If you were creating a TOS Prequel, how would you do it?

I'd have started in the 22nd Century, with a Trill meeting an elderly Cardassian living in a cave on Vulcan.

 

Well, that's pretty specific...

 

I would have set the series earlier in the 22nd Century, say 2115-2130. All the major nations, that rebuilt after first contact and the war, now have separate space forces; navies so to speak. In the first attempts to make one "unified space fleet (or force)", it was difficult to get experienced, veteran officers and crews. Come up with some nice plan to utilize younger officers, and enlisted personnel, that didn't want to stick to the traditional naval format and had ambitions of their own.

The main ship (I'd actually make this prequel based on a smallish sized taskforce of say 8-10 ships of various designs and weaponry) would serve as an operations hub for the smaller vessels. Exploration of new regions of space would be their key objective, but I would have them also serving as hauling cargo, goods, and on occasion military aid to whomever needed it. They would evolve as sort of futuristic "privateers" for the fledgling unified Earth Space program. I like a lot of the previous mentioned ideas of colonial disputes, pirates (both human and alien), and seeing how their friends and former colleagues view them.

As they manage to meet new races of aliens, they don't hesitate to use force if necessary, and sometimes provoke clashes out of ignorance. They are always willing to trade, with whomever, if it aids their mission. It might be interesting to see this sort of bartering and trading as a means to establish new allies, new foes, and acquiring more sophisticated (or improved) propulsion designs, weapons, and so on. Little by little, they begin to see that there is too much chaos in dealing with strange new aliens in this manner and eventually report back to their superiors at the end of their first mission. They report that they need guidelines and protocols for dealing with other space fairing races that are more neutral.

I think everyone gets the idea and the show just evolves from this point.

 

Okay, I really like the idea of the combined space navy of Earth's government. It'd incorporate that into my ideas. It would allow for many different type of ships and it was have the awesome international flare that this very...human series would really need.

The question is why would Earth have such a large naval force? True it is 60 years after WW III and that might be enough time...to rebuild after the Post Atomic Horror. I always figured that the PAH lasted maybe a good generation. Those people seemed well set in that system.
Usually a culture that rebounds that quickly as a planetary group does so because it has to. Are humans paranoid by this time?

One of the things that was left out of my ideas and Enterprise too was that there should be some time to deal with the situation on Earth and the continued rebuilding and showing of good faith between the nations and how fragile that relationship is...we can't give earth the look of being united if it wasn't united a few Decades ago...There should still be contention and strife and even the danger of war..

 

Nations have military forces because they require them, they serve a purpose. The reason for the forces would come into existence prior to the creation of the naval ships. If you have colonies, freighters, excursive trade routes that are endangered somehow, THEN you build your navy. If you have a single colony and you round trip a civilian ship twice a year, then maybe you only require one naval ship. But as you acquire multiple colonies, dozen/hundreds of civilian freighters and lots of trading partners the pressing need for fleet develops.

So why does Earth need a naval force in your prequel?
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The post-atomic horror wouldn't necessarily have been evenly spread across the Earth, entire nations and regions might have "sat out" the third world war. We know that at least one major missile base in Montana was untouched, and they tend to be primary targets. The Transamerica building in San Fransisco is still standing in the 24th century, perhaps indicating that the US was one of the nations that largely sat out, at least as much as possible.

 

That's a massive effort though that I don't believe is justifiably possible so soon after a WW. Not only does there have to be recovery but then a further organized effort to continue to the stars...colonize and then build individual national fleets for space......all after a world war of atomic levels...just 60 years after...I don't think so...that's too optimistic.

I don't think they sat out.
I think America Nuked China and the Arab Nations into Oblivion at the cost of few American Cities.

Some one needs to put the pieces of Trek's history together because it is reallly muff-ed up. That's what ENT should have done but that was a major mother-muffing-muff-up itself.

 

Techwise:
No transporter
No holograms
No phasers/photons
No m/am reactor
no universal translator

I would definately have shields. This is one tech that is really a must. Without shields, realistically ship to ship combat would last 10 seconds.

I think it would be a nice change if the UESPA was using Air Force ranks rather than naval just for a change. Colonel Archer if you will. No spatial torpedoes, but fusion warheads instead. I think a mix of lasers or some new kind of particle beam. Maybe away teams could actually use kinetic weapons. Keeping the tech 'low tech' I think really opens aup a new style of story telling. Oh and no subspace communication, our crew is out there and they have to make the tough calls on their own.

As for interstellar relations I dont like Vulcans as the mentor race. It always seemed that Earth was the "real" founder of the Federation. Even centuries later we only see a small minority of starfleet being aliens. No alien crew members, this is an Earth ship. No klingons, theyve been done to death and were 23rd/24th century adversaries.

Mostly I'd have my crew exp[lore strange new worlds. Thats all trek really needs, but it would be fun to have a few of visits to non-warp planets being that theres no prime directive. Maybe explore some real sci fi concepts for a change.

 

I'm okay with counter measures like a shield like defense like a really intense magnetic field that they dump all the ships power into briefly to block blast or even repel projectiles plus the polarizing hull armor that ENT had...

but other wise no shields, that's a highly advance tech that needs lots of power and knowledge of subspace they shouldn't have yet..

I'm all for the chance to explore real sci fi concepts...ENT missed on that big time.

 

Well, over a decade ago I gave a lot of thought. This was before Enterprise was announced. I even designed ( well "kitbashed" ) the uniforms and the ship.





