Sequelitis: Difference between revisions

[[File:LBT_movies.jpg|link=The Land Before Time (Animation)|right]]

[[caption-width-right:280: [[It Got Worse|There've been two more since this image was made]].<ref>And a [[Recycled: The Series|TV Series]]. And a plentiful amount of [[Licensed Game|Licensed Games]]. All of which are ''painfully'' [[Lighter and Softer]].</ref>

{{quote|''"[[Creator Backlash|You can't top pigs with pigs]]."''|'''[[Walt Disney]]''''s [[Older Than Television|response to the failures]] of the three follow up shorts of the ''[[Three Little Pigs (Disney)|Three Little Pigs]]''}}

* TYPE I: The casual (and sometimes [[Dropped a Bridge On Him|callous]]) bumping off of beloved characters whose actors either refused to or couldn't return for the sequel.

** Another possibility filmmakers take when they can't get most/all of the original cast back is to center a story around the [[Remember the New Guy|previously unmentioned]] relative/friend of a beloved character, assuming that a connection to the original character will help make the new character just as good and beloved as the original. This can often lead to [[In Name Only]].

* TYPE V: A tendency for the property to [[Denser and Wackier|escalate into more science fiction, fantasy, or all around ''cartoonish'' elements]], when the original at least made some attempt at being [[Sliding Scale of Realistic Versus Fantastic|realistic]] (or at least [[Low Fantasy|low-key]] and [[Magic A Is Magic A|consistent]] in its unrealism).

* TYPE VI: Many sequels begin to suffer from [[Pandering to The Base]]. Although it may ''seem'' like a good idea at the time -- who better to try and get onside than the fans of the franchise? -- this rarely ends well; usually, trying to please the fans ends up both (a) [[Continuity Lock Out|isolating a potential new audience]] and (b) annoying the fans, who are often made to realize that what they ''think'' they want isn't necessarily what they ''actually'' want, and are [[Serious Business|very quick and loud to say so]]. Many filmmakers often have little actual understanding of what fans ''do'' want, having merely perused a handful of message boards and assuming they speak for all fandom, if they even do ''that'' much research; in essence they end up catering to a [[Straw Fan]]. This is particularly the case when bringing back a much beloved character who [[Ensemble Darkhorse|unexpectedly won the audience over]] in the first movie, only to do nothing interesting with them or, worse, [[Flanderization|Flanderize]] them so much that they end up being a one-dimensional caricature of the charming and multi-faceted character they fell in love with in the first place.

The inverse is a [[Surprisingly Improved Sequel]] or [[Even Better Sequel]] (depending on the quality of the original). [[Contested Sequel]] is when there is considerable division about the sequel's quality. Distantly related to [[Adaptation Decay]]. For a strangely divergent sequel, see [[In Name Only]]. For a sequel that retains the monster or villain but features none of the original heroes, see [[Villain Based Franchise]]. Can be caused by a poor choice in [[Sequel Escalation]], and lead up to [[Franchise Zombie]]. Backlash against sequels has made many reviewers [[Sequelphobic]]. Some fans treat such sequels with [[Fanon Discontinuity]]. See also [[Sophomore Slump]], [[The Problem With Licensed Games]].

** This includes a sequel midquel to the classic 1942 film ''[[Bambi (Disney)|Bambi]]''. That's right, '''a direct-to-video sequel to Bambi''' that came out '''''more than six decades''''' after the original was released. The Bambi midquel is [[Your Mileage May Vary|arguably]] one of the better direct-to-video sequels in terms of both writing and animation (and even earned a theatrical release in some areas).

** ''[[Pocahontas (Disney)|Pocahontas]] 2: Journey to the New World'' brings the title character slightly closer to her historical, real-life counterpart (her romance with John Rolfe, visiting England), and also shows her making more mature decisions. However, the quality of the movie itself was met with more varied opinions.

** ''[[The Emperor's New Groove (Disney)|The Emperors New Groove]]'' managed to really break the mold in terms of Disney animated movies, but its sequel was rather generic, playing out more like three episodes of a TV show strung together than an actual movie. Fittingly enough, there actually was later a TV series called ''The Emperor's New School'', complete with a [[The Other Darrin|new voice actor for Kuzco]] and apparently having all of the soul of the first movie surgically removed and replaced with [[The Same but More|more slapstick]].

** Downplayed by the two DTV sequels to ''[[Aladdin (Disney)|Aladdin]]'', ''The Return of Jafar'' and ''The Prince of Thieves''. While clearly inferior to the original, they were nowwhere ''near'' horrible.

** ''[[Cinderella (Disney)|Cinderella]] III: A Twist in Time'' was considered one of the best direct-to-video sequels Disney had ever produced by several reviewers and even several of those who weren't usually pleased by the sequels, even being stated to be "when the sequels started getting good." However, it was the last of the direct-to-video sequels to be made, so it's unknown if further sequels would've improved in quality.

