Trendspotting - Prequel Panic

As you may have read in the Blend News, despised Star Trek producer Rick Berman recently hinted at the possibility of another Star Trek movie, this time acting as a “prequel” to the universe of Kirk, Spock, Picard, and (shudder) Janeway. As any film fan and science fiction geek could predict, fans went crazy - but not in a good way.

See, in the 1990s, George Lucas added the term “prequel” to the geek lexicon by announcing that he would finally make new movies in his Star Wars universe. Prequel fever hit the movie world. Film lovers were drooling, anticipating new world of story ideas, creating their dream casts, and actually wetting themselves when news would be released. It was a good time to be a Star Wars fan. However all of that came to a crashing halt when Lucas’s first prequel Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was released. It seemed fans’ memories of the original movies were much more attractive then the new stories Lucas had planned. With silly CGI characters and virtual sets, the acting seemed more hollow then ever and Star Wars was marred more than the release of the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special. The word “prequel” also bore the brunt of fan hatred, and became a term whose existence has been dreaded ever since.

Five years later the concept of a prequel still hasn’t recovered. Direct to video animated prequels have silently been released for films as recent as Van Helsing and The Chronicles of Riddick, but again not living up to the promise of the original movies. So it’s no big surprise that a proposed prequel for Star Trek is not being well received. In fact, the television series “Enterprise” was supposed to act as a prequel for the other Star Trek series, and that has worked so well the powers that be (including Berman) abandoned that concept and seemingly turned the show into a time travel saga, presumably trying to capture some of Scott Bakula’s “Quantum Leap” success. One can only wait until Captain Archer spots a klingon vessel and turns to Dean Stockwell for advice, muttering an “oh boy” along the way.

The truth is, prequels didn’t start with Star Wars. Lucas didn’t create the concept, he only managed to ruin the word “prequel”. The idea of going back and telling a backstory, or a story that takes place before the original story started years ago, and is a trend shared by two of the most popular trilogies on film, one of which even involved Lucas years before his Star Wars prequels. The second archeological adventure, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom takes place before Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s not the best example, as it doesn’t actually tell any back story, nothing that happens in Temple of Doom affects Raiders in any way, and it’s considered the weakest of the Indiana Jones flicks, but it’s still an example.

The best example however, comes in the much loved The Godfather, Part II. I know, Part II would designate it as a sequel, but think about it - amidst the story of Michael Corleone’s ascension, we also see how Vito Corleone rose to power, ending up where he was in the first movie. Part II does the same thing Lucas is attempting to do with his prequels - show the path major characters followed before we originally saw them, and what lead them to where we were introduced to them. Be it Vito Corleone or Darth Vader, it’s the same concept, only Francis Ford Coppolla did it better. If only Coppolla had foresight enough to use the word “prequel” instead of calling it “Part II”, we might have a better feeling when the term is used nowadays.

Unfortunately the curse of the prequel doesn’t look like it will end anytime soon. From Bill’s background in an animated prequel to Kill Bill to a twice filmed but yet to be seen preface to The Exorcist, everyone feels the need to explain the backstory of popular characters and stories. So why shouldn’t Star Trek join the party? After all, I feel as much a need to know about the creation of the United Federation of Planets as I need to see Marlon and Coral get it on in Creating Nemo.

By the way, if anyone at Disney reads this: I know Michael Eisner has you hard up for ideas. If you want to use Creating Nemo, I’ll expect a check in the mail.

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