Obviously, the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Mainly movies for me because I haven't read them. Extended editions, obviously.
But also, I adore the mass effect trilogy. Yeah, the rpg elements get gradually watered down, and the third ones ending isn't the best, but it's still an absolutely amazing Trilogy that I replay yearly. And it all came out in 5 years! Nowadays, single games have 5 years of dev time, at least. In my eyes, it's as perfect as it can be....Once it's been modded a bit.
Do yourself a favor and read the books
The movies are fine, they are top notch, but the books are from another fuckin world
I don't know.
So, I read the books. And they are very good. There is a reason that the series is so influential.
And there are definitely some things that I do not like about the movies. The shield-surfing, for example.
But as movie adaptations go, it is pretty darn faithful to the original. Like, I've seen a lot of movie adaptations where you're going to miss a lot of material if you don't do the books, but they kept all the significant stuff in. They streamlined it a little, and no Tom Bombadill, but I seriously think that it does a solid job of capturing the original.
Like, if there's any book or series where I think that watching the movie would get you a pretty good approximation of the material and still be a really good movie, Lord of the Rings has to be near the top.
I almost brought up the shield surfing 🙂. I decided not to. There were some little warts like that, and “I am no man” and etc, but overall the movies are awesome + about as faithful as you can get without making it into a miniseries that spans decades of production or something.
After watching the movies, I can't read the books any more. Tolkien was many things, he's great at world building and mythology, but storytelling is not among his greatest qualities.
I'm with you on this one.
Also, brackets in speech.
You've got be joking right? The most influential, most loved, most well regarded fantasy trilogy of all time is not a good story actually? I get that it wasn't your style for whatever reason but to call it bad storytelling is just asinine.
Is there anything else you'd like to insinuate I said that I didn't actually say?
Literally my first thought was “obviously, lord of the rings”. Opening the comments and seeing those exact words was strangely satisfying.
Video games, Movies, Books
It has 3 solid GameCube games
It has 3 soild movies
It has 3 solid books
There's a podcast somewhere where a guy narrates uses amazing voice acting and music to deliver the story and it's an absolute banger of a trilogy. One of the most magical experiences I've had. It's like watching the movies but longer, better paced and way more emotional connection to the characters.
The movies don't say what the people are thinking and the actors did a phenomenal job to convey it, but the book explicitly saying it is better.
Half Life.
...
...
...
...aaaaaaaany day now.
I‘d say Portal, but I guess we’re in the same boat.
It seems we are left for dead game series ):
You could say Portal Revolution is the third game (it's free direct from Steam, and while not wildly unique it will still have you scratch your noodle until you realize how obvious it is).
So I vote Portal in that case.
See also portal reloaded for new portal concept in time (like that one level from titanfall 2)
I thought you guys were meming with reloaded and revolution playing off the matrix, but now it seems I have some gaming to do this week
I haven't played it, but doesn't Half Life: Alyx effectively qualify?
It kind of falls out of there, being released out of order, and being VR-exclusive.
I mean Half Life 2 itself could be considered a trilogy
The Dollars Trilogy as it’s sometimes called. Italian westerns Fistful of Dollars, A Few Dollars More, The Good The Bad and the Ugly
Also called the Man With No Name trilogy.
Hitchhiker's Trilogy
If you mean The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, man, I have a completely different take.
I use that as one of two prime examples of a series that I love the first book of but steadily like less-and-less as the series goes on. The other example is Dune.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy starts out funny. Okay, yes, black humor, but it's funny. And it gets steadily less-pleasant and grimmer over the course of the series. I'm not really enjoying it towards the last book or so any more.
Maybe a third series would be the Calvin and Hobbes comics, though I don't know if you can call that a series. Late Calvin and Hobbes, if you've ever read through a complete compendium, is very rarely funny, just kind of unhappy and cynical. The early and mid stuff, by contrast, is my favorite comic.
EDIT: Well, at least Watterson did leave it on a positive note with the final comic:
I personally loved THGTTG from beginning to the end. To each their own :)
How to Train Your Dragon Trilogy.
I watched the first one on a ferry, and just hearing the title made me think it was going to be some nonsense. And then it was amazing.
Then they announced a second, and I was thinking what do they expect to do with this and then they gave something intensely heartwarming and heart wrenching. I found it better and deeper than the first.
And then the third. I don't think it was as clean as the other two, but it closed it off so beautifully I was bawling at the end. Absolutely perfect.
as a functional trilogy the Back to the Future film series is pretty high up there.
Great Scott!
Also, apparently it has an animated cartoon series. Just learned about that the other day
Animated series plus you could consider the Telltale Games BttF the fourth movie, as it was written by Gale and has most of the cast. (MJF makes a cameo, Biff's actor said his agent never contacted him)
There's no way you all didn't cry at the end of #3.
A movie can be bad and still make you cry.
Jack Frost anyone?
Click.
The movie Click made people cry?
Yeah it’s got a reputation for exactly this. It’s a terrible movie, but the ending is a completely stupid and unearned tearjerker.
The Phoenix Wright trilogy--the first three original GBA games/DS re-releases. They set up and develop so many arcs that pay off both within each game and across the entire trilogy. I would even go so far as to say that Phoenix Wright 3 is one of the best visual novel games of all time.
And the story is only one of many great things! The game art is gorgeous and the soundtrack is full of bangers that serve their purpose well to complement the story.
I love Ace Attorney.
I will argue House in Fata Morgana is the best visual novel of all time.
