Reoccurring Trek Stories

[jazzstick]

Hey!

So I watch a lot of Start Trek I mean a lot! So after many many years of watching everything, I've noticed that the same stories keep popping up. They start in TOS and go onward. They are:

The Time Travling Episode:

The crew goes back in time to fix something that has messed up their time and int he process they befriend a local who helps them. Hilarity insues when the charactors are put in a then current time back drop.

The Court Marshall Episode:

The main characters have to defend a one another from an attempt to destory the life or carrer of one of the crew members.

The Time Repeating Episode:

Two or more crew members get sucked into an anomly or other time looping causality and they have to figure out how to get out!

The Repentence Episode:

A person or memeber of a race that has wronged a crew member must face up to what they do and try to heal the damage done.

I alwas get a kick out of how the writers figure out how to re use these stories but change them up, most times it works...most times.

There are a bunch more but I'm drawing a blank, help me out here!

I know you guys have noticed this right?

 

[Green Shirt]

Not really.

 

[Melakon]

. . .I've noticed that the same stories keep popping up. They start in TOS and go onward. . .
. . .The Time Repeating Episode:
Two or more crew members get sucked into an anomly or other time looping finonina and they have to figure out how to get out!

I don't remember this ever happening in TOS, unless you're somehow including "The City on the Edge of Forever" in this category.

finonina

Do you mean the word "phenomena"?

 

[jazzstick]

. . .I've noticed that the same stories keep popping up. They start in TOS and go onward. . .
. . .The Time Repeating Episode:
Two or more crew members get sucked into an anomly or other time looping finonina and they have to figure out how to get out!

I don't remember this ever happening in TOS, unless you're somehow including "The City on the Edge of Forever" in this category.

finonina

Do you mean the word "phenomena"?

Yeah you are right, I think this story starts in TNG with the Typhon Expanse in "Cause and Effect". There's a Voyager episode with Chakotay and Janeway on a shuttle mission that's pretty much the same episode!

Yes I meant phenomena, I just missed that typo!

Lol...

 

[Melakon]

I think the timeloop plots actually begin with TNG: We'll Always Have Paris, in its first season. There are several scenes with repeating occurrences. I recently watched ENT: Future Tense, and it has similar moments.

 

[Gojira]

Many themes in story telling get often repeated. I don't mind as long as it is executed well.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Legal proceedings and repentance are staples of many TV dramas, although they can take on different meaning with Trek.

 

[MacLeod]

Isn't there only something like 7 basic plots in storytelling. Sure you can mix and match but its all variations on the same theme(s).

 

[Melakon]

I used to have a writing book from Writer's Digest that covered 24 different plots, some dating to the Greeks. As some of them dealt with the gods and mortals, only about a dozen are usually used in today's contemporary dramas.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

You forgot the VOY staple:
- Seven causes a problem/situation for the rest of the crew,
- Seven resolves a problem/situation for the rest of the crew,
- Seven "learns" something about humanity from Janeway/EMH,
- A combination of either two/all three of these elements.

 

[jazzstick]

Isn't there only something like 7 basic plots in storytelling. Sure you can mix and match but its all variations on the same theme(s).

I used to have a writing book from Writer's Digest that covered 24 different plots, some dating to the Greeks. As some of them dealt with the gods and mortals, only about a dozen are usually used in today's contemporary dramas.

Where do you find these sources????

These specificly, I know where to find the in general...

 

[T'Girl]

You forgot the VOY staple:
- Seven causes a problem/situation for the rest of the crew,
- Seven resolves a problem/situation for the rest of the crew,
- Seven "learns" something about humanity from Janeway/EMH,
- A combination of either two/all three of these elements.

And then from TNG:

- Worf recommends a intelligent course of action ... which Picard immediately ignores.
- Troi states a observation ... which is blindingly obvious.

 

[Melakon]

Isn't there only something like 7 basic plots in storytelling. Sure you can mix and match but its all variations on the same theme(s).

I used to have a writing book from Writer's Digest that covered 24 different plots, some dating to the Greeks. As some of them dealt with the gods and mortals, only about a dozen are usually used in today's contemporary dramas.

Where do you find these sources????

These specificly, I know where to find the in general...

Well in my case, it was a book I once owned. But just do a Google search (or whatever search engine you choose) for 'basic plots', and you'll get about 35 million results.

 

[Commishsleer]

Depends on how general you want to get.
Excluding DS9 for a moment, I have one plot.

A. Crew encounter alien/bad Earthperson
B. Alien/bad Earthperson causes trouble for crew
C. Crew solves problem/rectify situation and lose 0 or more crewman/crewwomen
D. Crew goes on their merry way - others may suffer but meh we don't really know them

 

[_C_]

I do believe the TNG episode "The Offspring" and the DS9 episode "The Begotten" tell the same story in different ways, and they're both great episodes. (And I admit I always cry when Lal and Data are saying goodbye because FEELS!)

 

[R. Star]

Sisko punches someone. This theme was repeated a lot.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Archer is punched. This theme was repeated a lot

 

[jazzstick]

I do believe the TNG episode "The Offspring" and the DS9 episode "The Begotten" tell the same story in different ways, and they're both great episodes. (And I admit I always cry when Lal and Data are saying goodbye because FEELS!)

Yes and yes and I mean YES!

 

[jazzstick]

Sisko punches someone. This theme was repeated a lot.

LOL!

 

[Push The Button]

How about holodeck episodes?

Recurring themes in holodeck episodes:
1. Characters get trapped in the holodeck, and can't end the program or physically exit the compartment
2. The safety protocols are overridden, or offline
3. Holographic characters become sentient, or self-aware

The holodeck became a crutch for the writing staffs of TNG and the spinoffs, and was used in far too many episodes.