How far is too far?

[c0rnedfr0g]

I'd like to see a Trek series set 5 billion years in the future, as humans (and everyone else) must leave Earth before it is engulfed by our red giant sun. Maybe there aren't even pure humans left, just mixtures of races.

Would this future setting be too far off to be appealing? As far as I know, there aren't any science fiction shows set that far in the future.

 

[Admiral2]

I'd like to see a Trek series set 5 billion years in the future, as humans (and everyone else) must leave Earth before it is engulfed by our red giant sun. Maybe there aren't even pure humans left, just mixtures of races.

Would this future setting be too far off to be appealing? As far as I know, there aren't any science fiction shows set that far in the future.

Maybe because, that far in the future, humanity will probably have long left the Earth anyway, or evolved into something none of us would recognize as "human."

Dude, it's 5 billion years!

 

[Captain Ryan]

I'd watch it, but I don't think it would last. A show about a time period that far in the future would be hard to relate to, so it would be cancelled in its second or third season. I would just watch it to see what they (the writers) think the Earth will look like that far in the future.

 

[Kaziarl]

There wasn't an entire show about it, But there was an episode of Babylon 5 that touched on that subject. The last "Human" collects the entire recorded history of earth, turns into an energy being, then enters a suit similar to what the Vorlons used during the rest of the series. The scene itself was set moments before the sun went nova, and the character is the last human to flee and join the others.

 

[Kelso]

I'd like to see a Trek series set 5 billion years in the future, as humans (and everyone else) must leave Earth before it is engulfed by our red giant sun. Maybe there aren't even pure humans left, just mixtures of races.

Would this future setting be too far off to be appealing? As far as I know, there aren't any science fiction shows set that far in the future.

Gene spelled it out pretty well in the original Trek pitch...

The TIME could be 1995 or even 2995- close enough to our times for our continuing cast to be people like us, but far enough into the future for galaxy travel to be fully established.

Whitfield p.23

IMO, this is the only setting that a future Star Trek show needs.

Maybe because, that far in the future, humanity will probably have long left the Earth anyway, or evolved into something none of us would recognize as "human."

Dude, it's 5 billion years!

I wish the producers of Doctor Who thought like you.

 

[C.E. Evans]

5 billion years from now, the Human race would have long since transcended to a higher plane of existence and would probably have surpassed the Q at that point.

A show with no Humans might appeal to very young audiences but probably not to most audiences, IMO...

...unless Humans evolve into Time Lords, that is.

 

[captcalhoun]

How far is too far?

further than 'Not far enough'

 

[Timewalker]

Earth will cease to be habitable long before that point anyway. While the Sun has ~5 billion years, Earth does not. Our atmosphere will be lost, our oceans will boil away, and the land will become molten -- in essence, Earth will revert to what it was billions of years ago when it was a very young planet.

Humans, by that time, will have either evolved into another species or become extinct.

And Doctor Who has had episodes taking place even farther in the future than this.

 

[friedebarth]

Yeah. By that time Humans would look like Organians or be part of the Q continuum, as stated in Star Trek: Myriad Universes.