Fans have gotten used to seeing live-action movie spin-offs that carry on popular stories or characters away from the main franchise that usually appears as other movies or related TV series, though every so often a live-action movie will also receive an animated spin-off that sometimes oddly transforms adult-only characters into kid-friendly entertainment.

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While some fans are sure to remember popular animated adaptations of live-action movies like Beetlejuice or Men In Black: The Series, there are quite a few other hit movies and franchises that received usually surprising animated adaptations that might have been easily missed, which we'll be taking a closer look at today.

Mighty Ducks animated series characters

The current live-action spin-off of The Mighty Ducks franchise that debuted on Disney+ called Game Changers is quite a bit different than the first animated spin-off that aired on ABC in the 90s that was similar in name only.

Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series featured a team of other-dimensional duck warriors with advanced technology who disguised themselves as the Anaheim Mighty Ducks while they fought an alien war on Earth. This unique animated spin-off hyped up the live-action movies and the NHL team with younger viewers and is fondly remembered by those who saw the short-lived series.

9 Rambo & His Force Of Freedom Fought Against The Toy-Friendly S.A.V.A.G.E.

Rambo with guns in his animated seriesu

A movie like First Blood, that introduced traumatized war veteran John Rambo to audiences, might not seem like a kid-friendly option for animated series, but the violent aspects of the long-running franchise were toned down in 1986 for Rambo.

The animated Rambo fought alongside his globe-trotting Force of Freedom against forgettable villains of the week that were allied with the Specialist-Administrators of Vengeance, Anarchy and Global Extortion/S.A.V.A.G.E. organization in a fairly blatant rip-off of G.I. Joe that resulted in a similar line of toys before the series was canceled due to fears of violent cartoons.

8 Clerks: The Animated Series Briefly Followed The Original View Askewniverse Crew

Television Clerks The Animated Series

Kevin Smith's debut indie 1994 hit Clerks wowed audiences and launched the director's career which branched off to comics and television, though he frequently returned to the original View Askewniverse characters which saw the premiere of Clerks: The Animated Series in 2000.

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The series followed clerks Dante & Randall along with mainstays Jay and Silent Bob as they dealt with a shady corporate real estate developer that was voiced by Alec Baldwin. Fans likely missed out on the series as the short six-episode first season was cancelled by ABC after airing only two episodes (out of order), though the series received a small cult status after a full home release.

7 The Mummy Reimagined The O'Connell Family's Ongoing Battle With Imhotep

Alex using the Manacle of Osiris on The Mummy animated series

Kids' WB aired a loose animated adaptation of 1999's The Mummy, which took the lead O'Connell family and reimagined the events of The Mummy Returns to further expand the storyline as they embarked on a global quest while fighting against the threat of High Priest Imhotep.

The series was retitled as The Mummy: Secrets of the Medjai for the second season which followed young Alex O'Connell as he trained with the Medjai and fought against the additional threat of The Mummy Returns' Anck-Su-Namun, though the series was canceled due to low ratings.

Cast from Back to the Future: The Animated Series

Marty McFly and the Brown family from the hit Back to the Future franchise returned in 1991 with Back to the Future: The Animated Series which followed the events of the third live-action movie that continued their adventures across time. The series ran for two seasons and featured both the Delorian time machine as well as the steam-powered train time machine.

Back to the Future: The Animated Series also featured live-action segments with Christopher Lloyd's Doc Brown as he performed science experiments that usually related to the themes of the episode. These segments featured his assistant Bill Nye, which would be further developed to become Bill Nye the Science Guy.

5 RoboCop Adapted Detroit's Incredibly Violent '80s Hero As An Animated Series For Children

Robocop in the animated series

Marvel Animation surprisingly made the decision to transform the ultra-violent RoboCop action movie into an animated series for children in 1988, which resulted in a very different take on the character and the city of Detroit, both of which were given a sci-fi overhaul.

RoboCop himself was given laser weapons instead of real guns and he usually fought against other robotic creations while dealing with his new robotic form. RoboCop: Alpha Commando aired in 1998 and took a futuristic sci-fi approach, though it was only loosely connected to the movie franchise.

4 Jumanji Expanded On The World In The Game With Reimagined Movie Characters

Characters from Jumanji The Animated Series

1996 saw the release of Jumanji: The Animated Series which reimagined the events of the live-action movie with most of the same characters, including siblings Judy and Peter as they find themselves repeatedly drawn into the jungle world of the game where they meet the trapped Alan Parrish for the first time.

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Jumanji: The Animated Series expanded on the mythology of the movie and its characters in interesting new ways that lasted for three seasons. While later live-action series moved on to new characters, they followed a similar premise by exploring the world inside the game much like the animated series.

3 Free Willy & Jesse Teamed Up Against A Cyborg Oil Baron Known As The Machine

Jesse and Willy in Free Willy The Animated Series

Following the success of 1993's Free Willy, an animated adaptation was developed that introduced a new element to the story that allowed young star Jesse to communicate with animals like his killer whale friend Willy.

Free Willy: The Animated Series, saw Jesse and Willy work together against an evil oil baron known as The Machine and his deadly high-tech submarine as they attempted to stop ecological threats and genetically engineered creatures and help Willy's other animal friends.

Characters from Godzilla The Series

Out of all the Godzilla movies to adapt, it was the 1998's Americanized take on the iconic kaiju that was developed into an animated series that was released shortly after the movie in 1998 on Fox Kids for two seasons.

Godzilla: The Series featured characters from the movie as they formed together as the Humanitarian Environmental Analysis Team/HEAT alongside the hatched offspring from the movie who bonded with the team's leader and helped HEAT deal with other threats and nuclear monsters that appeared around the world.

1 Jim Carrey Movies Like The Mask, Ace Ventura, and Dumb & Dumber Received Animated Spin-Offs

The Mask, Ace Ventura and Dumb and Dumber animated series

It's no surprise that a number of Jim Carrey's live-action characters have found a new life on TV given the actor's animated antics on the big screen, though it might be surprising that three of the animated spin-offs all debuted in 1995, following the movies' theatrical releases in 1994.

While Jim Carrey himself wasn't involved in any of the animated adaptations, the characters lived on in series like The Mask: The Animated Series and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective which both ran for multiple seasons, and the less successful Dumb & Dumber: The Animated Series.

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