* ''[[The Land Before Time]]'' was a great movie. However, although the quality of the series is up and down from movie to movie (rather than a permanent nosedive, as some may have been led to believe) and may range from good to utter crap [[Your Mileage May Vary|depending on who you ask]], one constant is that none of the twelve(!!!) sequels (or [[Recycled: The Series|the TV show]], for that matter) can hold a candle to Bluth's original film. Not even close. Most people will be glad to hear that any word of a fourteenth movie is strictly a rumor thus far, and that it'll probably never happen. General consensus is that the series starts off weak with ''Great Valley Adventure'' being [[So Okay It's Average|not bad but not great]], gets a bit better with ''Time of Great Giving'', nosedives with ''Journey Through the Mists'' gets slowly better through ''Mysterious Island'', ''Secret of Saurus Rock'' and ''Stone of Cold Fire'', vastly improves with ''Big Freeze'', ''Journey to Big Water'', and ''Great Longneck Migration'', becomes even less serious with ''Invasion of the Tinysauruses'', improves a bit with ''Great Day of the Fliers'', and completely loses any respect with the last sequel ''Wisdom of Friends''. The fans seemed to give backlash to the very last sequels more so then even the earlier ones due to it getting [[Lighter and Softer]] each sequel. In the end, you know sequelitis has set in when they [[Stopped Numbering Sequels|stop mentioning]] the number it is. They even went as far as to retroactively remove the numbering from the older movies, too.

* All of [[Don Bluth]]'s classic films got hit with Sequelitis: in addition to the above-mentioned ''Land Before Time'', there were also sequels for ''[[An American Tail]]'', ''[[All Dogs Go to Heaven]]'' (which also got a TV series), and ''[[The Secret of NIMH]]''. ''An American Tail 2: Fievel Goes West'' though [[Lighter and Softer]] than the original is actually considered a quality follow up due to a higher budget theatrical release, ''The Secret Of NIMH 2: Timmy To The Rescue'' however is considered terrible by the majority of fans of the original. In all of those cases, Bluth was not involved with any of the sequels; the only sequels he was ever actually involved with making were the video game ''[[Dragon's Lair (Video Game)|Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp]]'' and the ''[[Anastasia]]'' direct-to-DVD sequel ''[[Bartok the Magnificent]]'', which became a classic that we've all heard of. [[What Could Have Been|Incidentally Bluth was originally to have involvement in the other aforementioned sequels, but had to turn it down to due heavy development on his own projects at the time]].

* Like in [[Don Bluth]]'s franchises mentioned above, ''[[Balto (Animation)|Balto]]'' had a case of Sequelitis. The sequels caused so many plot holes that many fans asked for the release of one that fixes everything so that the franchise can rest in peace, but given [[Universal]] Pictures' irrational hatred of the movie, they opted for making more ''[[The Land Before Time]]'' sequels until their traditional animation studios were closed for good. And then they changed to computer-tradtional mix, resulting in a more vivid colour scheme, but considerably better quality animation.

* ''[[The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat (Animation)|The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat]]'' was not written or directed by [[Ralph Bakshi]], the maker of ''[[Fritz the Cat (Animation)|Fritz the Cat]]'', or Robert Crumb, who created [[Fritz the Cat (Comic Book)|the original comic]]. The only people involved with the first film who returned for the sequel are producer Steve Krantz and voice actor Skip Hinnant. Even Duke, one of the characters from the first film, is [[The Other Darrin|voiced by a different actor]].

* Averted with ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]''. There was plans for a sequel, but [[Tim Burton]] talked to Disney and convinced them to leave the film alone and not ruin the integrity of the movie for fans. Instead we get [[Nightmare Before Christmas Oogies Revenge|a video game]] which averts [[The Problem With Licensed Games]]. Especially relieving considering the plans for the sequel would have it [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|made in CGI instead of stop-motion]].

* Most [[Slasher Movie|Slasher Movies]] tend to suffer this fate. At the time of writing (2012) there are eight ''[[A Nightmare On Elm Street (Film)|A Nightmare On Elm Street]]'' movies and a remake, eight ''[[Halloween (Film)|Halloween]]'' movies and a remake and a sequel to that remake, and ten ''[[Friday the 13th (Film)|Friday the 13 th]]'' movies and a remake. And that's just the names most horror fans would be familiar with. One particularly painful example: The original ''[[Sleepaway Camp]]'' was surprisingly deep for its genre, and possessed a genuinely unexpected (yet not nonsensical) [[Twist Ending]] that ''hasn't'' succumbed to [[It Was His Sled]]. The sequels, by comparison, are almost parodies of their predecessor. According to writer/director Robert Hiltzik, only the most recent sequel, ''Return To Sleepaway Camp'', is canon (he had little to nothing to do with 2 and 3).

