Season 4 Dualogies - The First Parts Always Seem Better

[Peter the Younger]

I dunno why, it just struck me last night, watching ENT on SciFi. Sort of an extension of the old saw with TNG season finales, where the setup was always more promising than the resolution. Not that I didn't enjoy the conclusions to the S4 story arcs, mind you, but the writing just seemed a little tighter in the beginning of, say: the Vulcan arc, the Augments arc, and the Romulan Drone arc.

Just my impression.

 

[Praetor]

It's not just you. I agree.

 

[Skywalker]

I agree, too. I think maybe they should have gone with more two-part arcs instead of three-part arcs, it probably would have tightened things up more.

 

[ChristopherPike]

Hard not look at it that way, I guess. Personally I loved 3 parters as it gave stories a real feature quality. Compared to lasting just 80 minutes when viewed back-to-back.

But then that's episodic television and writing a mini-series (like the way BSG opened) is undoubtedly better. No need to rush a climax every freaking 7 minutes, before ads lasting around the same length of time, cost you any momentum the story had been building. <Grumbles> It's the main reason I couldn't do without my DVD boxsets. Spending two or three hours engrossed in an adventure. It's something of a miracle I can watch TV at all, with so much conflicting media vying for my increasingly screwed up attention span.

Sorry. What were we talking about again? It feels like forever since the first part...

 

[Danny99]

I agree, too. I think maybe they should have gone with more two-part arcs instead of three-part arcs, it probably would have tightened things up more.

I felt the three part Vulcan arc worked.

However, in the Romulan arc, I believe the going to Andoria could have been a stand alone episode.

The final part of the Augment arc was totally unnecessary. Especially the amazingly resilient Alec Newman.

 

[pookha]

the first part of the vulcan arc was the strongest but i think the middle part of the andorian trilogy is the strongest while perhaps the later part of the soong arc is better.

 

[commodore64]

Agree, Peter the Younger. I think the arcs were typically written by two to three different writers. Too many loose ends were usually left for #2 and #3 to tie up for the entire arc to be truly excellent. But having said, they weren't too shabby. I think The Forge was incredible, but Kir'Shara, for example, ain't half bad.