Single Episode Stories Go on the Back Burner?

[VulcanMindBlown]

I understand that long story arcs are really cool and all that and make a good, long story, but sometimes, there are episodes that only need to take one 45 minute interval that wouldn't fit into a story arc.

For example, "Trials and Tribblations" was on DS9 and it was a single episode, basically. "Observer Effect" and "Bound," though not the greatest episodes on Star Trek: Enteprise's 4th season, were great and didn't need two or more parts.

Another instance is when the story doesn't need to go on for a long time. I was watching "Death Wish" recently for the first time on Star Trek: Voyager, and it was oddly an interesting episode. It still faultered being a part of the B&B era, but that's another story. We got to hear about the Q Continuum. I don't think that they had to devote two or more episodes to it.

Does anyone else get what I am saying....????

 

[Michael]

Does anyone else get what I am saying....????

To be honest, you lost me at "Bound" and "great" in the same sentence.

That aside, I'm ready for shorter, more focussed seasons featuring story arcs thought through in advance. Bring on Discovery!

 

[Spider]

The show has been designed from the ground up to be serialized. This is the norm these days anyway. It'll be interesting to see how it works in a Star Trek show. ARCs are one thing, what Discovery is doing is completely different from the previous Trek TV shows in that regard.

 

[JediMindMeld]

Single episodes are useful sometimes (TNG in particular had several great ones; The Measure Of A Man, The Drumhead and The Offspring are three of the best episodes in Star Trek history) and they do provide a bit of space for the show to breathe, but Star Trek already has like 600 self-contained episodes to fall back on.

As a storytelling device I think the procedural nature of previous Trek shows generally did more harm than good when it came to plotting character development and portraying a persistent change in the world around the crew. They were always written with the reset button in mind. You had to restore the universe once your 45 minutes were up so things wouldn't get too confusing for the syndication audience later on. Even in DS9, which probably broke the mold the most, the general feeling was that two thirds of the show was disconnected filler stuff.

I'd happily swap that for a more focused and dramatized type of storytelling where most of the screentime is meaningful, even if it means that we'll lose some excellent 45-minute stories in the process.

 

[OpenMaw]

Interestingly, I've always thought episodes like The Offspring would have worked better as recurring subplots in the background of the show. Introduce lall's character in a b-plot during an episode, have it/him/her appear throughout a few episodes, and then pay it off. I think the drama would have hit home harder had their experiences together lasted a long stretch.

 

[Stewey]

We live in the era of netflix and binge watching now so having a recurring storyline is not the issue it used to be anymore.

That is not to say that single episodes don't have a place, but I personally prefer to see characters and stories develop over multiple episodes/seasons that create consequences for the actions of the characters on the show.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Unfortunately, arc-based storytelling is still a requirement in the current market. I think Trek is more suited to an episodic format, but a 13-episode season won't leave any room for that, I think.

 

[Tosk]

Just because there will be a season-long storyline, doesn't mean there won't be smaller stories confined to one episode.

 

[dinzy]

Just because there will be a season-long storyline, doesn't mean there won't be smaller stories confined to one episode.

Exactly. There are many ways to do arcs. DIS does not need to be the end on a cliff hanger and pick up exactly at that moment in the next episode arc style that is popular in many shows today. I thought Fuller said something like the show having episodes be self contained stories as part of the overall arc.

Current Dr. Who tends to have a season long arc that is slowly built up over the season with mostly 'one-off' episodes with minimal arc advancement and a few arc heavy episodes at the end. DS9 had an overall arc that was spread out over many seasons which consisted mainly of contained episodes. If they use the A and B plot mechanism they can push the arc story to the B plot for an episode or the A plot could just be some kind of roadblock preventing them from continuing their main mission.

I think the overall concern here is that some of the best Trek is the hard sci-fi kind of stuff that really only needs 45 minutes to explore and that this Trek wont find a home on DIS. Hopefully they will clear up some of this uncertainty when they reveal more about the show in Oct.

