So what we do know about the past Star Trek? 1. A Ship with sophisticated technology belong to Federation 2. Heroic Crews (and maybe the best) 3. Adventure to where no men has gone before although it feel repetitive. 4. Heroes of Federation who save the world from nasty Dominion, Borg, Klingon, and maybe Romulan. 5. Best Crew around who know what they do I think those are the list that we always witness from what we call "Star Trek Series". From the day one : 1. Star Ship Enterprise : the first ship that can reach warp 5 2. Enterprise, The best ship around when she launched. 3. Enterprise D, the first Galaxy Class, the best starship around at her time 4. Defiant, the first dedicated warship belong to the Fed. 5. Voyager, a ship that actually can return from Delta Quadrant, annoy Borg to an extend to destroy their lair and return even without any scratch. Basically, we always witness the best ship that the Federation can offer. We witness the heroes who can handle everything by themselves, and even can do what other people can't. So why not we limiting this things and take a new approach for a new Star Trek Series. Where we witness the galaxy not from the best of Federation; and their job is not doing the most prestigious mission like 5 years mission or saving the world from galaxy menace, but doing what the previous Star Trek as "Mundane Task". So here it is - It is the 23rd Century (to avoid magic things like replicators and holodecks, a non economy / money world and other bullshit things that we get from the 24th Century Series) - The ship is old, using "out of date" Federation Technology. She is not even equipped with Torpedoes; only beam weapon for self defense. - Her mission is to hauling cargoes from one planet to other planet, etc. Means, she is a kind of utility ship that missions is not doing the most important or dangerous situation like what Enterprise did. - Her crew is not extraordinary who are the bravest, the cleverest, etc. They are just ordinary starfleet officers who work just for daily living. - She doesn't have science labs, etc that make her self sufficient, even her sick bay is only equipped with basic equipments. Our heroes are even ordinary people who do their job for living The Captain : - He served in a prestigious starship belong the Federation before. But because of his fault cause catastrophic result to the mission, he demoted into USS Not Important to do more boring, not important job for Starfleet. Well, he wants a come back, so he swear that he will get the most prestigious ship belong to the Federation; USS Excelsior (although He got beaten by Sulu on that part) The Navigator / Helm : - A young and ambitious lad who want to command her own starship one day. But because she kicks / punches the son of an important Starfleet Admiral, so she is thrown into the garbage ship like USS Not Important ( I don't know the name yet, so I call this ship as USS Not Important) The Engineer - An old man who should have retired several years ago. But he insist to continue his work in Starfleet just because he need the money for living. Unlike the superstar engineer in the another series, this old man is not the cleverest tinkerer out there. Sometime he can't even do anything to the broken engine. And he can't even learn new technology a fast as the other Chief Engineer in Star Trek Series. The chief has a grandson that he's proud to. And he always tell the other crews about his family on Earth. The Engineer is not an ambitious man, yet he is very dedicated to his job. The Doctor - Just ordinary doctor who have a family on Earth. He loves his family very much. Loyal to his wife, and proud to his kid. He always use his lovely wife as his inspiration, until in a certain episode, he finds that his wife is cheating on him. And it destroy him inside and out. The Soldier - Just an ordinary weapon officer that stationed on board of USS Not Important. He do the job not because he passionate into it, but because it is his job. And he is not the most courageous officer out there in the galaxy that can change the odd like what we have seen in previous Star Trek Series. He doesn't even care too much about his job. The Soldier took the job as a starship tactical officer just because his father pushed him to. And... because he has a crush on the Navigator. Plus, he is not even has the quality of a soldier like Mr. Worf and others. His score in the academy was just average at best. The premise of this series is not about to explore strange new world and doing extraordinary adventure like previous Star Trek series. The crews are just ordinary people who are doing their job because of it is a job, not adventure. Of course, there are bravest men and women out there in the series that can save the world from a space monsters, or Klingon, or Borg, but they are not the crew of USS Not Important. Yet, even doing ordinary things like hauling cargo or repairing a space station will show challenge and adventure if you don't have extraordinary things like Mr. Spock, Miracle Doctor Bashir, or Brilliant Engineer like O'Brien or Scotty, and not equipped with the best / sophisticated weapon