How about a "Doctor Who" style Star Trek? I´m not talking a time lord as Captain or something like that (although that would be kinda cool)...but Who´s approach of a more flexible cast of main characters. I really like it how pretty much nobody is save...people come and go all the time.
Doctor Who style Trek?
- Thread starter FreddyE
- Start date
I like the flexibility of the cast idea. Not sure about the time travel though. It's alright in small doses, but not sure about a full Trek show about it.
I've always been in favour of the ER, CSI, professionals doing a job and that was their place of work for a while approach. They get transferred, or leave the service in variety of ways.
TNG could've been that, had either Picard stayed assimilated or Riker accepted either of the Captaincies that came his way. In a sense, there was promise early on when they took the step of killing off Tasha Yar and allowed a change of ship's Doctor the following year.
If the series lasts, they can always ask the original lead actor back for the final episode. Either back as their character, or as an alien... under make-up, to honour the part they played in making the show a success in the first place.
I also think the principle cast could be streamlined down to four or five, with others that come and go. Since those Travis Mayweather & Harry Kim guys don't get a fair share of the action across their runs anyway. Better not to sign them up for seven years and have that option of releasing the actor, if the character is neglected.
Even those moderately interesting, through their friendship with another character, like say a Malcolm Reed or a Pavel Chekov could do with having the option of going out in a blaze of glory.
TNG could've been that, had either Picard stayed assimilated or Riker accepted either of the Captaincies that came his way. In a sense, there was promise early on when they took the step of killing off Tasha Yar and allowed a change of ship's Doctor the following year.
If the series lasts, they can always ask the original lead actor back for the final episode. Either back as their character, or as an alien... under make-up, to honour the part they played in making the show a success in the first place.
I also think the principle cast could be streamlined down to four or five, with others that come and go. Since those Travis Mayweather & Harry Kim guys don't get a fair share of the action across their runs anyway. Better not to sign them up for seven years and have that option of releasing the actor, if the character is neglected.
Even those moderately interesting, through their friendship with another character, like say a Malcolm Reed or a Pavel Chekov could do with having the option of going out in a blaze of glory.
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As long as they don't take the LOST way and kill of main characters just to bring in front new characters. I can dig promotions and transfers, I think it would be something normal, because if somebody isn't promoted in 7 years professionally that shows some problems ... So yeah, I wouldn't mind, the only thing is to do it in a normal way.
Or if a character arrives at a point where he can´t possibly develop any further without becoming stale or boring.
Not bringing Picard back after assimilation, promoting Riker and keeping Shelby would have been a very interesting change to the dynamic IMHO.
Russel T Davies would be great "at the helm" of a new trek series IMHO.
If it ends up on Showtime, it would no doubt be more "natural" if by that you mean, without the broadcast imposed style of being sanitized and limited in the emotional impact of events (episodic style) because that is contrary to what the premium cable audience expects, even in genre shows.
Having the show be Earth based would destroy a key feature of Star Trek, that it's different from the zillion sci fi series set on modern day Earth. The basic Gary Seven concept is very familiar on TV today, but I want a show based in space.
Rotating the characters would be good, since as has been mentioned many times, it's realistic for the military anyway.
Having the show be Earth based would destroy a key feature of Star Trek, that it's different from the zillion sci fi series set on modern day Earth. The basic Gary Seven concept is very familiar on TV today, but I want a show based in space.
Rotating the characters would be good, since as has been mentioned many times, it's realistic for the military anyway.
Drago-Kazov
Fleet Captain
A 3-6 six episode DTI miniseries could work if its done well.
I've been actually been thinking that it would be cool to have a captain that's kind of "Doctor-ish" in personality. Maybe two or three characters are with him for the long haul, but others come and go...
All the characters should come and go, that's what makes it realistic for the military. The lead character shouldn't be magically immune from being transferred or killed. I like the idea of a big cast of characters in which many characters are important but any could be killed without warning and without following the expected rules of TV, a la Game of Thrones.
Alterntatively, you could have a show that follows one character through all their transfers, regardless of what ship they are assigned to. It would be the most interesting if this character was someone other than an obvious lead character type like a ship's captain. How about someone without particular power within the Starfleet command structure - an outsider like Quark, a Romulan spy, a Harry Mudd type rogue who keeps having run-ins with Starfleet?
Alterntatively, you could have a show that follows one character through all their transfers, regardless of what ship they are assigned to. It would be the most interesting if this character was someone other than an obvious lead character type like a ship's captain. How about someone without particular power within the Starfleet command structure - an outsider like Quark, a Romulan spy, a Harry Mudd type rogue who keeps having run-ins with Starfleet?
I dunno if I'd call the approach you describe as "Doctor Who" style, but I'd like to see it regardless. It's probably closest to Battlestar, where characters got promoted/transferred/mustered out, but still had roles on the show. Someone like Picard could've easily left Starfleet and become an Ambassador (as shown in the Star Trek: Countdown mini) and still have an occasional role on a Trek show.
Don't start that!
That's what I don't want, I want a large cast where you can't really tell who the lead character is and nobody is safe. Make it dangerous and unpredictable! The characters are supposed to be in a risky profession, the show should deal with that honestly for a change.
Star Trek doesn't need an anchor character because Starfleet is the anchor character. That's why there could be several series which have all-new characters and no or only minor overlap. But Star Trek without Starfleet is hard to envision.
Yeah, I liked this idea as far back as Babylon 5, which had more than the usual character changes. The mindset with the Trek franchise always seemed to be "Look how iconic our original crew became....so let's try to recreate that, no matter if it's not working or not."
