Weekend Roundtable: Collecting Movie Franchises

It seems like every movie Hollywood makes these days has to be part of an epic multi-part franchise of endless sequels and prequels and reboots. As home theater fans, what movie franchises do you feel compelled to collect in their entirety on Blu-ray or DVD?

This week’s Roundtable topic has two components:

  1. What movie franchises are you a completist collector for, even if you don’t like all of the movies in them?
  2. What franchises break your completist collecting urge, because some entries are so bad you refuse to own them?

Shannon Nutt

As far as a franchise I’m a completist for, I’ll go with the granddaddy of them all and select the James Bond series. Fortunately, there are more good Bond films than bad, although that doesn’t make it any easier to sit through entries like ‘A View to a Kill’, ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ or ‘Quantum of Solace’.

For a franchise I’ve broken up with, it’s definitely the ‘Fast and Furious‘ series. There was a time when I collected all the entries in this series, even the pretty awful second and third chapters. However, around the time that ‘Fast Five’ hit home video, I realized that these were the kind of movies I’d watch once and never again, so I stopped buying them and just started renting the new ones (or waiting for their cable debuts). I even sold back the first four entries I had collected. Another interesting tidbit here is that I have yet to see an ‘F&F’ movie in the theater. In fact, I didn’t see the sixth entry until the week before Part 7 came out. I find the movies entertaining but pretty dumb, which is probably why I’ve decided to nix collecting them and just wait and catch them on Netflix, VUDU or pay cable at a later date.

Mike Attebery

There are a few franchises that require I own all the films in the series, even if I hate one or more of them. The three that come to mind right off the bat are the Bond movies, ‘Star Wars‘ and of course ‘Indiana Jones‘ (and not because of any nuclear fridge; I’ve always detested ‘Temple of Doom’).

With other series, if I really hate a particular entry, I have no problem skipping the films I know I’ll never watch again. The first movie to come to mind in this department is ‘Ocean’s Twelve‘. I enjoyed ‘Eleven’ and ‘Thirteen’ quite a bit, but I hope to never again sit through the annoying second film.

Adam Tyner (DVDTalk)

A line had to be drawn in the sand. I said yes to ‘Leprechaun‘. I said yes to ‘Leprechaun 2’. I said yes to ‘Leprechaun 3′, the one where Warwick Davis’ maniacal little monster wrought all sorts of havoc in Las Vegas. I absolutely said yes to ‘Leprechaun 4’, which shifts the setting to the far-flung reaches of space in what’s essentially a no-budget, tongue-in-cheek remake of ‘Aliens’. Woe upon me, however, for I said yes to ‘Leprechaun in the Hood’. I should be all over a movie with a rapping leprechaun, a joint tainted with four-leaf clovers, and a magic flute that’s the gateway to hip-hop stardom, but it’s so much more laughless, boring and forgettable than a movie titled ‘Leprechaun in the Hood’ has any right to be. I refused to subject myself to more of the same in ‘Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood’, and the same goes for the all-but-leprechaun-less reboot ‘Leprechaun: Origins’. Still, ‘Leprechaun 4: In Space’ is one of my all-time camp favorites, and I’ll probably wind up with the complete ‘Leprechaun’ box set on Blu-ray soon enough.

There are franchises where I’ll wade through all sorts of dreck to get to the good stuff. Although several of the ‘Friday the 13th‘ sequels are a struggle for me to get through, I’ll watch anything where a guy in a hockey mask (or a burlap sack, or not a guy at all) is hacking apart nubile twenty-somethings with a machete. ‘Jason Takes Manhattan’ and ‘Jason Goes to Hell’ in particular push my fandom to the breaking point, but I keep lining up to take that abuse year after year and on format after format.

Brian Hoss

Confession: I’m a reformed fan of the ‘Highlander‘ series. Back in the days of VHS and DVD, I collected all the different cuts and releases of the first three movies. I was fascinated by the six-season TV series and (in a different way) the animated series. I even went out of my way to watch both ‘Highlander: Endgame’ and ‘Highlander: The Search for Vengeance’. With ‘Endgame’, I bought the dual-cut DVD, watched both versions, and tried to decide how best to get rid of the set I had just bought.

