Episodes that almost always happen in sci-fi shows

[DarkenLycht]

As one example for such thing show producers use I can think of a time loop episode, in which some characters always relive the same moments or even days again and agan.
Aniother thing I can think of, is some not very well known character being scared of something they get convinced to do anyway and then that thing goes terribly wrong, even though it is actually nothing special usually

But I am sure there are more such things I cannot remember right now. Any other suggestions for such reoccuring episode-themes?

[VampyreWraith]

Dream world/virtual reality type episodes, where a character is stuck in a dream or virtual world. Sometimes they realize right away that something is off other times it takes most of the episode.

Episodes with a planet or city/place that has only children for some reason or another.

[DarkenLycht]

Oh yes, and today I saw an ep of a sci-fi show that was almost only filled with flashbacks

[DigiFluid]

Nearly every episode of original Star Trek, as well as a pretty significant number of Twilight Zone episodes are the root of virtually every sci-fi TV trope today. If you've seen several newer shows doing the same story, it's a safe bet that their antecedent is one of those two shows.

The website TVTropes.org is a lot of fun for stuff like this, check it out

[DarkenLycht]

I'm a bit too young to have seen any of those on TV really, but it makes sense

And I remembered another thing, people trying to turn one of their enemies or a hostile creature into something harmless which sometimes goes wrong

[garhkal]

Everyone has amnesia but 1 or 2 people and they struggle to get a cure for everyone else.

Space virus..

Robots gone bad..

[Pharaoh Hamenthotep]

Every show has a time travel episode, where they go to the past to discover something about the organisation/character they work for. One when they go to a possible future where everything has gone bad, and a time loop episode.

Then there's the alternate reality episode.

One where the main character is "out of phase" and no one can see or hear them.

A character goes missing and everyone thinks they're dead until they reappear at the end.

One where a character switches sides to work with the main villain of the series.

The "this character only has until the end of the episode to live" story.

The "main mode of transportation has been stolen, and we have to get it back" story

One of the characters has a secret from their past that suddenly becomes relevant during this week's episode

The hero is ageing rapidly and we have to find out why!

Clones!!

And the classic body-swapping episode.

[blueray]

There are a lot of these kind of tropes, most I like.

Minus the one where theres a character who thinks the stuff that happened to them isn't reality. I hate that one.

Body switching episode: always a fun one.

Episode where everything didn't happen (this is usually if not always related to a time travel episode).

Time travel episodes: characters get stuck in the past and not sure if they can get back to the present.

[blueray]

Dream world/virtual reality type episodes, where a character is stuck in a dream or virtual world. Sometimes they realize right away that something is off other times it takes most of the episode.
.

Or they think that they got out of it, only to discover that they didn't by something being slightly off.

[Gen. Chris]

Groundhog day-type episodes.

[DarkenLycht]

People falling in love with a hologram or a robot or another being that is not real in other ways

[blueray]

I have to add the cast playing the ancestors of their characters in a point in the past.

[DarkenLycht]

I have to add the cast playing the ancestors of their characters in a point in the past.

Does that really happen so often? I can only think of sometimes in Star Trek *screatches head*

[DigiFluid]

I have to add the cast playing the ancestors of their characters in a point in the past.

Does that really happen so often? I can only think of sometimes in Star Trek *screatches head*

The Identical Grandson trope! The entire premise of the series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues was built around it.

Notable genre and genre-related examples include:

• Charmed (main actresses playing their main characters' ancestors in 'Pardon My Past')
• Dark Shadows (multiple generations being played by same actors throughout the series)
• Doctor Who/Torchwood (Eve Myles portraying Gwyneth in Doctor Who's 'The Unquiet Dead,' and then playing her descendant Gwen as a series regular in Torchwood)
• Kung-Fu: The Legend Continues (entire premise)
• Star Trek VI (Colonel Worf, ancestor of TNG's Worf, both being played by Michael Dorn)
• Star Trek Voyager (Kate Mulgrew, regularly porforming Janeway, portrays Janeway's ancestor in '11:59')

Many more at that link. Enjoy!

[DarkenLycht]

Oh Ok, apart from Star Trek and Charmed, I never watched the others