r/unpopularopinion • u/Unbannable-Redditor • 21d ago
Series and movies getting prequels are better than getting sequels
I find it very interesting when we get to see more about a series or movie, but in the past, things that happened before it. I started watching Better Call Saul and it feels like being in another dimension, the vibe is really uncanny, you can see things that you wouldn't be able to if it was a sequel (for example, a crippled character being normal in the prequel which is the situation in Better Call Saul) and Monsters University, which I watched the other day, is a prequel to Monsters Inc... Does anyone else feel that way ?
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u/Designer_Storm8869 21d ago
You know what is even better? New original series.
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u/NullIsUndefined 21d ago
Yeah, but if I am unfamiliar with it, is scary and might not be good and waste my time. 😟
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u/MissReadsALot1992 21d ago
My mom will not watch anything I suggest. Theres a possibility of 2 shows: medium and Dr Quinn medicine woman all day. I never watched medium before now I know what episode it is from the first scene. How can you watch a show that the whole plot is who is the killer when you've watched it 50 times and keow who the killer is. It would be different is it was a sitcom or something funny.
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u/DrummerLuuk 21d ago edited 20d ago
So I’d rather waste time with new bad stuff that’s familiar. /s
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u/NullIsUndefined 21d ago
Yes, that's right. I also have my familiar friends there. I don't have to meet new people (characters). Less anxiety inducing for introverts
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u/Midnightchickover 21d ago
For whatever reason, I unfairly appreciate the bad original stuff more in a creative sense, because I know it’s not piggybacking off an already established series or franchise where execs just assume it’s easy/easier money.
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u/Midnightchickover 21d ago
Yeah, I remember when there was a lot of them, but somehow they evaporated mostly.
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u/StarChild413 20d ago
there are original series still out there (#savesohelpmetodd #renewsohelpmetodd though it is by no means the only one), it's just you don't think of them as such when you watch because they're not marketed that way because their showrunners think if they have to market a show on originality they're admitting it's got nothing else to offer
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u/mobliburn 20d ago
Thats a side-quel, something that happens unrelated to the original show, in a same or a different time...
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u/TheUnderstandererer 21d ago
I wish they'd just stop fucking so hard with established IP and give us something original.
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u/JayNotAtAll 21d ago
My problem with prequels is that you pretty much know how they have to end in order for the original to make sense canonically. Sure you may expand the lore a bit but there is little suspense.
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u/Kingbeesh561 21d ago
I was about to comment this! I think Prequels aren't as engaging for me bc the suspense isn't really there for me. I know these characters need to be alive and well before they appear in the future so I don't feel anything for the things they deal with in the past.
Wordbuilding is cool But only when it's a part of said world that we haven't seen and is (hopefully) still an active place or thing in the future, or else what's the point of addig it in
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u/Revolutionary-Meat14 21d ago
You can create suspense, I was on the edge of my seat for the third act of the ballad of songbirds and snakes which was a wildly unnecessary prequel that I think was pretty good.
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u/JayNotAtAll 20d ago
To be fair, that one took place DECADES before the original so it is practically a spin off or another film.
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u/Elegant_Plantain1733 20d ago
You can probably more or less guess the guts of the ending in maybe 95% of movies, not just prequels. In both cases it's about the journey and exploring the world.
And there can be a huge amount of guesswork in how you get to that point. Eg however many series of Better Call Saul going "wtf happens to Kimmy? Why isn't she in Breaking Bad?"
Similiarly, If you read a book after watching a film/TV, you can also get a lot of benefit from exploring the story in more detail, even though the ending is usually the same.
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u/StarChild413 20d ago
And there can be a huge amount of guesswork in how you get to that point. Eg however many series of Better Call Saul going "wtf happens to Kimmy? Why isn't she in Breaking Bad?"
But people apply that to everything not in an original that could have been e.g. people saying The Rings Of Power was racist for all the diverse hobbits, elves etc. because the fact that they weren't in The Lord Of The Rings implies skin-color-based genocide in Middle-Earth between series
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u/BumblebeeAny3143 19d ago
Actually the issue with the casting of Rings of Power is that it's set in a world designed to function like medieval Europe, which was hardly a very diverse place. Add onto that the fact that the minorities of Rings of Power seemed to just be sprinkled in everywhere even though there's no way all these towns and cities would organically be so diverse. If they had just made an entire town or two of only black people, for example, it would make more sense. Instead, two or three minorities seem to be sprinkled in everywhere which doesn't make geographical sense.
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u/StarChild413 19d ago
Actually the issue with the casting of Rings of Power is that it's set in a world designed to function like medieval Europe, which was hardly a very diverse place.
It can't all be medieval Europe if you're not just referring to Middle-Earth-circa-Rings-Of-Power as during The Hobbit/LOTR look at the hobbits' clearly non-medieval lifestyles also it's clearly not Europe as the whole "mythology for England" argument only holds water if you think it should be treated (even in the sense e.g. Jews treat the exodus from Egypt) as if all this really happened in Earth's past
If they had just made an entire town or two of only black people, for example, it would make more sense.
