Doctor Who style Trek?

[FreddyE]

How about a "Doctor Who" style Star Trek? I´m not talking a time lord as Captain or something like that (although that would be kinda cool)...but Who´s approach of a more flexible cast of main characters. I really like it how pretty much nobody is save...people come and go all the time.

[Skywalker]

A rotating cast would certainly be more realistic than having the same crew together for seven years.

[Bry_Sinclair]

I like the flexibility of the cast idea. Not sure about the time travel though. It's alright in small doses, but not sure about a full Trek show about it.

[ChristopherPike]

I've always been in favour of the ER, CSI, professionals doing a job and that was their place of work for a while approach. They get transferred, or leave the service in variety of ways.

TNG could've been that, had either Picard stayed assimilated or Riker accepted either of the Captaincies that came his way. In a sense, there was promise early on when they took the step of killing off Tasha Yar and allowed a change of ship's Doctor the following year.

If the series lasts, they can always ask the original lead actor back for the final episode. Either back as their character, or as an alien... under make-up, to honour the part they played in making the show a success in the first place.

I also think the principle cast could be streamlined down to four or five, with others that come and go. Since those Travis Mayweather & Harry Kim guys don't get a fair share of the action across their runs anyway. Better not to sign them up for seven years and have that option of releasing the actor, if the character is neglected.

Even those moderately interesting, through their friendship with another character, like say a Malcolm Reed or a Pavel Chekov could do with having the option of going out in a blaze of glory.

[LtChange]

As long as they don't take the LOST way and kill of main characters just to bring in front new characters. I can dig promotions and transfers, I think it would be something normal, because if somebody isn't promoted in 7 years professionally that shows some problems ... So yeah, I wouldn't mind, the only thing is to do it in a normal way.

[FreddyE]

ChristopherPike wrote:

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Since those Travis Mayweather & Harry Kim guys don't get a fair share of the action across their runs anyway. Better not to sign them up for seven years and have that option of releasing the actor, if the character is neglected.

Or if a character arrives at a point where he can´t possibly develop any further without becoming stale or boring.

Not bringing Picard back after assimilation, promoting Riker and keeping Shelby would have been a very interesting change to the dynamic IMHO.

Russel T Davies would be great "at the helm" of a new trek series IMHO.

[22 Stars]

I like the idea of a Trek done in a more naturalistic style, more like BSG and I suppose DW.

But Dr. Who as Trek is called ASSIGNMENT: EARTH. Gary Seven is the Doctor, and Teri Garr is his companion. The pilot didn't sell.

[Temis the Vorta]

If it ends up on Showtime, it would no doubt be more "natural" if by that you mean, without the broadcast imposed style of being sanitized and limited in the emotional impact of events (episodic style) because that is contrary to what the premium cable audience expects, even in genre shows.

Having the show be Earth based would destroy a key feature of Star Trek, that it's different from the zillion sci fi series set on modern day Earth. The basic Gary Seven concept is very familiar on TV today, but I want a show based in space.

Rotating the characters would be good, since as has been mentioned many times, it's realistic for the military anyway.

[Drago-Kazov]

A 3-6 six episode DTI miniseries could work if its done well.

[C.E. Evans]

I've been actually been thinking that it would be cool to have a captain that's kind of "Doctor-ish" in personality. Maybe two or three characters are with him for the long haul, but others come and go...

[Temis the Vorta]

All the characters should come and go, that's what makes it realistic for the military. The lead character shouldn't be magically immune from being transferred or killed. I like the idea of a big cast of characters in which many characters are important but any could be killed without warning and without following the expected rules of TV, a la Game of Thrones.

Alterntatively, you could have a show that follows one character through all their transfers, regardless of what ship they are assigned to. It would be the most interesting if this character was someone other than an obvious lead character type like a ship's captain. How about someone without particular power within the Starfleet command structure - an outsider like Quark, a Romulan spy, a Harry Mudd type rogue who keeps having run-ins with Starfleet?

[C.E. Evans]

Temis the Friendly Ghost wrote:

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All the characters should come and go, that's what makes it realistic for the military.

But Starfleet isn't a...

[LobsterAfternoon]

I dunno if I'd call the approach you describe as "Doctor Who" style, but I'd like to see it regardless. It's probably closest to Battlestar, where characters got promoted/transferred/mustered out, but still had roles on the show. Someone like Picard could've easily left Starfleet and become an Ambassador (as shown in the Star Trek: Countdown mini) and still have an occasional role on a Trek show.

[Nerys Myk]

But with Doctor Who you have the anchor character of the Doctor. Sure he's played by different actors, but he's still the Doctor. And by him being the Doctor you can revisit past characters and settings and play off those relationships.

[Temis the Vorta]

C.E. Evans wrote:

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But Starfleet isn't a...

Don't start that!

Zombie Cheerleader wrote:

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But with Doctor Who you have the anchor character of the Doctor. Sure he's played by different actors, but he's still the Doctor. And by him being the Doctor you can revisit past characters and settings and play off those relationships.

That's what I don't want, I want a large cast where you can't really tell who the lead character is and nobody is safe. Make it dangerous and unpredictable! The characters are supposed to be in a risky profession, the show should deal with that honestly for a change.

Star Trek doesn't need an anchor character because Starfleet is the anchor character. That's why there could be several series which have all-new characters and no or only minor overlap. But Star Trek without Starfleet is hard to envision.