004) Star Trek Discovery – Plot Contrivances or “is that all there is?”

In this podcast, a discussion of the narrative structure of the first half of season one. Serialized Frame with Stand Alone Episodes 1-2: Premier (Prologue) 3-5: Ripper Arc 6-8: Stand Alone Arc 9: Fall Finale (Chapter 1 Conclusion) Pacing Every episode has that fast-paced, must-defuse-the-bomb-in time segment: Pacing (ticking clock) Moral Decision Point Premier 1 Vulcan Hello Burnham/Klingon Vessel The mutiny 2 Battle of Binaries The battle Gorgious sacrifice to beam over; Burnham’s life sentence Ripper Arc 3 Context is for Kings Mystery of Dsc, and Ripper attack Burnham/ Lorca’s decision to stay on Dsc 4 Butcher’s Knife Figuring out Spore drive to save the dilithium mine Using Ripper 5 Choose your Pain Lorca escape from Klingon ship Using Ripper/ Stamets Stand Alone Arc 6 Lethe Rescuing Sarek Sarek’s choice 7 Magic Mudd’s Bomb None 8 Si Vis Fight Saru Saru’s decision to strand them on Phavo Fall Finale 9 Into the Forest Battle with Koll, 133 jumps Lorca’s decision to push Stamets to jump + Stamets decision to quit Plot Contrivances A plot contrivance happens when a writer needs something to happen–an action sequence, getting two characters into a room together, etc–and there is no previously established reason for that to happen. Contrivances have a negative connotation because we want our stories to have meaning, and we want our storytellers to follow a set of narrative rules and standards, ie not just making it up without any attempt at craft or artistry. We want a story. This creates problems: the insertion of story elements to juice up the action that seem significant in the moment but are not used again. They do not carry meaning beyond their immediate purpose. This creates bad feelings for two reasons: 1) we feel a bit cheated by the hollowness of the moment; 2) we know we don’t have to ever think about this again, which means, as Trek fans, or any genre fans, we don’t need to hold it very high in our head canon.   These kind of Contrivances work when: The resulting action is satisfying enough that we overlook the contrivance The contrivance is elevated to something greater through integration with other narrative elements such as character or theme List of Plot Contrivances: T’Kuvma (and the Klingons) His ships: Sarcophagus and Clever Space Bugs (Species GS54) Ripper Dilithium Mine Lorca’s Escape from the Prison Ship Sarek in Distress Mudd’s Time Bomb The Phavans Kol