# Why weren't ther any sequels to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2012, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868 "2012-01-18T03:05:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/1 "2012-01-18T03:05:04Z")
I waited and waited for a sequel to _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_. It seems like Bob Hoskins could revisit Toon Town and solve a lot more mysteries. Was there ever a better cartoon character than Jessica Rabbit? Eddie Valiant had a lot of potential as a comic private eye. Did I overlook any sequels? They could still do one. Kathleen Turner has aged very badly but she still has the sexy voice for Jessica Rabbit. Lou Hirsch played the cigar smoking Baby Herman and Lou is still making movies. Bob Hoskins is nearly bald but otherwise he still looks about the same. I always thought the sequel should be a mystery featuring Jessica Rabbit. She gets caught up in something dangerous and needs Eddie Valiant to help her. Roger Rabbit would just be a supporting character. Maybe a sidekick to Eddie. How do you Dopers feel about this movie? Did you love it? Have you seen it multiple times? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/2 "2012-01-18T03:10:25Z")
I missed WFRR? when it was in the theatre, but bought a DVD copy when they were released. It’s a pretty bad movie, IMO. IMDB does have a listing for [a sequel in development](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1540148/), tho. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/3 "2012-01-18T03:10:45Z")
It was very expensive to make, and unprecedentedly had Disney and Warners working together, which they wouldn’t rush out to do. Plus it was Robert Zemeckis’s baby, and he got busy with other stuff. But it’s been semi-planned for a while, so it might still happen. The problem is the technology to achieve it isn’t that exciting or unique anymore, taking the wind out of its sails somewhat. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/4 "2012-01-18T03:18:20Z")
There were [three shorts made](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Who_Framed_Roger_Rabbit_media#Tummy_Trouble) after the movie. I only saw the first one, _ **Tummy Trouble** _, but it was very good. I’m not sure, but I don’t think there was much live-toon interaction, it was essentially just an animated short. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/5 "2012-01-18T03:22:46Z")
Bugs Bunny’s anti semitic tweets and multiple drug arrests make any studio hesitant to hire him, plus in the years since the movie Jessica has drawn on a lot of weight and Baby Herman insists on making every new role a Scientology mouthpiece. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/6 "2012-01-18T03:24:15Z")
I try to avoid trailers, as they tend to give away too much about the movie. I’ll be watching a movie, there’s a tense moment “oh no, how do they escape the bad guy?”, and I’ll recognize the scene from the trailer that shows what happened and the suspense disappears. My brother dragged me to see _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_, and not only had I not seen a trailer, I’d not heard of the film at all. I asked him what it was about and he mumbled something about a detective film. I rather enjoyed the opening cartoon, as you rarely see them. Then it drifted into live action, and I figured it was an extended commercial before the film. And it kept going… Fucking amazing when I realized what was going on. I think it made the film 10x better. Loved the film, sad they never did a sequel. I came across an interview long ago that discussed it, and it appears that there were ideas floated about but they took too long to develop and interest faded. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/7 "2012-01-18T03:29:21Z")
Major book spoilers. If you have not read it and there’s any chance you will, do not open. Can’t be a sequel–Roger’s dead. He was dead all along, all that we saw as an after-effect doppelganger (something inherent to cartoons). Further, he wasn’t framed; he was the fram **er**. Lastly, Jessica, awesome as she was, was not as wholesome as you think: she was a prostitute. Caveat: it’s been 15-20 years since I read the book, so I could be completely misremembering. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/8 "2012-01-18T03:33:01Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > and Baby Herman insists on making every new role a Scientology mouthpiece. He’s still taller than Tom Cruise, though, so at least he’s got that going for him. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/9 "2012-01-18T03:43:31Z")
There apparently was a _prequel_ discussed at one time, [Who discovered Roger Rabbit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Framed_Roger_Rabbit). ---
**Author:** ![coffinjumper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@coffinjumper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffinjumper)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/10 "2012-01-18T03:45:54Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Major book spoilers. If you have not read it and there’s any chance you will, do not open. > > Can’t be a sequel–Roger’s dead. He was dead all along, all that we saw as an after-effect doppelganger (something inherent to cartoons). Further, he wasn’t framed; he was the fram **er**. Lastly, Jessica, awesome as she was, was not as wholesome as you think: she was a prostitute. > > Caveat: it’s been 15-20 years since I read the book, so I could be completely misremembering. He did die in the first book, Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, but it was retconned in the sequel. Which is more alternate continuity than direct follow up. The first book was all a dream and the second is much more of a sequel to the film. There’s supposed to be a third from what I hear. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/11 "2012-01-18T04:06:09Z")
(With apologies for continuing to whisper in spoiler tags.) Thanks. I never knew there actually _was_ a sequel. ---
