Genre switching sequels?

[Greg Cox]

Another textbook example: "Cat People" is a moody supernatural horror movie. The sequel, "Curse of the Cat People" is a poetic fantasy about a child's vivid imagination. The movies share a few cast members and supporting characters, but there aren't even any cat people in "Curse," which isn't remotely a horror movie!

As I understand it, the studio demanded a sequel to "Cat People," which had been a big commercial success, but the producer, Val Lewton, wasn't interested in repeating himself, so he made this delicate, somewhat arty movie instead--under the studio-mandated title, "Curse of the Cat People."

(Both films are very good, btw, but completely different in tone and subject matter.)

Oh, a bit of trivia: "Curse" was, I believe, the directorial debut of Robert Wise, who went on to direct "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "The Haunting," "The Andromeda Strain," "The Sound of Music," "West Side Story," and, of course, the first "Star Trek" movie.

 

[jayceee]

(Not a movie, but a tv show).

I thought the first four seasons of Fringe resembled an X-Files style procedural with some elements of Sliders and Altered States.

The fifth season seemed to be a completely different tv show, resembling a scavenger hunt in a post-apocalyptic setting.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

The Evil Dead series. The first installment was a straight up horror movie. The second was a horror comedy. Third was a fantasy comedy.

Beat me to it. That's probably the clearest example. The second movie is virtually a remake of the first except that it's a comedy. The third is completely different that it really isn't even horror.

Kill Bill.

While they are both action movies, the second one builds up the plot a lot more and has a very different feel to it. Not that I don't like it, they're both good movies. But they have very different feels.

I really like the difference in tone between the two movies. It's part of the reason I'm glad it was split up rather than stayed as one movie. It works well as two parts. That being said, while the tone changes dramatically, I'm not sure I would say it switches genres (especially since there are many subgenres sprinkled throughout anyway).

 

[gblews]

Arguably, the "Alien" series.

Alien was a horror story with the trappings of science fiction, while Aliens was more a war movie in a science fiction setting.

Alien 3, of course, was just crap.

Alien was Sci-Fi horror, so was Aliens. Or you might call both Sci Fi monster movies.

Terminator. Of course, you have to ignore the last two films for this to work, but everyone already does that anyway.

Terminator 1 was a horror movie
Terminator 2 was an action flick

T1 was a Sci Fi monster movie. T2 was also a Sci Fi monster movie (without the killing).

Oh, how about the Lou Grant character being spun off from the half-hour sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show to the hourlong drama Lou Grant?

Perfect example of what the OP was talking about.

 

[Christopher]

^No, they're definitely right about the Alien and Terminator franchises. I've seen those examples suggested on every other thread I've come across in searching for other suggestions. Yes, in both cases the original and its sequel were both science fiction, but they were in very different subgenres and styles.


I'm so frustrated -- I've got another example that I'm pretty sure happened, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was or figure out the right search terms to track it down. Now I'm thinking there was a TV show, probably in the '60s give or take a decade, that turned into a spy show after a season where it was in a different genre, like detective or lawyer or something. I wish I could remember!

 

[DalekJim]

Why am I the first person to mention Star Trek?

First movie is a cerebral sci-fi film, second and third are action/adventure space opera films, fourth is a lowest common denominator fish-out-of-water comedy.

 

[gblews]

^No, they're definitely right about the Alien and Terminator franchises. I've seen those examples suggested on every other thread I've come across in searching for other suggestions. Yes, in both cases the original and its sequel were both science fiction, but they were in very different subgenres and styles.

You might have a small argument with Alien and Aliens but T1 and T2 are virtually the same movies minus the killing. In both, scary cyborg comes from the future to kill humans in the past.

Both Alien and Aliens are about battling monsters from outer space (in outer space) which makes them both Sci Fi -- monster movies.

 

[stoneroses]

Predator 2 is quite a different movie from the first as opposed to the military mission of the first movie Stephen '24' Hopkins's movie is like a cop drama. Trek movies differ from each other too.

 

[Silvercrest]

I'm thinking there was a TV show, probably in the '60s give or take a decade, that turned into a spy show after a season where it was in a different genre, like detective or lawyer or something. I wish I could remember!

This is not quite the same thing, but The Man from U.N.C.L.E. devolved from serious spy drama into camp.

 

[Greg Cox]

Why am I the first person to mention Star Trek?

First movie is a cerebral sci-fi film, second and third are action/adventure space opera films, fourth is a lowest common denominator fish-out-of-water comedy.

Sixth is a Cold War thriller . . . in space!

(Who the hell knew what the fifth one was supposed to be?)

 

[DalekJim]

(Who the hell knew what the fifth one was supposed to be?)

The only TOS movie to actually resemble the show!

 

[Greg Cox]

(Who the hell knew what the fifth one was supposed to be?)

