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Trilogy

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File:Star wars dvd cover.jpg
The cover of the 2004 DVD release of the modified original Star Wars triology, one of the best known film trilogies
For other uses, see Trilogy.

A trilogy is a set of three works of art, usually literature or film, that are connected and can generally be seen as a single work as well as three individual ones.

Most trilogies are works of fiction involving the same characters or setting, such as The Deptford Trilogy of novels by Robertson Davies or The Godfather films of Francis Ford Coppola.

Other trilogies are connected by theme and not directly by plot. Each film of Krzysztof Kieślowski's Three Colors trilogy explores one of the political ideals of the French Republic: liberty, equality, fraternity and each novel in Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy uses formats from detective fiction to explore existential questions.

Some trilogies are connected in other ways, such as "The Nova Trilogy" of novels by William S. Burroughs, each written using Brion Gysin’s cut-up technique.

Trilogies—and series in general—are common in science fiction and fantasy film and literature genres because of the artistic importance of complex ideas and the commercial importance of brand names.

Occasionally, the term is applied to music, such as the Berlin Trilogy of David Bowie, linked together by their musical sound and lyrical themes, plus the fact that they were each recorded in Berlin, Germany.

Greek trilogies

Trilogies have a long history. In the Dionysia festivals of Ancient Greece, for example, trilogies of plays were performed followed by a fourth satyr play. The Oresteia is the only surviving trilogy of these ancient Greek plays, originally performed at the festival in Athens in 458 BC. The three Theban plays or Oedipus trilogy by Sophocles, originating in 5th century BC, is another early example.

Adding works to an existing trilogy

Creators of trilogies may later add more works. In such a case, the original three works may or may not keep the title "trilogy."

The films Batman, Batman Returns, and Batman Forever were released on home video in 1995 as the "Batman Trilogy", but after the 1997 release of Batman and Robin, a new package containing all the films was called the "Batman Legacy".

Alternatively, The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov originally consisted of Foundation, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation and was considered a trilogy. Asimov eventually wrote several more Foundation books and retroactively incorporated many of his other works into the continuity of the series. Despite this, the first three books are still considered a trilogy because they contain a story that is unified and self-contained regardless of the additions to the series. Further complicating the matter, the Foundation series was originally eight short stories and novelettes written for science fiction magazines and its division into three books is more or less incidental.

The first three novels in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series were dubbed a trilogy, and even after extending the series to five novels, author Douglas Adams, for humorous effect, continued to dub it a trilogy.

The six Star Wars films are generally separated into two trilogies. “Episodes” I, II, and III are considered the "prequel trilogy," while the earlier produced films, now deemed episodes IV, V, and VI, are considered the "original trilogy".

Unofficial or mistaken trilogies

File:LotR book1968.png
Dust jacket of a 1969 collected edition of The Lord of the Rings. J. R. R. Tolkien originally meant for the work to be published in one volume

Sometimes a trio of works is known as a trilogy not in regard to continuity, but rather to its creator. For example, before Quentin Tarantino's fourth film was released, his films Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Jackie Brown were sometimes referred to as "the Quentin Tarantino trilogy," although the stories of the three films did not interconnect and shared common themes and subject matter only in that they fit loosley into the genre of film noir and the director’s trademark style.

Three works with similar themes from a creator may come to be known as a trilogy, especially if produced one after the other. The Steven Spielberg films A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, and Catch Me If You Can are unofficially known as "the running man trilogy," despite the vastly different settings and characters, because each featured a main character escaping a pursuer.

One of the most popular "trilogies" of fantasy novels The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien was not meant to be a trilogy. Tolkien regarded it as a single work and divided it into six books plus five appendices but, because of post-World War II paper shortages, it was originally published in three volumes. It is still most commonly sold in as three volumes, but has also been published in one-volume and seven-volume editions.

Occasionally, more than three works are planned but never finished. The Gormenghast fantasy trilogy is a trilogy by default, as author Mervyn Peake planned to write more novels set in that continuity until his health turned ill.

Famous trilogies

Novels

Movies

Main article: List of movie trilogies

Video games

Main article: List of video game trilogies

Other uses

Trilogies differ from a triptych, which is a set of three related or connected paintings that are created at one time and designed to be viewed as a single work.

In boxing and other combat sports, a trilogy may refer to a series of three separately-scheduled matches between two fighters, usually with each winning the first two a third to settle the question of who is best.

See also

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