chase_acow | Serial Show Structure and Atlantis

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Serial Show Structure and Atlantis

I've thought about this a little bit, but I'm very bad at applying the rules of academia to fandom. So, instead of a well written, cohesive essay you get me rambling and probably contradicting myself. I just needed to jot this down so I can hopefully let it go.

When you have a weekly television show, I guess there are only about two ways to go about making the episodes and storyline.

One - It could be a far reaching arc that connects episode one to episode twenty, and often employs such techniques as continuance, and character call backs. Sure there will be subplots and the occasional stand alone episode but everything is incredibly cohesive. Same main cast vs the same main obstacle and it's a journey you take with the characters where you can definitively see them grow and change. Examples include Buffy and Angel,and most soap opera style dramedies (almost everything on the CW actually).

Two - The season is made up mostly of standalone episodes, the timeline of which can be changed at the drop of a hat because though there is a tenuous linking throughout there is little structure. It's easier for the casual viewer to skip a few episodes or join in during the middle of the season, and so there's less connection to the characters. Examples include House, Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis, and CSI.

"Stand alone" episodes are actually good for character development. I think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's season two episode The Zeppo which gives time to Xander and follows him around for the POV. We learned a lot more about Xander in that one episode than in any other and it's a good one. But when that's all it is, I find it so hard to connect the characters to one another and then to me in any meaningful way.

What I dislike most about Stargate Atlantis is that except for certain cast changes, you could pick out an episode from the second season and easily insert it into the third and vice versa. I'm too needy in the storytelling department to be wooed by a beautiful cast alone. In episodes like Reunion and Travelers we find out more about the characters, but is it actually character development? At the end of the show, are we, or more importantly the character actually in a different place (either mentally or even physically) than when the episode started? It often seems to me like the development happens off screen or in between episodes and we're just supposed to assume it happens by filling in the blanks ourselves.

Am I being unreasonably harsh here? I honestly can't tell anymore. Feel free to tell me I'm a dope, I really don't mind if you think I am.

On a related note:

I suppose it would be a little tacky to start up a postcard campaign for Joe Mallozzi? Something like:

Joe M - How are you such an asshole? No really.

I swear, my next Atlantis post will be happier, because I can find things to enjoy and that's what I'm going to focus on for the rest of the year. Seriously, hold me to it.

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I haven't done this kinda shit since Uni, so forgive me if it's also a little rambly ... :)

I think that, with SGA, it's not so much a case of stand alone as you would think.

Everything segues nicely into the next episode whether you notice it or not and, based on the character development alone, I could tell you instantly if an episode was aired in the wrong season.

Whilst the majority of episodes are self-contained plotwise (a TV necessity since viewers are, for the most part, incapable of holding interest from one week to the next on a regular basis), they keep strands simmering in the background (like Wraith attacks and replicator threats and Kolya) until the time is right both plot-wise and ratings-wise to bring them to a head.

They have somehow managed to keep character development, season-wide arcs *and* audience interest - which I've never thought about until your post, but it makes me like it that little bit more because it's damn hard to do!

I got all flustered again trying to describe how I see the show. I hope you don't mind, because I'm an odd fish at the best of times. This is just what it seems like to me personally at this very moment. I accept the fact that I often have stupid ideas. : )

So they're fighting the Wraith, Genii, Replicators or whatever, and the writers have this great idea like hey- let's have a truce between Atlantis and a rogue hive ship (or Koyla or Michael etc). Then they throw it away in a single episode, or if we're "lucky" a two parter or separated episodes. An idea like that could have supported half a dozen episodes and been the link that I needed to string the episodes along like beads on a necklace. Maybe that's not it for everyone, but that's how I like my tv.

The best segue I can think of right now is after Pegasus Project when Rodney is talking about the McKay-Carter bridge of Stargates. I can't remember that this is often the case. In Travelers for instance, there's nothing that tells us that it comes after Doppleganger. I'm pretty sure that it could have happened in the second season without much suspension of disbelief on my part. The team is a little - teamier, but that's about it that I could see. Shep is still dorky yet snarky and weird around girls, he's smart and thinks on his feet, but lacks that push to develop him more.

Thinking about it, Rodney is the only character we've seen an actual change in. During SG-1 he was a total jerk. In Season one he was a jerk with redeemable qualities, and in season two, he became a guy that is sometimes a jerk who is still flawed but has learned the value of teamwork and to some extent friendship. Maybe I'm wanting more angst or reflection from a show that is essentially only supposed to be action-adventure movie popcorn for the brain. You enjoy it when it's there, but the second it's gone you can't even remember what it tastes like.

until the time is right both plot-wise and ratings-wise to bring them to a head.

Except that rating can't have much to do with it when they have the entire season shot and in the can before it starts to air. JoeM has basically said they write an episode at a time, and sure they leave loose ends so they can come back to it, but it never feels premeditated to me.

Their season-wide arcs are just too tenuous for me. If season two is about fighting the wraith then why have so many eps devoted to something else? (Intruder, Epiphany, Critical Mass, Grace Under Pressure, The Tower, The Long Goodby, Coup D'etat to name a few.)

