Action Prologue: Difference between revisions

Most stories take a while to build up, as they first introduce you to the characters, the world, and the theme, giving them time to develop in your mind before things start to change and become exciting.

 

 

An Action Prologue starts off with something exciting happening immediately. Right at the beginning, the hero is sneaking around an enemy base, being menaced by a threat, or something similarly exciting. In some cases this is [[Foreshadowing]]. The event may be a minor one, but [[Chekhov's Gun|related to a major plot point that we don't discover until much later]]. It could be a dream sequence, where the hero sees something threatening that later shows up for real. Or it could be something completely unrelated to the main plot at all, used only to make sure that ''something'' exciting happens right at the start.

Compare [[Batman Cold Open]], which illustrates a character's skills at the beginning of a story; and [[Danger Room Cold Open]], which demonstrates the skills of a team. Contrast [[Prolonged Prologue]], which is what happens when you drag it out too much, as well as [[It Gets Better]] where the work slaps you from the start with exposition... and more exposition... and still more exposition... It can happen that the Action Prologue is cut short and revealed not to have been really happening; that's a [[Fake Action Prologue]].

 

 

* ''[[Witch Hunter Robin]]'' starts off with a mission by the ultra-tech team of super-powered witch-hunters, and the rest of the first episode is introducing their little circle to the audience. And the title character isn't even fully introduced until the second episode!

* The prologue of ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' has a battle in space the likes of which don't happen until the final of the four arcs - {{spoiler|and, in fact, the exact battle shown never actually happens}}.

* The anime of ''[[D.N.Angel]]'' opens on a fight between Dark and Krad that apparently happened in the past, before cutting to the high school [[Shojo]] romance opening of the manga.

** Which is based on how the game begins with a narration going along with a the sound of something hitting something else.

* The manga adaptation of ''[[Persona 3]]'' opens with The Hanged Man Operation. That is, an explosive battle on a bridge.

* The second scene in ''[[Sword of the Stranger]]'' is an elaborate action sequence, with bandits attacking the Ming caravan.

* ''[[Infinite Stratos]]'' begins with Ichika and his harem facing off an unidentified IS pilot. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|And it was]] '''[[Visual Effects of Awesome|awesome]].'''

** {{spoiler|It turns out that it's actually the fight vs Silvario Gospel in the last episode}}

* ''[[Hidan no Aria]]'' starts with Kinji trying to not be blown up by the bomb on his bike, and Aria falling out of the sky, shooting guns and all, to try to save him.

 

 

 

 

== Film ==

* Pretty much universal in [[James Bond]] movies.

* Most of the ''[[Star Wars]]'' movies start off in a fight of some sort:

** ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'' starts in the middle of the battle for Coruscant.

** ''[[A New Hope]]'' starts with the famous shot of the Star Destroyer chasing the ''Tantive IV''.

* ''[[Hancock]]'' opens up with a gun battle on the L.A. Freeway, with the eponymous hero arriving to "save" the day.

* ''[[Predator]] 2'' starts off with a 'Predator-eye' view of a pitched gun battle between the LAPD and a street gang. This battle is interrupted when the Predator kills and 'cleans' the surviving gangsters.

** ''Prince Caspian'' similarly starts with Caspian escaping Miraz's assassination attempt, followed by the book's original opening of the Pevensie siblings at the train station.

* The 1985 IMAX film ''The Dream Is Alive'' looks like a subversion at first- it opens with about a minute of an alligator and some birds going about their business in a Florida swamp- THEN we hear sonic booms as the space shuttle flies overhead and it cuts to a dramatic touchdown, true to form.

* ''[[Diary of the Dead]]'' begins with internet footage of a zombie attack on some TV journalists, then cuts to the protagonists making a horror movie and slowly finding out about the [[Zombie Apocalypse]]. Justified as the whole movie is meant to have been edited by one of the protagonists after the event anyway.

