If you were in charge of a Trek reboot, what ten things would you change?

[Skulkin' Vulcan]

The only thing I would change is to sell the Star Trek rights to a real streaming service like Netflix or Amazon, that everyone gets anyway, and then lets them go bananas. The best solution to everyone getting the Star Trek they want is to ramp up production so we can pick and choose.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

1. Episodes and story arcs focusing exclusively on non-human races. I loved “A Matter of Honor,” “Face of the Enemy” and “Soldiers of the Empire” because they gave us an idea of how non-Federation ships and crews function. Why not expand on the concepts introduced in those episodes?

2. Similar to what others have suggested, I’d ditch the universal translator in favor of each race’s primary language, at least in scenes featuring only members of a single race. That is, if two Cardassians are speaking to each other, I want to hear actual Cardassian words. For scenes containing more than one race, the universal translator can be used for the sake of simplicity.

3. Agree with limiting the use of the transporter. IIRC, the idea was developed for budgetary reason. Now that CGI is available, why not include more scenes featuring shuttles and other small craft?

4. I always like the idea of each ship having its own logo/insignia, so I’d bring that back. Alternatively, I’d use the Enterprise insignia on the left breast but also have a small arm patch indicating the ship/starbase a character serves on.

5. Less reliance on technology during off-duty hours. I like the idea of characters preparing their own meals with real ingredients, washing their clothes, taking showers, etc. Replicators make sense in situations where a full kitchen or restaurant isn’t available, but they’ve no place in a character’s home.

6. Less homogenous alien races. A Romulan spy played by Kelli Barrett (The Punisher, Law & Order: SVU) should still look like Kelli Barrett, not Kelli Barrett with a bowl cut.

7. Similar to the above point, non-human races should have a wider variety of ships available for space travel, including older ships. It would be cool to see restored TOS-era Romulan BOPs going up against Borg cubes and, from a plot standpoint, would actually reflect the sense of desperation the Romulans might be feeling were they on the cusp of a conflict with the Borg given that they had to press older ships back into service.

8. Deal more extensively with the psychological ramifications of a life in space. DS9 tried to do this with “Hard Time,” “Nor the Battle to the Strong...” and “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” but they were only partly successful with it. O’Brien was back to normal by “Broken Mirror,” which made absolutely no sense.

9. On a related note, give the CMO something to do besides research. Show him/her actually conversing with patients and trying to understand their illnesses or injuries, which should have been treated with actual medical knowledge and skills, not a dermal regenerator.

10. Feature more scenes involving spies and diplomats. I want to see where the information fueling Starfleet missions actually comes from and how this information is eventually used to shape Federation law and Starfleet regulations. Additionally, an opportunity that I thought was missed with Kirk but could be explored with Cornwell is how flag officers influence Federation politics. They have more power than a line officer. They should have the chance to use it where appropriate.

 

[Coyote Annabis]

Me, I would do what Enterprise should have been. Humanity has come a long way, we've explored the stars a bit, but we've still got a long way to go. I would almost go for an early diesel ship type of feel in terms of travel. A trip from earth to the klingon homeworld would be less like visiting the family upstate, more like crossing the pacific in a tramp steamer. A couple of months at "high" warp (warp 4-5) and require several stops along the way for supplies, if you're lucky.

1.) Transporters. They would still be a thing, but i would limit them heavily. First of all, they would be power hungry. Most non-essential systems would at the very least have to be put into low power mode in order to use the transporter.

Pad to site, or site to pad transports wouldn't be difficult to the point of being a plot device, but still not to the point of routine.

First I would limit the range. A ship would have to at least be in low orbit to beam an away team down to the surface, or vice versa.

Second, they wouldn't be completely accurate. A GOOD transporter tech might be able to land an entire team within a 50 meter area. Further, under ideal circumstances it should be difficult to transport something without a locator beacon attached to it. None of this bollocks of transporting a hostile alien directly into the brig.

Chances of accidents would still be very real. At least twice per season, some redshirt would die or be severely maimed in a transporter accident.

Site to site transports would be impossible without a beacon, and limited to the interior of the ship. Or alternatively, site to space for those situations where you really want/need something (or someone) off your ship.

No weapon or biofilters. Every time you use a transporter, there's a chance of bringing something dangerous aboard.

No mobile transporting. Objects would need to be relatively stationary, and ships would either have to be at a dead stop or in a parking orbit.

Lastly there would be a laundry list of things that simply can't be transported. Complex, highly unstable or exotic materials for example. Roll the dice on what will happen if you try.

