I never got into Glee, in fact I always thought the concept was really stupid and was probably a bit superior about it. I don't really understand why; I am a massive fan of musical theatre and Glee certainly shares some aspects of that. Might have been that as far as I know it mostly used pop songs, and that is a different skillset to musical songs, for me, or possibly the school setting? Either way, I remember it being much talked about and me being all "Glee, bleh" about it.
The late character introduction debate is intriguing.
Obviously, in some cases, such as Doctor Who or Waterloo Road, a general cycling of characters is expected and new characters don't really feel like latecomers.
I'm a Doctor Who fan, though more of the Classic series than the New one. It's funny actually, because I feel that in New Who you tend to feel the presence/absence of characters more due to the differences to the old series. For one, it does the very modern thing where, for the most part, actors are hide for seasons, therefore new companion in episode 1, and ending in the last episode of a season (and a seasonal plot can be built around this etc, etc, there's less focus on things just being stand alone). In the Classic series, it was fairly common for companions (and sometimes even Doctors!) to leave mid series and sometimes even mid serial, which I also felt has far more shock value, but also creates more natural flow although it lacks that ability for season arcs etc. I think the closest thing to a plot "arc" in the classic series was the Trial of a Time Lord series (all overarching story), and the Black Guardian trilogy, which was three linked episodes. (It's also my favourite introduction story of any Doctor Who companion - here is your new companion, who needs to kill the Doctor. Arc!). Additionally, particularly in the 60s, there were a lot of episodes (at maximum, there were 45 new episodes of Doctor Who in 1965) and so occasionally main characters like the Doctor just wouldn't appear in a few episodes or would do so very minimally to give the actors a break/some holiday time! Anyway, I've digressed a bit. Moving mid-season to me also made it less of a big deal, and more naturally accepting of a change, although you also felt the "presence" of characters less back then due to differences in characterisation, focus etc.
(-cough- Stand down, Doctor Who geek!)
I'm trying to think of other canons with late character introductions.
I'm currently playing Trails of Cold Steel 3 and I guess it kind of applies? Same protagonist, but the remainder of the main cast of the first 2 games are shuffled into more of a supporting role, while several mostly new characters take focus. I wasn't sure how I'd find this, but I really like them. It probably helps that there's less of them so I can get a stronger sense of them (I wasn't massively emotionally invested in the other characters, and tended to use people more out of convenience of how useful they were in battle), and for the most part they aren't trying to repeat character dynamics.
I guess Avatar does it with Toph? Again, I suppose the reason it works for me is that she brings such a different character dynamic - I think what I don't like is repeating or muscling in on another character pointlessly, if that makes sense.
Quantum Leap is effectively a series of setpieces - you only have a continuing cast of 2, and Sam is constantly bouncing off different characters and having to play different roles, so sometimes the only real visual similarity between episodes is Al. You had to like a cycling cast or you wouldn't like the show - people are basically playing out a tiny chunk of time/lives.
The original (1960s) Dark Shadows operated almost like a theatre troop. Again, to like that show, you had to be okay with change as the focus shifted quite a bit over time. Over the course of its run, it replaced several actors (some of main roles). Later in its run, it could be reasonably described as a theatre troupe. The show started exploring time travel storylines, and to do this they kept primarily the same cast, and simply had them play their own ancestors. This meant you didn't need to get new people in, and you could kill off your favourite actors as many times as you liked and still bring them back as another character! In time travel arcs, it was fairly common for nearly everybody except those who had to survive to have decendents to be killed off. The fondness for possession/"influenced" style plotlines also meant that in the present day actors could end up finding themselves playing another character playing at being their character. They got loads of mileage and fun out of it. Characters coming and going were fairly common, both as new additions to the "troupe" or returning cast members. I guess the continuing influx is part of what makes most of the character intros work? (Most, not all!).
