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