One story structure, that ozoneocean and I talked about many years ago on the Quackcast, was the Lone Protagonist as drifter.
In Pulp Fiction, Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) says talks about leaving the life of crime to walk the Earth. “Like Kane in Kung Fu. Help people, get in adventures…”
There are plenty of these kinds of series - or at least it used to be. Is it still common, anymore? You'll have to tell me. I'm losing touch with modern TV more and more as each year goes by.
It's an interesting formula, though - there's one regular character who is travelling the world. The hero might have some bigger picture goal in mind, but mostly the series is about weekly adventures. It's always different supporting characters in a different location/environment.
Of course, many of these individual stories might start to look a LOT like the others.
In a way, it's surprising that this was so popular - it requires a new cast, new location, and brand new storyline and problem to solve every week. And the lone Protagonist doesn't have a sidekick or partner to talk to. I remember the Incredible Hulk TV show, starring Bill Bixby as Banner - he would have to run into a friendly person with a problem on every episode. There had to be nice people to help out, and villainous people to fight against. There was The Hulk series, Kung Fu, and before that The Fugitive, and of course the Canadian classic The Littlest Hobo.
I think the variation that seems much easier is a two-hander, or a partnership where there are two characters, hopefully with some contrast between them, who have a consistent homebase and consistent relationship. This is normally a VERY different situation, though - because a steady base of operations means a regular supporting cast, and ongoing relationships (even if they don't change much).
Supernatural did the ‘two-hander’ version, and it lasted for many many seasons. They were drifters, but the interplay between the two characters carried a lot of the drama. Drifter series with one person would often depend on new supporting characters each episode to have the character drama. Maybe. Certainly The Littlest Hobo, who was a dog, would have the human drama carried by, well, the human guest stars.
I think it's more natural (generalizing, here) to have a single story with a lone traveler who comes into a new environment and gathers supporting sidekicks and enemies. That's quite different than having a drifter with a whole new story every week!
Anyway, this was where my mind drifted to today. I've never written a “drifter” series. How about you? And do these exist in significant numbers as series anymore? Most shows are more serialized these days I think.
See you next time! I'm walkin'…
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Driftin'
Banes at 12:00AM, May 23, 2024
5 likes!
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marcorossi at 3:50AM, May 24, 2024
I think the "picaresque" style in strict sense involves a sort of anti-hero, like Don Quixote or the ancient Golden Ass, and is more sarcastic than the drifting hero proper. At least "picaresco" in italian means this sort of humorous (often tragicomic) style.
bravo1102 at 3:26AM, May 24, 2024
Yes, I have a franchise planned for Belinda Brandon. The Barbarian Sisters where two horse warriors from the Caucasus steppes wander the ancient world righting wrongs. Kind of like Xena but with my own peculiar twist via archeology.
bravo1102 at 3:22AM, May 24, 2024
Don Quixote? The questing knights of the round table? Plenty of examples. And like the US Marshall, a knight has the authority to put things right. There is also the whole genre of drifting ronin in Japan. The samurai, the questing knight and high plains drifter. Add in the Italian picaresque which actually found some traction in the US as the sword and sandals movie. A lot of them were Maciste in Italian who is the strongman drifting through the world righting wrongs. Most US versions renamed him Samson or Hercules but he was still the drifting righter of wrongs.
Gunwallace at 2:14PM, May 23, 2024
In some ways many SF shows like Star Trek : Voyager use the same format, but with a spaceship of people replacing the loner/drifter. As are a number of other shows (off the top of my head, Space 1999 where the moon = drifter, Battlestar Galactica, even ST:TOS, etc. They whiz toward a planet, help some of the locals sort out a problem (like a malfuctioning computer or genocidal maniac), then race on by never to return. They may not be loners, but they do the same thing as one in the Westerns.
PaulEberhardt at 12:52PM, May 23, 2024
Otherwise, yes, I think too that Western is just the genre for this. Loads of spaghetti Westerns especially build on that drifter premise, and the old Picaresque is never far away. The old movies with Bud Spencer and Terence Hill often build on drifter tropes borrowed from Western. Pity they never got such a funny dubbing in English as they did in German, so they've only really reached enduring popularity over here but nowhere else. The distinct style of 1970s Italian low-budget cinema and the way they're plotted mostly as an excuse to show some impeccably choreographed brawling scenes with cartoon sounds resonate extremely well with this whole drifter thing for some reason. They've kind of define the imagery I have in mind when it comes to drifter stories, really.
PaulEberhardt at 12:42PM, May 23, 2024
A literary version is the so-called Picaresque. It's a novel with an episodic plot, or no actual overarching plot at all. Its main character, usually a rouge and somewhat dishevelled, but likeable, is shown roving around and basically doing whatever he feels like and meeting other weird characters. It's usually a fun read, too. Kipling's "Kim" would be an example. It's a pity that this genre hasn't really entered modern popular fiction, as I think there is still a lot of untapped potential.
KAM at 12:02PM, May 23, 2024
Drifter implies ordinary people wandering aimlessly, but those aren't the only types of lead in this kind of story. Marshalls were law enforcement agents appointed to cover a wide territory so you can get the same type of story, only with a hero who has the legal authority to make a difference. So where as Bob Jones has to appeal to authority to help, Marshall Bob already has the authority.
bravo1102 at 5:09AM, May 23, 2024
Big genre for the "drifter" was the Western. Any number of westerns are about drifters. "High Plains Drifter" for example and "the man with no name " quasi-series. Any number of wester TV series were about drifters even ones with specific settings like Gunsmoke would have drifters as the guest stars. If I remember correctly the original model for the drifter was Odysseus and it's a variation of the heroes' journey. The drifter might have a destination or goal and he's drifting on the way. It could be Ithaca or just peace of mind in helping others with their problems orthat one armed man.
plymayer at 2:48AM, May 23, 2024
I hear sad piano music.....
marcorossi at 2:20AM, May 23, 2024
I think that kind of setting was common once because there were few TV broadcasters, and people often didn't watch all the episodes of a serie, and often would start to watch an episode from the middle etc.. In practice that situation rewarded shows that were somewhat formulaic, had a different story each episode, and the occasional viewer could tell more or less what was going on even if they jumped in in the middle. In some sense Star Treck is also a "drifter" show, only it is the whole ship that is drifting.