 

[Thefallguy]

Am I the only one around here, who thinks, that with over 700 episodes of Star Trek in existence, there are enough self-contained 45 minute episodes and its time now to try something new?

 

[Crazyewok]

Am I the only one around here, who thinks, that with over 700 episodes of Star Trek in existence, there are enough self-contained 45 minute episodes and its time now to try something new?

Nope im with you.

Glad they ditched stand alones and hopefully the reset button.

If people want the old formula they have TNG, Voyger, TOS and the first 2 seasons of Ent to pick from.

 

[The Wormhole]

Stand-alones have their place, but these days arc-based storyline is the thing, and especially with this show being on a streaming service where arc shows thrive it was never going to be anything else.

 

[mdtauk]

After the first season is done, it is possible a second series may be a mix of arcs and stand-alones. The fact they intentionally have a story they want to tell, and want to tell it in chapters, is better than trying to shoehorn it into an existing series.

 

[jamestyler]

Just because there will be a season-long storyline, doesn't mean there won't be smaller stories confined to one episode.

Indeed.

I hate to fall back on a BSG example, as I feel I use it too much, but.... it's method is likely what we'd see.

For one episode we saw Starbuck crash on a planet in a shootout with a cylon; on the ground the story was her tearing it apart to fly it off before Galactica, in space on a time limit, gave up searching for her and left. The entire story was self contained. It began, had it's various steps, then had an end.

It was part of a larger arc and connected to several other episodes, the raider and Kara's connection to it, ended up being important later on that intertwined with other stuff.

Serialised arc's don't mean bits of story at a time hoping to get to the end one day. Just like almost every other show in the format Discovery is aiming for, each individual episode has it's story. It just connects to a bigger puzzle instead of being entirely self contained. Each part will effect the next, instead of "stuff happens, move on."

 

[Kahless the Unforgettable]

I don't know why people think its an either-or thing.

You can have season-long story arcs that still feature episodic stories. In fact, that's pretty much the norm for most shows with season-long story arcs. I've been rewatching Elementary lately, and that's pretty much the poster child for it, though it's probably a bad example as it lies much more heavily towards the episodic end of the scale than what I expect this show to.

But other shows Fuller has done, at least the ones I really enjoyed (like Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, and Pushing Daisies) had episodic stories intermixed in their serial format.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Am I the only one around here, who thinks, that with over 700 episodes of Star Trek in existence, there are enough self-contained 45 minute episodes and its time now to try something new?

Not really. How many short stories have been written? How many novels? People still write both and neither format is exhausted and never will be. It's the same with episodic versus arc-based television.

 

[Kelthaz]

Am I the only one around here, who thinks, that with over 700 episodes of Star Trek in existence, there are enough self-contained 45 minute episodes and its time now to try something new?

No, I'm completely with you. Episodic shows just don't work for me these days. Although, with that said, I do appreciate the odd episodic breather after some heavy arc episodes.

 

[ancient]

The story arc approach works better on streaming media services than TV. I'm ok with going that route.

 

[VulcanMindBlown]

To be honest, you lost me at "Bound" and "great" in the same sentence.

I understand that it was low on plot and more about sex (which I avoid,) but we got to learn about the Orions. There was a plot thread about making the first star base that they continued in the novels and expanded universe. I won't spoil it what I learned about the Orions at the end of the episode.

Am I the only one around here, who thinks, that with over 700 episodes of Star Trek in existence, there are enough self-contained 45 minute episodes and its time now to try something new?

That is true, but sometimes, episodes that are special, like "Trials and Tribblulations" would appeal to fans who just want to watch one episode. My uncle, who watched The Original Series back in the day it came it, likes Star Trek as it portrays history, like "A Piece of the Action" and "The City on the Edge of Forever."

Just a thought...

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I think it's kind of a shame that no (liberated) Orion characters figured into the 24th century shows. Does anyone know why, of all possible uses, Quark never had any Orion dabo girls (except apparently in a relaunch novel)?