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

[Warped9]

I never come into this forum, but I admit curiousity in seeing the thread title while scrolling done the main list of forums.

I see a lot of good ideas mentioned. And while I don't agree with all of them most have the appeal of shaking things up and not just remaking TNG/VOY only with supposedly more less advanced looking tech. A key to that would be the writing. The new show should have had a genuinely fresh writing core with a fresher perspective then how Trek had been written for near twenty years. To that end it would have been nice to have gotten a fresh producer as well to get a new overall vision.

Indeed there are any number periods you could have set a prequel and all of them are equally valid---it comes down to taste and preferences. But taking the OP's initial suggestion of working strictly from TOS primarily here are some thoughts:

- If you really want something totally fresh with a chance to stand on its own then don't do an April or Pike series set on the Enterprise 1701.
- Upthread it was mentioned about the end of the 21st or early 22nd century setting---I like this because you could really make it feel raw and unfamiliar. Same if you set it just after the Romulan War or very early 23rd century.
- No UFP and no Starfleet unless you're set in the early 23rd century. If set before that than you have the United Earth Space Probe Agency and the United Space Service, both Earth centric organizations.
- No phasers, no transporters, no photon torpedoes. Very basic replication/processing to acknowledge the utilization of nanotech (which you essentially need for extended spaceflight. Rudimentary language translation tech, the predecessors to TOS' universal translator (we're working on this now so in SF you're just extending the concept).
- If set before the late 22nd or early 23rd century then no Klingons, please! They've been done to death! If in the early Starfleet days then we could see glimpses of John M. Ford's type of Klingons rather than the more familiar overdone ones. Forget about the Romulans too. I'd also use the Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites sparingly.
- Friction with pirates and lost or failed human colonies is a good idea. Orion pirates is another good one, but keep them mysterious.
- I wouldn't have had a Vulcan crew member right off. Indeed it could easily have been an Andorian. I'd introduce them perhaps a season in to add a new dynamic after getting established.
- If setting the series post Romulan War then I'd go back to Matt Jeffries' early sketches to see if there is something in there to work from. If not then I'd try for something definately pre TOS looking in concept. maybe Masao has something on his Starfleet Museum website to start from.
- Avoid technobabble and most familiar tech references.

For myself I like an idea based on some fanfic I read awhile ago from the trek Lit forum. Use the ringship Enterprise design (suitably jazzed up because we actually have little detail about it) only set it in the early 22nd century, maybe 2105-2140. The ship is originally a United Space Service vessel, but loaned out to UESPA as a joint venture. Now you have a suitably armed ship embarking on exploration and frontier duty. Jackson Archer is a man in his forties or early fifties, essentially a soldier now in a new role. The new ship isn't his first command and he's seen people die before (although I'm using the ringship this setup could work in any era). make the ship more cramped than what we're familiar with, but there have to be some luxuries that a ship on extended deep space patrol would need for sake of the crew's psychological health.

Lean more towards the rare Earth concept so there isn't humanoid life around every corner. Make space wild and dark and dangerous again. That said you could be butting heads with unscrupulous humans, pirates, lost and failed colonies.

Am I the only one that was suffering from Klingon burn-out at the time Enterprise premiered? It was the very first (and very obvious) clue that we were in for more of the same show we had been watching for the past thirteen years.

Very much agree.

 

[BillJ]

That said you could be butting heads with unscrupulous humans, pirates, lost and failed colonies.

I find that Terra Nova is one of my favorite episodes. Not so great in execution... but the premise behind it is excellent.

 

[T'Girl]

don't do an April or Pike series set on the Enterprise 1701.

You avoid the whole continuity thing by creating a brand new character. Plus you have the advantage of building that same character from scratch.

no Klingons, please! They've been done to death!

Yes.

you could really make it feel raw and unfamiliar

Not reusing the same alien races would be a good step in this direction, I like what TNG/DS9 did with the Klingons -- leave them out. I like what ENT did with the Vulcan and the Androians -- leave them out. In the new series do new previously unseen races. They were always there, we just never saw them.

