I'd like to have a series about a less important crew

[B. L.]

Every Star Trek series is about a "Hero ship" or they are important in some way.

What if there was a series about an unimportant ship, maybe even a weaker one (like a busted up old Miranda class patrol ship) that is commanded by a Commander with mostly a bunch of junior officers on board?

The show could focus on how their day-to-day activities, while seeming mundane by others in the Federation like Picard or Sisko, but in fact their small contributions are shown to have a real impact on the way the world plays out.

In the real navy, which it would seem Star Trek is based off of, (USS and NCC designations, etc.), smaller less important ships/support ships are often commanded by non-Captain rank officers.

I think this would be pretty amazing. They could even be "less than perfect" and have interpersonal conflict.

I suppose they already sort of addressed this with DS9 and Voyager, with Paris/Maqui and Sisko being a washout.....but ultimately they were very important roles that were recognized throughout the Federation.

What about the story of EVERYONE ELSE, who doesn't get recognition?

 

[Tuskin38]

I believe that's what the Lower Decks animated series is about.

 

[B. L.]

I believe that's what the Lower Decks animated series is about.

omg, how did i miss this?? brb googling

 

[STEPhon IT]

Every Star Trek series is about a "Hero ship" or they are important in some way.

What if there was a series about an unimportant ship, maybe even a weaker one (like a busted up old Miranda class patrol ship) that is commanded by a Commander with mostly a bunch of junior officers on board?

The show could focus on how their day-to-day activities, while seeming mundane by others in the Federation like Picard or Sisko, but in fact their small contributions are shown to have a real impact on the way the world plays out.

In the real navy, which it would seem Star Trek is based off of, (USS and NCC designations, etc.), smaller less important ships/support ships are often commanded by non-Captain rank officers.

I think this would be pretty amazing. They could even be "less than perfect" and have interpersonal conflict.

I suppose they already sort of addressed this with DS9 and Voyager, with Paris/Maqui and Sisko being a washout.....but ultimately they were very important roles that were recognized throughout the Federation.

Which was something I hated when DS9 brought in the Dominion and the War, I still think it's cool for a series to have its own sub-culture where there's some remnants of Trek's past but is willing to move forward away from the Klingons, Romulans, and have a corp of officers who are not quite ready to be Starfleet's finest. Have their own adventures and politics would be unique to the character's own. I still believe that idea can be achieved--check out Peter David's Excalibur series of novels; it's interesting to see how they come together and then later mature to even stronger, diverse heroes.

 

[fireproof78]

Given the gruff that Burnham has been getting for being the main character, I am skeptical as to how popular this would be.

 

[Kerock]

I can't wait for Lower Decks...When does it start? Does anybody know?

 

[Alan Roi]

Seems there's yearning for a Star Trek version of "The Office". Besides that already being provided kind of elsewhere in a way, it does make me curious. Is it something about people wanting to see themselves more obviously reflected in Star Trek, and be able to say, "That's exactly what happened to me last week," or "oh look, that Wendy from accounting to a tee"?

 

[Alan Roi]

I can't wait for Lower Decks...When does it start? Does anybody know?

Animation takes a long time to get started up. First season is probably sometime in 2020, so at least a year away or more.

 

[F. King Daniel]

DS9 was originally meant to be less important (they didn't even have a captain in charge at first), until they retooled the show and made it the single most important location in the galaxy.

Over the continuity fence, The Orville was explicitly a "mid level" ship, but of course ended up saving the galaxy and doing all the same things the Enterprise does.

Even the fan film Star Trek: Renegades, explicitly about a band of thugs and losers on a smuggling ship, end up saving the world

I suspect the Lower Decks people will end up saving civilisation as we know it, too.

 

[eschaton]

I'd actually argue that Voyager fit the bill pretty much. It wasn't a big/flashy ship, most of the characters weren't particularly epic, and the stakes in most episodes were limited to the ship and characters - not some existential threat to the entire Federation.

 

[Kor]

I'd like to a series about a more mediocre crew of a less-prestigious ship, that tends to fail at their assignments instead of gloriously succeeding every week.

Kor

 

[Ovation]

I'd like to a series about a more mediocre crew of a less-prestigious ship, that tends to fail at their assignments instead of gloriously succeeding every week.

Kor

So a less successful Duck Dodgers?

 

[ALF]

It's an entertaining idea. Not one that I'd be keen exploring in an animated+comedy medium but I guess that's what we are getting.

 

[ITDUDE]

The problem is "lower decks" stuff works in fan fiction, (or light hearted animated medium), but once you try to create a live action tv show, with budgets, revenue streams, etc, you are going to have to justify its existence. If you look at sci-fi, you gotta have your ship/crew do something. Most fans (and I'm not talking about TrekBBS fans) want to follow a show that's "epic". And "epic" means "saving the galaxy" more often than not. So if you don't build that into your premise, you're going to lose a big chunk of potential viewership and it's a non-starter idea.

 

[ALF]

Agreed that a smaller budget for a smaller story would make a lot of sense. But isn't this premise simply: Star Trek with Underdogs/Everymen as heroes?

 

[Butters]

I was given to believe that everyone in Star fleet was exceptional. Slice of life stuff works for the occasional scene in a bigger story, but watching Mr Adventure twiddling his thumbs at the arse end of space for a whole series?

It might work as an anthology series. The enterprise laundry staff during wolf 359 for example,

 

[Vger23]

This is where the desire for Star Trek to be "real" crosses over to the extreme, at least by my estimation.

I don't give a shit about seeing mediocre people ferrying between starbases in a random light cruiser. To me, that's a standard soap opera set in space. I'd rather see big damn heroes doing fun things. Sci-fi gives us the grandest, most amazing canvas you can imagine to tell big stories.

So let's tell some big stories.

 

[plynch]

The original E was one ship of 12, with others commanded by Commodores or maybe even fleet captains. Just a normalish lil ol cruiser.

Movie 1, then 4 it and Kirk became saviors of the world. But not in the series. There 's a thread in this bbs somewhere about epic-ness creep. Agree w poster above that VOY was pretty normal.