Just about the only science fiction writers who've really made large contributions to "Star Trek" stories were those who had the skills and were able to write teleplays for the show.
How Would You Have Done Star Trek (2008)?
- Thread starter AC84
- Start date
I'd have done it as a TV series on Showtime. (Fans get to pay to see it.)
It would have been a true reimagining. (Sulu would be the black chick, etc...)
I'd have stuck to the core of the concept. ("...these are the voyages of the starship Enterprise...")
Going forward, I'd rotate the cast as necessary. (Actor playing Kirk getting too pricey? Kirk gets a promotion to Starfleet Command and Picard (or Sulu or Janeway) becomes the next captain of the NCC-1701.)
It would have been a true reimagining. (Sulu would be the black chick, etc...)
I'd have stuck to the core of the concept. ("...these are the voyages of the starship Enterprise...")
Going forward, I'd rotate the cast as necessary. (Actor playing Kirk getting too pricey? Kirk gets a promotion to Starfleet Command and Picard (or Sulu or Janeway) becomes the next captain of the NCC-1701.)
To clarify, I'd basically do Abrams' idea as a way of kick-starting Star Trek back to life.
Then I'd do two more movies with the recast TOS characters.
Then I'd do a TOS-era spinoff TV series with guest stars from the movies.
Then I'd go back to the Birth of the Federation concept and do it RIGHT.
By then, my stuff would have made the suits so much money, they'd let me do whatever the frak I wanted. So I'd do a series about the Alpha Quadrant after the Dominion War, even tho by then, everyone would have forgotten it ever happened.
And Starfleet Academy! And the fall of the Federation, Federation civil war, Klingon-centric series, anthology series, dancing & singing tribbles extravaganza, bwah hah! Till they finally fire my ass for driving the franchise into the ground - again!
But it would be a frakload of fun while it lasted.
Then I'd do two more movies with the recast TOS characters.
Then I'd do a TOS-era spinoff TV series with guest stars from the movies.
Then I'd go back to the Birth of the Federation concept and do it RIGHT.
By then, my stuff would have made the suits so much money, they'd let me do whatever the frak I wanted. So I'd do a series about the Alpha Quadrant after the Dominion War, even tho by then, everyone would have forgotten it ever happened.
And Starfleet Academy! And the fall of the Federation, Federation civil war, Klingon-centric series, anthology series, dancing & singing tribbles extravaganza, bwah hah! Till they finally fire my ass for driving the franchise into the ground - again!But it would be a frakload of fun while it lasted.
The direction that JJ Abrams is going now suits me just fine. I probably would have paid less attention to canon than he did (read: none at all), but the idea of going back to TOS and revisiting those iconic characters has always been at the forefront of my mind when thinking on what could be done to resurrect Star Trek.
This post is amazing.
"2001, the year we made Star Trek"
I'm sure its more amusing to me then anyone else...
Sharr
You know what I'd do? I'd do a two or two and a half hour self contained original movie, set in the TOS era, smack in the middle of the Five Year Mission. No references to past or future episodes (i.e. NO FREAKIN" TIME TRAVEL) All new cast and production design. It will focus on the 7 leads and only the 7 leads. No Gary Mitchel, Robert April, or Christopher Pike. This is Star Trek. Not Fan Trek or Or Star Trek: Trivial Pursuit! I'll post later to figure out the story.
Based off of everything we've been told so far, I think Abrams' direction seems to be a good place to start. Go back to TOS, or even slightly before TOS, and start from the beginning of the 5-year mission. I wouldn't be too paranoid with following canon as to not tamper with how things were portrayed in TOS. I would take some liberties and make some changes... it would essentially be a re-boot. I have no issues with changing the sets, costumes and ship designs to make them appear a little more modern and suitable for 21st century movie audiences (but would still keep the basic elements from the original). As for the story, I'd try to make it epic and compelling and filled with action, and I'd try to make it more character-based. I'd also try to avoid too much technobabble and keep things like time travel and spacial anomalies to a minimum. I don't want the characters and drama to get overshadowed by the transporters and dilithium crystals and neutrino pulses, etc.
Going in a different direction, I would still love to see a really good "birth of the Federation" story. ENT had so much potential and wasted it. I'd like to see it done right. I think a story about space pioneers venturing into deep space to explore strange new worlds would be great. I want flawed characters, a relatively low-tech ship, and I want to see these human characters encountering some truly scary stuff. Again, keep the gadgetry, technobabble and sci-fi cliches to the minimum (i.e. no temporal cold war like ENT).
