10 Film Franchises That Successfully Recovered From Awful Entries

The Awful Entry – All Odd-Numbered Entries & Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

There is a line in Spaced, Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes cult Channel 4 sitcom that aired in 1999 and 2000, where Pegg’s character exclaims ‘as sure as day follows night, as sure as every odd-numbered Star Trek movie is s**t’ to make a point. The statement was undoubtably true – the Wrath Of Khan (II), The Voyage Home (IV), The Undiscovered Country (VI) and First Contact (VIII) were all amazing films, in stark contrast to the duds in between them.

The pattern was broken when Nemesis (X), which was released after Spaced, was as bad as its odd-numbered counterparts and seemingly consigned the crew of the Enterprise to cinematic limbo indefinitely.

Just seven years later, however, the franchise was rebooted and redeemed by J.J. Abrams with Star Trek XI, released without the roman numeral to disassociate it from everything that came before. Recasting the iconic cast with new faces (including Pegg, ironically enough), he crafted a story that blended action, humour, incredible special effects and likable characters that were no longer one-dimensional parodies of their former selves.

Expectations were high for Into Darkness, the sequel that had a noticeable drop off in overall quality (largely owing to the predictability and monotony of its major twist) but was still a serviceable affair. Abrams was then inclined to defect to Star Wars, leaving the third part of the trilogy in the hands of Justin Lin to wrap up enjoyably enough.