Numbered Sequels: Difference between revisions

 

Contrast [[Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo]], [[Recycled Title]], [[Trope 2000]] and [[Super Title 64 Advance]].

{{examples}}

* ''[[Macross 7]]'' is not the seventh ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross|Macross]]'' series—it's the third in the official continuity, after ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]'' and ''[[Macross Plus]]''. Confusingly, a different production group created an unofficial sequel called ''[[Macross II]]''. It wasn't well received. The prequel series ''[[Macross Zero]]'' really does come first chronologically.

* Not a movie series, but deserving of mention, are the cyborgs of ''[[Cyborg 009]]''. The protagonists are [[Hollywood Cyborg|cyborgs]] designated 001-009. But the one that follows 009 ("zero zero nine") is named ''0010'' ("zero zero ten"), rather than the logical 010. The series also does this with {{spoiler|all subsequent cyborg characters.}}

* ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'' looks like this, as it ''is'' after all the second ''[[Digimon]]'' series, but the number actually derives from its status as being [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|set in the year 2002]]. One could assume the number doubles as this.

 

* ''100 Bullets'' has an interesting twist on this- every story arc/trade paperback has a title that either incorporates its number into it (eg- book 4 is ''A Foregone Tomorrow'', book 9 is ''Strychnine Lives'') or uses part of a known phrase that includes the number, but leaving the actual number out (eg- book 7 is ''[[Seven Samurai|Samurai]]'' and book 12 is ''[[Dirty Dozen|Dirty]]'')

* ''[[The Ultimates]]'' 2 and 3.

* ''[[Kick-Ass]]'' 2.

 

* The first major film to start using this technique was ''[[The Godfather]]'' in ''The Godfather Part II''. It was one of Francis Ford Coppola's three demands for working on the sequel. His two other demands were approved, but the studio highly objected to simply following the title with a number. Its success began the tradition of numbered sequels.

** Oddly, enough, this was [[Inverted Trope|inverted]] for ''The Godfather Part III''. Coppola wanted to call it ''The Death of Michael Corleone'' but the studio wouldn't let him.

* ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]]'' has two sequel, but the first uses Roman numbers (''Men In Black II'', stylized ''MIIB'') and the latter Arabic ones (''Men In Black 3'', stylized ''MIB³'').

 

* One of the few literary examples is ''Rama II'', and there the title can also be taken to refer to the spaceship the book features.

* The sequel to [[E. E. "Doc" Smith]]'s ''[[Skylark Series|The Skylark of Space]]'' was called ''Skylark Three'', again after a ship starring in the story.

* Several [[Marcus Didius Falco|Falco]] novels had a count ''down.'' Thus ''Three Hands in the Fountain'' was followed by ''Two for the Lions'' and then ''One Virgin Too Many''. Since the Romans never got around to inventing the number zero, subsequent novels had to drop the numerical theme.

* David Charney wrote ''Sensei'' and ''Sensei II: The Swordmaster''.

* Some printings of ''[[The Jungle Book (novel)|The Second Jungle Book]]'' use the title ''The Jungle Book II''.

 

* [[The BBC]] science fiction comedy series ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' opened its third series with a ''Star Wars'' spoofing scroll past of text ending with the line Red Dwarf III: The Same Generation (Nearly). This led the BBC's official listings magazine, the Radio Times, to list the series as Red Dwarf III. Subsequent series were likewise shown as Red Dwarf IV, Red Dwarf V and so on. Eventually, the creators began numbering the series on screen... after which the Radio Times just called it Red Dwarf. This was dropped for the ''Back to Earth'' three-parter, although it is referred to (usually unofficially) as Series IX.

* Another BBC comedy, ''[[The Black Adder]]'', was followed by Blackadder II, Blackadder the Third and Blackadder Goes Forth (bad pun!)

** Which is kind of an oxymoron if you think about it.

 

* [[Led Zeppelin|Led Zeppelin's]] self-titled debut album was followed later the same year by ''Led Zeppelin II'', and by ''Led Zeppelin III'' the following year. The untitled album that followed it is informally called ''Led Zeppelin IV'' by fans.

* [[Metallica]] released the song "The Unforgiven" on their self-titled album. Six years later, on the album ''Reload'', came the song "The Unforgiven II". Subverted a bit in the lyrics; they are about the Unforgiven from the previous song finding a lifemate and asking "are you unforgiven [[A Worldwide Punomenon|too]]?".

** And another twelve years later, on ''Death Magnetic'', Metallica released "The Unforgiven III". Strangely enough, it's the only song in the cycle that ''doesn't'' contain the word Unforgiven in any of the lyrics, and musically and lyrically it has very little to do with the other two.

** On the other hand, both Ralph Vaughan Williams and Malcolm Arnold have written 9 symphonies and then died. At a very advanced age in both cases.