But then I will argue the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles 2 cases 3-5 are the greatest (hoo wee what a ride). If you can get through the slow pace of the rest of it it's worth it.
Otherwise I'll agree the Phoenix Wright trilogy is the ultimate power fantasy of seeing people in high places actually getting convicted of their crimes.
To add my own take, I think Umineko is actually the greatest visual novel. But DGS2 is a respectable choice.
Half-Life, Half-Life Opposing Force, Half-Life Blue Shift
The Star Wars trilogy.
Definitely not. I'm a huge fan of the originals since I was a kid, but there's no way Return of the Jedi finished out a perfect trilogy. No way. Not even close.
EDIT: It's by far my favorite, no other trilogy comes close for me. But it is not perfect.
You didn’t think the right note to go out on was with Ewoks doing fat rails and partying to that banger song Love The One You’re With?
Which one though
Assassin's Creed 2, Brotherhood and Revelations aka the Ezio trilogy. I remember playing it when I was quite young and the parkour elements blew my mind. Ezio was a very charismatic character and these games were imo the best Assassin's Creed games, before Ubisoft went to shit and started churning them out every other year.
I honestly preferred Altair's actual assassin gameplay but Ezio was still a ton of fun.
Lord of the rings (Peter Jacksons first run of the series not that shitty hobbit shit) movies extended edition of course. Halo 1-3. Mass effect 1-3.
I second the halo series.
For a brick, he flew pretty good
Mass Effect 3 forum flashbacks
The Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. The original one that is, the second trilogy in the same universe not as much.
A good example for a writer who managed to place two consecutive trilogies in the same universe is Trudi Canavan with the Black Magician & Traitor Spy trilogies.
I'd say the second trilogy (well, quadrilogy) is also great.
Lord of the Rings. I have no complaints and am probably one of the few who know why the eagles didn't fly into Mordor.
Why? (I've heard but forget)
I think it's debated a lot but from what I remember it's because the sky is a big empty space, the Eagles are sentient and do what they want, the nazgul patrol the sky and dead kings sense the ring. Sauron has an eye that is ever watching. It would've been too dangerous and risky to lose the ring for the Eagles while the enemy still lived.
Yeah, flying in after the evil is absurdly weakened is pretty obviously not the same as flying through controlled airspace.
I can't stand the movies though. They're like cliff notes of cliff notes of the story.
This is such a simple and succinct explanation. I'm fully satisfied with this and feel like no other explanation is required.
That one's fine, but anyone who goes from that to browsing the archive should do it outside the office.
Gin. Lime. Simple syrup.
I took some artistic liberties with the title.
Actual answer, John Carpenter's trio
Replace 'gin' with 'rum' and you have my attention 😁
The Jason Bourne trilogy.
I see what you did there
Half Life, Half Life 2
The Next Generation
Deep Space Nine
Voyager
I know that technically doesn't count but whatever.
Movie: The Lord of the Rings, Back to the Future
Game: HL2 + the two episodic, Metro 1/2/exodus(exodus not my favorite but still great), Halo 1/2/3
Book: Physics/Biology/Chemistry(idk i don't read book)
I do have a pretty solid complaint about back to the Future part 2, because if Marty goes into the future he should arrive in a future where he disappeared back in 1985.
They really should have introduced a new protagonist just for that section, otherwise it's not internally consistent with itself.
Half life wise, could you also consider HL2, HL2 all episodes, and HL Alyx as a trilogy?
Hmm, i haven't played Alyx so I couldn't comment, but for trilogy i'd like to only stick to same protagonist in the same set of storyline, and since HL1 have different tone and set in different time and place and isn't flow so well into HL2, and Alyx feature a different protag, HL2 and the two episodic is just the perfect 3.
I just had a side thought:
"It's only a trilogy if it has the same protagonist"
"What about the Cornetto Trilogy"
"..."
Halo 1-3, both the single player story and the evolution of the multi-player.
Came here to say exactly this. My favorite video game trilogy of all time, played through each campaign countless times and multiplayer on MCC from time to time. Never gets old.
Single Player on Heroic or below.
The Riftwar Saga, by R.E. Feist, starting with Magician. Not LotR levels, but still very pleasing.
The increasingly inaccurately named Hitchiker's Trilogy by Douglas Adams.
John Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy (Prince of Darkness, The Thing, In The Mouth of Madness)
The increasingly inaccurately named Hitchiker's Trilogy by Douglas Adams (...)
Aka: the trilogy in five parts? But yeah, it's a great pick book-wise
Now hold on here...
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men
X2
It fully explains Wolverine's power set, explains why he has no memory in X-Men, and puts a pin in the storyline with Stryker by X2.
Folks HATE Origins, and I get it, nobody likes that version of Deadpool. That being said, it's NOT the shit show that Last Stand turned out to be, and with this trilogy, you can safely pretend Last Stand never existed.
The love story with Silverfox was sweet and touching.
The battle by battle history sequence with Wolverine and Sabertooth was great.
Even before the transformation, Ryan Reynolds nailed Wade's basic trait as "the Merc with the mouth" before it all goes horribly, horribly wrong.
The only thing it doesn't really explain is how Sabertooth apparently got brain damage between the two.
As a comic nerd I felt like I had brain damage after seeing origins in theaters. However, I do agree the major problem with the movie is the last act with "Deadpool" and the battle history was awesome. The video game based on the movie is awesome.
Spyro 1-3. First game set the mood. Second game refined the formula, last game had fun with it. Still play it to this day.