and tech like we have seen before in the series. It will funny, if in one episode the ship is stranded and empty (like we saw in the past series) and it is not one of the crew who save the people, but Kirk and the USS Enterprise (as the guest stars) come to the derelict USS Not Important and save the pitiful crews. Ok, Season one - It is like the introduction for the series. The Captain is demoted by his superior to lead USS Not Important (Maybe we should change the name for it). An old Starship that just overhauled and upgraded by Starfleet just because they don't have other new ships to spare for space mission duties. The crews are not the best out there, the equipment and weapon are "basic". The first job of USS Not Important is bringing supplies to a research station in the frontier. But they are intercepted by a pirate ship. While the pirate ship was a mere problem for the heroes of previous Star Trek Series, in this series, they are a menace. The worst part is that the crew give the captain advice to surrender the goods to save their ass. Well, the Captain refuse and choose to outrun the pirate. In here, the captain must face three problems. The pirate, the crew who think that the captain decision is endanger their live, and the ship's old engine. The second season is about USS Not Important that stranded in a foreign space (not as far as Voyager, The area can easily be reach by a sophisticated starship like Constitution Class, but a struggle for an old and a bit broken ship like USS Not Important). The dilema is more about their life, and families, Morale, and supply. The third season is about the Federation - Klingon War. And like always, our heroes are not the heroes / central figure in the war, although the USS Not Important is upgraded and they have a newer engine (the Chief Engineer will struggle on learning this new toy). Their ship is drafted and ordered to join a battle group that led by a sophisticated warship belong to the Federation; a Constitution Class that escorted by several high tech Miranda. And their group is wiped out by a Klingon Battlegroup in a battle. Making USS Not Important stranded behind the enemy line. So rather than witnessing our captain duel against a Klingon General and win the war, it is about how the crew survive in a hostile environment and back to the Federation Space.
One of the things I liked about the TOS Enterprise, as opposed to the other "hero" ships, is that it wasn't a brand new ship, with it's first crew. The Enterprise was a old work horse starship, that a lot of the time was doing the little shit jobs in Starfleet. Hauling mail, delivering princesses to their weddings, doing medical exams for little expeditions. And doing a fair amount of ordinary patrolling, exploring and surveying. There was no mention of it being the "best ship in the fleet," or the "flagship." From what we saw, the majority of the crew were just regular joes, who drank coffee at their posts and leaned their elbows on their consoles. A lot of the time we saw them casually walking down corridors in their baggy coveralls. They made everyday mistakes like removing their gloves when they shouldn't have and falling down rock faces. There was no indication that Kirk hand picked anyone, and at times Kirk didn't even know the names of some of his officers. This should be the example of the next series, an average ship in the fleet. With a typical crew and a good group of senior officers.
Yeah, Trek did itself a disservice with the post-series inflation of Enterprise (and of Kirk in the TOS setting) to the Most Important Ship and Crew Evar. It actually makes the setting, and Starfleet, less believable when by the time of the movies they look like a bunch of nebbishes who can't accomplish anything without good old Jim Kirk to lead the way. And TNG's notion of Enterprise being "Starfleet's flagship" was bizarre. On the idea itself: if you're doing an action series, typically speaking your best hook is the thrill of watching the heroes solve problems by being good at what they do. (They don't have to be the Bestest Evar or the Most Important People in the Galaxy, just good.) If you want a different premise, you need a genre that gives people a different kind of payoff. What you describe above sounds like techno-thriller style drama, for instance. The trouble with that being that Trek is so closely-identified as an action property by now that trying to take it into different genres would probably underwhelm old viewers and confuse new ones. For those purposes you probably need a new brand entirely, something not identified with Trek. I personally think a sci-fi medical drama series set on a hospital ship could be pretty interesting.
Well, to be fair, the series was about the voyages of the Starship Enterprise... I think that the fleet has many ships that are every bit of capable as the Enterprise, but their exploits are largely chronicled elsewhere (such as in DS9 and VOY). Not at all if we consider it as a unique Starfleet term to describe its top vessel. But the more historical/modern day use of the term continued to be used as well here and there for other ships.
