Nicholas Palazzo
Well-Known Member
Well, here's the thing. To address your first two examples: Out of Gas (my favorite Firefly episode, by the way) is told from the point of view of the wounded Captain Reynolds, letting us see the whole picture through his fractured perspective. (Lighting and camera work go a long way to tip us off to when we are, but that's a separate issue.) In Star Trek, we are getting different time periods because of events in the story. In both cases, however, we are not just seeing events concurrent with a previous episode told from another perspective, but self-contained stories. (Yes, one of the timelines in "All Good Things" is concurrent with the pilot episode, but it doesn't follow the events of that episode, but tells a completely different story.)
In all of these cases, the structure is part of the story.
I'm ok with a certain level of flashback or what not, but in this case, linear is far tigher story-telling.
In all of these cases, the structure is part of the story.
I'm ok with a certain level of flashback or what not, but in this case, linear is far tigher story-telling.