# What are some of the worst/wierdest lesser-known "Official" sequels to popular works?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** movies\
**Created:** [November 8, 2020, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029 "2020-11-08T03:08:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Tarataratara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tarataratara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarataratara)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/81 "2020-11-11T15:31:50Z")

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This thread reminded me that I hated Scarlett and enjoyed Rhett Butler’s People, so I searched for more works by the author of the latter, Donald McCaig. I saw that he wrote Ruth’s Journey, telling the story of Mammy. I am in the middle of this book now. Oh, my, it has me cringing. The voice is terrible. Mild spoilers - the language of a little girl who speaks fluent French and Creole sort of devolves into English with a stereotypical enslaved person vernacular, presented with phonetical spelling.

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**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/82 "2020-11-11T15:37:56Z")

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Matching the spirit if not the letter of this thread, I introduce the three-part movie adaptation of Ayn Rand’s _Atlas Shrugged_ where each film had a completely\* different cast and crew for each movie:

[![Google Photos](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/sFVb0wYI5DLqWF_GEXR7IYELgCgKilzy8-xhe7GqiADgPU4K8LRqzOOtlwFW3r-Ok_HJqSpOpvB4Py4EUauKcz3H6Gjsf6cQkO_BJcRZr-SdSo1JRd1nQkwg-1B9Z3kxA-PEOoZMng=w600-h315-p-k "New item by John Thornton") ](https://photos.app.goo.gl/Gk96aktdndebRvgT8)

\*one minor character was portayed by the same actor in films 1 & 2, but even he was replaced by #3.

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**Author:** ![Tarataratara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tarataratara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarataratara)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/83 "2020-11-11T15:40:33Z")

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I loved Heidi so much when I was little. I remember enjoying the sequels. I’m not sure how they would hold up now. I remember Heidi’s Children was one.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/84 "2020-11-11T17:08:48Z")

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The movie _Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure_ was released in 1989 with the first movie sequel, _Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey_, following in 1991.

But there were also two tv series in there. There was an animated series, _Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures_, that began in 1990. The series featured the movie’s cast members George Carlin, Keanu Reeves, and Alex Winter doing the voices of their characters. For the first season.

Because a year later, Fox decided to do a live-action series also titled _Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures_. They cast new actors in the roles; Christopher Kennedy, Rick Overton, and Evan Richards . Fox then bought the animated series from CBS and decided to use it to promote their live action series. So they replaced Carlin, Reeves, and Winter with Kennedy, Overton, and Richards as the voice cast.

Let me repeat that: Fox had the cast from the original movies committed to voicing the characters in the animated series - and decided to fire them.

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**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/85 "2020-11-11T19:28:32Z")

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If I had to nominate one of the weirdest sequels ever, I’d have to pick _Halloween 3_ since it didn’t have anything to do with the first two movies.

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/86 "2020-11-11T19:35:42Z")

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The _Howling_ series did this constantly, after the first two movies. The later films have nothing to do with the first two (although there were apparently attempts to incorporate elementsd from the trilogy of novels that inspired the franchise).

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**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/87 "2020-11-11T19:39:56Z")

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I didn’t even know there were more than two.

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/88 "2020-11-11T19:49:31Z")

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Eight movies so far, with the threat of another one.

You must not have frequented video rental stores – I saw them all over at these. I suspect a lot of them went straight to video.

There’s also the original trilogy of books

> **[The Howling (franchise)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Howling_(franchise))**
>
> Pages for logged out editors learn more
> 
> The Howling is an American werewolf-themed horror media franchise that includes three novels and eight films. The series began with the 1977 horror novel The Howling by Gary Brandner, which was in 1981 adapted into the film of the same name, directed by Joe Dante.
> The novels were authored by American horror writer Gary Phil Brandner (1930–2013). The first book in the series was loosely adapted as a motion picture in 1981. Brandner's second and th...

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**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/89 "2020-11-11T20:41:56Z")

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What was the other sequel to _From the Earth to the Moon_? I’ve read _Around the Moon_, but wasn’t aware of another, and Google doesn’t seem to help.

I very much enjoyed both books, so would be keen if there was another.

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**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/90 "2020-11-11T20:50:35Z")

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Most people are aware of the cartoon spin-offs of _Gilligans Island_.

Most people may know the movie _Rescue from Gilligans Island_ when… well, I don’t want to give away any spoilers, here.

However, not many people know about the second movie '_The Castaways on Gilligans Island’_ - based on an idea that the original 7 castaways would set up the Island as a tourist retreat where 2 or 3 guest stars would have their family, social and lifestyle problms sorted out in one hour of TV time - sort of like the _Love Boat_ or _Fantasy Island_.

And fewer still know about the 3rd movie ’ The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island’ which involves the Harlem Globetrotters (duh!) battling a team of Robot Aliens in a basketball match to prevent them (the aliens, not the Globetrotters) from taking over the world.  
Amazingly, it’s actually worse than it sounds.

