The Best Movie Trilogies...EVER

Well I'm back with a little bit of inspiration. Tonight, I'll grace you with my first list: The Best Movie Trilogies...EVER! What you need to keep in mind with any list I make is the following: 1. This is totally my opinion and nothing more. It can't ever be fact and quite frankly, I'm prone to be against your own opinion. That's fine, cause this isn't your blog :) 2. I have not and likely never will experience everything necessary to thoroughly create such lists because I'm either not interested in doing so or haven't the time. Either way, don't expect me to have seen every movie or read every book. 3. If you actually agree with anything I say, you will automatically become a better person for it. At least in my judging eyes.

Now then we have 3 major criteria for this list and they are - Longevity, Impact, and Creative Universe. With that said, let's get on with it, dammit! The Best Movie Trilogies...EVER!

8. Pirates Of The Caribbean
Longevity: Being of the newest trilogies on the block, it doesn't fare well here yet. But when you consider the ride it's based on has existed for decades, in a few theme parks, that's saying something. Especially today where all kinds of classic theme park rides are ripped out and replaced with something "new".

Impact: The ride itself had great impact in entertainment. As for the films, they marked easily the best pirate films in years. May not be saying much but considering the number of ones that were unwatchable, it means more than you think. It also reminded everyone of the talent of Johnny Depp, who for the first time actually revisited a character, one he clearly perfected and had steal the show. It's made a strong impact in our culture today, but we'll have to see what affect it has years from now. Also caused the rides to be revamped to include the movie's characters and stories.

Creative Universe: Its biggest marks are here, using a mere theme park ride, though popular one at that, to create an entire trilogy. And yet, manage to at least make passing links back to the ride in each film, hard to do for sure. What was most impressive wasn't the fun characters created, but the amount of pirate lore the films explored. Undead curses on treasures, Davy Jones and his locker, the dead man's chest, the goddess Callisto, etc. Pulling something out of nothing has always been the Disney trick of the trade.

7. The Terminator
Longevity: This is still one of the newer trilogies, not being completed until a few years ago. That said, it started back in the 80s and thus had some time to be digested before each new film. The original Terminator may or may not have stood the test of time, but T2 most certainly has, of course it's only 15 years old.

Impact: Terminator has made a huge impact on Arnold Swlagawlhoihagohag's career (hell no I'm not looking up that name). More than that, T2 made both a huge impact on the career of James Cameron who went on to win an oscar for Titanic, and for special effects in the creation of the T1000 liquid metal terminator, a sight to see in 1992. It has also spawned a theme park ride and this January, a regular television series.

Creative Universe: To be frank, it's not the most creative universe one might imagine. Robots take control of us in the future dystopia. Certainly done to death in books. It had established some basic characters, the Conners, and their race to stop Judgement Day, which it turns out is inevitable. This at the least is a very nice twist we don't learn until the end of the third movie. The creativity of each terminator has been interesting, from the basic cyborg model, liquid metal, and a blend of the two who can control other machines. Maybe the more interesting aspect was that time travel was a one way trip with no way back.

6. X-Men
Longevity: Another recently completed trilogy, the focus on this moreso needs to be on the comics, which have been around for 40 some years. On top of that, they are the best selling comic books of all time, beating out Superman, Batman, and all others that existed years before. Impressive for sure, and it took until 2000 before a viable film could be created.

Impact: The X-Men in general have had a huge impact on comics and some other media. They were intentionally designed to be "heroes" who were "hated and feared". The mantra at marvel became making characters more people could relate to, since they felt DC characters they grew up with like Batman and Superman, while cool and fun, were not identifiable in the least. Not many invulnerable aliens or super rich martial arts detectives around. As for movies, while comic book movies surely existed before this, X-Men began a wave of comic book movies that exists still 7 years later, a successful "fad". Most especially beginning the Marvel films, and though while started with Blade, this was the first truly comic book identified movie of the time, after Superman and Batman had been ruined by studios. X-Men ushered in a time that said special effects could bring to life just about any character from the comics and the stories could in fact be done justice.

Creative Universe: Let's not mess around here, it's the X-Men. There's 40 years of stories to work with and characters out the wazoo. It's virtually unlimited. The movies did not follow direct plots but had their own way with them while keeping mostly true, at least until the Phoenix Saga was tackled, something the last film wasn't really capable of handling in the least. But for sure, the first 2 films proved that such a diverse universe could be put to celluloid.

5. Spider-Man
Longevity: Pretty much that of X-Men, as long as Stan Lee's Marvel has been around, these two have flourished. This is also a recently completed trilogy but it will likely stand the test of time, even better than the X-Men trilogy will.

