Sunday, November 12, 2006

Too many? And when is when?

I saw the previews to Spiderman 3 the other evening. One of those "make me sit up and pay attention" previews. Because, you see, I LOVE Spiderman. Probably from the early Electric Company episodes. But I digress.

It's Spiderman 3. Not the first. Not the second. But the third.
I didn't particularly care for the second installment. It was incredibly sad for me to watch. Peter Parker just kept eating it. And eating it. And well, eating it some more. The ending was great. But it was a SAD movie. And as you should know by now, I don't do SAD.
Will I go see Spiderman 3? Sure, I will. The same as I'll go throw down money to watch all the Harry Potter movies. Or Pirates of the Caribbean.

But let's look at this logically. Most movies/books/media of this sort grow weaker with frequent telling like taffy that's been stretched too far and too thin. And that's a shame.

I loved the first Batman. It's one of those movies that has all sorts of lines that I still enjoy to this day. A lot of it was the absolute brilliance of Jack Nicholson. And the brooding intensity of Michael Keaton. Hearing Kim Basinger shriek every five point three minutes? Not so much.
But the second Batman? Or the third? *shudder*
A waste of time. Not to mention money.
The first Rocky? A classic. No doubt about it. The ones that followed? Spare me the absolute painful retelling of the same story over and over and yet OVER again.

And books? Nora has made the trilogy her motif. And three is powerful anyway. As long as you don't let the middle child become a filler.
But series that seem to go on and on ad nauseum? What a waste of time and effort. If all you're doing is making do with the same story and switching names, then you need to move on. Let the characters live happily-ever-after without beating the hell out of them.
Janet Dailey has the Calders. Jude Devereaux has the Taggarts. And I enjoy most of these. But when the family tree has split and has as many branches as there are blades of grass...narrow it down.
Make it worth the telling. And the sharing.
And for God's sake. Know when to say when.
Grins*

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG! I totally forgot Spiderman used to be on the Electric Company!!!

Hey, speaking of Rocky, did you hear Stallone is planning Rocky 7??? How crazy is that??? *g*

But I love book series! Of course, the ones I love the most aren't romances, they're murder mysteries or science fiction/fantasies. :)

Silma said...

I think it's the same problem with Johanna Lindsey's Mallory family or Bertrice Small's O'Malley family. It comes to a point that the author just keeps repeating themselves book after book.

Crystal Jordan said...

I agree one hundred percent. I love a good series, but like The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.....sometimes you have to just STOP.