A radical idea for a Trek reboot

[Danlav05]

So I was just in the shower thinking (as you do) and what if Picard, Sisko etc weren't 100 years in the future. What if they were in the same Century?

Say you did a TOS (or all Trek, with Enterprise still as the prequel) reboot, then obviously things would be different. Over seven seasons, relations with the Klingons would nearly lead to war then potentially improve and maybe the Khitomer Accords would be signed in the show's finale - rather than rush rush rush to sync with what we learnt in TNG. The Romulans are slightly easier - ever since the Romulan Wars they've been a bit recluse behind the Nuteral Zone.

So Picard, half way through the 5 Year Mission becomes Captain of the Excelsior, then somewhere down the line maybe an Enterprise as Sulu takes his ship. Worf would possibly be a renegade Klingon who convinces Starfleet to take him on, or he can be a version of General Worf from TUC.

Races such as the Ferengi, Cardassians, Bajorans, Betazed etc would be made First Contact with, and the Federation set up an outpost on an abandoned Cardassian space station calling it Deep Space Nine. A starship called Voyager is lost in the Badlands during it's maiden voyage.

Yuo get my drift. You start with a TOS reboot then in Year 3 start Excelsior. It's all about the CHARACTERS of Star Trek.

All in a period where Kirk and possibly Pike are Captain of the Enterprise on the first two missions or so, the other popular characters also exist. No More TOS vs TNG - TOS has got the focus ever since I say the New Voyages fan film got popularm but TNG still has a huge fanbase. A bit like the Marvel/DC Universes. So, they can all be involved in shared story arcs like how the books do Destiny/Typhon Pact.

I've seen reboot ideas where Saavik, Demora Sulu and even Admiral Jellico are there at the beginning of the 5 Year Misson, so this would be similar in moving timelines round - like the DC Universe (remember there was no shared universe at the start) but you would have to make sure there is an interesting backstory/history.

 

[Admiral2]

There's nothing "radical" about any of this. All you did was compress the timeline and jumble people around. That's not a reboot. Your new trek has to have a premise to go along with the jumbling. You can claim it's about the characters all you like, but what's the point if they have nothing new to do?

Also, I've said this a bunch of times: You can't reboot part of Trek unless you believe no series has any connection with any other series. You can't just reboot TOS. You can't just reboot TNG. You can't just change everything else and leave ENT alone if, as evidenced by canon, all these series take place along the same timeline. You change one thing, you change everything, because there is a cause and effect relationship to everything. I didn't go into my reboot saying "I'm going to reboot TOS." I went in saying "I'm rebooting Star Trek. Period."

 

[Danlav05]

There's nothing "radical" about any of this. All you did was compress the timeline and jumble people around. That's not a reboot. Your new trek has to have a premise to go along with the jumbling. You can claim it's about the characters all you like, but what's the point if they have nothing new to do?

Also, I've said this a bunch of times: You can't reboot part of Trek unless you believe no series has any connection with any other series. You can't just reboot TOS. You can't just reboot TNG. You can't just change everything else and leave ENT alone if, as evidenced by canon, all these series take place along the same timeline. You change one thing, you change everything, because there is a cause and effect relationship to everything. I didn't go into my reboot saying "I'm going to reboot TOS." I went in saying "I'm rebooting Star Trek. Period."

I take that as a challenge to rejig things in more detail. If you love something so much, then it is hard to change it for the sake of it. I'll need to explain every race/character's role in the cosmos, and where they fit in.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I've often wondered how the TNG crew would work in the TOS format, here are my thoughts:

Commanding Officer - Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Human)
Executive/Chief Helm Officer - Commander William Riker (Human)
Chief Medical Officer - Commander Beverly Crusher (Human)
Chief Science Officer - Lt. Commander Data (Android)
Chief Comm. Officer - Lt. Commander Deanna Troi (Betazoid/Human)
Chief Engineering Officer - Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (Human)
Chief Security Officer - Lieutenant Natasha Yar (Human)
Chief Navigation Officer - Ensign Wesley Crusher (Human)

 

[Danlav05]

OK this rebooting business is hard because you want to put a stamp on it, but you don't want to change certain things.


I'll go into specifics regarding characters, uniforms, ships, episodes etc at a later date, but for now here's the stuff leading up to Kirl's 5YM. Picard next!!


Note Enterprise has barely changed, as it's just backstory. I admit I tend to ignore that show, and wanted to get into the specifics of what comes after:


BACKSTORY

1992-1996
The covert battles between supermen later known as The Eugenics Wars. The supermen, as apart of an experiment, are frozen and sent adrift on the SS Botany Bay.

Late 21st Century
Zefram Cochrane creates the first warp drive, and this is noticed by Skonn, the first Vulcan to come to Earth in a damaged vessel. Combining the new warp engine and Vulcan technology, the Vulcans return home with Cochrane and a team of engineers – however within 10 years the humans successfully return home. Over the next 50 years, a small ‘Starfleet’ is formed between Earth and Vulcan, building the first major starships. Also by now there is a United Earth.
Many races are contacted such as the Andorians, Tellarites, Ferengi, Bolian and others

STAR TREK: To Boldly Go

22nd Century
Captain Jonathan Archer, son of Henry Archer, a member of Cochrane’s team, captain’s the first Warp 4 starship; USS ENTERPRISE NCC-1701 (We can invent a reason for this specific registration number). Other ships follow. By the end of the century, the United Federation of Planets is formed. Archer eventually serves 3 terms as the Federation President, and is present at the launch of NCC-1701-A

During this period, the Klingons are contacted for the first time. It is revealed they are a warrior race wishing to expand it’s empire. They are revealed to be paying Ferengi large chunks of latinum for their Government to provide spies on Earth. This provides Earth a reason to be paranoid. One of Archer’s last acts as Captain is to agree to sing the Organian Peace Treaty. Rocky relations with the Klingons still exist, though, as they failed to get involved in a war with a race known as the Romulans. A nuteral zone is established.