Ultimately, I decided that the original movie was the only ‘Highlander’ Blu-ray for me. The rest is really just a series of curiosities and jokes. On the one hand, it’s great that pretty much every version of ‘Highlander 2’ was disregarded by latter sequels, but on the other hand, those sequels are all kinds of terrible and don’t even have vintage Sean Connery to prop up the narrative.

Luke Hickman

Although I hate what Mike Newell did (or didn’t do) with ‘The Goblet of Fire’, I’m a totally sucker for the ‘Harry Potter‘ franchise. I bought them on DVD all the way through ‘The Order of the Phoenix’ (my wife already had the first four on DVD when we got married), then I purchased the final three on Blu-ray, as well as picked up the original five on Blu-ray. Then, after the hype died down, I picked up the giant Hogwarts Collector’s Edition set when that appeared as Amazon’s Gold Box deal. We gave away the DVDs long ago, but still have the individual Blu-ray releases and use those discs as loaners when friends ask to borrow them.

There are a few franchises that I’ve given up on and started selectively picking up the titles. I quit buying the ‘Iron Man‘ movies when ‘Iron Man 3’ turned out to be a major stinker. I’m still up in the air about whether I’ll pick up ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, which is a horrible blend of Michael Bay and the third ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie, when it hits video.

Josh Zyber

Like some of our other contributors, I’m a total sucker for the James Bond franchise. I unreservedly love and can endlessly rewatch all the Bond films, even the bad ones. I feel similarly about the ‘Star Trek‘ movies. Even though some entries like ‘Insurrection’ and ‘Into Darkness’ strain my patience, I’ll surely watch them again from time to time.

Some franchises I feel obligated to complete just for the sake of doing so. I own all the ‘Harry Potter‘ movies on Blu-ray, but cannot possibly foresee a time when I’ll voluntarily watch the first two Chris Columbus entries ever again.

The ‘Alien‘ saga falls into a gray area. I have the Anthology collection of the first four movies, all of which I love, but don’t consider either of the ‘AvP’ crossovers or the horrid ‘Prometheus’ to be part of the same franchise. I exclude those from consideration.

Die Hard‘ breaks my heart. I’m glad to own the first four movies (yes, I even like ‘Live Free or Die Hard’), but ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’ is so terrible that I refuse to acknowledge its existence. I will never own that one.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is becoming a problem. I’ve dutifully purchased most of the movies, even importing fancy SteelBook editions from overseas, only for some entries like ‘Iron Man 3’ and ‘Thor 2’ to sit on my shelf still unwatched. The first ‘Captain America’ movie bored me so senseless that I can’t bring myself to own it, which is awkward because it means that the sequel is sitting all by itself mixed in with the rest of the Marvel productions.

Are you a completist collector for any movie franchises? Tell us in the Comments.

55 comments

  1. Lord Bowler

    I’m a completist for many series. It’s a really, really bad movie for me not to collect them all, like A Good Day to Die Hard was… It’s the only one I don’t own and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

    I own all of the James Bond movies (including the non-canon Bonds).
    All of the Star Wars movies (including the prequels).
    Star Trek (including Nemesis).
    Alien (Including the Alien Vs. Predator films)
    I own the complete boxed sets of Robocop, Leprechaun and others I can’t recall at the moment.

    I only own Highander 1 and 2, but I do own the Highlander TV Series. The last Highlander film was terrible. I upgraded with the Highlander 1 & 2 2-Disc Blu-Ray package.

      • William Henley

        I’ll take it a bit futher – “Crystal Skull” is better than “Temple of Doom” or “Nemesis” or “Insurrection” or “Final Frontier”

        • Crystal Skull is better than Temple of Doom, wow, I still havent figured out what the hate is for Temple of Doom, I’ve always felt its the quintessential Indiana Jones movie, its a crazy underground Temple with dangers, gore and action….besides the fun trolley car scene being impossible, its been my favorite in the series for a long time, Crystal Skull and Shia swinging around with monkeys is worse than anything in Temple of Doom.

