie
• The Super Mario Bros. Movie
• The BoBoiBoy movies are called BoBoiBoy The Movie and BoBoiBoy Movie 2.
• The Angry Birds Movie
  • The Angry Birds Movie 2
• The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!
• Teen Titans Go! To the Movies makes a similar pun as Steven Universe's "Lion 2: The Movie" (see "Parodies" folder), as it's a movie for Teen Titans Go!, but also about the Teen Titans going to the movies (or rather trying to get a movie about themselves made). The posters even make "to the" part small so it looks at first glance like Teen Titans Go!: The Movie.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series has Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Movie and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Other Abridged Movie.
• Mechamato's movie is simply called Mechamato Movie.

The Musical and similar

Most musical adaptions fit either this trope.

• Portal 2: The (Unauthorized) Musical
• Evil Dead: The Musical
• Fellowship! The Musical
• La Cage aux folles: The Broadway Musical
• Legally Blonde: The Musical
• David Warrack's Rob Roy - The Musical
• The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein (This is actually the official title of the musical. No colon. It's so official, they had to read out the whole name for each of its nominations on the Tony awards broadcast.)
• Vanities: A New Musical
• Human Centipede: The Musical
• The Book Of Job: The Musical
• Urinetown: The Musical, although not an adaptation of anything.
• Shrek: The Musical
• Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile: The Musical, an animated special created in 1987 for HBO based on the storybook The House on East 88th Street^note The title was originally taken from the book's sequel.
• Game Grumps: A New Musical
• The musical based on the first Percy Jackson book is an interesting variation, being called The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical.
• !HERO: The Rock Opera

The Next Generation (and similar names)

• Star Trek: The Next Generation
  • Star Trek: Generations
• Degrassi: The Next Generation
• 90210: The Next Generation (working/advertised title)
• Speed Racer: The Next Generation
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation
• Revenge of the Nerds: The Next Generation
• Bonanza: The Next Generation
• Love Boat: The Next Wave
• Poltergeist: The Legacy
• Saved by the Bell: The New Class
• Castlevania: The New Generation (in Europe)
• Street Fighter III: New Generation (the first installment in the trilogy)
• Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation (a subversion; this movie is a Continuity Reboot)
• Yu-Gi-Oh! GX ("GX" meaning "Generation NeXt")
• Cardfight!! Vanguard G (The "G" stands for "Generation"^note This is both a gameplay mechanic in the card game, as well as a reference to the show's "next generation" angle.)
• Boruto: Naruto Next Generations

The Pinball

• Back to the Future: The Pinball
• Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure
• Metroid Prime Pinball
• Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man Pinball
• Plants vs. Zombies Pinball
• Pokémon Pinball
• The Simpsons Pinball Party
• Star Trek Pinball

The Ride

• Oh man does Universal Studios love this trope.
  • The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man: The Ride
  • Back to the Future: The Ride
  • Hollywood Dream: The Ride
  • Jurassic Park: The Ride
  • Jurassic World: The Ride
  • Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride
  • The Simpsons Ride
  • Space Fantasy: The Ride
  • Transformers: The Ride
• Several theme parks have "Batman: The Ride", "Batman: The Stunt Show" or both.
• Thorpe Park has Saw: The Ride.

The Series

• Highlander: The Series (later dropped when it became more popular than the movie)
• Lexx: The Series
• Police Academy: The Series
• Friday The 13th: The Series
• F/X: The Series
• Blade: The Series
• Calvin & Hobbes: The Series (actually a Script Fic)
• RoboCop: The Series
• Scream: The Series
• Freddy's Nightmares: A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Series
• Many animated series based on Disney Animated Canon films:
  • Aladdin: The Series
  • 101 Dalmatians: The Series
  • Lilo & Stitch: The Series
  • Tangled: The Series (retitled Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure for the second season)
  • Big Hero 6: The Series
• Pokémon: The Series (added to the English dub retroactively; aired as Pokémon)
• Fist of the North Star: The Series (added to the English dub in order to distinguish it from the 1986 movie that was brought over to the U.S. first)
• Godzilla: The Series

Other

• The heavily mocked On Ice! phenomenon of the 1990s.
  • Parodied on Homestar Runner with Dangeresque: Put 'Em on Ice!
  • Also parodied by the name of The Simpsons 20th anniversary documentary The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special: In 3-D! On Ice!
  • Sonic for Hire has "Sonic: On Ice!"
• Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Radio Edition
• The Live Bloginations forum section of this site has a number of "Title: The Liveblog" or variations thereof.
  • Threads in general sometimes get titles like "Subject of the Thread: The Thread."
• The Abridged Series: The whole genre.
• Michael Jackson: The Experience (a video game)
• Moyashimon: The Drama
• Pretty Dudes: The Novel, based on the digital series.
• New Spring The Novel (originally a short story).
• Star Trek Online and The Elder Scrolls Online (MMO adaptations)
• Troll Cops: The Radio Play
• Gotcha!: The Sport (a toy line, but also a better known video game based on the movie Gotcha!^note At least, according to The Other Wiki)
• Data East's Licensed Pinball Table based on the 1994 movie Maverick is called Maverick The Movie, instead of the more accurate "Maverick The Pinball" (or even "Maverick: The Series: The Movie: The Pinball").
• Brentalfloss: The Comic (seems to be non-existent now)
• High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (a documentary-style series about a production of a musical based on the original)

Parodies

• AMV Hell 3: The Motion Picture. Then AMV Hell 3: The Motion Picture II: AMV Hell 4: The Last One.
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters. The soundtrack is called Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters Colon the Soundtrack.
• Ask King Sombra: The Animated Series. What makes it a parody is that it turns into live-action shortly after the beginning.^note The fact that it was released on April Fools' Day might have something to do with it too.
• Damage Control: The Movie, an in-universe example.
• Homestuck Act 6 has Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff: The Moive [sic]. Also The Movovie, The The Film and The Movle.
• I Wanna Be the Guy: The Movie: The Game
• Penny Arcade's Dungeon Siege: The Movie (directed by Uwe Boll).
• Parodied on Phineas and Ferb where Agent P gets his briefing from Major Monogram after arriving on Lair Entrance: The Ride.
• Rick and Morty gives us Alien Invasion Tomato Monster Mexican Armada Brothers who are Just Regular Brothers Running in a Van From an Asteroid and All Sorts of Things: The Movie.^note It's just called Two Brothers.
• Parodied in-film for Spaceballs: The Merch. The characters also refer to the movie as Spaceballs: The Movie, even though it isn't an adaptation of anything.
• Steven Universe: The second episode about Lion is called "Lion 2: The Movie", because it's about Connie and Steven riding Lion to the movie they want to watch at a theater. Made funnier years later by the announcement of Steven Universe: The Movie.
• Hee Haw: The Next Generation. Worf can do a mean hambone solo.

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