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I know that most people thought it sucked, but I really enjoyed Miami Vice. Now this is probably cause I have a full on man crush on Mann's work and I was predisposed to loving it but the TV show has aged badly and I love how he shoots digital.

anyway that the only TV to Movie transition that worked for me that I can think of.

To echo MannyCal's point, Miami Vice is a true representation of the superior film format. Not only did Foxx/Farrell have grittier and (at points) wittier chemistry than Johnson/Thomas, Mann also managed to add a sense of darkness and an overall Arthouse feel to the film, while losing none of the guns/drugs/stuff-blowing-up mischief from the programme

This being said, I sadly can't agree with you, Dr K, on Twin Peaks. As great as the film is at points, the elongated opening between Sutherland/Issak becomes almost monotonous due to the poor performances and (for Lynch especially) weak dialogue. I do understand the point you make on the inconsistencies of quality in the TV programme, but there is a simple point that explains this: Twin Peaks should have ended at episode 9 of Season 2

I think it's easy to say films like The Fugitive with Harrison Ford are better than the TV series, because the TV series of often pretty rubbish.

Although I disagree on Twiwn Peaks, I am struggling to think of another CELEBRATED TV show (episodic or otherwise) that ever generated a greater movie version of itself?

The only thing I can think of is M*A*S*H - but it depends on how you view the film.

I recently got my hands on Season 2 Part 2 of Twin Peaks and was rather excited about it.
"At last", I thought, "I'm going to see the end of the series again". I watched about four and went: "Oh, yes. This is where it gets rubbish." I will get back to it. Eventually. That's probably what David Lynch said, too, as he was absent for much of Season 2.
At its height, Twin Peaks was excellent. Fire Walk With Me is, depending on my mood, irritating, boring, disturbing, a masterpiece, though it's no Mulholland Drive.
It is also terrifying, but if you want to enjoy the murder mystery of the TV show DON'T watch the film first.

I respect your opinion on "Twin Peaks" but but I personally think the last episode of Twin Peaks was possibly the most daring piece of Television of alltime, completely destroyed what the audience expected. It had like 10 minutes of no dialogue during the chase though the curtains.

Even though I like the show more than the film, I think the film was good.

Mark, a TV show which you might love is "Max Headroom", which is a brilliant subversive late 80s dystopian show.

it's not officially available on dvd and probably will never be but you can buy it online...

I'm surprised. I *loved* Twin Peaks (at least Season 1, not so much 2 when Lynch was obviously distracted doing Wild at Heart or whatever) but I remember finding Fire Walk With Me quite unsatisfying. I mean it was eerie and interesting and haunting and beautiful (and had a fantastic soundtrack) and all those things it should have been, but I remember thinking pace and plot-wise it was a bit off-kilter (and not in a good way). But maybe I should give it another chance...

yeah, fire walk with me is great (it's not the best lynch film though, you're off your rocker if you think it's better than blue velvet or wild at heart). i think, though, even though it has the same name, some of the same characters, and is directly related to the plot of the series, there's so much different that it seems like a totally different entity. then again, maybe that's why it works so well.

1. Miami Vice was awful. AWFUL. I absolutely adore Collateral and it is one of my favourite films of all time. Therefore, I was salivating for Mann's follow-up...but was completely devastated about how utterly turgid the end product was. Apart from the emphatically atmospheric rooftop-chatter-in-the-storm sequence amidst the first few scenes, the rest was a travesty. Now Mann is an outstanding director, in conjunction with Foxx and Farrell being terrific actors, yet this collaboration was shockingly dire. Here's praying for Public Enemies to deliver as it should.

2. Twin Peaks. Got the entire first season on DVD: Purely amazing.
Seen a few episodes from the second series: clearly not as good but not a complete failure by any means. There are moments in Fire Walk With Me which are pretty good, pretty neat (the David Bowie scene being the best) but there is something about it that just doesn't function.

Personally, I believe that the feature-length pilot is damn fine!

Hi Dr Mark,

Another example that comes to mind of a film being better executed than the tv show it orginated from is 'Holiday On The Buses'.

