Should TOS have used B-stories?

[Masao]

When I watched ST:TNG's first season, one reason I kind of hated it (and stopped watching for a few years) was that many episodes were divided into a big main story and a small unrelated story. However, when I watch some dull, dopey TOS episodes, mostly from Season 3, I wonder if TOS might have benefitted from using B stories. For example, would it have been so bad if we saw 10 to 15 minutes of McCoy meeting with his daughter, Uhura working as a jazz singer, Sulu visiting a gun and knife shop, or Chekov losing his virginity?

Opinions? Suggestions?

 

[Relayer1]

would it have been so bad if we saw 10 to 15 minutes of McCoy meeting with his daughter, Uhura working as a jazz singer, Sulu visiting a gun and knife shop, or Chekov losing his virginity?

Opinions? Suggestions?

Several of those ideas are disturbing...

 

[BillJ]

I hated the B-stories Modern Trek gave us, they were so dull.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Another thing I found strange about the third season was how rapidly aged the cast was; I'm referring to Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. They didn't look like the faces seen in seasons 2, but oh well. As for a B story, maybe something between Spock or McCoy I wouldn't mind, but I've never seen Uhura, Chekov, and Sulu as part of the main cast besides being featured players. A big mistake dragging them along when the films were produced because those scenes should've been suited for young actresses and actors but oh well.
Yeah, a B story with McCoy would be interesting or a Spock B story as well, but I'm not interested in B stories with features players.

The series wasn't designed that way.

 

[KeepOnTrekking]

I would rather have an ensemble cast all contributing towards one story. (I keep remembering what Nimoy always said about how does his character contribute meaningfully to the story or how does this scene contribute to the story. If it doesn't, get rid of it.) I couldn't stand the unrelated B-stories of modern trek either. The saddest thing was that occasionally the B-story was more interesting than the main story!!

 

[Vger23]

Hard for me to say. I've never found the third season of Star Trek to be anything more or less enjoyable than the previous 2 seasons. All had classics, solid contributions, and stinkers (and even the stinkers are great fun). So...I wouldn't change anything about them. I certainly wouldn't add a TNG-style B-Story like Data trying to understand humor from Joe Piscapo. That was worse than anything in "And The Children Shall Lead" or "Turnabout Intruder."

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Nah. The A & B storytelling on TNG got very monotonous.

 

[Shawnster]

It's not fair to compare TOS to today's television story format. The "B" story wasn't a staple of 1960s television. Same with the idea of TOS needing more multi-part stories. Those ideas just weren't on the radar back then.

 

[Masao]

I haven't watched much of them, but I wonder if other long big-cast shows of the period, like Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and Lost in Space, ever used B-stories. I can imagine Robot and Dr. Smith doing pointless stuff.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Shows like Adam-12 and Emergency! usually had some sort of lighthearted subplot in each episode.

 

[Noname Given]

I hated the B-stories Modern Trek gave us, they were so dull.

^^^
This - I HATED the often ridiculous B/side stories in TNG era (and occasionally ENT) Star Trek episodes. If you can't have a full cohesive story fill 42+ minutes; it's not a good story. (And no, I not at all against small 'character background/personality expanding moments, but those should be able to be worked in to your main story.)

 

[Forbin]

One phrase about B-stories: Self. Sealing. Stem. Bolts.
Ruined an otherwise good episode of DS9.

B-stories were (more or less) a child of the 70s. I remember reacting to them mostly from MASH, when I thought, hey, if you can't write one story that fills out a 22 minute script, you're a pretty piss-poor writer.

In the 60s, writers knew how to tell one solid 50-minute story.

 

[T'Girl]

TOS does have some B-story episodes, the best (imho) was Balance of Terror which had a rare C-story. The main story involve the Romulans, B-story was the relationship/wedding of Robert and Angela, and the C-story was the Styles and Spock subplot.

The Paradise Syndrome had two separate stories, the episode cut back and forth between them.

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[Drone]

I haven't seen enough BONAZAs or GUNSMOKES to judge, but LOST IN SPACE was never innovative enough to contain B-stories. Since the dull majority of tales were cemented on Will, Smith and the Robot, they became the A-characters, and the only surprises were when the five B-characters were spotlighted.

