Feature Film Franchises and Your Own Personal Head Canon

[steel_breeze]

Just for fun… got to thinking about all the many feature film franchises for which I own at least one installment, and my preferences as to which movies within those franchises I like to watch. Might as well call it “head canon”, for lack of a better term. Surprisingly, as of this moment in time, there’s only ONE feature film franchise (live action Star Wars) I routinely watch in its entirety. I s’pose for the rest of these franchises listed below, I do sorta like to pretend none of the others exist. As silly as that may sound, this way of thinking tends to maximize my own enjoyment of the ones I DO watch.

James Bond: there aren’t any I "pretend don’t exist", but I only own and routinely re-watch Dr. No, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved Me, The Living Daylights, Tomorrow Never Dies, and Skyfall

Star Wars: Episodes 1-9 plus Solo and Rogue One — but I will occasionally watch the 1977 original and pretend NONE of the others exist

Indiana Jones: just Raiders MOST of the time, occasionally Doom and Crusade

Star Trek: really only The Motion Picture and Wrath of Khan… but very rarely 5 (believe it or not) and 6

Alien: just 1 and 2

Halloween: 1978, 1981, 2018

Friday the 13th: 1-4, and 6

Snake Plissken: just EFNY; haven’t even seen all of EFLA

The Thing: just the 1982 version; I do enjoy catching the original on TCM from time to time, but don’t own it

Jurassic Park: just the original MOST of the time, occasionally Lost World

Middle Earth: just The Lord of the Rings Extended Editions

Expendables: 1-3… and that’s not likely to change any time soon, lol

Almost forgot The Godfather: just 1 and 2

AND JUST THE ORIGINALS OF THESE: Psycho, Jaws, Blade Runner, Poltergeist, Rambo, Ghostbusters, Terminator, Back to the Future, Predator, Die Hard, Scream, The Matrix

Not interested in hearing people tell me where I’m “wrong”; lol, there is no right or wrong when it comes to opinion… just interested in hearing other people’s personal preferences and head canon.

[Walter Kafka]

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

Just for fun… got to thinking about all the many feature film franchises for which I own at least one installment, and my preferences as to which movies within those franchises I like to watch. Might as well call it “head canon”, for lack of a better term. Surprisingly, as of this moment in time, there’s only ONE feature film franchise (live action Star Wars) I routinely watch in its entirety. I s’pose for the rest of these franchises listed below, I do sorta like to pretend none of the others exist. As silly as that may sound, this way of thinking tends to maximize my own enjoyment of the ones I DO watch.

James Bond: there aren’t any I "pretend don’t exist", but I only own and routinely re-watch Dr. No, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved Me, The Living Daylights, Tomorrow Never Dies, and Skyfall

Star Wars: Episodes 1-9 plus Solo and Rogue One — but I will occasionally watch the 1977 original and pretend NONE of the others exist

Indiana Jones: just Raiders MOST of the time, occasionally Doom and Crusade

Star Trek: really only The Motion Picture and Wrath of Khan… but very rarely 5 (believe it or not) and 6

Alien: just 1 and 2

Halloween: 1978, 1981, 2018

Friday the 13th: 1-4, and 6

Snake Plissken: just EFNY; haven’t even seen all of EFLA

The Thing: just the 1982 version; I do enjoy catching the original on TCM from time to time, but don’t own it

Jurassic Park: just the original MOST of the time, occasionally Lost World

Middle Earth: just The Lord of the Rings Extended Editions

Expendables: 1-3… and that’s not likely to change any time soon, lol

JUST THE ORIGINALS: Psycho, Jaws, Blade Runner, Rambo, Terminator, Back to the Future, Predator, Die Hard

Not interested in hearing people tell me where I’m “wrong”; lol, there is no right or wrong when it comes to opinion… just interested in hearing other people’s personal preferences and head canon.

Halloween 1978, 81

JP: Just the first. (Or the book, which has some differences.)

Snake: I'll accept the presence of EFLA, even though it's terrible. I disqualify something for inconsistency, not for the quality of filmmaking.

James Bond: Casino Royale (1967) is the only one that exists for me. In an alternate universe, we got a series closer to the books.

Friday the 13th: 1-8

Star Trek: TOS only

IJ: Raiders and Doom

Star Wars: Empire is great, but I'll also willing to accept that Star Wars is the only Star Wars movie.

[Martoto]

My head canon for cinema in general is just any film with “John Carpenter’s..” in the title.

[steel_breeze]

I actually forgot a couple of fantastic trilogies, which contradicts my statement that "Star Wars is the only complete feature film franchise (as of this moment) that I enjoy in its entirety"...

...I own and greatly enjoy all of Ray's Apu Trilogy and Kieslowski's Three Colors Trilogy

[RCRochester]

Star Trek: I completely ignore the existence of, and all that happens in, the so called "Kelvin Trilogy".

[spaceball-one]

Superman is better, but I watch Superman II WAY more. I haven't watched III, Quest for Peace, or Returns all the way through in years.

