10 best Star Trek story ideas?

[I am not Spock]

Cogenitor was awesome and absolutely one of Treks 10 best story ideas. It was also quite original.. all the great story ideas I've thought of to post here weren't very original.

The Borg were a great idea too. At their best they were both terrifying and full of pathos because you knew that drone was once a person like you and might still be a person somewhere deep inside, under all the circuitry. And yet the drone's mission was to take away your own personhood in the most horrifying way.

As a true Borg enthusiast, I can tell you that what you just wrote is positively correct. And that is why, I think, that people are drawn to the Borg. We relate because the Borg drones were and are people like us, assimilated into a world of the Hive Mind and unified "individuality" in the hopes of achieving perfection. We fear them because, in their drive towards universal perfection, they are required to take our individuality away from us; but at the same time we empathise with them because they were once individuals like us, with emotions, hopes, dreams, and Life.

So I agree 100% that the Borg were a truly unique and creative idea and theme, and should definately be up there on the charts!

The Borg, I agree, are a terrifying concept. The absolute antithesis of individuality, of freedom of thought. It's very fitting that they were created in the 80s, a decade where we were still very afraid of technology and the effects it would have on our lives. Many films of that era use that theme (WarGames, Terminator, etc).

 

[SgtPinback]

Someone mentioned a ship lost far from home already, but couple that with the idea of integrating a crew of terrorists with a starfleet crew and you've got a recipe for awesome.

Sigh.

Edit to add episode titles
Caretaker
Parallax

And then it seems to fizzle out for the rest of the series.

Agreed 100%. I'm a fan of the premise of early Voyager, but not many of the actual Voyager episodes per se.

 

[SgtPinback]

Sorry if this is considered a threadjack (and if you're a true Trekkie/ Trekker, you have to say that three times fast in a spooky voice: Threadjac! Threadjac! Threadjac!), but I've posted a bunch of Star Trek Mashups to my LiveJournal. In my seldom humble opinion, most of my plotlines are at least as coherent as, um, stuff we've seen on TV.

http://science-officer.livejournal.com/6990.html

A sample:

"Yesteryear's Enterprise"
Spock is replaced by an Andorian, and travels back in time (Spock does, not the Andorian) to seek the aid of his (Spock's) beloved Teddy Ruxpin "iChaya," which has been loaded with a specially-encoded cassette tape belonging to the Ferengi Mafia, who wish to sell the Teddy Ruxpin on fBay, which is the Ferengi eBay, only more so than regular eBay. (Philosophical note: if a Ferengi were in the Mafia... how could you tell?) Hot on his trail: Denise Crosby and Gabriel Koerner. [... ...] A Classic Trek-style communicator beeps inconveniently, giving away a concealed Gabriel Koerner, who angrily opens the communicator and shouts, above the noise of a howling Vulcan sandstorm, "Piotr, this is the worst time you could have called! Go away!" (Why he would get a call from Chekov's imaginary brother is never specified.)

I've put an 'adult content notice' on the article since it's intended for grownups. Grownups, however, might be a little let down by the fact that it doesn't have much in the way of actual profanity... some of the material is just not for kids.

Sgt. Pinback,
A.K.A. science_officer

 

[Anji]

Any story that knocks humanity. The universe does not center around us.

 

[SFRabid]

Any story that knocks humanity. The universe does not center around us.

My universe does. As long as humans is the species watching ST then...

 

[buckeyenation]

Spock's Brain

The Way to Eden

No, really. Two really crappy episodes, in my opinion, but the concepts were creative.

The Way To Eden did have a very cool concept, but my God was it ever poorly done.One of the few Trek episodes that should be best forgotten by all

 

[Mirror_Barclay]

the Mirror Universe!

 

[JiNX-01]

Spock's backstory.
The Vulcan-Romulan connection.
The extra-galactic invasion in TNG's Conspiracy. (wish they had followed through on it).
Voyager (a good idea unrealized)
Enterprise (the series)
Mirror Universe
Borg (without the Queen)
Q (TNG version)

 

[Shazam!]

Star Trek V

 

[plynch]

One that I did not see mentioned.

Sim - The concept of cloaning as a means to provide transplantable organs is something I can see being debated in the future.

Now, even.

 

[scotpens]

Just stick the word “space” before a word that it wouldn't usually go before and you get some of the best ideas around. Examples:
Space Amoeba
Space Lincoln
Space Jellyfish
Space Octopus

Space Gangsters
Space Hippies
Space Mail-Order Brides
Space Insane Asylum
Space Romans/Greeks/American Indians
Space Gunfight at the OK Corral
Space Jack the Ripper
Space Shakespeare

And third-season producer Fred Freiberger's oft-quoted impression of what Star Trek was all about:
Tits in Space!

the Mirror Universe!

The Mirror Universe, while not an original concept (think Superman's Bizarro World, for one), was a great idea. It opened up a whole new range of story possibilities, not to mention giving us Spock with a goatee, Sulu with a scar, female Imperial Starfleet officers with their bellybuttons showing, and the Captain's Woman. (YESSSS!!)

 

[scotpens]

No one seems to have got the point of this thread whatsoever.
Maybe I will let it die and post a new one in a couple of weeks.

If your intent was to solicit opinions regarding specific episodes that had the best story ideas, perhaps you weren't making yourself quite clear.

I've always thought “This Side of Paradise” was one of TOS's best stories. Besides the tragedy of Leila's love for Spock that can never be fulfilled, it has a solid message about the work ethic that isn't driven home with a sledgehammer.

 

[Mirror_Barclay]

The Mirror Universe, while not an original concept (think Superman's Bizarro World, for one), was a great idea. It opened up a whole new range of story possibilities, not to mention giving us Spock with a goatee, Sulu with a scar, female Imperial Starfleet officers with their bellybuttons showing, and the Captain's Woman. (YESSSS!!)

It's often said there aren't any new ideas. Trek certainly put its own spin on the concept (some of the details you mention have become the standard tropes) and executed it quite well.