Played anymore AI, btw? I am very invested in your thoughts!
no subject
I never got into Glee, in fact I always thought the concept was really stupid and was probably a bit superior about it. I don't really understand why; I am a massive fan of musical theatre and Glee certainly shares some aspects of that. Might have been that as far as I know it mostly used pop songs, and that is a different skillset to musical songs, for me, or possibly the school setting? Either way, I remember it being much talked about and me being all "Glee, bleh" about it.
The late character introduction debate is intriguing.
Obviously, in some cases, such as Doctor Who or Waterloo Road, a general cycling of characters is expected and new characters don't really feel like latecomers.
I'm a Doctor Who fan, though more of the Classic series than the New one. It's funny actually, because I feel that in New Who you tend to feel the presence/absence of characters more due to the differences to the old series. For one, it does the very modern thing where, for the most part, actors are hide for seasons, therefore new companion in episode 1, and ending in the last episode of a season (and a seasonal plot can be built around this etc, etc, there's less focus on things just being stand alone). In the Classic series, it was fairly common for companions (and sometimes even Doctors!) to leave mid series and sometimes even mid serial, which I also felt has far more shock value, but also creates more natural flow although it lacks that ability for season arcs etc. I think the closest thing to a plot "arc" in the classic series was the Trial of a Time Lord series (all overarching story), and the Black Guardian trilogy, which was three linked episodes. (It's also my favourite introduction story of any Doctor Who companion - here is your new companion, who needs to kill the Doctor. Arc!). Additionally, particularly in the 60s, there were a lot of episodes (at maximum, there were 45 new episodes of Doctor Who in 1965) and so occasionally main characters like the Doctor just wouldn't appear in a few episodes or would do so very minimally to give the actors a break/some holiday time! Anyway, I've digressed a bit. Moving mid-season to me also made it less of a big deal, and more naturally accepting of a change, although you also felt the "presence" of characters less back then due to differences in characterisation, focus etc.
(-cough- Stand down, Doctor Who geek!)
I'm trying to think of other canons with late character introductions.
I'm currently playing Trails of Cold Steel 3 and I guess it kind of applies? Same protagonist, but the remainder of the main cast of the first 2 games are shuffled into more of a supporting role, while several mostly new characters take focus. I wasn't sure how I'd find this, but I really like them. It probably helps that there's less of them so I can get a stronger sense of them (I wasn't massively emotionally invested in the other characters, and tended to use people more out of convenience of how useful they were in battle), and for the most part they aren't trying to repeat character dynamics.
I guess Avatar does it with Toph? Again, I suppose the reason it works for me is that she brings such a different character dynamic - I think what I don't like is repeating or muscling in on another character pointlessly, if that makes sense.
Quantum Leap is effectively a series of setpieces - you only have a continuing cast of 2, and Sam is constantly bouncing off different characters and having to play different roles, so sometimes the only real visual similarity between episodes is Al. You had to like a cycling cast or you wouldn't like the show - people are basically playing out a tiny chunk of time/lives.
The original (1960s) Dark Shadows operated almost like a theatre troop. Again, to like that show, you had to be okay with change as the focus shifted quite a bit over time. Over the course of its run, it replaced several actors (some of main roles). Later in its run, it could be reasonably described as a theatre troupe. The show started exploring time travel storylines, and to do this they kept primarily the same cast, and simply had them play their own ancestors. This meant you didn't need to get new people in, and you could kill off your favourite actors as many times as you liked and still bring them back as another character! In time travel arcs, it was fairly common for nearly everybody except those who had to survive to have decendents to be killed off. The fondness for possession/"influenced" style plotlines also meant that in the present day actors could end up finding themselves playing another character playing at being their character. They got loads of mileage and fun out of it. Characters coming and going were fairly common, both as new additions to the "troupe" or returning cast members. I guess the continuing influx is part of what makes most of the character intros work? (Most, not all!).
Played anymore AI, btw? I am very invested in your thoughts!
-timydamonkey