No UFP and no Starfleet unless you're set in the early 23rd century. If set before that than you have the United Earth Space Probe Agency and the United Space Service, both Earth centric organizations.

Like the Klingons, the Federation been done to death. An Earth organization, perhaps with a very small number of foreign allies along, would have the freshness factor.

maybe Masao has something on his Starfleet Museum website to start from.

I love his stuff, adopting elements from his timeline would be a plus too.

Lean more towards the rare Earth concept so there isn't humanoid life around every corner.

Problem here is that unless it's a animated series, you're going to be using Human actors. A cgi character might be okay as a background extra, but still not for a lead or important guess star.

 

[The Badger]

This subject has come up before, and I've written a fanfic based on my ideas (I believe it may be the one that Warped9 alludes to earlier). If anyone wants to read it, it's at
http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=90084

But for those without the patience (what was intended as a short story grew in the telling) here are the salient points.
The United Earth Military Authority has recently fought a war against an alien race, the Axanar. Realising that the current generation of ships is inadequate for purpose, they develop a new design of warship. With costs running over budget, and construction behind schedule, UEMA is forced to ask UESPA for help. As a result of this deal the sixth ship, Enterprise, is modified for deep space exploration and placed under UESPA's command during times of peace.

The ship itself is based on the ringship design, though with a few alterations, such as warp nacelles. The inside is cramped and congested, like a submarine. Heavy hatches have to be pulled open, there are no sliding doors. Pipes and conduits run through the corridors. Originally designed before Earth got zero gravity technology, some areas are difficult to access.

The ship's armed with plasma cannons and torpedoes with atomic warheads. It's well armoured, but will need repairs if damaged. 'Re-routing the power' won't do it. ECM, counter measures and point defence systems help protect the ship.

This is an all human operation. Although aliens can, and do, occasionally join the crew, it's in a limited capacity (think weekly guest stars). Rather than artificially creating drama by having Archer bitch about how them nasty Vulcans stopped daddy building his engine, my version artificially creates drama () with a mixed crew. Some are military, others UESPA. There are even a few civilians on board. And they don't always see eye to eye.

No stun weapons, no shields, no transporters. And absolutely no Temporal Cold War!

 

[Captain Robert April]

For the record, my story really doesn't have anything to do with the Klingons. Rather, it focuses on the launch and maiden voyage of the Enterprise. The Klingons are only there for historical purposes, to explain what April was doing before he took command of the Enterprise and why he merited that post in the first place. In script form, the Klingons would only be seen in the teaser, and even then, only the ships during the fight and a voice over the comm system signaling the end of the fighting. They probably wouldn't show up again for at least another ten episodes or so.

 

[ghoyle1]

I wonder if there would be any legal issues involved with a Star Trek-based TV series using fan designs, such as Masao's Starfleet Museum ships? Perhaps this is why fan creations have usually been ignored on the TV shows.

 

[T'Girl]

I've written a fanfic based on my ideas

I really loved you re-imagining of the Enterprise story, but I'll have to admit I finally got so sick and tired of the Polly Partridge character I stopped reading.

Can't there be a tragic air lock accident involving her?

 

[Captain Robert April]

^ Any relation to Ensign Mary Sue?

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

The Mission:
To explore the uncharted reaches of space, patrol the newly established Romulan Neutral Zone following the end of the Wars, and build trust and confidence between the member races of the newly formed United Federation of Planets.

The Ship:
U.S.S. Daedalus NX-150, the first ship of her class. With 230 men and women onboard, from eight different species, it is the largest and most diverse ship in the Federation fleet. A maximum speed of Warp 6.5. Fully armed with phase cannons, photonic torpedoes and experimental deflector shields.

The Crew:
Commanding Officer - Captain Jonathan Archer - Human male, mid-40s. A veteran of the Romulnan Wars, he has the recorded for the longest time spent on the frontlines. A brilliant strategist and tactician, some have questioned whether or not he is appropriate to lead an exploratory craft.