His Dark Materials trilogy for me. Both the books and the BBC TV adaptation.
Books:
Wool/Shift/Dust by Hugh Howey. A well written, immersive post apocalyptic fiction that has a satisfying conclusion.
The Passage/The Twelve/The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin. Pretty much the same as above.
The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett. A huge read that spans almost a century (from just prior WW1 to the late 20th century), accompanying the same families from several different countries and embedding them into significant world events of the 20th century. Really well written and enjoyable.
My issue with the silo trilogy is the end kinda drags on a little bit and you're just waiting for it to come. Otherwise I really like those books. There's also a show Thats Apparently really good too!
Order the 6 piece mozzerella sticks. You get 2 mozzerella sticks as a trilogy!
Mmmmmmmm, the perfect trilogy!
Mass effect for video games, Rebuild of Evangelion for movies, and Old Man war for Books. I know only mass effect is a trilogy (Andromeda doesn't exist) but I feel like all three stayed with me after finishing them, and the character development and plot lines all had satisfying conclusions.
How dare you disrespect the enigma that is Marauder Shields
Loll, his sacrifice was not in vain. I've still haven't seen the extended endings because I was satisfied with the original.
There's not much else to see. Honestly the best ending is the little citadel get together you play sometime in 3. Most of the characters you've come to know and love all gathered for a small, low key house party. Everything about the battle for earth and the citadel ghost can eat my shorts.
Whenever I think of the answer to this question, I always lament at how many film trilogies or games could have been absolutely immaculate duologies but were, for various reasons, sort of forced into a third installment through fan expectations, studio pressure, or just plain Hollywood/corporate greed.
It usually begins with a film or a video game that is an unexpected success, something that was written off by the execs that turned out to be not just a work of art, but a pop culture sensation. Star Wars, The Matrix, The Terminator, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, etc were probably never intended to have a sequel. Their original plotlines all tied up the loose ends nicely and made for a perfectly adequate self-contained story. Then the second film/game in the series comes out and it's another well received installment. Maybe it's because the second rides a bit on the coattails of the first, or maybe because the first walked so the second could run, it's hard to say, but in every case the second always sets the bar too high. The third installment is typically the one that sours the soup, so to speak. I'd wager that even a really well written story can't really live up to the expectations that fans have for the third installment of a well-beloved series. Having the perfect three-peat is a feat rarely seen accomplished, but nobody ever seems satisfied with just two good pieces of media with no plans for a third.
The Matrix is actually an interesting thing if I recall correctly.
The Wachowskis really wanted to tell a huge story, they had so many ideas and multiple sequels across many mediums.
They had funding issues, or there was little confidence the film would be a success, so the very ending of the first Matrix is just sorta tacked on.
Neo in the phone booth telling the machines he's about to change everything as he just flys away, completely breaking their reality. It's a "and they all lived happily ever after" ending.
Of course The Matrix was then hugely successful.
So now the Wachowskis get to tell the story they intend, hell they get to do pretty much whatever they want.
As a result Neo is weirdly much less of a badass (but still badass) as he sort of finds himself during the events of Matrix Reloaded.
But if course I bring this all up because the Wachowskis did get to make all the things they wanted. Reloaded & Revolutions were at least part of the story. The Animatrix and other shorts, part of the story. The multimedia continuation of the story where you could jump into a video game to see part of the story, or into a an MMO and live in the Matrix.
The Matrix was always envisioned as this huge thing. It just turned out that having the idea and executing on that idea is hard. The films didn't quite live up to expectations (still good mind you, but a step down). Part of the films "missing" with the idea that it would be something you can experience in a video game. The story continuing on in an MMO that took a while to launch and then had major issues.
Which is all to say sometimes even with good intentions and ideas, it's just difficult to get an idea perfectly onto screen.
How to Train Your Dragon.
Counterpoint: Kung Fu Panda
Star Trek II, III, IV
I’m re-reading the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zhan and it’s a lot better than I remember it.
Last time I read it, I was 10. I’m now 40 and it’s a much more interesting story now.
Was inspired when I watched Andor and it reminded me of Zhan’s take on the SW universe.
Damn, beat me to it!
Actually I started re-watching it last night. I usually don’t re-watch anything, but it’s just so damn good.
Explorations into Microtonal Tuning is a trilogy of albums by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard that follow on nicely from eachother, all very good albums in their own right, and a third thing I can't think of but would sound rhetorically complete.
If you're in your teens the original mass effect trilogy, from the storytelling to the going through the different genres of games
in your teens...
Are you saying you only enjoy mass effect in your teens, or only if you are a teenager then you would remember playing mass effect? Cause both of those are wrong.
Nah it just has a different impact when you're still filled with wonder and not just jaded and conditioned to just fill checklists, the gameplay of the games isn't that good it's all about the world building and the branching paths in the stories
I disagree, but I appreciate your opinion.
Let me put it this way, when the games came out I would read every codex entry and mission description and do multiple playthroughs to see every possible scene, I have like 3k hours combined between the three games on record.
These days I just blast trough games and struggle to stop and listen to some audiolog
I understand what you are saying, I'm just saying I disagree. I think that's a personal issue. I mean if you've played the games before and read it all sure, it's gonna be harder to want to stop and smell the roses, and that's fine, you enjoy it in a different way. But you can still make time to fall into a game the way you did before, just gotta try a little bit and you'll be surprised at how easy it is to get drawn in the same way.
