By Jadyn Buccilli
Staff Writer
Something that people in many fandoms likely relate to is the annoyance of their media of choice dragging on for a little too long. Whether it is a show that should have ended after a couple of seasons or a perfectly good movie being ruined by a sequel or a prequel, the problem of franchises refusing to die seems to be a common issue. More than that, it seems that this issue is becoming increasingly less avoidable as time goes on.
Disney is definitely one of the worst offenders of this practice. With the D23 Expo recently taking place in August of this year, a large portion of their entertainment announcements came with unnecessary sequels.
Some of these sequels include “The Next Simpsons Movie,” “The Princess Diaries 3,” “Zootopia 3,” “Coco 2” and “Incredibles 3.” This does not even include the announcement of a sequel to the live action “Lilo and Stitch,” even though the animated franchise already includes multiple sequels.
Disney and Pixar have been having a consistent issue of making sequels and live action remakes of pre-existing franchises instead of creating new ideas. A viral TikTok from Pixar seems to address this issue. After the original movie “Elio” was a failure in the box office, the company decided to point fingers at the consumers instead of taking any sort of accountability.
“Stop complaining that Disney doesn’t make original stories if you don’t show up to movie theaters and support them in the first place,” Reba Nora, the woman in the TikTok, states as she is looking away. She then faces forward, acting surprised while saying, “Oh my God, who said that?”
I think that while that video was created over a year ago, is a mentality that many companies are beginning to uphold, and it is apparent in the things that are being released now and in the future. DreamWorks is one that immediately comes to mind, with the fifth “Shrek” movie reportedly scheduled for release next year.
While the examples I have listed are all movies, this idea carries over into TV series as well. As someone who frequently watches Netflix, two shows immediately come to mind with this issue: “Cobra Kai” and “Stranger Things.”
Both of the shows above I would consider myself a fan of. I adore how both shows reference the 1980s, and there are some terrific characters in them that I still enjoy to this day. However, both of these shows have had the problem of not knowing when it’s time to stop.
“Cobra Kai” is already a series based on the “Karate Kid” movies, but it worked since it was mainly focused on the antagonist Johnny’s perspective decades after the events in the first film. Without giving too many spoilers, the show by its sixth season was entirely different from how it started.
A show that is supposed to be about children’s karate dojos having a rivalry became a show where multiple characters were either seriously hurt or killed in some of the most outrageous and unrealistic ways. Those who watched the second-to last episode of the show hopefully know what I am talking about.
“Stranger Things” was even worse in my opinion. Since the main cast of the show is supposed to be predominantly children, I feel like the days that this show had to continue were already numbered. All of the actors from the original child cast are older than me by at least a couple of years, yet the show is trying to tell us they are still in high school or even middle school. “Cobra Kai” also had children in the cast, but the time in between seasons was less, and since the principal characters were in high school, the difference was less drastic.
Both shows also had a problem with releasing their later seasons in parts, which makes me lose interest even more. As a matter of fact, I stopped watching “Stranger Things” after part two of their final season because of how exhausted I was with how long the show dragged on. The season was so rough that some devoted fans of the show made up a theory that the ending was not real, calling it the “Conformity Gate.”
I understand that it is hard to say goodbye to a franchise. I always get sad when a show I enjoy reaches its finale, or when I realize that the story of a movie I love will not continue. However, I admire when franchises know when to stop before it becomes something that I want to end, rather than me mourning it.
