Just anything
- Thread starter Valenti
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All Star Trek tv episodes and movies have stories. The question is whether they are good stories or bad (or well written crap). The question goes to formula and format. I think we all know what a good Star Trek story is by now. I mean we've seen so much of them - the bad with the good - and have come to a reasonable consensus as to which are the really great ones and which ones are, shall we say, not so great or crap. The question is what is the Star Trek formula? The format is obviously classic space opera but what are the elements that go into making a great Star Trek story rather than something else?
I believe that just like the Star Wars original trilogy, any new Star Trek should have a theme to hang it's hat on, a story concept arc that is like the big hand of a clock, that moves along at a slower pace than the actual story and is never resolved and is a continuing centralized mystery like the mythology of the show and then there should be a specific story that overlaps with it somehow and does resolve. Like a puzzle, little pieces are added to the overall arc thus keeping the audience off balance. I realize Disco is trying to do this but in my point of view, they are not succeeding. Am I wrong and we haven't seen Mobie Dick yet as they profess?
I believe that just like the Star Wars original trilogy, any new Star Trek should have a theme to hang it's hat on, a story concept arc that is like the big hand of a clock, that moves along at a slower pace than the actual story and is never resolved and is a continuing centralized mystery like the mythology of the show and then there should be a specific story that overlaps with it somehow and does resolve. Like a puzzle, little pieces are added to the overall arc thus keeping the audience off balance. I realize Disco is trying to do this but in my point of view, they are not succeeding. Am I wrong and we haven't seen Mobie Dick yet as they profess?
I liked your post and your explanation.
However this one point I feel is short. A Star Trek series should have multiple themes, that it alternates between. This prevents the series from having a limited focus.
The series should have themes of action, adventure, drama, introspective, philosophy, character pieces and scenes with humor or romance.
If you don't like this week's episode, that's unfortunate but next week's show will likely be different.
As opposed to you don't like this week's episode, and the next dozen are going to be more of the same.
For me, the sight seeing trip is over. DS9 had it right, but instead of it being a stationary location, there should be an overarching continuos mystery that keeps getting larger piece by piece looking for something specific other than seeking out new life and new civilizations. That should be part and parcel of something bigger, something more mysterious that asks the big questions of life like who created us and why. Things like that that were already proposed by JMS and others, and not just like Crusade looking for the cure to some Drazzi plague. It must have a direct connection to the individual stories being told and tie into for similar reasons.
My point was that Star Trek is just a premise, not a story. TOS and TNG had a premise of a crew on a spaceship having adventures. There were hundreds of individual, non-related episode stories that made up that premise, but not one overarching story. And yet TOS and TNG were the most popular and most revenue-producing Trek series made. DS9 also had a premise of a crew on a space station having adventures, although there was a bit more of a story arc there with the Founders and the Dominion War. But it's still not quite a 'story,' since it was being made up on the fly. And again, VOY and ENT was just more of the same premise with more stand-alone episodes than any kind of 'story.'
So I would say that overall, story is not important to Star Trek. Just having an entertaining premise is more important.
So I would say that overall, story is not important to Star Trek. Just having an entertaining premise is more important.
Is that not exactly what I said?
You need a good premise in order to make a good story. But a good story is not a guarantee just because the premise is good. Voyager's premise was fantastic: Lost in a new region of space where the old rules don't apply. Instead, we got more of the same old same old. ENT's premise was fantastic: the formation of the Federation. Instead, we got more of the same old same old.
So if you can't make your premise work, then your story will suffer. That's why the premise is more important. Or at the least, have a simple premise that's workable. Ever read romance novels? The story doesn't matter because the premise is always the same: main character finds the love of his/her life and gets laid. Only the names change. Yet people buy romance novels all the time.
You need a good premise in order to make a good story. But a good story is not a guarantee just because the premise is good. Voyager's premise was fantastic: Lost in a new region of space where the old rules don't apply. Instead, we got more of the same old same old. ENT's premise was fantastic: the formation of the Federation. Instead, we got more of the same old same old.
So if you can't make your premise work, then your story will suffer. That's why the premise is more important. Or at the least, have a simple premise that's workable. Ever read romance novels? The story doesn't matter because the premise is always the same: main character finds the love of his/her life and gets laid. Only the names change. Yet people buy romance novels all the time.
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Discovery.
^ At least they stated they were alternate and separate from Prime.
I already answered that. And I’m curious to know why you don’t like the Abrams films since you can’t seem to stop making silly comments about them.
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Ah, yes, I forgot that Star Trek was always series. Who can forget the eloquent soliloquy Kirk utters, lamenting the loss of his coffee to the foul beast of fur that laid waste to all that was before it!
They still sing songs of the Great Tribble Hunt.
To be fair, there is occasional philosophy mixed into "old Trek." None of it is what I'd call deep, but it's there.
However, much of what might be represented as philosophy is just another version of techno-babble. A meaningless string of words.
To be fair, the other series had their share of metaphysical and metaphorical allegory too and deep concepts. They certainly tried harder than disco or the JJverse even they didn't quite succeed all the time.
Trek in my opinion needs to be more complex in it's consistency and not be limited to a single concept per episode but then again the old series resonated on so many levels it's hard to judge.
Trek in my opinion needs to be more complex in it's consistency and not be limited to a single concept per episode but then again the old series resonated on so many levels it's hard to judge.
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