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/91 "2020-11-11T20:59:54Z")

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> [@Wallaby](#):
>
> What was the other sequel to _From the Earth to the Moon_ ? I’ve read _Around the Moon_ , but wasn’t aware of another, and Google doesn’t seem to help.
> 
> I very much enjoyed both books, so would be keen if there was another.

It’s called _Topsy Turvy_ or, alternatively _The Purchase of the North Pole_ (The original French title is _Sans dessus dessous_). My copy is a paperback Ace edition published in 1960. It doesn’t say who translated it, but according gto this page it’s the same one that was published by Ogilvie back in the 19th century\*

You can read about it here (with links to copies of the story)

> **[The Purchase of the North Pole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Purchase_of_the_North_Pole)**
>
> The Purchase of the North Pole or Topsy-Turvy (French: Sans dessus dessous) is an adventure novel by Jules Verne, published in 1889. It is the third and last novel of the Baltimore Gun Club, first appearing in From the Earth to the Moon, and later in Around the Moon, featuring the same characters but set twenty years later.
> Like some other books of his later years, in this novel Verne tempers his love of science and engineering with a good dose of irony about their potential for harmful abuse ...

- [http://www.verniana.org/volumes/11/A4/SDD.pdf](http://www.verniana.org/volumes/11/A4/SDD.pdf) According to this, the translation is pretty faithful, but with some cuts. He likes it better than the I.O. Evans-edited ARCO/Fitzroy edition.

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**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/92 "2020-11-11T21:10:57Z")

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Oh, excellent! Thank you so much! Looks great.

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**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/93 "2020-11-11T21:27:46Z")

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_When Worlds Collide_ has the lesser-known sequel _After Worlds Collide_ by the same authors. It’s the adventures of the teams that make it off of Earth as they explore the new planet. Very different tone from the apocalyptic first book. No George Pal movie either. I haven’t read either since I was 11, but I remember liking the sequel more, and thinking that the ending was obviously setting up another sequel, which as far as I know never happened. I wonder what I’d think of them now.

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**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/94 "2020-11-11T21:37:33Z")

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> [@Wallaby](#):
>
> Most people are aware of the cartoon spin-offs of _Gilligans Island_ .

But if you’re not, well, you gotta see this.

All the original cast lends their voices, except Tina Louise (Dawn Wells pulls double duty as both Mary Ann and Ginger). I have no idea if this is canon to the original series, but I guess that got ridiculous enough that it could be.

> **[Gilligan's Planet (TV Series 1982–1983) ⭐ 6.0 | Animation, Family, Comedy](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083422/)**
>
> 30m | Not Rated

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**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/95 "2020-11-11T21:48:11Z")

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Meatballs was a reasonably forgettable summer camp movie starring Bill Murray, written by Harold Ramis (and others), and directed by Ivan Reitman. Due to the involvement of those three, it had its moments. Because I suppose it just doesn’t matter, they then made Meatballs II, that doesn’t involve anybody from the first movie, or is related to it in anyway except also involving a summer camp. While the first movie was watchable (at least for a 12 year old), the second was not.

Doing brief research for this post I discovered there is also a Meatballs III and IV. The sequels appear to involve such things as a space alien, a porn star trying to get into heaven, and Corey Feldman.

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**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/96 "2020-11-11T21:56:45Z")

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… wondering what it says about me that I watched all things _Gilligan’s Island_ and read BOTH of the ‘… Worlds Collide’ books mentioned above.

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**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/97 "2020-11-11T22:10:49Z")

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Then there is the _House_ series. (No, not the TV show. A series of theatrical films, and direct-to-video movies.

1. _House._ Mild horror, with a bit of comedy.

2. _House II: the Second Story._ Made by many of the same crew, but with a completely different cast. The story has no connection to the first movie, except for the “spooky old house” meme. Less horror, more comedy. In some respects, I like it better than the original.

3. The third movie. Released in the USA as _The Horror Show_, Released in Britain and Australia as _House III: the Horror Show_. Straight horror, no comedy. No connection at all to the first two movies.

4. _House IV: the Repossesion_. The first in the series that is actually a sequel to the first movie.

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**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/98 "2020-11-11T22:26:11Z")

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> [@echoreply](#):
>
> While the first movie was watchable (at least for a 12 year old), the second was not.

It just doesn’t matter.

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**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/99 "2020-11-11T22:45:42Z")

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> [@mbh](#):
>
> _House II: the Second Story._ Made by many of the same crew, but with a completely different cast. The story has no connection to the first movie, except for the “spooky old house” meme. Less horror, more comedy. In some respects, I like it better than the original.

I loved House II, but I’ve never seen the others. John Ratzenberger as an electrician/adventurer was a hoot.

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**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-worst-wierdest-lesser-known-official-sequels-to-popular-works/925029/100 "2020-11-11T22:59:23Z")

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> [@Morgyn](#):
>
> John Ratzenberger as an electrician/adventurer was a hoot.

What every D&D player wants to be when he grows up. 😃

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