Prequel - A Latin word meaning "Canon Thrown Out Yonder Window"

[Almighty dF]

Is it just me or have most prequels completely ruined the canon a movie series has started?
Just look at the Star Wars prequel trilogy and all the flaws it opens up (Obi-Wan met Anakin when he was already a skilled pilot, not when he was a 6 year old kid who tries to hit on 20 year old chicks. ...Which is kinda sick, but hey. At least he's suddenly 5 years older than her by movie two.) And don't forget the upcoming Star Trek prequel.. feating Shaun of the Dead as Scotty and Harold from Harold and Kumar as Sulu.

A general prequel: Someone fathers their own mother, becoming their own granddaughter and winning the war just days before he's even born and twenty years before the war is declared.

What are some other horrible prequels that come to mind? Meaning horrible prequels to a good series, of course a prequel to a bad movie will be bad. Or maybe one of the few good prequels?

An amusing prequel story comes to mind... how two Exorcist prequels came out in the same year, with almost the same plot, and the same leading actor. A technique I'm glad other movie-people haven't tried.

[doggans]

not when he was a 6 year old kid who tries to hit on 20 year old chicks. ...Which is kinda sick, but hey.

Not to be a geeky, raging, fanboy purist, but technically, he was nine and she was fourteen.

(Thank you, Weird Al.)

[Almighty dF]

True... but she didn't look 14. She looked 22.

[AmandaGal]

True... but she didn't look 14. She looked 22.

That excuse won't stand up in court and it won't stand up here either.

[Doctor Who?]

Yes but both her and Anikan's ages where not stated until episode two.

So people like me who didn't read every spin off book assumed that we had just seen a six year old hit on a 22 year old and were creeped out.

How was I supposed to know she was 14?!

Lucas could have told us.

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

Besides, we're supposed to believe that Naboo elected a 14 year old to be "Queen" of their entire freaking planet??

So how old was she when she was taking that Political Science class where she met the guy who became the artist that she had the crush on?  Do you count it in years or months?   

Padme only being 14 in the first movie made sense if she was royalty and inherited the throne young.....but then I guess Lucas couldn't figure out why she'd be away from Naboo and have to be protected by Anakin so he had to make her elected?

Okay, so Lucas didn't really have all this planned out like he claimed (yes, he did) when he made Star Wars....but what the hell was he doing during that time between RotJ and TPE (besides screwing around with Linda Ronstadt and adopting kids like puppies)??

(okay that last bit is probably out of line...  )

[Pak-Man]

Portman was only 18 when the movie came out...

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

Portman was only 18 when the movie came out...

And she was 13 when The Professional came out and the difference between the performances is like night and day.

Like someone got to her in between and told her, "You don't have to bother acting...you're pretty.  Besides, it causes wrinkles."

[SmilinJackRoss]

An amusing prequel story comes to mind... how two Exorcist prequels came out in the same year, with almost the same plot, and the same leading actor. A technique I'm glad other movie-people haven't tried.

This actually has an interesting story behind it.  This film was greenlit with director Paul Schrader behind the camera.  He proceeded to make a moody, cerebral, slow-paced film.  The production company hated it, and instead of shelving it, they hired Renny Harlin (of all people) to re-shoot the entire film, using Stellan Skarsgård in the lead role again.  This second film was the one released in theaters, and when it was a critical and commercial disappointment, they decided to give Paul Schrader's version the light of day on DVD.  Stellan Skarsgård is the only actor to play the same role in two versions of the same film...not that he wanted to:

"I wasn't that happy to get into the same costume and do it all over again. I felt that I had done the film already, and I didn't even know if they'd washed the clothes since I had last worn them. Originally, they wanted to do reshoots with another director and put them into Schrader's film, which they had me on contract for. That also didn't make me too happy because it would feel like two different films. So when Renny — who I like as a person and had worked with before on Deep Blue Sea — wanted to re-do the entire film, I said yes because it was better than doing a patchwork."

I haven't seen either film, but I've always planned on doing a double-feature and watching both back to back.  Someday.