2.) Replicators. They would also still be a thing, but primitive. They wouldn't be able to instantly manifest a gourmet meal, or the exact starship parts you need to get moving again. They will however be able to reprocess the ships waste or basic elements found in and around the ship into basic items, and this would take time.

Instead of walking up to the replicators and ordering lunch, it would be more like the Quartermaster gets a list of supplies the ship needs, punches them into the replicators and then they run for 8-12 hours producing basic parts, materials, dry goods and/or foodstuffs. The process wouldn't be fast or efficient, it couldn't be done at just any time and it would still be limited by the base chemicals and elements available. If you need a new part, you may need to cannibalize something else to replicate it.

3.) Limited power and fuel. No ship will be hurtling along at warp 9 for a week straight, all phasers blasting, while the entire crew relaxes in their own personal holodeck. Warp travel would be similar to a WWII era diesel sub running submerged. The ship would theoretically be able to hold warp 2 for about a week before it has to drop out of warp and cruise along at sub light speeds for a couple of hours to refuel, either by passive scooping of the interstellar medium or siphoning DT from a gas giants. Higher warp speeds burn through you fuel supply faster and put extra wear and tear on the drives.

Power would also be limited at warp. No replicators, no transporters, no energy weapons (and torpedoes would be practically useless), and limited sensors. All of the above would also consume fuel, but much less than the warp drive.

4.) Warp travel. Limited speeds, and jumping to warp should be a big deal. None of this push a button and go bollocks. The drive should take time to spool up and build speed, and there should always be a chance of something going wrong.

Further, a well defined warp scale. Warp 1 is light speed. Period. From there it scales up along a set progression, not some arbitrary plot convienient number.

5.) Combat. Again, it would be more submarine like instead of fighter plane style. Lower speed, long range, with the perspective shifting between external views and tactical displays. Energy weapons would be long range, less powerful affairs with a reload/cooldown period used mostly to rattle the opponent and force them to make a mistake, or wear down their shields, putting you in optimum position to fire a spread of torpedoes in hopes of a kill shot. And none of this crap about firing a torpedo that either intantly destroys the target, or glances off their shields. While they're still travelling fast and can track a target, you still have time and distance to out manuever or fool them with countermeasures. Torpedoes would be limited, can't be replicated easily and are thus valuable, so no spraying torpedoes. They should take time to prepare and target.

As for story elements:

6.) More slice of life. Day to day activities and challenges faced by the crew. The complaints about eating ration packs because you haven't been able to replicate any fresh food for three weeks. The constant struggle to stay entertained, or the interpersonal conflicts brought on by being confined in an interstellar sardine can with little to no outside contact for weeks on end. Use this more as a plot point, ala MASH, instead of a throwaway line.

7.) More in depth exploration about the difficulty of first contact. Instead of a "forehead of the week" it would be more "species of the season." Every first contact should always be a two part episode. The first being establishing communication and any initial conflict, the second is the resolution or fallout of the situation. The rest of the season is focussed on that species and their relationship with humanity. From a production standpoint, this frees up more budget and supplies for more creative alien races. You don't need to portray sixty different aliens each season, so you can put more effort into portraying one.

8.) Diversity. Without getting into it, I like what DIS tries to do, but ultimately fails at. Everything seems forced and loaded, like the people were picked just to push an agenda. Just have a diverse crew that manages to work together without making every little difference into a major issue. Nobody on the ship cares that the doctor is Nigerian, or the comms officer is Russian. Write the character for anyone, then pick a diverse set of actors and let them work.

9.) Less focus on the officers. Self explanatory.

10.) Seasonal and series continuity. No mysterious aliens that are never mentioned again, no major scientific or personal breakthroughs that are forgotten by the next episode. If a character gets maimed by a blown plasma coil in the first episode, they still have their scars at the end of the season.

 

[Jedi Marso]

I'll start by saying that technology has already far outgrown the box of ideas presented in TOS Trek. Ergo, a reboot of the series probably isn't feasible in any way that people would recognize as Star Trek except in name. Still, it's fun to try, so...

1. HBO style seasons with 10-14 episodes apiece. Adult themed- PG-13 at a minimum.

2. The merging of technology with humanity in the way seen in Peter Hamilton novels, or the show Altered Carbon. Heinlein-esque rejuvenation, where there is no real limit on human lifespan other than choice or death by misadventure, or being stranded somewhere where these technologies don't exist.

