Trek was about Space and psychodelic music and character interaction. It was also action adventure and plot driven. If that could be done again it would take the right people - idea men and smart and deep composers. I don't see them converging again unless the composer does the writing. In three years Trek had eight composers and multiple writers all drawn to the prism that was Gene Roddenberry. People loved that sense of awe and a Captain that's accessible. Data should have been created by an alien race and there should be a primitive AI aboard the next Star Trek ship.
I would create a pilot that would be considered too cerebral to go in production I always thought the first movie and the next generation were such a great disappointment. 1566
It was a kaliedescope of minimalism filtered through Gene Roddenberry. It was all about things and ideas like a dream or TZ.
Hello all, I don't really have a concept for a series as I don't have a premise yet that I feel good. But I have been thinking a lot about what kind of background I would like to use. Perhaps a decade or more since Nemesis (this gives some room to set up the events I describe), most of the balance has changed since the Dominion War, the third Borg incursion (how short it may have been) and the assassination of the Romulan leadership and Senate. Following their deaths and the death of Shinzon the Romulan Star Empire has collapsed into a civil war between the major players. There is the 'old guard'; the supporters of the senators and praetor that ran the Imperial Senate before they were killed by Shinzon. They want to replace the vacuum with members of their own choosing. There is the new nobility (not literally called that) consisting of lower ranking political figures and the rich classes of the Romulan population who believe that the elimination of the old guard has cleared the way for a government run by them. And then there is the Tal Shiar, the Romulan secret police who believe it is time that they took control of the Empire seeing as they are already looking after it. The Romulan Imperial army and navy is split into factions that support any of these groups with a few commanders who have decided to try to claim leadership for themselves. With the Romulan Star Empire now in turmoil, more pro expansionist factions within the Klingon High Command insist that chancellor Martok makes use of this opportunity to expand the Klingon Empire into Romulan space and seize resource rich systems. Martok is reluctant as the alliance between the Klingons, Romulans, and the Federation from the time of the Dominion War is still in effect, but he knows that he keeps the Empire on the sideline of this conflict that those pro expansionist within the government will turn against him and support anyone who will seek to replace Martok. Thus Martok gives the order to start invading the Romulan Star Empire. Romulan civilians caught between the factions of the civil war are evacuated by members of the Unification Movement from disputed planets to frontier worlds near the Federation border. When it becomes clear that these refugees can not be protected from the conflict between the factions and other dangers such as pirates by whatever Imperial forces that remain loyal to the population, contact is made with the Federation council regarding Starfleet protecting these worlds from any aggressors. The pro expansion Klingon factions within the government, drunk on the success of the initial invasion, want the Klingon Empire to restart the Klingon expansion into Federation space and use the recent support the Federation has offered to Romulan civilian leaders as a reason to abandon the peace with the Federation. They claim that this peace with the Romulans is a violation of the treaty the Federation has with the Klingons. Martok this time decides to remain firm and opposes the pro expansion factions but he is assassinated during a session of the Klingon council. New temporary assigned leaders quickly decide to put the wishes of the pro expansion faction into effect but discover opposition from within the Empire. Klingon worlds along the Federation border oppose the decision for a military expansion into Federation space, many of their leaders being supporters of Martok and seeing that such an invasion would only bring war to their homes. When they are not only ignored by the Klingon council but also questioned about their courage and loyalty, these worlds decide to split from the Klingon Empire when the council makes it clear to replace the local leaders with leaders of the council's own choosing. Ambassador Worf is asked to represent this independent nation of Klingon worlds that wishes to keep peace with the Federation. Meanwhile in the Gamma Quadrant Odo's message of peace and tolerance with the solids divides the great link. A number of conservative Founders believe that Odo has a corrupting effect on the great link which could in time weaken the Founders and exposing them to the threat of political powers outside the Dominion and opposition within. Furthermore these Founders are not happy with the outcome of the Dominion War and feel that the political powers of the Alpha Quadrant still pose a threat to all Founders. When they fail to convince those who are willing to listen to Odo from joining them, they decide to split off from the great link and take a portion of the Dominion's forces and manufacturing centres with them as they prepare for another war against the Alpha Quadrant. By the time I would start any series the second Dominion War (which took mainly place in the Gamma Quadrant) has already happened or is still taking place. This conflict is mostly fought by the Federation and a few minor civilizations who try to keep the wormhole out of the hands of the hostile Dominion faction.
I think the Star Trek sequels missed the point of the original series. Roddenberry's idea was to have a comfortable spaceship where 'strange new worlds' were explored, not to have a 'Peyton Place' in a spaceship. The focus of the original Star Trek was on the 'new worlds' and exposing social and ethical dilemmas that came with it. Unlike in the sequels apart from the short humorous 'bones - Spock' banter there was not much 'soap opera-ing' going on. 21122160
^ I would disagree with some of your sentiments. A new Star Trrek should have more character development and interactions than we saw in the past. During TOS, while we did learn more about some of the characters, other than Kirk and Spock friendship none of them significantly changed or grew. So to use your phrasing, there in fact should be much more "soap opera" within our "space opera."
Thankfully so! I am not waiting for "Love Boat" in space. Obviously we have to agree to disagree on this matter. 2362
A character driven show with an ensemble cast is what I ultimately want--as T'Girl says its the development of the people (all the people involved) that's of most interest to me. The new show (whenever it arrives) should be more DS9 than any of the others in this regard, where we got rich main and recurring characters, with all their troubles, trials and triumphs along the way.
