Summary
The 1990s saw a huge spike in the popularity of animatedTV shows, especially those aimed at kids, so naturally, many of the more popular films at the time got in on the animated action. Animation is an incredible and time-consuming art form. Prior to 1995 and the release of the feature length movie,Toy Story, most animated shows were hand drawn. The 1990s saw the ability to use CGI in making animated content rapidly improve, but this was still largely an era of hand-drawn animation for most TV shows.
However, despite the time and careful effort required to create such projects, many box office hits opted to create tie-in shows to expand on their franchise. This led to younger viewers taking an interest in the property, leading tovideo game sequelsand other merchandise sales that were aimed at kids. Interestingly, not all the movies that inspired these cartoon spin-offs were for kids.Some were specifically for older audiences,but it kept the franchise popular among multiple age groups.
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10Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
So Says Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
In 1994, the popularAce Venture: Pet Detectivefilm starring Jim Carrey launched his career and cemented his popularity with his quirky and bizarre brand of physical comedy.The movie was a success at the box office, which led to studios rapidly creating a sequel for the following year, and then expanding the franchise with an animated show. The brand of comedy lends itself well to a kids' show, despite the original film being rated PG-13.
Though Jim Carrey did not voice the titular hero of the show, his general appearance and wacky style of humor was carried over to the show.
Ace Ventura: Pet Detectiveas an animated series ran from 1995 to 1997 on CBS, before moving to Nickelodeon for the third and final season in 1999.Though Jim Carrey did not voice the titular hero of the show, his general appearance and wacky style of humor was carried over to the show. Around this same time, Carrey had another two of his films adapted to cartoon shows, with bothDumb and Dumber, andThe Mask: Animated Seriesbeing released in 1995.
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9The Mask: Animated Series
Animated Chaos
WhileAce Venturawas a smash hit at the box office,The Mask, which was released later in 1994,was exponentially more successful, earning over $350 million on an $18 million budget (viaThe Numbers). The role was even more well suited toJim Carrey’s style of humor, with an outrageous and supernatural lead who employed a variety of slapstick gags and props to entertain. Once again, the original movie was rated PG-13, but the concept was easily adapted for a cartoon.
The movie and the consequential series were based on comics written by John Arcudi,and following a successful three-season run, a new limited series comic following the character was released. Again, Carrey did not return to voice the character, but his influence was clearly felt with the exaggerated and wild comedy of the character reflecting Carrey’s own.
8Back To The Future: The Animated Series
Great Scott!
In 1990, Universal was also getting into the cartoon space when they set up Universal Cartoon Studios (now Universal Animation Studios) as a way to capitalize on some of their most popular IPs in a growing new space. One of their first projects was adapting the incredibly popularBack to the Futurefranchise, which released it’s third and final entry in 1990.Building on the success of the series, Universal releasedBack to the Future: The Animated Seriesin 1991.
The show ran for two seasons on CBS before ultimately being canceled. It was later rerun in 2003,although the show never got much traction. It picks up after the end of the third movie and sees Doc Brown traveling through time with his wife Clara, his two sons, and his dog. Marty also returns to join the Brown family on their adventures, but the series is a spin-off that is not necessarily canonical to the movies.
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7Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!
Warner Bros. had been in the animation department for significantly longer, with their animated show,Looney Tunes, first released in 1930and continuing to have new releases into the modern era. When they then attempted to adapt thepopular Tim Burton movie,Beetlejuice, it ran for four seasons from late 1989 to 1991. Despite the shorter time span, the show had a total of 94 episodes exploring a spin-off concept to the film aimed at kids.
Both Burton and composer Danny Elfman collaborated on the project to bring the project to life, and it was a great expansion to the film.
With Lydia Deetz as the gothic child who befriends the ghoulish Betelgeuse, the pair embark on numerous adventures between the worlds of the living and the dead.Both Burton and composer Danny Elfman collaborated on the project in order to bring the project to life, and it was a great expansion to the film. However, it is not a direct follow-up or tie-in, as it drastically alters the events of the film and its upcoming sequel.
