Evil Dead Syndrome
When a media franchise's sequels either stray wildly from their original tone (usually in the direction of "wackiness"), usually by giving increasing importance to smaller aspects of the earlier works.
Named for Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" series, in which the first film was a serious horror movie with minor humorous bits, the second film "Evil Dead II" upped the ante, including a chainsaw-hand, culminating in the third film "Army of Darkness", which featured far too many insane (and awesome) items to begin to list.
Note that Evil Dead Syndrome is not necessarily a bad thing, and is not limited to films.
Named for Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" series, in which the first film was a serious horror movie with minor humorous bits, the second film "Evil Dead II" upped the ante, including a chainsaw-hand, culminating in the third film "Army of Darkness", which featured far too many insane (and awesome) items to begin to list.
Note that Evil Dead Syndrome is not necessarily a bad thing, and is not limited to films.
Paul: "Remember when The Fast & The Furious was about street racing and not about pulling a 20-tonne bank vault through a crowded city?"
Vin: "No."
Paul: "Me neither."
Pierce: "So in Saints Row IV, the boss becomes the President of the USA and fights an alien invasion."
Johnny: "I thought Saints Row was about gangsters?"
Pierce: "Don't be ridiculous!"
"Saints Row The Third drinks 'wackazade' from a clown shoe. This is a trilogy progression we academics call Evil Dead Syndrome." - Yahtzee Crowshaw
Vin: "No."
Paul: "Me neither."
Pierce: "So in Saints Row IV, the boss becomes the President of the USA and fights an alien invasion."
Johnny: "I thought Saints Row was about gangsters?"
Pierce: "Don't be ridiculous!"
"Saints Row The Third drinks 'wackazade' from a clown shoe. This is a trilogy progression we academics call Evil Dead Syndrome." - Yahtzee Crowshaw