* ''[[Scream (Film)|Scream]]'' is considered a great movie. The second one is pretty awesome too. Then comes the third one... and it gives plenty of reasons to be treated as [[The Scrappy]] be the critics and the fans. The fourth one is, thankfully, pretty good again.

* ''[[S Darko|S. Darko]]''. Despite having one actress from ''[[Donnie Darko]]'', Daveigh Chase, returning for this sequel, most ''Donnie Darko'' fans [[Fanon Discontinuity|won't even acknowledge its existence]].

* Most [[Superhero]] film franchises follow the same formula: The first film introduces the characters and usually goes through the [[Super-Hero Origin|origin story]]. It meets with general approval. The second film, not being burdened by the need to rehash all that old stuff, is very good and is considered by many to be better than the original. The third film makes you wonder why they didn't stop at two. If a fourth film is even made, it makes the third film look like ''[[Citizen Kane (Film)|Citizen Kane]]''. Then the series is dead for several years until another sequel is made with massive [[Retcon]] (sometimes to the point of [[Re Boot]]).

** [[Batman]] and [[Superman]] have taken separate paths after their fifth installments, with ''[[Batman Begins]]'' a massive success and ''[[Superman Returns]]'' a [[Contested Sequel|contested sequel]]; while the Batman series later went on to produce the [[The Dark Knight|one of the most popular movies ever]], the Superman series is now enacting what is essentially ''[[Man of Steel (Film)|another]]'' reboot.

** ''[[X-Men (Film)|X-Men]]'' is a different case: two beloved movies, followed by a [[Contested Sequel]]. Since continuing after ''The Last Stand'' would be hard, they decided to make prequels instead. First was ''X-Men Origins: Wolverine'', which also divided everyone; then came ''X-Men: First Class'', but it completely [[Averted Trope|averted]] sequelitis and is now considered the best in the series since ''X2: X-Men United''; a sequel/stand-alone story to ''Wolverine'', simply titled ''The Wolverine'', is in the works, but it remains to be seen whether or not it will avert this trope.

** ''[[Iron Man (Film)|Iron Man]] 2'' is often considered good, but not as spectacular as its predecessor. Reasons for this consensus usually include feeling far too much like an advertisement for the upcoming ''[[The Avengers (Film)|Avengers]]'' movie than an Iron Man story capable of standing on its own, and loosely adapting Tony Stark's "Demon in a Bottle" arc and [[Played for Laughs|playing it for laughs]].

* ''[[Tremors]]'': An interesting case. The first movie was basically a semi-[[Black Comedy]] with [[Kevin Bacon]]. Not having to pay Bacon's salary meant the second could afford lots more [[Stuff Blowing Up]]. The third is notable for reassembling the entire (surviving) supporting cast of the first, with no characters [[Put On a Bus]].

** The second movie, ''City of Angels'', in particular, suffered - tortuously - from the writers attempting to take the "framework" of the original story and try to swap out the plot details, replacing the original compelling story with a particularly unsubtle morass of "IKEA Pathos." That, and apparently no one on the film team even ''noticed'' the visual aesthetic of the original, since not even the barest effort was made to retain it. Add to this wooden acting, a notable dearth of memorable lines or dialogue, an obvious, over-the-top [[Ass Pull|ass-pull]] ending, the utter absence of verisimilitude between the visual (and linguistic) environment depicted in the film and the real-life Los Angeles it was allegedly based on, and a particularly blatant [[Dropped a Bridge On Him|bridge drop]] at the end, and you have a shameful attempt at remaking - even cloning - The Crow, with essentially ''none'' of the things that made the original great. You might say the series [[Came Back Wrong|came back wrong]].

** So much that it was mocked in ''[[Back to The Future (Film)|Back to The Future]] 2'': a ''Jaws 19'' poster can be seen during the 2015 sequence.

* With a title like ''[[The Neverending Story (Film)|The Neverending Story]]'', one would expect the movie to have at least a few sequels or follow-ups. The first movie is a very nice fantasy film; the second movie is not ''as'' good as the first one (with a dramatic drop in production values), but still watchable, at least compared to the third movie, which [[Overtook the Series|had to invent a plot out of whole cloth]] and ended up with a lot of cringe-worthy sitcom-style humor.

* The first ''[[Weekend At Bernies (Film)|Weekend At Bernies]]'' is a amusing little comedy, with Terry Kiser [[Ensemble Darkhorse|stealing the show]] as the titular dead guy. Then they went and made a sequel. The female character one of the heroes spent the entire first movie obsessing over/wooing vanishes without even the most cursory attempt at [[Hand Wave|Handwaving]], and it was all downhill from there.