Executive / Chief Science Officer - Sub-Commander T'Pol - Vulcan female, age indeterminate. On loan from the Vulcan Science Directorate, she faces a lot of bitterness and resentment from the crew, as Vulcan never became directly involved in the Wars--for reasons they will not discuss. They did provide supplies and intelligence, but no tactical support.

Chief Engineering Officer - Lt. Commander Charles Tucker - Human male, mid-30s. A gifted engineer, he was one of the key designers on the Daedalus-Class, and Archer's only choice for CEO. He spent most of the Wars repairing ships and building new ones, his only time spent in combat was during the Battle of Sol, in which his twin sister was killed in action.

Chief Tactical Officer - Lt. Commander Thy'lek Shran - Andorian male, late-30s. A former officer of the Andorian Imperial Guard, he transferred into the newly formed Starfleet at the end of the Wars. Soft spoken, his demeanour hides a true warrior, willing to lay down his life for others.

Chief Navigation Officer - Lieutenant Ellene - Deltan female, late-20s. The beautiful, exotic and mysterious Navigator. Most of the men (and some of the women) want to be with her, but her people's Oath prohibits intimate contact with other races--even is she desires it.

Chief Helm Officer - Lieutenant JG Travis Mayweather - Human male, early-20s. A Boomer who has spent his entire life in space. He has more space hours, visited more places and witnessed more unusual things than anyone else on the crew and looks set for a very promising career in Starfleet.

Chief Communications Officer - Ensign Hoshi Sato - Human female, early-20s. A child prodigy, who displayed an uncanny talent for languages. Gaining a doctorate in xenolinguistics by the time she was 20, she decided to put her talents to use and enrolled into Starfleet. This is her first assignment into space, following a life of academia and she has a lot to learn.

Chief Security Officer - Major Malcolm Reed - Human male, early-30s. A MACO assigned to head up the security force onboard. He saw a lot of combat in the Wars, and is still suffering some of the after effects. He puts others ahead of himself and is a stickler for rules and regulations.

Chief Medical Officer - Doctor Phlox - Denobulan male, mid-50s. A dedicated and compassionate healer, following the Wars he finds himself dealing as much with emotional and psychological injuries than physical ones, but with eighteen advanced degrees under his belt, there isn't much he can't handle.

 

[Saquist]

I'm not so much interested in hearing how "Enterprise" screwed it up. What I'm interested is how you would create a show about the early days of Earth's contact with new life and new civilizations.

Think about it from the point of view of someone trying to design a TV series. Remember, if you use fan-based designs (such as the Starfleet Museum, the Franz Joseph tech manuuals, etc.), you will using someone else's intellectual property.

All you have to start from is TOS, and any elements from the later series which could logically have existed in a prequel to those series. What known aliens could be included? Would you have any alien crew members?

How would you make the technology look more "primitive" than the NCC-1701? Would transporters and deflectors exist? What kind of weaponry would you include?

What themes would you like to explore in such a series? What are some of the stories would you be able to tell (how the Prime Directive came about? Who did humans first come in contact with?)

These are just some questions and ideas to get the job rolling.

SERIES NAME Star Trek: Alliance
Ship Name- USS Olympia -MarshallClass -Crew of 35

1-I would have kept to the Star Trek canon Primarily
2-The Star Fleet Chronology would have been my best guide.
3-The ships would have been extremely primitive, functioning on High Fusion reactions and discovering impulse power. They would have resembled submarines, limited space and provisions, and extremely limited speed.
4-I would have dismissed First Contact as a disruption in the time-line. Thus using the temporal police to straighten out the conflict in a two or three part episode for the mid season without contaminating the timeline.
5. And Andorian-Vulcan War sounds good so I'll steal that from Anwar.
6. The ship would not be the main set but actually a Series of Spacestation sets that would serve as this ship's port of call as it progressed through Space.



The Series would be for only 5 Years.

Parameters
Weapons: Lasers Particle Beams and Guided Missles. Cluster Missles
Communication (Primitive subspace Comm speeds) -New Tech
Sensors (Primitive FTL scans-New Tech
ECM: Laser disruption

No shields
No Transporters
No Holodecks but holographic abilities.

