Trope

A trope is a recurring theme used (in some cases, overused, depending on who you ask) in works of literature and film. Star Trek uses a variety of tropes in its storytelling for various reasons.
One notable example is the "Mary Sue", which has its origins in Star Trek fanfiction.
Episodic theme tropes include clip shows and bottle shows, as well as redshirt deaths.
"Planet of Hats", the centralization of an alien culture around a particular virtue, vice, or quality, is also used with great frequency in Trek productions, often to criticize or lampoon various Human qualities; Ferengi representing greed and capitalism, Klingons embodying martiality, the Vulcans espousing logic above all else, and so on. 
==Tropes in Trek==
* Induced self-destruction
Category:Production