Going in a different direction, I would still love to see a really good "birth of the Federation" story. ENT had so much potential and wasted it. I'd like to see it done right. I think a story about space pioneers venturing into deep space to explore strange new worlds would be great. I want flawed characters, a relatively low-tech ship, and I want to see these human characters encountering some truly scary stuff. Again, keep the gadgetry, technobabble and sci-fi cliches to the minimum (i.e. no temporal cold war like ENT).
It would be something completely removed from all of the previous incarnations of Star Trek. Basically, it would suffice similar to what The Next Generation acted as when it premiered in 1987: completely redesigned, set in another century, with brand-new characters and a brand-new Enterprise, but still revolving around the basis of Star Trek...to explore strange new worlds and seek out new lifeforms.
Overall Direction:
This would take place in the 30th Century, a good five-hundred years from when the last known adventure was in the Star Trek universe. It would revolve around a completely alien cast of characters, and all alien species that we've never seen before. It would be set on the Enterprise, but no lettering, because obviously this is far beyond anything that dealt with the Enterprise last. This is the first Enterprise in a very long time, and the Federation thinks its a relic from an old time. The Federation now extends into the twenty-eight known galaxies of the universe, and the film would never actually feature Earth. The Federation is dispersed throughout the entire universe, and it's the job of the Enterprise to explore whatever new space is left, which everyone thinks there is none.
Story:
The story would consist of this Enterprise (perhaps even call it "New Enterprise") finding a portal of some kind that sends it millions of lightyears into a different part of space, truly exploring where no one has gone before. Time bends, and it is truly esoteric. The New Enterprise would have an exterrestrial species that lives in this new plain of space, a species that is completely non-corporal. They have strayed away from the other parts of the galaxy because they feel the corporal species of the universe would not understand this "new space". The story would then revolve around an ethical question, once the Federation learns of this: "To exploit these aliens and this newfound plain of space, or to let them co-exist properly?" The situation would become heightened when these new species fear hostility, and out of trepidation may fold their part of space all-together, that would threaten re-creating the big bang and taking it all back to nothing. They think that is the only answer, and that the Federation and the corporal species as they are have become too focused on basic human emotions such as greed, hatred, lust, vanity, et al. It would be the job of the New Enterprise to prove the worth of all corporal life and fight for the existence of the universe.
Art Design:
I'm imagining something incredibly esoteric, something visually and pictorially that we've never seen before. The ships and the ideology of how a ship is designed would have to be reimagined. Uniforms instead would be a "second skin" of sorts and would interact with the flesh of our characters, and would act as a sort of protective outer layer. Communicators would basically be an act of telepathy, thus limiting the use for our characters to even speak. I would suggest a lot of white and a lot of translucency in the design of the ships and the interior of the ships -- the outside hull is all translucent, so that you see the glorious imagery of space on every "deck", wherever you go. One would simply "think" to increase speed, and it would happen. One would simply "think" to eat, and food would replicate out of nothing, based on the generators on the ship. I'm really thinking The Fountain here in terms of the organic and naturalistic approach to the design and functionality of the New Enterprise. There would be no engines, just the "thought" of where someone would need to go, and the "ship" would take you there.
Cast:
This would be contingent on the characters and who would be the best person to play each character. I don't have a preference for big names verses unknowns, but perhaps a mixture would do best. However I certainly wouldn't want the cast to be full of A-listers like Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, but actors of merit that are respected for their talent. I'm thinking of how Christopher Nolan approached the cast for his Batman films: actors that are reasonably well known but are hugely respected for their talent, and simply can act.
Music:
I loved Clint Mansell's score for The Fountain, so I would naturally think of him. However, since John Ottman is such a huge self-professed fan of Star Trek, I would immediately think of him and based on his amazing score for Superman Returns, and how he approached the John Williams themes and melded them into something new and of his own, I would really approach him, and I have a feeling he would be onboard. Whether or not to include the fanfare, that would be the composer's discretion, however I would push for a truly different type of score for this film.
Anyway, that's just the basic concept.
