Seeing It Through

It's not a great time to be a geek. We lost a Catwoman this week. The Star Wars® saga is about to become a musical. The Spirit fails to pull in impressive box office numbers(although HELLO, Christmas? People have family obligations for that and other holidays right now, more important than going to the movies). And perhaps most distressing of all, Disney breaks ties to the Narnia films.

I've always admired series like the original Star Wars® trilogy. It's very rare for sequels to live up to and support the original motion picture they spun off from. Most agree that the trilogy is the best format, a solid beginning, middle, and end to a story. The Lord of the Rings is probably the most epic of these, staying faithful to source material that was already in a convenient trilogy format, with extended DVD versions that include even more from the books. Sometimes, a series gets things very, very right. Other times, a change in cast or director or studio can lead to crushed expectations and hopes. The Chronicles of Narnia was one of my favorite series of books growing up, and I might have been skeptical about the feasibility of adapting all seven and holding the public's interest. But Harry Potter has set a precedent, managing to turn into an annual phenomenon, and if all goes according to plan, those seven books will result in eight feature films with the same cast, save for the sad exception of the late Richard Harris.

Trivial to some, it's very important to me that every saga has a definitive and proper conclusion. I hope the Narnia series can find new financial backing. I'm sad that authors like Robert Jordan and Frank Herbert didn't live to write conclusions to their respective series. I'm concerned about any new trilogy or series that might begin just before the end of my life. I want to see how it all ends.

Sometimes, we regret the endings we get. Joel Schumacher destroyed the Batman franchise started by Tim Burton. Batman Forever, with Val Kilmer donning the cowl and adopting a 30-year-old sidekick to battle a garishly garbed Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey wasn't great. Batman & Robin may be the worst comic book film that anyone has done ever, bearing in mind that I've yet to see Catwoman or Steel. Superman IV was about 1.5 sequels too many, with all due respect to the late Christopher Reeve, whose heart was probably in the right place when he wrote the story. Bryan Singer's Superman Returns wasn't much better, and I wish he and James Marsden stuck around for X-Men: The Last Stand instead. Marsden was there for like two scenes, barely giving a major character like Cyclops the attention he deserved, while Singer's directorial responsibilities were given to Brett Ratner. I think Ratner has gotten some things right in his career, like Prison Break and Rush Hour, but X3 is definitely a miss. It was also a case of increased expectations, as with Spider-Man 3, which retained the same cast and crew and started off strong, only to fall apart at the end by trying to cram in too many characters and subplots.

I always think about George Costanza learning to leave on a high note. It's ironic since Seinfeld itself may have run one or two seasons too long. Maybe it's not terrible that Angel was canceled after five seasons, as well as the soon-to-be over Stargate: Atlantis. Would Firefly have been as dear to its fans if it got more than one season? Should Family Guy have been resurrected? Most series are milked and diluted to the point that they're unrecognizable. The Star Wars® prequels weren't terrible, but the original trilogy was definitely better. I personally liked the Matrix trilogy, though most think they should have stopped after their first and strongest feature. In the end, I guess the sagas that aren't seen through properly or at all make us appreciate the Star Wars®, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Back to the Future series even more.