More Like CRAP-ylon 5!
I've been watching Babylon 5 all morning and I noticed something that stood out to me as a mark of bad writing.
This isn't something that's specific to that show, by the way, that just happens to be the most recent time I've seen it.
The thing I'm talking about happened when two characters were talking about the budget for the ship. One character explained to the other that he'd made a request to the Senator. Literally seconds later a third character announced that the Senator was calling about the budget. It just felt too damn convenient.
Watching a moment like that, I always feel like it's something that happens when writers have too much material and try to compress it down to TV script length. "We have to lose that bit in the middle, let's just jump to the phone call..."
I understand that from a TV writing point of view, but too many of these convenient coincidences has the effect of taking me out of the story.
One effective way I've seen of writers combating this is by hanging a lantern on it (a writing term for overcoming an absurd coincidence by calling attention to the absurdity of it). A good example of this is in that episode of Buffy about the troll (written by Jane Espenson). The Bronze is being smashed up and Willow says "I wish Buffy were here!". Buffy then runs through the door. Willow adds "I wish I had a million dollars!" and nothing happens. Doing this tells the audience "yes, we know it's a bit convenient, but it's necessary to the story so we're just going to have some fun with it. Roll with it.". Then everyone just gets to keep enjoying the episode.
Ah, well.
Also: Why did sci-fi shows in the 90s feel compelled to use computer animation on all their spaceship-driven stuff? I get that it was new and shiny and exciting, but really, the models used in the original Star Wars films look more convincing than the ships in Babylon 5 (I'm also looking at you, Stargate SG-1 and later Red Dwarf). So stick with the damn models and wait until CGI is ready.
i have a solution for you. stop watching babylon 5. start watching battlestar galactica (for which your precious Jane Espenson has written entire episodes!)
ReplyDeleteYou may be onto something there...
ReplyDeleteMost of the time, coincidences are easier to swallow if they're negative; that is, if the perception is that they're not helping you (the writer). Like, if the bad guy is pointing a gun at the good guy's head and he happens to run out of bullets, you groan. But if it's opposite situation, you go "holy shit this writer is a genuis let's give him money". This is why I include gun fights in all my scripts. Even the ones set in the Stone Age.
ReplyDeleteThat's a fantastic point. I guess negative coincidences fall under the banner of everyone's favourite writing rule, Raise The Stakes. If the villain has a gun pointed at our hero's head and it runs out of bullets, that's too convenient. If the hero runs out of bullets just as the villain discovers a loaded gun in the glove box of the car he just stole, that's "raising the stakes".
ReplyDelete