If the ship was just overhauled and undergone a refit, why is the equipment obsolete by current Starfleet standards? Sounds really unexciting. That'll be sure to draw the viewers in. If they're that dispirited, why are they still in Starfleet? They should have resigned or been discharged long ago. This is a job for ships like Enterprise, not broken down tubs with lackadaisical crews. Old decrepit ships wouldn't be making regular runs to the frontier. Pirates are going to concentrate on trade routes, and those routes are going to be patrolled by Starfleet ships faster than the Not Important, and perhaps only hours away. Better wait to see if the show makes it past 6 weeks before plotting a multi-season bible. As others indicate, this would have a better chance of working if you weren't trying to squeeze it into the Star Trek universe. Edit: I'll give you my own example. I originally intended to do animation test footage using some sort of pseudo-Starfleet characters. Then I got the idea to put the focus on civilians, with the military dudes now background characters. This suddenly meant all my Starfleet types were expendable and could die horrible deaths. It was my own fictional universe anyway, and opened up all sorts of new possibilities. Strip out all the Star Trek references in your concept, and it could work as an original piece.
Any medical drama plot becomes awesome when you add those two little words that shock and awe: It's a gang shooting... in space! A mysterious disease is killing babies... in space! We've uncovered evidence of medical malpractice... in space! Christian Scientists won't let us treat their child... in space! These patients show signs of demonic possession... in space!
A hospital ship was the focus in the James Spader/Angela Bassett film Supernova. With Peter Facinelli, whose career apparently took a better turn a few years later.
Yeah, Supernova was kind of an epic bomb, wasn't it? One would probably want to stay away from totally incoherent horror plots...
Normally I would agree with you, having opined over many a show that if only it was in space it would be so much better BUT. Babylon 5 Season 1, Episode 10. I was on my third rewatch of Bab5 when I got to this one and my kid begged me please, PLEASE could we skip this one and we never skip anything. But we skipped it because space did not save it.
I thought DS9: The Quickening was among the better DS9 episodes. But, having liked such an episode once, that doesn't mean that I'd want to see that sort of thing over and over again, week after week.
I reserve my loathing for trial and boxing eps for the most part. I would rather watch medical ones, but the topic is full of overworked pitfalls. I almost cried when I realized NuBSG was doing a boxing ep.. but then it did manage to still be awesome.
Don't tell anyone, especially the people around here, but I don't know what these are (gap in CC's geektionary).
Oh it's just me, it's nothing the internet plays with. Trial eps: anything in a courtroom. If the judge is an omnipotent super powerful being extra points for awful but they all bore me to death. Boxing eps: Our Heroes engage in boxing. To prove something. Or at the behest of antagonists. Actual boxing ring present. Making it fake alien boxing did not save the Bab5 boxing ep. Maybe boxing is so imprinted in men of a certain era that they think boxing eps are a good idea but to me they are utterly eye rolling pissing contest wanks. I also am down on (understatement) EVER hearing about Jack the effing Ripper in sci fi again! BAB5 YOU FAILED ME HERE TOO!! Sanctuary went even further with this by making him an entire character. Wolf in the Fold was a great episode and now please let's leave it at that.
Ah, gotya. I thought it might be that, although you'd hit me with terminology!!! But then also, since you said "trial and boxing" in the context of nuBSG (or at least "boxing"), I thought you might be referring to the decision to box #3, which was a different sort of trial and boxing altogether. Re Jack, I liked Time After Time, though I've not seen it since the 1980's.
Oh yeah boxing means something different in NuBSG.. Have I seen Time after Time? I can't remember. And now I have that song in my head.
For my money the best kind of medical drama is something like ReGenesis, focused on crisis-related problem-solving but with halfway believable timelines (so that the business of curing a major disease outbreak is a multi-episode arc, not something Bones miraculously does in forty minutes). A "ReGenesis in space" concept would be pretty neat. The other nice thing about a concept like this is getting to see the galaxy from the viewpoint of people who are not a Space Military or Space Outlaws... freeing one up to give both concepts a less, um, starry-eyed treatment.
I would be in for some "frontier medicine" Especially if the people were not Starfleet. That was one of the huge pluses about DS9, not being totally focussed on Starfleet.