Personally I think a new show should be a good mix between character development and sci-fi/exploration stuff. If it has to mostly character development then I feel the Star Trek IP is wasted because people also watch it for subjects regarding space exploration and encounters with new interesting civilizations and phenomenon. One of my personal problems with DSN was not as much what it tried to do but more than I really did not like some of the characters to begin with, and they never grew on me afterwards as I checked out episodes from time to time.
So Star Trek would be better without characters? I'm all for character development, if it's done well. We don't want to spend a third of an episode watching a couple whining about their relationship. But characters' personalities and personal lives should inform the stories, or else they might as well be robots.
I haven't said that! I said a good mix between both character development (a show is nothing without compelling characters) and Star Trek stuff like space exploration, unknown phenomenon, new alien species. Not a series with the occasionally 'character development episode because it is required'. newpball, thanks but I can't claim credit for it. I got it from a Family Guy Star Trek gag.
It took me a long time to love the characters of DS9, and there are still some that grate on me. But, as the show moved on, I found the characters more engaging, especially Bashier. It definitely varied from episode to episode, but I definitely appreciated it more as I got older. It's my second favorite show, next to TOS. I think DS9 got a little bit too dark out times, but the character development later on made it much more enjoyable.
When I disliked DS9 characters, it was due to the actors, not the characters as such. I did like most of them.
One of my all time favorite classic sci fi novels is The Martian Chronicles. What I liked about it was it was an anthology of short stories, tied together with two things: the exploration and colonization of Mars, and how humans interacted with the Martians. One thing that hasn't been depicted in Star Trek is a series focused on colonizing a planet. I think it might be interesting to use the Martian Chronicles as a template for the federation colonizing a planet, maybe a colony or home world of the preservers, Iconians, or some other mysterious, ancient and believed to be extinct race. Each season could be its own story and has its own characters, possibly spanning generations or even centuries, but the series it tied together with the discovery, exploration, and colonization of the planet, as well as discovering about said race, and uncovering the mysteries about it, including maybe they aren't so extinct, after all. The series could depict occasional visits by starfleet, and even starfleet missions, but the expedition and colonists are largely cut off from starfleet and must solve problems on their own.
This may be heretical, but... Whatever my perfect new Trek series might be, it would definitely involve far less technobabble and far more elbow grease. One of the images that's always stuck with me is from DS9 where Chief O'Brien can't seem to get a panel in OPs to work so he hauls back and stomps on it. I think it's from the Pilot. The stories were more personal and the characters solved their problems mostly through action, rather than tech-speak. Similar to many TOS and ENT episodes. The tech was a part of the story, of course, but the tech should facilitate good, character-centric stories rather than the tech being both problem and solution. I'm just not interested in another series with long stretches of made up words invented simply to solve made up problems caused by long strings of other made up words. That kind of thing just rings hollow to me, which is probably why I prefer DS9 so strongly to the other series. Actions have consequences. Characters develop relationships. No character is perfect. Reoccurring characters. Action, emotion, and drama over technobabble and weekly resets. Serial fiction rather than episodic.
Whilst I intend to read all the ideas in this thread, I have not yet done so. As such, I apologise if I am repeating anyone else's ideas without realising it. I personally favour a show set sometime from the early 26th century onwards in a universe ignoring the destruction of Romulus (I'm not entirely against it being in the prime universe and accepting the destruction, it's only that I would prefer Romulans in some abundance). I would have the entire Milky Way at peace and due to advances in warp drive it is possible to travel the entire length of the galaxy in short enough times, but not quite to reach other galaxies easlily enough. The United Federation of planets would now be part of a larger galactic alliance that encompasses pretty much all spacefaring species in the Galaxy. Starfleet would accept entrants from all of the larger organisation. (The larger organisation was only really created to allow other alliances to keep their own structures and titles for cultural purposes instead of becoming Federation members outright, but it amounts to being part of it in everything but name). There would be greater crossovers in cultures too, such as a society of Klingons dedicated to the teachings of Surak (perhaps even featuring a Klingon main character whose ambition is to undertake the Kolinahr) and Ferengi who consider themselves as sons and daughters of Khaless. I also think that that the Borg collective's desire to assimilate other species was actually the will of the Queen herself, and she has now been defeated. The collective still exists as a hive mind for those who desire that lifestyle, and is now a force for good in assisting technological and scientific advancements within the galactic community. In the same vain as the Warp scales being redefined for the TNG, they would also have been redifined so that Warp 2 would be the equivalent of around Warp 9 in TNG. The technology now exists in the galactic alliance to create wormholes, but there needs to be a physical presence at both ends. As such there will have been lengthy expeditions to the edge neighbouring Galaxies to link them by wormhole. The premise of the show itself would be the first excursions though the first completed intergalactic wormhole. (It would not be the closest as some were expected to reach their destination some time earlier, but were never heard from...). Anyway, I haven't really given more thought to it since getting to this stage, but that's along the lines of the type of future I'd like to see in Star Trek.
I would like a Star Trek series where exploration is presented in a more exciting and relevant way. Give a star fleet vessel a rival ship to contend with, with representatives from say the Romulans trying to convince other planets to join them instead of the Federation and wanting to claim planets with important resources before the Federation does. So the Federation have to deal with the Romulans as diplomatic rivals and have to deal with them trying to claim important resources before the Federation can, so they can further their military ambitions. Diplomatic missions mean more if the Federation has deal with rivals in that area.
It would be interesting if the Romulans (or some other non-Fed group) found some great new energy source or tech which boosted their wealth and prestige above the Federation's. How would the Federation retain its members, its influence and its integrity, faced with the soft power of a more powerful dictatorship? (Perhaps paralleling the rise of China...)