Hi, all. Am considering an experiment in ST fanfic, and would appreciate your thoughts or opinions. the basic idea would to do ST fiction picking up fromt he end of TOS, but doing so only using TOS/TAS as source material. It would not take into account anything from the later series (ENT, TNG, DSN, VOY), or the movies. Basically I would be trying to imagine writing ST back in 1980 or so. This sound interesting to anyone?
Just to clarify, you are speaking of the time after TOS but before "Star Trek: The Motion Picture?" Sounds great! Go for it, and have fun!
I think if you do something, you should account for what happens later so it could fit into the continuity of the series as best as you can make it.
I would agree with this. As someone who is relatively new to fanfic, I find that it can be quite a maze to navigate and the best point of reference is what is accepted as canon by Paramount. I would say stick to it as far as possible but don't be inhibited by it.
I'd go with a Fan Fic picking up right after "TMP" covering "The Lost Years" between the U.S.S. Enterprise-B to U.S.S. Enterprise-D.
Thing is, there might not be a "1701-B". The only continuity that counts in this experiment is TOS/TAS/TMP.
One of the advantages of ignoring later canon would be that Klingons and Romulans would not make the strange change they did in Next Generation (And the movie..) To me it was more than cosmetic. TOS Klingons were conniving and lacked any sense of honor....except well maybe Kang. Then all of a sudden they have this code, hmm. Romulans in the origonal series, while militaristic, did seem at least somewhat more honorable. Next Gen... They were totally different. An interesting side...in the 70's and 80's, pre movie and Next Gen, a bunch of guys, wargamers, wanted to continue the story but with nothing to go on, extrapolated a whole different timeline and called it StarFleet Battles (due in part I'm sure to to copyright protections). It kept the old uniforms, old Klingons, old Romulans, but also added numerous other races not seen in any later series. Fiction set in that universe might be an interesting diversion.
The following will be valid continuity for this proposed series of stories: TOS TAS ST Concordance - Bjo Trimble (1970's Ballantine edition) Star Trek Maps (1980) Star Fleet Technical Manual (Franz Joseph) First story tenatively titled: "A Sort of Homecoming"