3. 'Diversity' explored through the lens of a technological super-civilization. What does it mean to be trans-gendered if you were born one way, but medical science could literally turn you into the opposite gender rather than just crudely chopping off and re-arranging parts, and shooting you up with hormones? I mean like a complete genetic re-sequencing that literally made you XX instead of XY? What if a homosexual had to make the choice to remain a homosexual, or switch genders via the above method and thereby become heterosexual? Or vice versa? Would family planning choices factor into such a decision? All sorts of social stuff to play with there, but in a totally different context than our own world.

4. No transporters. That is the one technological aspect of Trek that seems beyond feasible- even more so than warp drive, structural integrity fields, and inertial damping.

5. Far fewer humanoid species. No cross-fertilization between species, or only VERY rarely. People can't look past the fact that Suzi Plackson in Klingon makeup is sexually attractive because she's a human woman dressed up as something else. Most sci-fi shows fall into this trap. In reality, while deep friendship or even platonic love is certainly possible between species, eros is probably going to be off the table. Do you feel sexually attracted to gorillas or baboons? They are closer to your 'type' than any alien you are going to encounter out in the black- those real aliens aren't men and women in makeup- they're ALIENS like the xenomorph. I love my cats, but I have no desire to marry or screw them.

6. I really like the idea someone else had of Starfleet being a human organization, and representing Earth's contribution to the larger Federation flotilla of peaceful exploration and so on. Solves a lot of issues and keeps one of the most Trekkiest of essences true to the original idea.

7. In order to keep the human and alien elements 'real,' artificial intelligence will have to have been curtailed at some point, recognized as the potential threat to the galaxy and universe at large that it is. Once the civilization hits the Singularity Point and the hyper-intelligent AI comes on scene, it's all over for everyone else- the Federation falls under the control of Colossus. Fermi Paradox time, baby. Ergo, part of the backstory (maybe replacing the idea of WWIII and the Eugenics Wars) is some form of past AI war, and the lack of sapient computers is why starships still need human crews, etc. Plus, no robotic weapon system is ever given autonomy without the oversight of sapient biologicals.

8. A first contact mission is a big enough deal that it warrants a full-season arc.

9. No magic, money-free economy, or perfect people with no conflicts. When people go to the stars, they take their baggage with them. Yeah, we've learned, but evil is still evil and the a-holes are always with us, like bad weather.

10. Big space, far from home theory. There's known space, and then there's the big unknown. Space needs to be portrayed as VAST, largely empty, lonely, and hostile even without an alien presence there. It should be uncomfortable when you are months from the nearest starbase with everything working fine and potentially lethal if the warp drive or some other vital widget conks out. You can just replicate the replacement parts you need, right? Well, maybe. What happens when you can't? What happens when you are so far from the border of known space that you need big astronomical arrays just to be able to find the border stars (especially after those pesky aliens erased your charts)? NuBSG did a passable job of making the galaxy seem like a big place. Trek should do that too.

-Imagine a 10 ep season centered just around a starship that suffers a massive systems casualty hundreds of light years from the Federation border- no comms, no warp drive, and one of the main characters was expecting to be back home in a year or two for rejuvenation, or they are going to suffer organ failure and die. Sort of like a season of Voyager, but one where the crew isn't trying to get home as much as they are just keep it together and survive until someone- anyone- can find and help them. And what if the help they eventually find in the season ending cliffhanger isn't from home at all?

 

[XCV330]

I wouldn't change too much as fundamentally they got it right the first time, and it's best not to try to reinvent making a cake when you have the recipe handed down to you

1: Set it much much further in the future. No more 1990's problems.

that's it. I had a bunch of other things on my list, but mostly its just hedge-trimming.

2: If you reboot, go with TOS. Do everything TOS did right. Avoid the screwball embarassing 60's relics.

3: Make it a show kids can watch with their parents, (And a show kids actually would want to watch, while grown ups want to watch it to).

4: Use lots of fun sound effects make the show an auditory experience again.

5: Big bright colors. No one else does that. Why? They'd look like they were trying to be Star Trek. So quit trying to be THEIR shows and go back to being Star Trek.

6: Make the future look interesting but alien. Don't look at a thing on a wall and say "oh I know what that is. I have one of those at the office" Let people's imaginations work a little. Double dumb-ass on the window counters; let people with imaginations intact do their thing.

7: More non-humanoid races.

8: More arcs but less lengthy arcs. Season 4 Enterprise was really starting to find a balance here.

9: Retire Klingons and Borg. Mention them if you have to, but put them ice for a long long long time.

10: Don't fall for the comic book universe traps. If you reboot, don't get tempted to draw back from old wells. Leave dead continuities alone. No matter how much your writers appeal to you, no matter how you think the fanbase wants it because you're hoping they want it because it would be so easy to undo things.. stick with the reboot.

