JCC Legacy sequels/television series that worked for you

There's no end in sight to the spate of legacy sequels (The Dial of Destiny and the Ellen Burstyn-featured Exorcist: Believer being the most recent), so why not list the success stories?

Twin Peaks: The Return -- No explanation, needed. This didn't merely equal the first two seasons; it exceeded them, wherein the Tragedy of Laura Palmer evolves into the Tragedy of Dale Cooper.

Blade Runner: 2049 -- My hot take: Villeneuve's sequel is superior to Scott's. This unsung masterpiece exudes all the transporting beauty of the original, only with a stronger narrative and fleshed-out characters.

Doctor Sleep (Director's Cut) -- Flanagan achieved the impossible: tethering Kubrick to King. The stuff with the True Knot is serviceable, but everything involving Danny is as haunting, resonant and true as anything I've seen in horror.

 

Psycho II worked for me in the same vein as Doctor Sleep. They both followed legendary films and I don't think anyone thought of them as good ideas when they first heard about it. They turned out better than they had any right to be. In Psycho II the film actually gets us on Norman's side. You don't think you will be siding for Norman yet Perkins gives a great performance and you end up on his almost immediately. You want desperately for Norman to keep it together and keep his sanity. However the film lives up to its name and sets the stage for further sequels.

 

Psycho II is definitely underrated.

 

Has anybody watched the new Frasier? I haven't tried it yet, wondering if it can be as well-written as the original.

 

Does Return to Oz count? It is, and it isn't, a sequel to the original Wizard of Oz. A "semi-sequel," perhaps? It's based on Baum's sequel novels, and it does take place after the events of the first movie an assumes you remember them, but the approach to the film is very different than the original movie (completely different designs, no songs, an actual child actress playing Dorothy, etc.). Anyway I thought it was good. Recommended if you like '80s fantasy movies.

I also quite enjoyed 2010: The Year we Made Contact. Granted, that one doesn't hold a candle next to 2001, but what does. It's still a pretty good movie.

I haven't seen Psycho II, but I agree that Twin Peaks: The Return, Blade Runner 2049, and Doctor Sleep are really great.

 

Blade Runner, Return to Oz as mentioned.

I’d also say the Netflix prequel to Dark Crystal was even better than the original.

Does Spider-Man No Way Home count?

 

Return to Oz is a good one that gets unfairly maligned. It's based on the books which are fairly disturbing and unfortunately the Judy Garland film is one of the most famous films ever. It also derailed Walter Murch's directing career as well as Gary Kurtz's producing career. I just don't think 80s audiences were ready for that kind of film and it's a shame.

I think Cobra Kai is also way better than it should be. The original Karate Kid was a Rocky for teenagers. The way they flipped it and made Johnny the main character and forever stuck in the 80s has gotten way more mileage & laughs than if they would have followed up on Daniel. I think it does a great job at poking fun of the nostalgia older viewers have while watching.

 

I remember seeing Return to Oz in theaters. It was creepy and the Wheelers haunted me. I remember my mom and aunt (who took us kids) being really disappointed. But that was I imagine because they thought they were getting another 1936 movie and not some 80s kid fantasy.

They also had McDonalds tie0-ins that I collected.

 

The first Creed movie was a genuinely fantastic rebirth for the Rocky franchise. I know it's also kind of its own thing, but I still consider it a sequel to the Rocky movies.

 

I know people hate on it a lot, but I like Escape From L.A.

 

I liked Halloween (2018) as well. In part, because it seems to support an old franchise theory, that Michael Myers was innocent/framed of murder of his sister, but was turned into a killer by the psychiatrists.

 

Great call! A superb sequel that shouldn't have worked, but worked like gangbusters. I actually consider Franklin's film to be the second half of the story (much like Godfather: Part II).

Plus, Jerry Goldsmith's main theme is heartbreaking.

 

Looks like the scientology contingency has spoken

 

Yeah, I enjoy 2018, and consider Ends the best sequel in the franchise.

Whatever the case, David Gordon Green and Danny McBride deserve accolades for finally ridding the series of its albatross: the familial-connection nonsense. There will be more iterations and remakes, but at least Myers will be The Boogeyman, and not some obsessed brother/uncle/druid(!) in a bad mask.

 

my favorite halloween sequel was part 3, but that's also where i stopped watching. wish they would have continued with the anthology concept like carpenter wanted.

 

You really should try Halloween Ends. It's the sequel I always wanted: one that revolves around the legacy left by Myers, rather than Myers himself. He's like a vampire that drained Haddonfield of its vitality.

 

It doesn't disgrace its legacy, but it's very gentle. Feels a bit nervous at times, like it doesn't wanna rock the boat, even when it would benefit from doing so. There have been a handful of solid gags, nods and clever exchanges; obviously nowhere near as many as the show's heyday, but enough to keep my interest. The cast seems pretty reliable across the board, too. Considering how badly it could've gone, I've been pleasantly surprised thusfar. It's just... nice.

 

With the Frasier return, the US is finding out how good an actor Rodders (Nicholas Lyndhurst) is.

 

Dial of Destiny was possibly the worst legacy sequel and most miserable movie theater experience of my life, or so I thought. Because then Exorcist: Believer happened a few months later, and I don't ever learn from my mistakes...

Anyway, Blade Runner: 2049 is probably the best legacy sequel and one of the best movie theater experiences of my life.

 

I did really like the Dark Crystal prequel series. It’s eternally shameful they didn’t make second season to finish the story.

 

I’m a big fan of Dr Sleep.

 

Maybe it will get better; a lot of comedies do, as they figure out what works. Do you know if any of the writers from OG Frasier, or Cheers, have come back for this one?

 

That's one way to say you never saw Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in theaters