Poll Season 3 Federation

[JoseNoodles]

I don't think the use of those ships was intentional, much less the doing of Berman, as much as they needed to show a space battle on the cheap and those CGI models were available. Even the Sphere-Builder ship was a reuse of the Vissian ship from "Cogenitor".

 

[SJGardner]

The main problem with a future Federation for me (or at least one that hasn't fallen into a dark age) is that the Discovery would be hopelessly outmatched against them, and there's a very limited set of possible storylines in a setting that our crew cannot successfully integrate into or even survive on a short term in. We don't know how quickly technology and culture changes in a thousand years, but they might even find themselves having to constantly avoid a bunch of hyper-advanced Earth-derived entities that maybe barely even identify as human anymore and who are so far removed from baseline humanity in the technological, cultural and maybe even biological sense that they give the primitive little 23rd century Discovery as much consideration as we do to ants... and you can either stay out of their way, or be stepped upon.

Of course this kind of profound alienness can provide a lot of story hooks in and of itself, such as a completely ordinary future sensor sweep emitting such a huge power output that it shorts out Discovery's power grid outright, crippling it where it stands, and so on. Still, I'd rather that the new setting of the next season actually has an environment and context that Discovery actually can integrate into.

 

[eschaton]

Still, I'd rather that the new setting of the next season actually has an environment and context that Discovery actually can integrate into.

What's the point of a future setting if it's more or less identical to the 23rd century? Why not just have the ship slip off to Andromeda or an alternate universe in that case?

 

[PiotrB]

It can be any of the proposals. Even the same federation as long as it's not TNG in the 32nd century.

 

[SJGardner]

What's the point of a future setting if it's more or less identical to the 23rd century? Why not just have the ship slip off to Andromeda or an alternate universe in that case?

I'm not advocating for leaving out the Federation outright, hence my idea of the Roman legion in Mesoamerica on the brink of the arrival of the Spanish. Instead of being right in the middle of an utterly alien Federation, we could be on its ever-advancing frontier, seeing them from the outside perspective of the future Beta Quadrant's denizens who have only heard the rumors about them. And that frontier could be anything, with my personal favorite being a scavenger world slowly recovering from a huge war centuries ago, fought with weapons hundreds of years more advanced than anything the Discovery has ever seen. The wrecks and ruins the ship finds could even indicate something bad in the history of the Federation itself. Anything goes, I'd just basically let the Discovery have a little breathing room with mystery, rumors and clues being uncovered in a buildup to the inevitable encounter with the Federation.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The main problem with a future Federation for me (or at least one that hasn't fallen into a dark age) is that the Discovery would be hopelessly outmatched against them

Who says it has to be against them?

Discovery doesn't have to fully integrate into future Starfleet, but it doesn't have to fight them either.

This is, of course, assuming that the crew doesn't simply settle on Terralysium and call it a day.

(who knows, maybe the entire Season 3 arc will be SET on Terralysium, in an effort to explain why a society that's been there a thousand years still has no technology. )

 

[SJGardner]

Who says it has to be against them?

Discovery doesn't have to fully integrate into future Starfleet, but it doesn't have to fight them either.

This is, of course, assuming that the crew doesn't simply settle on Terralysium and call it a day.

Oh boy, I hope it's not something caused by non-native English... I didn't want to imply the Discovery being at odds with them, even though I wouldn't have a problem with that provided the crew spent a full season getting friends and alliances in their new environment which the Federation eventually arrives to colonize/conquer etc... anyway, I simply meant to say they would be completely and utterly alien to the Discovery and finding themselves in a Federation like this might make it very hard for them to find anything familiar to anchor themselves with, be it supporters, supplies, safe haven or a home away from home. Granted, one person's bug might be another's feature, so your mileage may vary on whether that's a bad thing.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The future Starfleet of "Relativity" was still comprehensible, so I'm inclined to assume that this one will be as well, since it's only a century or two later.

