If we want Trek to be allegorical, we'd also have to consider that the nature and definition of war has changed. Rather, pockets of humanity seem kinda bent on trying to commit the most atrocities without declaring such a label -- the same reason why the nations these days tend to use the word "conflict" or "engagement" rather than the term war itself whenever it can. Things like genocide and slave trading and resource rights and drug massacres and terrorism and territorial disputes still happen, don't get me wrong, but it's as if countries are trying to do the bare minimum and in many ways, that's just as if not more insidious than war itself. With that said, I'm really reminded of a lot of TNG episodes that focused on such disputes, where the crew would have an episode that involved decades or even centuries of war on a planet or two and would need to intervene. Picard would try his diplomatic best to find a solution, Worf and Riker would be ready for combat at a moment's notice, Crusher would brace for the worst. And to me, that kind of attention to localized conflict seems really more relatable than just outright declaring war for the sake of onscreen violence. A Star Trek equivalent of a World War is one thing, but in the real world, individual countries have their own struggles and they shouldn't be overlooked, either. I liked the Dominion War as a whole, but I wish some of the smaller nations were explored -- those who decided to fight, those who joined the Romulans in remaining neutral (at least from the start), those who joined the Dominion. I'm sure they all had their own individual reasons for their roles in the war, and they're probably deep, emotional reasons. That's good for a story or two.
And how many of those are as good as the serialized TV shows on cable? How many people say NCIS is on the same of level of story telling as Breaking Bad? How much of these episodic TV dramas on the networks are just mindless comfort food compared to the real meat we see on cable? When people talk about this being the golden age of television, they are talking about the great serialized dramas on cable, not the stuff on the networks. Not having a serialized story at this point, means Star Trek is not taking full advantage of what the medium of television can do in terms of story. I think increasing episodic television is the way of the past and serialized television is the way of the future.
I wouldn't mind seeing a major war that erupts in a story arc that may span a couple of episodes, but definitely not to the extent that it was in DS9. And even then, it shouldn't be something that's indicative of the entire series.
War is all action and battles and glory and honour and sacrifice--which has been done in Trek and loads of other TV shows. I think the next series should be set after a war, where the focus is on rebuilding planets, ships, relationships; dealing with the fallout of conflict, the devastated aggressor having to accept help from their adversary for help, the tensions that causes between and among both sides. Its not the big flashy NuTrek-esque style, but the hard work, dedictation and resiliency of the characters that drive storylines and plot, making it a series of substance.
I'd prefer it to be primarily about exploration. Whether or not there should be a war involved I'm not so sure about that. I do believe more and more that any new Trek series will need to be more of a story arc rather than episodic nowadays but there are plenty of other ways to do it rather than war. How that can be done I'll leave to more creative people to come up with as I'm not a very creative person to say the least. That's my thoughts about it anyway.
I think that's a feeling a lot of people share but the thing is TOS, TNG, Voyager, and DS9 (on some respects) did that. I'd rather see a series where the galaxy has been explored (at least mapped out to major powers in their space. Borg space, Dominion space, Federation space, Gorn space, Hirogen space, etc.). That series would be about the Federation and their peace keeping armada and would focus on the top fleet and several captains, each with their own major skill (a captain you send for diplomatic missions, a captain you send to take out a threat or escort someone, a captain you send on a journey to resupply multiple settlements, even that solo explorer captain) where one or two meet up for various reasons and ultimately end a season or the series on all of them gathering for a Borg invasion or something. I liked what Bry_Sinclair said because my series would focus on the topics she mentioned. I'd rather see that instead of another point and click adventure.
I'll chime in with liking the post-war idea. Having a series without some aspect of war is foolish. Every series has incorporated it so far (some more than others), as have several of the movies. Despite that it's not "Star Wars", Star Trek often involves the threat of war. As to serial vs. episodic (which could be its own thread...), it's true that genre shows these days are doing the serial approach, and that the most acclaimed shows are serial. As much as I love the serial shows, I think a new series would have to retain the ability to be episodic from time to time (or at least accessible), but that always comes at a cost of people bitching about ignoring the plot. At the very least though, an episodic show is going to require threads amongst episodes, actual character development, and short arcs. A show like TOS isn't going to fly today. Even the aforementioned popular series on TV aren't that episodic.
Sometimes I like to throw various Trek ideas around in my mind and one of my favorite ideas is actually very close to that. One difference though, would be that The Federation while victorious in the conflict is actually the side that suffered more causalities and damage. This would of course mean that there might be some Star Fleet personnel who are very resentful towards their former enemies and perhaps even the newly signed peace treaty.
Which is pretty much all we got starting with later episodes of TNG. The universe felt explored. We just kept running into the same bumpy-headed aliens week in, week out. Even on VOY, it felt like we were just getting more of the same. I'd like to get back to exploration, but with a Trek series in which Kirk and Spock explore a galaxy that still seems mysterious and full of wonder. Dump virtually all of Berman-Trek influence, bring in some SF authors, and let their imaginations take Kirk and Spock into a really alien universe.
It's not like they can introduce new major powers or anything. Enterprise did that and it didn't work out for them.
This. There was no sense of wonder or adventure in the later series. I forget who, but a poster called the Berman-derived series "L.A. Law in Space" and I think they hit the nail on the head. The shows got increasing set in their ways and never deviated from those ways. Sure they can. The issues with Enterprise was fandom constantly bitching about "why didn't we hear about this species or event in the later series?!?" That and the series being generally uninspiring.
If Enterprise had started with the Earth-Romulan War and ended with the birth of what would be the Federation, that would have been a bad-ass story arc. Could have done Tholians and Gorn more consistently with cgi. It could have explored and introduced us to the wonders of the original series, but with a rougher "wooden-sailing ship" sort of feel, blind and infant in space, no idea what's out there, etc. A war in a new series? It would have to be a really menacing war, but that could work. Or you could go to the future and explore other galaxies, meet species that are non humanoid, get really heady, next gen style but realistic and not so after-school-specially.
No. As it was already said, it's not StarWars! Could I be asking for too much, or would it not be cool for the interest to start sparking of traveling any farther? I'd like to see the same concept for the Enterprise in ToS, but any time around the 2380s would be cool! Maybe a series where we follow 2 or 3 ships instead of just one. And they're exploring the deeper regions of our galaxy, maybe finally starting to look farther?
You can say I am old. Not so old to recall 48 or 49 stars on the American Flag when I was a teenager. Still, since America has been in two wars since 2001. And, DS9 had a war during the series. DS9 is so hard to find in reruns, but TNG and Voyager can be noticed in reruns. I think one of the major reasons Enterprise failed, because they were dealing with a war when America was knee deep in wars. If a new series has a war or going to have a war, I would watch it but I will not be in love with the new series.