like G'Kar's soliloquy about the universe seeming to pause and hold its breath while Sheridan was at Z'Ha'dum.
One of the most dramatically satisfying elements of B5 was that this kind of thing was allowed to happen -
once. It fitted the story/episode and worked perfectly (my hair stood on end). It happened in the X-Files to dramatic effect.
Joss Whedon has a similar, if wittier, approach in his shows to trying out new ways to look at a story. The episode following the death of Buffy's mum is still, to my mind, one of the greatest pieces of television art ever made in the history of TV ever (I liked it). But then, many of the finest, most memorable Buffy episodes are unique in some experimental manner - though I could have done without the Musical episode
.
I think what bugs most people about the prologue
every week in Heroes is it's pointless and unnecessary - unless the end of the whole series is Mohinder Suresh bundling up his manuscript and taking it to his publisher or something naff like that (It Was All A Dream variation No 6). I mean, who does he think he is - (get ready, this is one terrific joke)
Rod Serling??? (all right, maybe not that terrific
)
I stopped watching LOST an episode or two into season two, but didn't they do the same thing? Pseudo portentous ramblings of a cast member to make us all believe there was a point to all this? Or am I confusing it with Sex in the City - it's easily done, y'know.
In general, though, I find the voice over very much a "tell-don't-show" device to save budget. They rarely add to what you know or want to know (like in Scrubs, for instance) and only occasionally do they seem written by humans. How many of these gratuitous monologues come across as candidates for pseud's corner.
But Heroes is a short show. I suppose, if you can't show it, tell it.
