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Episode follow up stories

I once worked out what classic Doctor Who stories had Big Finish sequels and what ones did not; Big Finish love the 1970s so much that they have sequelized every story from 1972's The Three Doctors to 1978's The Ribos Operation with only three exceptions. That's thirty-four stories in a row where thirty-one have some kind of follow-up!*

This means, of course, that some pretty bad stories have had follow-ups. Every now and then, they do make it work (their The Invasion of Time prequel is one of the best things they've done), but in most cases the prequel to a crap story is another crap story (no one wanted a follow-up to The Invisible Enemy, and indeed, it is pretty wretched).

* You can tell the Big Finish creative staff have little nostalgia for the 1980s by contrast.
 
I once worked out what classic Doctor Who stories had Big Finish sequels and what ones did not; Big Finish love the 1970s so much that they have sequelized every story from 1972's The Three Doctors to 1978's The Ribos Operation with only three exceptions. That's thirty-four stories in a row where thirty-one have some kind of follow-up!*

I'll bite -- what were the three exceptions?
 
Or a Star Trek story where Edith Keeler comes back to life? :)

Follow-ups for plot points like that are better when they're explorations of the aftermath of the tragedy in the life of the grieving character, "what ifs" where it didn't happen that way (while still allowing it to have happened that way), and so on.

Follow-ups for surviving guest characters can bring them back to do something new in their field of study/ position/relationship.

Follow-ups for sciencey stories expand on the science/pseudoscience behind the events of the episode, sometimes changing characters' understanding of what/why something occurred (The Higher Frontier is a good example of this), sometimes applying a concept from the episode to the book's new problem.
 
Absolutely. If the stories were meant to turn out happily, they would have. Undoing a tragic ending isn't "fixing" the story, it's breaking it.
A point of clarification: my discussion of "fixing" the ending of Charlie X (which I described as inhumane) was in the context of a thought experiment I posed earlier in that post about which episodes could be "fixed" by a follow-up that gives depth to the original episode (by further exploring or expanding upon an idea/theme/personal angle that was latent or underdeveloped in original episode) but, importantly, *without* retconning the episode. That latter limitation is, to me, what is interesting about the thought experiment. So just for the record, I am not suggesting that anyone write a follow-up to Charlie X that changes what happens in the episode, even the ending. Nor, for that matter, am I suggesting that someone write a follow up that tacks on a happy ending that simply negates what we see in the episode. I wouldn't buy that book and might well throw my shoe into the machine that is printing it.
I do, however, believe that the episode is in need of "fixing" in the sense in which I am using the term-- further developing a theme that is underdeveloped in the episode to give a depth to the episode that at present is nearly but not quite there. Here's what happens in this episode, from my perspective: an incredibly vulnerable adolescent (who is emotionally and socially far younger) forces his way onto our heroes' ship. Despite a life story that (to a modern viewer) cries out for massive intervention and a very gradual, guided acclimation to human life, he is immediately thrown into the mix on the enterprise, left to wander around on his own and figure things (and people) out for himself. Amongst the Academy-educated crew of the best ship in fleet (so by definition the best of the best) he quickly appears as awkward, socially inept, a loser. But in responding to his awkward behavior, he is judged by the standards of this society of winners, and even his unhealthy fixation on Rand (the first woman he has *ever* seen) is written off as his "first love," much as the rest of them had once had.
Spock, despite being an outsider himself, comes across as callous (and clueless) in his limited dealings with him. McCoy, who (I believe) elsewhere in the series is described as having a psychology specialty, demonstrates very little understanding of what Charlie might be going through (or interest in considering the enigma of his emotional and intellectual development alone from age 3, which even to most lay people would seem to be a behavioral question worth exploring). Despite knowing he is being viewed as a father figure Kirk has no time for him, and (tellingly) his only attempt to bond or provide guidance to Charlie is to teach him some fighting techniques-- to 'man up,' as it were. (There is metaphorical heft to the fact that Charlie, who desperately needs a hug, getting thrown across the floor in his only physical contact with Kirk). Indeed, Kirk only pays any real attention to him when the task falls to Kirk to get Charlie to stop pursuing Rand, at which point Kirk gets to move into the tough-guy mode with which he is more comfortable, getting up in Charlie's face as though he is reprimanding one of his Academy-educated subordinates who should know better. But there is no acknowledgment that of course Charlie doesn't know better, and could not reasonably be expected to know better. Uhura uses him (and his apparently inherently comical fascination with Rand) as a punchline in an improvised cabaret piece.
Charlie becomes a threat, and starts killing and maiming people. In the end, the Thasians appear and say they must take him back as he is a threat. Kirk says he should be with his own people. The Thasians say that that is impossible, as he will always be a threat. They do not explain why he could not be stripped of his powers, or somehow controlled, but the bridge crew seem satisfied with the explanation that will get him off their ship. They do not discuss any compromise arrangements by which Charlie could be visited by humans while in Thasians' care, and there is no questions asked of under what conditions Charlie will be kept by the Thasians. Charlie begs to stay, explaining that the Thasians have no love and he can't touch them, but the crew lets him be taken away. Although Uhura and Rand emote as Charlie is taken, the male members of the crew (including his father figure) show no emotions (Spock forgiven on this point, I suppose) and do not even say goodbye. Once he's gone, Kirk assures Rand that it's all over (for them).
Not all science fiction is allegory, but to me it's hard not to see Charlie as a "troubled" teenager, reeling from trauma and clumsily seeking love and acceptance, who is ignored until he becomes a (legitimate) threat to others, at which point is he is incarcerated, and everyone else moves with their lives without questioning their own behavior. To leave the story there-- with none of our heroes considering their own culpability and no exploration of what then happens to Charlie-- strikes me as inhumane storytelling. Certainly it is missing the compassion that marks Star Trek at its best.
So a follow-up that could "fix" this story would explore that culpability and those consequences-- a time when our heroes got it so wrong, perhaps because they are heroes and don't (or won't) understand those who are not. And what makes it so tempting is that (as shown above) this message is almost there, in the episode-- the episode *almost* criticizes our heroes (in the way that "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" does manage to criticize them, to some extent at least) for the way that their otherwise 'heroic' behavior and character traits impact a vulnerable non-hero. That's where I see the possibility of a "fix" through a follow-up. Without that, the episode is just very well crafted monster-of-the-week stuff.
 