This took the hilarious Reg Varney comedy vehicle to a new level.

A real double decker.

Whereas, 'Fire Come Walk With Me' was totally lacking in the gags per minute ratio. Unlike its tv sister 'Twin Peaks'.

Am I guilty of inverted film snobbery perhaps?

The fact that the Twin Peaks movie was darker, nastier, and all those things you said, is probably the reason why most people hated it. I do agree that it's under-appreciated, but it's completely lacking the humour and quirkiness that was the main appeal of the TV show for most people. I guess really one isn't better than the other, they're just very different entities and it depends what you like.

Apparently there's an Arrested Development movie in the works so it'll be interesting to see how that works out.

[POSSIBLE State of Play SPOILER]
The film version of State of Play did not crackle like it's original. I think part of this was due to the "schlubby"ness of Crowe's character. I thought it was a piece of mis-casting (or miss-recasting). Unlike Mark, I think Brad Pitt would have been a good choice for the ambitious and youngish gumshoe reporter in the original. For a start I didnt believe for a moment that Affleck(36) and Crowe(45) could have been college roommates and exact contemporaries. The relationship between Crowe's character and Affleck's wife is played down and left mainly in the past missing out on the opportunities to display a greater level of betrayal between the two main characters and then between Crowe and Robin Wright Penn so a
s a result Crowe's character is much more sympathetic than John Simms' was.
The whole thing had a bit of a retro feel to it harking back to the Watergate era. I don't believe that this kind of investigative newspaper journalism really occurs anymore, particularly in the US. And how ironic was it that Dominic Foy worked out of an office in the Watergate building? Er, well not at all, actually. Since the original series aired I have observed two presidential elections at close quarters and seen how fast news stories now move in the course of a single day in the broadcast media, and by the bloggers who are usually out in front with the print media nowhere to be seen. I would have liked to have seen the original story updated to somehow reflect that with possible rival news organizations fighting to get the story (recall the laughing-boy James McAvoy chararcter in the original) but since seeing bloggers on the phone and doing e-mail in their PJ's
isnt very cinematic, we get the traditional exclusive newspaper story.Talking of which, how traditional is that very long closing sequence for a newspaper film? How many more times am I going to have to see that? I kept sitting there hoping for something interesting to happen. But... no aftermath postscript subtitles, no bloopers, no singing mice, no Ben Stiller playing with his man-boobs, no Rob Brydon and Steve Cougan engaging in witty improvised badinage. Oh well
.
[End of SPOILER]

Some examples where film versions are clearly superior to their TV origins are:

1. Dukes of Hazzard
2. Starsky and Hutch
3. The Avengers

What? OK, just kidding!


But how about?

The Untouchables (with due deference to Robert Stack)
Probably all the Batman movies, but particularly the recent ones
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The Life of Brian
The Blues Brothers (from Saturday Night Live)
Wayne's World (from Saturday Night Live)
Flash Gordon(1980)
The Fugitive

There's also been some perfectly creditable film versions of TV programmes
that at least live up to the original material, such as

Star Trek
Mission Impossible
The Simpsons (animateds are a bit of a cheat because you just make them longer)
South Park (and uncut)
The Muppets
Maverick
Lost in Space

I wonder why they havent done a version of The Prisoner before now. It's too bad Patrick McGoohan is no longer with us to at least cameo in it.

Dear Dr K.

Obviously you have missed something that is quite simply genius.

Joss Whedon's Firefly. A short lived sci fi/western hybrid which was brilliant, imaginative, great characters and just great dialogue. It only lasted 14 episodes but they were genius and Joss Whedon continued it with Serenity. That film was incredible. Not only did it enhance those 14 episodes but it also introduced a whole new audience to that world, such is the genius of Joss Whedon.

If you haven't watched Firefly, then watch those glorious episodes then watch Serenity and I guarantee the experiance will be greatly more exilirating. Please watch it, love it then make everyone else watch it for the benefit of sci fi and the world.

