Tell us how much you like tv shows and movies that were "brought back" years after their originals.

Cafe Society
1

Arrested Development just came back for season 5. The original run was 2003-2006. It got me thinking, “was it worth it?” or “how do these things hold up to the originals?”

Not remakes like Battlestar Galactica, though. Continuations/sequels/prequels, etc.

So much is being resurrected these days, I’m wondering what your thoughts are on all the projects that have been brought back. Here are mine:

Star Wars (2016): Worth it big time. I think Episode VII was excellent. Rogue One is really good. VIII was a bit of a mess, but is still worth being made. Solo was fun, too. I’m glad it came back in movie form.

Star Wars (1999) : Terrible. Wish it’d been sold to Disney to make these, too. Only worth it in the sense we got Clone Wars as a tv show. Not worth it for the movies.

Indiana Jones 4: Brace yourselves. I love this movie. I like it more than Temple of Doom. Critics make valid points, but it is no more flawed than Temple of Doom. I like KotCS more than Temple of Doom, actually.

X-files: Some crappy episodes, some great ones. Equal to the original show in many ways. Worth it for the stand-alones, but should not have made any more mythology episodes.

**Blade Runner **: Oh, worth it. The new one is vastly superior to the old one. The original is the weaker thing in existence and I could live without it, actually. An all time great sequel.

Doctor Who: Worth it. Superior to the original in many ways. Weak sometimes, but worth it.

Tron: Not worth it. Original was a snooze and they did not improve on it that much.

Rambo: Rambo IV is the best one. Stunning, no? I think it’s true, though.

Die Hard: Both. Loved Die Hard 4, thought Die Hard 5 was unbelievable bad.

Magic School Bus: Minor one, but my kids love both the old show and the new one. The new one really is excellent.

Twin Peaks: Super worth it. Yes, it was a bit of a mess and was definitely a good example of where a studio needs to edit out some material, but it was amazing in parts. I’m so glad it got made and can’t believe how great some parts of it were.

2

I wish there were more new ideas and less rehashing, sequeling, prequeling, and rebooting. Remakes tend to be bigger, louder, and more sensational, but rarely better or more creative.

I can’t think of one show or movie that I liked better after it was brought back from the dead.

3

I enjoyed the Gilmore Girls “A Year in the Life”. It was fun and was just long enough to be enjoyable.

4

Some ones where the reboots are quite good:
My Little Pony
Ninja Turtles (the animation, not the movies)
Battlestar Galactica

But I disagree with the OP - the best Rambo is the one that isn’t Rambo - First Blood is a much better flick than any of its sequels. By far.

5

Some of the Perry Mason movies of the 90s were quite good. And yes, they count because they starred Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale.

6

Mad Max: Fury Road is far and away the best Mad Max movie.

7

Let the dead stay buried. There’s not a thing on the OP’s list I consider even slightly as good as the original.

8

Not to nitpick, but I specifically said not reboots, as in not re-launches(I literally listed BSG as an example). I mean things that continue.

:smack:

Another great one I meant to include. Yeah, the best action movie of all time and potentially the best movie made in the past 10 years.

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Not even Mad Max 4? Blade Runner 2049? Doctor Who?

I think Mad Max and Doctor Who are quite a bit better than their original runs.

10

Whoops, you’re right, so sorry I missed that. Just MLP, then.

11

Wow, not even Mad Max 4?

12

Going waaaay back, I think Still the Beaver was the standard for revisitings. I liked it better than the original.

I thought at the time of its original airing, Hey, Hey, It’s The Monkeeswas one of the best episodes. It seemed to capture the balance of zaniness and cleverness just right without going into stupidity. (well, at least, no more stupidity than the original show was)

The Wild Wild West Revisited and More Wild Wild Westwere OK. They gave a nice “where are they now” feel, but I would only consider them middle of the road episodes. And I don’t care how much a genius Loveless was, he couldn’t build an atomic bomb in the 1880s!

I like the “where are they now” reunions. I’d much prefer a Magnum reunion movie than a reboot. I don’t care about the new “super SEAL” Magnum, I want to see what happened to the real one, and Higgins. The Perry Mason movies got it right. Not sure about the McCloud or Rockford Files movies, I never saw those.

13

I didn’t want to go on too long about it (I’m on record on this site and IMDB) being one of the best films in recent memory so instead only compared it to the other installments in the franchise.

But since you mentioned it… :smiley:

I’ve watched it over 30 times now and my estimation of it has only gone higher. It is an amazing film and an astounding achievement.

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Of course, there’s also the granddaddy of resurrected franchises, a show and series of movies they brought back at least 3 times - Star Trek. I’d say on balance, The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine were both as at least good as the original series; the other shows and movies were a mixed bag.

15

Cobra Kai - Loved it.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle - Also Loved it.
Roseanne - Meh. Not terrible but not great either.

16

I gotta admit: I enjoyed the recent Baywatch movie. I’ve never seen the old TV show, tho, I just have PCA (pop culture awareness) about it.

ETA: And the 2 Brady Bunch movies from the '90s were great fun.

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Which wasn’t on your list, I might point out. :stuck_out_tongue:

18

I thought Mad Max 4 was a decent movie but I thought Mad Max 2 was the best of the bunch. I didn’t think Tom Hardy brought the role to life–his character lacked the complexity of Max. It was more like watching someone play a video game. (I consider it to be reboot, not just another chapter.)

Blade Runner 2049 was a good show, and made improvements on the original in terms of production values, but it also cost about 6 times as much to make it.

IMHO both Mad Max 4 and Blade Runner 2049 could have better if they had been invented as new concepts rather than piggybacking on prior franchises.

I am not a Doctor Who fan so can’t comment.

19

Star Wars (2016): They’re not bad movies, certainly worlds better than the prequels, but they still feel… unnecessary. Said it before and I’ll say it again: I’ve watched the original trilogy hundreds of times, and not once did I ever get to the end of Return of the Jedi and said, “And then what happened?”

Indiana Jones 4: Exact same criticism as above, with “Jedi” replaced with “The Last Crusade.”

Tron: I liked the original, and I didn’t dislike the sequel, but I didn’t love it either.

Rambo: Loved it. Rambo is still one of the most violent movies I’ve ever seen, and I watch a lot of hyper-violent movies. It was bloodier than a lot of slasher movies.

Mad Max: Fury Road: Loved it. One of the best action movies ever. Well deserved all of the awards it won, and probably deserved more than it received.

Star Trek: Discovery: It’s just okay. I think I’d like it better if it wasn’t Star Trek and just something completely original. It’s so different from all the Star Treks that came before, it feels like it doesn’t even need to be Star Trek, IMO.

Futurama: I don’t like the second go-'round episodes as much as the first, but still a great show that never should have been cancelled in the first place (the first time).

Family Guy: Steadily improved during the first run, retained the same trajectory when it came back.

20

I enjoyed (and own) the Mission: Impossible continuation series. It suffered from being created in a writers strike year, but I thought it was fine.

Would the 1986 Twilight Zone count, or not? Would the revival of an anthology series be considered a continuation, or a reboot?