23rd Century - - - our main period
2265 – Pike takes command of Enterprise-A on a five year mission. [Pike is Captain for 2 seasons] His crew are:

XO: Commander James T Kirk
SCIENCE: Gary Mitchell
ENGINEERING: Scott
SECURITY: Tasha Yar (later transferred to Excelsior)
COMMS: Uhura
PILOT: Hikaru Sulu
CMO: Mark Piper

During this period, Captain Pike and Dr Piper disappear altogether. No one knows what became of them when he gets lost in a shuttle. (yes, this is going somewhere) James T Kirk is promoted to Captain of the Enterprise. Mitchell attempts to sabotage the Enterprise (obviously Mitchell's anger leads up to this) and the ship is destroyed.

Not deterred by recent events, Kirk forms a new crew for the Enterprise-B, for what is assigned as a Five Year Mission of exploration [5 Seasons]:


ENGINEERING: Montgomery Scott
XO/COMMS: Uhura
PILOT: Hikaru Sulu
CMO: Leonard McCoy
SCIENCE OFFICER/DIPLOMATIC ADVISOR: Mr. Spock
YOEMAN: Janice Rand
SECURITY/NAVIGATOR: Pavel Chekov



Leonard McCoy is Kirk's former country Doctor and a dear friend, who reluctantly agrees to go into space following a divorce.


Much to Kirk’s dismay, a young Vulcan named Spock is assigned as Diplomatic Advisor and Science Officer, due to Starfleet being concerned about Kirk and diplomacy. Spock is the son of a well respected Vulcan diplomat, Sarek, Federation Ambassador. It was Sarek, who’s lifelong interest in humans has helped relations between the two planets. Vulcan is home to a great Science Academy, which Spock graduated from with higher grades than anyone.


Spock is harbouring a big secret. Thousands of years ago, the Vulcans and Romulans were an almost joint people, but the Romulans rejected logic and reclused themselves behind a ‘Neutral Zone’. Spock and a small group of peers have been, undetected, across the border and onto Romulus, in an attempt to find out if some sort of reunification is possible. Of course Kirk’s understanding and trust of Spock grows, and they become the friends just as we know, however when he finds out about the reunification, he questions wether he really knows Spock.


Kirk makes first contact with many races and has many challenges, but after all risk is his business. He has many skermishes with the Klingons, meets a whole host of interesting and colourful characters, discovers a Mirror Universe which leads to them finding a way through to our universe and attempting to invade, plus discovering the SS Botany Bay which leads to the superhumans being imprisoned on a barren planet, only to return in terrifying circumstances.
This leads to the death of Mr Spock, just as Kirk feels he really knows him as a friend. Spock of course is later resurrected as part of an incredible new science experiment.



NEXT: Star Trek: Excelsior!

 

[MasterArminas]

Danlavo5,

The best advice that I or anyone else can give you is this: don't try to rewrite what has already happened. Write your own original story (it can easily borrow elements from other tales, but create your own). Find your story, set it in the Star Trek universe, and then write it.

Star Trek does not have to completely revolve around a ship called Enterprise and her captains and crew. You have an infinite universe out there in which place your tale within: use it.

Don't chain yourself to the past, write your own addition to the canon universe.

Master Arminas

 

[Admiral_Young]

A compressed "rebooted" timeline featuring a mesh of characters would simply not work. You might as well just write a crossover.

 

[Sandoval]

If you feel like writing it by all means go ahead, the concept you've 'created' sounds no worse than many others that are tossed around in here.

 

[TiberiusMaximus]

A compressed "rebooted" timeline featuring a mesh of characters would simply not work.

Why the frell not? Why couldn't those characters work well together?

 

[Blip]

Chief Comm. Officer - Lt. Commander Deanna Troi (Betazoid/Human)

Heh, I always thought that would be a more effective role for a TNG Troi, too: Instead of having her just sat there to one side of the captain muttering obvious analyses of badguy-of-the-week and "sensing tremendous pain/anger/whatever", give her a proper console to work from and have those telepathic skills be put to use to assist in facilitating communications with alien lifeforms.

Coulda kept the tight blue sciences uniform on throughout the entire series, too...


On a related note, when I was (much) younger I wanted to do something similar to this - putting Picard and co. on a ship a few years down the line after The Undiscovered Country, making Worf the Colonel's son, maybe... This was all justified of course by the fact that I absolutely loved the USS Excelsior when it was shown in that film... My other thought was to have them on the Enterprise-C instead. Again, mostly justified because I loved that particular ship; interiors and all.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

My other thought was to have them on the Enterprise-C instead. Again, mostly justified because I loved that particular ship; interiors and all.

I love the Ambassador-Class!

It's my favourite of all the big ships. Just such a shame we've never seen more of it.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Chief Comm. Officer - Lt. Commander Deanna Troi (Betazoid/Human)

Heh, I always thought that would be a more effective role for a TNG Troi, too: Instead of having her just sat there to one side of the captain muttering obvious analyses of badguy-of-the-week and "sensing tremendous pain/anger/whatever", give her a proper console to work from and have those telepathic skills be put to use to assist in facilitating communications with alien lifeforms.

Coulda kept the tight blue sciences uniform on throughout the entire series, too...

It would have given her something else to do as well and would also tie in with the counselling/psychology thing as well. She could have been an all round communications/counselling/diplomatic officer.

Had the E-D bridge been the GEN style from the beginning, she could have manned one of the side consoles.