Markup View

Author: kjnoren

Dec 16th 2013 at 1:01:57 AM

^ Yes, there is a difference between taking a few characters we haven't encountered before and putting them into the woods, with taking a few characters that we have encountered before and putting them into the woods. But I don't think it's a difference that matters.

If we take the word "camping" as the key word of the trope, then we have a set of activities and events connected with the trope. Wildlife encounters, a nighttime GhostStory, trouble raising the tent, and sleeping outdoors are but a few examples. All these can be expected to be part of a camping story, no matter if it's in book form, a movie, is a part of an existing story line, is a part outside an existing story line, or is part of a series with NegativeContinuity.

They all pick up a common set of elements, mix them up, use those that fits, and occasionally tosses something new into the pot.

Yes, there are several examples of XEpisode tropes, so there is a precedent for CampingEpisode. But I think it's a bad precedent, a precedent that should be changed.

WholeEpisodeFlashback is a special case of the more general {{Flashback}}. BizarroEpisode is likewise a special case of BigLippedAlligatorMoment.

But I think the damaging nature of the XEpisode pattern appears with the following tropes:

RoadTripEpisode has the counterparts RoadMovie and WanderlustSong. RoadMovie lists some examples from literature, but they're very few, and several of them has not been filmed. But all three tropes take the concept of a RoadTrip and applies them to different media--so instead of one RoadTrip trope we have three media-specific ones. That means the three tropes have to talk about the difference between them, instead of the ''similarities'' between them.

Another similar case can be made for CourtroomEpisode and LawProcedural. The dramatic pattern of these is pretty much the same, and creators borrow back and forth between the two "tropes". The split we make between them there on TVTropes is purely arbitrary as far as the fittings of the trope is concerned--you have objections, pleadings, questioning of witnesses, sudden reveals, and so on in both. Here, LawProcedural is distinctly underdeveloped.

Xanderiskander wants to focus on some specific form of camping story, or a specific relation to the larger work. That's fine, but then the trope name should put focus on the form, or the relation with the larger work. Then CampingEpisode is too general a name.