In season two, the wraith are given the back seat and just about five episodes. The Asurans are set up as an enemy but are given only three episodes in the beginning of the season. Then, for the season ender we're supposed the think back and remember what a threat they are.

Personally, there's just not enough of a connection there.

Wait, what? Why is Joe M an asshole? *confused*

R.e. the other stuff, are you as annoyed with SG-1 as you are with SGA? I marathoned about six seasons of SG-1 in a couple of months two summers ago, and something that I noticed was that there was character development...but only across the span of seven seasons. By the end of SG-1's ten seasons, I can say that yes, the characters are, at the end of the series, at a different place than they were at the beginning, but only marginally, and only because they had ten seasons to tweak here and there. (And also, in my opinion, because the actors themselves changed the way they played the characters. Or, okay, Michael Shanks did. Daniel changed. The others...kinda. Sort of. A very tiny bit.)

I don't look for massive character development or deep and meaningful and complex story arcs in the Stargates. Imho that's not the kind of show they're producing. Sometimes that's annoying to me, but in this case not so much because I look for other things from the Stargates, and I get those things. (Good sci fi, interesting standalone stories, cool f/x, characters who despite being relatively 2D are still engaging...)

I don't think you're being harsh, but I do think that you're possibly looking for something in SGA that's just not there, nor will it ever be there. But that's imho.

Ugh, I was trying to write this while my kid was talking to me.

Sometimes that's annoying to me,

I meant, in some shows the lack of character development etc is annoying.

And...you know, sorry. If anything else doesn't make sense, I can elaborate.

*sigh*

I just hate reading his blog trying to find gems of information among his arrogance and condescension. Sometimes he seems to get kinda rude with his "mailbag" questions. I don't see why he bothers if he's not going to answer the question or reply with something to make the questioner look stupid. It makes me uncomfortable.

Honestly, I haven't watched all the first eight seasons of SG-1. I've seen every episode from season 7-10 and most of season one and four. But I don't watch the earlier seaons very often now. I know that it's like the most unpopular fannish opinion ever, but I don't think I like Jack/RDA very much.

Part of it is what I described above, as far as seasons went, on the the whole the didn't grab me and demand that I watch them all in a row. I think you pegged the nail on the head with what you had to say about the character/actors, especially Michael/Daniel.

Stargate is definitely a "take it how it is" show, and it does many things right just like you said. It's just that, to paraphrase from another amazing sci-fi show which had everything probably including the kitchen sink - it could be more. I'm not trying to compare it with Farscape, but sometimes I wish I could. : )

Ugh, I was trying to write this while my kid was talking to me.

You did way better than I would have when my kidlet brother or grandma is talking to me. I invariably end up saying something about JFlan's hair to them and typing that I need to go get milk. : )

Stargate is definitely a "take it how it is" show, and it does many things right just like you said. It's just that, to paraphrase from another amazing sci-fi show which had everything probably including the kitchen sink - it could be more. I'm not trying to compare it with Farscape, but sometimes I wish I could. : )

Farscape is a pretty high bar, for comparison. And it may have spoiled us for other shows. Although, god, still pretty much hate season 4 (hey kids, lets switch one annoying red headed alien for another, younger one! Whee! :P)

Still, as far as shippiness goes, you couldn't do better than Aeryn and Crichton. So, really, wasn't so special that SG1 brought the actors in, then put them with other people? WTF?

OK, I'm rambling. Did I have a point? I may be too tired to know. *facepalm*

I think Farscape definitely spoiled me a bit. It's like an exotic space pineapple to Stargate's corner market pineapple. You know they're similar, but there's little comparison.

So, really, wasn't so special that SG1 brought the actors in, then put them with other people?

Aw but they were already getting ragged on for becoming "Fargate". I almost wished they had changed the name of the show during Season nine to Stargate: Command. It might have made things easier to move on with the new cast and badguy.

I like what the did with the characters' relationships, there's a lot of room for play. Personally as much as I love Cameron, I don't think that "Mitchell" could quite compete with "Crichton". It would have been a little weird.

Did I have a point?

Points are for the top of JoeM's head. We don't need no stinkin' points in order to have a good conversation! : )

Oh, I thought there was some particular thing Mallozzi had said or done. I totally get where people are coming from who think he's an asshole in general, but I have to admit (and I think this is my unpopular fandom opinion for the weekend, eep) I actually like Mallozzi's blog. People on the internet frequently drive me fucking crazy with their self-importance and assumptions that because they're fans of something, the makers of that something Owe Them. So I kind of love that he only reveals what he finds it appropriate to reveal and also replies to dumb-ass comments with the occasional lack of mercy. Have you ever read through all of the comments on any of his posts? He gets a lot of batshit replies, to the point that I'm amazed he allows comments at all, never mind attempts to weed out a selection to which to respond.

Which is not a defense of him; I'm just saying that for me, his attitude is a relief, a nice change sort of.

