[j. d. worthington]

Well, while it is in some ways restating what has already been said, I'll simply add this: If the prologue seems necessary because what it has to add is something that will not comfortably fit in the body of the story proper (if it provides needed information that would stick out -- even if well-written and interesting on its own -- like the proverbial sore thumb within the tale itself; if it introduces a theme that will be reintroduced later in the story, but the tone of which would interfere with/clash with that set by the early parts of your tale; if it brings in an important character who will not reappear until much later on, where the information about that character would -- again -- be a roadblock within the main story, etc.) then a prologue is a good idea.

The point of a prologue is to provide something for the reader/viewer that itself has drama and is important to the thrust of the work, but which nonetheless would simply be out of place in the text proper. If what you have is a block of worldbuilding that can be broken down and introduced gradually throughout the text, or is in some other way something that can be melded in, then it should be handled that way. Prologues are fine (personally, I quite like them), but they need to have a valid reason to be separated from the story proper....