# Sequels as good as original
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-as-good-as-original/67352
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 2, 2001, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-as-good-as-original/67352 "2001-06-02T19:48:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2001, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-as-good-as-original/67352/21 "2001-06-03T08:28:03Z")
**The Addams Family** and **Addams Family Values**.
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### Author:  [@Rincewind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rincewind)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2001, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-as-good-as-original/67352/22 "2001-06-03T17:10:08Z")
The Road Warrior and Mad Max:Beyond Thunderdome.
Sequels to Mad Max. Both of them better than the original. The original had a limited budget and a god awful dubbing in the U.S. release.
The sequels have a better budget, and show how the director had improved in the following years.
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### Author:  [@Ura-Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ura-Maru)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2001, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-as-good-as-original/67352/23 "2001-06-03T17:11:23Z")
Actually, I liked the first _Alien_ much better, but it’s hard to make a solid case either way, as they were so different. Alien was a horror/scifi movie, Aliens was an action/scifi. Same thing with the \_Evil Dead\_s. Switching generes probably makes it easier to avoid feeling like a copy . . .
Hmm. _Empire Strikes Back_ and _Samurai 2_ are easy. Maybe _The Swordsman,_ though I saw _Swordsman 2_ back to back with _The Magic Crane_ very late at night, and they might be blending together to form one meta-kungfu movie . . . _Once Upon A Time in China 3_ (Though Number Six beat me to it) was much better than the second one, and might have topped the first, though I’d have to see them both together to judge.
–
“This is really disapointing as a followup to _Psycho_ . . .”
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### Author:  [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2001, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-as-good-as-original/67352/24 "2001-06-03T20:13:42Z")
Neverending Story 2 but **not** Neverending Story 3 (yuck!) or 4 (double yuck!!)
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### Author:  [@TexasSpur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TexasSpur)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2001, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-as-good-as-original/67352/25 "2001-06-03T20:21:33Z")
I don’t know about Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. That movie is terrible.
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### Author:  [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2001, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-as-good-as-original/67352/26 "2001-06-04T06:50:39Z")
Ura-Maru: I can’t beleive I missed **Swordsman 2** on my list. Good catch! It’s defenitely better than **Swordsman**. It would be difficult not to improve on the first when replacing the leads with Jet Li and Brigitte Lin.
Oh, and I’d like to add **Sanjuro** to my list. It may not be _better_ than **Yojimbo** , but it certainly is as good, and easily qualifies as one of the greatest sequels ever.
Also, **Manon of the Spring** , the sequel to **Jean de Florette**. I know, they’re really two parts of a single movie, but so are the first two Godfather movies. Blending in the following story with the previous one is what a great sequel is supposed to do.
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### Author:  [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2001, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-as-good-as-original/67352/27 "2001-06-04T14:25:22Z")
Once you buy into the joke, **The Spy Who Shagged Me** is just as good as **Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery** , IMHO.
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### Author:  [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2001, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-as-good-as-original/67352/28 "2001-06-05T01:04:45Z")
Deathstalker 2 was much better than the original Deathstalker!
Where are you all going? Was it something I said? ☹
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### Author:  [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2001, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-as-good-as-original/67352/29 "2001-06-05T06:19:34Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Neverending Story 2 but not Neverending Story 3 (yuck!) or 4 (double yuck!!)
They made a _Neverending Story_ 3 and 4? Ewwwwww… but at least they’ve lived up to the movie title…
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### Author:  [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2001, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-as-good-as-original/67352/30 "2001-06-05T17:24:52Z")
**La Dolce Vita** originally started as a sequel to Federico Fellini’s **I Vitelloni** (working title: \*Moraldo in the City); the similarities and differences between the two films is enthralling.
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### Author:  [@Pathros\_1983](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pathros_1983)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-as-good-as-original/67352/31 "2001-06-05T22:23:19Z")
Terminator 2 by far… plus (although in my opinion a “girly” movie) The Jewel of the Nile.
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### Author:  [@SuperNova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperNova)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2001, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-as-good-as-original/67352/32 "2001-06-06T02:21:23Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by furryman \*
> \*\*Neverending Story 2 but **not** Neverending Story 3 (yuck!) or 4 (double yuck!!) \*\*
Oh come on. The original was so much better then #2. It was so much deeper. Number 2 feels like it was just produced for a quick buck, IMO.
As for sequels as good as (or better then) the original, I can’t think of anything not mentioned. I know it’s a little off topic, but as an avid cartoon fan, I have to say “The Land Before Time” #'s 2-7 were together perhaps the worst sequels ever when compared to the original.
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