* The ''[[Rocky (Film)|Rocky]]'' series had one of the longest cases of Sequelitis ever. The series started out gritty and realistic, but gradually became more over-the-top to the point where the first movie won an Oscar for best picture and the fifth, after a drawn-out decline, is generally regarded as terrible. After a 16-year [[Sequel Gap]], a sixth entry was made, and successfully took the series back to its roots, as well as providing closure to Rocky's career.

* ''[[Friday (Film)|Friday]]'' was a great comedy with good performances from Ice Cube as Craig and Chris Tucker as Smokey, the latter of whom is widely thought to be the funniest part of the film. A sequel, ''Next Friday'', was released in 2000 and is generally considered inferior - mainly due to the lack of Smokey (Tucker had chosen to do ''[[Rush Hour]]'' instead and had become a born-again Christian after making ''Money Talks''), who was replaced by Mike Epps as Day-Day - but the movie still has its defenders. 2002's ''Friday After Next'', however, has been almost universally panned.

** Jim Carrey so thoroughly detested working on ''When Nature Calls'' that he declared that he would never do a sequel ever again. (As for ''[[Batman Forever (Film)|Batman Forever]]'', that predated the ''Ace Ventura'' sequel and didn't follow on from one of his films.)

* Just ask ''[[Highlander (Franchise)|Highlander]]'' fans about the sequels, and you'll be told, "There '''should have been''' only one!"

* ''[[Robo Cop]]'' (and its sequel, ''Robocop 2'') were violent, edgy and full of satire on mid-[[The Eighties|80's]] corporate culture. While the second film was derided for focusing too much on shock value and having less of the satirical humor, the franchise was still doing pretty well for itself (an animated series was created during this time, and the films performed very well at the box office). Unfortunately, studio executives (likely smelling [[Merchandise-Driven|several marketing opportunities]]) toned down the violence in the third film, ''Robocop 3'', to appeal to younger viewers. While there were some elements that remained from the previous films (Basil Poledouris' score, a return to the silver armor from the first film, most of the [[Anyone Can Die|surviving cast members]] returning and some of the satire), the end result was too juvenile for most audiences, and the film bombed both financially and critically. Although there were attempts to resurrect the franchise over the years (a mid-90's Canadian-made TV series bombed after one season, a late-90's [[Animated Adaptation|cartoon]] was...critically panned and a miniseries ([[California Doubling|also filmed in Canada]]) was made-for-TV), it never really flew with audiences. Various attempts to get a franchise reboot have been unsuccessful - part of this stems from the fact that the main character is indelibly linked with 80's culture.

* ''[[Interview With the Vampire]]'' vs. ''[[Queen of the Damned]]''. Case closed.

* The ''[[Ju On]]''/''[[The Grudge]]'' film series, which began life as a Takashi Shimizu's V-Cinema TV special but is now up to a second special (which recycled most of the first,) two theatrical Japanese films, two Japanese shorts, an American remake, and two American sequels. Special honors to the first American film because it reenacted, almost scene-for-scene in some cases, the exact same plot as the first Japanese theatrical movie, though somehow keeps the main star/character ([[Sarah Michelle Geller]]) alive through the end.

* A few [[James Bond (Film)|James Bond]] films suffered from this, specially ''[[You Only Live Twice (Film)|You Only Live Twice]]'' (the [[Strictly Formula|formula]] is starting to age), ''[[Diamonds Are Forever (Film)|Diamonds Are Forever]]'', ''[[The Man With the Golden Gun (Film)|The Man With the Golden Gun]]'', ''[[Moonraker (Film)|Moonraker]]'' (all three for being overtly stupid), ''[[A View to A Kill (Film)|A View to A Kill]]'' (Bond is too old, girl is annoying, plot is a rehash), and ''[[Die Another Day (Film)|Die Another Day]]'' (silliness, dodgy special effects).

* ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' has the "odd-number curse" - [[Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Film)|the first]] (which can be considered a sequel to [[Star Trek the Original Series (TV)|the series]]), [[Star Trek III the Search For Spock (Film)|third]] (This one in actually alright, but still not as good as 2), [[Star Trek V the Final Frontier (Film)|fifth]], [[Star Trek Generations (Film)|seventh]] and [[Star Trek Insurrection (Film)|ninth]] films are considered letdowns. It was broken when the [[Star Trek Nemesis (Film)|tenth]] was a disappointment, leading to a [[Star Trek (Film)|wildly successful reboot]] (though [http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/mwop/moviefile/2009/05/galaxy-quest-best-star-trek-mo.php some try] to make the curse still work by considering the [[Affectionate Parody]] ''[[Galaxy Quest (Film)|Galaxy Quest]]'' the tenth movie)

* ''[[Carrie]]'' is considered one of the landmark horror films of [[The Seventies]], and its success helped to establish [[Stephen King]], the writer of the book it was based on, as one of the biggest names in horror literature. Twenty-three years later comes ''[[The Rage Carrie 2|The Rage: Carrie 2]]'', a film that, while most definitely enjoyable in a certain way, fails to hold a candle to the original, and was a box office disappointment. Part of this may stem from the fact that ''The Rage'' was [[Dolled-Up Installment|originally written as a separate film]] called ''The Curse'', and was turned into a ''Carrie'' sequel presumably after somebody saw [[Follow the Leader|the obvious similarities]] between the two films.

