Sometimes More Isn't Always Better

Sequels.

Oh my goodness! My favorite show, book, movie is continuing! How can I hold all of my excitement over this extension that is completely unnecessary? Even though what I originally loved should have been left alone, I’m happy all these characters are coming back and they are continuing the story! Yay!

But not yay.

When an author writes a book series with an intent to keep the story going until it is over. That is the goal of a series. For example, Harry Potter. JK Rowling knew she would write seven books in order to chronologically tell the story of her teen hero. This story would not have been possible if there had only been one single book (well, maybe, but a lot of stuff would have been left out or it would have been crammed into one novel). This goes the same for trilogies—a beginning, middle, and end (which is the simple process of a basic storyline).

However, when it comes to a singular story, you cannot have too much of a good thing.  Even though Inception was a beautiful film, I do not ever want to see a sequel. It is absolutely perfect left on its own. Write all the fan fiction you want, but I don’t have any desire for a part two canon. 

I could look at you all day, Mr. Depp. But that's probably all I'd care about. Plot? What plot?

Pirates of the Caribbean has been subject to this. The movies keep going on and on. It should have ended with just the three movies. Beginning. Middle. End. Done. Now, there is going to be this huge series of Pirates movies. Sure, I love Captain Jack. But I don’t wanna be around when Pirates 26 comes out. It’s a bit ridiculous. Leave it as it is, please! The same goes for TV series. Once multiple story arcs have been created, it may be a little difficult to make successful ones. You really do not want to run something into the ground. 

I watched a show on Nickelodeon called “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” It was absolutely beautiful, brilliant, and just an all around amazing story. It lasted for only three seasons because that was how long the story was. Because the fan base was so large, there was great demand for more episodes for years (the show ended in 2008). However, instead of deciding to continue the original series with the same 

characters, the creators of the show chose to make a separate show in the same world set seventy years later. It is generally a new story but with the same beauty and background of the original. We are getting what we want without having the story ruined for us. I think “Avatar: The Legend of Korra” will be extremely successful because of the same witty writing and gorgeous artwork while appeasing the fans of the original series!

Do you have a book/movie/tv show/etc that has been dragged out way too much? Or have they been successful?