Sherlock Data's bookcase

[Christopher]

I do think there is a better way to make a TNG clip show than what they did.

Oh, certainly. There have been some excellent clip shows here and there, like The Adventures of Superboy's "Who Is Superboy?", which used the clips to catalyze a compelling two-hander where Clark Kent and Lana Lang confronted each other about their relationship, and Andromeda's "The Unconquerable Man," which ingeniously integrated the clips into an alternate-timeline version of the series with a different lead character to explore the road not taken. Stargate SG-1 did some fairly good ones like "Disclosure" where the frame story significantly advanced the story arc. Hercules and Xena used their clip shows as an excuse to go crazy with the frame stories, notably in "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Hercules," where the regular and recurring cast played comic caricatures of the show's own producers in a "behind-the-scenes" story whose premise was that Kevin Sorbo was actually the real Hercules pretending to be an actor playing Hercules.

Indeed, I often think that the poor reception of "Shades of Gray" not only motivated Trek's creators to avoid doing another clip show -- instead doing money-saving bottle shows with minimal VFX like "The Drumhead" and "Duet" -- but inspired other writers to do their clip shows more creatively. I mean, "Shades" has a deservedly terrible reputation, but it really wasn't any worse than a typical clip show up to then. It was normal for clip shows to be slapdash and disposable, with frame stories that were just half-hearted excuses to set up the clips. The only reason "Shades" felt so much worse was the contrast with TNG's usual writing, which -- even in seasons 1-2 -- was smarter and more sophisticated than the average action-adventure TV show of the day.

 

[Mojochi]

Oh, certainly. There have been some excellent clip shows here and there, like The Adventures of Superboy's "Who Is Superboy?", which used the clips to catalyze a compelling two-hander where Clark Kent and Lana Lang confronted each other about their relationship, and Andromeda's "The Unconquerable Man," which ingeniously integrated the clips into an alternate-timeline version of the series with a different lead character to explore the road not taken. Stargate SG-1 did some fairly good ones like "Disclosure" where the frame story significantly advanced the story arc. Hercules and Xena used their clip shows as an excuse to go crazy with the frame stories, notably in "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Hercules," where the regular and recurring cast played comic caricatures of the show's own producers in a "behind-the-scenes" story whose premise was that Kevin Sorbo was actually the real Hercules pretending to be an actor playing Hercules.

Indeed, I often think that the poor reception of "Shades of Gray" not only motivated Trek's creators to avoid doing another clip show -- instead doing money-saving bottle shows with minimal VFX like "The Drumhead" and "Duet" -- but inspired other writers to do their clip shows more creatively. I mean, "Shades" has a deservedly terrible reputation, but it really wasn't any worse than a typical clip show up to then. It was normal for clip shows to be slapdash and disposable, with frame stories that were just half-hearted excuses to set up the clips. The only reason "Shades" felt so much worse was the contrast with TNG's usual writing, which -- even in seasons 1-2 -- was smarter and more sophisticated than the average action-adventure TV show of the day.

That's the problem. While clip shows might ordinarily be slapdash. Star Trek is not supposed to be. It just sticks out like a sore thumb.. Had they been more inventive, it could've worked better, but honestly I'm glad it happened if it steered them toward more bottle episodes. I love those

 

[JesterFace]

It has probably and most likely been discussed so many times that spacetime continuum will collapse if I ask but season 2 was cut short because of the strike even if the strike happened before it?

 

[Christopher]

It has probably and most likely been discussed so many times that spacetime continuum will collapse if I ask but season 2 was cut short because of the strike even if the strike happened before it?

Yes, because the writers couldn't prepare season 2 while the strike was ongoing. It takes months of advance planning over the summer to develop, write, and film the early episodes of a season in time to make a fall premiere date. The strike ran from March to August 1988, so they couldn't start work on the season in time for a September or October 1988 premiere. Thus, they shortened the season by 4 episodes and postponed the premiere until November '88.

 

[JesterFace]

Yes, because the writers couldn't prepare season 2 while the strike was ongoing.

I was guessing something like that might have happened.

 

[Christopher]

I was guessing something like that might have happened.

It's the same thing that's happening right now. There's a strike in the summer, so they won't be able to start the next season on time.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Would "Trials and Tribble-ations" count as a clip show? And in my opinion, it's one of the best ways you could do a Trek clip show - it makes use of a common show trope, time travel, and fully integrates characters into the action - they're not just recalling or observing, they're participating in what's happening. And it's not their memories, but the events of a day that didn't include them initially.

Another good reason for making use of clips from previous episodes is a "the story so far"/"how we got here" montage, to recap a story arc, either to set up what's about to happen, or fill in those who haven't watched the whole series. In Everybody Loves Raymond, the 45 minute episode "Robert's Wedding" (which becomes two episodes in syndication) includes scenes from previous seasons, showing Amy and Robert's relationship and how it began, developed, and ultimately culminated in their marriage.

 

[Christopher]

Would "Trials and Tribble-ations" count as a clip show?

Hmmm... Well, technically it is built around clips, but no, it's not the same thing. A clip show is done to save time and money by recycling old footage so that you don't have to film a full episode's worth of new footage. "Trials" must have been more expensive and time-consuming than a typical episode, because of the need to recreate the TOS sets and costumes, and because of the visual effects needed to integrate the DS9 actors into the TOS footage.

And in my opinion, it's one of the best ways you could do a Trek clip show - it makes use of a common show trope, time travel, and fully integrates characters into the action - they're not just recalling or observing, they're participating in what's happening. And it's not their memories, but the events of a day that didn't include them initially.