Impact: Spider-Man has had tremendous impact on comics, general youths, television and more. Even before the films he was considered an iconic character. The films simply spread that around and made him one of the most popular superheroes ever. They were also some of the most successful films ever made.

Creative Universe: Again like X-Men, ridiculous amount of characters and stories to draw from. Spider-Man 3 may have overindulged itself on these, but it just goes to show there's still far more to explore with this one. For the most part, the films were rather faithful to the stories behind it. Certain changes were made, usually for the best.

4. Indiana Jones
Longevity: It remains one of the most well loved adventure series ever made, though not a terribly old trilogy per se, one of the older ones on this list. It is such that a 4th film is slated for next year, but for now we won't let that detract from the original trilogy of films, as that one is clearly far separated from the rest and will be judged differently.

Impact: It helped return the idea of serialized adventure stories back to the big screen. Spielberg and Lucas, two of the biggest names in film, united to create a classic character and his amazing exploits. It has also spawned a tv series, theme park attractions, and now again, a return to the cinema.

Creative Universe: Indiana Jones felt like a living, breathing character that everyone loves. Educated, fun-loving, adventurous and being a part of some interesting historical finds. While the 2nd movie detracted from this a bit, it is the rare trilogy where the 1st and 3rd movies are considered the strongest points, which in fact helped keep it alive and spur the 4th film. The stories behind the Ark of the Covenant and Holy Grail held the audience's attention, and it always helped to have Nazis as villains. The addition of Indy's father played by Sean Connery only heightened the experience. Their world travels were always fun to watch, even if they were just red curves on a map.

3. Back To The Future
Longevity: These films from the 80s are considered "new classics", whatever that means. The point is, BTTF is still considered one of the more enjoyable set of films in recent cinema and quite possibly the best time travel movies ever made. Sure it may be easy to rise to the cream of that crop, but they are clearly a big earmark in the history major science fiction cinema.

Impact: Let's see, certainly put Robert Zemeckis, Michael J. Fox, and Christopher Lloyd on the map, if they weren't already along with Alan Silvestri's classic score. Spawned a cartoon and theme park rides that only this year have finally been shut down. The first film made such a big impact, the last two were shot back to back, something not common to sequels then. This practice (though I'm not sure if it was the first time done) was repeated with Pirates and the Matrix trilogies.

Creative Universe: A DeLorean that goes back in time? It flies too? Hoverboards, alternate universes, changing the past and the future, characters that appeared in different roles throughout time, going back to a scene from the last movie from a totally different perspective. Is that enough? How many trains do you know that fly and travel through time?

2. Star Wars Original Trilogy
Longevity: From 1977, from the words A Long, long time ago...nuff said. The series has been in the hearts and minds of everyone since then, love it or hate it. It has more than stood the test of the time by now, more than 30 years later. And clearly, it's not dying out anytime soon.

Impact: Wow, we don't even have the time. Suffice to say, it's spawned more things than I can hope to thing of, no question. Easily the most impactful trilogy ever made. It changed the way we looked at films, special effects, storytelling, and most of all, science fiction. Every space film since then has been influenced by it, nearly impossible not to be. People devote their entire lives to it, it's just that simple.

Creative Universe: Well the movies themselves were boundlessly creative. To include everything since then is unjust, a ridiculous amount of things have been born out of it. Let's just say when it came to science fiction, it was one of the most creative set of films ever. Simple as that.

1. Lord Of The Rings
Longevity: From 2001 to 2003, it was the biggest thing in movies. But that's not telling the whole story. This set of tales has survived the longest, more than 50 years and still going. It took until then for a faithful adaptation and yet the dream of it never died. That is saying something.

Impact: LOTR has had more impact to storytelling than most even know. The very idea that it had a huge impact on the #2 choice Star Wars should say a lot. When it comes to any fantasy story, all are compared to Tolkien in one way or another. He is the father of modern fantasy, that which all others are judged by. The films themselves took home a vast array of oscars, eventually netting Best Picture, which no other trilogy on this list can boast. They are seen as the most pristine and closest to flawless set of films one could conceive of from such an impossible to film book. Each film got better and never once had to settle for a lesser sequel. It was one continuous story, what every trilogy strives to be, this one achieved on every level.

Creative Universe: Most would think Star Wars would win this. That might be true in some senses, but LOTR has simply had far more time to build their world. And what a world, an endless set of creatives, races, lands, languages, weapons, cities, backstories, songs, simply the most in depth lore of any films on this list. Tolkien went to nearly insane levels to fashion this world. The very idea that he created a new language is astounding. Drew maps of Middle-Earth, wrote poems and songs about its history, described in every detail all of its trappings.

There you go. Don't agree? That's why it's my list and not yours. ^_^