The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite kind of sequel

[Argus Skyhawk]

There are various subspecies of movie sequels. For years the most common type of sequel was the one which repeated the plot of the original movie, but with a variation, like it might take place in New York City the second time, or the hero's rival might have a mohawk. As I've already hinted, Rocky sequels and Home Alone sequels tended to fall into this category. I don't come across this type so much nowadays, fortunately. The most annoying members of the class were ones that repeated the same plot with different characters (Teen Wolf Too, for instance).

Then there were the sequels which kept the same characters, but in a completely different plot. I have nothing really against this particular kind of sequel. Most Star Trek movies were of this type. Also the Indiana Jones movies were mostly of this type, although The Last Crusade bore some hallmarks of the first variety, since it once again featured Jones racing the Nazis to find a biblical relic.

Occassionally, you have sequels that have no real relation to the original film. I haven't actually watched that type of movie, but I've heard that Halloween 3, Anacondas, and Troll 2 are representatives.

Watching The Empire Strikes Back the other night reminded me of why that is my favorite kind of sequel. It continues and builds upon the story of the original without repeating it. It brings back all the characters I loved in the original, but doesn't annoyingly wink at the audience by repeating most popular jokes. See Hollywood? THAT is what I want in a follow-up movie. That is a large part of why I like The Lord of the Rings and the Star Trek 2,3,4 trilogy.

Imagine how some moviemakers would have filmed the first Star Wars sequel had they been given the chance. It would have been named Star Wars II. It would have featured our heroes rescuing someone else from an even bigger, more dangerous battle station. It would have had another cantina full of aliens and an about-to-get-smashed-in-the-garbage-compactor scene. It would have ended with a climatic trench run (in which Darth Vader again escapes at the last second), and a medal-giving ceremony. Cool revelations like "I am your Daddy"? That wouldn't happen.

 

[Brikar99]

...The good kind?

 

[Brikar99]

More seriously, I agree with you. 'Empire' does make a lot of excellent decisions. For one, it sort of counter-intuitively puts its massive action sequence at the front of the film. Right there, the movie is sort of saying 'screw you' to a lot of conventions that are expected of it.

 

[Yevetha]

I hope Trek XII will be similar in terms of tone.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

It would have featured.....a more dangerous battle station.

Or yet another Death Star, which would have revealed total idea bankruptcy.

 

[Mr Light]

I guess there's a lot of hate for it here, but this is why I love Matrix Reloaded. It completely expanded on the scope and ideas of the first film without just repeating the same story. The first movie starred a single ship; this stars the entire city of Zion. The first film was very simple good and evil; the second film introduces the concept of man and machine having to exist together to survive, and the One being a machine-created concept to control man, repeating in an endless cycle. We learn that machines are not monolithic; there is the Oracle, there is the Merovingian...

 

[23skidoo]

The fact Empire Strikes Back is so well realized puts into sharp relief how poor all the other SW sequels were. Had Lucas been able to maintain the quality and storytelling clarity of ESB (and A New Hope), we'd have had none of this "Lucas raped my childhood" nonsense today. I've seen all the SW films multiple times (except ROTS which I cannot stand and nearly walked out of in the theatre so I've only seen it the once) and the only SW films I actually enjoy are the first two - A New Hope (even though I hate that after-the-fact subtitle) and Empire Strikes Back. If ESB didn't end with a cliffhanger it'd be so easy to treat them as a duology and ignore the rest of the films. If someone puts a gun to my head I'll allow the first half hour or so of Return of the Jedi where they resolve the cliffhanger and rescue Han (Leia's slavegirlkini makes it easier to sit through), but after Boba Fett bites the big one I'm off.

Alex

 

[Captaindemotion]

Imagine how some moviemakers would have filmed the first Star Wars sequel had they been given the chance. It would have been named Star Wars II. It would have featured our heroes rescuing someone else from an even bigger, more dangerous battle station. It would have had another cantina full of aliens and an about-to-get-smashed-in-the-garbage-compactor scene. It would have ended with a climatic trench run (in which Darth Vader again escapes at the last second), and a medal-giving ceremony. Cool revelations like "I am your Daddy"? That wouldn't happen.

This doesn't sound entirely unlike Return of the Jedi which had Jabba's Palace standing in for the cantina, a bigger and more dangerous battle station and a climatic attack on the station. Or the medal-giving ceremony at the end of TPM. Or the rescue of Chancellor Palpatine at the start of ROTS...

 

[Argus Skyhawk]

Imagine how some moviemakers would have filmed the first Star Wars sequel had they been given the chance. It would have been named Star Wars II. It would have featured our heroes rescuing someone else from an even bigger, more dangerous battle station. It would have had another cantina full of aliens and an about-to-get-smashed-in-the-garbage-compactor scene. It would have ended with a climatic trench run (in which Darth Vader again escapes at the last second), and a medal-giving ceremony. Cool revelations like "I am your Daddy"? That wouldn't happen.

This doesn't sound entirely unlike Return of the Jedi which had Jabba's Palace standing in for the cantina, a bigger and more dangerous battle station and a climatic attack on the station. Or the medal-giving ceremony at the end of TPM. Or the rescue of Chancellor Palpatine at the start of ROTS...

Sadly true, which is why I didn't say those other movies are my favorite kind of sequel.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

Empire Strikes Back is awesome.

With that sad, it seems like it was one of the first to popularize the "2nd movie must end on a downer and will obviously be continued" type of movie.

They all seem to follow this pattern now.

First movie is a good, well made standalone. 2nd movie ends with our hero/heroes losing with an obvious "to be continued" and then the third movie is a drop in overall quality trying to wrap it all up, lol. Pirates, Matrix, Batman (haven't seen the 3rd one yet, but the first two followed that)... I wonder if the next Trek movie will follow suit?