# Sequels that made you hate the original. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 22, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197 "2009-12-22T15:32:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197/21 "2009-12-23T14:43:55Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > Part of the appeal to me of the originals is that the world felt so much bigger than the movies themselves. I loved all the little mysteries and backstories hinted at. I know what you mean. When you first hear Obi-Wan mention the Clone Wars your imagination goes off the scale thinking of some epic past battles of days past. But when we actually get to see them (in the words of C3-PO), “Actually, there’s not much to tell”. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197/22 "2009-12-23T14:52:55Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I know what you mean. When you first hear Obi-Wan mention the Clone Wars your imagination goes off the scale thinking of some epic past battles of days past. But when we actually get to see them (in the words of C3-PO), “Actually, there’s not much to tell”. Another thing Lucas could have (re-)learned from Peter Jackson. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197/23 "2009-12-23T21:04:15Z")
> [@MJinks](#): > > I vote Star Wars. Perhaps age changed my tastes but I loved the original trilogy. I read a lot of the books and was fascinated by the extended universe. Since the disappointing prequels I have no desire to watch them again. Perhaps Timothy Zhan should have wrote them instead. They should have had Zahn adapt the Thrawn cycle to the screen and filmed that instead. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197/24 "2009-12-23T21:15:19Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Aliens 3 made it hard for me to watch Aliens again…just by virtue of the bad taste in my mouth from the way it made every single thing that happened in the second movie unimportant and pointless. I have not watched Aliens 3 again since I first saw it in the theater, but I think I have watched Aliens fewer times than I would have if there had never been an Aliens 3. Spot on. Alien - Great movie Aliens - Best Scifi movie of all time Aliens 3 - Sucked so hard I have to go back and change the opinions above. I could almost here the director saying “I hate Aliens and will ruin the series. Ha, ha, ha!” ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197/25 "2009-12-23T22:14:28Z")
Can somebody please explain to me how the existence of _Aliens_ is logically possible? Ripley didn’t strike me as being self-destructive enough to _ever_ go off-planet again, much less go out looking for one of those mothers. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197/26 "2009-12-23T22:34:05Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Ripley didn’t strike me as being self-destructive enough to _ever_ go off-planet again, much less go out looking for one of those mothers. They appealed to her maternal instinct. :rolleyes: 'Cause, you know, that was such an inescapable part of her character from the first film. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197/27 "2009-12-24T03:56:01Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Can somebody please explain to me how the existence of _Aliens_ is logically possible? Ripley didn’t strike me as being self-destructive enough to _ever_ go off-planet again, much less go out looking for one of those mothers. Everyone she’d ever known was dead, including her daughter, and she was never going to work ever again (at least as a pilot) if she didn’t go with them. You say she wasn’t self-destructive, but it seems to me like she was already destroyed. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197/28 "2009-12-24T16:14:16Z")
The Matrix sequels come the closest. They’re bloated, pretentious, stupid, and unenjoyable, and they handle the characters so poorly that it’s hard to remember what you liked about them in the first movie. I think the low point is the last fight between Neo and Smith. Movies two and three were bad, but this is the battle you’ve been waiting to see, and… it turns into Dragon Ball Z. The Star Wars prequels take second place, but it’s easier to separate them from the original movies because the original storyline is self contained and because the prequels came out 15 to 20 years later, so unless you’re very young you probably knew the original movies before you saw the new ones. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197/29 "2009-12-24T16:34:22Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > The Star Wars prequels ruined the “good” ones for me, and I was a big Wars fan back in the day. > > Part of the appeal to me of the originals is that the world felt so much bigger than the movies themselves. I loved all the little mysteries and backstories hinted at. > > The prequels had tons of (bland, awful) answers to those little mysteries, and now I can’t unknow them. When I watch the originals, I’m constantly reminded of the sad prequels and the sense of wonder is blown. There is a 70 minute and very funny review of why _The Phantom Menace_ totally failed and [ruined Star Wars.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI) Yes it’s long, you watch in in 7 ten minute installments, but it’s actually quite entertaining and worth its length. One of the things it addresses is the way people now think of the New Hope lightsabre fight as “the lamest one” and why it actually isn’t. (And I agree with him.) Sure the fight choreography was “meh” but the original three movies had a whack of internalized emotional stuff going on during those fights that make them far more interesting than the sterile, perfect, choreography. In particular he compares about Luke wailing on Vader in a frothing rage in _Return_ vs. Obi-Wan who just saw Qui-Jon get run through just continuing on with the same sterile choreography. It totally diminishes the emotional impact and I was one of the people who though the battle with Darth Maul was boring. ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197/30 "2009-12-24T16:59:37Z")
