# Best and worst prequels? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 8, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873 "2012-08-08T15:59:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![HenryGale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b782af/32.png) [@HenryGale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HenryGale)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/21 "2012-08-08T22:08:49Z")
> [@Rubixcube](#): > > Pretty sure _Rise_ is a flat out reboot. The later sequels of the original series are actually prequels, its been a while since I’ve watched them but I’m pretty sure they don’t jive with the new one. Yeah… I guess there’s a lot of room for debate around what’s a prequel and what’s a reboot. I’m on the side of prequel with this one, I guess because it’s an origin story rather than a retelling of the existing movies’ plots. I guess it’s really the same debate that’s been had in this thread about X-Men First Class (which I’d consider a prequel too, but further into that grey territory between prequel and reboot). Maybe it’s a potential thread topic. What is the difference? ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/22 "2012-08-08T23:29:25Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > If the prequel was created by a different author or (for works with multiple authors) by a significantly different group of people, it counts if the prequel was authorized by the relevant copyright or trademark authors. A prequel created by a completely different person or group without any connection with the original author or the owner of the franchise doesn’t count… Guess that eliminates what would otherwise be my pick for best, Jean Rhys’ “Wide Sargasso Sea,” a prequel to Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre.” ---
**Author:** ![Rubixcube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Rubixcube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubixcube)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/23 "2012-08-09T00:14:56Z")
> [@HenryGale](#): > > Yeah… I guess there’s a lot of room for debate around what’s a prequel and what’s a reboot. I’m on the side of prequel with this one, I guess because it’s an origin story rather than a retelling of the existing movies’ plots. > > I guess it’s really the same debate that’s been had in this thread about X-Men First Class (which I’d consider a prequel too, but further into that grey territory between prequel and reboot). Maybe it’s a potential thread topic. What is the difference? I just read plot summaries of the sequels and they confirmed what I remembered, _Rise_ is a reboot. At the end of _Beneath_ a nuke is set off that destroys the earth. Then in _Escape_ it’s revealed that Cornelius, Zira, and Milo escaped the destruction in Taylor’s spaceship and travel through a time warp to 1970’s earth. Basically the plot revolves around what the humans do with them and has Zira giving birth to a talking ape. Then in _Conquest_ the humans are using the apes as slave labor and the plot revolves around an ape named Caesar getting fed up and rebelling. These plots don’t fit in any way with _Rise_, therefore _Rise_ can’t be a prequel. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/24 "2012-08-09T02:02:30Z")
Worst: The _Star Wars_ prequels. Best: The _Star Wars_ works set in the Old Republic era. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/25 "2012-08-09T03:13:23Z")
[Butch and Sundance: The Early Days](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078919/) I’m not putting this forward as either Best or Worst. It’s probably not that good, I don’t know. I don’t care. It’s one of my favorite prequels. I’m not sure why, other than I just had a great time watching it and the interactions between Tom Berenger’s Butch and William Katt’s Sundance. I can easily separate it and not compare it to [Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064115/), which is a classic I love. They’re on completely different levels, but I enjoy them both. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/26 "2012-08-09T03:20:32Z")
The _Dune_ prequel novels are pretty bad. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/27 "2012-08-09T03:20:57Z")
> [@HenryGale](#): > > I can respect that. Unless you’re one of those people who think you should read the books in chronological order, starting with The Magician’s Nephew. Then you’re dead to me. But if I thought that, then I wouldn’t be calling it a prequel, would I? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/28 "2012-08-09T03:24:23Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > The _Dune_ prequel novels are pretty bad. 1000x this. This is what I came into the thread to post. Brian Herbert rapes the corpse of his father with the complicity of Kevin J. Hackerson. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/29 "2012-08-09T03:24:42Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > The _Dune_ prequel novels are pretty bad. Oooh, I forgot about these. I haven’t read any of them, but have heard they are atrocious. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/30 "2012-08-09T03:39:54Z")
It should be noted that Herbert and Hackerson also did SEQUELS that are just as bad. A Dune amusement park complete with giant plastic sandworm? Check. The absolute worst sort of “together forever” reset button? Check. Now, admittedly, Frank was starting to slide a little as he got older (_Heretics_ and _Chapterhouse_ are kind of doofy) but Brian and Kevin just don’t even come up to the level of “doofy”. They’re kind of stuck at the level of “How much cash can I generate from making “official” fanfic of my dad’s world that’s worse than a lot of actual fanfic of my dad’s world?” Brian Herbert is kind of the anti-Christopher Tolkien. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/31 "2012-08-09T03:57:46Z")
