Secondary Plots: When (and Why)?

[plynch]

TOS eps have one plot. Usually very Aristotelian, if you're into his thoughts on drama (unity, short time frame decision/danger, etc.)

Later series seem to usually have a "B" plot. Shoot, DS9 often had more than that going in the last season, it seemed, with very short, very choppy scenes. Soap opera-esque.

Anyway - if you KNOW:

Did early GR-influenced TNG have two plots? If not, When did the practice start?

And why? (Again, please respond if you KNOW or have good evidence -- quotes from producers, etc. I can conjecture as well as the next guy by myself.) I'm wondering if there is some historical record out there to explain why. Perhaps you know of a larger development in tv drama that Trek shows followed.

Be well!

 

[Xerxes1979]

Can we define "B plots" for the sake of this thread? I assume it is two unrelated stories that don't intersect prior to the conclusion of the show.

Early and mid TNG was nearly devoid of them (which was a good thing in my mind).

The prototypical two plotter probably would be stuff like Samaritan Snare or Thine own self.

B-stories always suck. A lot of the time it is just a necessary evil to fill out a two-episode story arc that would be to thin otherwise. Did Birthright really need the Data story?

 

[BrotherBenny]

Although TOS and early TNG may not have had B plots running alongside A plots, there is the issue that those kind of episodes are boring and have little character development in them, hence the reason a lot of television shows have gone the A and B route, since the A plot is reserved for issue-of-the-week and the B plot allows for character development.

Yes sometimes it was silly and others it was downright ridiculous, but I personally prefer there to be character development, unlike in something like say the Simpsons where all the characters are generally static (ie don't age, don't change at all).

 

[Anwar]

TOS had them too, from time to time.

Balance of Terror for example, dealt with Stiles and his bigotry as the B-Plot while the newlyweds were a background element/C-Plot.

 

[DevilEyes]

Define "B plot".

TOS did have A and B/C plots in some episodes (often it was the events on a planet vs the events on the ship), although they were usually interconnected.

TOS had them too, from time to time.

Balance of Terror for example, dealt with Stiles and his bigotry as the B-Plot while the newlyweds were a background element/C-Plot.

The Galileo Seven
A plot: Spock and the crew on the planet
B plot: Kirk and the Commissioner on the Enterprise

All Our Yesterdays
A plot: Spock and McCoy and Zarabeth
B plot: whatever was going on with Kirk in the meantime

Who Mourns for Adonais?
A: on the planet
B: on the ship

In addition, TOS would occasionally have scenes of the crew talking to each other or having fun, which didn't have an awful lot to do with the plot - e.g. Uhura singing in Charlie X (which only tied to the main plot at the end of the scene when she starts singing about Charlie and he takes away her voice).

I don't see why should having just one plot be considered a positive thing in itself. If there's not enough meat there for an entire episode, what are you supposed to do, drag it out? And many of the B-plots are fun and provide good character moments and development of relationships between the main characters. Sometimes they're even better than the A plot.

And sometimes it's the B-plot that's more important: DS9 had such episodes, as By Inferno's Light, where the A-plot is Garak, Bashir, Martok and Worf escaping the Dominion prison, while Cardassia joins the Dominion in the B-plot!!! Which is also an example of one of those rare episodes where the two plots are wonderfully interconnected.

In the Cards turns the rules upside down - Jake and Nog's effort to get the baseball card as a present for Sisko are the A plot, while the negotiations between Bajor and Dominion are the B plot.

Statistical Probabilities did it again, with Bashir's efforts to help the Jack Pack being the A-plot, while the peace negotiations with the Dominion were the B-plot.

In the 6 episodes of the Dominion occupation arc, A and B plot were both equally important and both about the war/occupation, but one was on the station and the other on the frontlines.

Tacking into the Wind in the Final Chapter - so what's the A plot and what's the B plot? Let's say that the conclusion to the Klingon arc with Worf challenging Gowron and installing Martok is the A plot; the B plot with the Cardassian rebellion at a crossroads, with Damar choosing to back Kira up against Rusot, is no less important and great.

TOS eps have one plot. Usually very Aristotelian, if you're into his thoughts on drama (unity, short time frame decision/danger, etc.)

Aristotelian rules were outdated 500 years ago. If people still thought they it was obligatory to stick to them, we'd have to flush the entire Shakespeare down the toilet.

 

[Xerxes1979]

TOS had them too, from time to time.

Balance of Terror for example, dealt with Stiles and his bigotry as the B-Plot while the newlyweds were a background element/C-Plot.

Also The Paradise Syndrome where Spock and McCoy are arguing for weeks apparently while Kirk is off living with Indians.

 

[plynch]

I never said B plots were bad.

