Sequel Reset: Difference between revisions

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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 From the Dead|isn't quite as dead as we thought]]. Maybe our hero's discovered that [[Victory Is Boring]]. Or just when the Hero thought his mundane life was back to normal, the good guys come stampeding out of his past and back into his life; it turns out the world wasn't put to rights after all and they need his help again...

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 From the Dead|isn't quite as dead as we thought]]. Maybe our hero's discovered that [[Victory Is Boring]]. Or just when the Hero thought his mundane life was back to normal, the good guys come stampeding out of his past and back into his life; it turns out the world wasn't put to rights after all and they need his help again...

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.

However, just as the [[Sequel Hook]] can come across as being cheesy, clichéd and hokey, the [[Sequel Reset]] can sometimes be quite contrived. It's sometimes apparent that the [[Executive Meddling|producers]] aren't going to do anything new, nor enrich the world of the first movie by showing us what happened later down the track; instead, they may just be trying to cash in on something that worked the first time around by offering us more of the same or, perhaps, completely overturning the ~~clear -- and~~ ''satisfying'' ~~-- ending~~ of the first piece. It's often an unfortunate sign that [[Sequelitis]] is just around the corner, by forcing open an ending that was clearly and satisfyingly shut for no other reason than to provide an excuse for a sequel. If it's particularly grating, then it may fall into [[Fanon Discontinuity]].

However, just as the [[Sequel Hook]] can come across as being cheesy, clichéd and hokey, the '''Sequel Reset''' can sometimes be quite contrived. It's sometimes apparent that the [[Executive Meddling|producers]] aren't going to do anything new, nor enrich the world of the first movie by showing us what happened later down the track; instead, they may just be trying to cash in on something that worked the first time around by offering us more of the same or, perhaps, completely overturning the clear—and ''satisfying''—ending of the first piece. It's often an unfortunate sign that [[Sequelitis]] is just around the corner, by forcing open an ending that was clearly and satisfyingly shut for no other reason than to provide an excuse for a sequel. If it's particularly grating, then it may fall into [[Fanon Discontinuity]].

One way to write yourself into a corner is to leave nothing left for your heroes to do other than fill in a CV and get a job. (Assuming they aren't already the rulers of somewhere.) If you find yourself in the position where you can't plausibly draw up a new villain without the fans screaming [[Diabolus Ex Machina]], you might need to draw up a new universe. Which isn't easy.

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** Viciously lampshaded by Ninja Ninja, who himself is part of the reset:

{{quote|"This pissed you off '''so''' much that you gon' hit the road again, to find the Number Two Headband ''again'', just so you can kill the Number One, '''''again'''''."}}

* The anime version of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' technically counts, as it was originally intended to only have one season which sports a [[Reset Button Ending]] in the form of the Sailor Senshi getting killed and then resurrected without their ~~memories -- even~~ crossing into the [[Book Ends]] trope with a scene borrowed from the first episode. Then, within the first two episodes of the second season, the Sailor Team gets their memories back to fight [[Filler Villain~~|Filler Villains~~]]. Ironically, in the manga, the second story arc kicks in without any traces of this trope within the same chapter where the first one ends.

* The anime version of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' technically counts, as it was originally intended to only have one season which sports a [[Reset Button Ending]] in the form of the Sailor Senshi getting killed and then resurrected without their memories—even crossing into the [[Book Ends]] trope with a scene borrowed from the first episode. Then, within the first two episodes of the second season, the Sailor Team gets their memories back to fight [[Filler Villain]]s. Ironically, in the manga, the second story arc kicks in without any traces of this trope within the same chapter where the first one ends.

* [[Bleach]] does this after {{spoiler|Ichigo defeats Aizen with the "final Getsuga Tensho," which [[Brought Down to Normal|strips him of his powers.]] Ichigo stays a [[Muggle]] for awhile before he begins to pursue alternative power sources, such as Fullbring. This allows the series to return to the more mysterious [[Urban Fantasy]] feel of the early chapters, and gives Ichigo's allies a chance to [[Can't Catch Up|catch up]]}}.

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== Film ==

* Used in ''[[Ghostbusters]] II'': As it turns out, no one believed that the heroes did save the world at the end of the first movie (apparently people believe the events of the first movie were simply an elaborate publicity stunt), meaning that the city authorities screwed them over and sued them for all the property damage, destroying their reputations and forcing them out of business. Furthermore, Venkman and Dana broke up, and Dana married another guy and had a kid with him. Then, it all starts happening again...

* Also used in ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]] II''; the end of the first movie ends with Agent K happily retired, his memory erased and given a chance to start things over with the love of his life. This is all abruptly taken away from him in the sequel, however, for little other reason than to allow K to return and carry on the character dynamic he'd had in the previous movie with Agent J. Furthermore, the dynamic between J and Dr. Laurel Weaver (Agent L) that was set up at the end of the first movie was ''also'' abruptly [[Hand Wave~~|Hand Waved~~]] away to allow for this.

