The Continuity and Serialization of Voyager

[MacLeod]

The premise does play a part in the determination of the show. For some it lived up to its premise for others it didn't.

So was the premise flawed?
Did they misrepresent the premise in the episodes?
Did they choose to disregard the premise?
Did they not do a good enough job of propery explaining the premise?

If they state in the show that they'll have limited resources, yet appear not to without it being explained why, then it is not wrong for the audiance to call them on it.

 

[DigificWriter]

The premise does play a part in the determination of the show. For some it lived up to its premise for others it didn't.

So was the premise flawed?
Did they misrepresent the premise in the episodes?
Did they choose to disregard the premise?
Did they not do a good enough job of propery explaining the premise?

If they state in the show that they'll have limited resources, yet appear not to without it being explained why, then it is not wrong for the audiance to call them on it.

That's not what this thread was meant to be for. I created this thread to talk about the level of continuity and serialization that is present in Voyager as it was. It wasn't intended to be a thread about whether or not the show lived up to its premise or whether or not it should've been something other than what it was. I've not objected too strongly towards those kinds of conversations being brought up because they weren't derailing the thread, but now they've started to.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Not only do I think Archie and Edith never did it, but Gloria must have been adopted.

 

[Melakon]

That's not what this thread was meant to be for. I created this thread to talk about the level of continuity and serialization that is present in Voyager as it was.

Threads on the board often veer from their intended direction, usually getting back on course after about two pages.

It might be helpful at this point, for you to do a recap of the conclusions arrived at so far related to your intended theme for the thread, and get it back on track that way. Threatening to close the thread is like saying you're going to take your ball and go home.

 

[DigificWriter]

^ Good suggestion. I got a little bit grumpy, and apologize.

To summarize my conclusions/observations so far:

Even though it wasn't perfect, Voyager did have a significant level of continuity and serialization to it, and, although it's not a crime show, very much fits into the 'Serialized Procedural' genre, with ongoing/recurrent storylines and character arcs that build and progress with the passage of time.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Nope. You're still wrong. Voyager had piss all continuity.

The recap is that we are in a disagreement about if Voyager had enough continuity to justify the word serialized, and that we are also in a disagreement about if the word procedural carries over into a space opera.

It's page 42.

If everyone agreed with you, the thread would have died on page 3.

 

[MacLeod]

Procedurals like Law & Order had a level of continuity and serialisation. Is VOY closer in terms of serialisation and continuity to that than say the likes of B5 and DSN?

 

[DigificWriter]

I recapped my conclusions/observations. I didn't say everyone had to agree with them.

Having now finished YoH P2, the only significant details about the events of the YoH as seen in Before and After that the 2-part YoH episode didn't 'reprise' were B'Elanna's death and the Doctor's program going offline, which is just one of many examples of the way in which Voyager handled and incorporated serialized storytelling and continuity.

 

[DigificWriter]

Procedurals like Law & Order had a level of continuity and serialisation. Is VOY closer in terms of serialisation and continuity to that than say the likes of B5 and DSN?

I'd disagree that the L&O series had enough serialization and continuity to put them in the same category as the likes of Bones and other 'Serialized Procedural' shows, but I would argue that Voyager's level of serialization and continuity is certainly on par with those types of shows (Bones, Fringe, etc.).

 

[Guy Gardener]

Every episode of Voyager begins with an exterior shot of the ship in space, then the camera zooms in towards a crewman, or the Captain (is the Captain technically a crewman? She is part of her own crew, surely?) who seems well rested and unencumbered by anything that has ever happened in the universe before this moment in time.

This means that either they're all assholes or there are sometimes months between episodes.

Does that mean that there is an extreme amount of continuity because it's incredibly realistic for there not to be obvious signs of last weeks episode if it happened 3 months ago from their perspective?

 

[DigificWriter]

Serialization and continuity in shows like Bones, Fringe, etc. doesn't operate in the same fashion as it does on shows like DS9, B5, or BSG where there's direct week-to-week/episode-to-episode carry-over. Most 'Serialized Procedural'-type shows operate on the concept of setting up ongoing/recurrent storylines and character arcs that may not directly carry over from episode to episode but are revisited over the course of a season or multiple seasons, which is a pattern that Voyager very much utilizes.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Serialized = carry over.

Episodic = No carry over.

It's that simple.

The difference between Scorpion connecting with the Gift, or Day of Honor connecting with revulsion, with every other epiosde underlines exactly how stand alone these stories really were.

Continuity = Stuff form yore reasserts or even flitters.

Your (most inextreme) definition of Continuity = Look it's a Borg story with more Borg, therefore conitnuity! As long as there's a new Borg story every now and then, it proves that there has always been Borg.

 

[Melakon]

I still disagree with the term 'serialized procedural' when applied to Voyager, but even more troubled that it's being compared to programs that didn't appear until 10 or more years after its premiere. Voyager is an episodic show, certainly not to the extent of TOS, but it does have a casual sense of continuity with isolated events. that are occasionally referenced. A plot point in Episode A might be referenced in Episode D, and so forth. The introduction of Seven began a Borg arc within the show, delivered in bits and pieces, until the finale.

I'm mostly familiar with the term serialization as it applies to daytime soap operas, and I don't see Voyager anywhere near that level.

 

[DigificWriter]

^ If you don't like comparisons between Voyager, Bones, and Fringe, compare it to The X-Files and Homicide: Life on the Street instead, because they utilize continuity in the same way as Voyager, Bones, and Fringe.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I think of the serials from the theatre in the 40s.

A movie cut into 40 parts, or all that 8 minute long Flash Gordon crap, aired before the main feature.

 

[Melakon]

I think of the serials from the theatre in the 40s.

A movie cut into 40 parts, or all that 8 minute long Flash Gordon crap, aired before the main feature.

That's actually my first impulse too. I have Kirk Alyn's Superman serials, King of the Rocketmen, Radar Men from the Moon, Zombies of the Stratosphere (with 21 year old Leonard Nimoy as a Martian!), Adventures of Captain Marvel, and Secret Service in Darkest Africa (aka Manhunt in the African Jungle) in my film library. Some of them I first saw during the early 1960s.

 

[DigificWriter]

To what are we comparing the old-time Serials? Stuff like B5, BSG, etc., or stuff like The X-Files, H:LotS, Bones, Voyager, etc.?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Etymology Digfic.

I caught that King of the Rocketmen on TV once and naturally assumed then that it was the inspiration for the Rocketeer, a movie form 1991, but was later quite surprised to discover that there was no connection and that supposedly that the Rocketeer was a new property.

 

[MacLeod]

Take the article for what it's worth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_(radio_and_television)#Popular_serial_dramas

Whilst Fringe, Homicde: Life on the Streets and The X-Files are listed VOY isn't.

 

[Guy Gardener]

But DS9 and Enterprise are?