6Jumanji: The Animated Series
Rolling the Dice on an Animated Series
While the 1995Jumanjifilm starring Robin Williams has since been turned into a franchise with several sequels,the story had a much earlier sequel.Jumanji: The Animated Seriesaired from 1997 to 1999 over the course of three seasons and 40 episodes. The cartoon follows Peter and Judy Shepherd as they each continue to take their turns in the mystical board game of Jumanji, and find themselves transported to a world full of danger and trouble.
The series sees Peter and Judy connect with Alan Parrish, who has been trapped in the game for decades, unable to escape without completing his turn.The show does make changes to the original movie,but it also expands on the events of the film and originally introduced the concept of the kids being transported inside the game, which is central to the sequel films.
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5Godzilla: The Series
Go Go Godzilla!
Godzilla has been a popular character with a whole array of other monsters featured in media for decades.While the character originated in 1954 in a Japaneseepic Kaiju movie, that defined the genre, it was later adapted for English-speaking audiences on numerous occasions. When the 1998 film,Godzilla, starring Matthew Broderick was released, an animated series following the movie’s events came out later the same year.
The series alters parts of the original storyline in an effort to expand the narrative, but it is set shortly after the events of the film when one of the eggs left by the Godzilla monster hatches and imprints on the central character, Nick.From there, Nick forms a team, and they work alongside the tamed Godzilla monster to fight other mutant creatures.This series also features several of the original actors returning for the series, although Broderick did not return to star.
4Men In Black: The Series
Suit Up!
Men in Blackwas another popular film that spawned sequels and video games.However, the animated show began airing shortly after the original film was released in 1997. The series proved popular, running for four seasons on Kids' WB from 1997 to 2001. While there are some major and minor adjustments from the first film, such as Agent K remaining a part of MIB and Agent L being promoted as an agent, the series largely continues the events of the first film.
Actors like Vincent D’Onofrio and Tony Shalhoub return to voice characters and expand on the original series stories.However, the stars, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, did not return to reprise their leading roles. The series had a fun alien of the week storyline which worked well with the concept of a secret government agency that deals with extra-terrestrial threats.
Men In Black
Cast
Men In Black is a science fiction film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as agents of a secret organization overseeing extraterrestrial activity on Earth. The agents are tasked with managing alien immigrants while protecting humanity from intergalactic threats. The film explores their partnership as they confront various challenges while ensuring the public remains unaware of alien presence.
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3Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Most Triumphant!
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventurelaunched a youngKeanu Reeves careerin Hollywood and helped to turn him into a household name due to the popularity of the movie.However, the spin-off animated show did not manage to perform quite as well.Bill & Tedwas first adapted into an animated show in 1990, one year after the movie debuted, and the show ran for 2 seasons.
The animated series had the advantage of featuring both Keanu Reeves and Alex Winters in their starring roles.
However,when the time traveling adventure animated show was then canceled, the network chose to replace it with a live-action series.The animated series had the advantage of featuring both Keanu Reeves and Alex Winters in their starring roles, but the live-action reboot cast different actors and had a much lower budget, resulting in what appeared to be a cheap knock-off version of the popular movie. It was subsequently canceled after 7 episodes.
2Extreme Ghostbusters
Who You Gonna Call?
Ghostbustersbecame a wildly popular franchise when the first film was released in 1984. Subsequently,the movie received a sequel animated series which ran from 1986 to 1991.Due to the show’s popularity, the property was then further expanded with a follow-up series that continued the narrative of the final episodes of the animated series.
Extreme Ghostbustersfocused on a new young group of up-and-coming Ghostbusters, who were all college students.The group were all mentored and guided in their efforts by veteran Ghostbuster, Egon Spengler, who helped the developing team to put a stop to rampant ghost riots in New York City, much like he and his original team did. However, the series ultimately ran for one season with a total of 40 episodes.
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1The Wizard Of Oz
Click Your Heels There!
However, one1990s animated TV showreached much further back for inspiration withThe Wizard of Oz.The original movie that the show was based on debuted in 1939, just over 50 years before the 1990 animated series was released.Despite only airing for 13 episodes over the course of one season, the show did manage to expand and introduce other characters from the source material by L. Frank Baum.
The book series upon which the movie was based came out in 1900, and consists of 14 books by Baum in the original run.All of these stories were released decades before the movie was released, and so the animated series expanding the franchise and telling new parts of the story was a welcome addition to the franchise. Now, the franchise has expanded with several other films and stage shows.