* The first two ''[[Hellraiser (Film)|Hellraiser]]'' films are usually seen as pretty good, while the third is often looked down upon for being more "[[It's Popular, Now It Sucks|mainstream]]" and [[Slasher Movie|slashery]]. The fourth tried returning to the series roots, but suffered severely from [[Executive Meddling]], resulting in an extreme case of [[What Could Have Been]]. [[Your Mileage May Vary|Mileage tends to vary]] on the direct-to-video films (which often seem to suffer from [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch]]) though ''Hellworld'' seems to be the only near-universally disliked one (consensus saying it could've been a decent standalone film, but as a ''Hellraiser'' film, it falls flat).

* The first ''[[Lethal Weapon (Film)|Lethal Weapon]]'' is generally considered the best, despite making far less at the box office than its sequels. ''[[Lethal Weapon 2]]'' lacked some of the tension, but traded it in for a lot of gags making it funnier. The [[Lethal Weapon 3|third one]] seemed to get a little more tired and the [[Lethal Weapon 4|fourth one]] gives us fake-looking sharks, [[Anvilicious]] (and hypocritical) political sentiments and a sympathy-pouch-wearing Renne Russo who's supposed to be 9-months pregnant yet able to fight martial-arts trained mooks.

* ''[[Oh God]]'' is generally remembered as a quirky little Carl Reiner comedy, while the next two movies are ignored almost to the point of being [[Fanon Discontinuity]]. The changes in creators definitely didn't help.

* The first ''[[Speed (Film)|Speed]]'' movie was a huge commercial and critical success. The sequel was almost universally panned while barely avoided being a box-office flop.

* First played straight, then turned on its head, by the ''[[Transformers (Film)|Transformers]]'' movies. Critical consensus has the first being nothing special and the [[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Film)|second downright bad]], while the [[Transformers Dark of the Moon (Film)|third]] [[Contested Sequel|has no]] [[Broken Base|real consensus]].

** Let me explain, the first movie was a solid sci-fi action-thriller that gave a semi-realistic tone to the franchise along with recognizing that most fans are in their teens/college years leading to some well sprinkled moments of humor (such as the famous [[A Date With Rosie Palms|"Sam's happy fun time"]] scene). But the second movie lost that touch and became an over the top action movie with tons of [[Refuge in Audacity|unneeded adult humor]] (Such as the pot smoking mom, the [[Unfortunate Implications|racist robots]] and mechanical testicles) not to mention the generic plot. Finally the third movie tried to please everyone and lowered the screen time for the robots (even though they are the title characters), made the first half almost a sort of parody (which led to the return of Sam's parent's who by now are nothing more than [[The Artifact]]) and the second half a sci-fi war movie that dropped Bridges on many characters.

* Both the ''[[Dirty Harry (Film)|Dirty Harry]]'' series and the ''[[Death Wish (Film)|Death Wish]]'' series suffer heavily from this, getting sillier and sillier with each installment.

* The second ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Film)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'' movie is often said to have inverted this trope in spite of being released as a [[Sy Fy]] Channel Original, which is normally a step worse than [[Direct to Video]].

* [[Piers Anthony]]'s series of ''[[Xanth (Literature)|Xanth]]'' novels has reached over 30 novels. It [[Jumped the Shark]] a long time ago, and currently consists [[Running the Asylum|almost entirely of puns and plot developments suggested by readers]].

* The sequel novels to [[The Bourne Series]], which contain, in the first addition, {{spoiler|[[Dropped a Bridge On Him|Dropped A Bridge On]] two of the most important characters in the first twenty pages, a character who is canonically supposed to be dead suffering from [[Parental Abandonment]], [[Comic Book Time]], and much, much, much, much [[Canon Defilement]]}}. The second addition is no less [[Egregious]], including {{spoiler|[[Dropped a Bridge On Him|Dropping A Bridge On Marie In Between Books]], having Bourne abandon all common sense, ridiculously atrocious pseudoscience, almost downright offensive portrayals of Washington, DC, and Bourne suddenly becoming an expert on everything, including knowing every language from Arabic to an obscure Ethiopian dialect, when in canon he's just supposed to be a professor of Oriental Studies. Seriously. Also, he carries around a Playstation 3 for no other reason than [[Rule of Cool|it looks cool]].}}

* [[Ursula K Le Guin|Ursula K. Le Guin]] completed the original [[Earthsea Trilogy]] in 1974. Sixteen years later, she wrote a fourth book ''Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea'', which suffers from [[Mood Whiplash]], [[Writer On Board]] and a lack of plot. And it wasn't even the last book.

