The Archer-Class is a small (under 50 meters) scout ship, designed to go "very far, very fast, and not be noticed". It's a design that first appeared in the Vanguard book series. I love the look of it and the concept of such a small ship and crew.
Describe YOUR new Star Trek series.
- Thread starter Eronai
- Start date
I'd run with the idea of making it even more of a parallel to Horatio Hornblower, by making the format center around a young cast, with a specific lead (can be either male or female) and their rise through the ranks starting from the bottom up. Instead of the show being about a captain and his command crew, simply flip it on its head and make it about the Lower Decks instead. As our show progresses and as a broader story arc develops in the background, we see as our characters gain rank, move ships and break apart, but eventually end up back together again. By the final season (I'd aim for an 8 or 9 year run if possible) we'd see the characters together aboard a ship as its command crew, solidly in a format resembling the Classic Trek's of the past, but with the added bonus of having followed these characters already and the build-up of their backstories.
I honestly think the angle of having a set of characters starting their post-Academy careers, making their first steps out into Starfleet, and following that journey right through to them finally being the command crew on a starship, would make for a fascinating format, with the in-built ability for character growth, while still retaining an essential Star Trek flavor. Plus, we're never before had a whole series solely about the 'little people' in Starfleet, and how they work their way up the ranks, so it'd be something different for older fans of the franchise too.
I honestly think the angle of having a set of characters starting their post-Academy careers, making their first steps out into Starfleet, and following that journey right through to them finally being the command crew on a starship, would make for a fascinating format, with the in-built ability for character growth, while still retaining an essential Star Trek flavor. Plus, we're never before had a whole series solely about the 'little people' in Starfleet, and how they work their way up the ranks, so it'd be something different for older fans of the franchise too.
I'd go with a series set in the late 25th-Century (circa 2480) aboard the Enterprise-H.
THE SHIP:
While the Enterprise is primarily on a mission of exploration, she's really a multipurpose vessel capable of carrying out a wide variety of Starfleet missions at the edge of Federation space and beyond. Having been in service for nearly 20 years already, she's slightly smaller than the Enterprise-D with a correspondingly smaller crew, but she's faster and more powerful with a "less is more" approach to her overall design and technology.
THE SETTING:
More than a century after TNG, with the Federation at peace and/or allied with many of its former enemies including the Klingons and the Dominion (there's been no contact with the Borg since VOY's finale). As the series begins, however, there's been rumblings of a massive galactic government in the deepest regions of the Alpha Quadrant that is very similar to the Federation with its own "Starfleet-like" navy. The Romulan Empire has been in another long period of isolation since the destruction of their homeworld in 2387.
THE CHARACTERS:
- THE CAPTAIN: Human female, age 50+. A veteran Starfleet freighter skipper who actually didn't want the very prestigious Enterprise and only agreed to take command if her enlisted husband could come along, thinking Starfleet wouldn't go for it. She's a master of cowboy diplomacy, but prefers to avoid using it whenever possible. Has a very irreverent, working-class girl personality with a bit of a potty mouth at times.
- THE FIRST OFFICER: Android female, age 30+ (in appearance). A Soong-type android like Data, but the only thing she physically has in common with him is her yellow eyes. At times she can be like a sexy walking computer, but she also possesses a self-depreciating sense of humor. Her biggest frustration is having to compensate for the captain's occasional lack of tact in some situations. Has a love-hate relationship with the chief medical officer.
- THE CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Human male, age 30+. A brilliant surgeon and biochemist, he's extremely young for his post, but his skills more than compensate for that. Somewhat eccentric with a tendency to disregard rules when necessary. Frequently trades barbs with the first officer, who he sometimes jokingly calls a windup doll.
- THE CHIEF OF SECURITY: Jem'Hadar male, age 10+ (middle-aged by Jem'Hadar standards). Fearless, always ready for a fight, he is also knows when not to fight. Despite his fearsome appearance, he's very charismatic and is quite the ladies' man.
- THE OPERATIONS CHIEF: Human male, age 50+. A career enlisted man and a veteran of numerous starships. An everyman who knows how to deal with officers and enlisted alike. He's both the captain's closest advisor and her husband, although the circumstances of how they got together is often dismissed as "a long story."
- There are other supporting characters like various helmsmen, science officers, engineers, etc. that will come and go when needed (that goes for the main characters as well).
THE FORMAT:
A mix of standalone episodes and multi-episode arcs. One or two seasons may have an overall season-long arc, but still allow for mostly standalone episodes.