I once worked out what classic Doctor Who stories had Big Finish sequels and what ones did not; Big Finish love the 1970s so much that they have sequelized every story from 1972's The Three Doctors to 1978's The Ribos Operation with only three exceptions. That's thirty-four stories in a row where thirty-one have some kind of follow-up!*

This means, of course, that some pretty bad stories have had follow-ups. Every now and then, they do make it work (their The Invasion of Time prequel is one of the best things they've done), but in most cases the prequel to a crap story is another crap story (no one wanted a follow-up to The Invisible Enemy, and indeed, it is pretty wretched).

* You can tell the Big Finish creative staff have little nostalgia for the 1980s by contrast.
Not that related, but it's funny and sad how Star Wars: The Force Awakens at least had a throwaway line by Kylo Ren to pay historical due to the clone army of decades past, but Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker absolutely refused to have any prequel trilogy nostalgia whatsoever that I could see.
 
Not that related, but it's funny and sad how Star Wars: The Force Awakens at least had a throwaway line by Kylo Ren to pay historical due to the clone army of decades past, but Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker absolutely refused to have any prequel trilogy nostalgia whatsoever that I could see.
There was the audio montage of Jedi past at the end which (reasonably) was almost entirely prequel/Clone Wars references.

And this is probably the first time anyone ever accused TRoS of not doing enough pandering.
 
Since you're not a Trek writer, I assume, here's my thoughts on what could be explored about the episode (re-posted in case you didn't see it)
Those are some interesting ideas, particularly the first (in my entirely non-professional opinion). My own inclination is to say that any follow-on story should try to match the tone of the original episode, and the tone of "Spock's Brain" is so bonkers (but, to me, enormously fun) that it would seem to be hard to replicate in print. But it sounds like you have some good angles, so I say go for it.

ps- Inspired by the discussion, I re-watched Spock's Brain last night. I had forgotten how many times they have cast members conspicuously walk in front of the viewscreen during the 'which planet should we go to?' deliberations, just to show off the rear projection special effect that evidently they designed for this episode (and never used again). It borders on 'austin powers'-style self-parody
 
ps- Inspired by the discussion, I re-watched Spock's Brain last night. I had forgotten how many times they have cast members conspicuously walk in front of the viewscreen during the 'which planet should we go to?' deliberations, just to show off the rear projection special effect that evidently they designed for this episode (and never used again). It borders on 'austin powers'-style self-parody

Speak for yourself. I always thought it was really cool. And I don't think it was "just to show off" so much as finally being able to take advantage of the freedom of staging it afforded.

A rear-projection screen was used in "The Cage," by the way, and in "The Doomsday Machine" they put in a static starscape backdrop for Kirk to walk in front of.
 
"Spock's Brain" has an unfair reputation as the worst Trek episode when a) there are way worse episodes and b) it has one very important redeeming feature: the rest of the crew actually gets to do stuff! To quote my rewatch of the episode from 2016:

"Besides, there’s one thing that this episode has that it doesn’t get anywhere near enough credit for: the scene on the bridge where Kirk, Sulu, Uhura, and Chekov put their heads together to try to figure out where Kara has taken Spock’s gray matter. Usually when stuff like this has to get done, it’s just Spock sucking all the air out of the room and doing it himself while the rest of the crew sits there and pushes buttons and says, 'Aye aye, sir,' a lot. This scene, though, does a wonderful job of showing the teamwork of the crew that’s been in rare evidence since the earliest days of season one—and it’s also an interesting preview of the more ensemble-directed spinoffs."
 
Speak for yourself. I always thought it was really cool.