* ''[[The Lion in Winter]]'' opens with King Henry sparring with his son Prince John, which establishes Henry as an aging conqueror and John as his favorite son.

* ''[[Toy Story 2]]'' starts with Buzz Lightyear infiltrating Emperor Zurg's secret lair. It is then revealed to be a video game Rex is playing.

* The Tea Room shootout at the beginning of ''Hard-Boiled''.

* ''[[Top Gun]]''.

* ''[[The Matrix]]'' and ''[[The Matrix Reloaded]]''.

* ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' starts with the Joker and a gang of crooks robbing a bank.

** This seems to be a reverse of the usual [[Batman Cold Open]] in that, instead of the establishing the hero's skills, the first 15 minutes has several moments designed to instill the fear of The Joker into the viewers.

* Before the opening credits of ''[[Enter the Dragon]]'' even begins Bruce Lee fights and beats Sammo Hung in a nonlethal kung fu match at a Shaolin Temple in Hong Kong.

* ''[[Streets of Fire]]'' starts off with a rock concert and the lead singer being kidnapped onstage. From there, there's very little pause in the action.

* ''[[Brotherhood of the Wolf]]'' begins with a martial arts fight between the two heroes and some local goons. The original script began with an extended chase through Parisian sewers.

* ''[[The Chase]]'' (1994) is pretty much lock, stock and barrel Jack Hammond's kidnapping of Natalie Voss and his attempt to escape to Mexico. Roughly 90 percent of the movie takes place on the freeway or just alongside it, and the director wastes no time whisking us right into the thick of it: from ''the very moment the screen fades in'', we can already hear the wail of police sirens in the distance as Jack enters the convenience store looking for a hostage, and spots Natalie.

* It's not strictly an "action-packed" movie, but ''[[Purple Rain]]'' gets off to quite a heady start. Director Albert Magnoli literally does not waste even one second plunging us into the story: the Warner Brothers studio logo has not even faded from the screen yet before the strains of a synthesizer played by "Doctor Fink" (a character in the movie) are heard in the distance and the voice of the (yet unseen) master of ceremonies at the First Avenue Nightclub is heard calling out: "Ladies and gentlemen....The Revolution!" (What follows is some of the best [[Crowning Music of Awesome]] in movie musical history.)

 

== Literature ==

** This is how Simon R Green introduces the characters to new readers in most of his books in fact, especially the [[Nightside]] series. And sometimes the opening scene contains a [[Chekhov's Gun]] or foreshadows a future book's plot

* Nearly all of the ''[[Halo]]'' novels have this.

* [[Harry Harrison]]'s two series [[The Stainless Steel Rat]] and [[Bill the Galactic Hero]] often start each novel this way.

* ''[[Snow Crash]]'' starts out with a wild racing scene in which Hiro tries to deliver a pizza under threat of death. Hiro isn't even called by name until the end of the scene, when he introduces himself to YT.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* Many of the "opening gambits" on ''[[MacGyver]]''.

* [[Human Target]] almost always starts this way, with Christopher doing something awesome (often involving explosions).

* The first episode of [[Game of Thrones]] cold opens with a suspenseful scene that features rangers of the Night's Watch getting ambushed by White Walkers.

** "The Empty Child" begins with the TARDIS chasing after a Chula warship through a time track.

** "The Girl in the Fireplace" starts with offscreen screaming and Madame de Pompadour calling for the Doctor's name through a fireplace.

** "Love & Monsters" [[Invoked Trope|invokes]] this, the narrator character pointing out the encounter with the Doctor, a Hoix and some buckets isn't the beginning, just a good hook for the audience.

** "Gridlock" begins with a couple's flying car on a motorway being attacked by an unseen menace.

** "Silence in the Library" has a little girl apparently experiencing an Action Prologue through her dreams, as the Doctor and Donna board themselves up in some kind of library room.

** "Planet of the Dead" starts with [[Classy Cat Burglar|Lady Christina]] stealing a precious cup from a museum and escaping.