Well, as said earlier, if the contemporary practice was commonly not to invest effort, resources, and thought, into such subordinate subplots, then I don't know that I would cite LIS as an example of a production that wasn't innovative, at least for that reason. I would concede that Allen's forte was mainly in delivering spectacle and fairly unrelenting dynamic action, save for major segments of LIS' first season. Innovative thought or creative trends, not so much.

 

[Masao]

I have a question. Why were B stories loaded so heavily into ST:TNG? Was it because the syndicated shows were of a different length than network shows? (But aren't syndicated shows shorter, which is why TOS got chopped afterwards?) Was it because of the writers strike? Was the cast so large and aggressive for attention? I have no idea.

 

[Noname Given]

I have a question. Why were B stories loaded so heavily into ST:TNG? Was it because the syndicated shows were of a different length than network shows? (But aren't syndicated shows shorter, which is why TOS got chopped afterwards?) Was it because of the writers strike? Was the cast so large and aggressive for attention? I have no idea.

Well, the original TOS was written by former 'Twilight Zone' writers, or actual science fiction writers. After it's first season TNG was written by rank and file sitcom or 80ies era 'drama' writer types (like say 'Hill Street Blues'). This last group basically wrote the type of stories they were used to which were stories with this A-main/B-side story format and occasionally throwing in small science fiction elements (because hey, it supposed to be a ship in space); but very rarely did we get any real science fiction focused episodes.

 

[Forbin]

TOS does have some B-story episodes, the best (imho) was Balance of Terror which had a rare C-story. The main story involve the Romulans, B-story was the relationship/wedding of Robert and Angela, and the C-story was the Styles and Spock subplot.

The Paradise Syndrome had two separate stories, the episode cut back and forth between them.

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I would argue that in both cases, all those elements were simply pieces of the same story. The A/B format would involve two totally unrelated stories. In the episodes you mention the elements are all related to the main plot: The young couple about to get married were set up for tragedy due to the main story; Spock and Styles' conflict was because of finding out what the Romulans looked like. In Paradise Syndrome, Kirk's amnesia is an obstacle to saving the planet, which is what Spock and the E are trying to do. In Kirk's part of the story, he discovers a way to save the planet, even as Spock, after failing to do so, makes the same discovery via his videos of the obelisk. All elements are in play as part of the overall stories, whereas a B-story would be a total interruption of the plot for another plot.

For example, when there's a nice drama going on, and we have to keep cutting away from it to Jake and Nog selling self. goddam. sealing. stem. bolts.

 

[J.T.B.]

Shows like Adam-12 and Emergency! usually had some sort of lighthearted subplot in each episode.

True, though it occurs to me that those shows had an unusual kind of disjointed narrative: go on a call, go back to the station or in service, take another call. Maybe they figured viewers needed a unifying plot thread all the way through?

I would argue that in both cases, all those elements were simply pieces of the same story. The A/B format would involve two totally unrelated stories.

Agreed, the B-plot was usually different in tone from the main plot and usually unrelated unless they tied together somehow at the end. I wonder if the A/B thing was related to the late-'70s and '80s rise of shows with larger ensemble casts, with contracts that said actors had to be in every episode (or a certain number)? So it might be fairly easy to build a storyline for two or three leads, but harder to give five or six something worthwhile to do in the story. Just speculating, I don't know.

Hill Street and St Elsewhere had main ensembles of up to 17 (HSB season 5, wow!), but it makes sense to have multiple stories going on at once in a busy hospital or police precinct.

I am glad TOS never went that route; the recurring cast members are good but its strength was really in stories built for the three stars, diluting that would not be good.

 

[Forbin]

One of St. Elswhere's running secondary themes was "what can we do to fuck up Jack's life this week?" kill his wife in a shower accident, have his toddler shoot a burglar...

 

[RandyS]

It's not fair to compare TOS to today's television story format. The "B" story wasn't a staple of 1960s television. Same with the idea of TOS needing more multi-part stories. Those ideas just weren't on the radar back then.

True, but on the other hand, A "B" story could have been useful in that it could have given Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura more to do.