A show in the 29th Century dealing with the timeship Enterprise? Or something like that. Just an idea. Could it work? Would you watch it?
A show in the 29th Century
- Thread starter JoeFromEarth
- Start date
What's happening in the 29th C that couldn't happen in the 23rd or 24th?
I once speculated about what a 29th-Century series would be like (even looked up info on the Wells-class timeship and the Starfleet uniforms of the era), but then I quickly realized that there was just too much "missing history" to account for, too many centuries skipped over (like reading a book and then skipping several important chapters).
I rather take my Trek one century at a time myself...
I rather take my Trek one century at a time myself...
I'd rather they start in the late 2380's or early 2400. I'd really like to see what impact Voyager had on Star Fleet once they returned home.
Time travel every damn episode instead of just every other episode...
Maybe the entire series could be like the Bill Murray movie "Groundhog Day." In the pilot episode the crew of the United Timeship Enterprise are on a extremely important mission, but the command crew really screws it up, at the end of each episode the ship travels back in time to the point where the original episode starts. Over and over again, the exact same story, but there are differences, characters change roles and ranks, different actors suddenly appear as the captain one week, next week the original captain is back. A dark drama, then a goofy comedy, then a light romance.
Basically a season of "Cause and Effect." What do you think?
Hmm. Thinking about a time travel ST show reminds me of the Time Patrol novels by Poul Anderson. As I recall, the time patrol agents usually had certain eras to police. So perhaps this timeship is limited to the 22nd-24th centuries. It would help as far as some production costs (uniforms, as they already have the wardrobe).
As for characters, it would be interesting if there were a Klingon who isn't your typical warrior type, showing what happens to the Empire by the 29th century, whether it "dies" the way Ezri Dax suggested it was in DSN.
RR
As for characters, it would be interesting if there were a Klingon who isn't your typical warrior type, showing what happens to the Empire by the 29th century, whether it "dies" the way Ezri Dax suggested it was in DSN.
RR
The major complaint about time travel episodes was the overuse of the Reset Button. Any series set in the 29th century would have to avoid the reset button meticulously. No resetting everyone's experience at the end of every episode. Characters can't grow that way.
It could be a Trekkie version of Doctor Who.
It could be a Trekkie version of Doctor Who.
I suppose a time travel based show might work if the premise of the whole show is something along the lines of the usual "history has been changed and we have to fix it!" gag. But it's can't be so straight that going to one divergent point in space and time and changing a crucial event with fix everything, but an ongoing cat and mouse game throughout space and time, rebuilding history with a whole galaxy of events realigning themselves every step of the way. Think Quantum Leap meets Sliders meets Battlestar Galactica meets 'Year of Hell'. The change would have to be pretty catastrophic, like the original humanoids never managed to seed the galaxy or Vulcan never developed warp flight and so Earth never recovered from WWIII etc.
I'm not saying it'd be a great show, but it's the only way I think a Trek based "time travel" show could work.
I'm not saying it'd be a great show, but it's the only way I think a Trek based "time travel" show could work.
Oh joy!
But you could set a show in the 19th C and have time travel every episode if you wanted. Hmm, that sounds familiar.
There was a show called Day Break that was pretty close to that concept. It was fascinating but way too frakkin' complicated. The audience had to remember what happened on all the other days to know what the lead character was learning, so the complication got worse and worse as the show continued. After a few weeks, even the main character was getting confused, so what hope did the audience have? Of course it got cancelled - but unlike a lot of good shows that get cancelled, in this case it was unavoidable. The premise was just untenable for TV.
That premise has flat-out worn out its welcome. I really don't care if history has been changed. Why not just leave it changed? I'm so bored of that whole schtick!
One variation that might work is to use ENT's time-war concept but really do it. Have the warring sides be the main characters, not some clueless Starfleet captain caught in the middle who doesn't understand the goals or what the rules are. Show both sides changing history chaotically and insanely. It might be a challenge to do this premise in any way that isn't a comedy - how about a dark dramedy?
The challenge would be that you're talking about the history of the future, and would the audience be invested enough in a fictional history to care who is changing what and why? Sure, we know that the Mirror Universe is not as good as the Federation so we'd want to change the former to the latter. But more detailed than that, and we lose track of what should or shouldn't be happening. Besides, isn't the MU more fun? We don't want the Starfleet prudes to change things back too quickly. And since the other side can just jump in right away and change it back to the MU, isn't all this just an exercise in futility?
No.
I'm not watching anything called "Star Trek" ever again unless it's pretty episodic and about people on a spaceship who speak plain English having some interesting and colorful adventures.
I'm not watching anything called "Star Trek" ever again unless it's pretty episodic and about people on a spaceship who speak plain English having some interesting and colorful adventures.
I want the next Trek series to be semi-serialized (the episode mix could be, maybe three or four episodic ones, and then a two to five episode serialized sequence, picking up on one of several ongoing threads, and then back to the episodic format for a bit etc) about a Starfleet crew having the same sorts of adventures Kirk & the gang used to. 23rd C is good enough for me. No need to overthink this and get fancy with the Federation falling or civil wars, just give us some good basic entertainment.
Some other show should tackle time travel. The only show I've seen that does time travel well is Lost - just insist on predestination and make the story about the characters, not plot machinations.
Some other show should tackle time travel. The only show I've seen that does time travel well is Lost - just insist on predestination and make the story about the characters, not plot machinations.
Funny, I was thinking about this show when I made my earlier post.
I consider myself smarter than the average bear, but yeah, trying to follow DB when it aired was a tall order, even with "Previously on..." segments.
That being said, it's pretty cool on DVD, and I like that every episode has a commentary track. The argument could probably be made that this show was really -made- to be watched this way, rather than having each episode at least a week apart.
Touche, sir!
Seriously though, if we want to have a series before the film trilogy wraps up (which I find unlikely); it'll likely be one tied in to the Abrams franchise in some way. And a post-trilogy series would, I expect, be a straight remake of TOS. Whenever or if that ever happens. The oversaturation of Trek in the mid-1990s (I like citing 1994, with TNG ending, DS9 in production, Generations in theatres and Voyager on the horizon as an epocal example of this) is well and truly gone and I don't think anyone's itchy to bring that back.
Anyhoo, we'll see and such.
RobertScorpio
Pariah
Maybe STAR FLEET becomes the LEGION OF SUPERHEROS!!!
No..I think the further the way from us, the less we can connect with it...
Rob
In the not-so-distant future, when TV shows are designed to be experienced in conjunction with the internet (instead of first everyone watching on TV/online and then independently bitching on the internet), a show like Day Break might work - because the minutae would be part of the online discussion and the confusion factor would be greatly mitigated.
I'd watch it but it should go from the 25th onwards first.
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