Star trek idea

[Dontai]

Some people have asked me what should they do, if their was a new series. what should it be about?

 

My Anwser:

 

I think they should let trekies right in stories and make episodes about them. I mean why do you even need writers to be paid for something they dont even like. When their are hundreds of fan out their? Your making it for them right? So why not let them decide what they want to happen. A entire new series made by fan for fans. Let the fan revist the old episodes say what they hate and what they like and keep what they like.

 

Second i think they should revisit some episodes, digitally remastered them and, extend them. Let revisit Best both world and see what the battle of wolf 349 was like. Are make alternate reality were earth has ben assimalated or conquerd by the dominion . These idea could save star trek. Heck even make episodes base off trek books. Mabey even have a final War with the borg. Make it like dominion war but against the borg! You know lets extend the dominion war and each battle goes on for hours. Least i like the idea of longer ship battle!

 

Third im sick of all the unnecessary sexual overtones, if they want sex just release a R rated version with 7 of 9 nude (or her haveing sex!!!) I actully like the idea of sex in space. They ben wanting to do it. It only so obvious...

 

 

- end rant

[slug]

the majority of creatively active, dedicated Star Trek fans have no ideas, just check out the some of the fanfilms. These sorts of people tend to use Trek to excape from their abject personal failure and lack of charm or charisma.

 

You're not really selling the idea of Star Trek by Star Trek fans, having only suggested ways in which Trek could be expanded upon with large gratuitous battles with no substance, while we can all agree that these battles would be totally awsome, they don't represent any kind of science fiction creativity. The reason the Dominion war was enjoyable was because it was a change of circumstances within the traditional Trek mythos, to suggest that Star Trek whould be endless war for its own sake is somewhat missing the point.

 

Also. some of what you've suggested has already been done, they revisited the Battle of Wolf 359 in the DS9 pilot, they're showing remastered versions of the original series with new effects right now.

 

What may be a workable idea is filming some of the Trek novels, I ignore them on account of the fact that they are not recognised in the real Trek timeline, and therefore are fiction within fiction, reading a Trek novel is like being lied to by an imaginary friend, but I'm sure that some of them have very good cerebral ideas that reach beyond hours of space battle.

 

Welcome to Paradise City.

[TetsuoShima]

I know it's easier to tear down idea than to built them, so I'll just start with this, I don't have any brilliant ideas for a new Trek series either...

 

Then on what you suggested:

 

I like:

 

- Let fans submit stories, but this has been so since the very beginning, so nothing new...

- A fully shown battle of wolf 359

- make episodes out of some of the pockets (though it may be kind of hard, the actors are getting olders you know)

 

I dislike:

 

- Scrap the witers: who's gonna write all the stories (not all fan stories are acceptable and a storie and a script are not the same) and 'judge' what is good quality and what isn't, just get good writers, don't scrapt them entirely

- DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES MAKE MORE THAN ONE OR TWO OLD REVISITED STORIES (keep it real)

- DO NOT EVER MAKE DIGITALLY REMASTERED EPISODES AS AN ACTUAL FEATURE ATTRACTION (it's no new story and won't attract much attention, a waste of money which could have been invested better)

 

 

Of course, that's my opinion, I'm certain a lot of people won't agree. :)

[slug]

I am guilty of the 'tear down' other people's ideas thing, I apologise for this, but I feel that more substantial scenarios need to be suggested when stating that such ideas have the capacity to 'Save Star Trek.' And I have agreed that there may be potential in some of the books, I would think that the ones that involve unseen characters would have the most potential.

 

If I take the liberty of quoting myself a year or so ago on the same topic:

 

'What about meeting an alternate federation like force at the edge of the Beta Quadrant that believes that the prime directive is utterly callous to the fate and suffering of undeveloped cultures that leads to bitter conflict with the federation with regard to the treatment of less advanced planets in its area of influence.

 

This could create a show with some kind of unsolvable moral uncertainty, it would also be able to present the federation in a questionable moral light without creating a dystopian world of collapse and rebuilding, like Andromeda, which Rodenberry supposedly was set in the distant future of the Trek universe in all but name. This would make any post Federation series a bit confused, Any such show would surely concern a crusade concerning the restoration of traditional moral values, like some of Trek's attempts at a darker tone.

