'Arc Plots' in The Next Generation?

[Lance]

Prompted by discussion in the Klingon thread.

There were a few times when TNG attempted this.

Can we think of what they were?

Off the top of my head we've got the 'Conspiracy' plot (Coming of Age, Conspiracy), which retroactively calls back to a number of other episodes (Remmick mentions the events of 'The Naked Now', 'Justice', 'Where No One Has Gone Before' and 'The Battle' when he interrogates the Enterprise crew).

The Klingon episodes (A Matter of Honor, Reunion and Redemption in particular).

'Humanity on Trial' (arguably any Q episode, but perhaps most importantly Encounter At Farpoint and All Good Things).

'Data and Lore' (Datalore, Brothers, Descent).

There's probably something credible that can be strung out of the Cardassian episodes. Certainly Ro Laren had an arc of sorts, although it kind of only had a beginning and an end without having much of a middle section.

Any others?

 

[borgboy]

You could maybe make an argument for a Lwaxana arc across TNG and DS9, as she looked for love and there's issues of her as a mother. The arc gets some closure as she ultimately rejects Odo's offer to stay married to her because she accepts he doesn't love her the way she wants to be loved. Lwaxana and Deanna become closer over the years, Lwaxana accepts the death of her first child and she has another baby. It's a character arc, she does grow and change.
Would the Borg episodes make up an arc?

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Alexander episodes constituted an arc.

Also The Battle/Bloodlines. And the Borg arc.

 

[shivkala]

Would the Borg episodes make up an arc?

I consider them to be an arc, beginning with "The Neutral Zone" and the mention of the destroyed starbases.

I consider "Family" to be a part of this arc, as it shows Picard dealing with the ramifications of having been Locutus and it also shows the Enterprise being repaired.

 

[borgboy]

I think there are character arcs that are more subtle but still work together, like all the episodes that deal with Picard's brother and nephew dying, Picard getting memories of having an alien family, those threads continue thru his fake family in the Nexus in Generations (I was always really bothered by his wife being such a generic nonentity instead of her being Beverly, or even his fake alien wife), Shizon in Nemesis as a sort of son of sorts that he also loses, and all this leading to him finally marrying Beverly and having a child in the novels. To me that's all one big character arc.

 

[MikeS]

Picard and Beverley have a child? What?!

 

[MikeS]

Vash - Captain's Holiday, Q Who
Picard's alternate life - Inner Light, Lessons
Moriarty - Elementary, Dear Data. Ship In A Bottle
Barclay - Hollow Pursuits, Nth Degree, Realm of Fear, Ship In A Bottle, Devolution.
Sela - Zzzzzzz

There are loads. Thanks for this thread. I am considering watching TNG in a totally different way next time around...

 

[shivkala]

I think there are character arcs that are more subtle but still work together, like all the episodes that deal with Picard's brother and nephew dying, Picard getting memories of having an alien family, those threads continue thru his fake family in the Nexus in Generations (I was always really bothered by his wife being such a generic nonentity instead of her being Beverly, or even his fake alien wife), Shizon in Nemesis as a sort of son of sorts that he also loses, and all this leading to him finally marrying Beverly and having a child in the novels. To me that's all one big character arc.

Picard learned of his brother and nephew's death in Generations, not in any of the episodes.

And I thought Shinzon was supposed to be more of a brother than a son.

You should add Jason Vigo, from "Bloodlines," to your list, since Picard briefly believed him to be his son.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I wouldn't really call Barcalay an arc because one episode with him doesn't really affect the others. He's more an arc in Voyager than he is in TNG because in Voyager his episodes are connected by something other than the fact he appears in them.

O'Brien/Keiko is kind of an arc, with Data's Day, Disaster and Power Play.

The Klingon arc would probably include Mind's Eye.

 

[borgboy]

I think there are character arcs that are more subtle but still work together, like all the episodes that deal with Picard's brother and nephew dying, Picard getting memories of having an alien family, those threads continue thru his fake family in the Nexus in Generations (I was always really bothered by his wife being such a generic nonentity instead of her being Beverly, or even his fake alien wife), Shizon in Nemesis as a sort of son of sorts that he also loses, and all this leading to him finally marrying Beverly and having a child in the novels. To me that's all one big character arc.

Picard learned of his brother and nephew's death in Generations, not in any of the episodes.

And I thought Shinzon was supposed to be more of a brother than a son.

You should add Jason Vigo, from "Bloodlines," to your list, since Picard briefly believed him to be his son.

Jason Vigo is a good addition to that arc.
I believe an early draft of the Nemesis script had Shinzon being Picard's son instead of his clone. However you see him, brother or son, he does represent family to Picard. With the age difference I saw him as a sort of son, or at least that's what I thought he represented to Picard.
And yes, Beverly and Picard had a son Rene in the novels a few years ago. I believe he's also referenced in the Star Trek Online game, but I don't know for sure. I couldn't get the handle on flying my bloody ship well enough to get far into that game before I had to give up.