For me it was the last ‘Austin Powers’ movie. It left such a bad taste in my mouth that when one of the others is on, both of which I liked at the time, I flash back to how awful the third one was and I change the channel. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197/31 "2009-12-24T17:14:14Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > I like the explanation someone gave that Aliens 3 was just a nightmare Ripley had while in cryo. If only it were that easy! But the bad guys in _Alien Resurrection_ refer to what happened on the prison planet as leading to Ripley’s eventual cloning. I’m afraid it’s canon. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197/32 "2009-12-24T17:52:18Z")
_The Last Battle_ made me look back at the rest of the Chronicles of Narnia as a big con. I was 12 at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Umbriel2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/4af34b/32.png) [@Umbriel2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel2)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197/33 "2009-12-24T22:02:20Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > If only it were that easy! But the bad guys in _Alien Resurrection_ refer to what happened on the prison planet as leading to Ripley’s eventual cloning. I’m afraid it’s canon. _Resurrection_ is necessarily part of the same, horrible dream. My own spin is that one technically doesn’t dream during hypersleep, but that Ripley’s revival after _Aliens_ didn’t go well, and she remained in a multi-year coma dreaming horrible sequels. That leaves the door open for a theoretical reboot where she revives, substantially aged (which wouldn’t happen in hypersleep), and has her next adventure with a grown-up Newt. I can’t say I’ve had any experiences such as the OP is looking for. Crappy sequels usually just make me reject or rationalize around the sequels as in the _Alien/Aliens_ or _Star Wars_ cases. I actually concocted a whole alternative Clone Wars backstory for the _Star Wars_ universe that I used for a role-playing game set in the timeframe of the original trilogy, so I’ve been working to refine my skills at denial. The Matrix sequels didn’t bug me that much – I never was all that taken with the original, and I didn’t think the sequels were as dreadful as conventional fanboy wisdom would have it. I thought the ending of _Revolutions_ was a bit clunkily handled and obscure, but I’ve seen far worse. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197/34 "2009-12-24T23:40:53Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > _The Last Battle_ made me look back at the rest of the Chronicles of Narnia as a big con. I was 12 at the time. Yeah, this, especially what he did to Susan. As an early teenage girl it’s a proper slap in the face to see that it’s a bad thing to grow up and become a woman (or what dear old C.S. thought an adult woman was like!). Actually I don’t know what was worse, the exclusion or the notion that this was whay I was going to grow into. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197/35 "2009-12-24T23:46:56Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > The Star Wars prequels ruined the “good” ones for me, and I was a big Wars fan back in the day. > > Part of the appeal to me of the originals is that the world felt so much bigger than the movies themselves. I loved all the little mysteries and backstories hinted at. > > The prequels had tons of (bland, awful) answers to those little mysteries, and now I can’t unknow them. When I watch the originals, I’m constantly reminded of the sad prequels and the sense of wonder is blown. This is why I would dearly, dearly love it if someone could secretly erase the memories of the prequels from everyone who watched them. Then they could be remade with someone competent writing the script, and someone _more_ competent directing them. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197/36 "2009-12-25T00:14:56Z")
> [@Umbriel2](#): > > …I actually concocted a whole alternative Clone Wars backstory for the _Star Wars_ universe that I used for a role-playing game set in the timeframe of the original trilogy… Oooo, tell me more - please PM me! ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197/37 "2009-12-25T01:05:14Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > They appealed to her maternal instinct. :rolleyes: > > 'Cause, you know, that was such an inescapable part of her character from the first film. Well, she did go back for the cat. 😛 Actually, they set up her maternal side at the beginning of the movie (to support her bonding to Newt), but in no way is it appealed to to get her to go back. She goes primarily because she’s having constant, horrible nightmares and decides it might help cleanse her psyche. Secondarily because her life on Earth is shit, and everyone she ever knew is dead. As for the **Star Wars** prequels, I find it so, so sad that [this poster](http://starwarsprequelappreciationsociety.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/star_wars_episode_one_the_phantom_menace_ver1.jpg) is infinitely more intriguing and poignant than anything in the ~6 hours of actual films. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-that-made-you-hate-the-original/522197.md?page=1)