# Earliest prequel in film? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518 "2016-01-18T19:30:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/1 "2016-01-18T19:30:15Z")
It occurs to me that _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_ (1984) is the earliest movie prequel I can think of, at least in the sense we commonly think of prequels today. Am I forgetting (or simply unaware of) a ton? For purposes of this exercise, I’m classifying a movie prequel as: 1. A film that came out after another film; 2. set in the same story “universe,” of sequential events if not actual location; 3. featuring the same protagonist, or at least a protagonist who was a primary character in the first film; 4. with that character being played by the same actor (i.e. no two-decade-later origin story reboots); 5. that depicts, completely or at least primarily, events that took place before the events of the earlier film (i.e. not just one little flashback scene); and 6. neither the first movie nor the prequel are adaptations of books or other media. By those criteria, can you think of any earlier prequel than _Temple of Doom_? I know I could Google it, but I’d rather be made to feel dumb by y’all than by a cold, heartless search engine. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/2 "2016-01-18T19:56:15Z")
I would say Godfather part 2, but conditions 5 and 6 disqualify it. ---
**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:** [January 18, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/3 "2016-01-18T20:16:13Z")
_Escape From The Planet Of The Apes_, after _Beneath The Planet Of The Apes_. Fits all six criteria, technically. I said “technically”. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/4 "2016-01-18T20:16:35Z")
I believe “Butch and Sundance: The Early Days” (1979) was the movie that coined the word “prequel,” except it violates your #4. ---
**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:** [January 18, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/5 "2016-01-18T20:25:53Z")
_Diamonds Are Forever_ (1971) has to occur before _On Her Majesty’s Secret Service_ (1969; No other explanation for Bond not saying something like “Hey, didn’t you kill my wife a few months ago?”). But, different actors for both Bond and Blofeld. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/6 "2016-01-18T20:28:37Z")
Diamonds Are Forever and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service are based on novels and it’s not a prequel anyway why would Bond say that to Blofeld anyway ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/7 "2016-01-18T20:30:14Z")
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly seems like a prequel to Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars more (because he gets the poncho in TGTBATU), but I’m not sure the movies are necessarily related. Still, it DOES seem to fit all your criteria. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/8 "2016-01-18T21:40:41Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > _Diamonds Are Forever_ (1971) has to occur before _On Her Majesty’s Secret Service_ (1969; No other explanation for Bond not saying something like “Hey, didn’t you kill my wife a few months ago?”). But, different actors for both Bond and Blofeld. At the beginning of\*\*\* Diamonds\*\*\*, isn’t Bond looking for Blofeld to exact revenge for killing Tracey? :dubious: 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/9 "2016-01-18T21:59:00Z")
[Davey Crockett and the River Pirates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett_and_the_River_Pirates)(1956) is a prequel to Davey Crockett, [King of the Wild Frontier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett,_King_of_the_Wild_Frontier) (1955). Both, however, are edited compilations of TV shows. _Another Part of the Forest_ (1948) is a prequel to _The Little Foxes_ (1941), but fails on 3, 4, and 6. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/10 "2016-01-18T23:00:10Z")
Wait, Temple of Doom was a _prequel_? How did I miss that part? ---
**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:** [January 19, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/11 "2016-01-19T00:22:31Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > At the beginning of\*\*\* Diamonds\*\*\*, isn’t Bond looking for Blofeld to exact revenge for killing Tracey? :dubious: 😕 I don’t have DVDs of the two movies on hand, but I did not get that impression watching it, and based on the synopses on Wiki and IMDB, I’m not the only one. My most vivid recollection of the beginning of _Diamonds_ is Connery strangling that woman with her own bikini top. The films, of course, weren’t made in the same order as the books they semi-adapted and both movies proceed as if Bond and Blofeld are meeting for the first time. (SPECTRE has a “first meeting” as well, so I guess that’s kind of a hat trick. The only way for _Diamonds_ not to be a prequel is for _Majesty’s_ to be a reboot and I don’t think that’s suppose to be the case. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/12 "2016-01-19T00:34:04Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > My most vivid recollection of the beginning of _Diamonds_ is Connery strangling that woman with her own bikini top. Everyone he molested in the teaser was asked _“Where is he?”_ That is, he was hunting Blofeld down. When he finally nailed him in the mud baths, his only objective was to snuff him with extreme prejudice. I haven’t seen the movie in more than 20 years, but I think there was also brief mention of his “vendetta” being over (or words to that effect) in the subsequent scene in M’s office. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/13 "2016-01-19T00:35:44Z")
> [@infinitii](#): > > The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly seems like a prequel to Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars more (because he gets the poncho in TGTBATU), but I’m not sure the movies are necessarily related. Still, it DOES seem to fit all your criteria. It’s never really established that the Eastwood character is the same guy in all three, or even two of the three, although he wears exactly the same clothes in each. Plus Lee Van Cleef is definitely two different characters in the second and third movies. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/14 "2016-01-19T01:37:33Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Wait, Temple of Doom was a _prequel_? How did I miss that part? _Temple of Doom_ ostensibly happens in 1935, _Raiders_ in 1936, and _Last Crusade_ in 1938. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/15 "2016-01-19T01:39:12Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I would say Godfather part 2, but conditions 5 and 6 disqualify it. I’d call _Godfather II_ a sequel with flashbacks. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/16 "2016-01-19T02:55:10Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Wait, Temple of Doom was a _prequel_? How did I miss that part? Really, the only dead giveaway is the year stamp at the beginning of each film. Otherwise the first three movies are pretty much independent stories. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2016, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/17 "2016-01-19T02:59:30Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > Really, the only dead giveaway is the year stamp at the beginning of each film. Otherwise the first three movies are pretty much independent stories. To be fair, if _Temple of Doom_ weren’t a prequel, then he’d presumably be killing Nazis. ---
**Author:** ![Lorne\_Armstrong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@Lorne\_Armstrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorne_Armstrong)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/18 "2016-01-19T06:10:19Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Wait, Temple of Doom was a _prequel_? How did I miss that part? Temple of Doom is a prequel in only technical terms in that we’re told the year is 1935. I don’t think there’s actually anything in the film that qualifies it as a prequel. In fact, in Raiders, Indy tells his buddy that he doesn’t believe in magic and voodoo, which is kind of odd being that he was in the Temple of Doom one year prior. I think that Lucas set the movie in 1935 because Karen Allen declined to be in it. We all know that George Lucas is a genius in this area. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/19 "2016-01-19T08:55:22Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > Really, the only dead giveaway is the year stamp at the beginning of each film. Otherwise the first three movies are pretty much independent stories. There’s a funny throwaway line in _The Last Crusade_, when Indy and Ilsa are in the catacombs underneath the library, and they find the knight’s tomb. There is a painting that we see briefly and Ilsa asks about the subject of the painting: Ilsa: “What’s this?” Indy: “The Ark of the Covenant” Ilsa: “Are you sure?” Indy: “Pretty sure.” ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518/20 "2016-01-19T18:40:12Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > It’s never really established that the Eastwood character is the same guy in all three, or even two of the three, although he wears exactly the same clothes in each. Plus Lee Van Cleef is definitely two different characters in the second and third movies. Well he has a different name in all three films. Joe in A Fistful of Dollars, Monco in For a Few Dollars More, and Blondie in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-prequel-in-film/743518.md?page=2)