I'm in my 30s and when I play a new game I do that, I read all the little books in BG3, I visit all the extra hidden spots I can find in things like breath of the wild, and yeah I've played mass effect before, have a good chunk of it memorized, so I don't play it the same way, but if I had never played it before I would play it the same way. Just got to take your time when you have it.
Maybe Im just tired of games in general, bg3 was the kind of game I wanted to inmerse myself in but I couldn't be bothered to read about random lore, I just kept going through the motions doing multiple playthroughs with different classes, alignments and love interests but that's as far as I was able to get into it.
Which to be fair is still very deep but it's not the same process of discovery it was when I was a kid anymore
That's fair, maybe you need a break, or even just playing another kind of game for a little while, give your mind a reset. I go through stages where I'll play one kinda game for a while, and then switch to another, sometimes you just gotta switch it up a bit. Don't force yourself when you aren't in the mood.
Mass Effect and Dark Souls are my favorites when it comes to gaming.
Matrix 1-3
The 4th one doesn't exist in this house
There is only one Matrix in this house.
What you got against True Value Morpheus?
What about the Animatrix?
The what now?
It's the best "matrix" since the first one, for sure.
You are in for a little treat 😊
The Matrix creators released an anime miniseries called the Animatrix. It explores a lot of the context of their world.
croissant, butter, jam.
Croissant, egg, and cheese, too
Hard science fiction: Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. What would terraforming Mars be like?
Video games: the three Castlevania games for Gameboy Advance, and the three for Nindendo DS. Not trilogies per se, but they came in threes :)
The original Crash Bandicoot games for the PS1: while the 2nd is the best of them all IMO, the other titles are so good that they created out of nowhere one of the most revered PlayStation mascots
That and Spyro
Some people will disagree, but this is the closest perfect trilogy that I remember to play.
Danganronpa 1, 2, V3
Muv Luv is a better trilogy in that regard.
It very well could be. My knowledge is pretty limited.
Movie trilogies: Guardians of the Galaxy, Tom Holland Spiderman, Deadpool.
Guardians of the Galaxy should get more love.
The second movie was the weak link, but it still had some of the best moments of the trilogy, like the introduction of Mantis. And Yondu's Mary Poppins moment. Right in the fucking feels.
Everyone's giving you answers you already know about because it's all pop media, so here's one you might not know. The Psychomech trilogy by Brian Lumley!
It's kind of a power fantasy type of read, but very entertaining.
homecoming, far from home, no way home: ymmv, nanotech spidey is just a fresh take imo
dragon quest: "castle in the sky" trilogy
beef slices, onions, rice bowl
His Dark Materials. Best series I've ever read, at all.
Still need to watch the BBC show, would yall say that is worth seeking out?
Yes, but nowhere near as good as the books.
Dark souls
I have no complaints about the Deptford trilogy
First 3 Fatal Frames.
And Portal. Even if there's only two, they were great lol
First 3 Fatal Frames
My man! Some of the best horror content ever created! Best part is nowadays there's efforts going on to reverse engineer them!
There are some good emulators/roms for the PS2 version!
I would love for them to get the remake treatment, but I doubt they'll do that lol
Portal Revolution to me is the third game. Not the best, but considering it's free it fits as a way to complete the series.
Quake, Quake 2, Quake Live (RIP)
Quake 4 Life
Haha I should check it out again. The last time I played it was at an internet cafe while dodging work.
I'm desperate for more SP Quake
Chronicles of Narnia
Also, not technically a trilogy, but the three seasons of Deadwood are pretty much perfect.
Narnia has seven installments though.
That's what makes it such a perfect trilogy! (I don't know what I was thinking, as I have the whole set on my shelf.)
Do they hold up? I read the series when I was probably still a single-digit age. I'm wondering if they're worth re-reading as an adult.
Donkey Kong Country for the SNES
American pie 1,2 and 3
Double Dragon.
Yeah, if we're talking NES games, Mega Man 1-3, Ninja Gaiden 1-3 and Castlevania 1-3 all belong on this list
Stephen King's Bill Hodges trilogy: Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, & End of Watch.
Doom, Doom 2, Doom 64
Martha Wells Murderbot series is on book 8 (of the full length novels) and I love it more each time. I've read it through three times and still enjoy it each time.
I know it's not 3 but if anything I find it more impressive.
SOAD albums Mezmerize and Hypnotize.
Not all their best songs on those two albums, and some of them kind of sucked tbh.
However. How the fuck ever.
Listen to the entire pair, all the way through, in order, longhand. I don't care, just do it.
When you get to the last track, Soldier side, it pulls together all the themes that have been foreshadowed and hinted at across two entire albums, and oh holy fucking shit. When it breaks, your jaw will drop.
That's... not 3?
We got one of them counters here
I'm OCD like that xd
Trilogy started out meaning three works, but in common usage it generally doesn't any more.
I respect you for this incredibly outlandish take. I will start saying a few but only meaning two. A couple? Could be anything. Several will now be seven only.
Who are you and what did you do to the real TheBananaKing?
Pretty sure I've been the only thebananaking since like 2009...
SOAD had two great albums, and they most certainly were not Mezermize/Hypnotize. And Steal This Album wasn't even a real album.
like I say, they definitely weren't their best songs. But the way they slowly lead up to Soldier Side was fucking genius.
Obviously, the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Mainly movies for me because I haven't read them. Extended editions, obviously.
But also, I adore the mass effect trilogy. Yeah, the rpg elements get gradually watered down, and the third ones ending isn't the best, but it's still an absolutely amazing Trilogy that I replay yearly. And it all came out in 5 years! Nowadays, single games have 5 years of dev time, at least. In my eyes, it's as perfect as it can be....Once it's been modded a bit.
