Is serialization the best idea for sci-fi right now?

[Sir Will]

ReBoot was highly serialized from the second half of season 2 onward.

[Sir Will]

I don't know if serialization is the best approach for a sci fi TV series, but I do like some element of serialization in my shows nowadays. I want some stand-alone episodes in there, too, though.

Story arcs aren't without downsides, though. If a story arc goes on too long, viewers can gather that Voyager isn't going home until there are enough episodes for syndication, intelligent people with resources aren't going to defeat the mindless zombies armed with teeth and fingernails, and, most importantly, the castaways are never getting off that island.

If the story arc ends, what do you do? SG-1 completed its first story arc by getting tech to defend Earth and defeating the Goa'uld System Lords, got some mileage out of the aftermath of the collapse of the galactic political order, and kudos for dealing with that, but then they had to do a story arc reset by bringing in the Ori. If B5 was a novel, then season 5 was the afterword.

Which was a shame because I was still enjoying those shows, but at that point I couldn't enjoy them as much. As opposed to TOS or TNG, where there were always new worlds and new civilizations.

I loved seasons 9 and 10 of SG-1. Especially 10 with Vala. RDA was phoning it in by that point and the Goa'uld thing had played itself out. I liked the new threat. And they still had some self-contained stuff. But I think just gating to random worlds with no overall plot would have gotten old fast.

[Yukaphile]

@Sir Will Not so. They still had an episodic format, it's just the continuity got tighter the further along it got. Season 3 you could make that argument in.

[Sir Will]

@Sir Will Not so. They still had an episodic format, it's just the continuity got tighter the further along it got. Season 3 you could make that argument in.

How do you define serialization then? The events of one episode led directly into the next in the last 4 episodes of season 2 and then for seasons 3 and 4.

[Darth Wedgius]

I don't know if serialization is the best approach for a sci fi TV series, but I do like some element of serialization in my shows nowadays. I want some stand-alone episodes in there, too, though.

Story arcs aren't without downsides, though. If a story arc goes on too long, viewers can gather that Voyager isn't going home until there are enough episodes for syndication, intelligent people with resources aren't going to defeat the mindless zombies armed with teeth and fingernails, and, most importantly, the castaways are never getting off that island.

If the story arc ends, what do you do? SG-1 completed its first story arc by getting tech to defend Earth and defeating the Goa'uld System Lords, got some mileage out of the aftermath of the collapse of the galactic political order, and kudos for dealing with that, but then they had to do a story arc reset by bringing in the Ori. If B5 was a novel, then season 5 was the afterword.

Which was a shame because I was still enjoying those shows, but at that point I couldn't enjoy them as much. As opposed to TOS or TNG, where there were always new worlds and new civilizations.

I loved seasons 9 and 10 of SG-1. Especially 10 with Vala. RDJ was phoning it in by that point and the Goa'uld thing had played itself out. I liked the new threat. And they still had some self-contained stuff. But I think just gating to random worlds with no overall plot would have gotten old fast.

I liked Vala a lot. With RDA gone, she provided the lighter moments, but she handled the deeper stuff too. I just couldn't get as invested in the Ori arc. Maybe it was just me, though.

*Edited because I managed to misspell "RDA."

[Yukaphile]

The first half of Season 2, to go with the ReBoot example, were episodic, with light continuity. That changes when you get to "Painted Windows." Granted, "AndrAIa," that followed after, was just as episodic as the rest, but then after that when we come to "Nullzilla," despite the... frankly kitsch nature of the work, is finally when it begins getting serialized. Cliffhangers, and so on. Season 3 is pure serialization.

[Sir Will]

Probably because I said RDJ in my post. Fixed it.

[Thebestoftherest]

I don't want something like Voyager where important stuff happens but never mentioned again.
I don't want it to be like the Netflix shows where the episodes are water down and padded to reach 13 episodes with one main story.

[Yukaphile]

Fair.

[Thebestoftherest]

Fair.

Thanks.