 

== Video Games ==

* Video game example: ''[[Silent Hill 3]]'' starts with Heather in a spooky amusement park, armed with very little in the way of weapons, and wondering where she is. If you either die or reach the end (which results in her dying in a cutscene), she wakes up and realizes it's just a dream. Much later in the game, you go to that very same amusement park for real.

* Some of the [[James Bond]] games. ''Everything or Nothing'' actually started you right in the first level, without giving you a menu or anything like it before.

** ''[[X-Men]] 2: Clone Wars'' for the ''[[Sega Genesis]]'', too.

* ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' starts with Joanna's very first mission as Carrington Institute agent. Also its prequel started with a mission, but it's revealed it was a [[Fake Action Prologue]] being just a simulation.

* The prologue of ''[[Castlevania]]: Symphony of the Night'' starts at ''ending'' of the previous game, ''Rondo of Blood'': the player isn't even controlling Alucard at that point, but Richter Belmont.

* ''[[Breath of Fire III]]'' opens with the hero escaping from a mine in dragon form. The dragon's stats are such that you cannot lose the battles in this sequence.

* The game ''Prototype'' begins with New York in ruin and chaos as well as giving your character [[A Taste of Power|full ablities]], then after the title appears, flashes back to "18 days ago".

** Almost the same thing happens in ''Spider-Man: Web of Shadows''.

* ''[[Bayonetta]]'' begins with our antiheroine and Jeanne in their flashback garb fighting angels on the face of a falling clock. It might be a clever symbol for a compressed backstory narration, but it's hard to tell when the actual game is so trippy. Despite the game's reputation for putting some of the most spectacular fights in cutscenes, it's fully playable, with no control guidance for first-time players, but also no way to lose. Then, there's a whole prologue chapter, filled with control tutorials and some minor exposition. Then there's an expository cutscene and an Indy-style travel montage. ''Then'' the opening tiles play as 'netta struts off the train in Vigrid.

** ''Uncharted: Drake's Fortune'' opens with Nate and Elana unearthing Sir Francis' journal in the middle of the ocean, when suddenly, pirates attack and the player has to defend the boat.

** ''Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception'' opens with a bar brawl in an English pub populated by [[Mooks]], after a deal goes bad. It's a great excuse to teach the player the new unarmed combat system.

* [[Guild Wars]] Nightfall throws the character into a corsair battle for its first quests and mission, before the "training" sequences more common in other MMO's (and other guild Wars chapters)

* ''[[Vindictus]]'' begins with a siege on a bell tower against a giant spider. The Oracle, Tieve, wants to talk to the spider and find out why it's so frightened, so a group of soldiers, including you, are assigned to escort her to the top. Everyone is promptly ambushed by Gnolls after the leader of the soldiers finds a Fomorian Emblem, and everyone except you and Tieve are wounded or killed. The game then gives you control of your character and walks you through the combat system as you kill your way through the Gnolls and escort Tieve to the top of the tower, where you have to fight the spider as ballista spears rain down on the roof.

* ''[[Shadow Complex]]'' begins with a man in a city with [[A Taste of Power|about half of the full set of equipment]] for a shootout with some troops and a helicopter. He is then killed, and the action switches to the actual player character, where the real ''[[Metroidvania]]'' part begins.

* ''[[Xenoblade]] Chronicles'' begins in the middle of the war against the Mechon, where you play as Dunban in the battle that would make him a legend among the peoples of Bionis.

 

== Webcomics ==

* The ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' story arc "Phoenix Rising" (well, the Oasis half of it, anyway) begins right away with Oasis fighting a group of convenience store robbers. Things then quiet down for a while, giving us time to know the characters, before the action starts up again when {{spoiler|Nash Straw kills Lupae}}.

 

== Web Originals ==

 

== Western Animation ==

 

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[[Category:Beginning Tropes]]