**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:** [January 18, 2012, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/12 "2012-01-18T04:19:46Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > There apparently was a _prequel_ discussed at one time, [Who discovered Roger Rabbit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Framed_Roger_Rabbit). It was, amazingly enough, going to be a war movie. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/13 "2012-01-18T04:31:50Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > There apparently was a _prequel_ discussed at one time, [Who discovered Roger Rabbit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Framed_Roger_Rabbit). That page shows perfectly why Wikipedia is simultaneously invaluable and a scourge upon humanity. I didn’t know any of the facts about the Roger Rabbit prequel. (Which sounds awful from that first draft.) Somebody did a great bit of work to put that together. Then at the end someone has to vandalize the page because the facts don’t agree with their opinions. > [@](#): > > The assertion that a conspiracy caused the demise of electric urban street railways was the subject of a session at the 1999 Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board entitled “Who Framed Roger Rabbit: Conspiracy Theories and Transportation”, which concluded that such systems met their demise for reasons having nothing to do with a conspiracy, even as National City Lines, Inc. (NCL), was a front company—organized by GM’s Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. in 1922, reorganized in 1936 into a holding company—for the express purpose of acquiring local transit systems throughout the United States. “Once [NCL] purchased a transit company, electric trolley service was immediately discontinued, the tracks quickly pulled up, the wires dismantled …”, and GM buses replaced the trolleys.[54] Footnote 54 goes to a pdf [Kennedy, 60 Minutes, and Roger Rabbit: Understanding Conspiracy-Theory Explanations of The Decline of Urban Mass Transit by Martha J. Bianco, Portland State University](http://marthabianco.com/kennedy_rogerrabbit.pdf). That says unequivocally that making GM the villain is a “conspiracy myth.” Which is what every modern academic study says. Do not believe commentary about history on Wikipedia. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/14 "2012-01-18T04:34:43Z")
I thought the reason was because Jessica Rabbit was so devastatingly beautiful that no further films needed to be made. I mean come y’all, “I not naughty, I’m just drawn this way” is not something you will ever forget (for your value of heterosexuality and masculinity). ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/15 "2012-01-18T05:13:34Z")
Except that’s not the quote. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/16 "2012-01-18T05:21:21Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > That page shows perfectly why Wikipedia is simultaneously invaluable and a scourge upon humanity. > > I didn’t know any of the facts about the Roger Rabbit prequel. (Which sounds awful from that first draft.) Somebody did a great bit of work to put that together. > > Then at the end someone has to vandalize the page because the facts don’t agree with their opinions. > > Footnote 54 goes to a pdf [Kennedy, 60 Minutes, and Roger Rabbit: Understanding Conspiracy-Theory Explanations of The Decline of Urban Mass Transit by Martha J. Bianco, Portland State University](http://marthabianco.com/kennedy_rogerrabbit.pdf). That says unequivocally that making GM the villain is a “conspiracy myth.” Which is what every modern academic study says. > > Do not believe commentary about history on Wikipedia. Ever. So what you’re telling me is that _WFRR?_ isn’t entirely historically accurate? ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/17 "2012-01-18T05:43:05Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > I mean come y’all, “I not naughty, I’m just drawn this way” is not something you will ever forget . …ehhhh.. I wouldn’t say that. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/18 "2012-01-18T06:13:19Z")
I’ve seen it multiple times. Does a sequel really need to be made? There was a time when movies were one-shots. There is no sequel to _Gentleman’s Agreement_, to _Citizen Kane_, to the _Sound of Music_, to _Dog Day Afternoon_, or to _Scent of a Woman_, among many others. Why should there be one to _Roger Rabbit_? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/19 "2012-01-18T07:29:45Z")
By sequel I meant new cases for Eddie Valiant to solve in toon town. Roger Rabbits story was wrapped up in the first movie. I wouldn’t be interested in another story about him. Eddie Valiant is a comic private eye parodying detectives like Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer. I expected several Eddie Valiant cases using Toon Town and its characters as a backdrop. Each movie would be a stand alone case that Eddie works. \ That’s what I wanted to see anyhow. There’s no telling what the hollywood writers would have delivered. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868/20 "2012-01-18T12:24:11Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > So what you’re telling me is that _WFRR?_ isn’t entirely historically accurate? As Gary K. Wolfe (the author of the book) once said, “This is a movie about a _cartoon rabbit_.” Wolfe, BTW, loved what Hollywood did to his book. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-werent-ther-any-sequels-to-who-framed-roger-rabbit/609868.md?page=2)