 

A truely insightful look at irreconcilable ideologies of which neither is clearly superior would give Trek the boost it needs.'

 

 

It may seem self absorbed but I think that this is a decent pitch for a Trek series. I think the biggest area of expandable potential in the Trek universe for interesting debate is the prime directive, some people may say its beem done to death but its never been challenged on a really big scale. Don't you ever watch those episodes where they let some whole civilisation die and wonder what it would be like if that were challenged by some equivalent force? It would be great, you could visit all sorts of cultures and see what effects outside influence has had on them, you could also look at the abject and avoidable pain so many worlds live in and begin to question the Federation stance. The Federation could end up changing its ways. And it could stilll have big battles, they just need to be presented in the context of interesting ideas.

[Mav]

They let fans submit ideas already. Star Trek is actually one of the few franchises that actually accepts submitted works and ideas. Obviously it's at their judgement to use them and if they do you can bet they have their team of writers to smooth it out and polish it up but yea for all 5 series they kept an open submission policy going. Not sure if it's still in effect since, there's no current series in production other than the upcoming 11th movie.

 

They need fresh blood for writers imho. Toss Brannon and Braga out, bring back guys like Pillar and Moore (if he gets time from BSG ;p ) let Coto get a few more runs at helming a season, I mean crap look at what he did for Enterprise season 4 that was some great stuff.

 

Less "Threshold" and "Spock's Brain", more "Tapestry" and "In The Pale Moonlight".

[Tenebrae]

Yeah, they did allow fan submissions but by all accounts they were absolutely horribly mutilated to fit the Trek formula, no credit was given to the submitters and no royalties paid.

 

I suppose what you want to do with a new Trek really depends.

 

As I see it, you've got about three or four distinct options.

 

1. Reboot... pretty simple. Basically, do something akin to Enterprise but let the show make its own history

2. Alternate Universe - you know, Trek as we know it but with a twist. Something like the mirror universe.

3. Boldly continue - just keep

4. Do one of these things people keep bleating on about, Trek goes to some other galaxy or some jape like that.

 

Naturally, all of those directions are utterly pointless if they're not backed by the right kind of talent. You need someone that has the vision for the show - much like Ronald D. Moore or JMS and a bunch of writers and so on to back them up.

 

To be honest, if you had those things you could be making a show about just about anything decent.

[Mav]

Two words: Beta Quadrant

 

Seriously, look at the series so far;

 

TOS - short lived, traditional "exploration" with a little alien conflict thrown in.

 

TNG - traditional "exploration", tad more confrontation with hostile species (Borg, Romulans etc)

 

DS9 - little exploration but an over all 7 year story arc that culminated in a war of the entire Alpha Quadrant and had us getting a foothold in the Gamma Quadrant

 

Voyager - mixture of "exploration" with "crap, we're lost", in the Delta Quadrant.

 

Enterprise, exploration with a mini story arc and overall prequelness.

 

So what should a 6th series be?

 

The Beta Quadrant. We already know the Borg have transwarp conduits and Cubes there, so boom there's our seasonal encounters with the Borg. AFAIK, Starfleet has barely explored it, far less than we've explored the Gamma Quadrant.

 

Technobabble wise, since we have the Midas Array now, quadrant-to-quadrant communication with Starfleet is possible. And I'm sure in the years since Voyager ended, Starfleet has tinkered with newer forms of travel such as Slipstream or Trans Warp thanks to all the experience, logs and data collected by Voyager. So right there you have an open door to "how" they get there and "if" they can communicate back home.

 

Mix up the bridge crew some. Toss in another alien. Not saying remove all the Humans but give us an Andorian security officer, a Vulcan pilot, hell throw in another Ferengi ;o (I'm sure after Nog's venture into S.F. and the fact that S.F. saved the entire Alpha Quadrant that more Ferengi would be open to joining).

[Tenebrae]

To be honest, all the maps (although they're not really entirely reliable) show the Klingons and Romulans having a large chunk of their territory there. It's just that they never mention it.

