TWENTY FILM SEQUELS THAT CAN BE EDITED DOWN TO TELL ONE SOLID STORY JUST BY REMOVING A FILM OR TWO

A show of hands, who likes tons of sequels? Anyone? No one? Okay anyway. Some franchises go waaaaay to long losing the story that began the franchise. More like a serial so to speak. Day in the life with merely the title connecting the other movies. In fact, many on this list have separate titles. even the one numbered, could easily have the numbers removed or replaced with new titles. New characters; new direction and confusion. I have taken ten well known franchises and chopped out the side quests to stay focused in one direction. You are welcome. 1) STAR TREK 'Star Trek II': 'The Wrath Of Khan' (1982); 'Star Trek III: Search For Spock' (1984); 'Star Trek IV: Voyage Home' (1986) and 'Star Trek VI: Undiscovered Country' (1991)

Omitted Sequels: 'Star Trek' (1979); 'Star Trek V: Final Frontier' (1989). First one was slow but good. Stand alone pretty. The fifth one was silly and lacked production value. Story: An aging Captain and his crew facing an ever changing Universe that forces them to push back with ever ending obstacles of life; death and acceptance.

2) STAR WARS 'Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith' (2005); 'Star Wars: A New Hope' (1977); 'Star Wars: Empire Strike Back' (1980); 'Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi' (1983)

Omitted Sequels: 'Star Wars Episode 1: Phantom Menace' (1999); 'Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones' (2002). Tedious storytelling with a lot of padding. Episode filled everything the audience needed to know to go forward without the other two. Story: Decent and redemption of Anakin Skywalker as the Galaxy burns and rebuilds as his children rise.

3) BATMAN 'Batman' (1989): 'Batman Returns' (1992): 'Batman Forever' (1995)

Omitted Sequels: 'Batman and Robin'. It was too silly and did not connect to the three previous films. Story: The burden of Bruce Wayne as he embraces the tragedy and triumph of Batman.

4) SUPERMAN 'Superman' (1978); 'Superman 2' (1980) and 'Superman Returns' (2006)

Omitted Sequels: 'Superman 3' (1983) and Superman 4: The Quest For Peace' (1987). Both dealt too much in padding and comedy. Barely coherent. Story: Stranger in a strange land.

5) TERMINATOR 'Terminator: Salvation' (2009); 'Terminator' (1984); 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day' (- the alternate ending 1991)

Omitted Sequels: 'Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines' (2003), Terminator Genisys (2015), and Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) were all attempts to reboot the franchise with diminishing results. Story: Time can be rewritten.

6) ROCKY 'Rocky' (1976); 'Rocky II' (1979); 'Rocky III' (1982) and 'Rocky Balboa' (2006)

Omitted Sequels: 'Rocky IV (1985) and 'Rocky V' (1990). Propaganda and an attempt to go back to basics in a really convoluted way. Story: A Boxer goes the distance to find what is more valuable then glory, love.

7) RAMBO 'Rambo: First Blood' (1982); 'John Rambo' (2008); 'Rambo: Last Blood' (2019)

Omitted Sequels: 'Rambo 2' (1985) and 'Rambo 3' (1988). These two films remade Rambo from a Vietnam vet who was suffering PTSD, to action hero globe trotting to right wrongs. Doesn't work as part of this narrative. Story: A Vietnam Vet goes to prison for launching a war in a small town and its sheriff. Upon his release, tries to rebuild his life and lay to rest old wounds. 8) THE KARATE KID 'The Karate Kid' (1984) and 'The Karate Kid part 2' (1986)

Omitted Sequels: 'The Karate Kid' part 3' (1989). Tried to recapture the success of the first but was a bad imitation. 'The Next Karate Kid' (1994) and 'Karate Kid' (aka 'Kung Fu Kid' 2010) were simply reboots. Story: An outsider challenges the norm to prove himself through Karate and help from his teacher.

9) THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS 'The Fast and the Furious' (2001); '2 Fast and 2 Furious' (2003); 'Fast and Furious (2009) and Fast Five' (2011)

Omitted Sequels: 'The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift' (2006); 'Fast & Furious 6' (2013): 'Furious 7' (2015); 'The Fate of the Furious' (2017); 'F9' (2021); 'Fast X' (2023). The franchise became much more spy type stuff that felt it should be a entire separate franchise. Story: Street racers and car thieves that fight to escape this crime world as a makeshift family.