 

[SJGardner]

The future Starfleet of "Relativity" was still comprehensible, so I'm inclined to assume that this one will be as well, since it's only a century or two later.

And I hope they stay that way as well. Still, I'm hoping for getting an outside perspective on the Federation for a while before being thrust into the middle of it. In my opinion, it might be better to build up the future Federation gradually, with little information morsels as opposed to treating us to a full portrayal right from the start that might end up just a little bit too familiar.

 

[Kemaiku]

Until find out that the Relativity is crewed by refugees from earlier parts of the timeline, retrained to operate an old 26th century timeship...

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

It's impossible to say at this point whether Discovery will be hopelessly outmatched, on par, or superior - without first knowing the state of affairs in the future. But even though 1,000 years is a long time, having 100,000 years-worth of data shouldn't be underestimated either.

Given that some Iconian tech survived all the way into the TNG era, maybe they'll be able to go wherever they want to anyway, with or without the spore drive.

 

[Kzinti]

The long night has come. The Systems Commonwealth United Federation of planets, the greatest civilization in history, has fallen. Now one ship, one crew, have vowed to drive back the night and rekindle the light of civilization. On the starship Andromeda Discovery... hope lives again

 

[eschaton]

Here's another potential idea: Some sort of cataclysm - whether natural or sapient-made - has wrecked the local portion of subspace. As a result, warp drive is impossible. Even subspace communication is very difficult. Every solar system is sort of drifting off and doing its own thing now.

As one of the last means of FTL travel - possibly across the whole galaxy (it won't immediately be clear how far the "dead zone" extends) Discovery has instant relevance. It can be the bridge which helps the different formerly isolated worlds re-establish contact with one another. Maybe Stamets could even come up with some communications system which utilizes the mycelial network.

 

[Kzinti]

Some sort of cataclysm - whether natural or sapient-made - has wrecked the local portion of subspace. As a result, warp drive is impossible.

that was the pitch for Star Trek final frontier

 

[Tim Thomason]

Burnham's time crystal will short out from all the overuse, and they'll wind up only about 140 years in the future. Picard will help them go the rest of the way, and this will lead nicely into Season 2 of the Picard show.

 

[SolarisOne]

The long night has come. The Systems Commonwealth United Federation of planets, the greatest civilization in history, has fallen. Now one ship, one crew, have vowed to drive back the night and rekindle the light of civilization. On the starship Andromeda Discovery... hope lives again

I would not mind this at all, a plotline involving bringing civilization back. Seems very Trek to me.

 

[SJGardner]

I would not mind this at all, a plotline involving bringing civilization back. Seems very Trek to me.

I'd love it if they weren't even intentionally trying to rebuild the Federation (or build something inspired by it, if they are currently outside of Federation space and they don't yet know what's going on with it), they were just trying to navigate their way through all the bickering groups in the vicinity, getting supplies and maybe a safe haven, and they'd just kind of end up inspiring all the people they help out to start cooperating more and more, with the crew eventually getting at the forefront of the whole thing, e.g. providing a neutral venue for signing treaties and so on.

Edit: and, as a possible personal arc, those of the crew who might become disillusioned and cynical, questioning if there's a point in being a Starfleet ship anymore, would gradually rediscover what Starfleet and the Federation means for them as they build something similar from the chaos and ruins around them.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I'd love it if the Federation we knew encountered an even bigger and more benevolent Federation and was absorbed into it. But instead of being the centre of the universe, Earth is a bottom rung junior member of this new and better alliance.

I've also given though to Earth itself being missing, and having relocated itself Fleet of Worlds-style. Or Sol being surrounded by a completely impenetrable Dyson Sphere which hasn't been accessed for centuries - until Discovery Spore-Jumps inside and finds... !

 

[SJGardner]

until Discovery Spore-Jumps inside and finds... !

... our own 21st century world.

dun DUN DUN

cue credits

 

[The Wormhole]

I figure we're getting an evil Federation and it will be up to Disco's crew to turn them noble and get back on track with Gene's Vision.