# Are there any reboots and/or adaptations set further in the past than the original work?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 18, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120 "2018-10-18T01:35:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/1 "2018-10-18T01:35:32Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/2 "2018-10-18T01:38:43Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/3 "2018-10-18T02:36:24Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/4 "2018-10-18T02:53:43Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/5 "2018-10-18T02:58:26Z")
The recent _Wonder Woman_ movie was based in WWI while the original comics and classic live TV series were based in WWII.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/6 "2018-10-18T03:07:28Z")
_Enterprise_?
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### Author:  [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/7 "2018-10-18T04:26:26Z")
The 2001 movie [Wet Hot American Summer](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243655/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_62) 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](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4341500/?ref_=nv_sr_2), 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.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/8 "2018-10-18T10:46:45Z")
> [@EllisDee](#):
>
> Do regular movie sequels count? Given enough sequels, an origin story is almost inevitable. See: Annabelle.
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**.
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/9 "2018-10-18T11:21:37Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/10 "2018-10-18T11:36:14Z")
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 [?]
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### Author:  [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/11 "2018-10-18T11:38:41Z")
Okay - just read Elfkins’s clarification properly, so can these.
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/12 "2018-10-18T11:47:49Z")
Spoilers?
**Battlestar Galactica** : the original was set after Armstrong and Aldrin got rocketed to the moon, and the remake was set — before that, right?
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/13 "2018-10-18T11:52:00Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/14 "2018-10-18T12:12:36Z")
_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.
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/15 "2018-10-18T12:15:27Z")
Oh! _Twin Peaks:Firewalk With Me_ was mostly set before the series that spawned it.
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### Author:  [@road\_lobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/road_lobo)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/16 "2018-10-18T12:19:05Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> 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.
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.
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### Author:  [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/17 "2018-10-18T21:09:39Z")
> [@kunilou](#):
>
> 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.
Oz the Great and Powerful(the 2013 film starring James Franco) was definetely a prequel the Wizard of Oz.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/18 "2018-10-18T23:46:06Z")
> [@dorvann](#):
>
> Oz the Great and Powerful(the 2013 film starring James Franco) was definetely a prequel the Wizard of Oz.
Right, but this thread isn’t about prequels.
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/19 "2018-10-19T12:53:19Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> 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.
I saw it as more of a Batman story.
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### Author:  [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/20 "2018-10-19T13:33:07Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> _Enterprise_?
YES! The highly under-rated series “Star Trek: Enterprise” starring Scott Bakula is set earlier than the original Kirk/Spock/McCoy version.
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