Speaking for myself, here are my hopes for the future of Star Trek. First , sorry Kelvin fans, but I really hope Abrams's Trek films (Trek 09, STID, and Beyond), are 100% ignored. Along with the Kelvin films, I am not a fan of the destruction of Romulus. The Romulans are my favorite nemesis of the Federation in TOS , TNG, and DS9. Their featured episodes are among my favorite in the series. I would like to see the thawing of relations between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire, which was hinted at the end of Star Trek Nemesis. The concept of traditionalist Romulans who have a deep belief that they are the superior race who hate idea of thawing relations vs Romulans who believe in peace along with the Romulans who believe in the reunification movement could become a interesting conflict. Therefore, I want Romulus to be intact. Second, I would like to see the "New Generation" taking place in the early or at the start of 2400s. A post Voyager and post Nemesis series era is something I've wanting to see after seeing Nemesis back in 2002. This way, we can see return of classic characters from the "Next Generation era", such as TNG, DS9, and Voyager from time to time. This can also work to the advantage that characters from past series can look their age, in both canon and real world age. Also, have a reformat of the look for "Star Trek", similar to TOS -> TOS films -> TNG. I like the idea of the new series having 100% original Star fleet uniforms, but by the end of the series have the uniforms first seen in "All Good Things". Third, I would like the see how Starfleet , the Klingon Empire, and Romulan Empire , in the Beta and Alpha quadrant are dealing with the affects of a post Dominion War. I've always liked the idea that a generation of Starfleet officers and enlisted (the older ones) have to deal with losing alot of friends and family due to the war. The last entries of DS9 and Star Trek Nemesis were very depressing with war, death, full scale slaughter, and destruction (in Star Trek's favor). I like the idea of a "rebuilding, expanding, and exploring. Heck leading into my next point the idea of Cardassians and Ferengi joining StarFleet could be interesting, more so with the Cardassians. Realistically speaking a lot of feelings/conflict could come out of this having coming from a race that fought against the Alpha and Beta quadrant races. Fourth, ever since I started playing Star Trek Online last Sept, I like the idea of a slightly more selection of alien races with larger roles. Myself, I would like to see a Andorian ( I prefer a female) on the senior officer staff. I would like to see at least a 2 aliens that have large roles in the senior staff. I am getting kind of tired only 1 alien out of 9 humans in the series. The less humanoids the better when it comes to this idea of 2. Data may have been an Android, but he was "human" enough. Wolf and Spock were the only characters, I really felt like that came from a alien cultures. Neelix doesn't count. A side note: I would be "ok" if someone in the series mentioned that Spock died of natural causes, to give his character a respectful end.
This may seem like a small thing, but instead of having it be set in the middle of the century it takes place in, I'd like to see it start around the beginning (2400s). So it's in line with the idea of a new century, fresh new possibilities, optimism, instead of being more than midway thru and looking ahead to the next one already. Like we are (it's 2017, not 2067). The destruction of Romulus would also set us up for a story arc that involves people being displaced and unsure where they belong. Let's have a show that people can watch as a family. That doesn't gloss over hard issues but doesn't bathe us in blood and evil either.
The only way I can see the Trek timeline moving forward beyond Nemesis, is to skip beyond some apocalypse where all the magical supertech (transwarp beaming, godmode armour, commbadge-sized transporters, nanoprobes reversing death etc) is lost. Unless they embrace all of that, and show us a series about humanity taking it's first steps toward becoming Q (which I'd love to see, but it wouldn't be the post-VOY comfort food Trek most seem to want)
I wonder if it could simply be stated that the super tech has inherent problems and we don't see it for that reason. It was close to a miracle that it even worked once or a few times. It's cutting edge stuff and kills more people than it saves?
Or it's difficult to replicate. Maybe Admiral Janeway was somewhat responsible and made sure the Future tech disappears after getting Voyage home. Or they can just shrug. Like they did in STB (what supper transporters)
Section 31 grabbed up all the future tech Voyager brought with them. Before they had a chance to do anything, late one night, the temporal police swooped in, and took it away with them. Problem solved.
