Prequels, spinoffs, trilogies…
We live in the age of prequels, trilogies and spinoffs.
The new Star Trek movie will be a prequel. All new Star Wars trilogy is a prequel. The new Batman movie is also a prequel. Terminator 4 will be the start of a trilogy. By the way, it will also be a prequel, but a special one, that takes place in the future.
Actually, this is an interesting idea. In Terminator 1, Kyle Reese was sent back to the past by his leader, John Connor, to protect Sarah Connor and help conceive John Connor who later will be his leader and send him back through time to … whatever. A real paradox.
In T2, a Terminator (T-1000, Robert Patrick) was sent back to kill John Connor (and, of course, Sarah Connor), who was defeated by Sarah Connor and his son, John Connor, who sent back the friendly Terminator (T-101, Arnold “Governor of California” Schwarzenegger) to protect himself… whatever. Another paradox. By the way, Cyberdine was also destroyed, so Judgement Day should not happen anymore. Another paradox. But in Hollywood everything is possible.
In T3, a Terminator was sent back by Catherine Brewster to protect John Connor and Catherine Brewster from the T-X, the Terminator-terminator… and Judgement Day still comes.
So, in T4 we reach back to the roots of the Terminator problem. This makes T4 a prequel to the other 3 movies. But this prequel is special: everything that happens takes place AFTER the 3 previous movies. I mean, in the future. But this is still a prequel. Another paradox?
The Terminator franchise also has a spinoff. It’s called The Sarah Connor Chronicles, it’s a TV show and will air early next year.
One of my favourite TV shows, Battlestar Galactica, will also have a spinoff, called Caprica. And it is also a prequel (Things are getting worse… a spinoff prequel, a prequel trilogy, a spinoff prequel TV show… I’m starting to lose it!). Caprica would take place more than half a century before the events that play out in Battlestar Galactica. The people of the Twelve Colonies are at peace and living in a society not unlike our own, but where high technology has changed the lives of virtually everyone for the better. But a startling breakthrough in robotics is about to occur, one that will bring to life the age-old dream of marrying artificial intelligence with a mechanical body to create the first living robot: a Cylon.
X-men also gets two spinoff movies - both of them prequels. One of them is called X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and tells us about Logan / Wolverine’s younger years and his relationship to Mr. Stryker. The other one is called Magneto, and tells us about the younger years of Erik Lehnsherr, a (supposedly) Jewish boy who loses both parents in a Nazi camp during WWII (at least this is what X-Men movie #1 has showed us years ago). Both movies should be interesting. Both movies will be launched in 2009.
So, after lots of prequels, more will come. But this doesn’t make them less valuable. We still expect them with the same enthusiasm and anticipation…
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