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Sequel Reset: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|''(Mike Myers sits on his bed, waiting to be shagged by Liz Hurley, [[Verbal Tic|baby, yeah]].)''
'''Myers:''' Well, it appears as though [[Character Development|my character has been fully explored]], and [[So What Do We Do Now?|there's just no new direction I can go in for this movie]], baby!
'''Hurley:''' Wait! [[Robotic Reveal|I'm actually a robot.]]
''([[Made of Explodium|She explodes]].)''
'''Myers:''' Yeah baby! I can go back to the same character I was in the first movie now! I wonder if I could get away with [[Recycled Script|using the same script]]...|'''''[[Austin Powers]] 2: [http://www.the-editing-room.com/austinpowers2.html The Abridged Script]'''''}}
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Trouble is, you didn't really have a sequel in mind when you wrote the original story; it's quite self-contained. In fact, everything's been tied up with a nice little ribbon: The story is conclusively over. The heroes look up to the author, er, the sky, and ask [[So What Do We Do Now?]]? And the author [[Shrug of God|has no answer]].
Say hello to the '''Sequel Reset'''. The opposite of the [[Sequel Hook]], this is when something (a scene, a line of dialogue, etc) occurs at the beginning of the sequel in order to establish that, as it turns out, the story isn't quite as over as we thought. It's used in order to justify the existence of the sequel and compensate for the lack of a Sequel Hook in the first one; inevitably, between the first movie and the second, something has happened to shake up the status quo that was restored at the end of the first movie in order to provide the sequel with the same (or similar, at least) character motivations / dynamics and plot requirements. [[The Hero]] and the [[Love Interest]] have broken up. Looks like the Big Bad [[Back
When it's done well, it can open up a story that we'd thought was finished for a rewarding second visit. After all, life goes on even for fictional characters, and just because everything ''looked'' tied up with a neat little bow at the end of the first installment doesn't mean that the situation might not have changed a little later down the track. Furthermore, it can provide an interesting examination on ''why'' the ending of the first movie wasn't quite as open-and-shut as we thought by showing us what would happen if the seemingly incompatible lovers ''did'' get together, or what would happen if no one believed the crazy story those people who claimed to save the world told.
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* The end of the original ''[[Highlander]]'' makes it pretty clear that Connor McLeod is the last immortal at the end and has won the prize, but then they made sequels, and a TV show, and a spinoff. "There can be only one," until there's more money to be made.
** [[Highlander III the Sorcerer|The third movie]] especially felt like a by-the-numbers remake more than a sequel. With a [[Diabolus Ex Machina]] villain.
* In ''[[The Matrix]]'', Neo must kung fu fight his enemies in the virtual world of the Matrix until he learns to control the simulation and transcend physical combat. In the sequel, his apparent apotheosis is downgraded to a [[Took a Level
* ''[[RoboCop]] 2''. At the end of the first film, Murphy is speaking in his regular human voice and has come to terms with the fact that despite the physical changes, he's the same man he always was. In the sequel, he talks like a robot and is still conflicted about his status as a being (to the point that he tells his wife that the face of the unit is just a copy of Murphy's original face).
* ''[[Home Alone]] 2'' simply gave Kevin [[Aesop Amnesia]], ticking off his family yet again and getting left alone in a completely different way.
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