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In recently talking with a friend of mine I came to find that she had not seen some of the most essential movie series ever.  I was shocked and appalled that someone could make it through life without having ever been exposed to some of the most gratifying cinematic experiences of all time.  Therefore, I figured I'd make a list, so that she and others like her would know what they're missing and what to go check out.  Two stipulations though: First of all, they had to be three or more films and secondly, they couldn't be comic book-based, because if they were then they'd take up the bulk of my list. Also, I left Bond out, because even though Bond is great, there are too many of them.  So here they are:

The Top 20 Greatest Movie Series of All Time: 

20. The Alien Series

Series Includes: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, & Alien Resurrection

Best: Aliens

Worst: Alien 3

Why: The first Alien movie is hailed by most as one of the scariest movies of all time, but beyond just being scary the alien movies are also great Sci-fi films.  Starring Sigourney Weaver as the films' main character, Ellen Ripley, the Alien films scared and delighted their fans as they took us into outerspace and showed Ripley doing battle with quite possibly the most disgusting and disturbing film creature ever to grace the silver screen.  Alien gave us scares, Aliens gave us great action, but Alien 3 and Resurrection left something to be desired.  While not being completely awful, both of these films did not live up to their predecessors.  Later, the Alien creatures were thrust into one mediocre and one awful film where they did battle with the Predator for the love of all the fanboys in the universe.

19.  Beverly Hills Cop Trilogy

Series Includes: Beverly Hills Cop, Beverly Hills Cop II, & Beverly Hills Cop III

Best: Beverly Hills Cop

Worst: Beverly Hills Cop III

Why:  These are the movies that cemented Eddie Murphy's rule over the '80s.  A "fish out of water" story like none other, these movies follow fast talking, down and dirty, Detroit detective Axel Foley, as he travels out of his comfort zone and into the upper crust of Beverly Hills---and not once, not twice, but three times.  Now by today's standards, the whole "funny black cop solves the big case and proves everyone wrong about him" thing seems played out, but back when this movie first came out it was the first of it's kind.  Eddie Murphy invented the wise cracking cop routine, and everyone else is just copying him.  The first two movies are funny and have great stories and good action, the third could have been done without.

18. The Godfather Trilogy

Series Includes: The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, The Godfather: Part III

Best: The Godfather

Worst: The Godfather: Part III

Why: I know most lists would have this series a whole lot higher, possibly even at number one.  It seems that every critic I run across is just absolutely enamored with "The Godfather."  While they are good movies, I don't think they're the best ever, hence why they're included on this list, but at number 18.  That being said, these are good movies.  Some of the greatest actors of all time are in them, and give some of the best performances of their careers.  And though they can at sometimes drag a bit, they are over all intriguing and entertaining,  The first two are by far the best, but the third one is also a decent movie and gets a lot more flack than it deserves.

17. The Hannibal Lecter Series 

Series Includes: The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, & Red Dragon

Best: The Silence of the Lambs

Worst: Hannibal

Why: Hannibal Lecter is one of the best villains of any movie series ever.  He's diabolically evil, while being charming and scary all at the same time.  All through Silence of the Lambs he's behind bars and he's still terrifying. His interactions with FBI agent Clarice Starling are both tense and dramatic and keep you waiting on the edge of your seat for the next time he's giong to appear. While "Lambs" is the best, I also really enjoyed "Red Dragon" which is a prequel starring Edward Norton as the hero.  "Hannibal" was only alright, and it's a shame that Foster wouldn't come back and they had to replace her with Julianne Moore.  They also made a prequel movie called Hannibal Rising that I don't count because it didn't star Anthony Hopkins.

16. The Naked Gun Trilogy

 Series Includes: The Naked Gun, Naked Gun 2 1/2, & Naked Gun 33 1/3

Best: All three

Worst: None

Why: The only strictly-comedy series on my list, The Naked Gun Trilogy are some of the funniest movies you will ever see.  Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebben and the rest of his pals at Police Squad keep you laughing through out the entire trilogy.  You would think that the same types of jokes would get old after just two films, but this is the rare case where the jokes kept bringing the funny throughout all three.