Overall Direction:
This would take place in the 30th Century, a good five-hundred years from when the last known adventure was in the Star Trek universe. It would revolve around a completely alien cast of characters, and all alien species that we've never seen before. It would be set on the Enterprise, but no lettering, because obviously this is far beyond anything that dealt with the Enterprise last. This is the first Enterprise in a very long time, and the Federation thinks its a relic from an old time. The Federation now extends into the twenty-eight known galaxies of the universe, and the film would never actually feature Earth. The Federation is dispersed throughout the entire universe, and it's the job of the Enterprise to explore whatever new space is left, which everyone thinks there is none.
Story:
The story would consist of this Enterprise (perhaps even call it "New Enterprise") finding a portal of some kind that sends it millions of lightyears into a different part of space, truly exploring where no one has gone before. Time bends, and it is truly esoteric. The New Enterprise would have an exterrestrial species that lives in this new plain of space, a species that is completely non-corporal. They have strayed away from the other parts of the galaxy because they feel the corporal species of the universe would not understand this "new space". The story would then revolve around an ethical question, once the Federation learns of this: "To exploit these aliens and this newfound plain of space, or to let them co-exist properly?" The situation would become heightened when these new species fear hostility, and out of trepidation may fold their part of space all-together, that would threaten re-creating the big bang and taking it all back to nothing. They think that is the only answer, and that the Federation and the corporal species as they are have become too focused on basic human emotions such as greed, hatred, lust, vanity, et al. It would be the job of the New Enterprise to prove the worth of all corporal life and fight for the existence of the universe.
Art Design:
I'm imagining something incredibly esoteric, something visually and pictorially that we've never seen before. The ships and the ideology of how a ship is designed would have to be reimagined. Uniforms instead would be a "second skin" of sorts and would interact with the flesh of our characters, and would act as a sort of protective outer layer. Communicators would basically be an act of telepathy, thus limiting the use for our characters to even speak. I would suggest a lot of white and a lot of translucency in the design of the ships and the interior of the ships -- the outside hull is all translucent, so that you see the glorious imagery of space on every "deck", wherever you go. One would simply "think" to increase speed, and it would happen. One would simply "think" to eat, and food would replicate out of nothing, based on the generators on the ship. I'm really thinking The Fountain here in terms of the organic and naturalistic approach to the design and functionality of the New Enterprise. There would be no engines, just the "thought" of where someone would need to go, and the "ship" would take you there.
Cast:
This would be contingent on the characters and who would be the best person to play each character. I don't have a preference for big names verses unknowns, but perhaps a mixture would do best. However I certainly wouldn't want the cast to be full of A-listers like Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, but actors of merit that are respected for their talent. I'm thinking of how Christopher Nolan approached the cast for his Batman films: actors that are reasonably well known but are hugely respected for their talent, and simply can act.
Music:
I loved Clint Mansell's score for The Fountain, so I would naturally think of him. However, since John Ottman is such a huge self-professed fan of Star Trek, I would immediately think of him and based on his amazing score for Superman Returns, and how he approached the John Williams themes and melded them into something new and of his own, I would really approach him, and I have a feeling he would be onboard. Whether or not to include the fanfare, that would be the composer's discretion, however I would push for a truly different type of score for this film.
Anyway, that's just the basic concept.
I would have gone back to the beginning as JJ has seemingly done, but I would have focused the film on Kirk and Spock only. Use Pike, Gary Mitchell, etc. but focus on the two main charcters and their early story. Maybe have a young county intern lecture them in the end while they are recovering in sickbay, but leave the rest of the cast for the sequels -- and bring them along slowly. Oh, and I would bookend the film with a 24th century story featuring Nimoy and Shatner -- to only satisfy my desire to see the two legends pass the torch to the younger cast and hopefully not to piss off the rest of my fellow Trekkies.
The only story rattling around my skull at the moment is something like Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Basicly the Fed has collapsed and various factions want to put the Federation back together -- under their rule of course.
The heros are people who believe in the ideals of the Fed. They want a democracy and freedom, the usual stuff.
I dunno, that may not work for a movie. Maybe TV. Or not.
The heros are people who believe in the ideals of the Fed. They want a democracy and freedom, the usual stuff.
I dunno, that may not work for a movie. Maybe TV. Or not.
You left out the super transwarp drives, living starships, portable transporters that beam people planet to planet, and other superfluous, franchise killing, fanwank crap that the .1 percent of the fandom creams over.
Does the adage "less is more" mean anything to you?
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