This is stuff I think I should think about and plan to.
But, yes: of course the Odyssey and the Aeneid are also monster-of-the-week plus big bad.
I think there's an issue (I am thinking about this wrt Orphan Black, e.g.) with open-ended TV shows that nevertheless assign a long term goal (the ten year seasonal goal), vs. the year, the six week plot arc, and the individual week.
So in The Fugitive, e.g., the main (Dr. Richard Kimble) is looking for the one-armed-man, and no way he's going to find him till the series is canceled. In Time Tunnel, the two protagonists are trying to get home, but can't while the series is underway. And it may be underway for a while.
But that's okay, I guess: the final goal doesn't govern plot so much as offer a beacon to navigate by.
But in Orphan Black or Lost or Homeland (or Life on Mars or Flashforward, to point to disappointments), there is something structuring the plot, part of its incident-to-incident structure. The MacGuffin matters, as it always should (which is what makes Hitchcock so good). But it's also endlessly deferred, reconceptualized by writers and producers who just want the show to go on, so that the significant plot moments, the sense that you're advancing towards a goal, always turns out to be a mirage. And that's vexing. Life on Mars and Flashforward bring out what's disappointing about this: they didn't end; they were canceled, and the didn't end because in fact there was no ending that underlay the whole plot structure. And that is, alas, true, of successful series as well.
Whereas I guess the point about a game is there is an end, when you finally get there. I suspect gamers wouldn't play games without an ending. So something that television series (and before that radio soap operas, and before that daily narrative comic strips) eroded in narrative experience may be coming back in games? I hope so.
wolodymyr would certainly have something interesting to say about these issues. I'll flag this post for her.
no subject
But, yes: of course the Odyssey and the Aeneid are also monster-of-the-week plus big bad.
I think there's an issue (I am thinking about this wrt Orphan Black, e.g.) with open-ended TV shows that nevertheless assign a long term goal (the ten year seasonal goal), vs. the year, the six week plot arc, and the individual week.
So in The Fugitive, e.g., the main (Dr. Richard Kimble) is looking for the one-armed-man, and no way he's going to find him till the series is canceled. In Time Tunnel, the two protagonists are trying to get home, but can't while the series is underway. And it may be underway for a while.
But that's okay, I guess: the final goal doesn't govern plot so much as offer a beacon to navigate by.
But in Orphan Black or Lost or Homeland (or Life on Mars or Flashforward, to point to disappointments), there is something structuring the plot, part of its incident-to-incident structure. The MacGuffin matters, as it always should (which is what makes Hitchcock so good). But it's also endlessly deferred, reconceptualized by writers and producers who just want the show to go on, so that the significant plot moments, the sense that you're advancing towards a goal, always turns out to be a mirage. And that's vexing. Life on Mars and Flashforward bring out what's disappointing about this: they didn't end; they were canceled, and the didn't end because in fact there was no ending that underlay the whole plot structure. And that is, alas, true, of successful series as well.
Whereas I guess the point about a game is there is an end, when you finally get there. I suspect gamers wouldn't play games without an ending. So something that television series (and before that radio soap operas, and before that daily narrative comic strips) eroded in narrative experience may be coming back in games? I hope so.