Modern TV is too tidy, with everything tied to one or two storylines and everything being wrapped up tidily with maybe one or two cliffhangers. It makes fictional settings cough Star Wars cough seem small and insuler.
Interesting point!
I think a big part of this is because of the internet. Nowadays, if the writing isn’t 100% polished you will get people screaming loudly about inconsistencies, plot holes, or hooks left hanging and I’m sure this has an impact on the showrunners.
That said, I think you can have highly professional/polished writing, and still make the universe seem big and complex. The high quality dramas (Sopranos, etc.) have shown this. Not something Star Trek has every really been good at though.
Modern TV is too tidy, with everything tied to one or two storylines and everything being wrapped up tidily with maybe one or two cliffhangers. It makes fictional settings cough Star Wars cough seem small and insuler.
Well put.
TV before streaming (notably the last ten years), episodes stood alone. You may get a little continuity in the characters, but not in story arcs.
This made it all a (as you put it so well) a “glimpse into each character’s life”, leaving the viewer the opportunity to ponder “what else is/could there be”, which I find far more satisfying than having the answer provided for me.
I must say, I see this as significantly a generational difference (with some personality difference in there too, I know a few boomers who like the tidy story approach).
This is probs one of the reasons Star Wars always felt like a small galaxy cpompared to Star Trek. Everyone was so easily linked, found and plots tied up that it made it feel small.
I feel like the Force was also supposed to be bringing people together. I mean, Luke went to Dagobah, an entire fucking planet, and ran into Yoda within a few minutes of landing with 0 visibility in a swamp.
I’ve noticed that in a lot in sci-fi, writers just forget/hand-wave how huge planets are. Star Wars has an excuse that allows for more suspension of disbelief than with other series.
same thing happens with time, the standard example being how bethesda thinks 200 years is actually about 50 years.
like no, people aren’t going to be living in mostly-intact buildings 200 years after the apocalypse, that shit is going to be worn to hell and covered in plants. Like if you’ve ever walked through a european forest you’ve probably found some old stone ruins covered in moss, THAT is what 200 years of time looks like.
except there’s clearly living plantlife in fallout 4 lol, and regardless a lot of stuff would survive and repopulate, plants like moss and lichens are pretty much unkillable on a large scale.
IMO Fallout 3 had it’s time frame shifted at some point in its development. I mean take Little Lamplight, it’d make sense if it were 5-10 years after the war, as would all the relatively pristine ruins everywhere. It’d also explain why getting fresh water was such a urgent priority… despite the wastelanders managing without for 200 years.
However, I’m guessing the “less then a decade after the war” didn’t square with the aesthetic and lore they wanted to do, so the time frame of the game shifted several centuries forward, leaving odd bits of “just after the war” lore and set pieces.
deleted by creator
Interesting point!
I think a big part of this is because of the internet. Nowadays, if the writing isn’t 100% polished you will get people screaming loudly about inconsistencies, plot holes, or hooks left hanging and I’m sure this has an impact on the showrunners.
That said, I think you can have highly professional/polished writing, and still make the universe seem big and complex. The high quality dramas (Sopranos, etc.) have shown this. Not something Star Trek has every really been good at though.
deleted by creator
Well put.
TV before streaming (notably the last ten years), episodes stood alone. You may get a little continuity in the characters, but not in story arcs.
This made it all a (as you put it so well) a “glimpse into each character’s life”, leaving the viewer the opportunity to ponder “what else is/could there be”, which I find far more satisfying than having the answer provided for me.
I must say, I see this as significantly a generational difference (with some personality difference in there too, I know a few boomers who like the tidy story approach).
I agree, but one must also consider the nostalgia element, and that maybe that generational difference can be attributed to that to an extent
This is probs one of the reasons Star Wars always felt like a small galaxy cpompared to Star Trek. Everyone was so easily linked, found and plots tied up that it made it feel small.
I feel like the Force was also supposed to be bringing people together. I mean, Luke went to Dagobah, an entire fucking planet, and ran into Yoda within a few minutes of landing with 0 visibility in a swamp.
I’ve noticed that in a lot in sci-fi, writers just forget/hand-wave how huge planets are. Star Wars has an excuse that allows for more suspension of disbelief than with other series.
same thing happens with time, the standard example being how bethesda thinks 200 years is actually about 50 years.
like no, people aren’t going to be living in mostly-intact buildings 200 years after the apocalypse, that shit is going to be worn to hell and covered in plants. Like if you’ve ever walked through a european forest you’ve probably found some old stone ruins covered in moss, THAT is what 200 years of time looks like.
You last sentence has filled me with more envy than you can imagine. I hate you a little bit now ;)
The plants were mostly burned away and irradiated in fallout.
except there’s clearly living plantlife in fallout 4 lol, and regardless a lot of stuff would survive and repopulate, plants like moss and lichens are pretty much unkillable on a large scale.
IMO Fallout 3 had it’s time frame shifted at some point in its development. I mean take Little Lamplight, it’d make sense if it were 5-10 years after the war, as would all the relatively pristine ruins everywhere. It’d also explain why getting fresh water was such a urgent priority… despite the wastelanders managing without for 200 years.
However, I’m guessing the “less then a decade after the war” didn’t square with the aesthetic and lore they wanted to do, so the time frame of the game shifted several centuries forward, leaving odd bits of “just after the war” lore and set pieces.
deleted by creator
that doesn’t explain why fallout 4 is more of the same
Very good point Kojak.