 

Presumably because it would have meant Sisko would have to say "the ENTIRE ALPHA QUADRANT and uh, a bit of the Beta Quadrant too, I guess."

[slug]

HEre's WIki on Beta Quadrant:

 

'The Beta Quadrant would be located between the 3 and 6 o'clock positions if the plane of the galaxy were seen as a clock face with the 6 o'clock position bisecting Earth's solar system.

 

The reason why the United Federation of Planets and Earth are right on the border between the Alpha and Beta Quadrants is to retroactively offer consistency to references in the original series, its movies, and early episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which use "quadrant" and "sector" interchangeably.

 

The Beta Quadrant is home to half of the United Federation of Planets, the entire Klingon Empire, the lower part of the Romulan Star Empire, the Gorn Hegemony, the Son'a Solidarity and the Metron Consortium. The Beta Quadrant is also the location of the planet Vulcan.'

 

Earth and the surrounding areas are set just inside Beta Quadrant to explain lines like: 'We're the only ship in the Quadrant.'

 

YES Any new series should probably make use of the Beta Quadrant, as I suggested in my 'alternative federation like force' idea.

 

The only problem would be that it would be hard to make the prospect seem as exciting as The Delta Quadrant or Gamma Quadrant. That said its true you can make a series about anything interesting if its done well.

 

It would be difficult to get Michael Piller to do a new series on account of the fact that he died last year.

[Tenebrae]

As I said - solid plot/writing/characters are going to be far more important than a brand new setting.

 

And it's likely that the Star Trek name is going to get used for some ideas simply because that - even now - it's going to give a better chance of stuff.

[Mav]

See I never really studied up on the locational factor's of it all.

 

In hindsight, the Beta Quadrant makes DS9 looks like it has egg on it's face. I mean, Sisko and Starfleet are rallying over the course of like 7 years to prevent this massive war to save the Alpha Quadrant? Was it just because the Wormhole lead from Alpha to Gamma? If half of the Federation is in the Beta Quadrant and Earth borders Alpha/Beta it makes sense to say that both quadrant's are in danger in such situations like the storyline of DS9.

 

But yea, they'd have to like go into the farther reaches of Beta for some stories to work, since as you point out we already have done Klingon stuff, plenty of Vulcan stuff, etc

 

Ok how about this;

 

A few years after Voyager gets back (say a few years post-Nemesis), Starfleet perfects Slipstream technology based on years of study of Voyager's experiece with it, data, logs etc

 

So they equip a few ships, and plan a small voyage of a few ships, outside our known galaxy. We know there's basically a ring of space, the inner part of the galaxy is inhabitable and there are known lifeforms on the outter parts outside all four quadrants (as seen in TNG). So using Slipstream (or hell Transwarp either or) to get there, a few ships travel there and begin a whole new level of exploration.

 

The kicker would be since it's several ships you end up with several bridge crews that are the cast of the show. You'd need to wittle down the numbers some, instead of like 7 or 8 main cast, do 3 or 4 from each ship (captain, first officer, security, then maybe engineer or doctor). Toss in a familar face from one of the other series maybe as well.

[Tenebrae]

Aside from my already stated problems with the notion of going somewhere new just for the sake of it... you're clearly forgetting the galactic barrier.

 

Besides, just look at Stargate... they got to shuttlecocking between galaxies like it was crossing the road and it hasn't led to anything more than a deadly race of space aliens.

 

Trying to claw back the exploration aspect of Trek isn't going to work because it's going to require some Voyager/Farscape type "stranded somewhere" type attitude...

 

There's a lot to explore in the Star Trek universe but if you're looking to new galaxies and dimensions, you're looking in the wrong place.

[Antipodean]

Nah - I know that this borrows from Andromeda a bit, but that show was PATHETIC, so its OK to give a good idea another run...

 

 

Why not start a new Trek TV series AFTER THE DEATH of the Federation... you know, a rediscovery of the what the Federation means by a naive young bunch, who in the hope of what they may achieve, name their new ship 'Enterprise'. Technologically, some things could be WAY advanced than what we're familiar with, while other technologies may have been lost in the anarchy. And you could do a few full roll reversals, like Romulans as on side with the good guys, or Betazoid warlard despots, abusing their mental powers etc... You get the drift.

