# Are there any good prequels that actually stand alone and don't need the original to make sense? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [October 3, 2022, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657 "2022-10-03T22:26:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/1 "2022-10-03T22:26:49Z")
Usually a prequel no matter how good can never be standalone because it relies too much on people understanding the original work to help it make sense or at the very least streamline details. I love Star Wars: Rogue One a lot, but if you had never seen A New Hope or any other Star Wars work there would be a lot of moments that would give you pause or make no sense if you never seen the following films. (Also don’t say the Star Wars prequels because while they’re fairly stand alone, they’re also not good) Godfather 2 would fit the bill for me, EXCEPT it’s only half the movie and the other half is the direct sequel to Godfather 1 so you would have to watch Godfather 1 for it to make any sense. So are there any good prequel works that are completely independent of the original? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/2 "2022-10-03T22:32:01Z")
Eta- NM misread op ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/3 "2022-10-03T22:43:43Z")
_The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly_ is a prequel. I didn’t know that until years after I’d seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/4 "2022-10-03T23:31:14Z")
The poncho? I think Leone just dropped that in at the end of the film so fans would have something to argue about on the Internet fifty years in the future. A very prescient man, Sergio. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/5 "2022-10-03T23:35:02Z")
Good question. I’m having trouble thinking of any. There are people who say _The Magician’s Nephew_ should be read before _The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe_, but I am not one of them. (ETA: I swear, I wrote that before seeing [this thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scholars-disagreeing-with-authors-about-their-works/972656).) ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/6 "2022-10-03T23:46:01Z")
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/7 "2022-10-03T23:52:21Z")
_Small Gods_, the 13th Discworld novel, takes place a couple hundred years before most of the preceding books, and is one of the best in the series. Steven Brust’s Taltos Cycle books weren’t written in chronological order, with each book jumping backward and forward in the life of the titular assassin. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/8 "2022-10-04T00:02:16Z")
The Hobbit (film) ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/9 "2022-10-04T00:17:20Z")
**The Virginians** by William Makepeace Thackeray is a quasi-prequel to **Pendennis** (as well as a sequel to **Henry Esmond** ); it’s about Arthur Pendennis’s friend’s grandfather and other extended family. It basically stands alone, although there’s one or two bits that might be slightly confusing if you haven’t read **Henry Esmond**. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/10 "2022-10-04T00:23:11Z")
[Ring 0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_0:_Birthday) (the Japanese movie) is a perfectly good, standalone film. Personally, it’s my favorite of all of them (including the American movies). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/11 "2022-10-04T00:26:59Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The Hobbit (film) That’s kind of a special case, since the source material was written and published first. Even so, there were some things that Peter Jackson stuck in that, it seems to me, viewers who hadn’t already seen LotR wouldn’t fully appreciate (like the framing opening with cameos by Ian Holm and Elijah Wood). I do wonder whether which trilogy a newcomer should, ideally, watch first, if they’re going to watch both. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/12 "2022-10-04T00:36:17Z")
Red Dragon was a prequel to Silence of the Lambs and was well received. I don’t think having seen Silence of the Lambs would be required. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/13 "2022-10-04T00:39:42Z")
I had to check Wikipedia to be sure- The book Red Dragon was written before Silence Of The Lambs. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/14 "2022-10-04T00:44:39Z")
…and, with that, now I can’t really say for sure whether X-MEN: FIRST CLASS counts. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/15 "2022-10-04T00:48:58Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Hey, so why did they make that one a prequel? To have Indy be with a different girl than Marion? ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/16 "2022-10-04T00:49:14Z")
[Prey](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ7LytagKlc) counts I think. As well being a really good movie it stands alone and you definitely don’t need to have seen the original Predator for it to make sense. There are a few allusions to the original you’ll miss but it won’t effect your enjoyment of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/17 "2022-10-04T00:49:33Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > …and, with that, now I can’t really say for sure whether X-MEN: FIRST CLASS counts. Yes, it works pretty well, but there are winks all over and references to the other movies. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/18 "2022-10-04T00:50:15Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > _Small Gods_, the 13th Discworld novel, takes place a couple hundred years before most of the preceding books, and is one of the best in the series. I guess I never realized that. Definitely one of the best, if not the best. I hadn’t realized it was a prequel at all. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/19 "2022-10-04T01:01:40Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I guess I never realized that. Definitely one of the best, if not the best. I hadn’t realized it was a prequel at all. Yeah, in the later Guards books, there a character in the watch, [Visit-the-Infidel-with-Explanatory-Pamphlets](https://discworld.fandom.com/wiki/Visit-The-Infidel-With-Explanatory-Pamphlets), who worships the reformed Omnian religion, after Brutha did away with all the thumbscrews and hot pokers. It’s possible that Brutha’s reformation spread all the way to Ankh-Morpork in just a couple years, but the ending of _Small Gods_ where Brutha dies of old age implies that he spent most of his life reforming the church, so that book probably took place much earlier than _Guards! Guards!_, which was the eighth book published. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/20 "2022-10-04T01:02:59Z")
_Oedipus Rex_, a prequel to [Antigone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigone_(Sophocles_play)) which was written first. _A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born._ Harry Harrison began his series with Jim as an adult criminal with years of experience. _Born_ is a later prequel, telling how young Jim began his career. It’s the first of the series that I read, it did not require any knowledge of later events, and IMHO the best book of the series. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657.md?page=2)