THE LOOK:
Bright, but not blinding. Visually, the show should be very colorful, but not garishly so, with the sets--particularly the Enterprise interiors--being well-illuminated. The uniforms should allow for people to stand out from the background, but not rely on black as the dominant color. It should allow for even more contrasts when our heroes go to less than ideal places.
THE TONE:
Optimistic, but with a touch of realism. Our heroes are Starfleet explorers from a largely ideal society, but born of a post-Dominion War era, they're also aware that sometimes going where no one has gone before can be dangerous and some ideals will be a struggle to maintain.
THE SHIP:
While the Enterprise is primarily on a mission of exploration, she's really a multipurpose vessel capable of carrying out a wide variety of Starfleet missions at the edge of Federation space and beyond. Having been in service for nearly 20 years already, she's slightly smaller than the Enterprise-D with a correspondingly smaller crew, but she's faster and more powerful with a "less is more" approach to her overall design and technology.
THE SETTING:
More than a century after TNG, with the Federation at peace and/or allied with many of its former enemies including the Klingons and the Dominion (there's been no contact with the Borg since VOY's finale). As the series begins, however, there's been rumblings of a massive galactic government in the deepest regions of the Alpha Quadrant that is very similar to the Federation with its own "Starfleet-like" navy. The Romulan Empire has been in another long period of isolation since the destruction of their homeworld in 2387.
THE CHARACTERS:
- THE CAPTAIN: Human female, age 50+. A veteran Starfleet freighter skipper who actually didn't want the very prestigious Enterprise and only agreed to take command if her enlisted husband could come along, thinking Starfleet wouldn't go for it. She's a master of cowboy diplomacy, but prefers to avoid using it whenever possible. Has a very irreverent, working-class girl personality with a bit of a potty mouth at times.
- THE FIRST OFFICER: Android female, age 30+ (in appearance). A Soong-type android like Data, but the only thing she physically has in common with him is her yellow eyes. At times she can be like a sexy walking computer, but she also possesses a self-depreciating sense of humor. Her biggest frustration is having to compensate for the captain's occasional lack of tact in some situations. Has a love-hate relationship with the chief medical officer.
- THE CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Human male, age 30+. A brilliant surgeon and biochemist, he's extremely young for his post, but his skills more than compensate for that. Somewhat eccentric with a tendency to disregard rules when necessary. Frequently trades barbs with the first officer, who he sometimes jokingly calls a windup doll.
- THE CHIEF OF SECURITY: Jem'Hadar male, age 10+ (middle-aged by Jem'Hadar standards). Fearless, always ready for a fight, he is also knows when not to fight. Despite his fearsome appearance, he's very charismatic and is quite the ladies' man.
- THE OPERATIONS CHIEF: Human male, age 50+. A career enlisted man and a veteran of numerous starships. An everyman who knows how to deal with officers and enlisted alike. He's both the captain's closest advisor and her husband, although the circumstances of how they got together is often dismissed as "a long story."
- There are other supporting characters like various helmsmen, science officers, engineers, etc. that will come and go when needed (that goes for the main characters as well).
THE FORMAT:
A mix of standalone episodes and multi-episode arcs. One or two seasons may have an overall season-long arc, but still allow for mostly standalone episodes.
THE LOOK:
Bright, but not blinding. Visually, the show should be very colorful, but not garishly so, with the sets--particularly the Enterprise interiors--being well-illuminated. The uniforms should allow for people to stand out from the background, but not rely on black as the dominant color. It should allow for even more contrasts when our heroes go to less than ideal places.
THE TONE:
Optimistic, but with a touch of realism. Our heroes are Starfleet explorers from a largely ideal society, but born of a post-Dominion War era, they're also aware that sometimes going where no one has gone before can be dangerous and some ideals will be a struggle to maintain.
Let's assume my dream series will begin airing in the 2016-17 broadcast season.
TIME PERIOD: The first season is set in the year 2393. That's a real-time time-lapse since TNG, DS9 and VOY.
SHIP: It's not the Enterprise – I think that Picard ought to still be captaining the Enterprise-E at this point in time and I want a new crew. Let's call it the USS Odyssey (mainly because it sounds cool). It's some class of ship we haven't seen before, but in-universe it isn't top-of-the-line (let's say it's about ten years old). It's about the size of the Sovereign-class; some civilians aboard but no kids. And it has a fully-functional quantum slipstream drive.