 

 

This way, a whole new almost unlimited range of storyboard possibilities are available to writers... meanwhile the show could still be faithful to Trek values.

[slug]

The best way for that to work would be to it like Andromeda and have a ship from present (24th century) get thown forward so you get to explore the new world from a kind of horrified Planet of Apes perspective.

 

 

As I've stated the problem with the Andromeda direction is that it would end up mostly just a crusade to democtratise the world as a kind of cheesy facade and Trek will head further towards right wing politics. But it would be fascinating to see how things had changed. I always liked the idea of the Ferengi becoming Communist tyrants. But it also has to be remembered that the history of Trek is actually loosely mapped out for a good 500 years after Voyager/Nemesis, with episodes like Relativity, much of the Temporal Cold War stufff. So any leap forward should probably go further than that.

 

I will still admit that any idea can be made awsome if done well. I do like the idea of a few ships travelling together. I'd say if they were to go as far as another galaxy it might be time to make the aliens less human, which would fit with them not all being seeded by that ancient race in that TNG episode. Obviously they'd need to somehow do something where they take human form to communicate, otherwise there would be no room for drama.

 

I still prefer my idea, suprise. Its time to get into the nitty gritty of the prime directive being challenged on a galactic scale. More political than explorational. It could be bring back the good days of DS9.

[Tenebrae]

I don't know, it wasn't exactly a great idea the first time around and if you do it in the Trek universe you're going to get grilled over rehashing.

 

You're also basically pissing away the established continuity - and in many ways, that's why it was so easy to take Andromeda and do it outside of the Trek universe.

 

The breakup of the Federation would be something you could get your teeth into... but I worry that if you do technical regression you'll just end up as a poor man's Voyager and to be honest, the whole naive kids on a powerful ship dynamic is just too [insert popular teen drama] and just makes me think of the cringeworthy moment in the 200th episode of SG-1 where they had the "younger and edgier" SG-1 team... *shudders*

 

Honestly though, you walk into a TV studio and pitch them that kind of idea and they'll eat it up... it'll give them teens in space which will tape the male 18-35 demographic because the show will be packed full of so much sexing, angst, fisty cuffs and explosions - there won't be time for much plot. Hah, it could actually have the potential to surpass Voyager and Enterprise in terms of cringeworthiness.

 

Not to be a stuck record but you've got a universe you can explore without having to go forward or backward in time, off to a different galaxy, dimension - is it HONESTLY so hard for anyone to conceive of something that doesn't take place on a Starfleet vessel. TOS, TAS, TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT were ALL in pretty much the same setting. Sure, some of the fixtures changed but at the end of the day - it was all a bunch of people on a Federation ship or station. It wouldn't matter if you had them exploring a transvestite bar for single cell organisms when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, you'd still be rehashing the same idea.

[Tablet]

do you know what i would have liked to have seen? The dominion war but from the perspective of another ship, lets say an excelsior class (out-dated class) because they did fight on several occasions in DS9, anyway back on point, in any war resources are always stretched to the limit (not so much in trek ive noticed) I just think it would be good to see how an outdated ship could survive the conflict of the war with no resources, even the defiant got destroyed.

[Tenebrae]

That's interesting but I think maybe if they'd done the war from the Romulan perspective, it could have been interesting. You could do it from the point they joined they joined the war.

[Chiggy]

When everyone was happy at Paramount and TNG was in full swing the studios used to receive buckets loads of fan written scripts...........I bet most of them were filled under 'waste paper'; they cannot of all been crap?

 

Anyway the new film of 2008 will set everything up for a new series so theres no need to get a headache over it.

 

[Tenebrae]

You're making the considerable assumption that the film will be sufficiently successful to justify a new series...

 

It might well but given the run of luck Star Trek has had on both the big and small screen, I don't think that one can say it's an absolute given...

[TFMF]

The new Star Trek movie will take a whole new approach in my opinion - it could be successful but it will deffinetly be different i think...