this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2023
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Risa
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Why, it set a more philosophical tone for the series. He's a villain that's completely unbeatable so your only choice is to make him bored so he goes away.
I have no problem with this character or plot lines. I only take issue with it being in the first episode. The series is primarily about exploring new worlds and new civilizations and they managed to encounter the final boss in the first episode. It makes it seem less significant and just a common occurrence. In my opinion we should introduce the characters first under more normal circumstances that actually are common occurrences for them.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OpeningBossBattle
Starting in medias res is really common, actually. Not just in games, I've seen plenty of media where it opens with a confrontation with the Big Bad who is going to be the Final Boss.
It's an interesting idea, but in my opinion not the best method of storytelling. It's just my personal opinion, but I like to see some slow build up and maybe some allusions to what is coming without giving it away up front. The sense of mystery and suspense is important to me.
Each individual episode of Star Trek TNG is very good at this, but the overarching plot not so much.
I can understand that perspective, especially with an episodic show that lasted many seasons. It had ample opportunity to make some build-up.
However, I would say that also, with all new properties, even spin-offs of old ones, there is inherent risk and worry that there won't be more than one season. Often, you have writers trying to hamfist everything into that first season because they want their story actually resolved, even if it gets canceled. That feeling, on top of the difficulties of getting the series off the ground in season one, including a string of writers quitting because they couldn't get along with Roddenberry, and the cutting of a gay couple meant to be in the series, definitely speaks to the idea that the first season wasn't "in the bag" as it were, and there was risk if they waited, the show could get canceled.
This was also during a period where episodic television where one episode is completely self contained from all the rest was the norm and long branching stories between episodes really hadn't become the norm yet. X-Files would end up pioneering the coupling of a "monster of the week" format along with a larger story woven in.
Anyway, it's easy to speculate from here in the future, where we all revere the series as something amazing we grew up with. It had a troubled start, there were no guarantees, and it's hard to pin down why they chose to do things the way they did, especially with all the early infighting over writing.
I think it showed that the series would require characters to think outside the box. It's not about being smarter or technologically advanced. It's subtle, like real life.