Wish List for Star Trek: 2017

[eyeresist]

When the Tea Party gets an equal voice on Star Trek is when I start paying to watch. What I was advocating was showing various main characters with different positions on any given subject, like in PenPals where we find out that the senior officers have widely differing opinions on the prime directive.

Different opinions should not be given equal value, because they are not of equal value. Although I disagree that Trek's first purpose is to provide moral lessons, there are basic qualities like altruism and fairness which the show fundamentally identifies with. To give equal time to people who oppose those values undermines the moral basis of the show. And I really don't want to be identifying new crew members as "that NAMBLA guy" or "the woman who thinks AIDS is God's punishment for fags".

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

• more alien crewmembers
• more diversity in the casting
• more multi-episode storyarcs
• characterization closer to that of later VOY, DS9 and ENT
• non-hyper sexualized uniform choices for female crewmembers
• about the same amount of techno-babble, as long as it's still interpreted in layman's terms

Yes! 50% alien minimum.
Yes. 20% white actors maximum.
Yes! Even longer-lasting arcs/plots/threads that carry on throughout.
YES! Enough is enough. Unless the entire cast is in body paint then there is no need.
Yes. Have technobabble in there when needed, don't hang entire plots on lines of complete waffle.

 

[Cake]

I'd like to see more aliens on the main cast.

I would love a Farscape type show. It can be gritty but there was always fun to not make it depressing.

Farscape was great. It never got too dark as they added a good amount of humour to it. They also had a lot of aliens among the main characters, including some non humanoid ones, which was really nice. I wish Star Trek would follow its example and add more aliens. A Horta as a crew member would be great for example!

When the Tea Party gets an equal voice on Star Trek is when I start paying to watch.

Not that I am particular interested in US politics, but isn't the Tea Party a group of religious nutjobs? At least that is the impression I got from the things I heard of them. Personally I am not a fan of religious extremists, no matter what religion they favour. So I hope the new Star Trek series is more based on science and rational thinking.

 

[Nyotarules]

I cringed at Picard's 'we don't need money we work for the good of humanity' line, (First Contact) I bet his brother was not giving away those wines for free. And Sisko's father was not giving away free food at his restaurant.

 

[Longinus]

I cringed at Picard's 'we don't need money we work for the good of humanity' line, (First Contact) I bet his brother was not giving away those wines for free. And Sisko's father was not giving away free food at his restaurant.

No, I bet they totally were giving those things for free. They didn't make the wine or food for money, they did those things because they loved doing them.

 

[hux]

^But how did Picard's brother get that land? How did Sisko's father get that restaurant?

Who decides that you can have lashings of beautiful land in France?

 

[Nyotarules]

^But how did Picard's brother get that land? How did Sisko's father get that restaurant?

Who decides that you can have lashings of beautiful land in France?

1. The land and restaurant were inherited before the disappearance of money
2. They won it in the Federation raffle/lottery that allocates resources
3. The restaurant and vineyard were replicated by a super transporter
4. They bartered for it

 

[Longinus]

^But how did Picard's brother get that land? How did Sisko's father get that restaurant?

Who decides that you can have lashings of beautiful land in France?

Bureau of Land Management? As there is actually no need to work, I'd assume that most people don't and there is plenty of land/empty business spaces for those who do. I don't really know. I am actually not particularly interested how exactly Federation economy works, but I like that it is not just modern day capitalism. That makes it feel more futuristic.

 

[Nyotarules]

Bureau of Land Management? As there is actually no need to work, I'd assume that most people don't and there is plenty of land/empty business spaces for those who do. I don't really know. I am actually not particularly interested how exactly Federation economy works, but I like that it is not just modern day capitalism. That makes it feel more futuristic.

I doubt most people are sitting around the Federation on their butts doing nothing. A sentient brain needs to stay active whether the society works for the joy of it and resources are allocated somehow, or works to earn currency to buy resources for a living.

 

[Jedi_Master]

I doubt most people are sitting around the Federation on their butts doing nothing. A sentient brain needs to stay active whether the society works for the joy of it and resources are allocated somehow, or works to earn currency to buy resources for a living.

Please, please, please, please don't start a "Does the future people use the currency" conversation. We have had more of those than one person should have to endure.

 

[Kemaiku]

And there are enough mentions of payment throughout the Federation to end that one quickly enough.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Please, please, please, please don't start a "Does the future people use the currency" conversation. We have had more of those than one person should have to endure.

Which is reason enough to leave it out of the show. It was a ridiculous conceit to begin with. The fact that there so many people still argue its existence because they assert there's a direct coloration between it and the profit motive is evidence enough of that.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Which is reason enough to leave it out of the show. It was a ridiculous conceit to begin with. The fact that there so many people still argue its existence because they assert there's a direct coloration between it and the profit motive is evidence enough of that.