[Gacivory]

Halloween (all of them)

Scream 3 (Angelina was the other killer and faked her death and then escaped and waiting for her chance of revenge.) I know not exactly what this thread is for. But her not being the killer still bugs me.

[jess1581]

Terminator- T1, T2, and T3 with Salvation a one time spin off. The other two can go spit.

Star Wars- The whole Skywalker saga and the two side-quels. No more, no less.

Halloween- All of em, but im done with any more bullshit coming from Akkad. It's over. Michael is beef jerky.

Friday the 13th- All of em.

Star Trek- All of em.

Lord of the Rings- both trilogies. No Amazon shit show need apply.

JAWS- 1 and 2 with Revenge if in the mood. JAWS 3D is like a separate entity bearing almost zero connection.

Indiana Jones- All 5 movies. Young Indy, and all the books, comics, and video games.


Elm Street - 1 thru New Nightmare

Texas Chainsaw- just the first one.

MCU- The Infinity Saga, both post Endgame Spider-Mans to cap Peter's story off, Love & Thunder only because it gives Thor an ending, and Guardians vol. 3 to cap that trilogy off. The rest are either too reliant on phase 4, or too shitty. Overall, I lost investment in this brand.

DC- All of em.

Romero's Living Dead- all of em.

007- All of em, but no more for me. RIP

Alien- 1 thru 4, prequels while I can enjoy ended up going nowhere due to Covenant's box office.

Predator- 1 thru 3 and Prey along with both AVP's. The Predator? Lmao

Robocop- All of em. I also like the remake

[s2mikey]

Star Wars: PT, Rogue One, OT. No others exist. .

Alien, Aliens.

Terminator 1, 2.

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Jaws, Jaws 2

Superman 1, 2 & Returns

Avatar.

[DR Herbert West]

Alien/Blade Runner:

Blade Runner
Soldier
Blade Runner 2049
Outland
Prometheus
Alien: Covenant
Alien
Aliens
Alien³

Terminator:

T1
T2
Dark Fate

Halloween:

Halloween
Halloween III
Halloween (2018)
Halloween Kills
Halloween Ends

Chainsaw:

The original
Part 2
The Next Generation

[zen007]

From the top of the mind recall:


007: All ... Post NTTD, I took a break from watching them but usually used to watch at least 1 film a month so every film is important

CHE: All

DCEU: Wonder Woman, BvS, & ZSJL

The Dark Knight: All but now a slight preference for the Dark Knight Rises for its action sequences (and the other two films may be showing their age)

Dracula: Dracula (1931) and Bram Stoker's Dracula

The Girl w/ the Dragon Tattoo: Almost all

The Godfather: All but prefer 1 & 2, which I see as one long film split into two

Hanibal Lecter: The Silence of the Lambs & Hannibal (both the film and the series)

Indiana Jones: All

John Wick: 2 & 4

Mad Max: 1, 2, and Fury Road

The Matrix: All but usually watch the first one the most

MI: Almost all

Three Colors: All

...

...

...


One film from a series: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Avatar, A Shot in the Dark, Angels and Demons, Batman, Blade Runner, Bourne Identity, Chinatown, Conan the Barbarian, Die Hard, Dirty Dozen, Django, Dune, The Execution Game (1979; this series is like pre John Wick), Johnny English Strikes Again, Joker, The Guns of Navarone, Jaws, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kong Skull Island, Lethal Weapon, Logan, The Mask of Zorro, The Murder on the Orient Express (2017), The Omen (1976), Patriot Games, Psycho, The Scorpion King, Suspiria (1977, The Three Mothers Trilogy), War for the Planet of the Apes, The Wolf Man (1941), ..., ..., ...

[Justin2000]

Pitch Perfect 1 & 2
Toy Story 1-3
Die Hard 1-4


Just one: High School Musical, Back to the Future, Space Jam, Lion King

[ObiTrentKenobi]

All Star Wars Films are canon to me... even Last Jedi and Rise of "Skywalker"

Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy are canon to me...... Rings of Power, however... is not.

Jurassic Park 1 and Jurassic World 1-3 are personal canon. Jurassic Park 2(LW) and 3 are "legends".

DC: Only Man of Steel is personal canon in the Snyderverse for me, the rest is non-existent. The Tim Burton Batmans and Christopher Nolan Batmans are personal canon in 2 different DC-verses, and the Schumacher Batmans are in a whole 'nother corner of the DC-verse - they only exist for a good joke.

Marvel: The Sony Venoms and Morbius are non-existent to me. I love the Spider-Man's with Holland and the Into The Spiderverse Series though. Do I need to say that Incredible Hulk (Norton) is multi-verse only? is that a given by now? I hated Iron Man 3.