 

[thribs]

I would base it around the Enterprise J. I would go with the idea that Drexler stated with it being a "nation in space" rather than what the D was refereed to be a "city in space". To that end it would have it would have a captain and a governor. One who is in charge of the ship and one who is in charge of the whole crew, which could bear nearly a million fold.
It would have trans-slipstream capabilities and its mission would be to explore the whole universe (hence the class name). With the first season with them going to the Andromeda galaxy and the Kelvans would be the main foe.
Later one it will deal with the Sphere Builders and the battle of Procyon V.

 

[Rahul]

I like many of your thoughts, that's why I'm going to indivudally add my thoughts to them

1. Episodes and story arcs focusing exclusively on non-human races. I loved “A Matter of Honor,” “Face of the Enemy” and “Soldiers of the Empire” because they gave us an idea of how non-Federation ships and crews function. Why not expand on the concepts introduced in those episodes?

Both yes and no. Another example I LOVE is VOY's "Distant Origin", which is partly like a first contact story told from the viewpoints of the aliens (dinosaurs). I especially loved them getting things wrong based on evidence (like assuming humans are "matriarchal", because of Janeway). That is both funny and a realistic look at how science actually works.

But that can also get old really really fast. Like "Enterprise being taken over by badguys" and "Captain being kidnapped by aliens" it's one of the standard plots you should repeat too often, otherwise it gets stale. Also budget is an issue, you'd have to create complete new sets everytime and have lots of new actors (with heavy make-up) in big roles - all cost a LOT of money.

Still, I'd love to see that once every other season, and I definitely prefer it to the regular cut-aways to the aliens that DIS and DS9 gave us in a story arc.

2. Similar to what others have suggested, I’d ditch the universal translator in favor of each race’s primary language, at least in scenes featuring only members of a single race. That is, if two Cardassians are speaking to each other, I want to hear actual Cardassian words. For scenes containing more than one race, the universal translator can be used for the sake of simplicity.

I'm not a big fan of too many subtitles, in fact not all all. I hate klingon scenes in klingon, wether it was "The search for Spock" or "Discovery". I'd love to hear alien languages more often, yes, but only if there is a story telling reason for it, like no universal translater available or a new language encountered that is not yet deciphered. (Both of which should IMO happen way more often!).

3. Agree with limiting the use of the transporter. IIRC, the idea was developed for budgetary reason. Now that CGI is available, why not include more scenes featuring shuttles and other small craft?

The transporter may have started out for an insignificant reason, but he's one of the hallmarks of Star Trek and a thing that makes it unique in the realm of sci-fi (like holograms). They should keep it, it's one of Trek's unique selling point.

That being said: They absolutely should reign their writers in when using it too often (say, on DIS Lorca and Burnham beaming inside the ship, instead of just walking).

They shouldn't use it when other alernatives are more logical (like two starships docking in space), and I don''t like both site-to-site transport (there should always be at least one plattform on one end), and i friggin' HATE beaming massive amounts of people (like evacuating hundreds of them at the same tme from a ship exploding).

IMO it's a great way to get people on and off a planet or some other structure - but there should be a clear rule of only beaming as many people as transporter pads are available. For everything else - they should need more creative solutions.

4. I always like the idea of each ship having its own logo/insignia, so I’d bring that back. Alternatively, I’d use the Enterprise insignia on the left breast but also have a small arm patch indicating the ship/starbase a character serves on.

I think the Enterprise insignia has become iconic and blended with Trek like the Bat-logo with Batman. Taking it away would be IMO a mistake. But I would like it if other branches of Federation organizations had different logos: Like the equivalent of the coastguard, a sience-only organization, or something like the MACO.

5. Less reliance on technology during off-duty hours. I like the idea of characters preparing their own meals with real ingredients, washing their clothes, taking showers, etc. Replicators make sense in situations where a full kitchen or restaurant isn’t available, but they’ve no place in a character’s home.

Absolutely agreed! I hate seeing a uniform getting replicated - it's just an enourmous waste of energy, and there should be thousands available on every ship anyway.

I like the approach "The cage" took on it's Earth flashback/illusion: Futuristic stuff in the background, but in the foreground people doing familiar stuff like riding horses and having picknicks in the countryside.

6. Less homogenous alien races. A Romulan spy played by Kelli Barrett (The Punisher, Law & Order: SVU) should still look like Kelli Barrett, not Kelli Barrett with a bowl cut.

I think there is an in-universe reason, in un-free societies that people have to abide by the norm. In North Korea there are only 15 hairstyles allowed, and even China has a fixed sumber of hairstyles "recommended" for their citizens. So I'm okay with Romulans looking more similar to each other.

