# You can't make a Sequel -- You killed off the Character! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 3, 2020, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670 "2020-11-03T19:56:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/61 "2020-11-04T23:49:52Z")
^ You mean Tom Conway, right? Not Kennedy the game show host? You made me do research! šŸ˜‰ ---
**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:** [November 5, 2020, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/62 "2020-11-05T01:46:06Z")
Ignorance fought! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/63 "2020-11-05T01:53:45Z")
^ Senior moment? Pull up a chair! šŸ˜„ Hey, I just discovered Tom Kennedy died just last month. At the age of 93! Of course, his brother was game show host Jack Narz. Does this mean Jack and George Sanders are brothers? šŸ¤£ I kid, I kid. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/64 "2020-11-05T02:51:06Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > When they resurrected the Count for _House of FRankenstein_ they did so by pulling the stake from where his heart had been in the coffin with his bones, and he;s miraculously resurrected. First scary movie I went to in a theater (waaay too young)ā€¦ Dracula, Prince of Darkness, with Christopher Lee chewing scenery and innocent necks. The first scene is burned into my brainā€¦ a man is murdered, hanged upside down and his throat is slit. Blood spurts downā€¦ and the camera pulls back to reveal itā€™s pouring into a coffinā€¦ filled with cremated remains. As spooky fog and moody music swells, we see the side of the coffinā€¦ thatā€™s suddenly clutched by bony fingers reaching up from the coffin. Andā€¦ Dracula is ā€˜miraculously resurrectedā€™ yet again. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/65 "2020-11-05T04:05:15Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > The episode ended with Arthur and Ford being thrown out of the air lock of a Vogon battle cruiser. Adams had to figure out a plausible way for them to survive. He failed. But he failed in a magnificent way, inventing the infinite improbability drive in the process. I knew that HHGTTG was a radio show before it was a book but I didnā€™t know that story about the birth of the improbability drive! Thatā€™s brilliant! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/66 "2020-11-05T04:36:35Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > There was a Roger Rabbit graphic novel that was a sequel to the movie. The weasels resurrect Judge Doom from animation drawings, because heā€™s a 'toon, after all. How were the weasels resurrected? In the movie, most or all of them died laughing. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/67 "2020-11-05T04:52:09Z")
While Bobby emerging from the shower in _Dallas_ is a big deal, I think the disappearance of Chuck on _Happy Days_ is really the high point of the character dies yet the story goes on. Richie obviously murdered him, yet no one mentions him ever again. Whatā€™s up with that? ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/68 "2020-11-05T12:37:33Z")
believe it or not, Iā€™m told the missing brother shows up in the series finale for a glorified cameo but by that time no one cared ā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/69 "2020-11-05T13:13:07Z")
I may be confused, but my impression is that in Jaws: The Revenge a great white shark kills Chief Brodyā€™s son and follows his widow to the Bahamas in an attempt to take revenge on the family of the man that killed it in Jaws. ---
**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 5, 2020, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/70 "2020-11-05T14:41:36Z")
Not quite. You have to read the novelization to get the back story, but apparently the shark in J4 is being controlled by a Haitian witch doctor using voodoo. He has some grudge against the Brodie family. The doctor, not the shark. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/71 "2020-11-05T14:43:34Z")
No, the shark in **Jaws: The Revenge** isnā€™t supposed to be the same shark. In fact, the original motivation for the shark (and still retained in the novelization) is that a voodoo doctor named Papa Jacques had a beef with Mike Brody and summons the shark to do his bidding. Seriously. Some scenes supporting that were shot but dropped, but there are a few oblique references to it. In either case, it was never shown to be the same shark from any of the previous Jaws movies. ETA - Curse you **silenus**! Looks around for a voodoo doll and some hat pins ā€¦ ---
**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 5, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/72 "2020-11-05T14:57:54Z")
Donā€™t know. I only flipped through the issue when I saw it on sale, and now Iā€™m sorry I didnā€™t buy it. According to the synopsis on this page, one of the weasels was the brother of one of Doomā€™s gang, and he enlists the aid of other weasels: > **[The Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Sequel Everyone Forgot About](https://screenrant.com/who-framed-roger-rabbit-comic-sequel/)** > > The world got a sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/73 "2020-11-05T15:13:55Z")
