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Despite franchise fatigue, older Star Trek shows have a high degree of original plots. Minimal use of Recycled Plots.

I agree with your inclusions for Society, Technology, and Supernatural above. I'd argue that Man vs. Fate could technically be a Man vs. Self, if you evaluate it in that no fate but what we make sort of way.

Yeah, I thought it could go either way actually with Man vs. Fate. But I think it’s up to interpretation for sure.
 
  • Overcoming the monster (Beowulf, Jaws, Star Wars)
  • Rags to riches (Cinderella, Aladdin, The Jerk)
  • The quest (Iliad, Lord of the Rings, Raiders of the Lost Ark)
  • Voyage and return (Odyssey, The Hobbit, The Lion King)
  • Comedy (Much Ado About Nothing, The Big Lebowski, Four Weddings and a Funeral)
  • Tragedy Citizen Kane, Macbeth, Hamilton)
  • Rebirth (Beauty and the Beast,A Christmas Carol, Groundhog Day)
I don't think my own novel really falls into any of the above; it's structured as a biography of a fictional character. But it's got (wo)man against society, and (wo)man against another individual, (wo)man against happenstance, and (wo)man against self.

Be that as it may, the original statistics should indeed have come with the criteria and methodology for determining whether a particular story is original or recycled. And it ought to be expanded to include TAS, DSC, PIC, LD, PRO, SNW, SFA, and both prime and Abramsverse theatrical films (am I forgetting something?).
 
"The Ultimate Computer" and "The Changeling" do not qualify as one reusing the plot of the other.

If one were being overly reductive, I can see how one might come to that incorrect conclusion, though.

I'll start with a few TOS episode reviews and comments.

TOS



TOS 2-5 The Apple
From TOS 1-21 The Return of the Archons

"First, we get the world-running computer. We’ve seen this before, in “The Return of the Archons,” and this has pretty much the same beats, with just minor variations."


"They managed to take "Return of the Archons" and strip the story of what little redeeming qualities it had."




TOS 2-18 The Immunity Syndrome
From TOS 2-06 The Doomsday Machine

"I think this is a terrific epsiode - very similar to "The Doomsday Machine" but not quite as great"




TOS 2-24 The Ultimate Computer
From TOS 2-3 The Changeling


"It’s odd that “The Ultimate Computer” directly follows “The Changeling” in this syndication package since the two stories are so similar: two tricked-out thinking machines run amuck, both defeated by Kirk’s time-honored technique of driving computers crazy with logic."




TOS 2-25 Bread and Circuses
From TOS 2-23 The Omega Glory
Better than Original

"I know Roddenberry only adopted the parallel-Earths conceit because it was the only way to make the show affordable, since it’s cheaper to reuse existing costumes, props, etc. than to design and build completely alien societies all the time. But he really embraced it and doubled down on it both here and in “The Omega Glory,” taking it to a ridiculous extreme"


"Yeah, TOS was really lame with the "parallel Earth" repeating theme. As Paul points out, just two episodes earlier they had "Omega Glory", about another planet whose history parallels Earth, right down to the names of countries and apparently the complete text of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and a renegade starship captain who completely violates the prime directive and becomes a leader. Almost exactly the same plot, just cross out "US" and write in "Rome". "

 
I'll start with a few TOS episode reviews and comments.

Thanks for the reply, but, instead of refuting my point, you supported it.

You cherry-picked a quote from the cited article, but failed to include the part further on in the same paragraph that refutes the premise that one episode was recycled from the other. From the article you cited:

It’s odd that “The Ultimate Computer” directly follows “The Changeling” in this syndication package since the two stories are so similar: two tricked-out thinking machines run amuck, both defeated by Kirk’s time-honored technique of driving computers crazy with logic. Both are also classic Trek “bottle shows” of the type beloved by producer Bob Justman because they employed only the standing Enterprise sets. But while Nomad (as built by special effects artist Jim Rugg and voiced by the inimitable Vic Perrin) has its charm, “Ultimate Computer” has the one-two punch of the impressive Richard Daystrom and the throbbing, supercilious M-5. Marshall is magnificent: you easily believe that this is a human legend boarding the Enterprise with his regal bearing and profound bass voice, the finest this side of James Earl Jones. But Marshall also adds the perfect grace notes to let you know that this hero has feet of clay: he’s arrogant, dismissive of Spock, Kirk, the Enterprise—just about everything not built by his own hands.​

Concerning what you did quote from this paragraph, it's also worth emphasizing that the observation that there is obvious similarity between the two episodes falls far short of supporting the claim that one episode was recycled from the other. There is a chain of reasoning involving the pedigree of the two teleplays that you would have to demonstrate. Given the origin of TUC from Wolfe's spec script, there is an enormous unbridged gap.
 