          • William Henley

            Raiders and Last Crusade feel like they were made for adults. Crystal Skull feels like it was made for 13 year olds. Temple feels like it was made for 8 year olds. I never saw Temple growing up, and was probably 23 before I saw it for the first time. So that is where my dislike comes from. I can’t vouch for everyone else.

            I’m not crazy about Crystal Skull either, but its better than the other movies I listed, in my opinion.

  2. Chris B

    Brett Ratner’s ungodly X-men 3: The Last Stand is an unequivocal deal-breaker, it will never EVER find a home on my shelf.

    • William Henley

      You know, I don’t get the dislike for this film. It is not nearly as good as any of the other X-Men films, but I still think its a good movie

      • As a stand alone action flick, I can agree with you, but it ruined SO much about the franchise….destroyed the Phoenix story line, killed Cyclops OFF FREAKING SCREEN, blew up Charles….yeah it was a complete mess as an X-Men movie but I dont mind watching it either….really glad First Class and Days of Future Past have course corrected things 🙂

        • Chris B

          I’m happy to, but it’s
          kind of weird that in correcting the wrongs of X3, the filmakers have completely invalidated The Wolverine? All of the events in that movie have been erased now, it exists in a weird alternate pocket universe. How are they supposed to make a sequel to it? It’s strange….

          • William Henley

            That seems to be how Marvel movies go too, though. The events in one movie have no effect on the other movies in the marvel universe unless it is to make a joke or used as a plot device.

  3. EM

    Definitely not a completist. Friends have commented that my collection was “missing” this franchise entry or that, to which I’ve replied they were not missing since I had all the entries I wanted. Yes, I have acquired Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein without wanting the original Frankenstein. Yes, I do want Star Trek #s 1, 2, 3, and 5 without getting 4 and 6 (though I later acquired those two in a six-movie set whose original theatrical version of 1 was the chief draw). I happen to be picky and idiosyncratic that way.

  4. Hannibal Rising will never be in my collection.
    I love the George Romero Living Dead Series but despised Survival of the Dead. I draw the line with horseback riding zombies.
    All James Bond movies are awesome even when they’re bad.
    I don’t know why I own Robocop 3 and I’ll probably never watch it again, yet I can’t seem to part with it.

    • I have Silence of the Lambs, Red Dragon and both seasons of TV’s Hannibal on Blu-ray, but I’m not about to add Hannibal Rising either. Along with that, I don’t even want Ridley Scott’s Hannibal. I have a DVD version of it somewhere, but that entry is one worth forgetting too.

      • I don’t hate the Hannibal movie, but the bluray for it is a waste. I bought it with the Hannibal set on Black Friday and it looks like an unconverted dvd… Very disappointing. I always look forward to Ridley Scott blu releases because they look so damn good. I’m a big fan of his visual style. The Manhunter bluray, however, looks pretty damn great.

  5. Scott

    I stopped buying Pirates of the Caribbean after the first one. IMO that series when way downhill way fast!

  6. Bolo

    If I remember a series as being mostly good and the box set is cheaper and takes up less space than buying each entry individually, I will usually buy the box set package. It’s fun to revisit many of these old series. With some of these series, I’ll revisit a series and find my opinions on certain entries have changed. Frequently my harsher opinions have softened over time.

    For example: I remember thinking Lethal Weapon 3 was really crappy at the time, and although it’s still definitely the weakest in the series, it’s actually kinda fun.

    I found the same thing with Rocky V, it’s certainly a weaker entry, but it didn’t really bother me when I watched it recently. Strangely, the last time I watched the Rocky movies, I found Rocky II to be the worst in the series. I didn’t remember it being so boring.

    On the other hand, Dirty Harry 5: The Dead Pool was even worse than I remembered it being as a kid. What a terrible end to an otherwise great series.

