User:SOTO/Forum Archive/The Panopticon/@comment-121.45.54.78-20130925110520/@comment-24894325-20170607202849

I would propose to concentrate in this thread on television appearances only. First of all, there is already another thread devoted to appearances in comic stories.

But there is a deeper reason to separate discussions of appearances in different media. Limitations of each media type dictate their expressive tools. It would be impossible to find a general rule that would fit audio without images, images without sound, prose without either sound or images and television episodes.

When we are told that someone is in the room on audio, it is one thing, whereas on video or in a comic story we might check whether they are actually in the frame. A chapter-long narrated flashback in a novel is a different animal from a character recounting from memory for 30 seconds in a TV episode.

Let us avoid comparing apples and oranges if we ever hope to finish the discussion. The question of TV appearances is difficult enough on its own.