What are your ultimate thoughts on sequels? Favorite ones?

Most sequels are not as good as the original, of course.

Some are truly better.

Some are not really better, but maybe more entertaining, if that makes sense. Like Rocky II and Scream 2, for example.

Even some bad ones at least have some fun things in them.

There were sequels before, but sequel-mania really took off in the 80's. It seemed like it really calmed down in the 90's. It came back huge in the 2000's.

Depends on the sequel but I usually like 'em.

T2
Aliens
Godfather II

those are the obvious top 3 on my list.

A good majority of them are terrible. I do like The Dark Knight though.

Pretty sure it picked up rapidly in the 90's, especially with Disney.

Empire Strikes Back

Back to the Future part II is a strong case for the potential of sequels.

Back to the Future part III is...decent (kinda).

I don't think this is necessarily true. Sequels have always been a part of the cinematic landscape, and prior to the advent of TV there were theatrical film series known to extend into the dozens.

The Blondie series ran for 28 films, from 1938-1950, averaging about two per year:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blondie_(comic_strip)#Film

Red Ryder was another series that ran for 28 films over 10 years, meaning an average of nearly 3 a year:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Ryd...and_television

The Durango Kid series ran for 64 films, with 63 of them filmed within a 7 year span, or 9 a year on average:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles...tt#Durango_Kid

I've never seen any sequels.

Yeah...sequels aren't anything new.

Most of them suck except for IMO :

The Bride of Frankenstein
Sanjuro
Dawn of the Dead
Star Trek 2: The Wrath Of Khan
The Color of Money
The Godfather II
French Connection II
The Silence of the Lambs
A Shot In The Dark
Hellraiser II
Evil Dead II
Inferno
Terminator II
Aparajito
The Road Warrior
Aliens
The Testament Of Dr. Mabuse
2046
Three Colours: White
Manon of the Spring

Although I'm overwhelmingly in the minority I LOVE Ghostbusters II and would rank it ever so slightly above the original.

SON OF KONG (1933) was an early sequel that disappointed audiences.

But what were the earliest sequels? I'm guessing these two: Douglas Fairbanks' DON Q, SON OF ZORRO (1925) was a sequel to THE MARK OF ZORRO (1920). Rudolph Valentino's SON OF THE SHEIK (1926) was a sequel to his THE SHEIK (1921).

I wonder if there were people complaining that "Hollywood has run out of ideas" when Son of the Sheik came out?

Then there's the kind of sequel, where the original movie is sort of a surprise hit. Then when they make a sequel, they don't just make a sequel, they film two sequels back-to back with a cliffhanger in the middle:

Back to the Future
The Matrix
Pirates of the Carribean

The very first feature-length sequel is considered to be The Fall of a Nation (1916), which was a sequel to The Birth of a Nation (1915). The Fall of a Nation is a lost film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_of_a_Nation

Prior to that there were short film sequels to previous shorts. I don't know if it's the earliest, but one example would be the sequels to the 1910 version of The Wizard of Oz, also made in 1910, with the sequels subsequently lost.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Won..._Oz_(1910_film)

There were also shorts, like The Three Stooges and Betty Boop, which replayed the situation over and over for as long as the public bought tickets. And the serials, which had fifteen episodes, consisting of a beginning, twelve cliffhangers, and an end.