* 55 years after publication of ''[[Gone With the Wind]]'', ''Scarlett'', an "authorized" sequel appeared. Critics were not impressed.

* The sequels to [[Arthur C. Clarke (Creator)]]'s ''[[Rendezvous With Rama]]'' (which are actually written primarily by Gentry Lee) suffer from this.

* [[Gregory Benford]] once wrote a sequel to [[Arthur C. Clarke (Creator)]]'s amazing ''Against the Fall of Night'', called ''Beyond the Fall of Night''. It's awful, primarily because ''Against'' {{spoiler|sets up a massive battle between good and evil with a disembodied intelligence called Vanamonde battling the evil Mad Mind}}. ''Benford'' completely ignores that and makes Beyond be about a very strange track of evolution and {{spoiler|Vanamonde barely appears right at the end, and is almost completely superfluous, having the Mad Mind being defeated by a specific branch of humanity}}. ''Against the Fall of Night'' is loved by science fiction fans, but ''Beyond the Fall of Night'' tends to be hated.

* [[Robert E Howard|Robert E. Howard's]] most famous creation [[Conan the Barbarian|Conan The Cimmerian]] suffers horribly from this. Not only are there endless continuations, prequels and other adventurers of vastly varying quality by many different authors but the original stories were rewritten in places to make them sync up with the sequels. However even the original stories occasionally suffer from sequelitis. Because of the characters popularity Howard knew he could sell just about any Conan story to [[Weird Tales]] and wrote some very cliched tales (such as ''The Devil in Iron'') which were effectively knock-offs of his own earlier efforts when he needed quick cash.

* A subversion comes with [[JRR Tolkien (Creator)|JRR Tolkien]]'s abandoned sequel to the ''[[Lord of the Rings]]''. Called ''The New Shadow'' he got as far as coming up with some characters and setting it in the fourth age of Middle-earth where a dark cult rose up in the lands of Gondor. However he abandoned it after only a few pages as he felt it would not be as epic or up to the standards of his other work, then suffered [[Author Existence Failure]]. Meaning it's highly unlikely this will be finished, however there is a fan made mod known as [[Fourth Age Total War]] which makes this concept and [[Shown Their Work|expands on it]].

* Even more than the film examples, ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' suffered this in its series. ''[[Star Trek the Original Series (TV)|The Original Series]]'' was considered an uneven novelty, a series that was either teeth grating crap, or, the very pinnacle of science-fiction, depending on the given episode. ''[[The Next Generation]]'' has been formally recognized as being among the top 100 shows ever made and a crowning achievement of television. Paramount came down with Sequelitis, commissioning '''three''' follow-up series (one of them was a ''pre''quelitis). The critical reception deteriorated with each successive series, along with the ratings (though a few preferred ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' in later years). The last one only made it to four seasons, the fourth season was only made so that the series could be syndicated, and not end up a total failure.

* ''[[Dead Ringers (TV)|Dead Ringers]]'' had a sketch in which different versions of Arnold Schwarzenegger came back from the future to warn him not to sign up for any more lousy ''Terminator'' sequels, {{spoiler|eventually reaching [[Overly Long Gag|Terminator 23]] before Sarah Connor shot the present Arnie to save the future. To her dismay, another Arnie came back and revealed she is now his co-star in ''Kindergarten Cop 14''!}} [[Big No|Nnnnnoooooooo!]]

* Critics wanted [[ES Posthumus]]'s work in ''Makara'' to be [[Sequel Escalation|more powerful and action-filled]] songs; this causes the songs to have [[Its the Same So It Sucks|less variation]] as well as losing the flow and developed tunes in ''Unearthed'' and ''Cartographer''.

* The musical ''[[Annie (Theatre)|Annie]]'' similarly had a sequel written by the same authors (including composer Charles Strouse, who had also done ''Bye Bye Birdie'' and ''Bring Back Birdie'', though lyricist Martin Charnin seems to have been the ringleader in this scheme), with several of the older members of the original cast reprising their roles. In the implausible plot of ''Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge'', Daddy Warbucks was ordered to find a mother for Annie, which provided the opportunity for Miss Hannigan's scheme (conceived with a good deal of [[Motive Decay]]) to first become Warbucks's wife and then a widow without any dependents. When the eagerly awaited show had its pre-Broadway opening in Washington, D.C. in January 1990, audiences were stunned at how unfunny the show was. Massive rewrites ensued, and continued in earnest even after the show's Broadway booking was canceled and several star actors dropped out, including Dorothy Loudon as Miss Hannigan. Miss Hannigan was ultimately written out in favor of a [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]] (though the plot remained mostly the same), and the authors' desperate efforts to get their show into New York finally resulted in its opening off-Broadway in 1993, as ''Annie Warbucks''. Critics recognized the show as an unnecessary sequel, and it failed to catch on with audiences.

