• SSTF@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    All the post-TOS shows expanded and deepened main cast, leading to episodes being able to be centered on various characters. TOS had a smaller and more focused cast. It was a rarity to even have a Spock or McCoy centered episode, and I can’t think of an episode where at least one of the main trio wasn’t the most prominent character.

    I think it’s just a difference in writing styles of the different times between the 1960s and the 1980s. Even look at something like STIV: The Voyage Home. Same characters as TOS, but written in the 1980s and a lot more comfortable giving various non-trio characters their own individual adventures.

    • cyd@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Another important factor is TNG’s reliance (sometimes over-reliance) on A/B plots. The B plots were often an outlet for the ensemble characters to come out and play.

  • cyd@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I think you can even argue that in each case there are two main characters plus a third wheel (Riker/McCoy).

    But McCoy never faded from view, whereas Riker almost became a background character during the second half of TNG. They should have written Riker out of the series after Best of Both Worlds; after the character stuck around, the writers seemed unable to figure out what to do with him.

  • daq2@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I think they did a better job than TOS did writing stories for the other crew members, but the last few TNG movies are basically the Picard and Data show

    • cyd@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, and the problem with the Picard and Data show is that those characters don’t really have a relationship, at least not an emotional connection like Kirk/Spock/McCoy. They basically just had a professional relationship, which was fine for the series where there’s a problem to be solved every episode, and it’s not necessary to have fleshed-out character arcs. But a movie narrative needs to make the audience care about the main characters and their interactions with each other, all within a very short period of time. Picard/Data simply could not provide that emotional core.