"Trials" isn't a good example, but there are instances of shows that integrate money-saving clips as part of the current story rather than in-story flashbacks. I mentioned Andromeda's "The Unconquerable Man" as an example of that. The entire Power Rangers franchise is built around doing that with recycled Japanese action/FX footage. The Time Tunnel was created largely as a way to build stories around stock footage from historical movies. And there were some shows in the '70s and '80s that built episodes around stock footage from their studios' movies. The Incredible Hulk had three in its first season -- "747" built around Airport 1975, "Never Give a Trucker an Even Break" around the TV movie Duel (making it the only instance I know of where a Marvel Comics production incorporated footage directed by Steven Spielberg), and "Earthquakes Happen" around Earthquake. MacGyver did it twice in its first season -- "Thief of Budapest" incorporating car chase footage from The Italian Job and "Trumbo's World" using footage from The Naked Jungle.

Roger Corman's movies were sometimes built around recycled footage from his earlier movies, like the iguanas-as-dinosaurs fight footage that was repurposed in several films. Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II was a family-friendly PG-rated fantasy movie that was built around reused footage from several of Corman's R-rated, nudity-laden sword-and-sorcery films; it even starred a couple of those movies' lead actors wearing the same costumes, but playing different characters in a different plot. I thought that was a pretty clever way to repurpose the content for a different audience.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Hmmm... Well, technically it is built around clips, but no, it's not the same thing. A clip show is done to save time and money by recycling old footage so that you don't have to film a full episode's worth of new footage. "Trials" must have been more expensive and time-consuming than a typical episode, because of the need to recreate the TOS sets and costumes, and because of the visual effects needed to integrate the DS9 actors into the TOS footage.

What would that type of show be called, then? Is there a trope name for it?

Considering, of course, that it can only be done in sci-fi/fantasy/dream sequences genres, given the involvement of time travel or imagining yourself there. Or, I suppose, in a story where a person's presence for a previously portrayed (without them) event is later confirmed. So if a character that isn't even invented or cast when the earlier episode was made is later said to have been there at the time, in an episode from a later season.

 

[Christopher]

What would that type of show be called, then? Is there a trope name for it?

I don't think so. You could technically call it an extension of the clip show genus, but it doesn't serve the standard function of a clip show, at least not in that specific case. "Trials" is often compared to Forrest Gump in its use of digital FX to integrate newly filmed characters into stock footage seamlessly.

 

[drt]

I don't think so. You could technically call it an extension of the clip show genus, but it doesn't serve the standard function of a clip show, at least not in that specific case. "Trials" is often compared to Forrest Gump in its use of digital FX to integrate newly filmed characters into stock footage seamlessly.

Yeah, I was thinking that "Forrest Gump-esque" was the best way to describe such a show, since there are relatively few examples.

Clips shows were so common in the TV shows I watched as a kid, I actually remember thinking after "Shades of Grey" aired that it was a little surprising that that was the first time they did a Trek clip show.

 

[Christopher]

Clips shows were so common in the TV shows I watched as a kid, I actually remember thinking after "Shades of Grey" aired that it was a little surprising that that was the first time they did a Trek clip show.

Yeah. People think of "Shades" as the anomaly, but it's really a bigger anomaly that it was the only clip show Trek ever did. A lot of its contemporaries did them every season. I remember MacGyver, also from Paramount, doing one or two per year, generally rather bad ones.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I guess you could call it a "slip show". As in, you slip characters from one show into the old footage of another.

@Christopher eventually, wouldn't a single TV show run out of reasons to make clip show episodes? I mean, there's a difference between a show that uses old scenes briefly to recall a moment of interaction between two characters when a character is thinking of someone, or 10 seconds of a traumatic incident for PTSD moments, and a show nearly entirely composed of clips, with "ha, ha, remember when we" bridging sequences or a new story written around old clips that explains why someone is reliving them. Just how many of the latter can a show justify?

 

[Christopher]

@Christopher eventually, wouldn't a single TV show run out of reasons to make clip show episodes?

The reason to make a clip show is always, always to save money. Money outweighs any creative consideration, because you can't make a show if you don't have the money to make it with. If the people in charge of the purse strings tell the writers "Do an episode for half the cost," then the writers have to do an episode for half the cost, period. It doesn't matter if they have a fresh idea for a clip show or just have to reuse an old excuse -- the thing still has to be done regardless. Unless they can do what TNG and DS9 did and find ways to do bottle episodes like "The Drumhead" or "Duet" inexpensively enough to avoid having to do a clip show.

Many shows do clip episodes once or more per year like clockwork -- it's literally built into the seasonal budget. Showtime's The Outer Limits did annual clip shows even though it was an anthology -- they'd construct frame stories that contrived to link episodes that hadn't even been meant to share a continuity. Although in at least one season, they pre-seeded the individual episodes with a common element, the tech company that provided the robots and AIs in the various episodes, so they'd have a unifying thread for the obligatory clip show.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I meant, in universe reasons, but yeah, budget's gotta budget. Nobody ever made an unnecessary clip show?

 

[Christopher]

Nobody ever made an unnecessary clip show?

Only in the sense that there are sometimes better alternatives for saving money, as Trek showed. I don't see why anyone would do it if there weren't a budgetary or scheduling need for it.

One thing that comes close is the recent seasons of Power Rangers. Up until their move to Netflix last season, they did annual Halloween and Christmas specials that were clip shows. Which is weird, because Power Rangers' entire reason for existing is to build new stories around recycled action/FX clips from Japan's Super Sentai franchise. So why would they need to do conventional clip shows where the characters flash back on their own adventures, rather than just writing episodes that use a larger amount of Sentai footage? Power Rangers Beast Morphers actually did that once, replacing the Halloween episode in the production schedule with an episode built around a Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters episode that had a lot more giant-robot fight footage than usual (because the giant robot was trapped in a giant wrestling ring fighting multiple monsters for most of the story).