I wouldnt mind seeing an ENT type series with a horror type feel to it. With the approach that the Unknown + limited technology = creepy atmosphere. Think like the tone of Alien or The Thing.
I hate prequels; just kind of on principle. I think the concept simply hamstrings the potential for tension and drama. Not to mention, they seem as lazy and devoid of creativity as a Dukes of Hazard movie adaptation. Lastly, prequels (to me) fly in the face of the central theme of science-fiction which is future/progress, for better or worse. So, obviously, I would want the next Star Trek tv series to be set in the future - any time after the last thing produced in what is being called the Prime universe timeline. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention to the J.J. films, but I don't see why a whole lot has to be different than what was depicted in TNG and its spinoffs. I mean, in reality, destroying a Federation member planet like Vulcan would have far-reaching ripple effects that impacted almost everything over 100 years... but creative writing could minimize and even exploit those effects. I would want a couple of new bits of technology, like the replicators and holodecks in TNG. I would like a mixed crew without looking like an HR mandate following a diversity seminar. I found the crew on Enterprise very, very boring. It's science-fiction: I want robots and aliens. The series should be set on a starship or a generation ship with its own version of the Defiant. It isn't a necessity, but I wouldn't object to a brand new realm for the series to explore; be it a different galaxy, parallel universes, other dimensions... My final thought is that, if done well, I think it would be intriguing to introduce a character with at least a limited internal access to alternate timelines. It was already implied that Guinan had such an ability and it seems like the non-linear wormhole aliens would also be aware of these, so the precedence is there.
A century is a long time, at some point the destruction of Vulcan would become just another historical event. The wiping out of a entire population isn't unknown in the Trek universe.
I would like to see more detail on the non-human cultures of Star Trek. I'd love to see the Romulan, or Klingon, or even Cardassian equivalents of the Enterprise for a change. Even Fed side, show us more about Vulcans, and Benzites, or some of the others of the 150 members of the Federation, and show us what their space ships look like, instead of trotting out another saucer-and-nacelles Enterprise du jour. It's supposed to be a big Universe...show us more of it, instead of more of the same. Explore a bit.
As well-written as Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad. Episodic with some mini-arcs. I wouldn't mind season long arcs with Big Bads, ala Buffy. I am not sure about Paradise Earth. More conflict, dark sides would be better. I would have liked, for instance, for that military coup attempt on DS9 to have succeeded. At least temporarily. More AI, robots, and androids. I think there will be LOTS of them in future centuries. I agree that we haven't seen enough of the other species that make of the Federation. More of them would be better. I think a decent job was made of the Bajorans and Cardassians in DS9, and the Andorians in ENT. A lot more of that would be nice.
What ENT did with the Andorians shows that it possible to move beyond what came before. The Sulaban were interesting, and I loved their makeup. That the Vulcans and the Andorians would hang on to their own designs would be great.
What we need, I suspect, is something that straddles the era's Trek has lived in. We can't go back to the pure 60's pulp, but those moral ideas & allegories are what made it special. We can't go back to the slower, 80's/90's model of scientific exploration & technobabble, but those elements gave Trek depth & substance. For me, it's a combo of the character work of Deep Space Nine, and the excitement & bravado of the Abrams rebirth. We don't even necessarily need long form arc storytelling, though modern TV subscribes heavily to it. What we need is that 60's sense of wonder & chutzpah, with an intelligent TNG-spine, and characters who learn & grow. Any new series needs to combine all those factors to survive in the modern-day landscape. Dare I say it, if the show was just a little bit sexy, that wouldn't hurt it's chances either. Somebody call Alice Eve!
