Trilogies

[Morgbug]

Was reading a review of the latest box set for LOTR-ROTK and the critic stated this was clearly the greatest trilogy of all time.  Now, that got me to thinking - is he right, what are the other trilogies and if he's correct, why? 

I think for continuity, sure, I'll give LOTR the nod.  Consistency as well.  I think arguably I'd agree with him on the whole concept, but only with the recognition that most preceding trilogies did not have the benefit of being filmed in such rapid succession - a trilogy has never before been a forgone conclusion from start to finish. 

Star Wars is the natural comparison of course, and I got the distinct impression that his comment in the article was a veiled shot at Star Wars.  But I consider it unfair.  I recall seeing SW back in 1977 at age 13.  While I certainly saw the possibility of a second movie occurring (Vader's alive?), I did not consider it to be a forgone conclusion.  From the documentaries I've seen, SW was a longshot at best and a tremendous risk for the studio with fairly low expectations on returns.  As such, a comparison with a remarkably well thought out, planned and funded trilogy like LOTR is unfair.  I know Lucas had it thought out as a multi-series set of films, but that was probably not what was in the mind of the studios. 

As far as other trilogies (or multi-series) go, there's more than a few that come to mind, but most, if not all, were not pre-planned. 

Indiana Jones
Blade
Batman
Planet of the Apes
Harry Potter
James Bond - king of the multi-series
Bourne ______ - presumably a trilogy
Austin Powers

What are your thoughts on the topic?  LOTR = greatest?  Is it a fair comparison?  What else is there to compare with?

[SPIDERLEGS]

Just movies? For books, I would add both Thomas Covenant trilogies.

[Darth Broem]

You will always have the original Star Wars versus LOTR trilogies as the best trilogies.  Those are your two frontrunners.  It will come down to whcih one people personally love more.  For me it's obviously Star Wars.  But LOTR will always have the better acting and Oscar awards to argue the point.    For me Star Wars is a 100 times funner than LOTR.

[Scott]

A few more to add:

Back to the Future
Terminator
Alien
Superman
Godfather

I think it is, its sort of unfair to call them three different movies because like the book its all one long story.  Jackson made a bigger point though (since he had to) of making 3 distinct movies that can stand on their own pretty well (except Fellowship which does little more than character development)

Effects - I think the effects blow anything else out of the water.  Granted, I haven't seen Episode III yet but to be honest, most of the stuff so far in the Prequels has been hokey.  The Matrix was better than the Prequels.  The OT was the winner for a long time methinks but has been surpassed by the glory of the TTT and ROTK battles.

Story-  Hands down winner but that again is because of the source material, not even close on this one, the fact Jackson was for the most part true (with a few glaring exceptions Bombadil and the Scouring of the Shire) to the books makes it a no brainer.  The OT was again the winner for a long time but it can't hold up to Tolkein.  2 Death Stars?  Come on...

Acting - The most under looked aspect of LOTR, the acting was superb.  Nobody was bad in their roles, in fact, they were all wonderful.  I don't ever remember feeling the happiness I had when Frodo awoke from Mount Doom.  I had tears in my eyes.  Nothing else came close to that and ever will IMO.  I think Ford as Indy was about as close as they come, but I don't think any of Indy's supporting actors were that special.  The OT has great acting, especially for the time and especially for how young they were.  I think its a real close one here but again I'll give it to LOTR over Star Wars.    I don't think anyone will say it approaches the work done in Godfather's I and II but III has to be included too and uh...yeah

Fun - This one goes to the OT.  Indy and Back to the Future are there too but I don't think any of them hold a candle to wonderment and awe of what Lucas brought to the screen.  I've been watching the DVD's with commentary the last few nights and have noticed how weird some of the crap he came up with actually was

I just can no longer justify having the OT ahead of LOTR anymore, maybe on a sentimental/nostalgia note but it just isn't there anymore.

The winner in my book is agreeably:

[Bob Crane]

To add to the list of great trilogies-

Basket Case
Man With No Name

And I’d love to mention The Blind Dead films, but I think there are four of them. Would the Evil Dead films count? I ponder for the second film is really a re-make of the original.


edit- adding Re-Animator.
                     Creature from the Black Lagoon trilogy

[Jesse James]

I'd put the OT ahead of LOTR...

