Changing ONE thing about the TOS movies...

[UssGlenn]

Even if that were the case, there’s still no inherently good reason why Kirk would need to steal that particular ship when a warp-capable shuttle would have worked just as well or even better.

Adding to the idea, how cool would it have been if Admiral Kirk got to steal the original ship because he knew its prefix code.

I had a simmilar thought, in this scenario, the Original Enterprise is the only other ship Kirk has the command codes for. My wife and I just had a great laugh imagining Scotty having to pull down velvet ropes and transparent aluminum partitions in order to turn stuff on in Engineering. Also Kirk has to remove a mannequin of himself from the Captain's chair.

 

[Phoenix219]

I had a simmilar thought, in this scenario, the Original Enterprise is the only other ship Kirk has the command codes for. My wife and I just had a great laugh imagining Scotty having to pull down velvet ropes and transparent aluminum partitions in order to turn stuff on in Engineering. Also Kirk has to remove a mannequin of himself from the Captain's chair.

That would be hilarious. Mr Adventure as a bored museum security guard, ripe for defeat in his red shirt...... the whole scheme to steal the ship would have been different, and comedic, and awesomely 80s.

 

[Phoenix219]

I'll "see" your "Kirk should have taken command of the 'D' at some point", and raise you a "Kirk shouldn't have died". Shatner shouldn't have allow that to happen...

Honestly, the movies should have gone for a much more epic scope - a combined crew of characters for post TUC movies, where Kirk ends up alive in the 24th at the end of Generations, and Spock, McCoy and Scotty are all known to be alive. They could have had interactions only dreamed of. The "TNG" movies needed to be something never done before.

I'd even take it one step farther - let Picard be the big bad of First Contact as Locutus, and let Kirk do what he does best - time travel to save the day, in command of the "E".....

 

[Khan 2.0]

Shit, I have no problems with it - in fact I'll take it one step farther, and insist that during Generations, Kirk should have taken command of the "D" at some point.

Kirk on the ENT D bridge would've been mind blowing. Kirk cooking eggs in a log cabin as Picard searches the cupboard for Dillweed? Not so much

Honestly, the movies should have gone for a much more epic scope - a combined crew of characters for post TUC movies, where Kirk ends up alive in the 24th at the end of Generations, and Spock, McCoy and Scotty are all known to be alive. They could have had interactions only dreamed of. The "TNG" movies needed to be something never done before.

Yes and it would've been more of a shock/twist had they not killed kirk in Generations

I'd even take it one step farther - let Picard be the big bad of First Contact as Locutus, and let Kirk do what he does best - time travel to save the day, in command of the "E".....

funny to think had they not killed kirk off and wanted Shatner to be in more movies hed have been more than happy to continue (as long as he had a biggish role lol)

 

[Smellmet]

Kirk on the ENT D bridge would've been mind blowing. Kirk cooking eggs in a log cabin as Picard searches the cupboard for Dillweed? Not so much

One of the main problems with Generations in a nutshell. As soon as they enter the Nexus you might as well stop watching. The film goes from a fairly exciting sci-fi movie full of intrigue and great visuals and just falls flat on it's arse.

 

[Khan 2.0]

One of the main problems with Generations in a nutshell. As soon as they enter the Nexus you might as well stop watching. The film goes from a fairly exciting sci-fi movie full of intrigue and great visuals and just falls flat on it's arse.

Yeah it felt like something from a pretty lame Twilight Zone (and I mean the 80s TZ not the 60s lol). The least they could've done was have Picard enter Kirk's nexus and he's on the original (TMP) Ent or his Trek II/III apartment or reliving some key event from TOS or II, III, IV etc. abit like Endgame, All Good Things etc. (and then when they get out the nexus it couldve been Kirk on the Ent D somehow.)
Going with chopping wood, log cabins, cooking eggs, 'Antonia', charity horse shows.. just wasn't going to work

 

[Smellmet]

Yeah it felt like something from a pretty lame Twilight Zone (and I mean the 80s TZ not the 60s lol). The least they could've done was have Picard enter Kirk's nexus and he's on the original (TMP) Ent or his Trek II/III apartment or reliving some key event from TOS or II, III, IV etc. abit like Endgame, All Good Things etc. (and then when they get out the nexus it couldve been Kirk on the Ent D somehow.)
Going with chopping wood, log cabins, cooking eggs, 'Antonia', charity horse shows.. just wasn't going to work

I wish they'd have just done away with the Nexus entirely. It was a shit idea and it was poorly executed. Just have some sort of time travel to get Kirk into the 24th century and leave it at that.

 

[Phoenix219]

The Yesterday's Enterprise plot, dying to save Klingons, would have been narratively perfect as a follow up to TUC....

 

[Yes Man the Great]

The uniforms in tmp looked too much like disco pajamas, if it were up to me, they would’ve either worn the classic tos uniforms, the ii-vi uniforms or some combination of the two.

 

[STEPhon IT]

I wouldn't have had the original NCC-1701 Enterprise go through a refit for TMP. The Enterprise in TMP would have been the NCC-1701-A, given how radical the design of the ship was. Meanwhile, I would have had the original Enterprise be a part of a fleet yard museum (being famous for surviving its historic 5-Year Mission). That way, when TSFS comes around, it would be the original Enterprise that would get stolen, for the trip to Genesis, before getting destroyed in the end (by being out-classed by the Klingon BoP). Then, by VOY, Kirk and crew get back the newly-repaired NCC-1701-A for more space stuff. Just a thought...

I would've changed those impractical TWOK uniforms; watching some of my heroes sucking their guts just to maintain their characters in those things were uncomfortable to bare for me.