MISSION: Exploration of the frontier. To be more precise: it's now about six years after Romulus was destroyed, and the Romulan Star Empire has collapsed – which means a whole new section of the galaxy in the Beta Quadrant that was previously cut off by the Neutral Zone has now been opened up to Federation exploration. A lot of this unknown space is former Romulan territory or distant regions that have felt Romulan influence.
CREW: The captain is middle-aged, and is a veteran of the Dominion War. Most of the crew were teenagers or even children at the time of the war, meaning they grew up with it hanging over their heads and have also seen the Federation involved in the long-term post-war occupation of Cardassia – consequently some characters are a lot more cynical about the idea of the Federation being a utopian society, while others believe it more than ever. This isn't very detailed, I know, but I think creating the characters would need to be a collaborative thing.
SO, WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE SERIES? WHAT'S THE BIG PLOT TWIST?
Well... I don't know. I've deliberately left that wide open. We have a setting, we have the foundation for some interesting character interactions – and now I think it's important the series can have some time to experiment a little, and find out what works and what doesn't.
I think the model for the show should be Deep Space Nine – and I do not mean "war show!!!": I mean in terms of attention to detail, character depth and a gradually more serialised structure. It's strong characters that will keep audiences coming back: all the intricate plotting and shocking twists in the world won't matter at all if the audience doesn't care about who it's all happening to.
SHOULD THE SERIES ACKNOWLEDGE THE RELAUNCH NOVELS? OR STAR TREK ONLINE?
Depends. If a particular event or whatever works to our advantage, we can canonise it -- if it doesn't we can ignore it. And we can put in some winks and nods. But that's about it.
TIME PERIOD: The first season is set in the year 2393. That's a real-time time-lapse since TNG, DS9 and VOY.
SHIP: It's not the Enterprise – I think that Picard ought to still be captaining the Enterprise-E at this point in time and I want a new crew. Let's call it the USS Odyssey (mainly because it sounds cool). It's some class of ship we haven't seen before, but in-universe it isn't top-of-the-line (let's say it's about ten years old). It's about the size of the Sovereign-class; some civilians aboard but no kids. And it has a fully-functional quantum slipstream drive.
MISSION: Exploration of the frontier. To be more precise: it's now about six years after Romulus was destroyed, and the Romulan Star Empire has collapsed – which means a whole new section of the galaxy in the Beta Quadrant that was previously cut off by the Neutral Zone has now been opened up to Federation exploration. A lot of this unknown space is former Romulan territory or distant regions that have felt Romulan influence.
CREW: The captain is middle-aged, and is a veteran of the Dominion War. Most of the crew were teenagers or even children at the time of the war, meaning they grew up with it hanging over their heads and have also seen the Federation involved in the long-term post-war occupation of Cardassia – consequently some characters are a lot more cynical about the idea of the Federation being a utopian society, while others believe it more than ever. This isn't very detailed, I know, but I think creating the characters would need to be a collaborative thing.
SO, WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE SERIES? WHAT'S THE BIG PLOT TWIST?
Well... I don't know. I've deliberately left that wide open. We have a setting, we have the foundation for some interesting character interactions – and now I think it's important the series can have some time to experiment a little, and find out what works and what doesn't.
I think the model for the show should be Deep Space Nine – and I do not mean "war show!!!": I mean in terms of attention to detail, character depth and a gradually more serialised structure. It's strong characters that will keep audiences coming back: all the intricate plotting and shocking twists in the world won't matter at all if the audience doesn't care about who it's all happening to.
SHOULD THE SERIES ACKNOWLEDGE THE RELAUNCH NOVELS? OR STAR TREK ONLINE?
Depends. If a particular event or whatever works to our advantage, we can canonise it -- if it doesn't we can ignore it. And we can put in some winks and nods. But that's about it.
That sounds pretty much like Kirk/Spock/McCoy with a few details changed. I'm not sure it is wise to rely too much on old tropes.
Pretty much anything can be said to be like something else with a few details changed, but those "few details" are very important as they make all the difference here--a slightly cranky married captain who is tough but would rather take things easy whenever she can; a frequently irritated first officer who isn't afraid to laugh at herself; and a dashing bad boy chief medical officer with still some growing up to do. Not really the same as Kirk, Spock, and McCoy when you actually look at them.
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Think if I was going to pitch a TV show about Star Trek, I think I would set it in the OS era, and it would be called:
STAR TREK: FEDERATION.
