What's the earliest a show can be set and still be Star Trek?

[Lord Garth]

I gotta be honest, I'd totally be up for a series set aboard the SS Valiant...

That would be interesting. I have a theory that the Vulcans used the SS Valiant as an excuse to tell Humans, "There. You see? You're not ready for deep-space exploration yet." The Vulcans -- who'd be one of the antagonists -- would be hoping the Valiant would fail.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Plus, we would probably get the explanation I've been longing for, re: how the Valiant could have been built and launched so soon after WW III.

 

[Elder Knight]

A starship gets sucked into a weird wormhole that sends them back quadtrillions of years ago....and find themselves in a strange realm.

They could go back to the Dawn of Time and have an encounter with ancient Mayans.

I'm surprised that nobody has thought of that yet.

 

[Finn]

They could go back to the Dawn of Time and have an encounter with ancient Mayans.

I'm surprised that nobody has thought of that yet.

My idea predates that.

 

[Elder Knight]

My idea predates that.

If it ain't got Mayans, no deal!

 

[Vger23]

March 12, 1873

 

[Ovation]

One PM. I’m not really a morning person.

 

[fireproof78]

They could go back to the Dawn of Time and have an encounter with ancient Mayans.

One writing meeting during TMP was around the Mayans and the end of the world.

 

[Elder Knight]

One writing meeting during TMP was around the Mayans and the end of the world.

Featuring a certain Ellison!

 

[Arpy]

You could do a "For All Mankind" style scifi/alt history/soap set in the post-Phoenix era. You won't be trekking stars but it could be about the initial days of UESPA, the flights to other planets in the solar system, drama at home while the world is rebuilding and coming to terms with not being alone. You'd also have the drama of the loss of the Conestoga and Valiant flights.

There'd be room for the Kzinti conflicts, piracy, rogue colonies, Vulcan politics. I think a show set in the 2070s-2090's could work extremely well. Star Trek Liftoff

Yeah this is what came to me too. It would be a wretched and precarious time…still very dangerous too (maybe we lose some main characters along the way)…but, it could also be a time of statesmen/women and later lionized heroes who brought us back from the brink of total extinction. Including those who butted heads with each other as they did it. A bit 1776, a bit For All Mankind, a bit The Expanse.

Each alien you first introduced would be an opportunity to make a big thing that you did something different with each time. Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, Kzinti, Orions, Nausicaans, others…esp those in that scene from Journey to Babel. Also maybe you introduce a species that’s ubiquitous but that goes extinct by ENT.

 

[XCV330]

Yeah this is what came to me too. It would be a wretched and precarious time…still very dangerous too (maybe we lose some main characters along the way)…but, it could also be a time of statesmen/women and later lionized heroes who brought us back from the brink of total extinction. Including those who butted heads with each other as they did it. A bit 1776, a bit For All Mankind, a bit The Expanse.

Each alien you first introduced would be an opportunity to make a big thing that you did something different with each time. Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, Kzinti, Orions, Nausicaans, others…esp those in that scene from Journey to Babel. Also maybe you introduce a species that’s ubiquitous but that goes extinct by ENT.

In the early RPG I ran, we used Demerians as our default alien species like that as they were mentioned in ENT, and ECS had had contact with them, but they were never shown nor anything mentioned about them. We handled the Kzinti by having that particualr group of them be a nomadic hunter pack.

 

[Lord Garth]

^ Plus, we would probably get the explanation I've been longing for, re: how the Valiant could have been built and launched so soon after WW III.

Speculation Only: I think Earth, or one of Earth's nations/coalitions (more likely), had help from a third party species. If the Vulcans weren't going to help them get further into space, they'd turn to someone who would. Then it went bad. The Vulcans tightened their grip, and Earth felt dependent on them because they had no one else to turn to (including adversaries or potential adversaries the Vulcans might have). Then the Vulcans took advantage of that and tried to mold Humans into something they could deal with.

I don't think it was a straight line from First Contact to ENT. There were probably all kinds of twists and turns along the way.

 

[Henoch]

I gotta be honest, I'd totally be up for a series set aboard the SS Valiant...

Well, we all know that series ends in a boom.

 

[Paul Weaver]

Speculation Only: I think Earth, or one of Earth's nations/coalitions (more likely), had help from a third party species. If the Vulcans weren't going to help them get further into space, they'd turn to someone who would. Then it went bad. The Vulcans tightened their grip, and Earth felt dependent on them because they had no one else to turn to (including adversaries or potential adversaries the Vulcans might have). Then the Vulcans took advantage of that and tried to mold Humans into something they could deal with.

I don't think it was a straight line from First Contact to ENT. There were probably all kinds of twists and turns along the way.

certainly we know the kzinti were causing problems with humans in the late 21st century,

 

[Arpy]

certainly we know the kzinti were causing problems with humans in the late 21st century,

Cool ships too, right? The Valiant, Conestoga, ring ship Enterprise…when was the Bonaventure?

First journey to Alpha Centauri…what might they found there — “Preserved” Ancient Greeks or “little green men?”

 

[Tim Walker]

As for feeling like Trek... A ring ship era? Ring ships take humans as far out as Alpha Centauri, maybe even reach Barnards Star.

 

[Mudd]

Tuesday.

 

[The Wormhole]

Tuesday.

But enough about the Captain Harriman spin-off.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I'd really love to see a prequel series about the first interstellar flight. I think while Enterprise ended up in making their journey into space feel a little too 'safe' and welcoming, It should have been far more unforgiving. You had your communications at every opportunity, and while yes you had your hostile aliens, it still felt less like the hostile place that it could have been, in terms of a cold and lonely place with only your crew to keep you entertained . Think Alien crossed with Trek crossed with Hornblower, spanning a multi-year journey across our own galaxy, where the crew really are facing things for the first time.

 

[Snowdrop82]

Perhaps it could be a show set directly after Vulcan first contact, and show how humanity comes together under one government, and the subsequent initial interactions with the Vulcans.