I don't see why an apocalypse or being a stepping stone towards becoming Q-like is necessary. I think there's a happy medium between the two options. I think a series taking place in say the 2430s could work. In the aftermath of the Dominion War and Section 31 being publicly exposed, I suspect humanity and the Federation would realize while they've come a long way they still have a long way to go. I think the self-righteous attitude sometimes exhibited in the TNG era would be replaced with a bit more humility and perhaps a more Kirk-like attitude. As far as technology goes, some of the advanced tech seen were one-off situations. However, others would probably be able to be utilized. The key would be establishing rules so the tech wouldn't seem magical, but simply more advanced than we currently have. Transwarp beaming, for example, seems like it could work because there seems to be some natural limitations to it. For instance, if there's not a proper receiving pad, transwarp beaming seems quite dangerous. You could easily be transported into rock or merged into someone or materialize in a warp core. Quantam slipstream drive tech seems like a tech that wouldn't come off as magical whereas there could be limits to it, but at the same time it would be more advanced than TNG era tech.
Gotta agree with the OP. I feel the last really good Star Trek material was the trio of shows, TNG, DS9, and Voyager, and that going backwards just isn't enjoyable, especially with trying to do completely different timelines. I agree with the position that we need something new, to advance the timeline. I think going forward there's many options available, especially leaving on points such as everything about the Delta Quadrant now, the Borg suffering major setbacks, the Dominion War's impact, Species 8472 (Undine), etc. There's just so many things that could be delved into and deliver excellent content with if they decide to ever propel further. But I doubt they will anytime soon until someone hands them content on a silver platter. I mainly believe this because I think they find it easier to just go back and use stuff like Kirk and Spock to get attention, and putting stuff around the same time/era as TOS. Pure laziness and greed is what I'd attribute it to, honestly. I may be wrong, and someone feel free to disagree and/or correct me, but that's how I see it. It's just easier in their eyes to shoehorn in new crap that just really doesn't fit properly into times around Kirk and Spock, or put in an entire alternate universe just to make more money off of the characters. Honestly I've even been doing a bit of writing for ideas and such to advance things myself to see if that ever could get anywhere. Doubtful, but worth a shot in my opinion. Would love to be able to re-capture what made the series great and continue things in the timeline. Hopefully if things do advance, it will re-ignite a love for Star Trek with a lot more people, and maybe even get them to go back over some of the older stuff, too.
Leave the 25th century to Star Trek Online and the lit-verse and go straight to the 26th century and the Enterprise-J.
2320s -- about 30 years after TUC and about 40 years before TNG. Refitted Enteprise-B with a new crew embarking on a new 5-year exploration mission into uncharted space. Sideline the interstellar politics because we already know nothing can override what comes later in TNG. Focus on fresh characters and new worlds "out there" -- new worlds and races and sci-fi/fantasy stories. Exploration into the unknown. Cut the ship off from Daddy Federation but make it intentional and not accidental like Voyager. This would allow them to combine the familiar Trek aesthetic and tech with new storytelling possibilities without getting bogged down or restrained by canon. If the TV series is successful, have this new crew launch the Enterprise-C in 2332 for a new film trilogy. Nothing in canon ever stated that Herriman (or Sulu's daughter) was the last Ent-B captain or that Rachel Garret was the only Ent-C captain. There's a gap there that can be filled.
I think the problem going forward in Trek is that our current expectation of the future outpaces Trek's own future. It already seems quaint in the newer productions of what they don't have that we will be far beyond once we've reached those same times. Once we have smart clothes, we'll have phones imbedded in our clothes, so Trek shouldn't have flip communicators, or comm badges, just the shirt on their back, as one example of where tech is going. 26 century Trek could show us this, but it should be 22 century tech instead.
I was going to read this thread, but got sidetracked by a few things: 1. Wishing for a new Van Halen album with Sammy Hagar returning 2. Waiting for someone to say that Al Gore really won the election 3. Hoping that a team besides the Patriots would win the AFC East Folks...get off it...the fanwanky "Post -Nemesis / Dominion War Aftermath" series ain't happening.
Yeah, what could these people be thinking, actually discussing Star Trek on a Star Trek discussion site! This is the big thing. There are big gaps of Trek history where little if anything is known about what happens. We know brief spots here and there. Override no, but what happens in the interim is all but unknown. Especially if the new show stays away from old and tired established species/events and venture out and discovers and examines newly created species and areas of space and situations. THis is why I think that only going "beyond Nemesis" to find new things is a flawed idea. A show could be set prior to Nemesis and be new and fresh, A show could even be set concurrent to a prior show and have a separate identity (with the exception of the Dominion war period). The Federation is vast, and The space outside of it more so.
So, in the future when enemies capture officers, instead of taking a communicator or ripping off the badge, they have to rip the shirts off? So, how many female members will be on this crew? And will Trek become "_________"-ist for doing it? There's always a knee-jerker out there waiting to decry something for being blank-ist.