Do yourself a favor and read the books
The movies are fine, they are top notch, but the books are from another fuckin world
I don't know.
So, I read the books. And they are very good. There is a reason that the series is so influential.
And there are definitely some things that I do not like about the movies. The shield-surfing, for example.
But as movie adaptations go, it is pretty darn faithful to the original. Like, I've seen a lot of movie adaptations where you're going to miss a lot of material if you don't do the books, but they kept all the significant stuff in. They streamlined it a little, and no Tom Bombadill, but I seriously think that it does a solid job of capturing the original.
Like, if there's any book or series where I think that watching the movie would get you a pretty good approximation of the material and still be a really good movie, Lord of the Rings has to be near the top.
I almost brought up the shield surfing 🙂. I decided not to. There were some little warts like that, and “I am no man” and etc, but overall the movies are awesome + about as faithful as you can get without making it into a miniseries that spans decades of production or something.
After watching the movies, I can't read the books any more. Tolkien was many things, he's great at world building and mythology, but storytelling is not among his greatest qualities.
I'm with you on this one.
Also, brackets in speech.
You've got be joking right? The most influential, most loved, most well regarded fantasy trilogy of all time is not a good story actually? I get that it wasn't your style for whatever reason but to call it bad storytelling is just asinine.
Is there anything else you'd like to insinuate I said that I didn't actually say?
Literally my first thought was “obviously, lord of the rings”. Opening the comments and seeing those exact words was strangely satisfying.
Video games, Movies, Books
It has 3 solid GameCube games
It has 3 soild movies
It has 3 solid books
There's a podcast somewhere where a guy narrates uses amazing voice acting and music to deliver the story and it's an absolute banger of a trilogy. One of the most magical experiences I've had. It's like watching the movies but longer, better paced and way more emotional connection to the characters.
The movies don't say what the people are thinking and the actors did a phenomenal job to convey it, but the book explicitly saying it is better.
Half Life.
...
...
...
...aaaaaaaany day now.
I‘d say Portal, but I guess we’re in the same boat.
It seems we are left for dead game series ):
You could say Portal Revolution is the third game (it's free direct from Steam, and while not wildly unique it will still have you scratch your noodle until you realize how obvious it is).
So I vote Portal in that case.
See also portal reloaded for new portal concept in time (like that one level from titanfall 2)
I thought you guys were meming with reloaded and revolution playing off the matrix, but now it seems I have some gaming to do this week
I haven't played it, but doesn't Half Life: Alyx effectively qualify?
It kind of falls out of there, being released out of order, and being VR-exclusive.
I mean Half Life 2 itself could be considered a trilogy
The Dollars Trilogy as it’s sometimes called. Italian westerns Fistful of Dollars, A Few Dollars More, The Good The Bad and the Ugly
Also called the Man With No Name trilogy.
Hitchhiker's Trilogy
If you mean The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, man, I have a completely different take.
I use that as one of two prime examples of a series that I love the first book of but steadily like less-and-less as the series goes on. The other example is Dune.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy starts out funny. Okay, yes, black humor, but it's funny. And it gets steadily less-pleasant and grimmer over the course of the series. I'm not really enjoying it towards the last book or so any more.
Maybe a third series would be the Calvin and Hobbes comics, though I don't know if you can call that a series. Late Calvin and Hobbes, if you've ever read through a complete compendium, is very rarely funny, just kind of unhappy and cynical. The early and mid stuff, by contrast, is my favorite comic.
EDIT: Well, at least Watterson did leave it on a positive note with the final comic:
https://lemmy.today/pictrs/image/c45362c0-e85d-40b2-a54e-f94bd3308768.webp
I personally loved THGTTG from beginning to the end. To each their own :)
How to Train Your Dragon Trilogy.
I watched the first one on a ferry, and just hearing the title made me think it was going to be some nonsense. And then it was amazing.
Then they announced a second, and I was thinking what do they expect to do with this and then they gave something intensely heartwarming and heart wrenching. I found it better and deeper than the first.
And then the third. I don't think it was as clean as the other two, but it closed it off so beautifully I was bawling at the end. Absolutely perfect.
as a functional trilogy the Back to the Future film series is pretty high up there.
Great Scott!
Also, apparently it has an animated cartoon series. Just learned about that the other day
Animated series plus you could consider the Telltale Games BttF the fourth movie, as it was written by Gale and has most of the cast. (MJF makes a cameo, Biff's actor said his agent never contacted him)
Yeah it's called Rick and Morty it's great
Avatar the last Airbender had 3 perfect seasons.
Three Flavours Cornetto (wikipedia link)
The first three Toy Story movies.
There's no way you all didn't cry at the end of #3.
A movie can be bad and still make you cry.
Jack Frost anyone?
Click.
The movie Click made people cry?
Yeah it’s got a reputation for exactly this. It’s a terrible movie, but the ending is a completely stupid and unearned tearjerker.
The Phoenix Wright trilogy--the first three original GBA games/DS re-releases. They set up and develop so many arcs that pay off both within each game and across the entire trilogy. I would even go so far as to say that Phoenix Wright 3 is one of the best visual novel games of all time.
And the story is only one of many great things! The game art is gorgeous and the soundtrack is full of bangers that serve their purpose well to complement the story.
I love Ace Attorney.
I will argue House in Fata Morgana is the best visual novel of all time.
