Kids' Shows Based on Violent Movies: 10 Surprising Adaptations

From Gruesome to Googly-Eyed: 10 Kids' Shows Based on violent movies!

The Strange World of Kid-Friendly Adaptations: When R-Rated Gets Really, Really Tame!

Ever wonder how some seriously violent movies get turned into cartoons for kids? It's a wild world, folks! We're diving into the surprisingly bizarre history of adapting rated-R and extremely violent films into children's shows. While these are definitely entertaining shows, and it is very important to remember these shows exist! It's also crucial for viewers and everyone involved to look at this list critically and to understand that those kinds of choices can easily impact many young people in profound, potentially negative ways. It also makes one ask the bigger, more difficult question: Why would anyone ever try adapting extremely graphic violence into something suitable for children? This exploration looks into just why those choices matter! Some totally worked; others crashed and burned. Let's find out.

Also Read: Beetlejuice 2: Jenna Ortega, Tim Burton, & Wednesday's Spooky Sequel

Top 10 Violent Movie Adaptations That Became Kids' Shows

10. Highlander: The Animated Series (1994-1996): Beheadings Get Replaced (Mostly!)

The Highlander movie franchise centers around decapitations; yet it doesn't involve many additional types of violence – even though these extremely violent scenes appear early on in the original movies which become staples that remain for the entire film and the entire franchise; and these violent depictions exist in many films beyond just the initial release! This creates an interesting challenge. How can you really make something for kids without these details?

Highlander: The animated series puts Quentin MacLeod (a Connor MacLeod descendant) against Kortan in a fantasy-style setting in the years following Connor’s death. It still has some decapitations; those moments exist because that's really how the Highlanders die, yet most of this violence was toned down; making the entire show slightly darker in its themes compared to typical kids' animation. The challenge to reduce the levels of explicit violence, yet maintaining some thematic points without causing other difficulties, shows some clever creativity within the design. It showcases the need for strategic adaptation; balancing expectations.

9. The Mask (1995-1997): From Violent Crime to Cartoon Capers

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Most people remember the Jim Carrey movie The Mask. It's wacky, but not overly gory; unlike that Dark Horse Comics source material! This darker version contains extremely explicit and shocking images! These graphic depictions and extreme gore remain quite explicit throughout that particular comics series! What's particularly important is its initial release as a somewhat successful property and then becomes wildly popular– and thus creating that animated kids' version as a direct result. It does demonstrate the ability to appeal across different audiences.

This kid-friendly version still had its wacky chaos but removed that gruesome violence from its plot! That cartoon managed to capture that funny, surreal tone; proving some creative skill exists.

8. Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles (1999): Bug-Squashing Goes PG!

Starship Troopers? Seriously violent and intensely critical! It shows soldiers getting cut in half; showing intense military tactics. So how would this transfer into something for kids? Surprisingly, those extremely brutal action moments are converted and become extremely safe and tame in Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles!

It kept the military adventures; toned down all that violence – converting the huge bug-battles into things reminiscent of Star Wars: Clone Wars, which greatly appeals to younger audiences and presents an engaging, yet suitable show.

7. Police Academy (1988-1989): From Adult Humor to Family-Friendly Crime-Fighting

That animated version was tame–but not that much more unlike the live-action originals. That original movie included innuendo, sexual harassment, slurs and violence! So the massive changes; getting rid of explicit content demonstrates just how great this series’ changes really were! It's not terribly unlike other animated series showing those "bad guy of the week" storylines. Yet these efforts were also extremely successful. A whopping 65 episodes, this was pretty awesome.

6. Beetlejuice (1989-1991): From Killer Ghost to Mischievous Prankster

While the Tim Burton Beetlejuice movie’s relatively tame (compared to many other films!), this one includes attempted murder, plus adult-themed humor; these moments aren’t something easy to ignore and thus makes these adaptations something difficult, but with a suitable goal of reaching multiple age groups in mind.

Yet, that animated adaptation retains that classic Burton whimsical vibe. It turns Beetlejuice from a murder-obsessed ghost into that fun-loving prankster. It's a great adaptation, and spawned further successes.

5. Toxic Crusaders (1991-1993): Environmental Action Trumps Gore

The Toxic Avenger movie is wildly gory. The Toxic Crusaders animated adaptation takes this extremely violent tale; creating this incredibly suitable kids' adaptation. The show retained Toxie's environmental activism but totally got rid of most violent imagery–yet showing another method that's quite popular in animation and those other kinds of children’s media that also have extremely positive outcomes.

4. Conan the Adventurer (1992-1993): Barbarian Adventures Become Relatively Mild

Conan the Barbarian is a wildly violent franchise. That initial film– focusing on Conan's revenge— created this popular franchise! Its violence transferred into this animated adaptation which mostly succeeded despite attempts to create another interpretation for different ages! Those extreme moments get watered down, showing great restraint while maintaining an adventure storyline, despite taking several leaps in other areas to maintain some suitability. A truly brilliant kids' adaptation! This maintains faithfulness and yet doesn’t completely fail when creating a version specifically suited for younger age ranges.

3. RoboCop (1988): Lasers Replace Bullets and the Bad Guys Come Back from the Dead!

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This adaptation made a lot of really big changes! It created an alternate reality and thus its depiction of RoboCop mostly includes new adventures. They even altered the source material so those bullets were instead converted into lasers, and they also inexplicably resurrected Clarence Boddicker—which greatly angered those more experienced with the franchise and showed just how deeply these choices can affect things later on!

These extremely significant changes demonstrate how extremely violent this source material was and that the changes necessarily required drastic action.

2. Rambo: The Force of Freedom (1986): From PTSD to Military Missions!

The original Rambo movie is an exploration of PTSD (from the Vietnam War perspective). But Rambo: The Force of Freedom changes everything. That completely altered back story (removing all those hints regarding his previous traumatic experiences from Vietnam, showcasing the military missions now involving fighting terrorism!) creates another great point where these attempts made massive, sweeping changes across many narrative elements and it ultimately worked out very well!

Those gruesome violent acts became something suitable for younger audiences. It’s insane what these writers actually were capable of doing. A really great adaptation.

1. Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm (1995-1996): Fighting Games Without the Fatalities

The Mortal Kombat franchise– renowned for its wildly graphic and immensely popular fighting games – became wildly famous when that movie dropped! That generated that wildly successful animated adaptation Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm; it brought in classic characters, but those extremely gruesome fights—those over-the-top fatalities? All completely gone!

While referencing and even recreating several scenes, many important aspects remained unsuitable. Yet these efforts to create a completely different feel— even when taking cues from that previously released media created that really great adaptation. Although this was a brief endeavor— only running for one season – and clearly made solely as a way to capitalize upon existing success from another form of media (the original movie), it’s quite interesting. Another quick attempt that actually managed to deliver something quite watchable!

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Conclusion: When Kid-Friendly and Violent Worlds Collide!

Adapting extremely violent films for children is challenging. Yet some seriously cool kids' shows emerged from extremely violent movies–these examples demonstrate the possibility and impact of carefully made alterations. Others might not quite reach the levels of earlier success! These failures can demonstrate just how significant a strong narrative and planning, which need to occur during the planning phases of any major animation release!