Season long antagonists ala Buffy - original source?

[Simplicity]

Uh... what? This is not in ANY WAY a new thing.
Anybody see the old Batman TV show from the 60's?

 

[Squire James]

Uh... what? This is not in ANY WAY a new thing.
Anybody see the old Batman TV show from the 60's?

I think he's talking about villains that come in, kick butt for a while, then make a Final Exit at the end of the season. Those pesky Batman villains kept coming back every 3-4 eps or so...

It is interesting to note that DC Comics originally intended for the Joker to die at the end of the first issue he appeared in. (Un)fortunately, he was so popular they decided to bring him back next month. I'm not sure if this was really the start of the "crazy explanations why the villain ain't dead", but it was pretty close.

Of course, "the villain ain't really dead" syndrome was around as early as the first Dracula sequel...

 

[Villano]

Going to comic strips for a moment, Chester Gould built up his villians in Dick Tracy during one or two really long story arcs and then permanently killed them off. Those guys are such classics that people think they were around the strip constantly. A few, like Flat Top, lasted, like 3 story arcs, but most were killed at the end of thier story.

As for tv series, the only thing that's fantasy/sci-fi realted that I can think of is Power Rangers and that's due to the fact that the original Japanese shows that they swipe footage from generally only last one season before replacing the cast.

EDIT: I forgot about the mid-80s series, Werewolf. In it, the hero had to kill the werewolf who started his "bloodline" in order to cure himself. That werewolf was played (very well, I might add) by Chuck Conners. When Conners wanted more money, the producers fired him, killed off his character, and "revealed" that the werewolf who bit him was still around. It's a stretch, but it qulaifies by accident.

 

[Villano]

I think I might have another one. I might be a little fuzzy on the facts since I didn't watch it, but didn't the War Of The Worlds series (80s or early 90s)have aliens that took over human bodies in the 1st season and then different, human aliens in the 2nd? I clearly remember the 1st episode of the 2nd season in which the new aliens killed off the original aliens (who had to wear some kind of protective suits...they kind of resembled garbage bags with gas masks, if I'm not mistaken).

IIRC, the 2nd aliens came to Earth because their world was destroyed.

I don't believe it went beyond the second season.

 

[Grog]

Babylon 5 had the Shadows as multi season big bad guys, along with the Facist regime of President Clark.

I don't think Babylon 5 really counts. The idea behind Babylon 5 was to have a plot arc that encompassed the entire show (planned to run for five seasons). Things introduced in the first or second season might not pay off until years later. Each season was just a piece of the whole, not an arc unto itself.

It was a very ambitious project that unfortunately didn't work out due to the realities of TV production. The Buffy approach of taking things one season at a time is much more realistic, and can work pretty well (though it doesn't always).

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I don't think Babylon 5 really counts. The idea behind Babylon 5 was to have a plot arc that encompassed the entire show (planned to run for five seasons). Things introduced in the first or second season might not pay off until years later. Each season was just a piece of the whole, not an arc unto itself.
It was a very ambitious project that unfortunately didn't work out due to the realities of TV production.
The Buffy approach of taking things one season at a time is much more realistic, and can work pretty well (though it doesn't always).

I don`t think it didn`t work out in Babylon 5. Maybe not perfectly, because they had to stretch about. But I read through the whole Lurker`s Guide to Babylon 5 (only the episode descriptions and comments, like: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/108.html), and it seemed to me, as if the plotline wasn`t really changed. They made it possible to end the series after the 4th (and had to trick a bit to make that work, and than to stretch a bit in the 5th after the renewal), but the basic storyline is what JMS always wanted to happen on B5.

But I agree, the Buffy approach might be better for the job. Series aren`t usually cancelled in the midth of a season.

Oh, and I think the most recent example for this concept is actually 24, though they cheat because they don`t reveal the archvillain in the first few episodes of a season ...

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[Desdichado]

The X-files seems to be one of the first shows I remember that wasn't very episodic. Or rather, they alternated between episodic episodes, and continuity episodes.

 

[Silver Moon]

Well lets see. In season one of "Bewitched" the Endora character was the major nemesis. By season two they had softened her, but the "Larry White" character took over as the major baddie. For season three it was "Mrs. Cravits", the nosy neighbor. Season four was "Tabitha", given what a pain young babies can be. Season five was "Uncle Arthur", primarily because of the actor who played him. Season six was "Darrin", as he had a major personality change. Heck, he didn't even look the same. Season seven had to be Sam's sexy cousin. Season eight....well, you get the idea




(Note: I'm only kidding about all of the above)