Adaptation Distillation

Some adaptations take a complex character or situation and greatly simplify it, removing elements the producer believed to be unnecessary. This effect is more common when adapting from a long-running series, especially if it hasn't had a singular vision over the years. Compare Compressed Adaptation, which deals more along the lines of a direct adaptation and is about all the stuff that is cut out along the way to make this trope happen. Contrast with Pragmatic Adaptation: in a distillation, a complex story is simplified, without much substantive change. In a Pragmatic Adaptation, the story is changed with the shift in medium. Also, contrast Adaptation Expansion, which tacks on more content but retains the original source material. When a story element is removed but its effects aren't, that's Adaptation Explanation Extrication. This isn't about adaptations that are better than the original. This is about elements that are simplified or removed in order to make an adaptation shorter.