# Are there any reboots and/or adaptations set further in the past than the original work? **URL:** \ **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:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/21 "2018-10-19T13:56:51Z")
I’ll give an oddball example. Back in the 70s, the group Gunhill Road wrote a song called “Back When My Hair Was Short.” The lyrics nostalgically described life in the 60s. Nice tune; I put it into airplay at my college radio station. A few months later, Gunhill Road had their own hit with “Back When My Hair Was Short.” Thing was, they completely changed the lyrics to make it nostalgia for the 50s. Same tune, just set in an earlier time. So the second, more successful version, was set earlier than the first version. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/22 "2018-10-19T14:00:26Z")
“Dark Shadows” had a few seasons set centuries earlier, in the same house and town during Colonial times, with the same cast playing their own ancestors. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/23 "2018-10-19T17:18:58Z")
The makers of the Morse series created a new one called Endeavour, all about him as a young policeman starting out. And likewise the Italian Montalbano series had a Young Montalbano spin-off. And wasn’t there a “Young Sherlock Holmes” movie? ---
**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 19, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/24 "2018-10-19T17:30:08Z")
Here’s an odd one. The first season of “Sledgehammer” (a sitcom about a gun-happy cop) ended with a nuclear explosion, killing the hero and everyone in his entire city. So when the series was unexpectedly not cancelled, the second season took place before the first one. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/25 "2018-10-19T17:38:27Z")
Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation. Both were prequels to the original Foundation trilogy but were written 3 decades after. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/26 "2018-10-19T22:35:41Z")
King Arthur films are never tied to a specific date, but they usually dress the knights in 13th Century mail or 15th Century plate armor. The [2004 version](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur_(2004_film)), starring Clive Owen, is set during the collapse of the Roman Empire and the Anglo-Saxon invasions. The TV film based on Mary Stewart’s _The Crystal Cave_ was also set in this time period. Hamlet movies can be set in many different times, but usually stick to Shakespeare’s AD 1600 dialog. _[Prince of Jutland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Jutland)_, aka _Royal Deceit_, is based more on Saxo Grammaticus’ 12th Century writings. [When the Raven Flies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Raven_Flies) takes the Glass Key/Yojimbo/Fistful of Dollars plot and sets it in the Viking era. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/27 "2018-10-19T23:26:44Z")
Xenonauts is based on X-Com: UFO Defense but is set during the Cold War, whereas the original game starts in 1998. ---
**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 19, 2018, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/28 "2018-10-19T23:37:03Z")
No prequels! **The Other Waldo Pepper** has the right idea. It needs to be something like “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?” set on Medieval France. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/29 "2018-10-20T01:05:30Z")
“Better Call Saul,” of course, is set a few years before the events of “Breaking Bad.” “The Godfather, Part II” occurs both before and after the events of “The Godfather.” ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/30 "2018-10-20T03:27:24Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation. Both were prequels to the original Foundation trilogy but were written 3 decades after. > [@PatrickLondon](#): > > The makers of the Morse series created a new one called Endeavour, all about him as a young policeman starting out. And likewise the Italian Montalbano series had a Young Montalbano spin-off. > > And wasn’t there a “Young Sherlock Holmes” movie? > [@RickJay](#): > > “Better Call Saul,” of course, is set a few years before the events of “Breaking Bad.” > > “The Godfather, Part II” occurs both before and after the events of “The Godfather.” Not prequels. **Same story** , set in an earlier time period. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/31 "2018-10-20T13:12:26Z")
From the list on the wiki, there’s one adaptation of Romeo and Juliet that sets the story in prehistoric time. [Romeo i Julija (1958); animated short which relocates the story to a prehistoric milieu; directed by Ivo Vrbanic (Yugoslavia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_Romeo_and_Juliet) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/32 "2018-10-21T01:23:57Z")
I think you should remove “reboot” from the title. A reboot does not necessarily have to be the same story. And none of your examples are reboots. What you want is simply adaptations of a story set further in the past than the original. Unfortunately, the only examples I can think of fail due to being one offs in a SF/Fantasy setting. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/33 "2018-10-21T01:59:04Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Spoilers? > > **Battlestar Galactica** : the original was set after Armstrong and Aldrin got rocketed to the moon, and the remake was set — before that, right? Yes, I think _Battlestar Galactica_ qualifies. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/34 "2018-10-21T02:51:43Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > King Arthur films are never tied to a specific date, but they usually dress the knights in 13th Century mail or 15th Century plate armor. The [2004 version](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur_(2004_film)), starring Clive Owen, is set during the collapse of the Roman Empire and the Anglo-Saxon invasions. The TV film based on Mary Stewart’s _The Crystal Cave_ was also set in this time period. > … I believe that Mallory’s Arthur cycle is set during the end of the Roman empire, earlier than the source material, Geoffrey Monmoth’s Arthur (in his history of the Kings of Britain) which has Arthur set in the post-Roman-empire world. (But i admit, I’m having trouble pinning down the dates, and my memory from college classes may be faulty.) ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/35 "2018-10-21T13:46:14Z")
There are several comic books that take modern comic book characters and place them in historical eras. Not time travel but a new version of that character native to that era. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/36 "2018-10-24T23:30:13Z")
I was just reading about Mary Poppins, and was reminded of this thread. The original Mary Poppins book was written and set in 1934. But the 1964 Disney movie was set in 1910. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/37 "2018-10-25T02:50:32Z")
Prometheus served as a “quasi-prequel” to the Alien franchise. ---
**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 25, 2018, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120/38 "2018-10-25T03:19:22Z")
The movie “Sister Act” took place in the (then-)present (1992). The stage musical version of “Sister Act” takes place in 1978. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reboots-and-or-adaptations-set-further-in-the-past-than-the-original-work/823120.md?page=1)