But then I will argue the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles 2 cases 3-5 are the greatest (hoo wee what a ride). If you can get through the slow pace of the rest of it it's worth it.
Otherwise I'll agree the Phoenix Wright trilogy is the ultimate power fantasy of seeing people in high places actually getting convicted of their crimes.
To add my own take, I think Umineko is actually the greatest visual novel. But DGS2 is a respectable choice.
Half-Life 1,2,2,2
Half-life 1, 2, *2.1, *2.2
And Half-life 2.3
Half-Life, Half-Life Opposing Force, Half-Life Blue Shift
The Star Wars trilogy.
Definitely not. I'm a huge fan of the originals since I was a kid, but there's no way Return of the Jedi finished out a perfect trilogy. No way. Not even close.
EDIT: It's by far my favorite, no other trilogy comes close for me. But it is not perfect.
You didn’t think the right note to go out on was with Ewoks doing fat rails and partying to that banger song Love The One You’re With?
Which one though
Assassin's Creed 2, Brotherhood and Revelations aka the Ezio trilogy. I remember playing it when I was quite young and the parkour elements blew my mind. Ezio was a very charismatic character and these games were imo the best Assassin's Creed games, before Ubisoft went to shit and started churning them out every other year.
I honestly preferred Altair's actual assassin gameplay but Ezio was still a ton of fun.
Lord of the rings (Peter Jacksons first run of the series not that shitty hobbit shit) movies extended edition of course. Halo 1-3. Mass effect 1-3.
I second the halo series.
For a brick, he flew pretty good
Mass Effect 3 forum flashbacks
The Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. The original one that is, the second trilogy in the same universe not as much.
A good example for a writer who managed to place two consecutive trilogies in the same universe is Trudi Canavan with the Black Magician & Traitor Spy trilogies.
I'd say the second trilogy (well, quadrilogy) is also great.
Lord of the Rings. I have no complaints and am probably one of the few who know why the eagles didn't fly into Mordor.
Why? (I've heard but forget)
I think it's debated a lot but from what I remember it's because the sky is a big empty space, the Eagles are sentient and do what they want, the nazgul patrol the sky and dead kings sense the ring. Sauron has an eye that is ever watching. It would've been too dangerous and risky to lose the ring for the Eagles while the enemy still lived.
Yeah, flying in after the evil is absurdly weakened is pretty obviously not the same as flying through controlled airspace.
I can't stand the movies though. They're like cliff notes of cliff notes of the story.
This is such a simple and succinct explanation. I'm fully satisfied with this and feel like no other explanation is required.
It's fucking walk o'clock!
NSFW, if anyone doesn't know by now.
How is that NSFW?
Not every comic Oglaf is porn
That one's fine, but anyone who goes from that to browsing the archive should do it outside the office.
Gin. Lime. Simple syrup.
I took some artistic liberties with the title.
Actual answer, John Carpenter's trio
Replace 'gin' with 'rum' and you have my attention 😁
The Jason Bourne trilogy.
I see what you did there
Half Life, Half Life 2
The Next Generation Deep Space Nine Voyager
I know that technically doesn't count but whatever.
Movie: The Lord of the Rings, Back to the Future
Game: HL2 + the two episodic, Metro 1/2/exodus(exodus not my favorite but still great), Halo 1/2/3
Book: Physics/Biology/Chemistry(idk i don't read book)
I do have a pretty solid complaint about back to the Future part 2, because if Marty goes into the future he should arrive in a future where he disappeared back in 1985.
They really should have introduced a new protagonist just for that section, otherwise it's not internally consistent with itself.
Half life wise, could you also consider HL2, HL2 all episodes, and HL Alyx as a trilogy?
Hmm, i haven't played Alyx so I couldn't comment, but for trilogy i'd like to only stick to same protagonist in the same set of storyline, and since HL1 have different tone and set in different time and place and isn't flow so well into HL2, and Alyx feature a different protag, HL2 and the two episodic is just the perfect 3.
I just had a side thought:
"It's only a trilogy if it has the same protagonist"
"What about the Cornetto Trilogy"
"..."
Halo 1-3, both the single player story and the evolution of the multi-player.
Came here to say exactly this. My favorite video game trilogy of all time, played through each campaign countless times and multiplayer on MCC from time to time. Never gets old.
Single Player on Heroic or below.
The Riftwar Saga, by R.E. Feist, starting with Magician. Not LotR levels, but still very pleasing.
The increasingly inaccurately named Hitchiker's Trilogy by Douglas Adams.
John Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy (Prince of Darkness, The Thing, In The Mouth of Madness)
Aka: the trilogy in five parts? But yeah, it's a great pick book-wise
Now hold on here...
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men
X2
It fully explains Wolverine's power set, explains why he has no memory in X-Men, and puts a pin in the storyline with Stryker by X2.
Folks HATE Origins, and I get it, nobody likes that version of Deadpool. That being said, it's NOT the shit show that Last Stand turned out to be, and with this trilogy, you can safely pretend Last Stand never existed.
The love story with Silverfox was sweet and touching.
The battle by battle history sequence with Wolverine and Sabertooth was great.
Even before the transformation, Ryan Reynolds nailed Wade's basic trait as "the Merc with the mouth" before it all goes horribly, horribly wrong.
The only thing it doesn't really explain is how Sabertooth apparently got brain damage between the two.
As a comic nerd I felt like I had brain damage after seeing origins in theaters. However, I do agree the major problem with the movie is the last act with "Deadpool" and the battle history was awesome. The video game based on the movie is awesome.
