So
a few weeks ago I talked about network promo’s for their shows that air
during other shows. Another example of a promo that I did not discuss
is one that has been around forever. That’s when a promo for the next
episode of the same show airs at the end of the current episode, usually
before the closing credits. These “Scene from next week” are brief but
almost always suck us in amd ensure we come back. Sitcoms hardly ever do
this (Growing Pains and Big Bang Theory being two exceptions). But one
hour shows, drama’s and action series, always seem to do this. And one
franchise that is certainly not exempt is….
Now of course with the hundreds of hours of Trek out there, I can’t go over all of these today. But I thought it might be fun to check a few out. These promo’s can be memorable when done well, ensuring we come back the next week, and laughable when they have to lie to make the next episode sound worth watching. For instance, I came across the preview for “Half a Life” from TNG. This is a hard episode to summarize, but essentially Laxwana Troi meets a scientist who is turning sixty. At that time he is to commit suicide, as is the way of his people when anyone turns 60. And of course there isn’t much Laxwana or Picard can do. It’s a well written piece concerning if old people should be allowed to end their lives with dignity. Here’s the promo:
The ad makes it sound like the scientist has been sentenced to death for some reason, the very frst words are a lie he isn’t dying, and it’s up to Picard to save him! Trust me, that is not the episode!
I can’t tell you what a difference the right ad for an episode makes. Here is a fantastic example…..
Yeah the trailer is a little misleading, but still..Tasha alive? Another Enterprise from the past? Alters the future??? Even Riker gets killed?? No way we weren’t gonna check that episode out and of course “Yesterday’s Enterprise” is one of the series best.
“Inner Light” is a beautiful episode, but it’s kinda low on action. So how do you promote and it make sound exciting? Well the ad isn’t as misleading as “Half a Life”.
“Best of Both Worlds” was a fantastic ad which make it clear that the next episode the stakes were going to be raised. The one thing it didn’t tell us? It would be a two parter!!! Auugh!!
I always loved this one for “Skin of Evil”. Anyone who remotely followed Trek knew Denise Crosby was out. But the promo not only made it sound like the death was a mystery, but that the episode was really good!
Talk about misleading. If I told you that “Up the Long Ladder was about stereotypical Irish immigrants on board the ship annoying the crew, you’d never get that from this promo which ignores the A story and focuses on the much more interesting (and hardly part of the episode) B story.
I always felt the promo’s in season seven were as bored as the rest of the episodes that year. There was no cool music or anything, the narrator sounded bored, just “here’s the episode” So how do you promote a god awful show like “Sub Rosa”? Well…
Of course this didn’t start with TNG, the original series had these as well. Of course I wasn’t around when they originally aired. Here is an example of one “New Voyage”
Yeah no cool narrator trying to sell the story, which kinda makes these boring. So let’s go back to the more recent episodes.
One trailer I ADORE was for the DS9/TOS crossover “Trials and Tribble-ations”. It was a perfect promo. not only explaining the story but letting us know this would be a lighter than usual fare!
Give the promo for “The Visitor” credit, it does a nice jon explaining the episode without pretending it’s full of action it isn’t.
LOL!! So, let’s say you’re trying to sell a ridiculous episode. An episode that is just plain…stupid. How do you do that? How about showing as little about the episode as possible? That’s what this trailer for Voyager’s “Threshold” give us. Nothing.
Ever wonder how Enterprise was first promoted? Actually very well, with a simple but very effective promo which really got us interested. To bad the show didn’t quite live up to that
Maybe that trailer was inspired by this early TNG trailer which does nothing but throw a bunch of pretty pictures at us
Of course the end of series deserves a little promotion to, and this promo for the very last DS9 was really well done.
Voyager had a great promo for their final season, and the promo was better than said season
Finally, one more TNG promo for the road….
This was lots of fun, if you guys liked this let me know. There are plenty more promo’s out there to admire and laugh at so I’ll probably be back for more.
Now of course with the hundreds of hours of Trek out there, I can’t go over all of these today. But I thought it might be fun to check a few out. These promo’s can be memorable when done well, ensuring we come back the next week, and laughable when they have to lie to make the next episode sound worth watching. For instance, I came across the preview for “Half a Life” from TNG. This is a hard episode to summarize, but essentially Laxwana Troi meets a scientist who is turning sixty. At that time he is to commit suicide, as is the way of his people when anyone turns 60. And of course there isn’t much Laxwana or Picard can do. It’s a well written piece concerning if old people should be allowed to end their lives with dignity. Here’s the promo:
The ad makes it sound like the scientist has been sentenced to death for some reason, the very frst words are a lie he isn’t dying, and it’s up to Picard to save him! Trust me, that is not the episode!
I can’t tell you what a difference the right ad for an episode makes. Here is a fantastic example…..
Yeah the trailer is a little misleading, but still..Tasha alive? Another Enterprise from the past? Alters the future??? Even Riker gets killed?? No way we weren’t gonna check that episode out and of course “Yesterday’s Enterprise” is one of the series best.
“Inner Light” is a beautiful episode, but it’s kinda low on action. So how do you promote and it make sound exciting? Well the ad isn’t as misleading as “Half a Life”.
“Best of Both Worlds” was a fantastic ad which make it clear that the next episode the stakes were going to be raised. The one thing it didn’t tell us? It would be a two parter!!! Auugh!!
I always loved this one for “Skin of Evil”. Anyone who remotely followed Trek knew Denise Crosby was out. But the promo not only made it sound like the death was a mystery, but that the episode was really good!
Talk about misleading. If I told you that “Up the Long Ladder was about stereotypical Irish immigrants on board the ship annoying the crew, you’d never get that from this promo which ignores the A story and focuses on the much more interesting (and hardly part of the episode) B story.
I always felt the promo’s in season seven were as bored as the rest of the episodes that year. There was no cool music or anything, the narrator sounded bored, just “here’s the episode” So how do you promote a god awful show like “Sub Rosa”? Well…
Of course this didn’t start with TNG, the original series had these as well. Of course I wasn’t around when they originally aired. Here is an example of one “New Voyage”
Yeah no cool narrator trying to sell the story, which kinda makes these boring. So let’s go back to the more recent episodes.
One trailer I ADORE was for the DS9/TOS crossover “Trials and Tribble-ations”. It was a perfect promo. not only explaining the story but letting us know this would be a lighter than usual fare!
Give the promo for “The Visitor” credit, it does a nice jon explaining the episode without pretending it’s full of action it isn’t.
LOL!! So, let’s say you’re trying to sell a ridiculous episode. An episode that is just plain…stupid. How do you do that? How about showing as little about the episode as possible? That’s what this trailer for Voyager’s “Threshold” give us. Nothing.
Ever wonder how Enterprise was first promoted? Actually very well, with a simple but very effective promo which really got us interested. To bad the show didn’t quite live up to that
Maybe that trailer was inspired by this early TNG trailer which does nothing but throw a bunch of pretty pictures at us
Of course the end of series deserves a little promotion to, and this promo for the very last DS9 was really well done.
Voyager had a great promo for their final season, and the promo was better than said season
Finally, one more TNG promo for the road….
This was lots of fun, if you guys liked this let me know. There are plenty more promo’s out there to admire and laugh at so I’ll probably be back for more.
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