Character evolvement.

[alan french]

Hi,
Every-so-often, someone gets an idea for a character; or even a series. It proves successful. Then the film or television industry get hold of it, and do their thing with it. After some time, things start to drift away from the original concept. Eventually, the evolving idea drifts even further.

How far should this development continue? And if it evolves more away from what the author had in mind, how far should this process go? And if it is that far away, would it be worth creating new name/s for the character? In other words a new idea and character comes into place. Providing it is legal; of course; how far should we go? Should we create a new character?

Alan French.

[GRAEME]

It is time for your afternoon medicine, Sir Alan...

[CaptainWaggett]

Providing it is legal; of course; how far should we go?

If we knew the answer to that, the vice squad would be put out of business

[Mr Sloane]

Drifting from original concept and backstory and a good deal of changing the rules as we go along - a certain Dr Who.

[icetorch]

Hi,
Every-so-often, someone gets an idea for a character; or even a series. It proves successful. Then the film or television industry get hold of it, and do their thing with it. After some time, things start to drift away from the original concept. Eventually, the evolving idea drifts even further.

How far should this development continue? And if it evolves more away from what the author had in mind, how far should this process go? And if it is that far away, would it be worth creating new name/s for the character? In other words a new idea and character comes into place. Providing it is legal; of course; how far should we go? Should we create a new character?

Alan French.

All very theoretical but - variations on a theme are intrinsic to art. Look at how the Dracula story inspired all sorts of different vampires, concentrating on different aspects of the creature. Look at the decade of the 1960s on film and TV: it kicked off with James Bond, but we ended up with all sorts of copycat fantasy characters as the theme developed and morphed: Napoleon Solo, Jason King, Dangerman, the Champions, and of course Batman pre-dated this stuff but was revived but it fitted in perfectly. The decade and the theme seemed to fizzle out and end with "The Prisoner" (1969), which was so weird and surreal that few could make sense of it. I remember my parents' bewildered comments: "Load of bloody rubbish!", and "All about nowt!" As soon as we got into the 1970s, all the fantasy seemed to disappear and we had all the down-to-earth grit instead: "The Professionals", etc.

Of course, it depends on what you specifically had in mind. Fancy elaborating?

[icetorch]

All very theoretical but - variations on a theme are intrinsic to art.

I'm sure I never punctuated it like THAT.

Here's the original:

"All very theoretical, but variations on a theme are intrinsic to art."