JIF

Aside from the James Bond series, do you know of any sequels that totally broke the continuity of its predecessor(s)?

When I was a kid, I was completely confused by the opening of SUPERMAN II. Non killing a guard and General Zod breaking a crystal to reveal the council before their exile to the Phantom Zone totally didn't match what happened in SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE.

This frustrated me until I read about the Donner firing and Brando's lost scenes on the internet many years later.

Another sequel continuity problem happens in STAR TREK: GENERATIONS.



Can you think of anymore continuity errors with sequels?

inri222

Porky's II The Next Day


If this is suppose to be the next day, then how come Mickey and Tim who got the shit beat out of them the day before (in Porky's) no longer even have a scratch. I remember one of them (the cops brother) even being on crutches.

mrhan

Highlander is the obvious answer. There shouldn't have been any sequels.

Rockmjd23

The Friday the 13th and Halloween franchises have numerous continuity errors.

Jay G.

Evil Dead 2 opens up with a recap of the events in the first film that don't actually match up with what happens in the first one.

RocShemp

And each sequel not only negates the end of the first but also manages to negate the entirety whichever film (or series, in the case of Highlander: Endgame) directly precedes it. Althought it seems that Highlander: The Source will only negate all but Highlander: Endgame (if it's ever released).

GuruTwo

They do actually match up with the events of the first film in a condensed and simplified "Cliff's Notes" kinda way.

Look at it this way: the only elements incorporated into the recap of the previous film in "Evil Dead 2" are the events necessary to the plot. The characters of Scotty, Cheryl and Shelly never appear in "Evil Dead 2" so they were left out of the recap. Ash and Linda to recur into the second night at the cabin so the recap only covers them.

Anyways, one sequel continuity error that bugged me as a kid was in "Home Alone 2" when they constantly refer to it as occurring the year after the first film while Kevin's stated age is two years older than the previous film.

Jay G.

No, they don't.


Army of Darkness also has a few continuity errors with the previous films.

GuruTwo

It's obvious you haven't paid much attention to "Evil Dead 2".

First of all, the Book of the Dead is only intact within the recap itself. The whole idea of Annie and Ed having to bring additional pages of the book to the cabin apparently went over your head.

Secondly, Ash's return to the bridge is somewhat reasonable considering that his first attempt was at night when it was dark. I'm pretty sure somebody who was trying to flee an evil force that killed his 4 friends would probably try to utilize the daylight to survey the damage and/or try to find another way to cross.

You can literally edit one long "Evil Dead" movie by removing the "Evil Dead 2" recap and beginning it immediately as the first film ends. You can do it with "Army of Darkness" too but you have to lose the "Evil Dead 2" ending too but that's because there is no reconciling the end of "Evil Dead 2" with the beginning of "Army of Darkness".

ScandalUMD

If the people making these movies don't think this is important, why do you?

I can't think of anything sadder than a guy compiling the inconsistencies within the Freddy Krueger mythology.

jeffkjoe

Donald Pleasence shoots Michael Myers SEVEN times at the beginning of HALLOWEEN II, but in HALLOWEEN, he shoots him SIX times.


What is this world coming to????

majorjoe23

The answer to all this: Ash is recounting the story to someone else, and Ash is stupid.

Groucho

According to Star Wars fans, there are NO continuity problems between all the sequels and prequels. NONE. Also, Lucas had everything planned word-for-word from the beginning. No "making it up as we go along" here!

Doughboy

Lethal Weapon was set in 1984 according to the grave of Riggs' wife. Murtaugh has just turned 50.

In Legal Wreckin 2, Vorstedt tells Riggs he was responsible for his wife's death 4 years earlier, yet Murtaugh discusses retiring when he turns 52.

The Rocky series has had similar issues. Mickey mentions being 76 in the first film, yet his grave shows that he died at age 76 in Rocky III despite the movie being set 6 years later. And let's not get into Rocky Jr. aging about 5 years in a matter of months between the 4th and 5th films.

redskull

The creators might think it's important, but no studio is ever going to let a couple of continuity errors stand in the way of making a few million more bucks from a sequel.

Something I've always wondered-- all movies have a "continuity person" whose job is to make sure the actor's clothing, hairstyles, props, etc. match from scene to scene (since most movies are filmed out of order). So why don't they have someone on staff to look over the script before filming to make sure it doesn't contain any obvious story flaws?

jeffkjoe

Yeah, you and I both know that's a bunch of baloney.

I'm sure he wanted Luke and Leia to incestiously kiss all along.

pdinosaur

If it involves time travel, it's certainly wide open for problems.

The Terminator series is a good example. T3 shouldn't have come after T2. According to the movie.

Of course, in T2, once they destroy the arm and the chip, Arnold should have evaporated or the universe should have imploded because his existence should have ended once the stuff that informed his creation (the arm and the leg).

Then again, time travel isn't real.

I feel as if somehow there's got to be a problem in the Jurassic Park series

milo bloom

The people making these movies give more consideration to how easy it is to film, how to quickly recap events from the first movie for those who have forgotten without boring those who haven't forgotten, plus some outright don't care.

That some people pay attention to these things isn't necessarily a bad thing either. Some folks just pick up details. If their job needs them to do that (say medicine, nuclear reactor operator), then sometimes it's hard for them to turn it off.

There are also cases where the filmmakers make a concious decision to ignore previous events, such as in the case of Scotty being in Star Trek Generations. The producers and writers had Doohan available, but knew about the line in Relics. They made the concious decision to include Scotty because he's such a fan favorite. If you want an explanation, I think most fans agree that Scotty actually got a little scrambled from sitting in the transporter buffer for so long, even with the diagnostic loop going, and his first instinct was to think it was Kirk that saved him. Later in the ep, when he's really depressed in the holodeck, it seems a little melodramatic for just feeling "useless", so he's probably been reminded of Kirk's death at that point, and is just feeling overall crappy.

UAIOE

You mean the arm and the chip.

But anyway, I'd argue that Arnold simply vanishing after the stuff was destroyed would be far sillier and cause an ever bigger "Huh?" when it comes to discussing time travel and paradoxes.

He had to exist to help destroy the other terminators parts. If he simply vanished because of his actions then he would never be created to help destroy the parts and that lead to his vanishing.

Plus it allows for the more emotional ending we get in the movie.

There is, they made the 3rd movie.

jeffkjoe

How about the biggest continuity problem of them all:

In the James Bond series, Q gets older, but the Bonds get younger.

devilshalo

Except for the fact that Luke still would be "who the fuck are you?" to Hayden's spirit.

JIF

After John Connor threw the arm and the chip in the molted steel, I immediately thought, hey what about the arm that Arnold left in the gears of that machine? You know, the arm that he pried off with the help of that steel bar so that he could stop the T-1000 from attacking Sarah and John.

That arm may have been the reason why Skynet was born again.

Jay G.

I've seen it several times and have listened to the commentary, I've paid plenty of attention.

First though, I feel this detailed a discussion of plot should be spoiler tagged, since not everyone reading this thread may have seen all, or any, of the movies in the series.

Jay G.

That only works with respect to AOD, since the beginning of ED2 doesn't have Ash narration. Also, in AOD, that explanation still doesn't explain...

GuruTwo

You still aren't following me.

The Book of the Dead appears NOWHERE in the film post-recap because it was destroyed in the first film and that is the whole reason why additional pages are brought to the cabin.

As for Ash looking like a moron when he returns to the bridge: it's not the only moment in the trilogy where he looks like a moron.