R.e. SG v. Farscape, I get what you mean. I tend to compartmentalize tv shows (and movies and books) a little differently, though. I.e., if I want to watch Farscape, then I'm not going to turn on Stargate. If that makes sense. Or...hm, how to explain better. Well, if you're familiar with the movies Batman Begins and The Fantastic Four: BB is a serious dramatic vision of Batman, made to be atmospheric and introspective as well as superheroey. F4 is a bright shiny tongue in cheek sort of drama, made to be fun and comic-y and ooh cool f/x and geekiness. So, if I want a serious comic book superhero movie, I will watch Batman Begins; I won't, however, watch The Fantastic Four and criticize it for not being a serious movie and decide it's not living up to its potential. You know?

I just figure, if I'm going to enjoy something, I'm going to enjoy it for what it is. And if I'm not enjoying it for what it is because it's not what I want it to be, I'll look for something to watch that is what I want it to be.

Er.

Um.

*flaps* I cannot make seeeeeeeeeense. Argh. *whines*

*sporfles* I would totally get behind that postcard campaign *g*

I think of Atlantis more being an overall arc kind of show, with a few stand alone eps thrown in. The problem this season for me has been that, as you said, the stand alone eps haven't developed the characters any further. And, okay, I don't mind filler eps, but it's be nice if they were at least good filler eps. It's totally a failing on Malozzi's part, cause I find his dialogue so awkward, like something written by a teenager.

I guess it's probably a little too early to put this season under a microscope to point out every place that it went right or wrong. But as a whole, both Stargates didn't connect the episodes enough to fully engage my attention.

I know that some people hated that about seasons nine and ten of SG-1. The episodes ran together and usually progressed the Ori storyline over various standalone eps. See that was what I loved about them, and ruined me for the earlier seasons. I haven't broke out those DVDs in over a year, I should probably offer to trade them or something because I doubt I'll ever watch them like I do the others.

I think between the two of us and a couple of other people we could fill a blog with reasons to rag on JoeM. : ) I don't suppose it does much good, but it is a little personally uplifting isn't it?

It just makes me happy that someone else dislikes him as much as I do :D

I find SGA sorta is a mix of the two. Season one was more of an arc thing, whereas season two was a mix of the two types, with less arcs and more standalone. Season 3 was more of a standalone thing. To me, anyways.

Lol!! I'm sure there's a lot of people out there who'd get behind it. Me for one. :p

I can't really down on Season one, it was still figuring things out. The arc to me was surviving while cut off from Earth. I love that idea, I loved Star Trek Voyager for the same reason while it was on TV.

I agree with you about Season 3. It probably had some of the best eps that SGA has done, but as a whole, it was only so-so to me.

Lol!! I'm sure there's a lot of people out there who'd get behind it. Me for one. :p

I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but day after day he comes back with the arrogant, "I might be an SOB, but I'm KING SOB!" attitude. Combined with his sadly lacking scripts, it's just more than I can take.

be a little tacky to start up a postcard campaign for Joe Mallozzi
Tacky, yes, but worse, I think he'd actually like it. He strikes me as someone who acts that way just to get attention.

That is a very fair point, and I'm sure you're right.

: )

Hmm, I'd probably tend to disagree with you in terms of where SGA would fall in the spectrum. I think there has been a lot of character and plot development. But I do think it's a lot more subtle than some things that people might be used to. For example, one of the things I noticed in this season's premiere is that John not only knew what Elizabeth would have wanted, but he looked at the situation from a broader perspective beyond saving one person which he never would have done at the beginning of the show.

It seems to me that with the character development side, they're afraid of doing something that limits possibilities down the road, or for the fans. The more you actually a relationship or dynamic, whether as friends or coworkers or other, the more limited all of us are in later shows or fics.

I was having one of those fanfic vs profic discussions with somebody a few weeks ago and I was saying that I like fanfic better because even if there's a lot you don't like that you have to wade through, the creative space is bigger because there's no requirement to hit the reset button at the end. The thing about TV is it kind of falls in between the two. Yes the plot and characters can be advanced, but you can't really get into a lot of things without losing viewership since even fandom has thousands of different preferred directions and developments and that's not even the majority of the viewers. Once you pick a direction, you have to deal with the idea that half your viewing audience might hate that direction and stop watching.

Of course, the most likely explanation from the actual show is just that they have no idea how to do real character development. But those are the reasons why I don't mind the subtle slow plotline development too much (though I too liked the last couple of seasons of SG1 better - even without considering how much I disliked O'Neill)

I loved that part in the season opener, both John and Rodney were written with incredible clarity and insight in dealing with Weir's situation. But I don't think that is the SGA writers normal priority. They don't really do subtle well, so when I see some things I'm more likely to attribute it to lucky accident or maybe acting on occasion.

I very much like what you said about them writing themselves into a corner and not being able to please everyone. I imagine making a successful television show would be a very cut-throat political business. My only thought would be that if they never pick a direction then both characters and show are just drifting aimlessly. I'd think that they would miss out on a lot of compelling storytelling that way, as well as a lot of bored fans.

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Serial Show Structure and Atlantis

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