Checkov and Russian space hippie is another sort-of, though she is part of A plot.

In the later series, it seems like the B plots are much less related to A plot, if related at all.

People seem very sensitive about this, oddly. I'm not against 'em. In fact, I watched the later series for years before realizing pretty much every ep. had two near-unrelated stories going.

Just curious.

 

[I am not Spock]

I recall most TNG eps from season 4 onwards had secondary storylines. A few examples? 'Brothers', with Data on the planet with Soong and Lore; and the sick boy aboard the ship.

'New Ground', with the warp tests being the B plot, and Worf looking after Alexander being the A plot.

'Ethics'. You have a few plots, more closely related than those above. You have Riker struggling to deal with his own ethical code as he is asked to help Worf kill himself; and in the meantime, you have Crusher questioning the medical ethics of Dr Russell.

 

[plynch]

The more I think about them, the more I like B plots, for the character-orientation someone mentions above.

Any one know if it was a conscious decision by Mr. Berman? A trend in '90s drama? I'm thinking of Hill St. Blues, LA Law: they always had several stories going.

 

[Michael]

A trend in '90s drama?

Yup, I think that's definitely the case.

Any one know if it was a conscious decision by Mr. Berman?

Well, employing several plots per episode was of course a concious decision by the producers. Not necessarily Berman's decision, though.

 

[FormerLurker]

Many of the B-plots of the first half of TNG Season One were unresolved. Ever.

 

[Michael]

Many of the B-plots of the first half of TNG Season One were unresolved. Ever.

My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I can't think of any unresolved plots in TNG's first season. Can you name episodes?

 

[FormerLurker]

I have them all on VHS right now, and those tapes are buried, so no, no named episodes. But let's see, the conflict between the Anticans and the Selae was never resolved, or ever mentioned again, the kid who stole the shuttlecraft never dealt with his parental issues, no mention was ever made of a treaty with the, I don't remember who they were, that their 'king' tried to kidnap Tasha...

That's off the top of my head. B-plots got short shrift until someone noticed and got them to tighten up the writing.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

B-stories always suck.

I disagree. In fact, sometimes they're better than the A-plot. Take for instance the DS9 episode Heart of Stone. The main story (Odo and Kira trapped in a cave) is pretty awful in my opinion, whereas the B-story (Nog trying to join Starfleet) is probably the biggest turning point that character has on the show.

It's worth pointing out that some episodes actually have more than two plotlines, e.g. DS9 Image in the Sand/Shadows and Symbols where there are at least three.

 

[Xerxes1979]

B-stories always suck.

I disagree. In fact, sometimes they're better than the A-plot. Take for instance the DS9 episode Heart of Stone. The main story (Odo and Kira trapped in a cave) is pretty awful in my opinion, whereas the B-story (Nog trying to join Starfleet) is probably the biggest turning point that character has on the show.

It's worth pointing out that some episodes actually have more than two plotlines, e.g. DS9 Image in the Sand/Shadows and Symbols where there are at least three.

I have not watched that episode in quite a while. However I think that the highly serialized shows like DS9 should be judged apart from the other Treks.

A "hour" of tv is not really an hour and I always felt like I was being ripped off by splitting my attention between two stories. I need every single minute to tell great singlar stories like The Defector.

The Royale, 10110001, Sarek these all would have been watered down had they incorporated non-related story elements.


Without good quality control you get crap typical of Voyager.

 

[T'Girl]

Amok time, obviously Spock drive to matrimonial is story A. The Presidential Inauguration ceremonies on Altair Six and their timing is story B.

Last Battlefield, Bele and Lokai are story A, the decontamination of the planet Ariannus story B.

 

[plynch]

Those don't seem like actual stories, but just background info adding stress to the main plot. I would grant you Spock/Sarek and murders on way to Babel as two plots (both co-equal, maybe) in Amok Time.

There are definitely some B=plots in TOS, no doubt. But that they kind of became de rigueur in the later series, was my point.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I'll just go out on a limb and call the writers lazy and unable to fill an "hour" with a single plot.

 

[FormerLurker]

I disagree. It's much more difficult to tell two stories at the same time and make them both work, especially if you have a time limit to get them both told. Telling a good, compelling story requires talent. Telling a good, compelling story, adding in a b-plot, and making them both work requires talent, and skill. Talent is inborn, but skill has to be learned.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I disagree. It's much more difficult to tell two stories at the same time and make them both work, especially if you have a time limit to get them both told. Telling a good, compelling story requires talent. Telling a good, compelling story, adding in a b-plot, and making them both work requires talent, and skill. Talent is inborn, but skill has to be learned.

"Relax, cupcake. It was a joke.".