The Silmarillion.
And yes, I know most of it was written before LOTR; but it was compiled and published 20 years after, so it counts.
The story was previoulsy filmed, as “Manhunter” (notable for the use of “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” in the soundtrack :D). That preceded “Silence of the Lambs”.
Poul Anderson wrote Ensign Flandry and The Rebel Worlds as prequel to the Captain Flandry stories.
I’d also suggest that the Hari Seldon stories written as a prequel to the Foundation stories by Isaac Asimov were significantly better written, since he had 40 years to hone his craft and frankly the original Foundation stories weren’t that well written even by forties standards.
That’s just a preceding book. It was written first (at least in final forms), happens first, and is supposed to be read first.
Magician’s Nephew is a prequel because it was written later, happens first, is best read later (despite the recent repackagings of that series that number it 1).
But it was written and published first.
I recall one of my HS English teachers referring to The Hobbit as a “prequel” to LOTR . . . even though it was written first . . . Is there, like, a commutative property here? If book B is a sequel to book A, then is book A therefore a prequel to book B, regardless of dates-of-composition?
I’d say “prequel” is not an equivalent term to “sequel,” and was invented (as a portmanteau) to describe chronologically-earlier stories which were told later.
It’s not just that the prequel is composed later, but that it is artistically presented as a follow-up, despite dealing in an earlier time. Many prequels, for example, refer to things which happen later, with the expectation that the audience is familiar with those from the earlier-told story.
I think what we’re looking for is a prequel that was made after the original.
I mean, I can say Empire Strikes Back is a great prequel to Return of the Jedi, but it was made first and isn’t really what we’re looking for.
The question is if anyone has gone back and written and made a prequel to a movie/book that exists and done a good job at it.
I always thought “When the Tripods Came” was equal to “The White Mountains” and better than the two sequels, “The City of Gold and Lead” and “The Pool of Fire”.
Dunno if it counts, but “The Hobbit” is far more accessible and fun to read for a casual reader than any of the rest of TLOTR. Yes, I know Hobbit is written in a different style, and was written before TLOTR. And I really like LOTR, so I’m not hating. But I know a ton of people that love “The Hobbit” but couldn’t make it halfway through even Fellowship.
I understand some upcoming episodes of Spartacus: Blood and Sand will prequel the already-broadcast episodes, in part because the lead actor will be undergoing cancer treatments.
I expect they’ll be as good as existing episodes, else Jupiter’s cock may wilt.
:eek: I came in to mention that movie! I love it. If you compare it to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, a favorite movie of mine, and Paul Newman and Robert Redford, two of my favorite actors, of course it’s going to suffer horribly, but if you take it as its own thing, it, to me, works beautifully. The acting, the script, the humor, the seriousness, the friendship, the crime sprees, the scenery, everything else, it all works. For me. I just love it.
They mentioned that in the film, didn’t they? Short Round’s parents were killed when the Japanese bombed Shanghai.
Good enough that I still see the Narnia books for sale packaged out of order.
That’s mostly because people weren’t smart enough to figure out that you lose a lot of the mystery of the first book if you read the sixth first, and instead got the author’s opinion, who apparently just picked one to get them to go away.
Yeah, but – William L Peterson’s acting :rolleyes:
I laughed more at this movie than I did at some of the comedies of that era.
When I posed the question, I certainly was not thinking that any book or movie that had a sequel was a prequel. If that were the case, the question would be outright silly - there are too many good books with sequels to even try to list, let alone for me to wonder if any had been written.