Are there any reboots and/or adaptations set further in the past than the original work?

Cafe Society
#1

There are plenty of reboots and adaptations that move the setting forward in time, like the upcoming 11thy-fifth adaptation of Little Women, the recent adaptation of It, Clueless (Emma), 10 Things I Hate About You (Taming of the Shrew), Scrooged (A Christmas Carol) and the Ethan Hawke version of Hamlet and Anthony Hopkins version of Titus Andronicus etc. etc.

But can you think of any where the time change meant setting the new version longer ago than when the original took place? De-modernization, if you will.

One caveat: doing so without invoking time travel. I’m sure there are scifi or fantasy TV shows who have done one-off episodes that bring modern drama to the past, but not like that for the purposes of this thread.

#2

Ginger Snaps?

Ginger Snaps 1 and 2 were set in modern times. Ginger Snaps 3 (Ginger Snaps Back) was a reboot of sorts set in the 1800s.

#3

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is set in 2285 and tells the tale of what happens if you piss Khan off by marooning him on a desert planet for 15 years, so, Kirk met Khan in 2270.
Star Trek: Into Darkness is set in 2259 and tells the tale of what happens if you piss Khan off right now.

#4

The Star Wars prequels.

The last three chapters in the original Planet of the Apes series were set before the first one.

Wicked was sort of a prequel to the Wizard of Oz.

#5

The recent Wonder Woman movie was based in WWI while the original comics and classic live TV series were based in WWII.

#6

Enterprise?

#7

The 2001 movie Wet Hot American Summer is a comedy set on the last day of camp in the summer of 1981, where a group of counselors try to complete their unfinished business before the day ends. It was a veritable who’s who of up and coming comedic actors.

In 2015, Netflix released the 8-episode show Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, which follows the counselors and campers on their first day at Camp Firewood in the summer of 1981. Pretty much everyone came back, and the fact that everyone was 14 years older at the start of camp was part of the fun.

EDIT: On re-read, this example meets the technical specs of a reboot being set earlier but isn’t what you’re looking for, as the start of camp was the same era as the end of camp. No de-modernization involved.

EDIT 2: Maybe Paranormal Activity 3? Do regular movie sequels count? Given enough sequels, an origin story is almost inevitable. See: Annabelle.

#8

Unless it’s a retelling/adaptation of the same story set earlier, sequels and prequels don’t count. Telling a different story set earlier in the same universe is very different from retelling the same story set in an earlier time period.

So far the only examples that sound like reboots rather than prequels are Wonder Woman and Ginger Snaps.

#9

Both Yojimbo (Edo-period Japan) and hence A Fistful of Dollars (Old West) are based off Dashiell Hammett’s Glass Key (1930, but more the 1942 movie) and probably also Red Harvest (1927) which are in then-contemporary settings.

#10

Not quite getting the hang of the question [its late in my day], but:

Big Bang Theory --> Young Sheldon

Indiana Jones movies --> Young Indiana Jones

Bugs Bunny Show --> Baby Looney Tunes [?]

#11

Okay - just read Elfkins’s clarification properly, so can these.

#12

Spoilers?

Battlestar Galactica: the original was set after Armstrong and Aldrin got rocketed to the moon, and the remake was set — before that, right?

#13

Does The Name Of The Rose being an obvious Sherlock Holmes inspiration count? I mean, the movie was based on the book, and both had the same setting of the 14th Century, but it played on its Holmesian elements directly within it.

#14

The Flintstones was sort of a reboot of The Honeymooners.

There was an episode of Blackadder partially set in the Roman occupation of Britain, but a time machine was involved.

The X-Men movies, starting with First Class. Actually, that whole timeline is too convoluted for words, but most of the movies after The Last Stand took place in an earlier decade.

#15

Oh! Twin Peaks:Firewalk With Me was mostly set before the series that spawned it.

#16

I wouldn’t count it as such. It’s not a Holmes stories transposed to an earlier setting. I don’t remember anything not attributable to general detective story literature, but it’s more than a decade since I’ve read it.

#17

Oz the Great and Powerful(the 2013 film starring James Franco) was definetely a prequel the Wizard of Oz.

#18

Right, but this thread isn’t about prequels.

#19

I saw it as more of a Batman story.

#20

YES! The highly under-rated series “Star Trek: Enterprise” starring Scott Bakula is set earlier than the original Kirk/Spock/McCoy version.