Yeah, I read the prequels around the Butlerian Jihad and thought they were OK at best but had some pretty poor execution of ideas. The “House” trilogy was freaking aweful, is Duke Leto’s ‘gap year’ really the best story they could come up with?. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/32 "2012-08-09T19:41:40Z")
Spoilers for the _Final Destination_ series… [spoiler]Not entirely fitting, since it’s not the best and not the worst, but it’s worth a mention. The _Final Destination_ series, like so many franchises, started out good and then quickly went downhill. The fourth one was so bad that I almost didn’t give the fifth and final one a try. Glad I did, though. Not only was it the best-written and acted one of the series, it also ended with the surprise reveal that it was a prequel to the first movie – it ended with the “survivors” of the film being on the doomed Flight 180, watching the original seven get kicked off the flight. Very clever move.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/33 "2012-08-09T19:51:29Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I wouldn’t consider it “the best,” but _Red Dragon_ wasn’t half bad. _Hannibal Rising_ OTOH, was awful. Harris should have left greatest alone. The prequel destroyed the whole Lechter legacy for me. One fun prequel is The Candy Cane Murder, the beginning of Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swenson culinary mystery series. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/34 "2012-08-09T21:42:15Z")
The OP doesn’t explicitly mention them but I think it’s legitimate to call some computer games “narrative fiction works”. In that “category” I’d put Metal Gear Solid 3 up for best prequel. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/35 "2012-08-09T21:50:32Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > The OP doesn’t explicitly mention them but I think it’s legitimate to call some computer games “narrative fiction works”. In that “category” I’d put Metal Gear Solid 3 up for best prequel. Indeed. What a fantastic story 3 told. Really made 1 and 2 look like over-the-top soap operas that were hard to take seriously(and Metal Gear Solid 2 is one of my favorite games of all time). MGS 3 is definitely one of the best prequels of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/36 "2012-08-09T21:53:08Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Does CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER count as a prequel to the IRON MAN movies? Of course not. That’s a Captain America movie, set in a shared universe. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/37 "2012-08-09T22:04:10Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > I’m rather fond of _The Phoenix Guards_, a Steven Brust story that was set in the distant past of his earlier series and told in the style of _The Three Musketeers_. I was coming in here to nominate this along with _ **500 Years After** _. The Viscount of Adrilankha trilogy was a few notches below, IMO; good for amusing tidbits of background, like the young Morrolan, but otherwise not as much fun as the first two. Arguably, _ **Taltos** _ might count, as I’m pretty sure it’s the earliest chronologically of the main Vlad series, but it doesn’t seem to work to talk about prequels in a generally non-chronological series. Never thought of MGS3, but a solid pick. MGS2 failed horribly on the level of story, but had some great gameplay; MGS3 had the story **and** the gameplay. The only thing it lacked, for me, were the more fully-fleshed minibosses of MGS1. If The Pain had had something more to bring to the table than I’M COVERED IN BEES!, MGS3 would have been approaching perfection. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/38 "2012-08-09T22:16:37Z")
> [@CyclopticXander](#): > > In terms of movies I can’t think of a better prequel than X-Men: First Class. It added backstory that enhanced the original films all while being an enteraining stand alone story, you can’t get much better than that. I can’t believe that nobody has mentioned the Wolverine: Origins movie for worst. (There are probably worse, but it deserves a nomination.) > [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > Spoilers for the _Final Destination_ series… > > [spoiler]Not entirely fitting, since it’s not the best and not the worst, but it’s worth a mention. > > The _Final Destination_ series, like so many franchises, started out good and then quickly went downhill. The fourth one was so bad that I almost didn’t give the fifth and final one a try. > > Glad I did, though. Not only was it the best-written and acted one of the series, it also ended with the surprise reveal that it was a prequel to the first movie – it ended with the “survivors” of the film being on the doomed Flight 180, watching the original seven get kicked off the flight. Very clever move.[/spoiler] Which one was that? There was one called _THE Final Destination_, but I’m not sure if it ended up actually be the last (kinda like how there were a few “Final” Friday the 13th’s.) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/39 "2012-08-09T22:48:15Z")
Two of the best _ **"side-quels"** _: (not sure what to call a book that acts like a prequel, but actually takes place at exactly the same timeframe scene-for-scene as the original) _Ender’s Shadow_. Ender’s Game was one of of my favorite books, but this made it even better. Same story, same time, but from Bean’s perspective. Check out its sequels, too. _“Lion King 1 1/2”_. A lot of what you know is wrong… when you see it from Pummba and Timon’s point of view. One of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen, and certainly one of the cleverest. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873/40 "2012-08-09T23:37:36Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Yep, the fact that Xavier gets paralyzed as a young man pretty much broke any continuity with the other movies, where we see him walking as a C~45 year old in X3. It breaks nothing, considering in the comics he’s been crippled, decrippled, and recrippled more times than I can count. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-prequels/630873.md?page=3)