I wonder what it is about the big screen that makes TV stars and writers flock to it like it’s the be-all end-all of their careers. Bigger screen dimensions, bigger salaries, nose-hair large enough for the bare eye to see—movies are obviously different. Are they worth the migration of small-screen ex-pats? That is questionable.
In many ways, television seems like the more personal medium. A 22-hour season allows fans to grow and integrate themselves into a character’s skin much more easily than a 2-hour-movie can. However, the best of writers should possess the capability to create such resonance in their writing, irregardless of the medium. This, doesn’t necessarily seem to be the case though, even with writers who wow on the small-screen. My favourite writer (and I hope by now he’s yours too) attempted to write a feature film adaptation of his cancelled space-series Firefly. While the movie was entirely satisfying for an audience that sadly had their dose of firefly-ing cut short, the moviegoer in me could not distinguish between the feature, and an extended television episode. The same went for movie-versions of shows like The X-Files, which seemed like good ideas in theory, but never delivered (except to a cult demographic) in reality. Some of this feeling can be accurately attested to the fact that both shows were based on extended narrative-arcs that inevitably suffered when cut down to what were, short conclusions to novel (in length and in quality) serials.
Does this mean then, the quality of television stories cannot transfer to the big screen? Perhaps, but it does, ultimately depend on type of programming. When I heard that The Simpsons had planned a vacation to the movies for 2007, I was a little disturbed. The TV-Hit-Movie-Dud Curse began to loom, but considering that the nature of the show requires very little previous exposure and the relative brilliance of the Simpsons staff, it may fair differently. The problem won’t be fitting it all in, but instead, fleshing it out so that the story is both engaging and true to Simpson-styles.
I suppose the truth (once lost with The X-Files movie) will have to be revisited in Springfield, 2007.
If it sucks, we’ll leave together.