* Also used in ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]] II''; the end of the first movie ends with Agent K happily retired, his memory erased and given a chance to start things over with the love of his life. This is all abruptly taken away from him in the sequel, however, for little other reason than to allow K to return and carry on the character dynamic he'd had in the previous movie with Agent J. Furthermore, the dynamic between J and Dr. Laurel Weaver (Agent L) that was set up at the end of the first movie was ''also'' abruptly [[Hand Wave]]d away to allow for this.

** Although that was partially on account of no-one who's worked with Linda Fiorentino ever wanting to work with Linda Fiorentino again.

* ''[[Austin Powers]]'' ends with the titular hero having undergone [[Character Development]], allowing him to mature and adjust his free-spirited Swinging Sixties ways to the more conservative but still liberated nineties, and setting him up in married life with his partner, Vanessa. So the beginning of the second movie reveals that Vanessa [[Robotic Reveal|was actually a robot]] and blows her up, and as soon as she's gone, Austin instantly reverts to his immature old ways.

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== Literature ==

* The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] has to contend with this any time an author's looking to write [[High Fantasy|High Space Opera]]. In [[The Thrawn Trilogy]] (the foundation of the modern [[Expanded Universe]]), there's a [[Lampshade Hanging]]: Leia muses, looking at Endor, that if the war really ended there, that means the "mop-up action" has been going on for a good five years ~~now--and~~ they might call themselves the New Republic, and they've retaken the capital planet, but they're hardly the galaxy-spanning bastion of civilization the original one was. That trilogy is one of the better sets of books.

* The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] has to contend with this any time an author's looking to write [[High Fantasy|High Space Opera]]. In [[The Thrawn Trilogy]] (the foundation of the modern [[Expanded Universe]]), there's a [[Lampshade Hanging]]: Leia muses, looking at Endor, that if the war really ended there, that means the "mop-up action" has been going on for a good five years now—and they might call themselves the New Republic, and they've retaken the capital planet, but they're hardly the galaxy-spanning bastion of civilization the original one was. That trilogy is one of the better sets of books.

** With [[Star Wars]], at least, it makes sense that there'd be a lot of the Empire still left to fight. Just look at [[Robot Chicken]].

* At the end of the first ''[[Thursday Next]]'' book, Thursday is happily married, [[Meaningful Name|Jack Schitt]] is [[Sealed Evil in a Can|trapped in a book]], [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Acheron Hades]] is dead, and the literary police, formerly charged with the dull job of tracking down stolen and counterfeit books, face an interesting future policing where Fiction meets the real world. In the next book, Thursday's husband is erased from existence, the literary police are still doing drudge work, there's easier ways to get between Reality and Fiction and characters do it all the time, and there's more in the Schitt and Hades families to contend with. [[Two-Part Trilogy|The second through fourth books are a trilogy dealing with all this.]]

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== Live-Action TV ==

* The 1996 run of ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'' [[Christmas Episode~~|Christmas Episodes~~]] finishes with Del, Rodney and Uncle Albert having achieved their dreams of wealth and success and [[Riding Into the Sunset|walking into the sunset]]. Then, they made a ''later'' series, which takes this all away and reduces them to the same barely-scraping-by life they were leading before, except Rodney would now become a father, and Albert's will saved the Trotters from getting evicted.

* The 1996 run of ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'' [[Christmas Episode]]s finishes with Del, Rodney and Uncle Albert having achieved their dreams of wealth and success and [[Riding Into the Sunset|walking into the sunset]]. Then, they made a ''later'' series, which takes this all away and reduces them to the same barely-scraping-by life they were leading before, except Rodney would now become a father, and Albert's will saved the Trotters from getting evicted.

* The movie ''[[Stargate (film)|Stargate]]'' ends with Daniel living happily on Abydos, O'Neil rediscovers his sense of purpose and retires, and the [[Big Bad]] is defeated. ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' begins with Daniel's [[Happily Ever After]] kicked over by the new [[Big Bad]], which introduces a slew of [[Big Bad~~|Big Bads~~]], which causes O'Neill (with two Ls) to come back from retirement, which in turn causes the Stargate Program to be reopened.

* The movie ''[[Stargate (film)|Stargate]]'' ends with Daniel living happily on Abydos, O'Neil rediscovers his sense of purpose and retires, and the [[Big Bad]] is defeated. ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' begins with Daniel's [[Happily Ever After]] kicked over by the new [[Big Bad]], which introduces a slew of [[Big Bad]]s, which causes O'Neill (with two Ls) to come back from retirement, which in turn causes the Stargate Program to be reopened.

== Video Games ==