Series that Move Sideways

Everyone loves a good series.

We like to get invested in the characters, get lost in the world, pick up the lore, and ponder the mysteries that are often hinted at along the way. Heck, for series we really love, we pick up on the minutia in a way that would be crazy to non fans.

Take Star Wars, for example. Remember that Astromech droid that Luke’s uncle bought, only for it to blow its motivator, which allowed R2-D2 to take its place at Luke’s side?

Yeah, THAT droid took on a life of its own in the lore. Its name is R5-D4, and it ends up popping up again and again. First time I noticed him was in the very first Galaxy Guide for the old Star Wars RPG forty years ago, where it explains that R5 blew its motivator on purpose because R2 had told him how important his mission was and he needed to get away.

Most recently, it shows up again in The Mandalorian TV show, belonging to Peli Motto…

Now, Easter eggs involving minor characters or even objects is nothing new. But often they’re just visual winks to the audience, like Sam Raimi including the Delta 88 Oldsmobile from Evil Dead, or Pixar sneaking in references to other Pixar movies.

But sometimes they take on a life of its own. The whole reason The Mandalorian show exists is because so many people loved Boba Fett, despite him being a VERY minor character in the original trilogy. But people thought he was cool and wanted to know more, and eventually he’s worked into the prequel lore as the son/clone of Jango Fett, who is the template for the clone armies.

Suddenly, this minor character is connected to a much larger picture.

And that brings me to today’s topic, regarding the progression of series, and the strengths and weaknesses of each. I like to categorize these as Upward, Reset, and Sideways.

Upward Progression is your standard evolving series. Either everything is working towards a planned final objective, or the series keeps finding new ways to raise the stakes. This usually works best when the endgame is known ahead of time, because then you can manage expectations along the way.

My favourite example of this is Babylon 5, which had a 5 year arc planned out ahead of time, and saw the characters grow and change throughout, sometimes quite dramatically.

But when you are forced to keep raising the stakes without a game plan… well, then it can get out of control. You confuse BIGGER or MORE with better.

Some examples here might be the Star Wars movies (where the damned Death Stars keep getting bigger and bigger) or Pirates of the Caribbean (which started as a simple pirate/treasure movie with a supernatural element and ended with a massive war around a whirlpool with a sea goddess and the afterlife and holy crap there was too much going on to keep track of there…)

Reset Progression doesn’t actually have progression, or at least, not much and certainly nothing that messes with a good thing. You want each story to be able to stand on its own and not rely on knowing everything that happened beforehand. But too much of this can bore an audience because nothing really ever changes, and we like to see characters evolve.

Classic examples here would be the James Bond franchise, The Simpsons, or Star Trek (especially older series like the original series or The Next Generation). These rely on having everything nice and familiar at the start of the next instalment. That’s not to say there’s no change or growth at all… but it can be at a frustrating snail’s pace at times.

And finally, there is Sideways Progression. You often see this as a Spinoff, but I don’t think that covers everything this kind of progression can be. Basically, we’re talking about having different stories in the same universe, sometimes with some of the same characters.

But many Spinoffs are just another version of Reset Progression. New cast of characters with new traits to get attached to, but in a very familiar formula. Many mystery/crime spinoff shows and books are like that. The series is still episodic and so there is very little to actually advance other than the next mystery.

In the case of Star Trek spinoffs, however, there is often some forward progression as well. Going from The Next Generation to Deep Space 9, for example, which really did change a lot in the Federation. Babylon 5 had a sequel series called Crusade, that continued the timeline (and sadly got interfered with by executives and cancelled after one season).

This is where that Star Wars introduction comes back to us. What The Mandalorian taught us is that you don’t have to keep blowing up Death Stars to have an exciting and interesting story. They have a whole galaxy to play with, and they have been with shows like Rebels, Ahsoka, Andor, and more. None of these shows hit the reset button, and often give side characters from other shows a chance to shine, which in turn makes the universe feel bigger and more alive.

It’s a universe where R5-D4 can reappear after 40+ years and some fans will be like:

While others won’t notice it at all, but at the same time won’t feel lost because of it.

Perhaps my favourite example of Sideways Progression is the Discworld series. Terry Pratchett wrote over 40 books set in a fantasy world that was on the back of 4 giant elephants, which were on the back of a giant flying turtle. For the most part, each story stands on its own. While the books often follow the same groups of characters in various combinations (the Witches, the Wizards, the Night Watch, and so on), it’s sometimes hard to call them sequels.

However, the world evolves. It changes. Consequences from earlier stories will have an effect on later ones. The Ankh-Morpork of the early books is very different from those towards the end. Technology is changing, cultures are evolving. It doesn’t hit the reset button, but it’s not always trying to top itself, either.

It recognizes that the Disc is a great big world full of possibilities, and chooses to explore them, but never forgets that things change. It is, in fact, the only constant.

So, when thinking about your favourite series (book, movie, or TV), which of these categories does it fit into, and what kind of progression do you prefer?

Next time, I’ll talk about how the Get Lost Saga is going to move forward… and sideways!