Storyline recaps at the beginning of shows

L

Lysa<33

New member
So what are your thoughts on storyline recaps or "previously on" segments for shows, especially action shows with intense storylines and character developments. Should more shows have them, if so which ones?

You can make a case for most shows actully, but I think you have to draw a line on what shows use them, but a show like Teen Titans could have defently haved use those "previously on" segments for some episodes. I think character development arcs that take place over a few seasons need them more than season long story arcs.
 
It depends. A show in which each episode is a self-contained stand-alone story doesn't need recaps, obviously. If an episode is a multi-part story, like say the "Menagerie" episode of Star Trek-then, a plot recap is needed. Not so much for season-wide story arcs, especially when there are multiple stand-alone plots running alongside the giant story.
 
Slighlty OT: each Trollz episode (well, the one I saw, anyway - I'm assuming the rest are the same) starts off with a recap of itself (precap?). Has any other series done this, and... well... why?
 
You guys are right it depends, yesterday I was watching Teen Titans Deception and I thought they could have used a storyline recap, and show clips from Divide And Conquer, Final Exam, and Sum Of His Parts. The last episode of TT Things Change was more of a continuation of season 2, than anything at all that happened in season 5, though they made up for it, when Beast Boy told that girl, the history of Terra with the Teen Titans in anime style. It could have used a story recap.

Ironic thing is, the real Teen Titans didn't have a story line recap, but the Robot Chicken parody of Teen Titans did.

Even a comedy show like Danny Phantom could use a storyline recap. Some shows don't, I think Kim Possible could use one just for the Monkey Fist episodes, he is the only villain whose plots all unfold into a storyline, except for Professor Dementor in season 4, and that is only 2 episodes very late in the game. But only doing that for a handful of episodes would have been pointless, but KP does make up for it, and showing flashbacks when needed.

I agree with silverstar, for just season long arcs it is not that necessary. It would be nice and it wouldn't hurt the show, but it is not to much to expect viewers to remember stuff what happened that season. But when it is something character or story driven that takes place over several season, that is different. Not many people could remembered detailed stuff that happened two seasons earlier.
 
I think for shows with lots of continuity, it's good to have a short recap at the start of each episode.

For shows with continuing stories, I like what a lot of anime do during story arcs, where they repeat a condensed version of the final few minutes of the previous episode at the start of the new one. It helps to get the viewer back up to speed and usually flows just fine.
 
You haven't seen any of the DIC video game shows on NBC in the 90's. I remember Captain N and Super Mario 3 had them all the time. Super Dave also had them as well. I can't remember many others, but I've seen them. I believe for a very breif period of time, The Disney Afternoon did that as well... technically. They showed the preview during the credits of the previous show.



I may be wrong, but didn't the actual Japanese series do this as well? Unless I'm just thinking of the Pioneer DVD's.
 
The JP. version of Sailor Moon had a summary of the episode to follow (with a hilarious Usagi narrative xD) Then, the theme song kicked in and the episode aired.

So essentially, Yes it did have a precap.
 
That's called a teaser, and it's meant to get the viewer excited about watching the episode. It's also good because it means you don't have to sit through the whole title sequence to find out if it's going to be an episode you've already seen. I believe there is a difference between a teaser and a recap though... An actual summary of the whole plot of the following episode would be pointless; generally the teaser gives you the set-up, but doesn't show how the conflict is resolved. That way you have to watch the show to find out what happens. :D The Raccoons had one at the start of every episode, and it was often pretty cheesy and frustrating. For example, in one episode Bert had a short fantasy sequence that aliens were attacking the forest, and the teaser portrayed that to be part of the actual story.
 
"Last time" segments are fine. It's the "Next time" segments I never liked, because they sometime spoil important stuff that happens in Part 2 before you get a chance to change the channel.
 
One of the old Scooby Doo series did that as well.



Actually a lot of anime cartoons have previews of the next episode at the end of the credits.
Pokemon does too. They just take it out here.
 
Swat Kats did it. You'd hear Razor with the "Today on Swat Kats!" voice over & then play just about 10 seconds worth of clips from the day's episode.
 
Power Rangers had a precap during the beginning during the really early years.

(Its not a cartoon, unless you want to get into stuff like"live action cartoon", which brings to mind the live action crap on CN, but that's another thread.)

And of course, if there's an anime (which I love) that doesn't have a recap, you can be sure they'll make up for it with lots and lots of flashbacks, or even whole episodes that recaps. (Although sometimes they're good and add new material, like the midseries recap in Trigun.)

Right now I'm blanking for some reason on shows that are not live action, and are not anime.

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Did I mention Stargate is really good with recaps, they won't recap the previous episode, but the episode that started the new episode's storyline, even if its from years ago......
 
The SGC2C episode Glenn Campbell ends with a cliffhanger, and the next episode, Jacksonville, has a recap segment, but they don't show any actual footage from the previous episode. It was hilarious, much better than just add a random "previously on..." without any antecedent.

All Clone High episodes star with a recap like thing, although much of it are random sarcastic comments.
 
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