  7. Nathan

    Ocean’s 12 is so horrible that it almost wrecks the entire trilogy for me. For the “completionist” in me, I bought it anyway.

    I bought Prison Break: Season 1 after renting the first disc from Netflix years ago. I loved the show, and wanted to catch up before season 2 aired on TV. What a turd of a show that became! So, I have season 1 and nothing else.

    • Lord Bowler

      I actually liked Season 4, when it morphed into a team of specialized break-in artists. Was fun to watch, and thankfully they wrapped up the series.

      Season 3 was the low point of the series.

  8. Dane

    I don’t think I’m a completionist, but if I do love a franchise enough then I love every movie in it, even if they’re not great. Trek, Star Wars and Bond are definitely in this category. I love all those movies, even the bad ones like Phantom Menace and View to a Kill.

    Other series I don’t love as much I do pick and choose. Marvel is the best example, I love the Captain America movies (yes both of them) and the Iron Man movies, and Guardians is fun, but the rest I don’t really like, including Avengers which I think is boring blockbuster stupidity. I don’t feel the need to own them all.

    I do however feel like if you love an early and later entry you kind of have to own the middle one so the story makes sense on the shelf. Ocean’s 12 is a great example here, as is X-Men: The Last Stand. If Bourne 4 is good and relies on the Renner spinoff to some extent I will probably get the Renner movie, but right now I am happy with the trilogy set.

    In short we’re all weird and it all kind of depends!

  9. Bill

    My BD collections include:
    – All Star Wars
    – All Star Trek Movies including the reboots
    – All Raiders/Indiana Jones
    – All LOTR (Extended Ed. only)
    – All Hobbit (Extended. Expect to add final movie this fall if it is released (heard an upsetting rumour recently at a chat site))
    – All Jurassic Park (I even like Number 3)
    – Classic 2001 & not so classic 2010
    – Terminator 1 – 4
    – BBC`s Planet Earth
    – All Matrix
    – The Prisoner TV Series (only TV series I own)

    RE: Potter – I should consider them but I doubt if I would ever watch them more than once
    RE: Bond – Too many films. I think I’d get bored
    RE: Marvel – Never have gone for super powered humans. Pass ….

    Finally:
    Would like the BBC to release a Blue Ray set of Kenneth Clark`s art-history series, Civilization. It was shot in 35 mm. so it should look amazing in high definition.

        • William Henley

          I’m holding out on the Extended Editions of The Hobbit until I can get it in 4k 3D 48fps. The 3D original editions are fine for me

          • William Henley

            🙂 Not yet – I’m house hunting right now, television will be first thing I buy after moving in. Got to have cash for down payment, and getting something on credit would affect credit score

      • Bill

        The studio is seriously considering not releasing the extended edition on BD but only on digital (streaming/download). I consider it to be unlikely but given the rapid drop off of BD releases this year it is possible.

        • They better not do that, I dont think thats going to be well received AT ALL and I wouldnt be buying it and for that I would actually write WB a letter/email about how disappointed I am with them, will definitely make my voice heard on that one, you cant release the first two and not the second. Plus I really hate digital, I’m not supporting that at all until I’m forced to but thats what those bastards did with the Friday the 13th set too, unrated cut of Jason Goes to Hell on digital only, they obviously own the rights so why not just slap it on the disc?? It makes no sense at all and its a stupid move, if I’m paying that kind of money (usually the $30-$40 range for the 3D extended addition) I better be getting everything on Bluray, I’m not paying that kind of money to download a crappy digital copy

          • William Henley

            I like the idea of like a digital backup, like a disk with an Ultraviolet code. I had a fire a little over a year ago, and lost all my physical media, so my digital library was a blessing. On the flip side, a couple of movies I BOUGHT (that is, NOT Ultraviolet, but actual purchases) have disappeared. I am thinking it was one of the Tinkerbell movies.

