Infernal Affairs II
Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me
Better Call Saul
These were referenced above–now, I haven’t really watched much of them, but are people saying them because they are good PREQUELS or because they’re just good QUALITY? What did they change about the perception of the original story?
A good prequel would need to actively change or impact something in the original. Otherwise it’s basically a (good quality) standalone story–it may as well be a sequel. Like the Temple of Doom example, the fact that it’s a prequel changes nothing at all about the Indy 1 character. If it were a sequel, it’d be exactly the same.
An example of a prequel changing the original would be Vader. REGARDLESS of whether you think it was a good or bad change, OT Vader was written and designed to be a menacing, imposing figure. We did not know what his face or personality was as Anakin.
PT Anakin was not written to be menacing or imposing–now, remember, this isn’t about personal like or dislike for the writing or characterization. This is just an example of how a prequel changes the original, because now OT Vader has a face and personality underneath the mask…and I bet PT Anakin was NOT what anyone, anywhere, envisioned what he was like.