* ''[[X-COM]]: UFO Defense'' (or ''UFO: Enemy Unknown'', depending on where you live) was a surprise hit, with its great atmosphere, fine management section, and superb tactical section. Microprose decided to ride the wave and, after less than a year, released ''X-COM: Terror From The Deep'': under a shiny package of new graphics and sound, the game was exactly the same, only taking place underwater, with difficulty re-balanced for the worse, and bugs that could block the tech tree, making the game unwinnable. ''X-COM: Apocalypse'' was from the original developers but, sadly, it completely lacked atmosphere and, while trying to be more complex, it became cumbersome. ''X-COM: Interceptor'' (a mediocre [[Wing Commander (Video Game)|Wing Commander]] clone) and ''X-COM: Enforcer'' (a shallow [[Third-Person Shooter]]) followed and were quickly and deservedly forgotten, while more interesting projects were cancelled thanks to [[Executive Meddling|the mismanagements of Microprose and Hasbro Interactive]].

* ''[[Earthworm Jim (Video Game)|Earthworm Jim]]'' was a weird and well-received game. The second game was even better in nearly every aspect. Then the series met the [[Polygon Ceiling]] courtesy of a different developer, and anything resembling quality went out the window. Then Shiny Entertainment themselves [[Creator Killer|threw their own quality off their windows]] some time after dumping Jim.

* ''[[Mega Man (Video Game)|Mega Man]]'' has been all over the place with this. At some point a given series starts sucking hard and a spinoff is made. It starts off great, then slowly slides into crap until a spinoff is made and the [[Capcom Sequel Stagnation|cycle begins anew]]. From the sound of it, this could be blamed on [[Executive Meddling]]; Kenji Inafune, the creator of Mega Man, wanted to end the classic series at 6 and the X series on 5, but Capcom wanted to make more money.

** ''7'' was released after the series' [[Mega Man X (Video Game)|first]] [[Sequel Series]], and it and its following installments are considered massive improvements. [[Broken Base|Some]] fans still consider ''2'' and ''3'' to be the pinnacle of the series, however. Also, [[Your Mileage May Vary]] when it comes to ''Mega Man & Bass''.

** ''[[Mega Man X (Video Game)|Mega Man X]] 8'' was also surprisingly good despite the enormous amounts of [[Fake Difficulty]]. Apparently Capcom sequels go in cycles. ''9'' supports this theory.

** ''[[Mega Man Battle Network (Video Game)|Mega Man Battle Network]]'' actually really improved for the last installment, although the two proceeding ones were pretty mediocre.

** The few direct sequels / prequels have had mixed results. Some of them, like ''[[Crisis Core]]'', have been considered worthy follow-ups. Some of them, like ''[[Advent Children]]'', ''Dirge of Cerberus'', and ''[[Final Fantasy X 2 (Video Game)|Final Fantasy X 2]]'', start flame wars.

* The ''[[Army Men (Video Game)|Army Men]]'' franchise was initially insanely popular. Then somewhere the lack-luster spin-offs and [[In Name Only]] sequels slowly choked off sales until the company finally went bankrupt in 2003. Even with the parent company dead, other companies are ''still'' trying to make cash off of the brand, the latest entries getting some of the worst reviews in shooting games.

* [[Homeworld (Video Game)|Homeworld]] averted this, barely, with 'standalone expansion' ''Cataclysm'', despite it being a literal [[Mission Pack Sequel]]. It caught some flak for the dramatic shift in narrative tone and the new tech and ship designs were a bit hit-or-miss, but it did some pretty cool stuff with the existing graphics engine and generally came across like the development team at sub-contractee Barking Dog had at least ''played'' the original. ''Homeworld 2'' was a bit less fortunate, however; a lot of the original creative team had moved on in the interim, and Relic massively over-extended themselves trying to create game environments with 'megastructures' straight out of the best kind of [[Space Opera]] and generally go [[Serial Escalation]], and much of the more [[Crazy Awesome]] stuff failed to make the final cut. The end result was by no means ''bad'' -the graphics stand up quite well six years later and it's a ''lot'' more [[Game Mod|mod-friendly]] than the previous two- but the finished product had several minor but annoying bugs and balance issues and generally felt rushed. The gulf between Relic's original vision and what we actually got didn't help.

* Many famous pre-''[[Halo (Video Game)|Halo]]'' shooters did NOT age well with time. The reboots of ''[[Turok (Video Game)|Turok]]'' and ''[[Wolfenstein (Video Game)|Wolfenstein]]'' were pretty much run-off-the-mill regenerating health shooters (to speak nothing of Oblivion), ''[[Deus Ex Invisible War (Video Game)|Deus Ex Invisible War]]'' was panned by fans who hated how the game was simplified. Only ''[[Marathon (Video Game)|Marathon]]'' and ''[[Doom (Video Game)|Doom]]'' made it out unscathed.