            So yeah, I want the disc, but I want a digital backup as well

          • C.C. 95

            I buy an OBSCENE amount of physical media every year, and I believe that trying to go fully digital is the studios gambit to wrest (true) ownership away from the viewer. (Once they control your library in the cloud- they can change the rules whenever they please.)
            If they do try to eliminate physical media (for which I have voted for with my dollars) Torrenting will explode even further.
            It is amazing that in their short sightedness they didn’t realize that going digital created this mass piracy. It’s all ones and zeros that can be uploaded and downloaded quickly. If it was still film- pirates would be relagated to camcorder recordingss off screens again. But with digital- a USB rip off a DCP and all that “saved money” from going digital is now millions lost with a few mouse clicks.
            They made their bed. In the long run, digital is going to cost them more money.
            Irony.

          • William Henley

            Good point, CC. I am not going to name the movie, but there was an independant film released last year that I was really looking forward to seeing, yet it was only shown theatrically in a handfull of cities, and then it was released for digital download, but it was only released on a service that no only was I not a member of, I couldn’t figure out how to do a purchase on that site. I think the reason it was released on this site is because it was independant and not a studio, they didn’t have distribution agreements with any of the big sites. After several times trying to purchase it, I gave up and was considering torrenting the movie. They finally released the movie on Blu-Ray, but did a limited pressing and the movie sold out within two hours. They then wisely started taking preorders for a second pressing, and I finally was finally able to buy the movie, but they still didn’t press enough – I actually have lent that movie out to several people because they were not able to get copies of it.

          • Yep, I’ll gladly torrent movies and shows if everything goes digital, I’m not paying what they charge to have a fake copy that I can stream any time, I dont own anything, paying $50 or more for a season of a show to not have anything in my hands? People just arent picking up on what is happening, yeah its convenient and easy but you dont own anything. I think my purchases will almost stop once this happens, I’ll gladly wait for Netflix or something to get it because I simply will not pay for a digital copy that isnt mine and resides somewhere where I dont live or control or have ANY power over what so ever. I already quit purchasing music and just use premium spotify for all of my listening needs, so I’ll be sticking the spotifys of the movie/show world like Netflix if movies go all digital. Not to mention my data caps, I simply cant sustain the physical movies I purchase on the bandwidth cap I’m already using up every month

    • Damn Bill – for the most part your list matches mine.
      I on the other hand do like most of the Bond movies, but have not collected them all.

    • Lord Bowler

      I actually really enjoyed Jurassic Park 3. The second one was the really bad one… It did a have a few good moments, but the ending killed it for me.

      Looking forward to Jurassic World.

      • If you delete the scene where the raptors snap Mr. Udesky’s neck and then later on the whole egg ceremony, the movie becomes much, much better. Part 2 is definitely the worst, although still enjoyable. I’m stoked for the new one. My only worries are with the raptors again. I can almost see a Lassie like sequence between them and Chris Pratt.

  10. Marty McFly

    I was as happy as a pig in muck when the Back To The Future trilogy was released on Blu Ray, now THAT is a collection. It included everything and more, old stuff, new stuff, things that were only seen on TV. So many times I hate it when a box set comes out and they leave things out. For me, the BTTF box set was the gold medal winner for me. To even include the BTTF ride footage in it’s completeness, from the queue video to the ride itself, what a dream! Now all I need is the for the animated series to be re-released and I am in pizza-faced heaven!

    • Chris B

      I was happy to, just kinda dissapointed with the packaging. It was basically a standard blu-ray case in a sleeve. They coulda done some super-cool gatefold thing with clocktower in the background etc. Just seemed like a missed opportunity.

      • frankie

        Disappointed here too. A gate fold thingy with the clock tower in the background or maybe the discs packaged inside of a replica flux capacitor would have been totally awesome. The missed opportunity keeps me up at nights.

    • William Henley

      Completely agree, the addition of the ride and some of the “Making of” tv specials was awesome! If it had the Back To The Future cartoon series, it would have been perfect.

  11. Chris B

    There’s not a ton of franchises I’m a completist about, but there’s a few directors whom I buy everything from.

