If You Created a Cheap Star Trek Knockoff...

[Yes Man the Great]

I’d call it Star Trackers, the Spock character would be bald with purple skin, a robot would serve as comic relief, the captain would probably be even more into alien women then Kirk, Starfleet would now be United Earth Space Millitary, the main villain would be a knockoff of Darth Vader and the main female character would have three breast (might be too pervy).

 

[C.E. Evans]

SPACE FRONTIER
An action-adventure drama series focusing on the adventures of the Unified Space Ship Venture exploring the outer reaches of our Galaxy and defending the Federal Unification of Planets from space threats both natural and deliberate.

THE SHIP:
U.S.S. Venture, Yorktown-class heavy spacecruiser. Crew: 431. Maximum speed: Distort Level 7.
Spacenavy registry number CCN-1107.

MAIN CHARACTERS:

Captain Timothy J. Kwong, Human male. Age 30+. Man of action. Has an eye for attractive women, both human & not.
Commander Grok, Eridani male. Age 130+. Ultra-serious first officer with little tolerance for foolishness.
Doctor Reynold Hatfield, Human male. Age 40+. Frequently grouchy chief medical officer.​

 

[at Quark's]

In order to save some costs on my probably way too tight budget, I would have the crew sing the theme song like this.

 

[Xhiandra]

Tsar Trek.
Siberia, so bloody cold. These are the travails of the carriage Endeavour. Its two-year mission: to tour the oblasts and cement Pyotr's rule, to seek out and execute rebellious petty lords, to oppress commoners, to bring Imperial justice wherever it goes!

Pyotr would, of course, be played by a British actor. And given the limited budget, we couldn't get a good one, so we'd grab the first guy that comes along. He'll have a cockney accent.

 

[Tim Walker]

An evasion would be for the characters to use projectile weapons. "See, it can't be Star Trek-no phasers".

 

[Tim Walker]

A bit of misdirection-hints of other franchises.

Firefly, for example. As I recall, there was kanji writing on the hull of the Serenity. And the scripts included Chinese curses.

 

[uniderth]

Another thought I had recently is you could make the "Star Trek" of the Star Trek universe. What was the science fiction franchise that started in the 1960s of the Star Trek universe that our characters grew up watching? Thank could be in interesting take as a knock off.

No, I'm not making Star Trek. I'm making Star Trek's Star Trek.

 

[Tim Walker]

There could be a serial number painted on the hull. A generic serial number, however. None of this "N.C.C." stuff.

In effect, yes, a serial number, but with part of the serial number filed off.

 

[Tim Walker]

The uniforms would all show off the arms (male) or cleavage (female), maybe they'd even be patterned after cheerleader uniforms which the show would be trying to sell as ironic.

One could use fabric glue to turn cheerleader uniforms into Starship uniforms. Just glue on NASA patches and military insignia.

 

[Orphalesion]

One could use fabric glue to turn cheerleader uniforms into Starship uniforms. Just glue on NASA patches and military insignia.

Yup that's the idea. Cheerleader Uniforms in vaguely Star-Trekky colours with Nasa patches glued onto them.
But remember, they're ironic. They are definitely not there to show off the bodies of the hot 25 year olds with whom we have filled the cast so that viewers will tune in. No way.

 

[Tim Walker]

Absolutely correct. There is no way that we would try to use sex appeal by casting beautiful young women and handsome young men. Never!

 

[Tim Walker]

Rahul mentioned robots and ray guns.

Sponsoring research into such weapons, the Pentagon uses the term Directed Energy Weapon (DEW). Another term I have seen is beam weapon.

If the producer determines that the characters should carry DEW side arms, it will become important to acquire props that look like futuristic weapons.

I thought back many years. I was in a toy store. I noticed some squirt guns and thought that they looked very futuristic.

 

[fireproof78]

I personally love looking at toy guns as they often look very futuristic. Nerf, laser tag and the like would be easy props to create.

Also, I found the source of inspiration for my uniforms:

 

[Maurice]

Rahul mentioned robots and ray guns.

Sponsoring research into such weapons, the Pentagon uses the term Directed Energy Weapon (DEW). Another term I have seen is beam weapon.

If the producer determines that the characters should carry DEW side arms, it will become important to acquire props that look like futuristic weapons.

I thought back many years. I was in a toy store. I noticed some squirt guns and thought that they looked very futuristic.

In two starship simulator games I worked on the rayguns were called Enhanced Beam Weapons or EBWs.

 

[Forbin]

From what I understand, Fuller's original idea was an anthology showing different periods in Trek history, so the TOS/pre-TOS parts would presumably have been retro-looking to fit with that era, instead of the pre-TOS show with technology indistinguishable from the Picard show like what we ended up with.

I was way ahead of my time when I came up with that idea almost 20 years ago!
I was thinking an anthology series that rotated time periods weekly, basically 4 different Trek shows with different casts and plots, rotating in the same weekly time slot.

 

[Lord Garth]

I'd go for the gold. I'd make it a parody of '50s and '60s sci-fi.

 

[Tim Walker]

OK, any ideas regarding the design of the ship? The name of the ship?

 

[fireproof78]

Apollo.

 

[Lord Garth]

OK, any ideas regarding the design of the ship? The name of the ship?

It's gotta look like a rocket. The phallic shape is being true to Gene's Vision... Gene's Other Vision.

I'd call it the Lexington. It was a naval ship in the Civil War and fought on the side of the Union. And it sounds like a Star Trek name.

 

[Tim Walker]

I would suggest that a saucer section is iconic to Trek. But that leaves a lot of other possibilities.