David DeRubeis <75221.2351@compuserve.com> asks:
> Or how many *years* was it before Frederic Pohl's Heechee series,
> Roger Zelazny's Amber series, or Poul Anderson's Flandry stories
> played out?

RE: the arc...the way it's always been structured, given the need
to ease viewers slowly into it, is that season 1 had maybe 4-5 really
strong arc episodes; season 2 had maybe 8; season 3 is almost equally
50/50; season 4 will have an even higher number of arc episodes; and
season 5 is nothing BUT arc stories.

jms