I think M*A*S*H, the film, pre-dates the TV series so that's probably a whole new blog

If you want to see bleak television, watch the recent British TV drama three part serial Red Riding, adapted from David Peace's novels and which also stars David Morrisey. Tony Grisoni's brilliant adaptations of Peace's novels perfectly capture the setting and the period and the paranoia of 70's and 80's Britain let alone Yorkshire. If you want to see a great, devastating well made, bleak and cinematic TV drama. Watch the Red Riding trilogy, if you haven't already.

Dear Sir,

With the upcoming Star Trek prequel/reboot thing, I thought I'd ask about the movie version about that other 60's sci-fi classic, i.e. the 2004 Thunderbirds movie.

I know you really liked it but for almost the entire film all but one of Tracey brothers are left in the background while kids (even one not seen in the TV series) take over. Now I've read that it was intended as a 'coming of age' film but can it still legitimately be called Thunderbirds when technically, they're barely in it?

(RE: Thunderbirds)

OK, they 'main Traceys' didn't feature much in 'Thunderbird 6' and both of the 60's movies focused mostly on Alan, but for a modern revival representing the entire back catalogue of the series shouldn't they have used more of the main cast?

savvifilm beat me to it, but I also want to mention Serenity. The movie works well as a stand-alone; I originally watched it with several friends unfamiliar with Firefly and they loved it, too. It's a solid piece of Sci-Fi with characters you can't help caring about, good effects that aren't overdone and a fast-paced, involving plot.

Yet for fans of Firefly, it's the series finale we were denied by Fox; knowing the TV show gives Serenity greater depth and a slightly different slant.

Genius movie making, and a film that doesn't get the credit it deserves.

I would like to add to the Joss Whedon love and tell everyone to watch anything done by him. The man is a genius.

I have to echo williamchadwick's views on Red Riding, the adaptation of David Peace's grim Yorkshire noir books. The 2nd one was actually directed by James Marsh of Man On Wire fame and can easily be shown in a cinema to a cinema crowd. Probably the best piece of TV since Stephen Poliakoff's brilliant Shooting The Past from 1999.

As for films being better than the TV show, I always liked the Likely Lads film, maybe for nostalgic reasons, but it's still really amusing.

Hey Mark,

How much of The Wire have you watched so far and what do you think of it?

I dont know if i agree with the Firefly love-in going on here. But i would be very interested in knowing if people (or mark) think tv has ever done a good sci fi show that stands up to comparison with its silver screen cousins. TV sci fi has always been underbudgeted (Babylon 5, Firefly) or squeezed to death by the tv execs who want to appeal to a larger audience (primarily of idiots) eg - star trek (and all its spin offs) which just became a weekly jaunt into sci-fi babble about warp coils and trilithium.

The x files did some good stuff but, just like mark, i stopped around season 4 or 5 cause it was just too much (it went on forever) and i started to feel let down by formulaic plotting issues.

The first season of Heroes was enjoyable but 2, 3 and now 4 are all turd.

The first season of Life on Mars was superb but it's follow ups have also been quite lacking.
I was always a twin peaks fan - in the days of analogue tv and no ondemand services i never missed a single show. I too thought the final episode was totally groundbreaking and left me in a state of awe. And i loved Fire walk with me (although i remember a lot of my friends at the time hating it).

But... ( i sound like such a nerd) Battlestar Galactica is without peer in the tv sci fi world. It was so bleak, so hard and so damn good. It always went where you didn't expect it to, it never pulled its punches, it killed people off left right and centre, and it's production values were so high it looked just as good as any film on screen at that time (and many times a good deal better). The acting from the old hands (Ed Olmos, Mary McDonnel, Michael Hogan) was phenomenal. If you haven't seen it your in luck - it's only four seasons long and a collection is available from all good stockists for around 40quid for the lot! I sent mark a copy of the 3 hour tv mini series that kicked the whole thing off but i'm starting to think a wee skitter at five live has legged it with the goods!

dr. kermode, HAVE YOU BLOODY WATCHED CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM YET?

Three words for you all; can... of... worms!

[TWIN PEASKS SPOILERS APLENTY, AHEAD]

1. Fire Walk With Me is great. I always said that it was, and I've defended its honour for years. And Sheryl Lee's performance as Laura is, I think, quite extraordinary - consider that she was originally cast in the series because she made for a wistful corpse.