It was set during the NCC-1701 Enterprise's first mission commanded by Captain Robert April.

The crew:
Captain April: A tough maverick commander who started his career as an enlisted man. Born on the New Tasman Colony April joined Starfleet to escape the boredom and drugery of colonial life. Rising to the rank of Chief Petty Officer, he was given a battlefield promotion to assume command after his ships commader was killed and later attended Starfleet's OCS program, receiving an officer's commision.

Dr. Sarah Goldman: A former child progidy of Israeli-Ethiopean decent, Goldman holds advanced degrees in Medicine, Psychology and Physics. Feeling unchallenged in academia Goldman joined Starfleet in the hope of fully utilizing her gifts, skills and knowlege and to be on the cutting edge of new discoveries. She serves as the Enterprise's Chief Medical Officer and Science Officer.

Commander Nogura: The ships XO and a by-the-book officer who's uncomfortable with Aprils maverick tendancies. Its an open secret that he was assigned to the Enterprise to curb those tendancies. Norgura comes from a powerful political family who hold various positions in the governments of Earth and the Federation. They see Starfleet as a stepping stone to politics and have begun to pressure Nogura to leave the service.

Lt. Commander Slev: An Andorian, who was Aprils choice to be XO, Slev servs as the ships Security Cheif. Slender and soft spoken, Slev is often underestimated by opponates unfamiler with Andorian warrior culture. Slev is also a poet, coming from the Andorian Warrior-Poet tradition.

The Chief: A Tellerite ( I forget what I named him) he's the top non-commisioned officer on the ship and runs engineering. A former drill instructor at Starfleet's boot camp he terrifies most of the junior crewman who live in fear of a temporay assignment to Engineering. He's also April's oldest friend.

Lt. Chris Pike: The ships helmsman. Devoted, loyal and a bit too serious he would literaly lay down his life for the Captain, the ship and the crew. April thinks he need to loosen up and trust his instincts more.

Lt(jg). Maggie Garcia: Quiet and shy, she is ironically the ship Communications Officer. Unknown to most of the crew, Garcia is a decendent of the Eugenic supermen who plunged Earth into war centuries ago. Smarter and stronger than most humans, but raised in isolation by scientists, Garcia is socially awkward and at times uncomfortable with "normals" and fears their reaction to her background. April, whose ancestors fought and dies in the Eugenics Wars, isn't pleased to have her aboard. Goldman is her "sponser" and one of the chief designer of the program to "mainstream" Eugenic Humans. Garcia was the number one candidate for this program.

Ensign Guinevere "Lou" Llewellyn: Garcia's roommate and polar opposite. Llewellyn serves as ship's Navigator. Loud, loquacious and uninhibited Lou is an intersellar incident waiting to happen. A Starfleet brat who mother is an Admiral, Lou has probably logged more space hours and been on more planets than all but the most experienced crewmen. Any hope by her parents that Starfleet would temper her attitudes have thus far been proven false.

The main antoganists would have been the Orions.

 

It's a good cast but the andorian doesn't feel right.

 

I never followed fanon or Treklit, so my my Andorians are based on "Journey to Babel" and my own imagination. My Andorians were a caste based Matriarchy. Each family/social unit is comprised of a female and groups of three males from different castes called a triad. The bond between the males is very deep and can only be broken by death. The number of triads bonded to each female varies. The Matriarchal Council that rules Andor is comprised of the most powerful females.

Slev's triad was killed and he is "bond-broken". His membership in the Warrior caste led him to Starfleet, which is one of the few places that will accept a bond broken Andorian. He thinks of April and the Chief as his triad bond brothers, even though he is no longer bonded to a matriarch. Sorry, no ice powers.

( yeah, I spent way to much time on this.)

 

You forgot the spikes on the Bussards.

Personally, I'd have the ship pretty close to how it looked during Pike's time (the ship wasn't very old at that point, so it really shouldn't look all that different).

 

That however sounds more interesting.
It's a shame few are showing the interest this deserves.
Good Work.

 

I'm not a big fan of the "Andorians have four genders" school, myself. But I was wondering about the triads. Since the members come from three different castes, how is it determined what caste the children are born into? Or is caste membership determined in some other way?

Guy

 

All males become part of their father's caste. (Somehow they know which member of the triad is the father) All females are raised seperate from the males to become matriarchs.

I did base the idea of the triad on the comment that there are four participants in an Andorian wedding, but kept the sexes involved to two.

 

IfI had to make a TOS prequel, I'd make a show called Star Trek: Enterprise. We could call it ENT for short.

Oh wait.

 

I definitely prefer Nerys Myk's idea for the Andorians over the tetragendered Andorians made popular by Treklit. Nice work, Nerys.

 

Thanks for the kind words, folks.

 

Frankly I think other than Spock that is the most interesting XO I've seen bibled yet.
Do you have anymore information on him?

 

I believe that's Admiral Nogura (referred to but never seen onscreen in TMP); he's also featured in the "Star Trek: Vanguard" series of novels (after this character roster was written).

Am I correct in assuming that Maggie Garcia is "Number One" from "The Cage"? Interesting background; many fans make the assumption that she's Christine Chapel's sister, so making her both Hispanic and descended from one of Khan's supermen are an original choice. Are there enough "augment" descendants around over 150 years after the Eugenics Wars for "mainstreaming" them to be a problem?