I think the point is that ST has an amazingly high level of diversity and originality in stories, and an amazingly low level of repeating itself.

Star trek from the tos to Berman era did have a lot of unique stories. During the kurtzman era they relied on too much of TOS and TNG stories to get them through.
 
I think the point is that ST has an amazingly high level of diversity and originality in stories, and an amazingly low level of repeating itself.

Makes sense. While TOS onward sometimes share a vague similarity , the underlying themes or causes of the plot (e.g. "Doomsday Machine" and "Immunity Syndrome" both have a big galactic baddie killing everything in its path, with no explanation of propulsion, and has to be destroyed. But that's about it and it's generic. The nuances, themes, minutiae, and what the baddie is are radically different. After all, the big galactic windsock didn't live inside an anti-universe zone of darkness fueling itself with out universe's life energies... among other differences.

Then there's TNG's mostly-classic "The Enemy", which was inspired in part by the flick "Enemy Mine"... but feels original and its own thing

Heck, TNG's "Where No One Has Gone Before" has far more in common with "The Naked Time" in terms of showing what makes our heroes tick and that's two weeks after the craptacular "The Naked Now" which squandered a reboot of the 1966 original tale in favor of just making everyone horny.

DS9's "Starship Down" may have been influenced by TNG's "Disaster" and does a far better job of it.

I keep thinking TNG's "Sarek" may have influenced DS9's "Dramatis Personae" in terms of some unknown reason the crew get all uppity and such...
 
I'll start with a few TOS episode reviews and comments.

TOS



TOS 2-5 The Apple
From TOS 1-21 The Return of the Archons

"First, we get the world-running computer. We’ve seen this before, in “The Return of the Archons,” and this has pretty much the same beats, with just minor variations."


"They managed to take "Return of the Archons" and strip the story of what little redeeming qualities it had."




TOS 2-18 The Immunity Syndrome
From TOS 2-06 The Doomsday Machine

"I think this is a terrific epsiode - very similar to "The Doomsday Machine" but not quite as great"




TOS 2-24 The Ultimate Computer
From TOS 2-3 The Changeling


"It’s odd that “The Ultimate Computer” directly follows “The Changeling” in this syndication package since the two stories are so similar: two tricked-out thinking machines run amuck, both defeated by Kirk’s time-honored technique of driving computers crazy with logic."




TOS 2-25 Bread and Circuses
From TOS 2-23 The Omega Glory
Better than Original

"I know Roddenberry only adopted the parallel-Earths conceit because it was the only way to make the show affordable, since it’s cheaper to reuse existing costumes, props, etc. than to design and build completely alien societies all the time. But he really embraced it and doubled down on it both here and in “The Omega Glory,” taking it to a ridiculous extreme"


"Yeah, TOS was really lame with the "parallel Earth" repeating theme. As Paul points out, just two episodes earlier they had "Omega Glory", about another planet whose history parallels Earth, right down to the names of countries and apparently the complete text of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and a renegade starship captain who completely violates the prime directive and becomes a leader. Almost exactly the same plot, just cross out "US" and write in "Rome". "

You don't seem to be engaging in any actual discussion. You just keep showing up at random points in the thread to post more lists of things.
 
I for one at least appreciate that they are engaging with Trek in some specific manner. I disagree with most of it, but I hope people don't scare off a new member with too much negativity.
(Although I'm guessing from the name they might not be quite brand new here?)
 
Gonna need real citations for all of this.

As is, it reads as a collection of personal opinions with guesstimate "percentages" pulled out of the aether.
TNG (Part 1)



TNG 1-3 The Naked Now
From TOS 1-4 The Naked Time

"The plot of this episode was based on the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Naked Time", written by John D.F. Black. Like that episode, this one was intended by Gene Roddenberry to serve as a means to quickly introduce the wants and needs of new characters. However, he was aware, in this case, that approving the story to proceed to the script stage was a calculated risk; although he had decided and declared that Star Trek: The Next Generation wouldn't be a retread of TOS, he was aware he might be accused of simply copying the original series with this story."


"Even if you get past the fact that The Naked Now is a rip-off, there are other conceptual reasons it seems a poor choice for the second episode."




TNG 1-4 Code of Honor
From TOS 2-1 Amok Time

"At least it's not boring. If you are going to make a subpar TNG ripped off of TOS, you could do worse than Amok Time. Lots of little details to look at. I think they made an effort here, even if it had bizarre choices."