** On the other hand, all of ''[[Wolfenstein 3D (Video Game)|Wolfenstein 3D]]'s'' ''sequels'' were critical and commercial successes, while ''Doom 3'' now seems to be experiencing a spot of retroactive [[Hype Backlash]].

* [[Madden NFL (Video Game)|Madden NFL]] and similiar sport game series are notorious for being continued every year, usually with next to no changes in gameplay or even graphics. The main difference is updated statistics and players.

* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic]]'' fell into this once the series [[Polygon Ceiling|went 3D]]. The ''[[Sonic Adventure (Video Game)|Sonic Adventure]]'' series was considered excellent despite minor flaws. ''[[Sonic Heroes (Video Game)|Sonic Heroes]]'' was considered good, but not as good as ''Sonic Adventure'' and made some of the problems worse. It reached a low point in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (Video Game)|Sonic 2006]]'', a rushed, glitch-ridden mess that is near-universally despised by gamers and critics alike. The trend finally began reversing with ''[[Sonic Unleashed (Video Game)|Sonic Unleashed]]'', with the subsequent [[Wii]] version of ''[[Sonic Colors (Video Game)|Sonic Colors]]'' being lauded by fans as the best 3D title in the franchise.

* ''[[LEGO Island]] 2: The Brickster's Revenge'' is somewhere between this and [[Contested Sequel]]. It was beyond rushed to the shelves, and the final product a very extreme case of [[Loads and Loads of Loading]], dull and lifeless voice acting, painfully linear gameplay, no replay factor, [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|a removal of a lot of characters]], [[Guide Dang It|little explanation to anything]], and mediocre animation.

* The first two episodes of ''[[Eye of the Beholder (Video Game)|Eye of the Beholder]]'', while not revolutionary, were excellent dungeon crawlers and the second is recognized as an [[Even Better Sequel]]. Then Westwood went on to work on [[Lands of Lore]] but SSI decided to make another sequel anyway. The result was a game that brought back many of the flaws of the original and even amplified them, with absurd mazes and frustrating difficulty, and suffered from a mediocrely programmed engine too.

* The first two ''[[Flat Out (Video Game)|Flat Out]]'' games were well-known for their destructible environments and ragdoll driver physics - the most amusing parts being the mini-games that involved the player launching their driver out of his car into various targets and watching him flop around in pain. Five years separated the second and third games, and development was taken up by Team 6 Games (of ''European Street Racer'' infamy) while Bugbear Interactive worked on ''[[Ridge Racer]]: Unbounded''. Unfortunately, Team 6's ''FlatOut'' game looks ugly, is riddled with bugs, and none of the tracks are fun to navigate.

* ''[[Earnest Evans (Video Game)|Earnest Evans]]'' isn't so well regarded as ''[[El Viento (Video Game)|El Viento]]'', in part due to poor gameplay and design and most infamously, poorly done graphics, especially on the titular hero, who is made up of multiple sprites put together to create the illusion of more fluid movement, but only succeeded in making Earnest look like a deranged marionette. The cutscenes in ''Earnest Evans'' are commonly poorly done, though they were removed completely from the American version, which tried to make it a sequel rather than a prequel to ''El Viento''. The Earnest Evans trilogy ended with the Japan-only title ''Annet Futatabi'', a ''[[Golden Axe]]'' ripoff whose most outstanding points were cutscenes and copious [[Fake Difficulty]].

* A ''[[Super Mario World (Video Game)|Super Mario World]]'' hack series, [http://u9.getuploader.com/SIG Super Sig World] is arguably the ultimate example of poorly done sequels in large numbers, with TWENTY FIVE installments in about two or three years. It's debatable how terrible each individual game is (although the best ones are merely average, and the amount of reused content is kind of staggering), but still making a 70 level game every three months seems like overkill.

* ''[[Static Shock]]'' and ''[[The Zeta Project]]'' are part of the DCAU, which also contains such well loved classics as ''[[Batman the Animated Series]]'', ''[[Superman the Animated Series]]'', ''[[Justice League]]'', and ''[[Batman Beyond]]'', all acclaimed for their mature story lines, great characters and voice actors, and excellent animation. However, those two are considered far less intruging, as they are taken to much lighter tone, as they lack many aspects that made the DCAU so memorable. While the two were far from terrible, and they still had their fair share of likeable characters, and a few good episodes, they are far below the other series. Part of this reason is because of the lack of [[Bruce Timm]] and [[Paul Dini]]. (Though Dini wrote a few ''Static Shock episodes.)