15. The Rambo Series

Series Includes: First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III, & Rambo

Best: First Blood

Worst: Rambo III

Why: Sylvester Stallone plays the ultimate soldier as John Rambo.  Rambo for the better part of 20 years was looked at as the epitome of manliness, and he's still going strong today.  John Rambo just kept escalating the amount of people he killed.  In the first movie he takes on a whole Police Department, in parts two and three he goes back to Vietnam to free some POW's and kill some more Vietcong, and then in part four he takes on practically the whole country of Burma.  Everyone was laughing about it a few years back when Stallone said he was coming back to do another Rocky and then another Rambo while being in his 60s, but both of those movies were awesome, so who's laughing now?

14. The Star Trek Series

Series Includes: Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, The Voyage Home, The Final Frontier, The Undiscovered Country, Genesis, First Contact, Insurrection, Nemesis, & Star Trek (2009) 

Best: Star Trek (2009), Wrath of Khan, Search for Spock, Voyage Home, Genesis, First Contact

Worst: Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Final Frontier, Insurrection

Why: The Star Trek franchise has become ingrained in the pop culture as one of the most prolific Sci-fi series in all of cinema.  The problem with this series is that for every good movie there's a mediocre or really bad one.  No matter how you cut it though, the adventures of the Starship Enterprise are a must, well at least half of them.  The newest installment and reboot of the franchise by J.J. Abrams was quite possibly the best one yet and has me waiting with baited breath for the next one.  You just can't keep Star Trek down.

13. The Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy

Series Includes: Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man's Chest, & At World's End

Best: Curse of the Black Pearl

Worst: At World's End

Why: The truth of the matter is that this series could have been a lot higher on this list if they didn't rush the second two movies out with weak scripts.  The first Pirates movie is absolutely awesome.  Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow is brilliant.  The second movie is good, but is usually guilty by association to the disappointing third installment, simply because the second one leads into the third. The second two films are still enjoyable, just not as great as the first movie.  Hopefully the planned fourth installment will be better planned out and make up for two mediocre films.

12. The Jurassic Park Trilogy

Series Includes:  Jurassic Park, The Lost World, & Jurassic Park III

Best: Jurassic Park

Worst: None

Why: I loooooooved dinosaurs as a kid, but no movie could portray a realistic looking one.  Sure, a lot of them tried, but none succeeded---until Jurassic Park.  This film was revolutionary in CGI effects.  The Dinosaurs looked absolutely amazing, and even with all of the advances we've had with technology since then, the movies still look as good today as they did back then.  It wasn't just about effects though, these films have that great feel of adventure that so few films can pull off anymore.  They may not have the greatest story of characters in cinema, but they are some of the most fun you'll ever have watching a movie.

 11. The Harry Potter Series

Series Includes: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, the Prisoner of Azkaban, the Goblet of Fire, the Order of the Phoenix, the Half-Blood Prince, & the Deathly Hallows Parts I & II

Best: Prisoner of Azkaban & Goblet of Fire

Worst: None

Why: The Harry Potter series is one of the most original and fantasy-filled series to ever hit the big screen.  Say what you want about the "kid" factor, but all I know is that once you get past the first two kid-friendly films, the rest of the series is darker and a whole lot more adult, making it very compelling story telling.  With all but the last two parts out, this series is shaping up to be the must see film series of this generation.  Can't wait to see how it all wraps up.

10. The Mission Impossible Trilogy

Series Includes: Mission Impossible, Mission Impossible II, and Mission Impossible III 

Best: Mission Impossible III

Worst: None

Why: One of the best spy series ever, all three Mission Impossible movies are great action/mystery/thriller movies.  Tom Cruise plays one of his best roles as master spy Ethan Hunt.  One of the best things about these films is that they were all three directed by different people and all three of them have a different look and feel.  The first was directed by Brian De Palma and has a more spy mystery/thriller feel, John Woo takes the second one and makes it more into an all-out action movie, and J.J. Abrams takes the third and blends the two together to make what I feel is the best of the series.  The truth of the matter is that they're all good in their own way and make for some great movie viewing.

9. The Rocky Series

Series Includes: Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky V, & Rocky Balboa

Best: Rocky

Worst: Rocky V

Why:  This is one of those series where if you haven't at least seen the first one then you're just not American.  Sylvester Stallone plays the ultimate underdog as Rocky Balboa, the boxer with a heart of gold.  These movies are so inspiring you just want to get up and run a giant flight of stairs when you're done watching them.  All of them from the first to the fourth are excellent movies, until you hit five, and then not so much.  It's a good thing Stallone did come back to do Rocky Balboa because the franchise needed to be redeemed.  Honestly, I don't know about you guys, but I can't hear that theme music without getting pumped up.

