This is an idea that popped into my head a while ago and was then pushed to one side and forgotten about. It's not a fully thought out idea, but I thought it might be interesting. Set in the early-2380s, the Enterprise-E was on a routine mission in a relatively quiet region of space (one unaffected by the war or any other major incident in the last few years), I'd imagine possibly a cameo from Sir Patrick if he was up for it as well as several new characters brought in for the pre-credits set up. All contact is lost with the ship and a full scale search is organised. One of the SAR ships discovers the E-E five days after all contact was lost, however it has minimal/no power emissions and isn't responding to hails. Scans show no life onboard and a search of the ship confirms it. The crew have vanished. The ship is towed into dock and examined, but the logs have all been wiped and the computer core has been restored to its "factory settings", so there is no data available to shine a light on what happened. The team investigating the ship are at a loss, unable to pick up any radiation, transporter signatures, weapons blasts, nothing at all that would indicate what happened to the crew. With no answers available and unwilling to let such a ship as the E-E languish in mothballs, Starfleet assigns a new crew to the ship and gives them a new mission: to lead a task force into the region and investigate it thoroughly. Other than the Captain being female (preferably alien) I've no strong thoughts or opinions on the crew roster or composition, though I would imagine around nine; with a maximum of four humans (including human/alien hybrids) and at least four characters being women (all in uniform, no skimpy/clingy catsuits here). The tone would be darker than TNG, given the era and setting, with an undercurrent of mystery (though only a few episodes would deal with what actually happened to the previous crew). The characters would have some flaws and issues to work through, making them a little more realistic and not so squeaky clean as TNG. There wouldn't be a space battle every episode, the focus being more exploration and character dynamics rather than alien-of-the-week. It would also have a more serialised approach (with a few stand alone episodes), but events that happened previously would have impact of future episodes--no VOY reset button.
But the crew are the stars of the show. They make it or break it, no exceptions. "Captain alien woman" and "four women" may sound nice and PC, but if they're as vague as "some flaws and issues to work through" nobody is going to care about them.
Agreed. The characters should be the most important aspect, for they're the ones that will really carry the show. Without characters an audience can care about, it's not much of a show. Start with the characters, give them priority, and then worry about the ship and its technology. And why does everything have to be dark? Why can't it have a mix of both light and dark stories?
If they make a Enterprise E series, I'd rather them follow the books. Most of it's crew left with Picard for his fleet and the E is ran by an Admiral, still exploring but with a new crew.
This would be a nice way of doing a "reset" and getting a whole new crew aboard the Enterprise. I like the idea of a ship that isn't brand new and the crew is the ship's first crew. TNG, DS9, VOY, FC and ENT have worn that idea out completely. I seem to remember a fan fitcion from some months ago with a general theme like this, empty ship, missing crew, towed back to starbase, Bly Sinclair was that one of yours? ^(oo)^
Okay, I like this idea! A lot! To be sure, it is only a seed but a genuinely interesting seed that functions as a virtual sequel to TNG. I'd suggest calling it A New Generation (ANG). "Female alien captain" sounds formulaic on the surface (virtually the only demographic we haven't seen yet) but doesn't that depend on execution? Consider the possibilities (and because I'm very slightly manic and like to come up with ideas): V'Tonn (Jennifer Beals) a Vulcan whose parents were Ambassadors so in a real sense she's extremely accustomed to aliens like Humans. Yet for that very reason she holds onto the rituals of her people very closely. One quality everyone serving under her soon realizes is that she's wily. Most Vulcans excel at chess. She's superb at poker! And consider this interesting plot development--suppose one of the other senior officers begins to fall in love with their CO? Not that it would be reciprocated, but evolves into a special bond of loyalty and friendship. Thuriall (Anna Torv) an Andorian from a military family, but also a widow. The other three in her marriage unit, all serving in Starfleet, died in the Dominion War. She longs to do something good, something life-affirming like rescuing the missing Enterprise crew, or preventing such a tragedy from ever happening again. She's a superb warrior, who genuinely never wants to fight another battle. But if need be, will do it and most likely win. Methinks she probably sets people on edge, but has brought an old friend/crewmate with her as First Officer who sometimes functions as the a filter between her prickly personality and others. Yet the more her crew gets to know her, the more polarized they become, with the vast majority showing increasing respect and loyalty. Garian Vont (Summer Glau) a joined Trill, one of the youngest Captains in Starfleet history--unless you count the symbiont which would make her one of the oldest. Seemingly very cool, calm and collected until you realize she has a sense of humor as dry as it is razor sharp. In her more relaxed moments, she'll admit to thinking that if God exists, that being is the biggest practical joker one can imagine. She and her symbiont have actually seen a huge amount of tragedy, and together they use humor to cope. Nomenz (Mia Kirshner) from the planet Athos IV. Athosians are a refugee species, who fled a dying system in STL ships to their new home thousands of years ago. It was barely hospitable to them and as a result they are sometimes viewed as professionally paranoid. She would say they're simply very aware of possibilities. Everyone knows however that Athosians make great allies or friends. Nomenz herself is an adventurous type, one who has been on countless survey missions but who rose via Security rather than Science or Engineering or even Tactics. That balance of intense curiosity plus caution won her this, her first command. (As I'm thinking on her, I rather like a sexual twist to her species' alienness--Athosian males are vestigal symbiotes living inside each female. So for all practical purposes Athosians all look female but are to some extent hermaphrodites.)
