Sins of The Father: The Birth of Star Trek Character Arcing?

[Mojochi]

It would seem that this episode marks the beginning of when Star Trek deliberately began having ongoing storylines for its tv show characters, & while TNG still managed to be mostly episodic, like it's predecessor, unlike TOS, some of it's more interesting stories went on over it's entire run, paving the way for that trend to be more embraced with every other iteration of Star Trek, until current times, when the whole format has been flipped to favor that style of genre more.

I imagine some fans don't care for the Duras family/Klingon arc, even though I still think it holds up as one of the best & most prominent story arcs of the whole series, right up there with the Borg arc, & the Q arc (Which I guess could be argued was an earlier character arc, even though Q as a character wasn't really one of their main focuses)

So what did you think of this episode? Do you consider it the beginning of TNG's character arcing? How does it hold up, or compare/rank with other story arcs that Star Trek subsequently did? Are these TNG episodes the kind you can watch as a marathon, & still find it a good arc?

 

[JesterFace]

while TNG still managed to be mostly episodic, like it's predecessor, unlike TOS, some of it's more interesting stories went on over it's entire run.

I think this is the best way to write TV series.
There's the possibility to have stand alone episodes but there are one or more storylines hidden in the background that are visited occasionally.

I like this Klingon story from 'Sins of the Father' to 'Redemption' part 2 or even all the way to 'Rightfull Heir'.
Then there are some episodes in between that don't have anything to do with it. It doesn't get repetitive going on and on about the same thing.

Imagine watching series like that for the first time, "are they going to do that storyline thing this week? No? Well, it was still a good episode. OK, well maybe next week."

TNG happened in perfect time for TV series, all the episodes aren't separate but there's not an on-going storyline every week.

 

[Mojochi]

When Hitchcock made Lifeboat, he insisted there'd be no musical score, because in a movie that takes place out in the middle of the ocean, the audience wouldn't know where the music was coming from, to which music composer David Raskin replied that it came from where the camera taking their picture came from

This is an important point we often over look, especially when condemning the episodic format. The argument that it doesn't make sense that things would be so easily wrapped up in an hour, or that these characters would so easily move on to the next story, like that last hadn't been significant, is a petty argument, that seems to suggest that real life logic & principles should apply in equal measure to the art of drama & motion picture.

That's ridiculous. Of course you want people to feel the reality in your art, but it IS art. Art imitates life. It doesn't recreate it. Think of an impressionist who mimics famous voices. Even they don't necessarily do an exact duplication, because it's more entertaining to exaggerate it or highlight things that we might find amusing or caricaturesque about that person's voice

I actually think you get much more dramatic effect from an ongoing story or theme, if you DO leave it & come back to it after some other things have happened. Is it less realistic? I suppose, but does it serve the artistic format/medium better? Absolutely.

TNG got the right mix imho

 

[Seven of Five]

I love Sins of the Father, and the whole Duras arc.

This is the first episode where they went to Qo'Nos as well, which helped to establish an epic setting for the proceedings.

Worf is such an honorable guy, and it's a little sad that he that testament to his character despite having never grown up there. He certainly has a romantic idea of honour and duty when it comes to the Klingon Empire, which is definitely at odds with what is presented in this episode.

The end is a great cliffhanger to the story thread. I feel like it all peaked in Reunion, but it was just love how they touching on their every now and then throughout the series.

 

[JesterFace]

Going a bit off topic, sorry.... I think I must say that while I think TNG's way of handling on going stories in the background is great, there's one exception where the week to week continuing storyline works: I LOVE first season of 24.

EDIT - with the alternative ending, you know, Teri thingy.

 

[amp]

I love "Sins of the Father". At the beginning, you think you know how this episode is going to go. It seems like an amusing fish-out-of-water tale where Kurn and the Enterprise crew have to learn deal with the incongruities between Starfleet procedures and the Klingon way of doing things. Then Kurn tells Worf that they are brothers and in short order we're headed to the Klingon homeworld and a completely different story. It's one of the biggest WTF moments in all of Trek.

On top of that there's no reset button. Worf's discommendation has real repercussions that will affect Worf and other characters in many future episodes of both TNG and DS9.

 

[Mojochi]

I love "Sins of the Father". At the beginning, you think you know how this episode is going to go. It seems like an amusing fish-out-of-water tale where Kurn and the Enterprise crew have to learn deal with the incongruities between Starfleet procedures and the Klingon way of doing things. Then Kurn tells Worf that they are brothers and in short order we're headed to the Klingon homeworld and a completely different story. It's one of the biggest WTF moments in all of Trek.

That's one of my favorite things about it too. They invest quite a bit of time throwing you off the trail, with Kurn giving the crew a hard time, before you get the reveal

On top of that there's no reset button. Worf's discommendation has real repercussions that will affect Worf and other characters in many future episodes of both TNG and DS9.

That's kind of the point of my thread here. To me at least, it really is the 1st moment in all of Trek where the show is deliberately saying "This is an undone character element"

I mean, while there's been hints at stuff, like Troi has a mom that causes drama here & there, like a TNG Harry Mudd, Q has an ongoing thing that pops up occasionally, & most significantly, Wes has a life choice/career that seems to be developing, this story here really hits home that Star Trek is playing by different rules than it had. A character has been deliberately made different, & that doesn't happen, not even all that much on this show, but when it starts happening on this show, each one seems that much more cataclysmic for it's rarity, & unprecedentedness.