# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**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 6, 2022, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/61 "2022-10-06T00:10:41Z")
Hellraiser Bloodlines is both a prequel and sequel to the first three films. It’s a great movie but does not fit the OP’s criteria. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/62 "2022-10-06T00:12:10Z")
> [@Reno\_Nevada\_Jr](#): > > The Vorkosigan Saga is a great example, but not _Falling Free_, which was an unconnected standalone. The relationship between the published order and internal chronology is complicated, but Bujold wrote 3 novels about Miles before going back to write _Barrayar_ about Mile’s birth. I was given the advice to read in internal chronology order, and the series works very well that way. Her World of the Five Gods tales have a number of standalone stories that could be read independently of each other. The Hallowed Hunt came after Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls. Same deities etc., but with shamans thrown in, and otherwise quite independent (set several hundred years before, in fact). And the Penric novellas in the same world are completely independent of the others - again, aside from the deities / shamans. I don’t know that any of these would qualify as “prequels” though. ---
**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 6, 2022, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/63 "2022-10-06T00:14:19Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Then there is “To Sail Beyond the Sunset,” which manages to be both a prequel to **and** sequel to Heinlein’s Future History On that note, does _Wonder Woman_ count? ---
**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 6, 2022, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/64 "2022-10-06T00:27:52Z")
How about the TV show **Gotham**? I think my wife had a much easier time following and enjoying the show without all the baggage a nerd like me carried into it. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/65 "2022-10-06T22:22:11Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > The _Endeavour_ series is prequel to _Inspector Morse_ and IMHO a lot better than the Morse series. I’ll second this. I found _Morse_ unwatchable, but I liked _Inspector Lewis_ ( a sequel that I watched before I found out that Laurence Fox was a nazi ) and love _Endeavor_. Lots of great stories and a perfect job by Shaun Evans. You can see him turning into annoying adult Morse, thankfully he doesn’t get there. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/66 "2022-10-06T23:02:14Z")
Yeah, Endeavour can only go for one more season, because it has caught up chronologically with the beginning of the Morse series. Besides seeing Endeavour turning into a PITA, we’re seeing him turn into an alcoholic. I’ve watched the earlier seasons over and over a million times. (_Trove_ is utter perfection with a punch line that gives new meaning to the statement, “you never saw **that** coming.”) Seasons 7 & 8 were abominations. Another problem with the fadeout/transition is explaining why Fred and Joan Thursday never get a mention in the Morse series (or books, for that matter-- not that I’ve read the latter). I also love Lewis, especially the earlier seasons. I adore Hathaway the character. If there’s a type that I’m a sucker for, it’s a troubled, intellectual ex-priest or seminarian. (Scars of a Catholic girlhood.) Laurence Fox is a NAZI??? 😖 (Oh God… I just looked that up…) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/67 "2022-10-06T23:18:57Z")
But I’m not sure that one makes much sense without the other books. “The Man Who Sold the Moon” is a perfectly satisfactory standalone. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/68 "2022-10-06T23:27:21Z")
[quote=“mbh, post:54, topic:972657, full:true”] > [JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)[Charter Member](https://boards.straightdope.com/g/Charter_Member) > > [11h](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/53) > > > [@Odesio](#): > > > > > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > > > > > _Oedipus Rex_, a prequel to [Antigone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigone_(Sophocles_play)) which was written first. > > > > Mother%#$%! I had no idea. > > We all saw what you did there. You’re killing me. my response is below since the quote function didn’t go all the way down … : yall need to go stand in the corner and think about your life choices 🤣 ---
**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 6, 2022, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/69 "2022-10-06T23:59:43Z")
All of these Oedipus Rex jokes are entirely predictable. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/70 "2022-10-07T00:19:29Z")
Oedipus wrecked it for you? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/71 "2022-10-07T03:40:39Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > All of these Oedipus Rex jokes are entirely predictable. And no matter how often you try to avoid them you seem fated to meet them. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-prequels-that-actually-stand-alone-and-dont-need-the-original-to-make-sense/972657/72 "2022-10-07T04:23:26Z")
Casino Royale (the Daniel Craig version) was more of a reboot than a prequel, bu it was technically both and one of the best films in the series. [Wish You Were Here](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094331/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) was a prequel to [Personal Services](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093727/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_5), but not exactly promoted as such. I found it a much better film. [Previous 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=3)