I'm wondering if there are actual terms for these two types of story:

One type of story in a series leaves the characters in the same condition as at the beginning. A television series with episodes designed to be run in any order. A good example would be the original Star Trek. The main characters never changed and all of the plots were self contained. Unless you're wearing a red shirt you're pretty much guaranteed to survive and be healed of any injuries by the next episode. There isn't any overall story arc. No one wins (and keeps) the million dollar lottery because that would separate episodes into "before" and "after" the lottery win. I've always thought of these stories as "closed" since they manage to loop the characters and situations around to where each episode started.

The other kind of story/series does have a run order--that is characters progress, sometimes major changes are made and there is an overall story arc. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine would be an example. I understand Babylon 5 is another good example. For lack of a better term I think of these stories as "open".

I recognize that there are degrees of __________-ness, whatever the term(s) is/are. Within a season, the Lois and Clark writers kept things fairly consistent and could mostly run in any order but they did make changes from season to season.

Anyone know if there is a term and what it is?

Well, the term I've heard and used for stories and story lines where nothing changes as 'zero-sum'.

Not sure if there's a proper term for series where the eps have a real order. (Maybe serial since the old serials were short eps in specific order?)

Best place to ask is probably TV Tropes - they have tropes for everything. They have a page where you can ask and I've found you generally get a speedy answer.

The first one though, I've heard described as a reset. Fans fed up with this trope on ST: Voyager used to refer to the ship as the USS Reset, for example.

LabRat :-)

I've seen stories of the type of B5 referred to as heavily serialized. It's also the kind of story that's the hardest to sell to the networks. Not sure they have a term for the 'normal' kind of story, though. Although, at least in today's world, all series that I can think of ATM have a more or less serialized b-plots. Then again, that's likely not that big of a problem for the occasional viewer, given they are probably not invested in the characters but can easily pick up the current A-plot.

Michael

The phrase that popped into my head, for Babylon 5, was "Story Arc" series, versus stand-alone series like ST.

FWIW

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" did story arcs too.

Episodic versus Arc-based is what I've always used/heard.

B5, B5, B5... Wow! Did everyone here watch B5?

For the record, I did too. I even watched Season 5. (But only once. )

As for being part of the story arc, I remember J. Michael Straczynski talking about episodes and elaborating on those that were critical to the arc and those that were not. If I remember correctly, less than 1/2 of the episodes were key for the arc.

That's why Season 4 got so intense. They were convinced that there would be no Season 5 so they pulled all of the S5 arc-critical stories into S4. That's what blew-up S5. They had a season but the story arc was complete.

Sorry for the B5 digression.

Bob

Thanks everyone. All of these answers make sense and I'm wiser for being here.

For the record, I never watched more than two isolated episodes of B5. Both times nothing made any sense to me and it was like being in a room full of people all sharing inside jokes. (Now that I think about it, it's a little like following politics.) Having learned more about the series and how it was constructed I am interested in starting from the beginning to see what it's all about.

Oh, I second (or third or fourth) the recommendation for B5. The fifth season did fall flat a bit, but the first four seasons more than make up for it with amazing story and characterization. My parents watched it when I was a kid, and I remember walking through the room and knowing I WANTED to watch it but also knowing I couldn't understand it at all. When I got into my teens, I had my mom watch it with me from beginning to end so I could fully appreciate it -- one of my all-time favorite shows.

Anyway, sorry to digress without giving you an answer to your original question -- seeing B5 mentioned, I just couldn't help but jump in. :rolleyes:

I personally think Babylon 5 was the best television show ever made, in part because it did have the overarching story arc.

I realize that saying here that I think it was even better than L&C is probably not the most politic of statements. I hasten to assure everyone that L&C ties with B5 for being my favourite show, but L&C's relatively episodic nature and the way character development and continuity were handled in B5, not to mention its ability to provoke thought, make it a better program in my book. Of course, having said that, I should also add that L&C has captured my heart and my imagination in a way B5 never quite did; I can relate to aspects of both title characters in ways that I really can't do with the B5 characters. And, perhaps as a consequence, I've only ever written one B5 fanfic, if you can even call it that -- and that was just the two-paragraph snippet I posted a few minutes ago in the "Original Fiction" folder.

Have I dug myself out of the hole yet?

Joy,
Lynn

Ooops. I'm sorry, Lynn, but I had to delete your post. One of the main rules of the OF folder is that you can't post fanfic there. It has to be completely original fiction using your own characters and worlds.

LabRat :-)

Sorry, LabRat. I should have realized that.

Thanks,
Lynn

No worries. Have to admit I felt like the Grinch deleting it. Maybe you could post elsewhere like ff.net and link to it from here?

LabRat :-)

No reason for you to feel like the Grinch. I just hadn't been thinking when I posted the crossover; you did absolutely the right thing by deleting it.

But since I have your blessing to post a link to it, consider it done: The World\'s Weirdest (and Shortest) Crossover Snippet

Thanks,
Lynn

One quick comment.

Back when I started writing the story arc that is materializing it all came to me at once the same way Michael J. Strazinski says B5 came to him. I guess he was my inspiration.

I'm just catching up with this, so going back to the original question--sometimes those serialized shows are referred to as nighttime soaps.

Happy New Year everyone!

Jude

I thought that Season 1 of Lois and Clark allowed too little development from episode to episode. This is really shown by the fact that in fan fics people can rearrange the episode order.

On the other hand, Season 3 went too far into arcs with the wedding arc. OK, maybe that was just a really bad idea for an arc. I mean, Lois losing her memory once was too much, but twice?

Now, if they had had Luthor kidnap Lois just after the wedding, maybe it would not have been such an Arrghh moment. Or if they had had them fly off to Vegas and get married at the end of "Oedipus Wrecks", at least I would have found their behavior expected. Getting re-engaged at the end of the arc just did not add up to me.

On the other hand, "Wrong Clark" has convinced me that the way they put "Honeymoon in Metropolis" just after "Pheremone My Lovely" just does not work.

I mean Clark's "Don't try any funny business" line to Lois before they head to the Honeymoon Suite, is part of his general teasing nature. However, that soon after she had done the dance of the seven veils in his apartment, it seems like it might have brought up a subject that was still a sore point between them.

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