10) MEET THE… 'Meet The Parents' (2000) and 'Meet The Fockers' (2004)

Omitted Sequels: 'Little Fockers' was boring and lacked the charm of the first two. No longer dealing with weird in laws as much as everyday miscommunications. Story: The weirdness of family on the left and the right. 11) THE GHOSTBUSTERS ' The Ghostbusters' (1984); 'The Ghostbusters' (1989) and 'Ghostbusters: After Life' (2021) Omitted Sequels:  'The Ghostbusters' (2016)' and 'The Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' (2024).One was a reboot that failed and the other was a continuation of 'Afterlife' but a reboot inside of that sequel, kind of. Story: Who Are You Gonna Call? Got to get rid of all those Ghosts. 12) TRANSFORMERS 'Transformers: One' (2024); 'Transformers: Bumblebee' (2018); 'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts' (2023); 'The Transformers The Movie' (1986) Omitted Sequels:  'The Transformers' (2007); 'The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' (2009); 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' (2011); 'Transformers: Age of Extinction' (2014); 'The Transformers: The Last Knight' (2017). These films were loosely connected but felt like reboots each time with changes in the stories that seem more episodic then one continuing story.

Story: The rise of The Transformers of Cybertron that evolved into a war against their creator; themselves and mere survival against the odds. 13) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA  'Hotel Transylvania' (2012); Hotel Transylvania 2' (2015); 'Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation' (2018) Omitted Sequels: 

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022) was direct to video and felt more like TV pilot then a continuation of a long term franchise.

Story: The evolution of Dracula, from being hateful of outsiders to accepting them into his life as daughter, Mavis, marries one. Talk of a blended family. 14) DESPICABLE ME  'Despicable Me' (2010); Despicable Me 2' (2013); Despicable Me 4' (2024) Omitted Sequels:  'Despicable Me' 3 (2017) felt like a start of a new fraction by introducing Gru's ,long lost Twin Brother, Dru.

Story: Gru was the greatest criminal in the world until he adopted three girls; turned good; becomes a secret agent; marries a fellow spy and has a son. 15) MADAGASCAR  'Madagascar' (2005); 'Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) Omitted Sequels: 

'Madagascar 3: Europes' Most Wanted' (2012). Seemed taked on and unnecessary. Story: Alex the Lion; Marty the Zebra; Melman the giraffe and Gloria the Hippo find their lives turned upside down as Marty wanted more then living a New York Zoo. A misunderstanding at a bus station causes them to wind in Madagascar. From there Africa and seemly a good ending. 16) HIGHLANDER 'Highlander' (1986) and 'Highlander: Endgame' (2000) Omitted Sequels: 'Highlander 2: The Quickening' (1991); 'Highlander 3: Final Dimension' (1994); 'Highlander: The Source' (2007). These films tried to change the focus of the original film. It was no longer mere fantasy but was tried to be retooled as sci-fi and was disjointed to the point it felt limke diferent franchises.

Story: They are Immortal and can live for centuries. Never aging or dying except one way. A beheading.It's the time of the 'Gathering'. With a stroke of a sword and the drop of a head, comes the quickening. In the end, there can be only one. 17) TOY STORY  'Toy Story' (1995); 'Toy Story 3' (2010) and 'Toy Story 4' (2019) Omitted Sequels:  'Toy Story 2' (1999) was, again, a side story that really adds nothing to the narrative.

Story: Life changes and even toys grow up along with their owners. Espeically if you are Buzz Lightyear and Woody. 18) NEVERENDING STORY  'The Neverending Story' (1984); 'The Neverending Story' (1990) Omitted Sequels: 'The Neverending Story 3' (1994) was a low budget poorly done ignoring the last two films with a paper thin plot that was divorce of any real fantasy element that made the first two memorable.

Story: The Book of The Neverending Story. The world of Fantasia and how it forever connected to Bastion Balbazar Bucks as two realities meet. 19) SHREK  'Shrek' (2001); Shrek 2' (2004) and 'Shrek The Third' (2007) Omitted Sequels: 'Shrek Ever After' (2010) is the odd one out fourth film. It was more stand alone that takes it's cues from 'It's A Wonderful Life'. A world without Shrek as he feels that his life is too burden.

Story:The story of mean old Shrek the ogre as he wins the girl; proves his worth as a hero and learns how accept change. 20)  THE HOBBIT 'The Hobbit' (1977); 'The Return of the King' (1980) Omitted Sequels: 'Lord of the Rings(1978) was made by a different production company and was focused mainly on a fellowship to destroy a ring made by the Dark Lord Sauron. This film was developed as more of a stand alone as 'Return of the King' was treated as a direct sequel to 'The Hobbit'. This in spite of 'Lord of the Rings' came in between the two Rankin/Bass films.

Story:The legacy of the Ring of Power. Once used for good by Bilbo Baggins, and now it ruination has found nephew, Frodo Baggins. In the wars that rage this ring must be destroyed. .