  12. William Henley

    Well, a movie series I broke up with is the Alien franchise. I actually made a conscience effort NOT to buy the anthology because I could not stand the idea of giving ANY money to Alien 3. I bought the first two movies and Prometheus in stand-alone packaging.

    The Bond movies I picked up because I got a great deal, but I could do without any of the Craig movies. I am roughly half-way through the set now – it has been on hold since January because my buddy that I am working through the series with and I have had conflicting schedules. Hoping to maybe start back up this week, I am completely free, and he should have no excuses this week

    I got the Twilight movies on a great deal, but I really only like the third movie. The first one isn’t as bad as I remember it, not after reading the books (significantly better than the movies). I think the reason I liked the first movie better after reading the books is that I realize what they were going for – when I first saw the movies, I thought of the characters as very flat and one-dimensional, but after reading the books, I realize they are all told first-person perspective, as told by Bella, who is a suicidally-depressed teenage girl, so she never takes the time to know anyone other than Edward and Alice. If you go back and watch the first movie with that in mind, you can see what they were going for,

    Star Wars – I like episodes 3-6, just don’t care for 1 and 2. But completionist tells me to have them all.

    Jurassic Park – I would not even have 2 and 3 if it wasn’t for a great deal on a boxed set

    Harry Potter – don’t like movies 4-5 – usually skip them.

    Star Trek – HATE movies 2, 8-10, but I must have them all. (Yes, I HATE First Contact and Wrath of Khan)

    Superman – if it wasn’t for the boxed set, I would just have 1 and the Richard Donnar cut of 2, and Superman Returns

    Batman – I broke with collecting the series after Batman Begins. I do have BB because I really like it, but I do not have Nolan’s 2 and third films.

    • Wow, someone who’s a Trek fan hates the two most favored in the series? Gotta say you have some weird tastes man 🙂 I cant imagine not liking Wrath of Khan and First Contact if you are a Trek follower, that just boggles my mind because youre the first person I’ve ever run into that has said that 🙂

      • William Henley

        I think my issue is those two Treks were more action, and I am a more geeky sci-fi fan (I like the science, the exploration, etc). The episodes with the Borg were some of my least favorite episodes, my favorites were episodes like Phantasms, Dark Page, Force of Nature, All Good Things, Inner Light, The Pegasus, Parallels, Relics, Time’s Arrow, Realm of Fear, Rascals, Ship In a Bottle, Tapestry, Frame of Mind, Cause and Effect, Imaginary Friend, City on the Edge of Tomorrow, Tomorrow is Yesterday, etc. As far as the movies, I LOVED Generations, Undiscovered Country, The Voyage Home and The Motion Picture, in that order.

        My favorite overall series is Enterprise (although I will admit that most of the first season is weak)

        It all depends on what you are looking for in Trek. The Trek universe is large enough that you can call yourself a Trekkie and have a completely different list of favorites than someone else.

        Shoot, while not my favorites, I LIKE Final Frontier and Spock’s Brain

        • EM

          I enjoyed First Contact—I saw it twice in the theater—but it was merely a popcorn movie.

          My favorite Trek movie is either The Motion Picture or The Wrath of Khan. TMP—sort-of the 2001 of Trek—is a (mostly) mature exemplar of Big Ideas Star Trek, with its focus on philosophy, exploration, and overcoming deep differences. By comparison Khan is more of a popcorn fest; but it’s a superbly made popcorn fest with some philosophy and compelling characterization—a clear improvement on its precursor “Space Seed”, which I guess nodded at concepts such as tyranny or superiority by birthright or something but was mostly just an action episode with an especially charismatic and memorable antagonist.

          The Borg had their good and their bad. Given your stated standards, I’m surprised you would pooh-pooh their introduction in “Q Who?”, which showcased the exploration and speculative-science side of Trek. “I, Borg” played strongly to Trek’s humanism. But most Borg appearances (not counting Seven of Nine’s run as a regular character on Voyager) merely set them up as a great menace and aren’t especially interesting.

          Not wanting to argue, I’ll not comment on Enterprise.