-Bond: Brosnan is my Bond. i don't watch any others.
-Mad Max 2 and Thunderdome are personal canon.
-Purely Terminator 2 only. It explains the past AND the future
-National Lampoons Vacation: the original Vacation and Christmas Vacation only.
-Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom and Last Crusade are personal canon...
-The Bourne Trilogy yes - Legacy no.
-Ghostbusters 1 and 2. canon.
-Evan Almighty yes, Bruce Almighty no.
-Home alone 1 and 2 yes
-The Karate Kid 1 and 2 yes
-The Wizard of Oz yes, Oz the Great and Powerful NO
-Paul Blart 1 yes, 2 never happened
-Pirates of the Caribbean 1,2,3 and 5. Not 4.
-Speed 2 never happened
-Only the first Transformers movie
-the original 3 Ninja Turtles movies, forget the newer ones

[RossyG]

Bond ended in 1995 (but Martin Campbell did a great job with a lousy Bond with Casino Royale).

Indiana Jones ended in 1989 (as did Doctor Who on TV).

Star Trek ended with Nemesis.

Jaws and its first sequel count; the other two are just trashy sharksploitation movies, the third being silly fun, the fourth a bore and a wasted opportunity.

All the Jurassics count, although I won’t be watching the dire Fallen Kingdom again any time soon.

All the Airport films count.

[Trekkie313]

Liking all of Star Wars yet neglecting some truly great Trek films?

[Show spoiler]Revenge Of The Sith, Skywalker Saga minus Rise.

[s2mikey]

Originally Posted by Trekkie313

Liking all of Star Wars yet neglecting some truly great Trek films?

[Show spoiler]Revenge Of The Sith, Skywalker Saga minus Rise.

Honestly, I like the original Trek TV show but the only films Ive ever liked were the JJ Abrams ones. Well, the first two are his anyways and they are solid. The third one is barely passable.

My Trek movie canon is Abrams 1 and 2 with the third one barely making the cut.

[Martoto]

Police Academy : 5, 6 and 2. In that order.

[Boccaccio]

Originally Posted by Martoto

Police Academy : 5, 6 and 2. In that order.

Wait, you don't like the first one ?

[Martoto]

Originally Posted by Boccaccio

Wait, you don't like the first one ?

No Bobcat, no party

[PinkyCarruthers]

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

I s’pose for the rest of these franchises listed below, I do sorta like to pretend none of the others exist. As silly as that may sound, this way of thinking tends to maximize my own enjoyment of the ones I DO watch.

Fun thread, Mr. Breeze!

Your words pretty much sum up my feelings toward the Psycho series. I revere the original (which I just happened to revisit last night) but also happen to love the second one, to the point where I probably revisit them equally. But III is so sleazy and unpleasant and so completely undoes all the goodwill engendered by II for me that I really do find myself pretending that it doesn't exist. The ending of II is just so perfect and full-circle that I prefer to have it unmarred by the looming specter of III's unpleasantness. As for IV, I can enjoy it on its own but again prefer to kinda un-exist it, especially considering its somewhat sketchy official continuity within the series.

As for instalments I've purged from existence in my own head canon due strictly to badness, I think there are only two: Superman IV and Terminator Genisys (ugh and ugh). With Supes IV's godawful FX, editing, etc. making it resemble a workprint at best and thus not even a completed movie in my mind, it's conveniently easy to dismiss. And with Dark Fate officially erasing Genisys from the series canon (I think?), no problem there either.

I wish I could be as rigorously selective as you in my franchise purchases, because as collectors it's often hard to face up to the bitter fact that we can like or admire a series all we want, but when it comes down to that moment of truth where you say "I'm in a [Bond/Trek, etc.] mood tonight" and go to make a selection, there really are only certain ones we reach for, aren't there? Since you mentioned Trek, the only "odd man out" for me is Voyage Home. It's fun, it makes me laugh, it's perfectly up to the series' standards in every way . . . but at the end of the day I just hardly revisit it at all. No villain, Catherine Hicks' annoying character, the horribly off-putting score -- it just doesn't hit the spot for me when I crave a ST fix. If forced at gunpoint to remove one Trek title from my stash forevermore, sorry Mr. Nimoy but it'd be bye-bye Voyage Home.

I remember my dad coveting the Godfather movies back when I was growing up and then going to see Godfather III and positively hating it. I just couldn't understand that. How could someone so love the first two and so thoroughly dismiss the third?! Many years and franchises later, I get it! (And for the record, now that I'm a Godfather nut myself, I totally dig the third one. Heh, sorry Dad....)

Shocked you haven't seen EFLA all the way through! It's Kurt! It's Carpenter! It's Plissken! (Sorry, also just rewatched The Thing last night and have been in a "Kurt's so friggin COOL!" reverie all morning.) But I do admire your commitment to the integrity of the original. Am I correct in recalling that you also held out on Crystal Skull until not so long ago?

Which reminds me of one last one: No matter how many chances I've given it over the years, no matter the crippling denial, Lethal Weapon 3 has at last been purged from my head canon for the series. Well, at least until the 4K release gives me an excuse for one last chance....