Spyro 1-3. First game set the mood. Second game refined the formula, last game had fun with it. Still play it to this day.
His Dark Materials trilogy for me. Both the books and the BBC TV adaptation.
Books:
Wool/Shift/Dust by Hugh Howey. A well written, immersive post apocalyptic fiction that has a satisfying conclusion.
The Passage/The Twelve/The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin. Pretty much the same as above.
The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett. A huge read that spans almost a century (from just prior WW1 to the late 20th century), accompanying the same families from several different countries and embedding them into significant world events of the 20th century. Really well written and enjoyable.
My issue with the silo trilogy is the end kinda drags on a little bit and you're just waiting for it to come. Otherwise I really like those books. There's also a show Thats Apparently really good too!
Order the 6 piece mozzerella sticks. You get 2 mozzerella sticks as a trilogy!
Mmmmmmmm, the perfect trilogy!
Mass effect for video games, Rebuild of Evangelion for movies, and Old Man war for Books. I know only mass effect is a trilogy (Andromeda doesn't exist) but I feel like all three stayed with me after finishing them, and the character development and plot lines all had satisfying conclusions.
How dare you disrespect the enigma that is Marauder Shields
Loll, his sacrifice was not in vain. I've still haven't seen the extended endings because I was satisfied with the original.
There's not much else to see. Honestly the best ending is the little citadel get together you play sometime in 3. Most of the characters you've come to know and love all gathered for a small, low key house party. Everything about the battle for earth and the citadel ghost can eat my shorts.
Whenever I think of the answer to this question, I always lament at how many film trilogies or games could have been absolutely immaculate duologies but were, for various reasons, sort of forced into a third installment through fan expectations, studio pressure, or just plain Hollywood/corporate greed.
It usually begins with a film or a video game that is an unexpected success, something that was written off by the execs that turned out to be not just a work of art, but a pop culture sensation. Star Wars, The Matrix, The Terminator, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, etc were probably never intended to have a sequel. Their original plotlines all tied up the loose ends nicely and made for a perfectly adequate self-contained story. Then the second film/game in the series comes out and it's another well received installment. Maybe it's because the second rides a bit on the coattails of the first, or maybe because the first walked so the second could run, it's hard to say, but in every case the second always sets the bar too high. The third installment is typically the one that sours the soup, so to speak. I'd wager that even a really well written story can't really live up to the expectations that fans have for the third installment of a well-beloved series. Having the perfect three-peat is a feat rarely seen accomplished, but nobody ever seems satisfied with just two good pieces of media with no plans for a third.
The Matrix is actually an interesting thing if I recall correctly.
The Wachowskis really wanted to tell a huge story, they had so many ideas and multiple sequels across many mediums.
They had funding issues, or there was little confidence the film would be a success, so the very ending of the first Matrix is just sorta tacked on.
Neo in the phone booth telling the machines he's about to change everything as he just flys away, completely breaking their reality. It's a "and they all lived happily ever after" ending.
Of course The Matrix was then hugely successful.
So now the Wachowskis get to tell the story they intend, hell they get to do pretty much whatever they want.
As a result Neo is weirdly much less of a badass (but still badass) as he sort of finds himself during the events of Matrix Reloaded.
But if course I bring this all up because the Wachowskis did get to make all the things they wanted. Reloaded & Revolutions were at least part of the story. The Animatrix and other shorts, part of the story. The multimedia continuation of the story where you could jump into a video game to see part of the story, or into a an MMO and live in the Matrix.
The Matrix was always envisioned as this huge thing. It just turned out that having the idea and executing on that idea is hard. The films didn't quite live up to expectations (still good mind you, but a step down). Part of the films "missing" with the idea that it would be something you can experience in a video game. The story continuing on in an MMO that took a while to launch and then had major issues.
Which is all to say sometimes even with good intentions and ideas, it's just difficult to get an idea perfectly onto screen.
How to Train Your Dragon.
Counterpoint: Kung Fu Panda
Star Trek II, III, IV
I’m re-reading the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zhan and it’s a lot better than I remember it.
Last time I read it, I was 10. I’m now 40 and it’s a much more interesting story now.
Was inspired when I watched Andor and it reminded me of Zhan’s take on the SW universe.
Damn, beat me to it!
Actually I started re-watching it last night. I usually don’t re-watch anything, but it’s just so damn good.
Explorations into Microtonal Tuning is a trilogy of albums by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard that follow on nicely from eachother, all very good albums in their own right, and a third thing I can't think of but would sound rhetorically complete.
If you're in your teens the original mass effect trilogy, from the storytelling to the going through the different genres of games
Are you saying you only enjoy mass effect in your teens, or only if you are a teenager then you would remember playing mass effect? Cause both of those are wrong.
Nah it just has a different impact when you're still filled with wonder and not just jaded and conditioned to just fill checklists, the gameplay of the games isn't that good it's all about the world building and the branching paths in the stories
I disagree, but I appreciate your opinion.
Let me put it this way, when the games came out I would read every codex entry and mission description and do multiple playthroughs to see every possible scene, I have like 3k hours combined between the three games on record.
These days I just blast trough games and struggle to stop and listen to some audiolog
I understand what you are saying, I'm just saying I disagree. I think that's a personal issue. I mean if you've played the games before and read it all sure, it's gonna be harder to want to stop and smell the roses, and that's fine, you enjoy it in a different way. But you can still make time to fall into a game the way you did before, just gotta try a little bit and you'll be surprised at how easy it is to get drawn in the same way.