          I, too, like “Spock’s Brain”, much as I like Plan 9 From Outer Space. And Final Frontier, though it has its problems, is a fun romp that earnestly addresses Big Ideas in the Great Bird tradition.

          • William Henley

            I forget about Q Who a lot – I am not big on the early seasons of The Next Generation, but Q Who is pretty good. I Borg is interesting, but I would not put it up there in my favorites. Actually, the one episode I cannot stand is the one that probably deals with humanity and philosophy more than any other episode, and that is The Measure of a Man. I am bored to tears by that episode, yet many regard it as one of the greatest Trek episodes ever made.

            I liked Seven, but I wouldn’t say every episode she was in was a Borg episode. She was a great character (other than just pretty eye candy) because you have so much to work with in character development – someone kidnapped and robbed of her humanity as a young child, years of trauma, to as an adult have her new “family” ripped away from her and trying to adapt back to being human – at some times rejecting it quite vocally.

            On the other hand, the Borg were a great enemy in the video games. Elite Forces is probably one of my favorite Trek games ever.

            I’ m not saying that I hate the Borg, just that they are some of my least favorite episodes. At least in The Next Generation – they came up, kicked the crap out of everyone, then disappeared for a season or two. In Voyager, they were dealt with more often, and were a more constant threat, which lead a lot to the upgrades on Voyager. As you saw them more often, they started fleshing out the race a bit more, their history, and such, which lead to the Borg becoming a much more interesting enemy, rather than the “enemy / alien of the week” that they were in TNG. A battle with the Borg in Voyager could have reprocussions that would last weeks or months or seasons in Voyager whereas in TNG, you knew everything would be good again in the next episode. You saw the same thing with Deep Space Nine. As such, DS9 and Voyager and Enterprise dealt better with enemies and wars with their arching story lines, wereas as most TNG episodes were self-contained, they did better with exploration / psychology / exploration of humanity.

          • EM

            I agree: “Measure of a Man” is overrated. The themes are interesting, but I find the episode too contrived and too much on the nose.

            Not only did Seven have a lot of dramatic potential, but she and Tuvok were the crewmembers who made the most sense to me.

            The Borg were a great menace—at first. Constant defeat did dull much of their luster.

            While Trek has produced some interesting arcs, I feel the various series, especially DS9 and Enterprise, went overboard in churning out mythology soap opera. When a series becomes a long-form treatise on Klingon politics or Cardassian politics or Suliban politics or whatever, it slips away from being about the human condition (even in alien dressing) and becomes narcissistic.

  13. Nathan

    Friday the 13th: I love parts 1 to 4 but then from 5 onwards I have a love hate relationship with them, although, none of them are as bad as the truly terrible 2009 Michael Bay reboot. I only own parts 1 to 3 on Blu-ray but that because the rest have still to be released in England. I also have the reboot but it sits unwatched, I can’t see me buying the 2009 film ever again but the rest will be. My favourite is Friday the 13th Part 3: 3D.

    Halloween: same situation as the Friday’s I despise the Rob Zombie films i own both of them on blue ray but the sit unwatched and won’t be bought again, I have the original and parts 4 and 5, the rest have still to be released in England, my favourite is Halloween H20: 20 Years Later prior to the Zombie films I really hated 5 but it’s a breeze to sit through compared to either Zombie film. I will own all of these in the future but as for the Zombie films it’s good riddance.

    A Nightmare On Elm Street: I have owned all of these on DVD and Blu-ray but I really don’t care for Freddy at all, My favourite is Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare I also like Freddy VS. Jason which is the only reason I have the Freddy’s, I actually find all his films pretty boring but I can’t part with them. I really do love Freddy’s Dead though but it was only available in the box set so I ended up with them all on Blu-ray I may just get Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare and Freddy VS. Jason in future.

    Scream: I love all of the except Scream 4 I will probably end up with all of them again because despite my hatred for Scream 4 I just can’t let go. I’m looking forward to the TV series, My favourite is Scream 3 which is odd because people tend to hate that one.

