<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Uncle Bob:
I agree. And one more thing:
No time travel! As the primary focus for series it is okay (barely and with limitations), as a plot device for the week it isn't.
And as an addendum to 4) No magic: no super-miracle tech (like time travel). (the television series: Andromeda has already begun this downward path).
Why? Because once that level of tech is introduced and of course assimilated in the culture, nothing should be challenging anymore.
Oops! We blew up the planet...no problem we'll just fix it...again. Oh no, <blank> died...that's okay we'll just replicate another clone.
On the topic of space operas however, I do recall one classic space opera that was translated from novels to television.
Lensman. If Traveller: the movie/tv show is anything like what the Lensman tv series was, then please don't don't don't do it.
Cheers.
Mike
Originally posted by MT++:
<snip>
The rules I had discussed with MJD were straight forward
1. no cute kids
2. no cute robots
3. no *^&%*^ mechs
4. hard SF space opera
5. no today's lesson was...
6. overarcing story (ie. stories stand alone but together forma whole)
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I have seem Traveller described a "space opera" several times recently, and this bothers me. I use "Space Opera" to describe stories set in the future with melodramatic, "operetic" themes . . . like the last season of classic Star Trek, Lost in Space, or Voage to the Bottom of the Sea.
This seems foreign to the spirit of Traveller as we played it. So, let me suggest some more stories to avoid:
1) No saving the Universe . . . except as a story arc that takes up at least 2 seasons.
2) No god-like superbeings (unless, and if, you can get John De Lancie to make a guest appearance. Once.)
3)No alternate universe stories. (OK, you get one, as a season (2 or 3) finale.)
4) Be real careful of psionics (this was acceptable in the 1960s, but in the last 30 yrs "Hard SF" has been avoiding it as it has been consistantly disproved). No main characters with psionics, two guest-stars per season, max.
4) No magic.
5) No evil twin stories. (OK, you get one cloning story, but not before the third season.)
6) do not let the story line be driven by self-indulgence, unless the character has been established as uniquely saelfish. Real people do not (consistantly) let even Sex control their lives (this will be a hard-sell in Hollywierd). A major character with a drug or alcohol probelem will Deal with it, or he will have to stop adventuring . . . and not for one episode (think Garibaldi's drinking or Franklin's stim problem, although both in one show was excessive.)
7) Love does not Conquor All.
8) Late 20th century morality on issues like sex, marriage, democracy, religion, duty, business ethics, slavery, torture, freedom of the individual, equality, work ethic, etc, are not Universal. Disagreeing with one or more does not make one Evil. Or even alien.
9) There is nothing particularly admirable about the Noble Savage. Pre-urban cultures are typically disease ridden, narrow minded and hostile to strangers before they meet the corruption of civilization. If something does not belong to a recognized member of their group (a nail, a computer, your life) it is free for the taking. Please remember that in the 19th Century more indians were killed in inter-tribal warfare than by the U.S. Army.
10) No character should go insane. If he/she does go insane, it will take at least a season to recover. (Eccentricity, even phobias are tolerable as long as they don't become the theme of an entire episode.)
[This message has been edited by Uncle Bob (edited 20 June 2001).]
I agree. And one more thing:
No time travel! As the primary focus for series it is okay (barely and with limitations), as a plot device for the week it isn't.
And as an addendum to 4) No magic: no super-miracle tech (like time travel). (the television series: Andromeda has already begun this downward path).
Why? Because once that level of tech is introduced and of course assimilated in the culture, nothing should be challenging anymore.
Oops! We blew up the planet...no problem we'll just fix it...again. Oh no, <blank> died...that's okay we'll just replicate another clone.
On the topic of space operas however, I do recall one classic space opera that was translated from novels to television.
Lensman. If Traveller: the movie/tv show is anything like what the Lensman tv series was, then please don't don't don't do it.
Cheers.
Mike