The story's more my taste...  It's not got the seriousness the LOTR trilogy carries with it.  To that end, to me, it's a better story because it's more of an escape. 

LOTR is SO close to Star Wars in my mind though...  I really don't want to pick one over the other.  I consider them pretty much equal.  I rank the prequals below them in a tie with Indiana Jones (This is just out of trilogies I personally enjoy).

The thing then is what's in the movies that makes one better than another as far as effort, in my view.

To me, the Star Wars films were more "hard fought".  They did more for film in general than the LOTR trilogy did.  That's not to take away from the LOTR trilogy, but Lucasfilm's subsidiaries have transformed not just the film industry but entire ways in which films are even marketed.  LOTR was POSSIBLE because of the efforts Lucas's special effects teams have acheived.

As far as visual effects comparisons, I'd say the prequals are equal to LOTR actually.  Actually, LOTR's features CGI characters that took less work than in the prequals.  When broken down, the Gollum figure's so vastly LESS complex than, say, Yoda...  He's more on a level with a CGI Clone or battledroid in complexity of animation.

The battles turned out better for the story...  More "real" in look not because the animation in the prequals is bad, but it's not put together well from the coordination standpoint, if that makes sense.  In LOTR Helm's Deep, Minis Tirith, etc., are all really seamless battles that look logical and realistic. 

In the end though, from what goes into them and the level of quality they are, they're pretty equal series to me, so I give the edge to Star Wars only because it's advancing the industry overall.  LOTR's efforts were cool though, and equal to the prequals...  I'm sure ideas there are being adapted elsewhere too.

To me the classics set the bar for effects though and continuously have improved hollywood...  I don't think LOTR's spawning anything like that.

It's a great series though, it'll always be equal to STar Wars in my heart, and it surpassed IJ to me which I thought wouldn't happen.

As for the others...  Alien and BTTF would be under the prequals and IJ...  The rest I could care about.  Really I could care about Alien and BTTF too...   

[Lady Jaye]

El Mariachi Trilogy is a popular one!!!
Spy Kids Trilogy
Scream Trilogy

And since Morgbug included all those movies with sequal after sequal after sequal, here are some more.
Nightmare on Elm Street
Police Academy
Halloween
Friday the 13th
Rocky
Superman

[Angry Ewok]

Tried to list my favorites in order here...

Star Wars
Lord of the Rings
Indiana Jones
Godfather Trilogy
Back to the Future
Man With No Name Trilogy
Terminator
Alien

I'd love to see a 3rd Bourne movie, as well as a 3rd Ghostbusters, too. And no matter how far off I may sound here, I'd also like to see a closure to the Gettysburg/Generals movies that Ted Turner sank his money into.

I left the Planet of the Apes movies out (although I love them), because there are about 5 or 6 of them. I also left out the Jaws movies, not just because there are more than 3, but also because the sequels sucked really bad (they are fun to watch though).

[jokabofe]

I don't think you can really count a movie series with more than three movies... cause then it ain't a trilogy. I would say that once the fourth film is made, it's no longer a trilogy, it then becomes a series. The "true" trilogy would be three movies that tell a single story. LOTR is the perfect example.

There are others that can be grouped in there, and then there are the other "series" that have 5, 6, 7 and more sequels. These (at least to me) can't really be counted as trilogies, even if you are just saying count the first three and leave the rest out.

That said, my favorite trilogy thus far has to be:

Romero's Dead Trilogy (Night, Dawn, Day)

And, next year or so when "Land of the Dead" comes out, this will no longer be a trilogy.

The only exception to my trilogy rule would have to be Star Wars, since there were over 20 years between the films. The fact is that the first three form one trilogy and tell one story, while the second three are a seperate trilogy and tell a different story, although it is connected to the first.

[Morgbug]

As far as other trilogies (or multi-series) go,

 

[CorranHorn]

You all forgot the greatest trilogy of all time! The EVIL DEAD trilogy!! Woooo Ash rules!

