What is Prequel?
'''Prequel''' is a term in [[drama]] and [[literature]]: it is a fusion of the words 'precursor' and '[[sequel]]'. When a story is told in several stages, it is natural to tell it in order of time. For example, a series of books on the [[Second World War]] started with the 1930s and ended up in 1946.<ref>[[Winston Churchill|Churchill, Winston S]]. 1948–1953. ''The Second World War''. 6 vols, Macmillan, London.</ref> For various reasons, this does not always happen. In the movie series ''[[Star Wars]]'', the first movie was ''[[Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope]]'' (1977). It was followed by three prequels, which were ''[[Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace]]'' (1999); ''[[Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones]]'' (2002) and ''[[Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith]]'' (2005). For correct use, the term 'prequel' is only applied when work is part of a series, and when the later publication refers to an earlier time. It is an old idea, but one which is often used today for drama on [[movie]] and [[television]]. The ''[[Cypria]]'', a work of [[Ancient Greek theatre|Ancient Greek]] literature, is a prequel to [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]''. A related idea is the [[back-story]], which is the background story of a main story or character. == References == {{Reflist}} [[Category:Drama]] [[Category:Literary terms]]