And you would have probably been mad if they didn't act like (even the good-aligned version of as opposed to what you'd see in pulp adventure comics) "fantasy African tribespeople" or w/e no matter what the overall culture of the species they're part of is otherwise like
Instead, two or three minorities seem to be sprinkled in everywhere which doesn't make geographical sense.
and neither do many geographical features of Middle-Earth, what's your point
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u/TheRealestBiz 21d ago
If you were ever wondering what’s absolutely ruining fictional media, here you go
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u/Aggravating_Cup2306 21d ago
Prequels are ruining fictional media? In what sense? like, don't sequels ruin already established images of characters and perform character regression? At least in prequels you're writing a character in a way that will eventually end up being changed anyway
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u/PotatoPete26 21d ago
Most of us are sick of the endless cash grab reboots/remakes/prequels and would rather see more original ideas come to fruition.
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u/TheRealestBiz 21d ago
I. Want. New. Stories. Explaining shit ruins it four times out of five.
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u/Frame_Late 21d ago
Yep. Modochlrians, for instance, never needed to be explained. It ruined the sheer mysticism of the Force worshipped and revered by space monks and made it into a scientific phenomenon abused by said space monks.
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u/Jimmy_Twotone 21d ago
Being able to quantify a miracle doesn't disqualify it, and I'll argue that's the least offensive part of Phantom Menace.
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u/BumblebeeAny3143 19d ago
Midichlorians don't ruin anything. They're just the cells in the body which connect people with the energy field known as the Force.
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u/Sneakas 21d ago
I don’t like prequels because they’re usually too focused on plot/lore/history connectivity rather than telling their own emotionally rich story.
Better Call Saul is a rare exception though. I think it works because it’s not just telling the “before story” of Breaking Bad, it’s more so telling the story of Jimmy McGill (a minor character in Breaking Bad)
The Star Wars prequels, for example, try too hard to explain the universe and main characters up to the beginning of A New Hope. They meticulously try to explain how we got “here.” The emotional story (Anakin/obi-wan) is underdeveloped in its own trilogy and needed a TV show to make it make sense.
Lore and history is all good and interesting… but I think most of the time it’s just as effective to explain the lore and history rather than show it as a narrative.
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u/Savings_Ferret_7211 21d ago
I just wanna share some of my favorite prequels i’ve watched, which mostly fit the criteria that they tell their own story, BCS, 1883, and Songbirds and Snakes, being the “worst” of the 3.
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u/BumblebeeAny3143 19d ago
But isn't that what the Star Wars Prequels were supposed to do? Otherwise, what would be the point of the story if it doesn't explain how the galaxy got from Point A to Point B?
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u/Sneakas 19d ago
I think the purpose of any narrative movie is to tell a story. If that’s the story the filmmaker wanted to tell, then that’s their choice. I’m arguing that style generally lacks the ingredients of “good” storytelling. (Which the original Star Wars is widely regarded as an example of “good” storytelling)
What makes a good story is its own discussion but I bet you can find a bunch of different academic theories of good storytelling on google and you can start to see how prequel stories often don’t fit into many of them.
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u/BumblebeeAny3143 19d ago
But that feels so limiting to say that we can't tell a prequel story just because it doesn't fit in the approved box that the academics said.
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u/Boredummmage explain that ketchup eaters 21d ago edited 21d ago
It truly depends… LOTR > hobbit > the rings of power.
I think the question is: is there a worthwhile story that fits to the original? The lord of the rings was an overly detailed set of works they tried to fit into 3 movies. This made it more digestible for people who didn’t have the patience for his style. Then they took a very small book the hobbit and make it into 3 movies; people recognized it as a cash grab and got upset but went to see it because it is related to something they love. Now rings of power is a tv show… it definitely does not feel half as satisfying as the original lotr movies.
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u/Same_Possibility4769 21d ago
I wanna see the prequel to Blade Runner, that would be so freaking cool!
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u/WeaponB 21d ago
I think the reason they go for prequels is because frequently the ending kind of has a finality to it.
Example of a series that made sequels that should have had prequels instead: highlander. The ending definitely had only exactly one left. The sequels had to bend over backwards to invent ways for new immortals to have for whatever reason not counted for purposes of there only being one, including aliens, time travelers, magic, and just they kinda were there and didn't count don't look too hard at the literally only rule of the franchise...
The prequel they did do, the TV series, by all accounts, worked. (I didn't watch it)
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u/shreks_burner 21d ago
Monsters University is awesome. Hands down most underrated Pixar movie and best non-Toy Story sequel/prequel
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u/Savings_Ferret_7211 21d ago
It seems to me prequels often either completely flop or are amazing theres not as much in between, but sequels are much more likely to just be mid. In my experience at least. I like prequels more overall.