So you'd end up with characters like Harry Kim, or Travis Mayweather.....characters which got stuck in a Catch-22 limbo. The writers didn't do much interesting with them, so the fans never really cared much for them, so the writers didn't do anything interesting with them.
So then they're just sort of "there" because, hey, that's how it's supposed to be on a Trek show. My philosophy was and still is "If you can't write numerous interesting stories about a cast member on an ensemble, then get rid of them and bring in someone that you can do this for."
7 of 9 is an example of one time when they actually did something like this......but they never really repeated that, and if they had, then they could've gone back to a more ensemble like show instead of having so many 7 of 9 eps.
The original crew is iconic and their place is aboard the Enterprise.....the rest? It should be more like Babylon 5 in the sense that when all is said and done, their time on the ship or station is simply one part of their lives. Not the end all be all of it. Like real life.
Well, in Dr. Who, the real main character is the TARDIS; so in any follow on Trek, the main character could be the starship.
Honestly though; I’ve thought something along these lines should have been employed long ago with many military style shows. People transfer, they retire, they enlist, they receive commissions, and sometimes they die or get wounded.
If they launched a new show, they could easily sign actors and actresses up for half season, full season, two season, and three season contracts; with the bulk being the half season. The reduced amount of time each would be signed up for, should drive the costs down, and with the prospect of only being around for half a season, shouldn’t type cast to many actors/actresses into their roles.
Then, as the show progresses, characters could come and go; the audience would never know if the person is going to stick around, or is going to get transferred/killed off.
The impact of a red shirt dying, after you’ve seen them in three or four episodes would be much more devastating, and add a since of realism to the show, few have seen before.
It would be awesome, to have the XO beam down, three or four times with Ensign Charlie Smith; then mid season, after having seen Ensign Smith a few times, having developed some interaction with him; suddenly he dies. Or, Lt JG Jones, in Engineering; being transferred after two seasons.
In many ways, this is exactly what DS9 did with Worf and Obrien; bringing them over from TNG; and developing new stories.
Honestly though; I’ve thought something along these lines should have been employed long ago with many military style shows. People transfer, they retire, they enlist, they receive commissions, and sometimes they die or get wounded.
If they launched a new show, they could easily sign actors and actresses up for half season, full season, two season, and three season contracts; with the bulk being the half season. The reduced amount of time each would be signed up for, should drive the costs down, and with the prospect of only being around for half a season, shouldn’t type cast to many actors/actresses into their roles.
Then, as the show progresses, characters could come and go; the audience would never know if the person is going to stick around, or is going to get transferred/killed off.
The impact of a red shirt dying, after you’ve seen them in three or four episodes would be much more devastating, and add a since of realism to the show, few have seen before.
It would be awesome, to have the XO beam down, three or four times with Ensign Charlie Smith; then mid season, after having seen Ensign Smith a few times, having developed some interaction with him; suddenly he dies. Or, Lt JG Jones, in Engineering; being transferred after two seasons.
In many ways, this is exactly what DS9 did with Worf and Obrien; bringing them over from TNG; and developing new stories.
The main character in Star Trek is not the starship, since there have been series in which the Enterprise does not appear. If you mean any old starship, including Voyager and the Defiant, those are still just stand-ins for Starfleet.
As long as its a Starfleet ship, then yeah, we're good to go. If the main character ship is a garbage scow piloted by Harry Mudd, is that still Star Trek? Not for my money it ain't. The definition is pretty flexible but not that flexible.
As long as its a Starfleet ship, then yeah, we're good to go. If the main character ship is a garbage scow piloted by Harry Mudd, is that still Star Trek? Not for my money it ain't. The definition is pretty flexible but not that flexible.
That is what is realistic for today's military. And not knowing anything about non-American military habits, possibly even just the American military.
A hundred years ago someone joined a regiment and stayed in that regiment. You were promoted, if an enlisted man, when your captain felt like it and demoted when he found someone better. You were promoted, if an officer, when the guy above died or retired or when the guy above him died or retired.
The modern approach to constant rotation developed after WWII when the military consciously attempted to make sure troops were used to working with new people to eliminate the "Doomed Replacement" stigma, because draftees were often around for a little while, while the unit never moved, and because of the rather interesting "up or out" policy where any officer who isn't good enough for promotion is kicked out even if he is great at his current job.
Starfleet is NOT the U.S. navy in space. I don't know why people think it needs to operate like it. If nothing else, the fact that it keeps it ships in space for years on end means that it makes sense to keep crews together for that long. I remember reading that when TNG started there was an idea that the Enterprise was on a 25 year mission--if that was the case, why would they launch a ship that would need to transfer all of its crew away every couple of years.
Ignoring the idea that realism means copying the U.S. Navy of 2012 for any spaceship show, Starfleet has consistently shown that it has no problem with crews staying together for years on end and with people refusing promotion and staying in one job indefinitely. Riker may have jeopardized is career by staying under Picard, but the only time that ever threatened him was when Shelby implied that he should get out of the way, not that he would ever be forced out.
Kill off characters when the story demands it. Don't lock yourself into a set cast of seven for seven years. I agree with all of that. But don't change the cast to seem more "realistic."
That reminds me of this story from last week.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/09/28/aircraft_carriers_in_space
Ships in space do not behave like ships on the sea, so modeling warfare after aircraft carriers, submarines, and ships of the line doesn't make sense. Similarly, modelling crew rotations after current naval policies doesn't make it any more accurate either. If you want to replace a character because the story demands it, great. If you want to replace a character because the actor wants to move on, that works too. You can even replace a character because the actor got too expensive. But you shouldn't replace a character just for the sake of copying the current US Navy.
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