# You've only seen the sequel(s)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2019, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788 "2019-09-25T03:25:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/1 "2019-09-25T03:25:43Z")
As I was driving last week, a song from the Escape from L.A. soundtrack popped up. This got me thinking: I’ve seen \*\*Escape from L.A. \*\* but I’ve never seen **Escape from New York.** I’ve seen, and honestly quite enjoyed, **Rock ‘n’ Roll High School Forever** but I’ve never seen **Rock ‘n’ Roll High School**. And somehow, I’ve seen all the movies in the **Terminator** series…except the first movie. I’ve seen **Blade Runner 2049** but not **Blade Runner.** Until fairly recently, I could’ve added **Army of Darkness** to the list too because I saw it more than 20 years before I saw either version of **Evil Dead**. How about you? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/2 "2019-09-25T04:12:59Z")
I don’t think I’ve seen _Mad Max_ in its entirely (or if I did, it left no impression). I’ve seen all the sequels and derivative works. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/3 "2019-09-25T04:27:02Z")
Both of yinz are definitely missing out. Go do yer homework! Though I will admit that evil dead 2 and mad max 2 (The Road Warrior) are the best of those serieseseses. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/4 "2019-09-25T04:29:09Z")
If we can include TV series I have seen all the episodes of the Star Trek television series except for the original. I have only seen about a dozen episodes of the original series; I find it something of a chore to watch between the acting and the cheesy special effects. ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/5 "2019-09-25T06:03:51Z")
Lupin III is much better than Lupin. (Sorry). ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/6 "2019-09-25T09:23:05Z")
One day in college, I rolled my ankle playing basketball. I wanted to back out of going to the movies that night, but my “friends” told me to walk it off and go with them to see _Highlander II: The Quickening_. I wasn’t nearly as disappointed as they were, but I was in a splint and crutches the next day (and month). It’s probably somewhat cheating to count Marvel movies, but the first Cap, Thor, and Tom Holland Spider-Man movies I saw were _The Winter Soldier_, _Ragnarok_, and _Far From Home_. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/7 "2019-09-25T10:43:20Z")
> [@pmwgreen](#): > > Lupin III is much better than Lupin. (Sorry). Joke’s a bit dulled by the fact that really is a sequel. Lupin III is the grandson of Arsene Lupin, who appeared in a series of short stories, novels, and plays from 1905 to 1935. I can’t think of any examples of the thread’s topic, for me, now…but two mentioned did apply at one point… I saw Army of Darkness years before seeing Evil Dead I or II, and Beyond Thunderdome well before Mad Max or The Road Warrior. (I have since completed both series.) I can think of a few video game examples, though - Skyrim was the first Elder Scrolls game that I played, and still the only one I’ve finished (Arena, I couldn’t even get to run, Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Oblivion the systems turned me off pretty early in), and I’ve only played Fallout 3, New Vegas, and 4. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/8 "2019-09-25T11:26:46Z")
I can think of a few examples: - I still haven’t seen the first Evil Dead movie. - Back in the day, I saw Aliens before watching Alien, Terminator 2 before Terminator, and Empire Strikes Back before Star Wars. - In the early '90s, the Chinese students association at our university would regularly import action movies from Hong Kong. So I’ve seen a number of Jackie Chan and Jet Li sequels without seeing the originals: Drunken Master II, Armour of God II: Operation Condor, Police Story 3: Supercop, and Once Upon a Time in China II come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/9 "2019-09-25T11:44:06Z")
I watched the Pink Panther movies from The Return of the Pink Panther until Trail of the Pink Panther when they came out. It wasn’t until much later that I watched the original Pink Panther movie. ---
**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:** [September 25, 2019, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/10 "2019-09-25T11:51:44Z")
I’ll bet a lot of more people have seen the _Rambo_ films than ever saw the first film in the series, **First Blood** \* I know that, although I’ve seen **Billy Jack** , I’ve never seen the film that introduced the character, **Born Losers**. (Although, apparently, _Billy Jack_ was the film Tom Laughlin wanted to make in the first place, and quickly dashed off _Born Losers_ to capitalize on the Biker Film craze and get his character introduced. a case where the “sequel” was the intended real film, with a sorta fake “prequel” made first. [The Born Losers - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Born_Losers) ) - When the next film came out, it was called _Rambo: First Blood Part II_, although most people thought of it as just _Rambo_. The next film was called _Rambo III_. But since there was never a film called _Rambo II_ that always bothered me. Maybe they shoulda called it _Rambo II : First Blood Part III_. ---
**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:** [September 25, 2019, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/11 "2019-09-25T13:09:28Z")
You know, even though the James Bond films are very well known, I’ll bet most people have never seen **Dr. No** , the first in the Eon series. It’s the oldest, and rarely shown on TV anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/12 "2019-09-25T13:38:25Z")