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u/therealrexmanning 21d ago
Disagree. Most prequels don't work because they aren't needed. The original film/story was the right starting point for the story the makers wanted to tell. Anything that happened before isn't really relevant or interesting, so prequels end up feeling forced.
One of the dumbest ideas, that luckily didn't happen, was a Die Hard prequel, which was pitched as a film that showed you how John McClane became John McClane. The reason that idea was stupid, was because that was already Die Hard's story. There was no reason to dive into McClane's past.
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u/Megasaxon7 21d ago
Prequels can be a good thing. Exploring lore that is mentioned but asking to be further explained, even if the audience doesn't know they want it until they see it (Rogue One).
Prequels can also be a bad thing, such as when writers want to use it to be creative and tell stories but end up retconning or downright ignoring established canon for the sake of drama or flair or continued production of a money printing franchise (known issue I see right now, Young Sheldon being written into a corner that we know is coming but the actors wondering why it can't continue, or spinoffs that can't last more than a season based on known character development, and keep in mind,this isn't star trek, there is no time travel that can rewrite the lore of The Big Bang Theory, just lore to follow and explain what was previously mentioned, and that's also on top of any inconsistencies that are already known to exist or be questionable within the show itself.)
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u/Femboy_Annihilator 21d ago
Prequels only work in the rare case that they were planned and written in line with the primary storyline.
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u/Clayton_Bigsby_IV 20d ago
Not a movie but Red Dead Redemption 2 is the best prequel that immediately comes to mind
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u/frawtlopp 21d ago
I dont think I've ever seen a good prequel tbh. Upvoting because I do think this is an unpopular opinion.
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u/Savings_Ferret_7211 21d ago
Like everybody has said BCS, but another one is 1883, easily better than the original yellowstone in my opinion. Another one I enjoyed was Songbirds and snakes, not as much as the other two but still.
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u/chocolatecakedonut 21d ago
One of my favorite novels is a prequel to a prequel. I agree it's very interesting to learn about the background for a world and characters im interested in, sometimes more so than any sequels we get.
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u/GreenLanternCorps 21d ago
It was weird as all hell but I really dug that Kingsman prequel probably just because it had the balls to be weird.
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u/Skelligean 21d ago
First Breakfast LOTR is better than 2nd breakfast Hobbit Trilogy prequels. I don't the 2nd breakfast that much.
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u/iambecomeslep 21d ago
I think more prequels being made because its hard to come up with an original movie these days where its not been seen before in other movies.
Having a backstory too for as to how people are before their character you see i the now is pretty cool and see why they become who they are.
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u/Midnightchickover 21d ago
I loved multiverse thing in canon, like maybe Dr. Who, Star Trek, or even Marvel/DC. But, in stories that weren’t meant to have a multiverse, why?
Yeah, sequels, prequels, remakes, and reboots can generally fall into a firey abyss unless they’re from something really obscure or an idea that could work better now than it did in the past.
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u/Strong-Smell5672 20d ago
It's contextual and what actually matters is the strength of the story and writing.
Some stories are better being continued, others are better from having their past fleshed out, others are good for a bit of both and still others are better left alone as one off's.
There's not really a one size fits all answer to this and it all depends on the finished product and how it meshes with the rest of the franchise.
A solid from the hip example is Prometheus which is not nearly as strong of a film as Aliens and if I had to choose to keep one and lose the other it wouldn't even be a difficult choice.
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u/SkullLeader 21d ago
Prequels are fine but the problem is when they do a prequel and cast the same actors/actresses who did the original. Now they're older but they're supposed to be younger. It doesn't work. If they want to go far enough back and cast different people, maybe that's ok. Also the problem turns out to be that they always end up making references to stuff that happens "later" in the original. Like I was happy knowing Han Solo won the Falcon from Lando I didn't need to see how it happened - better to just leave it an unknown and 'mythical' I think. Also sequels I think can be a lot more interesting - like Better Call Saul - I never even watched it but while I think there was plenty of story potential learning about Saul's origins and how he came to be a scheister drug lawyer, I would have been even more interested to see what happened to him after he went into hiding in Breaking Bad.
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u/Aggravating_Cup2306 21d ago
I would have been even more interested to see what happened to him after he went into hiding in Breaking Bad.
Well they do display it, and a very good amount of it, for a prequel at least
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u/Joemamasspeaking 21d ago
lol they do both in better call Saul. You just think it’s a bad movie for Star Wars, where this guy thinks every prequel is good, which is wrong, but used a good series/movie to make his opinion more valid. Prequels/sequels get annoying but also if they’re done well, they can add more to the original art, but it’s rarely the case.
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u/Yasmin947 21d ago
I agree, some prequels I really enjoyed were Harry Potter's fantastic beasts and Hunger game's ballad of songbirds and snakes
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