Fannish 5: Sizzling Sequels

[selenak]

5 sequels (or continuations) you thought were better than the original.

I'm afraid the first two aren't very original, but they still are inevitable choices for me.

1.) Star Trek: Wrath of Khan. There is a reason that this film became the golden standard against which any subsequent ST film was measured, and much as I often champion the fannish

Comments

[mamculuna]

I agree so much about Revolver being the best that the Beatles did, in spite of loving so many others.I always thought that I might have been influenced by hearing it at a time when I was suddenly discovering a new world--but then maybe it was that way for everyone at the time.

[selenak]

Sometimes I'm more in the mood for one of the others, and also Abbey Road has the bonus of not only being a wonderful and heartbreaking swan song but being made against incredible odds given the state of group communication. But stepping back, Revolver is everyone on top of their game and really working together as a group, and it's so varied and inventive, and thus it wins. :)

[tea_drinker77]

Thank goodness for The Wrath of Khan!

[selenak]

Indeed!

[airie_fairy]

3) I will have you know I never shipped Sirius/Remus and Prisoner of Azkaban is still the best one. XP (Remus is one of my four favorite characters, though, and he is beautifully introduced by that book, but that's still not my only reason.) Order of the Phoenix is my second favorite, though, for most of the reasons you mentioned -- I can sum up my love for it by saying I love the intense reality of the police state and rebellious underground movements it created, which I would love anyway, but seemed especially relevant and welcome given when the book came out. ...and then the first book in the series is my third favorite, because it has a very solid, well-built throughline that I'm impressed with.

[selenak]

It does have a very solid, well-built throughline, undisputedly. :)

[abromeds]

Star Trek: The Slow Motion Picture

LOL. I was raised on the II/III/IV movie trio, so the ineptitude of the first film was a bit of a shock when I finally saw it at 18 or whatever. Now I prefer to ignore its existence. ;)

Wrath of Khan -- totally brilliant. Excellent villain, firm pacing, cool space battle, good dialogue, and oh, that heartbreaking conclusion. Much as I love the film, I am so happy I wasn't alive to see it in the theater, without the benefit of knowing Spock would be back. I would have been just inconsolable. My mom still vividly remembers the trauma and the tears. ;)

I just recently learned that Spock's return was not at all a planned event during the filming. In case you haven't seen it, this (7 part, 70 minute) interview is absolutely golden:

It takes them a while to warm up, but by the third segment they're on a roll. Shatner is only occasionally embarrassing (I say this with all love).

[selenak]

Oh, you youngling. I saw it properly in the cinema, and of course I cried. Though I was already wise enough to the ways of movies and Trek to figure Spock would be back somehow, because of that shot of his coffin on Genesis. (Yes, I know they didn't know whether Nimoy would be back, but it was a classic way of keeping your options open, and well, the show had faked us out with Kirk and Spock deaths on tv, so teenage me was confident once I had dried my tears.)

I haven't seen that summit but shall now. Thank you pointing me its way! As for the ST cast and good old Shatner, check out this old post of mine!

[abromeds]

Yeah, for my mom it was Spock doing the 'final frontier' voiceover at the end that gave her hope. Still, I have such deep unreasoning affection for Spock that I'm glad I was spared the anguish of uncertainty (though presumably it would have heightened the joy at his return in the next film).

Oh dear, that old post. Fascinating tidbits from the supporting cast memoirs, but it was kinda painful to read their feelings about Bill. That conversation about how he was never really in on that 'family' feeling... ouch. I suppose he has only himself to thank for that, but still, the man seems so damned oblivious yet needy that I can't help feeling sorry for him.

I can't believe it won't let you play that vid. How infuriating. It's really delightful; like a basket of puppies. There must be someone around here who can rip it from youtube and re-upload it for you. Who can we bribe, and with what? :)

[selenak]

Speaking of anguish and being spared same, personally I was ever so relieved German tv was about a year behind American tv with TNG and then decided to broadcast the third and fourth season in a row without interruptions. This meant I only had to wait a week after the "Best of All Worlds" cliffhanger. Talk about fannish anguish. That was the point where my ST loyalities realigned and I became foremost a TNG fan (until DS9 came long and joined equal rank my affections) because things like Locutus of Borg simply would never have happened to Kirk and Spock, and I mean that in a praising TNG kind of way. I felt for Picard then in a way I had never for Kirk. And the episode Family afterwards was nothing short of revolutionary which is impossible to grasp if you come from today's tv perspective, but in TOS our heroes were fine and dandy the next episode, no matter what had happened to them in the previous one. Family was the first time in ST where after the main character had been put through hell he was given an episode with no action plot