This is a Military Series.
First Year- The Andorian War and various other conflicts with the Tellarites, Klingons and Thollians.

-The Eastern Coalition Terrorist would be a Midseaon 2-parter
- The Eugenics Re-Emergence would follow immediately after as a 3 parter
-Star Fleet ship Ajax goes missing.
-The First Klingon encounter happens on another ship but with a known crew member from Olympia that is sent as a xeno-diplomat for a Klingon family seeking asylum from the Empire.

The Second Year-Starts on the Destruction of Starbase One and the attempt to name the attacker and the Olympia's mission to to find them.
-Space War Games encompasses 3 episodes involving the Disastrous loss of the USS Scythe and all aboard.
-The Romulan-Vulcan secret is 3 part Episode but is never revealed to any human.
-The Pirate Conflict encompasses 5 episodes on Several planets.

The Third Year-Starts on a completely different crew of the USS Patton for 4 Episodes that encounters a Fleet of ships coming out of deep space and is destroyed getting the message to the Olympia.

-Earth needs time and Olympia is sent alone but It's Captain must first deal with one of his crew that he learns is a Eastern Coalition Terrorist and has sabotaged the ship
-Ajax comes to Olympia rescue
-The Ajax and Olympia embark on a series of Offensive manuvers and Guerrilla attacks that succeed in destroying 4 ships of the 10 ship Fleet but Ajax is destroyed in the endeavor, Olympia is Adrift without fuel and weapons

-A Series of Episodes (The Lonely Outpost) will leave the main Character ship but follow a promoted character that leads Star Fleet against what they now know is a Three Pronged attack against Sol that ends at the Battle of Cheron

-Year Four
This year is a series of Concepts
Courtmartial
Home
Healing
Allies
Treaties
Politics - This episode Threatens to cut half of Earth's Fleet and military expenditures.

It would be extremely military, showing Trek's roots. But it would be incredibly realistic, hostile and violent in the Fifth Year that would embody extreme change such as the death of multiple characters and new technology introduced by the Alliance

 

[The Badger]

^ Any relation to Ensign Mary Sue?

Oh yes. She even has a line of dialogue lifted verbatim from 'A Trekkie's Tale' at one point!

Partridge was intended as a human replacement for T'Pol, so she had to be both extremely clever and, as RobertScorpio put it, a hot chick in a tight outfit to get the 14 year old lads watching. As my skill at writing sexy female characters has all the subtlety of a Bayonetta cutscene she's not what you would call a realistic portrayal, but she is I hope an interesting one. Whilst I'm disappointed T'Girl was put off by her I do understand.

 

[T'Girl]

Chief Helm Officer - Lieutenant JG Travis Mayweather - Human male, early-20s. A Boomer who has spent his entire life in space. He has more space hours, visited more places and witnessed more unusual things than anyone else on the crew and looks set for a very promising career in Starfleet. e.

Have Mayweather be a chief petty officer, "Chief of the Boat," anyone who knows anything about naval service know these guys are the true power behind the thrown. Senior NCO's will pull an inexperienced officer (and a experienced one) to the side and spell things out to them.

Make Mayweather older, fifty plus, iron gray crewcut hair, Marine Corp fit, born in space, served aboard a dozen civilian ships, commanded a couple, multiple ex-wives and a grandfather too. His wandering feet have brought him to star fleet decades before, has a been there - done that attitude, he sometimes gets in Archer face with his greater life experiences.

Captain must first deal with one of his crew that he learns is a Eastern Coalition Terrorist and has sabotaged the ship

Instead of a individual, have it be a terror cell, that way you can catch one or two, but then more spring up. Have the Eastern Coalition aim be subtlety different than the (United Earth's?) aims, instead of a heavy handed difference. That way they can recruit from amongst the crew.

 

[Saquist]

Instead of a individual, have it be a terror cell, that way you can catch one or two, but then more spring up. Have the Eastern Coalition aim be subtlety different than the (United Earth's?) aims, instead of a heavy handed difference. That way they can recruit from amongst the crew.