I’ve seen _The Two Jakes_, but I’ve never seen _Chinatown_. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/13 "2019-09-25T13:40:56Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You know, even though the James Bond films are very well known, I’ll bet most people have never seen **Dr. No** , the first in the Eon series. It’s the oldest, and rarely shown on TV anymore. _Dr. No_ is great, but the bit with the tarantula is laughable. But you saw that with spiders a lot in movies then. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/14 "2019-09-25T13:50:08Z")
I’ve seen all the non-AvP **Alien** movies but have not seen the original **Alien** all the way through. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/15 "2019-09-25T14:25:07Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I don’t think I’ve seen _Mad Max_ in its entirely (or if I did, it left no impression). I’ve seen all the sequels and derivative works. This was the first answer that came to mind for me. I’ve seen a couple of the later Harry Potter films but never seen the first one. ---
**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:** [September 25, 2019, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/16 "2019-09-25T14:30:29Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I don’t think I’ve seen _Mad Max_ in its entirely (or if I did, it left no impression). I’ve seen all the sequels and derivative works. **Mad Max** wasn’t a big film in the States. **The Road Warrior** was, and got a lot of play, but I don’t recall the original film being re-released after that, or even shown on television. The only time I saw the film was when I rented it myself. Even after the release of the other Mad Max films, I don’t recall seeing the original broadcast or anything. The first film is very much unlike the sequels. There has evidently been some sort of upheaval, but most people live in something like a normal city, and it’s all nice and green. That whole Desert-Apocalyptic Hell thing started with The Road Warrior, and they kept it up through the other sequels. I think the first Mad Max film would be too jarringly different for people to relate to. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/17 "2019-09-25T15:33:19Z")
It’s no longer true, but it once was. _Star Wars_. Due to whatever distribution peculiarities, when I was a ten-year-old in the West of Scotland, it basically eternally played in some big cinema in Glasgow, but didn’t run in the local cinema. And while, by God, they had three small boys desperate to see it, my parents took the line that they weren’t being dragged up to Glasgow to see it. My younger brother was still the huge _Star Wars_ nut. As a result my initial exposure to the first film was the novelisation. Probably as a result, what’s even more weirdly true is that my first exposure to _Empire_ was a comic book version he’d bought. So I didn’t even get to see the big twist on screen. But that did play at the local cinema and so I did see the sequel in first run. Finally saw the first film (in a special double bill) a bit later. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/18 "2019-09-25T15:42:57Z")
Like a lot of people my age, Terminator 2 was seen by me before the original. Terminator 2 was all the talk of my school friends, especially the liquid metal effects in the movie. For a few years there, I’d never seen the original Terminator. I eventually went back and saw it, but I knew tons of kids my age that had only seen T2. I would agree that Mad Max is kind of like this to. I would go further to predict even more people have now seen Fury Road, possibly not realizing it is the fourth one. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/19 "2019-09-25T16:29:26Z")
I saw one of the later _Harry Potter_ movies but not the others. In fact, this one was the first of a 2-part movie (#7 maybe?) and I didn’t see the next one. Same for Hunger Games. I saw \*Mockingjay \*but not any of the others, including _Mockingjay 2_. Both of those examples were because a friend wanted to see them (she’s a fan of both series). I’ve seen _Terminator Genisys_ and _Mad Max: Fury Road_ without seeing the originals. Both of those came up in the sci-fi movie marathon I go to every year (in fact they were both the same year). I’ve also seen _Terminator Salvation_ and two different _Planet of the Apes_ movies but not the first. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788/20 "2019-09-25T16:51:22Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Mad Max** wasn’t a big film in the States. **The Road Warrior** was, and got a lot of play, but I don’t recall the original film being re-released after that, or even shown on television. The only time I saw the film was when I rented it myself. Even after the release of the other Mad Max films, I don’t recall seeing the original broadcast or anything. > > The first film is very much unlike the sequels. There has evidently been some sort of upheaval, but most people live in something like a normal city, and it’s all nice and green. That whole Desert-Apocalyptic Hell thing started with The Road Warrior, and they kept it up through the other sequels. I think the first Mad Max film would be too jarringly different for people to relate to. I liked the first Mad Max film and think it fills in Max’s back story well. You get to see that he was once a police officer, had a wife and kid, and what drove him down the path of a loner. And of course you get to see ToeCutter played by the same actor who plays ImmortanJoe even though George Miller says they’re not the same character. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-only-seen-the-sequel-s/840788.md?page=2)