Trilogies. My daughter , the Fem=Bot is reading “The Two Towers”. She’s struggling with it, she’s 10 and it’s a bit meaty for her. She proclaimed that,
This got me thinking about other trilogies. Granted I’ve not read many others. But, in this case as well as a few cinematic trilogies I can think of, the middle child is one hurtin’ slow-pokey drag.
The Two Towers. I trust the Fem-Bot’s assessment.
Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. Can you say dark, depressing, slow, achingly boring?
The Empire Strikes Back. It serves a useful purpose, it moves us from Star Wars to Return Of The Jedi.
There must be others. Anyway, can anyone thing of a trilogy where the # 2 story was the strongest? The only one that comes to mind right off the bat is Godfather II].
Are there others, or are most middle children of the creative world doomed to be a link in a three-part-chain?
Bride of Frankenstein is definitely the superior one in the Karloff trilogy (I know they made more movies, but AFAIAC, there is only one Universal-made Frankenstein monster, Karloff)
For planned trilogies (unlike Star Wars or The Godfather) the second part does tend to be weaker. The reason for that, I think, is that in the first you introduce the conflict and main characters are greatly overmatched making for an interesting story while in the last portion you have the climax of the story. That makes the middle portion do little more than set things up for the end.
I look at it two ways. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe was great - better than the first, not as good as the second. However, Life, the Universe, and Everything is really the middle of the incredibly poorly named trilogy, and is by far the best of the bunch.
There are hundreds of trilogies in the fantasy/sci fi market. It is a total marketing ploy that I have seen to fall into repeatedly. Currently I am reading the Runelords by Farland. I haven’t gotten too far into it but there are three books there.
Other trilogies off the top of my head that I have read recently: The Dragonlance Chronicles, the Dragonlance Legends (the one with the time of the twins in it), Lilith’s Brood, The Chronicles of Jhereg, which are simply a few out of the ones out there. Again, they are a total marketing ploy but still good to read.
Law of diminishing returns There should have only been one)
Highlander
Alien
Planet of the Apes
French Connection
Chinatown
Halloween
Friday the 13th
Nightmare on Elmstreet
Rocky
Its Alive
Return of the living Dead
Second verse better than the first
Road Warrior
Empire Strikes Back
Star Trek II
Magnum Force
GodFather II
Dawn of the Dead
While fully admitting that the intellectual ferocity of Army of Darkness left me speechless, I must claim Evil Dead 2 as my favorite of the trilogy.
As far as literature goes, the original Shannara series (Sword, Elfstones, and Wishsong) was quite good. Trilogy may be too strong a word as they function well independently of each other. However, the middle one (Elfstones) was by far, IMHO, the best. Stee Jans and the Free Corps were some of the most memorable fantasy characters I have come across.
Silence of the Lambs. I didn’t see the original Manhunter, but I doubt it’s as good as Silence of the Lambs. Hannibal blew monkey anus. I’m having doubts abou the remake of Manhunter, Red Dragon. Hopefully it’s not a Red Anus sucker.
[sub]yyyeeesssss, that WAS a stretch. Sue me.[/sub]
Maybe it’s because I read it before the others, but I liked The Vampire Lestat much more than Interview with the Vampire or Queen of the Damned. (of course, there were further vampire books, but these stand as a trilogy)
Hmmm. I have to admit, that I am being swayed here. There have indeed been some fine Middle offerings. Tangent, if nobody has done so yet, welcome to the Straight Dope !! I agree, I loved The Vampire Lestat perhaps a wee bit more than I loved Queen of the Damned.
Tough call. I loved them all. Her way with words is a heady brew that leaves one intoxicated on pure images, and longing for the coppery tang of blood on the tongue. Gosh, she’s good.
