Malibu Rescue movie, special or episode?

dpratt wrote 6 years ago: 1

TNT and I have been discussing whether Malibu Rescue the movie should be listed as an episode or a special. Malibu Rescue is an original Netflix film and series and it's being promoted as a "Netflix film & series" in the press. The movie which is basically an extended pilot is being released on Netflix May 13 and the series follows on June 3. All the press states that the series continues where the movie leaves off. Both were produced and created with the same actors and crew and are being promoted together in the media.

The TVmaze policy says, "Specials should be rare...if the premise of an episode significantly differs from normal episodes and if you can skip it without missing out on any story arcs, it's a special. For example, a scripted show airing a "recap" episode at the beginning of the season that only consists out of fragments from earlier episodes. Or an episode using the same actors as normal, but with a script completely unrelated to the show's regular plot or arcs."

This tells me that the movie should be considered an episode (and thus be episode number 1) because the plot of the series continues where the movie leaves off and the plot is the same in the series as it is in the movie. However TNT insists that the movie should either be listed as a special or not listed at all. I believe that the policy says that this is an episode so I would like a ruling from someone higher up and further clarification if I am found to be wrong.

JuanArango wrote 6 years ago: 1

From what you are saying I would also tend to see it as Episode 1.

tnt wrote 6 years ago: 1

JuanArango wrote:
From what you are saying I would also tend to see it as Episode 1.

Really??? I wonder, how Netflix didn't come upon this? :D Could you explain, on what is your inclination based?

Not to play hearsay, here's the original press release http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2019/04/16/live-action-comedy-malibu-rescue-starring-ricardo-hurtado-and-breanna-yde-swims-onto-netflix-986404/20190416netflix02/

There's two separate entries: the movie https://www.netflix.com/title/80223928, and the series https://www.netflix.com/title/80244783. The 8-episode series, per press release, not 9-episode.

The movie is not the episode of the series, it's a separate one-off film. We don't list them at all, but considering thet it have a connection to the upcoming series, I've suggested to list it as a special. The same way we've listed Bandersnatch, which is connected to Black Mirror series, but does not listed as part of it by Netflix. It doesn't mean that the episode is a real special episode, but there's no other way to list it.

And apart from this I'd just state the most obvious downside of listing the film as episode #1: we will be off by 1 with the Netflix's episode numbers for the series.

JuanArango wrote 6 years ago: 1

tnt wrote:
Really??? I wonder, how Netflix didn't come upon this? :D Could you explain, on what is your inclination based?
Not to play hearsay, here's the original press release http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2019/04/16/live-action-comedy-malibu-rescue-starring-ricardo-hurtado-and-breanna-yde-swims-onto-netflix-986404/20190416netflix02/
There's two separate entries: the movie https://www.netflix.com/title/80223928, and the series https://www.netflix.com/title/80244783. The 8-episode series, per press release, not 9-episode.
The movie is not the episode of the series, it's a separate one-off film. We don't list them at all, but considering thet it have a connection to the upcoming series, I've suggested to list it as a special. The same way we've listed Bandersnatch, which is connected to Black Mirror series, but does not listed as part of it. It doesn't mean that the episode is a real special episode, but there's no other way to list it.

ok with this new info I agree it has to be a special.

dpratt wrote 6 years ago: 1

Netflix numbering has never mattered before though. In Sense8 the Season 2 premiere was listed here as a special which threw off the numbering because Netflix lists it as Season 2 Episode 1. This also happens a lot on other channels where the numbering gets thrown off due to TVmaze's policies. Nothing in the TVmaze policies says that the numbering has to follow the network numbering. Only that it has to start at 1. Even though Netflix is listing them as separate entities, by and large the press releases are promoting them both together thereby making them one and the same. This is not the same as a movie coming out in the theaters and then a series following it later. This is a made for TV movie and also the pilot to the series.

Then there is also the quote from TVmaze's policy above that clearly says that specials should be rare. And a special is when there is something significantly different in the episode's plot which is not the case here. Literally the only reason it's being considered a special is because Netflix is listing it as a separate entry which is not a good enough reason. Juan I appreciate your response but I was hoping for an answer from someone higher up still.

tnt wrote 6 years ago: 1

dpratt wrote:
Netflix numbering has never mattered before though. What about Sense8 the Season 2 premiere was listed here as a special which threw off the numbering because Netflix lists it as Season 2 Episode 1. The finale was also listed as a special despite it not being a separate entry. This also happens a lot on other channels where the numbering gets thrown off due to TVmaze's policies. Nothing in the TVmaze policies says that the numbering has to follow the network numbering. Only that it has to start at 1. Even though Netflix is listing them as separate entities, by and large the press releases are promoting them both together thereby making them one and the same. This is not the same as a movie coming out in the theaters and then a series following it later. This is a made for TV movie and also the pilot to the series.
Then there is also the quote from TVmaze's policy above that clearly says that specials should be rare. And a special is when there is something significantly different from the series happening in the episode which is not the case here. Literally the only reason it's being considered a special is because Netflix is listing it as a separate entry which is not a good enough reason. Juan I appreciate your response but I was hoping for an answer from someone higher up still.

If you're so insisting on following the policy to the letter, how about:
Explicitly not allowed are:
One-off made for TV movies

So we don't list film at all. Problem solved :)

deleted wrote 6 years ago: 1

There's no discussion necessary here.

Netflix does not have a system to list movies as a special (if they are) and simply creates a new entry for them, but we've had those discussions before, so I am not really sure what's to argue about it? It's simply a special like we treated other series, despite that the series may show up at a later stage.... and those issues have already been discussed prior to this, so I'm not entirely sure why nobody of you bothered to scan through our forum?

Take a look:

Sense8 - https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/1367/sense8

Special: https://www.netflix.com/title/80062064

Series: https://www.netflix.com/title/80025744

Marco Polo - https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/700/marco-polo

Special: https://www.netflix.com/title/80083594

Series: https://www.netflix.com/title/70305883

dpratt wrote 6 years ago: 1

I concede that I was wrong in this case.