The only TOS movie to actually resemble the show!

Ah, but TOS tended to switch genres at will: cerebral sf ("City on the Edge of Forever"), war movie ("Balance of Terror"), pulp action-adventure ("Gamesters of Triskelion"), courtroom drama ("Court-Martial), heavy-handed political allegory ("And Let That Be Your Last Battlefield), morality plays ("Conscience of the King") and even the occasional farce: "Trouble with Tribbles," "I, Mudd," "A Piece of the Action," etc.

So, arguably, all the TOS movies resemble the show, depending on which episodes you're talking about!

 

[Dantheman]

The aborted Jaws 3, People 0 script for a third Jaws movie would have taken the franchise into a Airplane!-style comedy route, instead of the horror/suspense of other entries.

 

[DalekJim]

Ah, but TOS tended to switch genres at will: cerebral sf ("City on the Edge of Forever"), war movie ("Balance of Terror"), pulp action-adventure ("Gamesters of Triskelion"), courtroom drama ("Court-Martial), heavy-handed political allegory ("And Let That Be Your Last Battlefield), morality plays ("Conscience of the King") and even the occasional farce: "Trouble with Tribbles," "I, Mudd," "A Piece of the Action," etc.

So, arguably, all the TOS movies resemble the show, depending on which episodes you're talking about!

True to an extent (Wrath of Khan is pretty similar to Balance of Terror, really) but ST V is easily the film that most resembles TOS which is why it's a shame fans hate it.

I feel the same about the much maligned Insurrection in relation to TNG.

 

[Greg Cox]

Ah, but TOS tended to switch genres at will: cerebral sf ("City on the Edge of Forever"), war movie ("Balance of Terror"), pulp action-adventure ("Gamesters of Triskelion"), courtroom drama ("Court-Martial), heavy-handed political allegory ("And Let That Be Your Last Battlefield), morality plays ("Conscience of the King") and even the occasional farce: "Trouble with Tribbles," "I, Mudd," "A Piece of the Action," etc.

So, arguably, all the TOS movies resemble the show, depending on which episodes you're talking about!

True to an extent (Wrath of Khan is pretty similar to Balance of Terror, really) but ST V is easily the film that most resembles TOS which is why it's a shame fans hate it.

I feel the same about the much maligned Insurrection in relation to TNG.

On the other hand, you could argue that TVH (which I love and you dislike) has much in common with fish-out-of-water time travel eps like "Tomorrow is Yesterday" and "Assignment: Earth." Not to mention latter-day Trek eps like "Future's End" on VOYAGER.

(Probably not a coincidence that I've written sequels to both of those TOS eps, which were among my favorites when I was a kid.)

 

[Christopher]

True to an extent (Wrath of Khan is pretty similar to Balance of Terror, really) but ST V is easily the film that most resembles TOS which is why it's a shame fans hate it.

I don't know why you'd think that. Maybe it resembled third-season TOS, but at its root, TOS was intended to be a naturalistic drama with believable characterization, while TFF was a broad, self-mocking action-comedy whose priorities did not include believability.

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

The Jay and Silent Bob films went from Indie comedy to 80s sex comedy to a fairly serious relationship film to a religious fantasy epic to a show business satire and back to an Indie comedy. Quite a genre range there.

The TV show Prison Break started as an escape/conspiracy serial, evolved into a Fugitive-type series, then went back to the escape/conspiracy serial and then transformed into a massive heist show in its final season.

 

[DalekJim]

True to an extent (Wrath of Khan is pretty similar to Balance of Terror, really) but ST V is easily the film that most resembles TOS which is why it's a shame fans hate it.

I don't know why you'd think that. Maybe it resembled third-season TOS, but at its root, TOS was intended to be a naturalistic drama with believable characterization, while TFF was a broad, self-mocking action-comedy whose priorities did not include believability.

Well, I strongly disagree on that one. It resembles a low-tier second season episode to me, from once the show had established its traditional Star Trek formula.

 

[Greg Cox]

Ohmigod, how have we forgotten this one?

HIGHLANDER was a basically a sword-and-sorcery adventure set in modern times and ancient Scotland. The sequel, HIGHLANDER: THE QUICKENING, was this weird, futuristic, scifi thing that insanely retconned the Highlander into an alien from another planet!


Along the same lines, you have THE BEASTMASTER, which was pure sword-and-sorcery, followed by a sequel, BEASTMASTER 2: THROUGH THE PORTAL OF TIME, which had brought the hero into modern times for a more scifi-tinged adventure.

(Just to complicate matters, the first movie was very loosely based on a novel by Andre Norton, which was science fiction, not fantasy.)

 

[Christopher]

^I was trying to forget Highlander: The Quickening. I imagine everyone who ever saw the movie has tried to forget it.