Hmmm. That would be quite harder for the good guys to resolve. The ticking clock with the enemy fleet approaching Sol and dealing with an entire cell would be wonderfully suspenseful. It could be taken right down to the wire.

It could also draw some interesting lines between the main characters and not like Reed being Section 31 in ENT but more ideological and serious.

It would imply a much greater plan of the last remains of the Eastern Coalition like some kind of fleet wide sabotage plot. Maybe the Eastern Coalition Terrorist don't even know they have been manipulated by the Romulans.

I like the way you think.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Make Mayweather older, fifty plus, iron gray crewcut hair, Marine Corp fit, born in space, served aboard a dozen civilian ships, commanded a couple, multiple ex-wives and a grandfather too. His wandering feet have brought him to star fleet decades before, has a been there - done that attitude, he sometimes gets in Archer face with his greater life experiences.

An older, more experienced space traveler who would occasionally clash with Archer is closer to what they originally intended for "Lieutenant Joseph Mayweather" in ENT, IMO.

 

[PorthosShadow]

Easy, I would have started the series from season 4 and gone from there.

 

[Anwar]

S4 wouldn't have worked without the set-up from the prior 3 seasons. Saying "Start with Season 4" just doesn't work.

 

[ghoyle1]

I really enjoyed Seasoon 4, and I wish that the rest of the series had been more like it. Some of it could have been done in earlier seasons, although maybe not in just one season.

I loved the revelation that Romulans had infiltrated Vulcan society, and had usurped control of the Vulcan High Command, and were the ones who were trying to hold back Earth's technological development (and reinforcing the xenophoia responsible for the birth of such groups as Terra Prime). I would rather have seen this as a major arc of the series, rather than the Temporal Cold War, leading up to the Syrannite Revolution. This could have been the start of the Romulan War, as well, as the Romulans take more direct action to stop the Humans who had disrupted a centuries-long plan.

 

[PorthosShadow]

S4 wouldn't have worked without the set-up from the prior 3 seasons. Saying "Start with Season 4" just doesn't work.

Not litterally but in terms of quality and story telling. If the series had started with actually delving into the klingons, Vulcans and the rest of Star Trek's back story ENT would have been fantastic.

 

[Saquist]

I was also thinking about what made Battlestar Galactica exciting to watch.
It think I would have to add high speed rail guns with a twist. I was dreaming this up last night...that perhaps the Rail guns could get so fast that the ship had to fire it's main engines as retro fire. Or that not firing your main engines would allow for dramatic maneuvers when the Rail gun fires. However this means that the BSG slow moving look of the Rail guns is gone...it would look like machine gun fire with much larger salvos.

Of course that adds some interesting factors like Fuel becomes a battle concern, ammo and the weapon might be a mid range tactic while the torpedo missiles would be long range and lasers would be close range.

I also suggest a heavy use of robots for exploration

I'd like the crew as follows

Captain David Akira
Human: Male: American Chinese: Age 36
Note: I chose Akira to give the class ship in the 24th true meaning by making David Akira one of Earth's legends. I think with the Post Atomic Horror that he has an interesting perspective on the war that was fought 100 years.

XO: Xavier Diaz
Human: Chilean : Age 29
Note: Unbeknown to his captain Diaz is an Augment of Super Human Strength


Chief of the Ship: Aria Lim
Human: Philippino Age 27

Communications: Christopher Arcenaeux
Human: Black : Ireland: Age 24

Helmsman/ Navigator: Desean Leonard
Human: Black: American: Age 23

Petty Officer: Cala Issa
Human: Female: Omani : Age 25

Weapons Officer: William Veazey
Human: Irish: Canadian: Age 31

 

[Duncan MacLeod]

I've written a fanfic based on my ideas

I really loved you re-imagining of the Enterprise story, but I'll have to admit I finally got so sick and tired of the Polly Partridge character I stopped reading.

Can't there be a tragic air lock accident involving her?

No!

Besides there almost was one already.

http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=4119403&postcount=308