Seriously though, despite how it became a trilogy, the Original Star Wars Trilogy is the tops for me. While I thought LOTR was a fantastic set of movies, having never read the books I wasn't as drawn to the characters or story as I am with the OT. After the OT, I would say the Indy trilogy despite the fact it's not really telling one story but a bunch of tales.

[Brian]

Its funny, I was actually just thinking about this last weekend while watching some of the ROTK: EE (hope to watch the whole thing tomorrow).  Its a tough question, and I do agree with those of you who say that it probably isn't really fair to compaire the two trilogies (LOTR and the Star Wars OT, that is).  It is a common comparison, and I can see why it happens, but they really are totally different movies.  Lord of the Rings comes from what is regarded as one of the greatest literary works, and an unbelievably expanded backstory on the characters/areas, etc.  Star Wars came from the mind of Lucas, borrowing from a number of different areas, and came out great.  Although the prequels have seemed to dim the light on Star Wars a little bit for some people, the OT is still an amazing work overall, and I hope people don't forget that.  I was kind of young when they were out, but remember watching the first two on tape, and seeing ROTJ in the theatre when it was released.  Those movies were just amazing at the time, and have held up really well (even without the SE enhancements).

I like the example used above, the Star Wars OT is just "fun".  I really never tire of watching them, and could pop them in any week even though I could probably play the movie through in my mind at this point anyways.  These movies will always be tops with me.  That said, I didn't think anything would ever come close to the Star Wars experience with me...until I saw the LOTR series in the theatres over the past few years.  I don't know that I had ever been so "in" to a movie as when I saw these for the first time.  I really just felt immersed in the story and had those experiences where you totally lose the concept of time of day, where you are, just being into the movie.  Part of this might have stemmed from the fact that I hadn't read the books beforehand, so it was all new to me.  I really respect the LOTR work overall, the outstanding job that Peter Jackson and his crew did with it, the initial story from Tolkien, and as Scott mentioned, the under-rated acting.  I can't picture anyone else playing any one of those characters, the actors just all seem "perfect" for their respective roles.

As far as the prequels go, well LOTR blows those out of the water if you are comparing them.  But then again, it still isn't a real fair comparison.  I did enjoy both of the prequels when I first saw them (hey, its new Star Wars), but will admit that the luster has worn off over time somewhat.  I am really looking forward to the next installment, ROTS, and I think a lot of that is because there are even more connections to the OT.  The more OT-ish these movies get, it seems the more I enjoy them.  I also thought that overall the effects were pretty good in the prequels.  Some parts look kind of hokey (especially when Anakin "surfs" on that "cow" in AOTC, yikes), but other areas are quite well done.  Yoda for the most part is tremendous, and I had a lot of people that talked to me and wouldn't believe me that the Clonetroopers were not real actors (especially in the close up shots).  Heck, even the much-hated Jar Jar looked pretty realistic while walking in the sun and sands of Tatooine in Episode I.  That said, the LOTR effects were just as amazing.  I'd probably even agree to say that they were a little better.  Amazing work with Gollum, and no real glaring problems IMO.

Without rambling on further, it is really hard to compare these two trilogies in particular.  I have a tough time ever ranking anything above (or equal to) the OT, but the LOTR trilogy does come awfully close.  In the end, it might be best for me to say it this way:

My Favorite Trilogy: Star Wars Original Trilogy

"Best" Trilogy: Lord of the Rings Trilogy

I really enjoy both of them, but Star Wars just has a special place with me.  Lord of the Rings would be a close second, and I will admit, probably a better movie in the sense of acting, emotional involvement, and story.  Star Wars is a more lighthearted and "fun" world to be in, and isn't necessarily about award winning acting (although the OT acting wasn't bad at all).  The rest of the trilogies, to me, are ranked quite a ways behind these two.  If ROTS turns out to be what it could be, the prequel trilogy for me will rank higher as well.  Indiana Jones is not too far back either, and another movie trilogy that I find myself watching every time it is on TV it seems, at least for a little while.  Great topic Brent, and a tough question to answer .