Prequels suck.
Caprica is gonna suck, and it's going to drag down Galactica with it.
The difference between STORY and BACKSTORY is that the former is what you intended to tell and the latter is just support. Backstory isn't fleshed out, and it's less interesting. If it were interesting, it would have its own backstory. It's filler. Story needs backstory for shading and context, but that doesn't mean backstory can stand on its own.
Nobody gives a shit what Darth Vader was like when he was 8. Nobody wants to see an old-fashioned Enterprise with big clunky phaser pistols. Nobody cares what kind of hat Young Indiana Jones wore. Nobody fucking cares about Gothmog and Sauron in junior high school.
Even the word "prequel" sucks. "It's like a SEquel, but it's before so it's a PREquel, get it?" No, I don't get it. Do you get it? "Sequel" means "more of the same, moving forward," and "prequel" means "shit that isn't good enough for prime time."
What's next? Law and Order: Jack Goes to Law School? 24: Jack Bauer LAPD SWAT Team? (It's part of his backstory, I looked it up in a book, which is a fine place for backstory if you have to publish it somewhere.)
I know, if I were Ronald D. Moore and a fine Mercedes passed me on the highway, I'd say, "Damn, I got to get me one of them." So I'd sell Sci-Fi on a prequel show for Galactica. "I've got the notes at home!"
I'm telling you right now that Buffy suffered when Joss started Angel. The show runner stops working on the main show and spends most of his time on the new show. That's why Galactica is gonna take a hit on this one.
8 comments:
Totally agree. Although Sauron and Gothmog in high school might be awesome if the got Gary oldman to be the principal! :)
Hey, Luke Skywalker cares!
(too random?)
Maybe we can get a harry potter prequel...of him as a sperm?
or the pre-5th element of what happened 5000 years prior.
ugh, there would probably be a lot of talking in that movie.
Hey, we do care about Indy and his hat! (Does the beginning of The Last Crusade count as a prequel?) For that matter, does Temple of Doom count as a prequel in its entirety?
Indiana Jones, by it's nature, was episodic so the fact that Temple took place before Raiders was ok. I gotta agree with Shocho, this prequel thing is a bad idea.
The Wikipedia entry on prequel is interesting, and lots of examples (which show why they always suck).
You know, Angel wasn't a prequel or a sequel. It was a spin-off, and some of those have good or better track records: Frasier, The Jeffersons, as long as you forget about After-M*A*S*H.
I'm okay with the spin-offs. I only used Angel as an example of the show runner taking time off to work on the new show, as RDM will be doing with Caprica. Sorry to have confused the issue there.
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