 

[Phoenix219]

I would've changed those impractical TWOK uniforms; watching some of my heroes sucking their guts just to maintain their characters in those things were uncomfortable to bare for me.

The whole point was to hide the gut, with the formfitting TMP uniforms being too unflattering.

 

[Kor]

I think it would have been interesting to incorporate some of GR's "new humans" ideas about Earth culture/society into the movies.

Kor

 

[ScottJ85]

The Enterprise A should have been an Excelsior ship.

Either this, or a new design. As much as I love the refit Constitution, the Enterprise-A should have been a noticeably different ship. But not too different.

I'll "see" your "Kirk should have taken command of the 'D' at some point", and raise you a "Kirk shouldn't have died". Shatner shouldn't have allow that to happen...

I was talking to a friend of mine about this a while back, and the one thing we agreed on was that if Kirk was going to die, he should have died on the bridge of the Enterprise.

We would have kept the broad strokes of the plot the same, with a few key differences:

1. The entire Enterprise-B goes missing into the Nexus, not just Kirk.
2. Rather than fight Soran on the surface of the planet, the final confrontation takes place in space, where the Enterprise-B turns the tide of the battle but is destroyed in the process.
3. Let William Shatner chew the scenery and just generally Shatner it up as much as he goddamn likes.

 

[A Chimpanzee & 2 Trainees]

Sort of like how the USS Constitution also known as Old Ironsides is still seaworthy. Although I'm not sure if it is ever sailed from place to place but I think possibly it is.

The Constitution's not really a good analog for that. It really almost never leaves Boston Harbor, doesn't typically sail under its own power, and is only towed occasionally out of its slip for maintenance or to be turned around so that it weathers evenly. It's seaworthy from the standpoint that it could be sailed out of the harbor under ideal conditions (and did so about 5 or 10 years ago), but I don't know whether it could survive any inclement weather.

Of course the TOS Enterprise would not be 200 years old, and probably in much better condition. It would have to be refit to some degree, even if only to provide a plated exterior, and metal/fiberglass finishes for the sets.

I think it would have been better if they had just ignored the refit angle, stuck slightly closer to the original design and everyone just pretended that this is what the E always looked like. The audience just has to buy in to the idea that this is what the ship was always "supposed" to look like, if it could have been done on budget back then.

I think the OP's idea also works better if the E is mothballed in a reserve fleet, rather than a museum. The E is 20-30 years old at the time and it mirrors the lifecycle of large capital ships of today like battleships and pre-nuclear aircraft carriers. Heck, Iowa class battleships from WWII were mothballed, then brought back, refit, and used as recently as the early 90's.

 

[ScottJ85]

I think it would have been better if they had just ignored the refit angle, stuck slightly closer to the original design and everyone just pretended that this is what the E always looked like.

That would have made sense. Trek has always been willing to reboot itself visually from time to time, might as well have embraced it.

 

[Lance]

One small thing I think would be nice is to involve the TOS Klingons in The Undiscovered Country somehow. I like it perfectly fine how it is, but a part of me would like to see a contrast between Kirk being wheeled out vs Kor, Koloth and Kang, perhaps intimating that they're uneasy allies in trying to put aside past differences and save the conference (unlike Chang or the Federation cronies, trying to sabotage it).

You could even make the link explicit. The Enterprise crew, including Kirk, find themselves scared of what the future brings. The Klingon Trio likewise. But they find their heads beginning to overpower their hearts as the movie develops. Maybe the trio help Kirk and Bones escape Rura Penthe.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

After either TMP or TWOK, I'd have only kept Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty, transfering the others to different ships, ranks and postings. Then introduce new secondary characters and eventually have them replace the old crew completely, much as was the plan with Decker, Illa and Xon in PII or Saavik and David in TWOK.

Oh, and I'd have kept Spock dead after TWOK.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Make it clear that Sybok is a believer you can force happiness with psychic powers and that this is why he's an outcast on Vulcan.

I.e. mind-control BUT FOR THE GREATER GOOD.

 

[Khan 2.0]

1. The entire Enterprise-B goes missing into the Nexus, not just Kirk.
2. Rather than fight Soran on the surface of the planet, the final confrontation takes place in space, where the Enterprise-B turns the tide of the battle but is destroyed in the process.
3. Let William Shatner chew the scenery and just generally Shatner it up as much as he goddamn likes.

sounds preferable to what was done. youd think the writers would've considered something more like a classic ship battle finale with Kirk on 'his' Ent B and Picard on Ent D in a battle against the Klingons. ok maybe they felt it had already been done to perfection at the end of Yesterdays Enterprise but its not like TMP and TVH hadn't mined episodes/sequences to do big for the cinema screen.

So something like at some point the Ent D encounters the Ent B that has just broken free out the nexus (they think its like a day/week but its 78 years Cause&Effect style) then at the end they battle the Klingons (probably have to be more than 1 ship YE style) Soran coudve beamed down to the planet followed by Picard and played out similar way with the nexus approaching , Picard outwits Soran (maybe Picard briefly ends up in the nexus but no Guinan or Kirk/logcabin/horseshow/burial - Kirk be on the Ent B/D destruction/sacrifice etc) then beams back up to Ent D watches Kirk die (who's just saved the D) or maybe not and Kirk stays alive (having Kirk stay alive in the 24th century would've probably been just as shocking as his death. and lent Kirk a Buck Rogers type element)

 

[Smellmet]

Given the budget was too tight to avoid the reuse of stock footage of the BoP blowing up from TUC, I imagine a three-way ship battle was firmly not on the cards.

That being said I like the sound of it much more than the crappy fight we got.