Agreed totally. I think it'd also be best if the show was handled by someone who got how to make space feel... I'm not sure what an apt description would be... A huge abyss filled with mystery, wonder and danger. Yes I know, that kind of goes against what an abyss is. It is however something I noticed about 60-80's scifi, whether it's a TV series, a comic or a cartoon, space felt vast, wondrous and dangerous. (Examples: Star Trek TOS, TOS movies 1-4, early TNG, Ulysses 31, 2001 A Space Odyssey) Modern sci-fi space operas meanwhile make space feel rather small and space travel feel rather routine. (Stargate, Voyager, Enterprise, even Doctor Who)
Ron Moore, man. He's the guy. If they gave him the keys & let him do what he wanted, we would truly get something special.
I'm tired of the same short-list of people getting the reigns again and again. So no. No to Ron Moore. Give it to someone new.
100% Agreed. What I would like to see, in a new Trek TV Series...well for starters, I would want it to be a high quality cg animation production. I'm thinking 10 episodes per season, 45 minutes max. For names attached? My choice might be a little controversial but I'm thinking, Seth MacFarlane for Producer maybe show-runner, or Vic Mignonya. Both love trek, and would stay true to the show and bring something fresh. For Seth, it's his Trek centered episodes, that one role on Enterprise he did, and the support he gave for Cosmos 2.0 that shows he loves Trek, and science drama/fiction. Not to mention he could get the show major popularity, and some guest roles for Patrick Stewart. Vic, on the other hand. Just look at Star Trek Continues, hands down best fan trek I've had the pleasure of watching. He gets trek, simply put. I would love to see him in a major contributing role in a new Trek show. As for writers, well get somebody fresh. Maybe bring in a vet for the occasional episode. DC Fontana Guest episode? Hell, if Nicolas Meyer was a guest writer that would make my day. I'd recommend Rainmaker (used to be freaking Mainframe Studios), Method Studios, Prime Focus, Zoic or Blue Sky Studios. They're all really high quality studios. My main pic though if we wanted hyper-realism? Blur, hands down. It'll never happen, but just look at this for proof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRsik2PX8W4 As long as it doesn't look like ST Aurora. I'll be fine. (No offence, I'm just put off with the style. Other then that, I appreciate all the hard work put into it. Seriously, you did a good job guys ) As for setting, as long as it's not in the 24th+ century Primeline. We got 21 seasons of that, that's enough now. Seriously, no more. To go into more detail, I wouldn't mind any early lost Era stuff, a fresh reboot, a JJ-Continuation. or an anthology series. That or more Bruce Greenwood please. That's all I've got to put on the table for now.
Can we just please get stuck in the mirror universe and make something work from that? Or have a mirror crew stuck in the Federation universe? Any episode so far that touched that setting has been utter gold...but would it work as a series?
I don't think so. The Mirror Universe is a gimmick - a good gimmick, but a gimmick nonetheless. It works because of the fun seeing our straight laced heroes get to be bad to the bone, but having a whole show set there without that parallel would lose the point, even if thematically it could still try & hold true to Trek ideals. A five or six part season arc though? That'd be interesting. Look how well 'In a Mirror, Darkly' worked as a two-parter.
My ideal new Trek series: 100 year jump forward from TNG/DS9/Voy era, on the same deep space mission as the original Enterprise. Ideally there'd be a balance of the adventure of TOS era with the diplomacy and idealism of the TNG era. And it'd be politically courageous again, like it'd have a female Arabic captain. And the population distribution of the ship would be like 80% alien with real attention given to some aliens having different environmental or dietary needs and whatnot, and the human population would be the same demographic distribution of the whole planet, not just the caucasian parts of it. It would have a balance between episodic and serial television. Like, a lot of stories where the A plot is episodic but the B plot builds toward climactic serial arcs.
I think a CG animated Trek show would be great for kids, but we couldn't have 45 minutes dedicated to a kids show. A 45 minute show works great for adult prime time television. And if you're going to market the show that includes adults and takes a prime time spot, it really can't be CG or else it's a much harder sell. The show would have to be 21-24 minutes but that also means you won't get any rich science fiction concepts or mysteries. Each episode would need to be action driven.