The basic premis would be that while the Enterprise is away on its 5 year mission, we follow some of the crew and ships that have stayed behind, or dealing with issues closer to home and with races that we already knew about like the Klingons at a time when tensions are very high. We could have multipule ships and characters, we can have episode focused on the acadamy etc, and there would be huge scope to expand into 'companion' or 'spin off' series.
STAR TREK: FEDERATION.
The basic premis would be that while the Enterprise is away on its 5 year mission, we follow some of the crew and ships that have stayed behind, or dealing with issues closer to home and with races that we already knew about like the Klingons at a time when tensions are very high. We could have multipule ships and characters, we can have episode focused on the acadamy etc, and there would be huge scope to expand into 'companion' or 'spin off' series.
The new series might be able to drop the ship's doctor from the "inner circle." Make the ship's doctor a reoccurring character who appears maybe every third or forth episode.
Landing parties would have one of the no name security people be a medic.
Maybe in somebody else's series, but not in mine here. While not every character will appear in every episode, the ship's doctor definitely's a member of the "inner circle" and is something of a de facto science officer (eliminating the need to have one as a regular in my series).
I'd rather have reoccurring or one-time only characters flesh out various departments on the ship like sciences, engineering, conn, etc. Also have more such supporting or guest characters be junior enlisted personnel or senior noncoms rather than be all commissioned officers.
At least mix it up a bit, have the doctor be the cold unemotional analytical one, like Det. Joe Friday. While the science officer (or whoever the third leg of the tripod is) is the polar opposite.
At least mix it up a bit, have the doctor be the cold unemotional analytical one...
A Vulcan doctor who says things as they are and never learned "bedside manner". Failure to disclose the full extent of your suffering would be illogical.
It's already mixed up more than a bit actually.
Nope.
And nope. That's not my series. That might be yours, but it isn't mine.
Hey, post your new Star Trek series here and tell what you would do with it as said in the OP.
It's all a question of taste. One fellow fan told me that Star Trek is like ice cream - many favors. Every fan has his/her own version of Star Trek. If you don't like any of the series eras, then create your own series if have the imagination, passion, drive, and can get resources to fund it. My hat's off those fans who go out to create their own series whether on video or audio and enjoy doing it. Maybe its the value of the journey and the company take you take along for the ride.
If you use a character or a species or a specific situation out of a novel (or STO) then each time you do wouldn't you then have to write a check to the originating author?
Better still to just create your own additions to the Trek universe. Not use someone else's.
Okay, I am new here and not so well versed in Trek, but I hope you will bear with me.
I have been hearing some good original ideas that are fit to soar and some that deserve a merciful killing. Please oh please let mine NOT be in that second category.
This is NOT about a major Star Fleet vessel.
This is about the captain and crew of a smaller vessel, who get loaded with a handful of new recruits. Since they are not officially a Star Fleet ship or crew, they can go where official ships can't go.
As we meet the new crew, we also meet the existing crew and there is a sense of duality.
Interested in the full scoop? Welcome to STAR TREK: Dark Shadows
There are two lines of crew on the ship. The new recruits are precisely what they appear. The existing crew are special operations for Star Fleet. A twist that can appear: Two crew members would actually be members of Section 31. One is what Section 31 should have been for, the other is working with a twisted faction within section 31.
The purpose of the show is to look at the less than bright and shiny diplomacy of the Star Trek Universe.
Good Side: The premise alone could be compatable with either timeline. Assuming they stick with the new timeline, they could even tie in events from the movies (like the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
Down Side: Gene R. always appeared to have an inspired vision of a near utopian future. This would be going to go against the grain.
I have been hearing some good original ideas that are fit to soar and some that deserve a merciful killing. Please oh please let mine NOT be in that second category.
This is NOT about a major Star Fleet vessel.
This is about the captain and crew of a smaller vessel, who get loaded with a handful of new recruits. Since they are not officially a Star Fleet ship or crew, they can go where official ships can't go.
As we meet the new crew, we also meet the existing crew and there is a sense of duality.
Interested in the full scoop? Welcome to STAR TREK: Dark Shadows
There are two lines of crew on the ship. The new recruits are precisely what they appear. The existing crew are special operations for Star Fleet. A twist that can appear: Two crew members would actually be members of Section 31. One is what Section 31 should have been for, the other is working with a twisted faction within section 31.
The purpose of the show is to look at the less than bright and shiny diplomacy of the Star Trek Universe.
Good Side: The premise alone could be compatable with either timeline. Assuming they stick with the new timeline, they could even tie in events from the movies (like the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
Down Side: Gene R. always appeared to have an inspired vision of a near utopian future. This would be going to go against the grain.