On the strength of that glamorous debut she returned as Maddy, Laura's identical cousin (think about that from a genetic viewpoint, for a moment... that's enough). But all she really got to do as Maddy was facilitate grief, and survive just long enough to be embroiled in a ludicrous subplot before going the way of BetaMax.

So, for the run of Twin Peaks, what did Sheryl Lee really have to do? Not much. Yet all of a sudden, she arrives in Fire Walk With Me, representing *all* of the terror and torment that we imagined Laura might've suffered - and then some. Terrific work from her.

2. I began watching Firefly this week, and it appears to be excellent. Doctor Kermode, I seem to recall, made Serenity his Movie of The Week when it came out...?

3. It's 3:15am, and long past my bedtime. More thoughts tomorrow, perhaps.


G'night.

See...?! It's so late, I can't even spell "PEAKS"!

Ugh.

Dr. Kermode, do you really think Life on Mars affected you more than any movie you've seen? Is is better than The Exorcist? Also, what do you think of the American remake of the show?

I knew you were going to pick Fire Walk With Me! Saw it as a teenager. Wasn't entirely satisfying at the time. Must give it another go.

I'd pick The Fugitve and Mission Impossible as well.

A friend of mine saw the new Star Trek film yesterday evening, said it was excellent, so that could be one example for the future.

But I'm sure there are trekkies out there that would sneer at such a suggestion.

I'm backing MannyCal and SkyValley - I think Miami Vice 2006 works! Second act bagginess aside, I loved the look, loved the feel, loved the simmering tension, and a great, great soundtrack with shocking sporadic bursts of violence as ever from Mr. Mann (not to be confused with Mr. Tickle).

In fact I'll go one better than those two - I liked the film of Miami Vice much more than the other crime thriller that year that received undue acclaim, The Departed. (Can't match me there can you?!) Yes Departed had a better, fuller, more smoothly told story. But in the end, after all its embellishments, it's a thriller that genuinely thrilled me only once (the eventual cellphone call). It all felt like everyone was on autopilot, and I just didn't care in the way that the atmosphere, the setting, and the jargon completely swept me up in Miami Vice. (I think my bitterness is compounded by it winning Best Picture, when United 93 and Pan's Labyrinth didn't even get nominated!)

A final note is that I think the theatrical cut of Miami Vice is better than the Director's Cut, which adds a largely perfunctory boat chase at the beginning, and loses that fantastic immediacy of the cold open right into 'Numb/Encore' in the nightclub.

Incidentally, there's a very good essay on the film 'Gravity of the Flux' on the Senses of Cinema website.

Shame more films can't be made in episodes with each one being cinematic and yet the total experience lasting several films. I guess it would be difficult to justify commercially but it would allow for more character development, plot detail etc.

P.S. Mark - I hope that was a sarcastic comment about "The Wire". Trashy American cop rubbish dressed up as something more. Why anyone would want to waste days of their life watching that I've no idea. At least if they did a film of the Wire it would only be 2 hours.

Mark, I have to commend you on praising Fire Walk With Me. It is one of Lynch's most critically reviled works, and it's clear in interviews it really killed his enthusiam to ever return to the Twin Peaks universe... but definitely my favourite of his, and a great bookend to a fine TV show. (I completely agree with your notion too the show became desperately uneven).

I would though disagree with you the film is a prequel, as it contains elements that only make sense having watched the whole run of the show, and ensure a hugely satisyfing viewing if so. The film shows right off the bat who the human host for the demon Bob was, for instance, instantly destroying a central mystery for much of the show's run - and there are also abstract elements, such as Heather Graham's appearance, that refer to Agent Cooper's fate in the series finale. I think by containing both these prequel and sequel elements to the show make the film a even more unique cinematic entity unto itself, and a severely underrated addition to the Twin Peaks canon.

Though it's a shame much of the UK\Ireland cannot enjoy the whole series too - as uneven as it was - to enjoy the even better film given the season two DVD set or the complete Gold Box set are not yet released here. (But are easily available across the entire world). Any chance you could do Cooper and his damn fine cups of coffee better and get to the bottom of that mystery?