I'm in my 30s and when I play a new game I do that, I read all the little books in BG3, I visit all the extra hidden spots I can find in things like breath of the wild, and yeah I've played mass effect before, have a good chunk of it memorized, so I don't play it the same way, but if I had never played it before I would play it the same way. Just got to take your time when you have it.
Maybe Im just tired of games in general, bg3 was the kind of game I wanted to inmerse myself in but I couldn't be bothered to read about random lore, I just kept going through the motions doing multiple playthroughs with different classes, alignments and love interests but that's as far as I was able to get into it.
Which to be fair is still very deep but it's not the same process of discovery it was when I was a kid anymore
That's fair, maybe you need a break, or even just playing another kind of game for a little while, give your mind a reset. I go through stages where I'll play one kinda game for a while, and then switch to another, sometimes you just gotta switch it up a bit. Don't force yourself when you aren't in the mood.
Mass Effect and Dark Souls are my favorites when it comes to gaming.
Matrix 1-3
The 4th one doesn't exist in this house
There is only one Matrix in this house.
What you got against True Value Morpheus?
What about the Animatrix?
The what now?
It's the best "matrix" since the first one, for sure.
You are in for a little treat 😊
The Matrix creators released an anime miniseries called the Animatrix. It explores a lot of the context of their world.
croissant, butter, jam.
Croissant, egg, and cheese, too
Hard science fiction: Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. What would terraforming Mars be like?
Video games: the three Castlevania games for Gameboy Advance, and the three for Nindendo DS. Not trilogies per se, but they came in threes :)
The original Crash Bandicoot games for the PS1: while the 2nd is the best of them all IMO, the other titles are so good that they created out of nowhere one of the most revered PlayStation mascots
That and Spyro
Some people will disagree, but this is the closest perfect trilogy that I remember to play.
Danganronpa 1, 2, V3
Muv Luv is a better trilogy in that regard.
It very well could be. My knowledge is pretty limited.
Movie trilogies: Guardians of the Galaxy, Tom Holland Spiderman, Deadpool.
Guardians of the Galaxy should get more love.
The second movie was the weak link, but it still had some of the best moments of the trilogy, like the introduction of Mantis. And Yondu's Mary Poppins moment. Right in the fucking feels.
Everyone's giving you answers you already know about because it's all pop media, so here's one you might not know. The Psychomech trilogy by Brian Lumley!
It's kind of a power fantasy type of read, but very entertaining.
Bonus Lensman series. It's not a trilogy though.
vinegared rice, fish, soy sauce
compliment sandwich, dislike/criticism, compliment sandwich
homecoming, far from home, no way home: ymmv, nanotech spidey is just a fresh take imo
dragon quest: "castle in the sky" trilogy
beef slices, onions, rice bowl
His Dark Materials. Best series I've ever read, at all.
Still need to watch the BBC show, would yall say that is worth seeking out?
Yes, but nowhere near as good as the books.
Dark souls
I have no complaints about the Deptford trilogy
First 3 Fatal Frames.
And Portal. Even if there's only two, they were great lol
My man! Some of the best horror content ever created! Best part is nowadays there's efforts going on to reverse engineer them!
There are some good emulators/roms for the PS2 version!
I would love for them to get the remake treatment, but I doubt they'll do that lol
Portal Revolution to me is the third game. Not the best, but considering it's free it fits as a way to complete the series.
Quake, Quake 2, Quake Live (RIP)
Quake 4 Life
Haha I should check it out again. The last time I played it was at an internet cafe while dodging work.
I'm desperate for more SP Quake
Chronicles of Narnia
Also, not technically a trilogy, but the three seasons of Deadwood are pretty much perfect.
Narnia has seven installments though.
That's what makes it such a perfect trilogy! (I don't know what I was thinking, as I have the whole set on my shelf.)
Do they hold up? I read the series when I was probably still a single-digit age. I'm wondering if they're worth re-reading as an adult.
Donkey Kong Country for the SNES
American pie 1,2 and 3
Double Dragon.
Yeah, if we're talking NES games, Mega Man 1-3, Ninja Gaiden 1-3 and Castlevania 1-3 all belong on this list
Stephen King's Bill Hodges trilogy: Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, & End of Watch.
Doom, Doom 2, Doom 64
Martha Wells Murderbot series is on book 8 (of the full length novels) and I love it more each time. I've read it through three times and still enjoy it each time.
I know it's not 3 but if anything I find it more impressive.
SOAD albums Mezmerize and Hypnotize.
Not all their best songs on those two albums, and some of them kind of sucked tbh.
However. How the fuck ever.
Listen to the entire pair, all the way through, in order, longhand. I don't care, just do it.
When you get to the last track, Soldier side, it pulls together all the themes that have been foreshadowed and hinted at across two entire albums, and oh holy fucking shit. When it breaks, your jaw will drop.
That's... not 3?
We got one of them counters here
I'm OCD like that xd
Trilogy started out meaning three works, but in common usage it generally doesn't any more.
I respect you for this incredibly outlandish take. I will start saying a few but only meaning two. A couple? Could be anything. Several will now be seven only.
Who are you and what did you do to the real TheBananaKing?
Pretty sure I've been the only thebananaking since like 2009...
SOAD had two great albums, and they most certainly were not Mezermize/Hypnotize. And Steal This Album wasn't even a real album.
like I say, they definitely weren't their best songs. But the way they slowly lead up to Soldier Side was fucking genius.
Minecraft alpha, Minecraft beta, Minecraft