The technique of not pretending there is any kind of continuity between episodes works great for episodic cartoons like _Aeon Flux_, _Teen Titans_, and similar. If characters die at the end of an episode, or the whole world is destroyed, or whatever, it simply doesnā€™t matter! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/74 "2020-11-05T17:04:43Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > When they resurrected the Count for _House of FRankenstein_ they did so by pulling the stake from where his heart had been in the coffin with his bones, and he;s miraculously resurrected. This is, I think, something new in vampire lore ā€“ nobody had ever suggested that a staking could be un-done, especially after the body had dissolved. In Dracula, when they put Lucy Westenra down, they stake her, stuff her mouth with garlic, and decapitate her. This sort of implies that just the stake by itself would have been insufficient, although it was probably just overkill on the part of the fearless vampire hunters. And iirc, Slavic vampires were staked not so much to kill them, but to pin them to their coffins so they couldnā€™t dig their way out. Of course, thatā€™s different from ā€œresurrect from dust,ā€ but I think the roots are there. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/75 "2020-11-05T17:18:48Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > In _Return of the Jedi_ the evil Emperor Palpatine is thrown into a bottomless pit, and apparently EXPLODES when he hits bottom. On board a giant space station, which very shortly thereafter _also_ explodes. In the _Star Wars_ universe, falling into a bottomless pit is a minor setback. Darth Maul got cut in half and fell into a bottomless pit, and he bounced back from that. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/76 "2020-11-05T17:33:08Z")
No no no. Darth Maul got cut in half _and_ fell into a bottomless pit _after_ the events in the movie _Solo: A Star Wars Story_. The Palpatine resurrection, on the other hand, is an unforgiveable affront on the audienceā€™s sensibilities. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, they couldnā€™t come up with some other bad guy? ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/77 "2020-11-05T17:44:35Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > No no no. Darth Maul got cut in half _and_ fell into a bottomless pit _after_ the events in the movie _Solo: A Star Wars Story_ . I didnā€™t watch _Clone Wars_, but I understand that it establishes that Maul survived the bottomless pit. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/78 "2020-11-05T17:48:37Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > If you want to go into comic book superheroes, theyā€™re dying and returning constantly Coming back from the dead or surviving things nobody should survive goes back [almost to the beginning of the genre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joker_(character)): > The [Joker] was intended to be killed in his second appearance in _Batman_ #1, after being stabbed in the heart. Finger wanted the Joker to die because of his concern that recurring villains would make Batman appear inept, but was overruled by then-editor [Whitney Ellsworth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitney_Ellsworth); a hastily drawn panel, indicating that the Joker was still alive, was added to the comic ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/79 "2020-11-05T17:51:01Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > I didnā€™t watch _Clone Wars_ , but I understand that it establishes that Maul survived the bottomless pit. Ah. I was not aware of that. They must have amazing doctors in the far away galaxy. I wonder if the Empire provides universal healthcare? šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/80 "2020-11-05T18:30:59Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > No no no. Darth Maul got cut in half _and_ fell into a bottomless pit _after_ the events in the movie _Solo: A Star Wars Story_ . No, Darth Maul got cut in half well before the events of Solo - like, about twenty years earlier. He got cut in half at the end of Phantom Menace, when the Republic is still in power and Darth Vader is a whinny little 9 year old. Solo takes place after the Empire has taken over and Vaderā€™s developed his asthma problem. Darth Maul surviving is merely improbable, not impossible. Light sabers cauterize wounds (except in bar fights against walrus people, but thatā€™s an edge case) so heā€™s not going to bleed to death, and SW medical technology is obviously hugely more advanced than ours. The bottomless pit is the harder sell, but the setting does have cheap and abundant anti-gravity - presumably, thereā€™s an anti-gravity field at the bottom of that shaft for some reason. Maybe thatā€™s what they use in SW instead of hand rails? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670.md?page=5)