Very true. I had to import Season 2 at borderline-ridiculous personal expense.

I'm told that Season 2 wasn't released over here because Season 1 didn't sell particularly well. And the people behind the remaster and presentation of Season 1 (Playback, I seem to recall...) spent a lot of money on getting Season 1 so damned awesome-looking. I can understand them being cross...!

Its worth noting that Fire Walk With Me's companion piece Mulholland Drive originally started life as a TV serial too (although it never made it past the pilot stage - one TV exec claimed he had to watch it standing up to stop him from falling asleep).

Dear Mark,

Quick question: Is there a sure-fire route into the work of David Lynch? I've never seen anything of his, partly due to a lack of opporunity (they NEVER seem to put him on telly), but also due to a certain apprehension.

I know your 'road to Damascus' experience with Blue Velvet was a worthwhile one, but I really don't want to be turned off before I can get turned on (so to speak). I want to get straight in there. So is Twin Peaks a good place to start? Or would this Fire-Walk with Me be better?

(PS if Mark doesn't have time to reply to this, maybe other contributors could help me out with this quandary?)

Jo, Mulholland Drive is the best place to start, its accessible as well as being very Lynchian. Its a good culmination of ideas and styles he seemed to be building towards.

Fire Walk and Blue Velvet are both obvious classics but are tough watches.

Eraserhead, his first, you should definitely check as once you've got yourself immersed its incredible. Its bookend piece (Inland Empire, apparently Lynch's last ever film) is however, indulgent tosh.

A couple of points

1. The person who said they couldn't watch all of series 2 of twin peaks I think you should still try and persevere for the final episode, the ending is absolutely chilling
2. The person who said the film versions of Batman beat it’s TV versions, I actually personally preferred the excellent early 90s Batman animated series to the Burton films
3. As a starting point for Lynch’s work I recommend The Elephant Man and finally
4. About Mark’s piece on TV for the Observer you were 100% correct about Entourage what a truly horrid programme

Haha I like how he only slipped in 'even . . The Wire!' right at the end for dramatic effect. I know its been praised endlessly but The Wire has to prove that in this day and age, with the scope for bigger budgets and bigger ideas, TV has the potential to outdo film. A friend of mine said that he considers the entire boxset 1-5 to be the best thing hes ever watched, including all films. Come on Mark, you must admit there are parts of The Wire that are a film students wet dream! Im thinking the scene in Season 1 when McNulty and Bunk go to the flat where the stripper was murdered and there is no dialogue apart from frequent interjections of 'F#$k!' as they work out how she was killed . . a brilliant piece of craftsmanship worthy of any film.

Speaking of all things 'Lynch' Mulholland Drive actually started out being a pilot for a television show,with a more inconclusive ending, paving the way for episodes to come. Having been rejected by the studio execs, Lynch rewrote the ending.

Two more things to say: The Wire is utterly outstanding in every way. Best television show ever made, and as culturally worthy as any film.

Secondly, I still think 'South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut' has been the most successful TV show to movie transformation. It was made when the show was at the height of it's powers, and it showed. It managed to make the leap successfully to the big screen, by utilising elements that would not have worked on the small, such as the musical numbers , yet remained faithful to the show, in a self-referencing way.

A show that consists of cardboard cut-out school kids swearing at each other, which becomes a multi-million dollar box-office smash, and leads to Oscar nominations, has to be up there, for me.

@DarthPunk

I was, of course, comparing the Batman movies, which BTW started - before the series you referred to - in 1989 with Tim Burton and Michael "I'm Batman" Keaton and the DEFINITIVE 1966-68 TV series with Adam West, Burgess Meredith and Eartha Kitt et al that was repeated throughout the seventies.

But thanks for making me feel so old :-)

BAM! POW! SOK!

Q. How does Batman's Mum call him inside for his tea?

A. "Dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner....Batman!"

Yes, that "Batman".

Thanks to the people who responded. Especially whtterz, I think I'll take you up on that advice. To the DVD repository! (AKA amazon)