 

[Lance]

The Klingon arc would probably include Mind's Eye.

Definitely. It's certainly a precursor to "Redemption".

There are loads. Thanks for this thread. I am considering watching TNG in a totally different way next time around...

It is interesting isn't it? I don't think TNG often gets the credit it deserves for it's ongoing plots... to be sure not all of them come off well, but it's nice that they had an open mind about revisiting and expanding on concepts. Gave the Star Trek universe a much broader feel than it had done before.

 

[Mojochi]

I quite like the Damon Bok arc. He really is Picard's Khan Noonien Singh

Other than that, a lot of TNG's arcs were character centered, like Reg Barclay, or Wesley & his getting into the academy & story there & then being angry about the Natives etc...

I also tend to think of The Enemy, The Defector, & The Mind's Eye as a general Romulan arc that ties into Redemption just as much as it does with the Klingons. It got it's feet off the ground with The Neutral Zone, & it even rears up in Unification again. Lots of folks hate Sela, but that's how they tied a lot of that together. Personally, I too would've preferred if Tomalak had been at the forefront the whole time. He was awesome

It was also nice how they roped Sarek's tale into Unification as well, making a little arc there for them

 

[tomalak301]

Is there a difference between Storylines and Story Arcs? I ask because TNG wasn't intended to be an arc based show. Yeah there were storylines that kept being brought up, but were they really "Arcs"? Like one of my favorite storylines was somewhat of a two parter with The Enemy and The Defector, with Tomalak and Picard matching wits at the end of each episode, but that wasn't necessarily an arc. The only thing that came close to an arc was all the Klingon stuff.

 

[Lance]

Well, the thread title is asking for 'arc plots'. That's a broad enough term to encompass more than just "story arcs" per se.

 

[Mojochi]

Until TNG there were no "arcs" in Star Trek, or even a whole lot of carried over story. They introduced that, and they did so in small ways. So I tend to count that as a type of story arcing, when there wasn't what we now consider it

In The Enemy, Tomalak is fully humiliated by being caught in a lie & by having his threat dissipated. It's a huge embarrassment for him, & in the Defector, it seems like he's behind the whole scam, maybe even trying to lure Starfleet & perhaps even Picard into the Neutral Zone to save face for what he got caught doing in The Enemy. It's likely he knew about Jarok's reassignment & dissention, & used it as a trap for Picard. I might be stretching a bit, but I consider at least those 2 episodes very linked

I'd also consider the Borg episodes as an arc. Q-Who leaves us off thinking about exactly what comes in BoBW, & I Borg leads directly into Descent

 

[doubleohfive]

There is a very subtle arc for the Worf-Troi romance, going back as far as season five in "New Ground" and "Ethics." It definitely starts in the "blink-and-you-miss-it" territory, but it obviously came to fruition with more episodes featuring the two together.

 

[Mr_Homn]

In The Enemy, Tomalak is fully humiliated by being caught in a lie & by having his threat dissipated. It's a huge embarrassment for him, & in the Defector, it seems like he's behind the whole scam, maybe even trying to lure Starfleet & perhaps even Picard into the Neutral Zone to save face for what he got caught doing in The Enemy. It's likely he knew about Jarok's reassignment & dissention, & used it as a trap for Picard. I might be stretching a bit, but I consider at least those 2 episodes very linked

I don't think it's a stretch at all. I consider those episodes almost a two parter. They even mention the "Galorndon Core Incident" by name in The Defector. (Galorndon Core is the planet where The Enemy takes place.)

Edit:

From Memory Alpha:

"While Beverly Crusher and Jarok discuss the recent events at Galorndon Core, which allowed her to learn something about Romulan anatomy, she eyes Worf. This alludes to the events of "The Enemy" where Worf declined to save the life of a Romulan tended by Crusher."

 

[Lance]

I'd also consider the Borg episodes as an arc. Q-Who leaves us off thinking about exactly what comes in BoBW, & I Borg leads directly into Descent

And "Q Who" and "BoBW" both reference the missing outposts in "The Neutral Zone". Which is a nice little bit of foreshadowing.

 

[Ghrakh]

Sela - Zzzzzzz

 

[Mojochi]

I don't think it's a stretch at all. I consider those episodes almost a two parter. They even mention the "Galorndon Core Incident" by name in The Defector. (Galorndon Core is the planet where The Enemy takes place.)

I just mean it's a small stretch to suggest the whole ruse Jarok fell for was orchestrated by Tomalak. It sure does seem that way though, because he was perched to spring the trap himself & boast about displaying the ENT-D wreck in the Capital city, & he has plenty of motive to do so, in both wanting to clear his name & maybe even wanting to get revenge on Picard, & who knows, maybe even as a bid to get whatever post Jarok vacated when he was censured & reassigned. Somehow I get the impression that's how admirals are made & broken on Romulus. One minute you're bitching & the next some hungry commander is tying the noose for you