![]() Like Charles Dickens’s serialized novels, an installment published weekly or monthly in a magazine, serialized TV presents one cohesive story arc over the course of many episodes. With the advent of VCRs that allowed the recording of an episode to be watched later, and far more in the current age of streaming, on-demand TV, heavily serialized dramas have grown popular. These episodes risk falling back on clichéd character motivations, skeletal plot that sketches out only the barest glimpse of wider implications, and contrived plot devices to leave things neatly resolved before the time clamps down. ![]() Or, in Star Trek terms, we might be stuck in a time loop.īecause each narrative arc is compressed into a one-hour-or-shorter chunk, conflicts can lack development. When the powerful emotion of an episode dissipates at the end, when the long-term consequences of characters’ actions almost never impact anything beyond the confines of that weekly episodic barrier, we can start to feel that we are reliving Groundhog Day again and again with no possibility for development. What doesn’t work well in episodic storytellingīut an episodic structure can also leave the audience wanting more. Something like a multiple-narrator ensemble cast, these diversions from the norm make the world of the show more richly textured and allow us to connect with supporting characters in ways that are less possible in fully serialized dramas. In Star Trek Voyager, a largely episodic series, Captain Janeway can be said to be the star of the show, but individual episodes regularly relegate Janeway to the role of supporting character or even antagonist, while another member of the crew takes center stage, forging their own developmental arc. For the above reasons, episodic shows are the mainstay of network television.Īnother advantage of the episodic structure is the opportunity it gives the show to explore tangents, develop supporting characters, and experiment in ways that keep the show fresh. These shows also function well as reruns, as a network can fill any number of available slots without having to commit to rerunning the whole season. A viewer can miss a week, start watching a show halfway through the season, or watch episodes out of order without confusion. Why the episodic structure is greatĮpisodic shows have the great advantage of a low barrier to entry for new viewers. ![]() The next episode then begins a new conflict, making no reference to the previous. In this structure, each (usually) weekly installment presents a complete narrative arc, introducing a conflict at the beginning of the episode that is then resolved by the end. Most TV dramas of the twentieth century rely on an episodic structure. It is helpful to think of two major organizational strategies that TV series can use: the episodic and the serial. Today, let’s explore how this is achieved and how it might be relevant to our writing. One aspect of the show I have found particularly interesting from a literary point of view is how it straddles the poles of episodic and serialized narrative to present a remarkably engaging storytelling. A reimagined, post-Federation galaxy, the ever-imaginative CGI work, characters who are growing on me in this third adventure through space and time, and most importantly, Star Trek’s beautifully hopeful, human, redemptive storytelling in an age when so many shows seem fixated on the dark. In this third season of Star Trek Discovery, there is a lot to enjoy.
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