It seems to be the trend of the days. Prequels, be it in US TV series, movies or in manga and anime. Quite frankly, I find myself wondering what’s going on through the producers’ brains.
Granted, it’s easier to come up with a prequel: the universe is set, you can reuse characters that are already well established and popular. You can do what you didn’t do before, either because technology of the time didn’t allow you to, or because you simply didn’t think of it (or couldn’t do it because of the time’s constraints in terms of morals, and righteousness). Still, while these are time and cost-efficient criteria, there are others to consider:
Fanfictions, for one. Oh yes, you heard me. Fanfictions, and those who write them. Most of the great titles, be it in US TV series or anime/manga, have attracted writers from all over the fandom spectrum. Between themselves, they’ve extended the existing universes, studied characters to death, built prequels and side-stories. Sometimes, but more rarely so, they’ve dabbled in sequels. In spite of the Correct Opinion ™ brandished in the publishing world, some of those fanfiction authors are very good and talented writers. Of course, a great many are just kids and teens spewing out their (often incoherent) fantasies on the internet, realizing their own dreams of being heroes or the beloved/whatever of heroes or heroines they idolize. It would be stupid to ignore that or not to acknowledge it.
Yet, in the vast ocean of fanfictions, there are shining jewels who do more than justice to the title that inspired them. This I s not a popular opinion in the publishing world, and yet it’s the truth. After all, what do the franchised writers do when they write novels for TSR, and other companies? What do the authors of Star Trek, Star Wars DragonLance, Forgotten Realms novels write, other than fanfiction? Are they not writing about a universe they didn’t create, using characters and concepts they didn’t create?
But enough with my rambling on fanfiction. If I continue, I’ll be telling you all about what I think of the odds of getting published when you write something original as a first novel and you’re not sponsored by X or Y (X or Y being someone high placed in the publishing world, a critic, a professor in some university or another popular writer). This is supposed to be about prequels.
Star Trek prequels among them. To tell you the truth, while I suppose I can be called a geek, I am in no way a Trekkie (or a Trekker). I have watched with quite a bit of pleasure St TNG, ST DS9 and parts of ST Voyager (my memories of ST TOS are foggier, and I know for a fact I’d have a bit of difficulty enjoying it now—even though I did love what I could catch of it as a child). But I have not, and will most likely never watch a single episode of ST Enterprise, and I’m not sure I’ll want to watch the 11th movie in the works under the direction of JJ Abrams who came up with Lost (I have yet to understand the appeal of that series, but never mind—the fact that he’s also the writer of crap like Mission Impossible 3, the abysmally awful movie created for the sole glory of a totally egocentric sect member like Tom Cruise alone makes my skin crawl in disgust). Beyond my doubts and qualms about JJ Abrams, the concept of yet another prequel irks me. Are Hollywood’s screenwriters so unimaginative that they need to go back and drape themselves with a universe and characters not their own?
What’s the use of a prequel recounting Kirk’s and Spock’s first mission in deep space? Oh, I’m sure it can be interesting, but let me tell you one thing: it’s been done already. It has been written, and probably a thousand times already. All those possibilities have been explored to death by fanfiction writers. The odds of coming up with something original in that regard are very small, if not outright null. Sure, it’s bound to be much easier, and it’s bound to be really convenient if in doing this you can do some kind of reboot on the series’ concepts. That’ll allow you to get rid of continuity and coherence, so you can write what you want. But that’s what fanfiction writers do. Taking a universe, twisting it to suit one’s vision and making it your own. While I have no problem with that (as long as it’s well done)—after all I spend my time doing this when I write—I have a problem with the owner of a universe abandoning the canon of their work, changing the foundations as if what had come before had become either obsolete, or inconvenient. You should be able to work with respect to the concepts. You should be able to look forward, and advance using the guidelines set before you came, and build ahead. If you’re a professional, you should be able to do so.
And quite frankly, prequels are very difficult to turn into a success. To be popular and interesting, they need to be intermingled with an ongoing story that is making the universe itself progress. They cannot stand alone, cut out from the flow of a forward-going story. They need to come in flashbacks, not to stand alone and estranged from everything. People like Tite Kubo (Bleach anyone?) and the anime directors of Bleach TV have shown themselves to be masters in that most delicate of arts. JMS has done a superb job of prequel building with In the Beginning in the Babylon 5 universe. That was fantastic work, and should be the example of how one does prequels, and how one uses them to enrich one’s universe. The articulation of that movie in the chronological development of the story was masterful. Those who exploit the Star Trek franchise…have yet to show talent in that regard. And the direction that’s being taken is not, imho, the right one.
From TV series to anime and manga. Unfortunately, the ST owners aren’t the only ones to have decided to exploit this avenue. A certain Masami Kurumada is busy trampling his own work in Japan, for reasons that are completely beyond me. A mediocre artist at best, Masami Kurumada had had one moment of inspiration, twenty and some years ago when he created Saint Seiya. That fantastic, epic story upheld my years of hardship in the university, lifted me up, inspired me. There was depth and vision there, characters and a compelling universe that was a mixture of all the mythologies he could grab at. The story ended in the early 90s. Some twenty years later, a push for a revival was made in Japan. Alas, Saint Seiya was no longer of interest for its creator, who had found his path in life with wrestling and drinking lots of beers. Still, money is always welcome, and the revival did happen.
The Tenkai-hen Jôsô movie was made. The beginnings of a sequel, and a beautiful job it was. But the author, who declined to participate in its making beyond a fuzzy outline in the first place, decided he didn’t like it. And Mr Kurumada decided he’d redo everything. Because of the way he ended his story twenty years before, he decided to reboot, and to start his sequel with a prequel. And boy, is it bad! Kurumada’s art hasn’t become any better with time, but then it would have been stupid to expect that. But the story-telling…if you can still call that story-telling… The dialogues, the characters… Ugh. Again, as with Star Trek, Mr Kurumada, please, spare us the pain. What you’re babbling about and spewing out has been done already, and way better than you can ever hope to do. Fanfiction writers have been there for ages. I know it’s easier to do that, I know it demands far less effort to go into a prequel, and that your interest in Saint Seiya isn’t enough to push you to do a good job on a sequel. But then, please, just stop your Next Dimension horror. We don’t need it. The world, I assure you, has no need for it.
Prequels are very difficult to do properly. They’re very tricky to integrate in a work. The timing, the intermingling, all of it is very delicate work. It demands talent.
Tite Kubo has it. J. Michael Straczinski has it. It may be Mr Abrams has it, but even if he has, the cut in the Star Trek flow is such that he can only fail. He cannot integrate his movie in anything: there is no ST TV series running. There is nothing beyond DS9 and Voyager. It’s as if ST had just stopped—or died. Reminiscing and focusing on the past in the void is no good. As to Mr Kurumada…well, the 8 pages of garbage he spewed out a few days ago are ample proof of his total lack of interest or talent where Saint Seiya is concerned. That is as pathetic as it’s a heart-breaker.
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