Kevin Wampler <wam### [at] uwashingtonedu> wrote:
> Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> > That's kind of the problem with a series. Every episode has to end with
> > roughly the same situation as it started, so that the next one can begin
> > from the same premise. (Although occasionally you'll inherit a new
> > character permanently, or a new capability or something.) Makes it kind
> > of predictable.
>
> It's only a particular type of series which fits this format (would it
> be called an episodic show?).  There's plenty of shows in which the plot
> follows an arc from beginning to end of the entire series.

Staying in the SF genre, Babylon5 is one of the superior examples of this. It
begins with an episodic format much like Trek, exploring the show's universe
and developing the characters, then starts introducing the greater story arcs,
until by the final season the governments and equilibria that were described in
the earlier seasons have been transformed by the events of the story. Cracking
stuff.

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