Oh, I think the effect is plenty cool. And I don't mind the fact that it's particular to that episode-- it gives that part of the episode a unique feel, much as the spock meditation montage gives a unique feel to "the cloud minders." But to someone like me who has seen all these episodes several times there is something inherently humorous to go from more or less never seeing anyone walk in front of the viewscreen, to suddenly see a ton of it in one scene
 
Off the top of my head, the first run of DC Comics had follow ups to "Errand of Mercy", "The Savage Curtain", " Mirror, Mirror" and "The Apple".
Yes, Mike W. Barr cleverly weaved elements of "Errand of Mercy" and "The Savage Curtain" together in his opening four-part story about the Federation and the Klingons going to war. The "Mirror, Mirror" saga (by MWB) and the three-part "The Apple" follow up (by Mike Carlin) both followed the lead of TWOK in that Kirk's actions in the original TOS episodes were shown to have unintentional consequences by the movie era. Issue #6 of the first DC series featured Ambassador Robert Fox from "A Taste of Armageddon." There were also appearances by Harry Mudd and Garth of Izar late in the first DC run.
"For the World..." has the generational ship concept and the mccoy illness angle, but I gather that these have been explored in various sequels and prequels (and there is an entire separate bantam book about a generational ship).
Certain elements of FTW figure heavily into the first novel of David R. George the III's Crucible trilogy, Provenance of Shadows. To say more would spoil it.
"Charlie X" begs for a follow-up to "fix" the inhumane ending, but the rest of the episode is quite good and not in any need of fixing.
I have a tough time imagining much of anything they could do with Charlie Evans that would be more memorable than the original ending.
Bingo. I don't think that tragic endings necessarily need to be "fixed" because they're heart-breaking. You wouldn't want to fix "Romeo & Juliet" by doing a sequel in which they come back to life and live happily ever after.
Producers of the musical & Juliet: "...Watch us." ;)
Chris Claremont's "Debt of Honor" graphic novel had lots of elements eliminated before its script was approved. Arex and M'Ress from TAS, and Naraht the Horta (from Diane Duane's novels), plus characters who were to be named for Peter David, John M Ford and other authors, had to be dropped. The major guest character, named for Diane Duane, was "safe" because Chris had called her Diane Morewood (after her husband's surname). Also the family connection between the young female character, T'Kir, and Jim Kirk, was going to be way more explicit.
I honestly wish Bob (editor Robert Greenberger, but he's a friend, so "Bob" it is :)) had taken a heavier hand with some of the other TOS callbacks Claremont threw in. On page 53 of a 92 page story, Claremont brings back David Garrovick ("Obsession"), Kevin Riley ("The Naked Time" & "The Conscience of the King"), Dave Bailey ("The Corbomite Maneuver"), Kyle (multiple TOS eps), Stiles ("Balance of Terror," misspelled as "Styles"), Carolyn Palamas ("Who Mourns for Adonais?"), and Mira Romaine ("The Lights of Zetar") back to the Enterprise to help out Captain Kirk... Where they then proceed to do fuck all for the rest of the story. Most of them aren't even mentioned again. So you wonder why Claremont even bothered with all those cameos in the first place, except to try and display his Trekkie bona fides.

Great art by Adam Hughes and Karl Story, though!
 
I have a tough time imagining much of anything they could do with Charlie Evans that would be more memorable than the original ending.

You wish the poor lost little orphan boy would have a happy ending, and develop his maturity and wisdom. It's sad - if he hadn't been marooned, or at least had been raised by people who understood him better/could make him better, he would be able to temper his newfound abilities with wisdom and maturity.
 
You wish the poor lost little orphan boy would have a happy ending, and develop his maturity and wisdom. It's sad - if he hadn't been marooned, or at least had been raised by people who understood him better/could make him better, he would be able to temper his newfound abilities with wisdom and maturity.

You might as well say you wish Romeo & Juliet had gotten to run away together and live happily ever after, or that you wish Hamlet had exposed his uncle as a murderer and gotten to reign as King of Denmark. Or that Edith Keeler had lived and come to the future to marry Kirk. The whole point of tragedy is that the characters don't get a happy ending. That emotion is worth exploring in fiction too, because disappointment and sorrow often happen in real life, and fiction would be pretty useless if all it did was tell us the easy, comforting lie that we can always get what we want.
 
Hmm. And yet, there have been more than a few "what-if" stories regarding Edith Keeler.

Of course, the best tragedies aren't entirely bleak and hopeless (Edith Keeler's demise prevented Hitler from conquering the world; Pike's not acting to prevent the event that would leave him disfigured, disabled, and entirely dependent on the Talosians prevented a disastrous war). Which is why I am so down on Last Best Hope, and regard it as quite possibly, out of all the Una McCormack writings I've ever read, the only opus that I have no desire to ever re-read, even after seeing the first season of PIC, and learning that the hopeless situation had been engineered by a fanatical Romulan anti-AI cult that eventually got their comeuppance.

Like Kirk, I don't believe in the no-win scenario. (And neither was I ever a Boy Scout.)
 
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