What sequels were better than the original...? (Any medium)

[First Speaker]

I can think of two: The Lord of the Rings, and Ulysses. Both were expansions of interesting, if relatively modest, works. Both brought the concepts of the originals to new, and unimaginable, heights. And--interestingly enough--both were followed by very "difficult" books that appeal to only a select few--The Silmarillion, and Finnegan's Wake. Who can think of any others? Most sequels have obvious limitations, which Tolkien and Joyce managed to avoid...

[Walleye]

1. Movie: The Gods Must be Crazy II

[hlthe2b]

2. Godfather sequels better than the first (Part II generally believed the best)

[exboyfil]

15. I think Godfather is close enought

to Godfather II. Godfather III is a drop in quality but still an entertaining film. It is often difficult to stick the landing on a trilogy (and of course they continue to break up great trilogies with substandard sequels).

[pdxflyboy]

3. The Return of the Pink Panther.

[Glorfindel]

4. I have always thought "Huckleberry Finn" was better than "Tom Sawyer"

though both were very good.

[First Speaker]

5. Yes! Excellent choice!

[exboyfil]

12. Huck Finn has the same relationship to Tom Sawyer

as the Hobbit does to Lord of the Rings. You get a less serious sample of the world that will be visited in the serious work later. LOTR and Huck Finn belong in a top 10 list of English language novels.

[Thunderbeast]

6. Terminator 2

Guilty pleasure.

[soothsayer]

8. Totally agree

[exboyfil]

14. Nothing guilty about enjoying a top 10 science fiction movie

and a top 10 action movie.

[Fiendish Thingy]

7. Empire Strikes Back, Aliens...nt

[Stuart G]

25. Aliens in my opinion is a "Great Action Adventrue Film." Alien...just fair..

[Squinch]

9. The Exorcist 3, the one with George C. Scott, may not have been better than 1, but it was

as good. And it was very underrated.

[exboyfil]

11. Very underrated

Probably suffers from the atrocious Exorcist 2 which I saw without seeing the Exorcist when I was kid (boy was I confused).

[Squinch]

16. Yeah. That one was a dog.

[happybird]

18. Is that the one with the head-lopping scissors

and the little old lady crawling on the ceiling? She freaked me out.

[exboyfil]

10. The Dark Knight

Terminator 2

Mad Max 2 (Road Warrior)

Spiderman 2

X-2

Literature is really tough. I would argue that the Harry Potter books reached a high point around Goblet, but the later books are definitely better than the earlier books.

I think Storm of Swords is the best of A Song of Ice and Fire

Hound of the Baskervilles for Sherlock Holmes

[exboyfil]

13. Funny I thought you met the Greek Ulysses until

I reread your post. Ulysses (or The Odyssey) is a superior work to the Iliad, but the two are very close.

I read Portrait in 11th grade when I had mono. It almost killed me. I have never revisited Joyce. I probably should. I had even forgotten than Ulysses was a sequel to Portrait. I know my English teacher would be disappointed in me. I have tried to supplement my genre fiction reading with more serious works over the years.

[Midnight Writer]

17. I much prefer The Iliad. Among my all time favorites.

Oh, and Dawn of the Dead was better than Night of the Dead but Day of the Dead sucked.

[exboyfil]

20. Both Dawn of the Dead versions are great

You do have to appreciate the revolutionary nature of Night of the Living Dead. It stands with Shelley's Frankenstein and Stoker's Dracula as paradigm shifting.

No argument about Iliad. They are entirely different stories, but truly amazing how great they are and how much they represent the human condition even today over 3,000 years later.

[Midnight Writer]

22. I felt emotion for each of the fallen heroes in The Iliad. It was a tremendous tragedy.

I think it is a very human story.

Ulysses seemed more of a fantasy. Ulysses himself is the only character that matters. He's the archetype of modern "action heroes".

He slays all the bad guys and beds all the ladies, while all his sidekicks and teammates get killed around him.

It's fun, but didn't affect me as much as The Iliad.

[Generic Brad]

19. Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan

Best sequel ever - hands down!

[exboyfil]

21. As far as being a huge step above the first movie

Yes. I can't believe I forgot it given it is my top five list of best science fiction movies. Current scriptwriters could take a lesson from it. Actually going back into TOS and using the villain showed love and respect for the original. It doesn't hurt you have the underappreciated Ricardo Montalbán chewing scenery at his finest. It is truly amazing that Kirk and Khan never meet in the movie. Wonderful editing and pacing.

So what the hell were they doing with the Kelvin timeline movies?

[flotsam]

23. If you consider the movie as the sequel to the book

Then my point would be that Robin Williams seeing the plane crash into a house and then buying it explains his character in The World According to Garp almost better than the book.

[Stuart G]

24. Superman 2. Hard to remember, but far better than 1, that I do remember...

[Ohio Joe]

26. Borderlands 2

Handsome Jack is one of the greatest villians ever

[Stuart G]

27. Got to add in this..."Empire Strikes Back" may be the greatest sequel ever..

It clearly created an opening to more Star Wars Films...