Movie/TV cliches

[Silverbullet]

I have described a few Plot Cliches in the 'What inspires you' thread. There ae some used on Enterprise that were tired:

One that I particullarly hated was the inconvientent interruption. Usually "Atcher ot T-Pol" at the wrong time.

In Breaking the Ice Trip is trying to apologize to T-POl when "Archer to T-Pol tears her away and he doesh't have the chance to finish his apology or say anythin g important to her. I forget the Episode, it was when T-Pool bites in to the Peach. Trip and T-Pol are about to have some serios talk when "Archer to T-Pol" T-Pol leaves and no serious talk. This happened a few times but I cannot remember all of the instances.

There were other types of the intteruption. When Trip and T-Pol are in her White room, things are about to get intersting Trip is woke from his Day Dream by a crewman. It looked like t-POl was going to try re-establishing the link when "Archer to T-Pol"

In harbinger, althogh it is not shown Trip and T-POl supposdely are in her bunk getting it on when "Alert, all Senior Officers to thier posts" That was reeally an inconvient interruption.

Anyone know of other cliches they have seen on the Entrprise series?

[Rigil Kent]

ENT TV Tropes. This covers pretty much all of them.

The inconvenient interruption thing is a staple of television in general, not just ENT. I remember on Babylon 5 they actually lampshaded it during a conversation between Sheridan and Sinclair.

[honeybee]

Cliches are only cliches when executed badly. When executed well - they are called classic tropes.

Again, it goes into the whole there are only 52 plots. There are only a finite number of ways to build tension or create drama. Only a finite number of ways people can interact with one another.

It's all in the execution.

I remember loving the film Memento - (another film which ENT borrowed from, See "Twilight") because it was a classic murder mystery - told backward from the POV of the guy who couldn't make new memories. But it had all the so-called cliches of a noir film.

[Silverbullet]

Rigel true, it has been beaten to death in Movies too, that is why I called it aCliche. I think it was overused on Ent. As Honeybee says it is in the Execution.

Actually it is a lazy writers way of getting out of having to write dialogue or exend the Plot line.

I could take the Amazing coicidences of the Movies, but one cliche I did not see in Ent that was used in films and on some TV shows is the informati that a second Banana has. It would clear up everything if he reveals it. Sometimes he doesn't have a chance (Inttruption) and other times nothing can drag the informati out of the person until the end when all is done the person says "I knew That" End of film or TV episode.

[Alelou]

I'd say the classic interruption is more likely the wary writer's way of avoiding jumping the shark.

Last night while watching Hurt Locker, my son pointed out a shower scene that he says is almost exactly like one in Casino Royale. In fact the two leads could be brothers. I did begin to wonder if the director or screenwriter had a vision in her/his head that she was working from there.

[WarpGirl]

What good is a Hitchcock movie without the timely interruption? Honeybee is completely 100% right. You have to know what you're doing.

[Silverbullet]

Wg, there are interruptios that are designed to keep things going and to further the plot. Yhe ones in Ent wre designed to stop things and to halt a plot line. Had those interruptions not happened then Trip and T-Pol might have had that conversation they needed.

[Alelou]

?? It was a TV show, not real life. Trip and T'Pol can't continue to have conversations the producers don't want them to have. I'm sure they didn't want to throw away the ratings generated by the most compelling relationship on the show by consummating it too quickly. Yeah, it was annoying, but it was understandable.

[WarpGirl]

Amen! I mean hello even in RL there are things that get put on hold in a relationship because something comes up. What can they do in a 1 hr series where the two characters are not the entire focus of the show? I'll be the first to admit that ENT was not the best written Trek for me, but that was in everything, not just TnT. It certainly wasn't because the COMM link kept going off. Or because other things happened outside of TnT's relationship.

[Silverbullet]

I know it wa a TV show not Real Life. that is my point. Damned writers and producers dragged the will they won't they out with these inttruptions. It was not necessary for the writers to have their realtionship consumated but it could have been put on a better basis if the two characters had been given the chance to at least try to communicate. The interruptions seemed to be designed to prevent that. It was damned annoying.

[honeybee]

I'll be the first to admit that ENT was not the best written Trek for me, but that was in everything, not just TnT. It certainly wasn't because the COMM link kept going off. Or because other things happened outside of TnT's relationship.

I don't even remember a situation when they got interrupted when they were about to make a breakthrough. Jog my memory. . .please. I think it was implied that the Harbinger encounter was interrupted by a tactical alert of some kind because the next thing you knew they were on the bridge. AND even though everyone remembers Harbinger for the TnT sex - TnT were a B or maybe C plot - second to Reed/Hayes and the whole big sphere builder reveal.

The only time TnT were an A-plot that I can remember was in Home and Bound. More often, they provided emotional weight (Similitude, Zero Hour, E2) or comic relief (The Xindi, North Star). It's a estimate to what did work about them that the focus remains so strongly on them after all this time. Even, as I believe everyone agrees, the writing did not serve them as well as it could have.

[WarpGirl]

Hmm I can't think of a time when there was a breakthrough at all really never mind when they were interrupted during one. And frankly because this is ST couples got interrupted by a COMM link often breakthrough or no. Its the nature of the beast. Besides no couple has ever been the focus of ST. Its practically not allowed.

[Silverbullet]

Dunno, got the idea in that Peach eating scene they were about to say something important. May be my imagination.

In harbinger the alert obviously interrupted their Love making or talking after love Making which probably would have been important. They must have said something about their relationship and affection for one another. Since they just had Sex and it wasn't a roll in the Hay for T-Pol and Trip probably picked that up. What might have been said would have been serious. We were never shown that and I have always thought it was deliberate on the part of the Producers Berman and Bragga. Showing that kind of after love making scene couldn't be used for comic effect it would have been offensive to the viewers. Laying in her bunk not saying anything would have looked stupid. It was just cut after she laid that last passionate Kiss on him and left to the viewers imagination. The alert allowed them to change the Focus of TnT to the Alien.

Harbinger always bothered me because there were too many things going on in it. Also, I cannot believe that there would not be a Beta Shift on the bridge and the person at the Science station would have been perfectly able to Track the Alien as T-Pol could. Engineering would have had a Beta shift and been manned but in the scene where Trip is attacked Engineering seems to be dark, and empty. When Reed and Hayes comes in there is no one taking care of Trip. Very much doubt if Engineering would not have had a crew on Beta shift. Of course taking Trip out means that the producers didn't have to show him returning to T-Pol quarters after the Alert.

[Aquarius]

Wg, there are interruptios that are designed to keep things going and to further the plot. Yhe ones in Ent wre designed to stop things and to halt a plot line. Had those interruptions not happened then Trip and T-Pol might have had that conversation they needed.

No, they actually existed to keep everything from getting spoon-feedy and to create dramatic tension to keep the viewers guessing what's going to happen between characters next.

[WarpGirl]

Weren't they attacked or at least threatened during Harbinger? You have to remember they were at war how many lovers can stay in bed and do love talk in enemy territory? Please, you talk about realism SB but what you're suggesting defies any sort of wartime reality when it comes to the mission they were on. Alert was constant. They were never off duty. And its quite obvious there was never any time for love talk or admissions of affection from EITHER of them. Otherwise its impossible for Trip to react as calmly as he did in that mess hall scene.