 

* The [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]]'s ''Wrestlemania'' Pay-Per-View events are normally numbered (although they seem to have trouble deciding whether to use Roman or Arabic numerals), with three exceptions: the sixteenth was dubbed ''Wrestlemania 2000'' to capitalize on millennial fever (and because it was in the year 2000), and the seventeenth and eighteenth were ''Wrestlemania X-Seven'' and ''Wrestlemania X8'', respectively, for [[Xtreme Kool Letterz]] effect. Their other Pay-Per-View events don't use any form of numbering, instead being identified by the year in which they were held

** The only other Wrestlemania not to use Roman numerals was XIII - which was promoted with Arabic numerals.

* [[WCW]]'s first nine ''Superbrawl'' PPV events were appropriately numbered, then the next was named ''Superbrawl 2000'' much like WWF did with ''Wrestlemania''. This was followed by ''Superbrawl Revenge'', the final Superbrawl before WCW was closed down.

 

* William [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Henry IV]], part 2'', and ''Henry VI, parts 2 and 3''

** Spoofed by ''The Book of Sequels'', a book consisting of humorous fictional sequels, spinoffs, and adaptations of famous works, with ''Romeo and Juliet Part 2'', which reveals that Romeo's poison was actually a sleeping potion, the knife was [[Actually a Doombot|actually a fake prop knife]], and that Romeo and Juliet [[Sequel Reset|live on]] to go on a bunch of wacky adventures.

 

* Only three of the first six ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' games were released in North America. Two of those -- ''[[Final Fantasy IV|IV]]'', and ''[[Final Fantasy VI|VI]]''—were renumbered for North American release, making them ''II'', and ''III''. This was made all the more confusing when, starting with ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', Square decided to release the games with their proper numbers globally, making it seem in North America as though ''Final Fantasy IV-VI'' had simply vanished. This was further muddled when the NES and SNES games were rereleased worldwide on other consoles and given their original numbers.

** The series also features ''[[Final Fantasy X-2]]'', which - perhaps confusingly for some - is neither ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' nor ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]''. Or ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', for that matter.

* Rather than going with the obvious name of [[Pokémon|Pokémon Grey]], the sequels/remakes/reimaginings to [[Pokémon Black and White]] are, get this, [[Pokémon Black 2 and White 2]].

 

* ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' spoofs this with its movie, "Dangeresque 2: This Time, It's Not Dangeresque 1". The end of that e-mail announced "Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective" (in 3D). In an e-mail concerning Dangeresque 3, Dangeresque 1 was revealed as "Dangeresque 1: Dangeresque, Too?" (not in 3D).

** Also, in the Halloween cartoon "Three Times Halloween Funjob", Coach Z tells Homestar he's dressed as Kool Moe Dee of the Treacherous Three (and not "Wesley Snakes"), and Homestar remarks "I only saw Treacherous 1 and 2, so I wouldn't know."

** The most recent Halloween cartoon is titled ''Jibblies 2'', although it is pointed out that there was no original ''Jibblies''. Quoth the Strong Sad: "Original? Horror movie? Not these days."

* The ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' Story Arc "KITTEN" was based around parodying horror movie tropes. Naturally, it was given a sequel titled "KITTEN II."

 

 

* ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', a RP board, is split up into "versions" by [[Big Bad|Danya]]. Each version takes place on a different island with ~150 characters trying to be the [[Kill'Em All|last one standing]]. Version 0 refers to the final "test run" which was only shown on an obscure channel, and Version 1 was shown nation-wide (and the first where people started writing). These were followed a year later by Version 2 and another year later by Version 3. The fourth version takes place [[Webcomic Time|in 2008.]]

 

 

* Each [[Super Bowl]] is known by its Roman numbered ordinal. This began with Super Bowl III in 1969, after the first two were simply known as the "AFL-NFL Championship Game" and later retconned into Super Bowls.

* The [[Olympic Games]] are officially referred to by number. The 2008 Summer Games in Beijing were the Games of the XXIX [29th] Olympiad of the modern era. (it's worth noticing the ones cancelled due to World Wars still count)

* In boxing and mixed martial arts, rematches between notable competitors are often numbered, such as Ali-Frazier 2.

* The [[Mixed Martial Arts|Ultimate Fighting Championship]] began using numbered sequels after the first event, which was retroactively renamed "UFC 1: The Beginning." Interestingly, there was much fanfare over UFC 100, even though it was actually the 105th UFC event due to the fact that five previous events did not follow the traditional numbering scheme. The smaller Ultimate Fight Night series of events used a numbering scheme until UFN 6, after which they were usually named after their headliners. The Ultimate Fighter reality series is numbered based on season. A new line of free events airing on the Versus channel is set to debut with "UFC Live on Versus 1," a rare instance of a work receiving a number before it has any sequels. Many other mixed martial arts promotions have followed suit by numbering each of their events.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Title Tropes]]

[[Category:Sequel]]

[[Category:Film Tropes]]