Picard series, stand alone episodes or season long arcs?

[JesterFace]

I'm not exactly sure what the new series will be like, sorry if all this has already been talked about, but....

Which one would you like better for the new Picard series?

Stand alone episodes, possibly with some general idea in the background like TNG had the trial on humanity, or season long story arcs?

I think the new Picard series should continue in the same way TNG was, stand alone episodes.
Problem with season long arcs is that if there's one plot hole along the line, the whole thing falls apart.

EDIT - I'm not sure if this is the correct place for this thread..

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

This should probably be in the "Future of Trek" forum with the other Picard series threads.

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

NHNE is right. I’ll move it to Future of Trek now but leave the link.

Whooooosh!

 

[The Butter Phantom]

I'm not exactly sure what the new series will be like

They've confirmed it's one single story told over 10 episodes ("like a 10 hour movie").

 

[JoeZhang]

It will be one long show - all Trek shows will be now (live action at least and ignoring kids cartoons).

 

[JesterFace]

NHNE is right. I’ll move it to Future of Trek now but leave the link.

Whooooosh!

I remember I had seen a section for upcoming Treks but I must have missed it when going through the forum for a place for this thread, maybe?
Thank you for not banning me.

They've confirmed it's one single story told over 10 episodes ("like a 10 hour movie").

Does this mean the first season will have 10 episodes or is the entire Picard series 10 episodes and that's it?
Or maybe the series' crew will see how many people are watching the series and make up their minds after that?

 

[dinzy]

I believe it was stated somewhere that it was 10 episodes. It could be 13 because 13, 46 minute episodes is 10 hours.

It was also stated that S1 is standalone but it could go as long as 3 seasons.

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

I remember I had seen a section for upcoming Treks but I must have missed it when going through the forum for a place for this thread, maybe?
Thank you for not banning me.

No bans from the old Sho-Rin. It was a Spock moment, a logical mistake.

 

[Lord Garth]

They've said it's going to be like a 10-hour movie.

So it sounds like it'll be even less episodic than Discovery.

 

[Soong-type Android]

There's no such thing as stand alone episodes into today's television industry. Everything has to have long story arcs. If 'Best of Both Worlds' was made today it would last an entire season with no cliffhangers. Characters would make long tearful speeches while people were being assimilated around them and ships were blowing up at Wolf 359.

 

[Soong-type Android]

They've said it's going to be like a 10-hour movie.

So it sounds like it'll be even less episodic than Discovery.

And considering Discovery wasn't episodic in the slightest....

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Should be an option for mix of short arcs and stand alone episodes.

 

[Damian]

I would kind of like a mix of both. Maybe something like DS9 in the later seasons. Where you had multi season story arcs like the Dominion War but with standalones mixed in here and there. The Dominion War was always there but sometimes they took a break.

But I agree with others, I think it will be season long story arcs. Much of TV is built that way these days. There aren't many episodic shows out there anymore.

 

[Lord Garth]

There's no such thing as stand alone episodes into today's television industry. Everything has to have long story arcs. If 'Best of Both Worlds' was made today it would last an entire season with no cliffhangers.

You're probably right. One season would be the Borg Arc. Another season would the Klingon Arc. Those are the only two major loose arcs from TNG that spring immediately to mind to me, but they would've come up with five more.

I'm okay with season-long arcs and I'll explain why. There were already over 700 episodes before DSC began. I don't know if it was so much the episodic format that was getting stale, that the way B&B were doing it was getting stale, or if they just started running out of ideas like happens on anything long-running, but season-long arcs are a different approach and a way to slow down how fast ideas are used up.

Between TOS, TNG, VOY, and ENT S1-S2, you had 19 combined seasons of doing Star Trek the traditional way. 19 seasons. Ever try to watch a show in its 19th Season? It looks exactly like what it sounds like. It's not like when TNG started where they could continue the same format because TOS only lasted for three years. When CBS All Access started up its version of Star Trek, I think it had to break away from doing things episodically.

 

[Soong-type Android]

When CBS All Access started up its version of Star Trek, I think it had to break away from doing things episodically.

Undoubtedly true. That's simply the reality of how modern TV is made. How a concept of Star Trek which has up to this point been about space exploration, mystery and adventure fits into this modern format is something that's still being worked out though. In two seasons of Discovery how many planets have they visited? How many alien species have they encountered? Not many because they've been focused on the main plot that the season is focused on.

In modern Trek a 'Balance of Terror', 'Space Seed' or 'Inner Light' story line would simply be incidental to an overall Red Angle or Klingon war type season long arc. That's a pity, since Star Trek has been about exploring different ideas and themes and in this new serialised format it will get lost among the bigger idea of the season long arc.

 

[F. King Daniel]

There's no such thing as stand alone episodes into today's television industry. Everything has to have long story arcs. If 'Best of Both Worlds' was made today it would last an entire season with no cliffhangers. Characters would make long tearful speeches while people were being assimilated around them and ships were blowing up at Wolf 359.

Not gonna lie, I'd probably love that.

 

[Kelthaz]

There's no such thing as stand alone episodes into today's television industry. Everything has to have long story arcs. If 'Best of Both Worlds' was made today it would last an entire season with no cliffhangers. Characters would make long tearful speeches while people were being assimilated around them and ships were blowing up at Wolf 359.

And thank god for that. Serialized shows are so much better than episodic shows.

 

[The Butter Phantom]

There's no such thing as stand alone episodes into today's television industry.

This truer than ever. Case in point, even the definitive procedural Criminal Minds has become serialised.

 

[JoeZhang]

The bottom line is if you want people to pay for a streaming service - you don't do it with low stakes - Where nobody gives a shit what order the episodes are in and there are no ramifications after the 45 minutes are up.

 

[eschaton]

And thank god for that. Serialized shows are so much better than episodic shows.

I just can't agree here. Yeah, episodic shows had a lot of crap, but there were so many great standalone episodes that simply wouldn't have worked as well for a season arc. A season of The Inner Light, Duet, Tapestry, The Visitor, etc would have either been boring or injected dumb melodrama just to keep people watching.