mtwentz wrote:AXX°N N. wrote:
What it boils down to is that there are two camps in both Twin Peaks and Star Wars:
1. Camp 1- stick to the formula that has worked 'time and time again'
2. Camp 2- Experiment, try something different, push the boundaries further.
Neither camp is right or wrong- it's a matter of what people are looking for in their entertainment.
Is there an example of a franchise using a formula that has worked "time and time again"? Maybe someone from "camp 1" can give an example ... I honestly can't think of any. Maybe a procedural crime drama like Law and Order or CSI? I don't watch those shows, but I guess every episode has a basic formula... crime committed, cops investigate crime, cops solve crime. I'd imagine that even in these examples they have to come up with new crimes, new ways to solve crimes, etc. to keep people interested. It might work for an episodic procedural show but it'd probably be harder to find examples of films or serialized television where repeating a formula works equally well the 100th time as it did the first.
If there had been a scene in the S3 of Cooper waxing poetic about the joys of Double R coffee and cherry pie, it probably would have elicited some joy and nostalgia from the audience. But if it was done a second time, or a third time, wouldn't that joy and nostalgia become increasingly diminished, even among those who wanted to see it? In the latest Star Wars movie there's a scene that imitates a scene from original trilogy, right down to John Williams repeating the music. The original scene was one of the very best scenes that's ever been in a Star Wars film, and this new version may be the worst scene that's ever been in a Star Wars film (that's saying something).
Sticking to what is known can work at times... The Mandalorian isn't bringing anything new to the Star Wars franchise, but it's far better and repackaging things than The Rise of Skywalker. Even then some of the better things about the show are the way it tweaks the Star Wars formula. It leans far more heavily into the harder tones of the Samurai films and Spaghetti Westerns that influenced the original films, and has a musical score that is different from what we normally expect from Star Wars music. But for the most part it is repacking tried and true things that fans love about Star Wars... Boba Fett, Yoda, desert locations. It's worked for one season, but I think even this show is eventually going to need to tread new ground if it's going to continue for a long time.