Orrrr... they could have the very first scene of the new show be the Captain fishing out a big wad of cash to gain entrance to a bar. Inside the bar is a long list of available beverages with a "Barter cost" listed next to each beverage
Budweiser Classic - 10 minutes of guard duty
Miller Space Swill - 20 Talaxian radishes

Etc...

That way they could confirm EVERYONE'S pet theory.

 

[Longinus]

I doubt most people are sitting around the Federation on their butts doing nothing. A sentient brain needs to stay active whether the society works for the joy of it and resources are allocated somehow, or works to earn currency to buy resources for a living.

They're writing bad poetry or watching porn. Or arguing on the internet whether holo-show's plot makes sense. This is not so outlandish, there has always been aristocracy with such inherited wealth that they don't need to work a day in their life. In the Federation that just applies to everyone.

And no one needs to buy resources, they come from the replicator, to which there is effectively limitless energy thanks to fusion and antimatter reactors.

If there really were a shortage of business space (well, hobby space, really) then the bureau in charge of managing such stuff might revoke licences of people whose establishments are not well liked and thus not benefit the populace. If no one likes your gumbo and there are little or no customers, you restaurant licence is revoked and the premises are given to someone else so that they can have a go.

Now, you can nitpick this setup, but at least to me it makes enough sense for a show with FTL-travel and bumpy-headed aliens.

 

[Nyotarules]

^Local brothel - 10 hours of personal grooming lol

 

[Nyotarules]

Inheritance tax killed the inherited wealth of some of our aristocracy, now they have to get off their butts and and run theme parks for tourists instead or work for 'charidee' lol

 

[CorporalClegg]

They're writing bad poetry or watching porn. Or arguing on the internet whether holo-show's plot makes sense. This is not so outlandish, there has always been aristocracy with such inherited wealth that they don't need to work a day in their life. In the Federation that just applies to everyone.

This is 10x more contradictory to "we work to better ourselves" than earning a paycheck.

 

[Rahul]

Okay, my (new) wish:

1.) Leave the "no money in the future" - angle of Star Trek intact. Earth and the Federation in Star Trek is a post-scarcity society. It's one of the core characteristics of Star Trek.
2) Don't explain how it works. We have 400+ years to figure that out. If we could solve this on internet boards, we would have our Utopia by now.
3.) People in the future still have jobs. It's just that people can do what they want. They just don't get paid for it, but that's because they already HAVE everything they can get. But you still have the usual work/holiday balance and need experience to advance in your job and achieve personal fullfillment.
4) Federation credits.
5) Seriously, Federation credits. How do they not contradict the "no money"-rule? Well, it's because our starship is out there, in the FRONTIER: And the Frontier is NO post-scarcity place. Meaning Earth (and everyone on it) has limitless ressources. If you want to travel on a starship, you can take only limited ressources with you. Federation credits. Each crewmember gets an undisclosed amount of them. Wherever they go, they are still the richest assholes around. On the starship itself they are meaningless (the crew doesn't care for accumulated wealth, because back on earth it's meaningless. The crew trades in replicator rations and holodeck- and spare-time). But whenever they leave the ship, Federation credit is the go-to ressource for trading and dealing with merchants, who themselves can exchange those credits for Federation-/allied resources like anti-matter, technology or replicator raw mixture, on places (and stations) that aren't in the 'post-scarcity'-zone of the Federation core worlds.

 

[Longinus]

This is 10x more contradictory to "we work to better ourselves" than earning a paycheck.

Why you hate poetry?

I'm sure many indeed 'better themselves' by learning new skills, reading and creating art. And they do this because they want to, not because someone paid them to. (Some of course are lazy slobs and don't.)

 

[CorporalClegg]

Okay, my (new) wish:

1.) Leave the "no money in the future" - angle of Star Trek intact. Earth and the Federation in Star Trek is a post-scarcity society. It's one of the core characteristics of Star Trek.

No it isn't. In ~700 hours of content, it's been mentioned in a few fleeting lines of dialog.

Non the less, it still doesn't change the fact that currency and economics are mutually exclusive. Nor does it change the fact that, no matter how abundant all resources are, there's always a cost, eventually.

2) Don't explain how it works.

And thus the whole thing becomes preachy and unrealistic, which is why it doesn't belong.

3.) People in the future still have jobs. It's just that people can do what they want. They just don't get paid for it, but that's because they already HAVE everything they can get. But you still have the usual work/holiday balance and need experience to advance in your job and achieve personal fullfillment.
4) Federation credits.

So people don't get paid, but they do. Who/how/what determines an officer's stipend? How do civilians determine how much they get to spend outside of Earth? A family wants to take a trip to Risa? How do they determine how many of these credits they can take with them? If people were just allowed to walk up to a replicator and say, "gold-pressed latinum," intergalactic inflation would spiral out of control.

And herein lies the crux of the issue. Earth isn't self-contained. It (and therefore its citizens) is part of a much larger community--a community where not everyone as access to magical devices that can create anything and everything out of thin air. There has to be something in place to regulate and value the good and service on Earth in relation to everywhere else in the galaxy.