To Arc or Not to Arc
Jonathan Wright, a blogger at The Guardian, wrote an article last week about “Torchwood: Children of Earth” and it’s 5-part story arc. He laments the fact that all of the scifi he loves has become more heavily laden with story arcs, and at first glance, this fact irks him, and he lays blame at our feet:
I’m sorry, but what’s so bad about five not-so-epic-but-nevertheless-carefully-crafted-individual stories shown over five weeks –or possibly even six if you need to re-jig the schedules because of a major sporting event? How did telly get so complicated?
Personally, I blame J Michael Straczynski. Back in the early 1990s, Straczynski, or JMS as fans know him, created Babylon 5. When it was first shown on Channel 4, it looked like a science-fiction series about a space station. The CGI was a bit shonky, but it passed the time.
Inexorably, though, it became clear that JMS, a control freak who wrote 92 of the show’s 110 episodes himself, had an overarching vision. It involved a portentous brew of big themes – politics, destiny, war, peace, love. If you tried to start watching Babylon 5 with series three, you were left hopelessly confused.
He goes on to point how how the arcs of Buffy and Alias had only increased the perceived “need” for grand overarching visions in sf and fantasy television, and while he does grumble about it, he finally admits that he doesn’t see a way not to be hooked into continuing to watch, because by the time you realize there’s an arc at play, you’re already deep into the story and don’t want to let go.
Is he complaining, or is he grudgingly handing out compliments to writers and producers for making him watch more TV?
Discuss amongst yourselves, both here and over at the Babylon Podcast forums
Link: Guardian: Torchwood has succumbed to the story arc craze
Link: io9: Did JMS Ruin Television SF?
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