"So let’s take it as read that “Code of Honor” is utterly abominable at a conceptual level, try to forgive the people we’ll be spending the next seven years with (because it really wasn’t their fault) and take a look at everything else that sucks about this repulsive train wreck. The first thing we notice after stripping away the most obvious hideousness is that the plot is basically an apathetic retread of “Amok Time”, with a member of the Enterprise forced to fight in ritual combat, with the clandestine administration of a neurosuppressor agent to one of the combatants a key part of the battle."




TNG 1-5 The Last Outpost
From TOS 1-18 Arena

"Issue number three: TNG is five episodes in, and with the exception of the two-parter pilot, every episode of this new show has been a rip-off of the old one. "The Naked Now" actually stole their script from "The Naked Time." And "Code of Honor" is a blatant gender-reversed "Amok Time." "The Last Outpost" is "Arena." Think about it, and see how well it matches up: Kirk & Co are chasing some unknown alien through an unexplored area of the galaxy when both ships are paralyzed. Representatives from each ship end up on the surface, where it is expected they will fight. They do fight. Some smarty-pants alien appears to talk to the humans, who have won the fight. The smarty-pants alien admits that he was behind the ship-paralyzing, and he has learned that humans have the potential to be more. The smarty-pants alien then asks the human if he would like it if he destroyed the alien who lost. "No," says the human. "We will be benevolent and let them go." Both parties are released by the smarty-pants alien."




TNG 1-10 Hide and Q
From TOS 1-17 The Squire of Gothos

"There's another big Trek inspiration at play in this episode, though: the classic series episode "The Squire of Gothos." That episode featured a powerful alien with godlike powers known as Trelane, who forced the crew to participate in games for his amusement... until his parents came to take him back home for discipline. While the "godlike super alien" aspect of this had been lifted already upon Q's creation for "Encounter at Farpoint," the actual portrayal on both the page and in the finished product did treat Q and Trelane as reasonably different kinds of characters, I thought. But not so here. Q basically is Trelane in this episode."




TNG 1-12 The Big Goodbye
From TOS 2-17 A Piece of the Action
Better than Original

"But you make a good argument for The Big Goodbye, and I think the above logic could also apply there. The Enterprise interacting with a 20th century subculture is a very TOS concept (A Piece of the Action, Patterns of Force), but the execution is a lot smarter (and less gimmicky) than randomly stumbling across “planet of the gangsters II.”"




TNG 1-18 Home Soil
From TOS 1-25 The Devil in the Dark

"I liked this episode a lot better when it was called 'The Devil in the Dark.' I wasn't five minutes into the episode when I realised what I was watching was remake of one of my favourite TOS episodes. But instead of everyone running around a bunch of caves in search of "a pizza crossed with a carpet", this episode featured lots and lots of scenes of everyone staring at a tiny LED as the computer tells them "It's alive, it's alive!""


TNG 2-7 Unnatural Selection
From TOS 2-12 The Deadly Years

"A warmed-over rehash of the original seriers’ “The Deadly Years,” without even the fun of having a cool Walter Koenig girly-scream. Bad enough that this is an episode that focuses on Pulaski that mostly makes her look like an idiot, it also gives us the lamest of technobabble solutions: the transporter fixes it!"



"The first two seasons of TNG were plagued with clumsy dialog and derivative stories, this episode being a prime example of both. This story was a rip off of The Deadly Years from TOS. Diana Muldaur being a veteran of the TOS years played her role as Dr. Pulaski with more ease and naturalness than the others she couldn't carry it off NY herself. This is an episode I never watch."

 
TNG 1-4 Code of Honor
From TOS 2-1 Amok Time

"At least it's not boring. If you are going to make a subpar TNG ripped off of TOS, you could do worse than Amok Time. Lots of little details to look at. I think they made an effort here, even if it had bizarre choices."
It is boring and offensive. There's very little, anything, redeemable here in this story. Amok Time expanded Spock as a character, Vulcan as a planet, and some cultural touchstones.
 
Most of these are a big stretch! They're just cases of one very broad idea occurring in different contexts. "11:59" and "Far Beyond the Stars" don't really have anything in common beyond being nominally set in the 20th century - might as well throw "City on the Edge" on there too.

Also, "Devil's Due" and "Death Wish"? How?!

The only Star Trek episode I can think of from TOS through ENT that's genuinely just recycled is "The Naked Now".
I'll get to the Voyager section.
 
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