8. The Matrix Trilogy

Series Includes: The Matrix, Matrix Reloaded, & Matrix Revolution 

Best: The Matrix

Worst: Matrix Revolution

Why: The first Matrix movie is one of the best films ever made.  I'm not exaggerating on that one either.  It's one of the most well thought-out, deepest, most revolutionary films I've ever seen.  So the sequels had a lot to live up to and unfortunately...they don't.  The Matrix Reloaded is actually a pretty good movie except that it leads into the third one so then we have another movie guilty by association.  The truth is that the third movie is actually pretty good, it just didn't live up to the expectations.  I do enjoy the second two movies, but in all honesty once you finish with the first movie you could just stop because that's as good as it gets, for that series and just about anything else.

7. The Lethal Weapon Series

Series Includes: Lethal Weapon, Lethal Weapon II, Lethal Weapon III, Lethal Weapon IV

Best: Lethal Weapon

Worst: None

Why: The best buddy cop movies of all time.  Mel Gibson and Danny Glover play the ultimate odd couple cop duo as Riggs and Murtaugh,  Great action, and great humor combine to make four of the best cop movies ever.  All that, and Jet Li shows up in the fourth one as the bad guy.  You just don't get better than that.

6. The Terminator Series

Series Includes: The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, & Terminator: Salvation

Best: Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Worst: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Why: Do you really have to ask why?  The Terminator is one of the best concepts ever created.  The first Terminator is good, but the second Terminator is by far the best of the series.  Three could have been done without, but the newest installment of Salvation was a good start to a whole new take on the franchise.  I mean, come on, who hasn't said "I'll Be Back"?

5. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Series Includes: The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers, & Return of the King

Best: All Three

Worst: None

Why: The greatest fantasy books of all time get made into the greatest fantasy films of all time by director Peter Jackson.  No one ever thought they could turn the books into a live action film that worked, but Jackson did, and he did it with amazing results.  From the cast, to the special effects, to the locations, to the battle scenes, these three movies are top notch all around.  Movies are supposed to be about escaping from reality, and the Lord of the Rings brings that out in spades.

4. The Die Hard Series

Series Includes: Die Hard, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Die Hard with a Vengence, & Live Free or Die Hard

Best: Die Hard & Live Free Die Hard

Worst: None

Why:  The best action movies bar none.  Bruce Willis has done a ton of great movies, but the Die Hard films stand out at the top of his resume.  New York cop John Mclane is one of the most hardcore action heroes ever.  I absolutely love Die Hard and even though I think the first and fourth are the best, the second and third are awesome movies as well.  Yippe ki-Yay.

3. The Indiana Jones Series

Series Includes: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, The Last Crusade, and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Best: Raiders of the Lost Ark & The Last Crusade

Worst: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Why: Come on!  He's Indiana Jones.  The greatest adventure hero of all time.  If you haven't at least seen Raiders then I don't know what rock you've been living under.  Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones, there's just no one else who could ever play him.  Raiders and Crusade are some of the best movies of all time, Temple of Doom is good, but not great, and Crystal Skull is an abomination.  I still can't believe it took them twenty years to get around to making a fourth movie, and that's the one they decided to make.  I try to forget it even exists, but the original trilogy is amazing.

2. Back to the Future

Series Includes: Back to the Future Parts I, II, & III

Best: All Three

Worst: None

Why: The greatest time travel story ever.  All three of these films are great movies.  They're fun, imaginative, and they all work together to form one great storyline.  They follow Marty McFly & Doc Brown as they visit the 50s, the future, and the old west. Again, if you haven't seen these movies then your missing out on one of the greatest film experiences of this or any generation.

1. Star Wars: Episodes IV, V, & VI (Original Trilogy)

Series Includes: Star Wars: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, & Return of the Jedi

Best: They're all the best

Worst: Absolutely none of these three films, but if we're talking prequel trilogy that's a whole other story.

Why: Why?  Because this is Star Wars, the greatest Sci-fi/Fantasy series ever created.  This is what movies were meant for.  Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, these are the types of characters that will be around forever because they're so great that people will never forget them.  I mean really, could there have been anything else at the top of this list?  I will never forget the first time I saw Star Wars.  It took hold of my imagination and still hasn't let go to this day.  It is the greatest movie trilogy ever made, and I don't think there will ever be anything that can top it. May the Force Be With You....Always.