Prequels tend to get a bad rep, don’t they? I guess I can’t
blame folk for not liking prequels. There are some that are pretty bad. They
tend to be of low quality and not capture what the original was all about. I
guess I can say the same thing about reboots, but that’s a list for another
time. Today, I’ll be talking about my ten favorite prequels. Why ten? Well,
there aren't that many good ones out there. I
won’t be including reboots like Batman Begins and Casino Royale on here simply
because they aren’t prequels. I’ve see some lists include them and that’s
pretty annoying. Now, there are some I’ll include that are sort of reboots, but
they are meant to be prequels.
10. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
ToD is probably
my least favorite of the Indiana Jones Foursome. It’s down there with Kingdom
of the Crystal Skull. While it’s not my favorite, it has its moments. Of
course, Harrison Ford rules any role he’s in. Short Pack was cool. It also had
some nice quotes (“You betrayed Shiva!”)
Yes, I know. It’s a
general fact that the Star Wars prequels suck. Luckily, I’m not a general
person. There were good things and bad things in those movies. ROTS was the
best of the three prequels. It helped set up things in the original trilogy and
isn’t a bad movie in of itself. It’s far from perfect but I do like it more
than the other two prequels. I will say that the Clone War TV series (I’ll get
to it later) did more to expand the universe than the prequels did.
Yeah, I got this on my list! Don’t
look at my like that! I know that this wasn’t a perfect show, okay? The first
two seasons are not that good. It’s not until the later seasons where the show
started to get pretty decent. Even though it’s
not perfect (it also ended horribly), I like it. It showed the beginnings of the
Federation and it threw a crew out into space for the first time. It had some
good characters and some good stories throughout the four years.
7. Batman: Arkham Origins
Yes, I’m including games too. I also talked about this game some time ago. It’s a prequel to the Batman Arkham
games and it takes place a few years before Arkham Asylum. While it is a lot
like Batman: Arkham City, it’s still a nice game. It’s got a good story and
shows Batman going up against his biggest foes for the first time. The gameplay
was excellent as ever and it helped fill in the void while Rocksteady finished Batman: Arkham Knight. If you haven’t played it, you should.
6. Smallville
While Smallville evolved into its own thing
in the later seasons, it was supposed to show the beginnings of Superman. We
got to see the things that made Clark Kent into Superman. It also had one of
the best origins for Lex Luthor, one of my favorite villains. We had nice
characters and some good stories in those ten years. While it wasn’t perfect,
it still was a good show. While we didn’t see Tom Welling in the suit, he was
as close to being Superman in those latter seasons. Besides, did we really want
to see him in Brandon Routh’s suit?
5. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Yes, I’m talking about this
game again. I already gushed over this game in my review of it last month, so you
can get a better detail of it there. All
I need to say here is that it’s a good game that’s a nice mix of stealth,
action, and good sci-fi. While it is a prequel, it really works as a standalone
piece of work. I’ve actually started to
play the original Deus Ex on my laptop which is a first for me. I’m not a PC
gamer, so it’s a little tough. I hope I’ll have something to say about the
original here one day.
4. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
While Rise is kind of a
reboot of the 3rd and 4th movies from the 70’s, it’s
still a pretty good prequel. The movie revolves around a genetically-changed ape
named Caesar. As he sees and experiences the injustice of humans, he stages an
uprising with other apes. It works as a nice prequel to the 1968 movie since that
movie takes place so far in the future. The story is pretty good and the
effects are awesome. I really need to see Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ones
of these days since I heard good things about it too.
After the horribleness of X-Men
Origins: Wolverine, we get this good movie. It mainly took place during the
height of the Cold War. It shows the origins of Magneto, Professor Xavier, and
Mystique. We even get a proto X-Team in here and they had some cool suits. We
had some nice action scenes, a nice story, and even some good humor. While it
isn’t completely perfect (the ending, some continuity issues, and January
Jones), it’s one of the best movies in the X-Men franchise.
Then we get to the Clone Wars
TV shows. They both served as a nice companion piece to the prequels
since we really didn't see much of the war in them. It also fills in a lot of
stuff on our main characters. It even made Anakin Skywalker into a likeable
character which was something the prequels definitely failed on. It had good
stories and showed more of the universe. I’ll have to eventually check out Star
Wars: Rebels, another prequel to the original trilogy, one day. A lot of the same creators are on that show and I've heard good things about it.
1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
MGS3 made me a fan of
the franchise. I think it was the first MGS game I played. It takes place over
30 years before the first Metal Gear game and looks at Naked Snake aka The Big
Boss, Solid Snake’s father. He was also the main villain the original Metal
Gear games. I also need to play those one of these days. It also takes place
during the height of the Cold War. Snake is sent on an assignment to stop the
Soviet Union from releasing a new dangerous weapon. He also has to find and
kill the Boss, his mentor who defected to the Soviet Union. The game has a
nice, tragic story. It’s a straight-up spy game. It also has some nice gameplay
and good visuals. If you haven’t played it, then you’re definitely missing out.
Well, that’s all I have for today. I don’t know if I missed
any more prequels. I doubt I did since they tend not to be good. I won’t do a
worst list since I tend to stay away from bad prequels. If I had to guess, that
list would include prequels like the other two Star Wars prequels, X-Men
Origins: Wolverine, and the Onk Bak prequels (even though they’re numbered like
sequels). So, what prequels do you like or despise? Let me know. Peace, God
Bless, and let’s hope good prequels are made in general.
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