If big budget/shiny SFX space opera is out of the question...

[Mage]

How about something set not long after First Contact?

Starting about 5 years after First Contact has been made, we could see the rebuilding of Earth after WWIII. The Post-Atomic Horrors, Vulcans guiding humanity, Cochrane working on a new warpdrive, humanity's first gentle steps into outer space, Earth slowly becoming a global community.

No big SFX neccesary, which means lower budget. And that does seem to be a big factor right now, budget. And even though it wouldn't bem much a Trek through the Stars, it can be a good vehicle for telling the kind of stories that actually make Star Trek.

[C.E. Evans]

It's not that big budget/shiny SFX space opera is out of the question, it's that big budget/shiny SFX space opera that doesn't bring in the ratings to justify its cost isn't very attractive to many tv studios/networks. It really never was.

As a rule of thumb, space opera has always been very expensive and difficult to produce, even before TOS. When Roddenberry initially shopped around TOS, he was told no several times before someone defied conventional industry wisdom and said yes. That really hasn't changed in nearly 50 years.

A Star Trek series set solely on a post-apocalyptic Earth and focuses mainly on reconstruction would be good for a two-part flashback episode in an existing starship- or starbase-based series, but I doubt that premise could hold an entire series long by itself, IMO.

A Star Trek show gotta have a starship in there somewhere. Even DS9 knew that--first with the little runabouts from episode one, and later with the Defiant.

[junxon]

i dont think runabouts count as starships, more like shuttlecraft really.

but an eartbound, pre everything series would probably have no mass appeal. if its star trek then people will expect space, if not, why set it in the trekverse?

[C.E. Evans]

Merry Farrell wrote:

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i dont think runabouts count as starships, more like shuttlecraft really.

Runabouts are considered starships (at least by the 24th-Century definition of the term). They have U.S.S. designations as well as individual Starfleet hull (NCC) registries, unlike shuttles. They presumably can do everything a starship can do, except in a smaller package. An "ultra-light starship" may be a more appropriate term for them.

[junxon]

who exactly considers them starships? they're carried by other ships like shuttles, used for away missions like shuttles, lost in silly accidents like shuttles, easily replaceable like shuttles. so they have their own hull registries, big deal, registries seem pretty inconsistent anyway, so i hardly think thats a defining factor.

but this is a bit off topic now

(1000th post Yay!)

[C.E. Evans]

Merry Farrell wrote:

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who exactly considers them starships?

Onscreen material. Aside from the aforementioned starship hull registries and designations, they've never been referred to as shuttles, but repeatedly as ships.

[Dukhat]

Mage wrote:

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Starting about 5 years after First Contact has been made, we could see the rebuilding of Earth after WWIII. The Post-Atomic Horrors, Vulcans guiding humanity, Cochrane working on a new warpdrive, humanity's first gentle steps into outer space, Earth slowly becoming a global community.

I would have zero interest in watching a Trek show like that.

[T'Girl]

Dukhat wrote:

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I would have zero interest in watching a Trek show like that.

I agree as a total concept I wouldn't watch it, specifically seeing the "Post-Atomic Horrors' on a regular basis would kill the concept all by itself.

However, seeing "humanity's first gentle steps into outer space" likely would hold some level of interest for me, if they could do it in an entertaining way. A show that depicted Humans interacting with far away aliens, visiting alien worlds, They can be traders or non-government explorers (maybe for a private company or organization). Set fifty or seventy years prior to Enterprise and it's "official" first exploration ship.

Babylon Five was only occasional about space exploration, but it was there too. The ship in Firefly only had hand guns, nothing mounted on the ship (except once).

Centered around a ship to the stars, but not a "starship."

[Mage]

I can see how the Post Atomic horrors wouldn't be entertaining to watch, but since it's a part of canon, some fans will bitch and whine if it wasn't in there.

To me, the biggest appeal would be a show about humanity coming together, instead of being together. The struggle to overcome their differences and be unified by what we have in common. That is the core of Star Trek. Starships going swoosh is what Roddenberry used as a device to tell those stories.

[AviTrek]

C.E. Evans wrote:

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Onscreen material. Aside from the aforementioned starship hull registries and designations, they've never been referred to as shuttles, but repeatedly as ships.

It doesn't matter if they're considered starships or not. What matters is that producers from the start realized the need to let the crew get off ds9 and created a ship that allowed them to do more than the TNG shuttlecrafts. The proposed series would be stuck on earth unless they sole Vulcan ships.

[Bishop76]

This would never happen purely based on the fact that it's set in old, dead continuity. If there is going to be a series, I guarantee it won't be in the old universe.

[T'Girl]

Bishop76 wrote:

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... I guarantee it won't be in the old universe.

The way I see it, TPTB will likely be deliberately unclear as to whether it's the old prime, or the new alternate universe. To the majority of the "non-hardcore" viewers it really won't make the slightest difference.

Unless they use ship designs, specific events, of have guest appearances from actors from the movies, the show could just as easily be in a third universe, or in the prime.

[C.E. Evans]

AviTrek wrote:

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It doesn't matter if they're considered starships or not. What matters is that producers from the start realized the need to let the crew get off ds9 and created a ship that allowed them to do more than the TNG shuttlecrafts.

That actually goes back to what I said earlier about DS9.

[FatherRob]

Bishop76 wrote:

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This would never happen purely based on the fact that it's set in old, dead continuity. If there is going to be a series, I guarantee it won't be in the old universe.

If we get an animated series in the next 5-7 years, I can pretty much bet it will be in the nuTrek universe.

If we get a TV show ever, I can equally pretty much bet that it will be its own separate continuity.

Rob+

[Squiggy]

1966-2005 Star Trek is dead. You're not going to see it, or anything based on it anymore.