Yeah I like it... a nice way to transition over while still keeping a familiar element. Heck if you could sign Stewart or Frakes to guest star regularly as Admiral Riker/Picard that'd be even better. Riker would probably make more sense though. Though Picard getting an episode where he's doing a diplomatic mission would be a nice last hurrah.
As I said in the very beginning, this is very much the bare bones of an idea. Of course the characters are key, that is what any new series to focus on, the idea that came to me was just the E-E being abandoned and then having a new crew reassigned. Guilty as charged. It was the story that intorduced the Border Cutter Silverfin, when they discovered the U.S.S. Cairo adrift in space--the mystery of which is yet to be fully resolved (though will be soon). My thoughts on the new CO were something along the lines of: Captain Shara Enahr (played by Dina Meyer) is an Unjoined Trill in her mid-40s. Her background saw her come up through flight control, then into command/diplomacy. Though a capable soldier, willing to take risks to safeguard her crew, she always wants to seek a peaceful resolution to a problem, resorting to force in her crew are threatened or she can see no other way out. She gained captaincy just prior to the Dominion War and saw the Ambassador-Class U.S.S. Ulysses through the conflict, though did lose many good people—none of these loses paled to the loss of her brother and his family on one of the colonies near the frontlines which was destroyed by the Dominion. Unable to have children of her own it was the closest she got to a normal family life. Though the loss still stings she is dealing with it as best she can, throwing herself fully into her work—it is only in private with her closest friends that her old, warm personality emerges. Due to her focused work ethic and distinguished career, she beat out the tough competition for the central seat of the Enterprise-E. A couple of other crew members I had thought up included: Lieutenant Selek is a Vulcan male who appears to be in his early-30s though is actually in his late-60s. He applies his vast intellect and methodical manner into analysis the emotional and psychological problems faced by the crew, as well as studying the psychology and sociology of other races. He himself is composed and disciplined with his feelings, though does display an almost genuine empathy when with patients as he helps them to address, dissect and analyse their emotions and problems—relying on his extensive studies into the field rather than empathic/telepathic senses. He is separated from his wife though maintains a cordial relationship with her, whilst also still being involved in the lives of their two children. Lieutenant JG Athorahn th’Sherr is an Andorian thaan (man) in his early-20s. Disobeying his family’s wishes, he turned his back on his obligations and entered Starfleet. A highly intuitive pilot, he is greatly sought after though has developed a poor reputation among other Andorians, accused of being selfish by shunning his responsibilities. He sees it as making a choice for himself, rather than being forced into bonding with others he doesn’t love but is rather a good genetic match with. His youthful rebellious streak means that he will often speak his mind, even when his opinion isn’t sought.
No offense sweetness, I love your imaginative fiction and know you're capable, the Federation has 150 frickin' member species, why don't we venture down the road not taken. Could you please make the Captain be of the Squid people from Calamari Five?
Ok maybe I could change the Vulcan to something else (I just love Vulcans and thought seeing one as a Counsellor would be an interesting new perspective on them). Since ENT got a good new look for the Andorians I've wanted to see more of them and dealing with the slow demise of their species could be explored further. As for the Trill CO, if Trek were to ever have an alien Captain I think it would have to be from a race that looks more or less human or else risk alienating (no pun intended) new/casual viewers. But that's just my thought on the matter. If you'd like, I could go with Captain Laurn Rhata from Nigala IV, a three-eyed, mottled green/blue skinned, long eared CO instead, who has to spend at least several hours a day immersed in the native waters of her homeworld. Depending on how you break down the crew, there is the potential to add lots of new alien races. For example if the main cast was: CO, XO, Conn, Ops, Chief Engineer, Security Chief, Tactical Officer, Counsellor, CMO, Science Officer. That's ten characters to play with, say four of which are human (random selection of: XO, Engineer, Tactical, CMO), that still leaves six alien characters to cast. Even if three were from previously established species there are still three more to be very creative with. Whatever happened, there would be a lot of aliens in the background, to show the ship as being a diverse population and not just all human (or human-looking species).
No reason we cannot have an Athosian (see my earlier post) then! You know, one detail I really liked in both VOY as well as DS9 was the presence of multiple members of the same species hanging around. Tuvok and Vorik for example, or Quark's entire family! Be nice if the new crew of the Enterprise E included (for example) several Andorians, some of whom we'd only see in the background now and then. And it would be cool as well to introduce a new alien specie who are just there, in the background. Maybe have the regulars interact with them now and then, whereupon we learn a few odd details--like the curvy ones with breasts are the males, and they like to drink salt water, etc.