All right. This one time I'll let you ask me about my affairs.

There are so many things wrong with Dos's post I don't know where to begin. Every trilogy has their weak links and problems. There is no denying that. Back to the Future is no exception. The first one is a great movie. The second one, while good, is far from perfect. And the third one, often boring and just feels like it is going through the motions. I am not going to spend this post talking about my favorite trilogy (The Godfather / Lord of the Rings / Star Wars). I have talked highly about them in other posts. I want to analyze what a perfect trilogy should be.

I think first and foremost, in order for a trilogy to be perfect, the cast must remain the same. Rotating actors take you out of the moment. The Godfather, rather than replacing Tom Hagen with a different actor, instead wrote him out of the script. Back to the Future, on the other hand, replaced Jennifer Parker and George McFly. I am not saying The Godfather trilogy is perfect, because lord knows Part III is a mess compared to the first two, but it had such strong characters that they could not be easily replaced by other actors.

A perfect trilogy has a complete story. An ending that bookends the first chapter. The Godfather certainly accomplishes this (as the ending is truly one of the best parts of the third movie) as does Lord of the Rings. It should also be noted that Lord of the Rings is ONE story. It is just so long that it has to be broken up into three parts. Back to the Future is a perfect stand alone story. But they tacked on the ending to set up a sequel that didn't necessarily need to happen. It felt like a cash grab to me. The ending of the third one as well didn't wrap everything up either as it ends with Doc's train converting into a hovertrain and departing for an unknown time. It feels as if they wanted to keep the door open for another entry in the series. I didn't feel the closure I wanted to like I did at the end of The Godfather and Lord of the Rings and even the Star Wars trilogy.

If I had to pick a favorite trilogy, I would have to say it is The Lord of the Rings. That is the most realized film trilogy and complete story. While I love The Godfather and the Godfather Part II, the story should have probably ended with the second one. Even though there are elements of the third I do love.

A perfect trilogy needs to have the complete story laid out in front of it before the first one is even made. Otherwise, you are just trying to continue to add on to something that might not need any adding on to (cough*back to the future*cough). Back to the Future is definitely in the top 10 of best trilogies though. This day and age a great trilogy is hard to come by as time passes another entry is added. There have been talks of more Godfather movies and even Back to the Future movies at some point. So enjoy your precious trilogies while you can before greedy Hollywood ruins it be adding and even more unnecessary 4th entry - Indiana Jones and Scream are some of the recent ones that come to mind.