    Child’s Play: I absolutely hate Seed Of Chucky, what a joke of a film it was, as for the others I will continue to buy them. I’m stuck between 2 and Bride of Chucky as my favourite.

    Final Destination: I couldn’t stand The Final Destination I hated it with a passion at the time, however, it has since grown on me and 5 more than made up for it. I will continue to own all of them.

    I like I Know What You Did Last Summer and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer but can’t stand I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer

    I like all three Urban Legends
    I like all three Mummy’s(Brendan Frasier)

    Jurassic Park: I don’t really care for The Lost Word: Jurassic Park but I can’t seem to part with it. I love III though which is odd because people usually hate it, I hope Jurassic World rocks.

    Alien: if you include the VS. movies then I can honestly say I won’t be buying AvP: Requiem ever again what a terrible film, I really enjoy the original AvP: Alien VS. Predator as for the Aliens, Resurrection is my favourite followed by Prometheus the rest of them are all on the same line I watch them but not very often none of them are as bad as Requiem though and I will probably buy all of them again.

    Hannibal: I hated Hannibal Rising but I will happily buy the other three again, Hannibal is my favourite.

    The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: I always hated Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III but it’s since grown on me as has The Next Generation, I can’t remember anything of The Beginning and I haven’t ever owned it either but I would like to, I was one of few that also liked Texas Chainsaw 3D I think I will probably get them again.

    I like both Ghostbusters

    Puppet Master: I haven’t seen all of them but I won’t be getting Curse of the Puppet Master or Puppet Master for that matter I like Puppet Master 2 out of the ones I have seen Puppet Master 3 is also rubbish I would like to see all the ones I haven’t seen before but 1,3 & 6 won’t be back.

    Tremors: I can’t seem to part with Tremors 3: Back to Perfection or Tremors 4: The Legend Begins I like Tremors and Tremors 2: Aftershocks though, I hope Tremors 5: Bloodline is well made and better than 3 & 4 it’s out this fall. I will more than likely get all of them again.

    Pirates of the Caribbean: I liked two more than one and hated three altogether four was worse than three but I own the first three on Blu-ray I never bothered getting four, I will see five when it happens but I don’t think I will be getting them again.

    LOST: I loved this show but the 5th season was terrible it lost me altogether I never bothered watching the 6th season and I still haven’t seen it, all six season are on my shelf in Blu-ray form but I can’t remember much from season one to five so I plan to buy them again on Ultra HD Blu-ray and sell my current copies. I hated the 5th season so much that I bought the 6th season pre owned for £6 and never watched it, depending on how long it takes for them to be released in 4K I may give it another go.

  14. HelenB

    LOTR (Blu – extended)
    Alien Anthology (Blu)
    Indiana Jones (Blu)
    Jurassic Park
    Bond
    Planet of the Apes (Blu)
    Star Wars (Blu)
    The Godfather Collection (Blu)
    Harry Potter series (Hd-Dvd for first 5 and Blu for the later ones)
    Toy Story 1, 2 & 3 (Blu)
    Back to the Future trilogy (Blu)
    The Civil War (Ken Burns)
    Apocalypse Now, includes Apocalypse Now Redux and Hearts of Darkness. (Blu)
    The Complete Thin Man Collection
    Shrek the whole story (Blu)

    TV:
    Planet Earth (Hd-DVD)
    Blue Planet
    Life of Birds
    The National Parks: Americas Best Idea
    The West Wing
    The Wire
    Lost (Blu)
    Lonesome Dove, Dead Man Walking, Streets of Laredo, Comanche Moon
    The Twilight Zone
    China Beach
    Six Feet Under
    Band of Brothers (Blu)
    The Pacific (Blu)
    The X-Files
    Northern Exposure
    Connections
    Firefly
    My So Called Life
    Sports Night
    Ugly Betty
    Friday Night Lights
    Saving Grace
    The Sopranos
    I, Claudius
    The Jewel in the Crown
    Rich Man, Poor Man
    Shogun
    Rome

    Will complete someday:
    Game of Thrones
    Downton Abbey
    Treme
    Boardwalk Empire

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