That should not be the case for other, more individualistic alien societies for example. The last time I saw Vulcans with unique hairstyles was Saavik (and probably Tuvok), and klingons should definitely have a more wide variety of hairstyles and braids - I hate the uniform barbarian look, "The undiscovered country" was very good with many, many different types.

7. Similar to the above point, non-human races should have a wider variety of ships available for space travel, including older ships. It would be cool to see restored TOS-era Romulan BOPs going up against Borg cubes and, from a plot standpoint, would actually reflect the sense of desperation the Romulans might be feeling were they on the cusp of a conflict with the Borg given that they had to press older ships back into service.

Yes, I also like to see more alien starships! But not too many. They should have a similar style in common, to show the same technological heritage. On he contrary, I'm even for less Federation starship types - it doesn't make much sense to have dozens of different starship configuration it they all have the same mission profile anyway.

8. Deal more extensively with the psychological ramifications of a life in space. DS9 tried to do this with “Hard Time,” “Nor the Battle to the Strong...” and “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” but they were only partly successful with it. O’Brien was back to normal by “Broken Mirror,” which made absolutely no sense.

Absolutely agreed! I think this is a thing where Trek could actually learn something from nuBattlestar Galactica. They were very big on depicting "regular" life in service, and having to deal with trainings, mission briefings and all that psychological stuff. That felt very "real".

9. On a related note, give the CMO something to do besides research. Show him/her actually conversing with patients and trying to understand their illnesses or injuries, which should have been treated with actual medical knowledge and skills, not a dermal regenerator.

Yes!

10. Feature more scenes involving spies and diplomats. I want to see where the information fueling Starfleet missions actually comes from and how this information is eventually used to shape Federation law and Starfleet regulations. Additionally, an opportunity that I thought was missed with Kirk but could be explored with Cornwell is how flag officers influence Federation politics. They have more power than a line officer. They should have the chance to use it where appropriate.

Not sure about this one. Politics in science fiction is usually really, really boring, because they can't go into the details like with shows set in the real world like "Westwing" or "House of Cards" - because the fundamentals, the laws everything is based on, just aren't there. It's just what writers think of how laws can look like, which is usually overly simplistic and wrong, instead of writers being able to mine real laws (like "designated survivor) for dramatic potential.

It's the same way "section 31" gets more ridiculous the closer you look. In a present day show the concept could be interesting - a clandestine organization inside the US, operating outside US law. But since we know so little about Federation law - since it's all made up on the fly - diving deep into the exceptions of said law really doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

[Rahul]

I wouldn't change too much as fundamentally they got it right the first time, and it's best not to try to reinvent making a cake when you have the recipe handed down to you

4: Use lots of fun sound effects make the show an auditory experience again.

5: Big bright colors. No one else does that. Why? They'd look like they were trying to be Star Trek. So quit trying to be THEIR shows and go back to being Star Trek.

THIS.
So much this!

1: Set it much much further in the future. No more 1990's problems.

that's it. I had a bunch of other things on my list, but mostly its just hedge-trimming.

2: If you reboot, go with TOS. Do everything TOS did right. Avoid the screwball embarassing 60's relics.

Absolutely agreed!
I always wanted a "soft reboot" instead of a full one: Set it in the timeframe after TNG, but make the tone and style more similar to TOS: More exciting space adventures. Colorful aliens. Monsters. Don't be afraid of "robots 'n' rayguns'. Just be sure the characters (and writers!) still take the humanistic apporach to it, where the solution to problems is talking not violence. That doesn't mean there shouldn't be any exciting action in between.

3: Make it a show kids can watch with their parents, (And a show kids actually would want to watch, while grown ups want to watch it to).

Again, 100% agreed: The themes can (and should!) be mature, about responsibility and other heavy subjects. Kids are usually much smarter than people think of them, and part of the fun of a family show is that kids can talk with their parents about it afterwards.

But don't put too much gore, smearwords and nudity in it. That stuff isn't "mature", it's "adolescent", and drives away both responsible parents AND children - IMO two of the most important audiences of Star Trek (aside from us "nerds").

6: Make the future look interesting but alien. Don't look at a thing on a wall and say "oh I know what that is. I have one of those at the office" Let people's imaginations work a little. Double dumb-ass on the window counters; let people with imaginations intact do their thing.

Both yes and know. I like familiar things in an unfamiliar environment for my future show. People still doing human stuff - trips in the countryside, painting with brushes. And as such I also like to see familiar things that have endured for hundresd of years to continue - people had paintings on their walls sine the time of the Romans, why shouldn't they have in the future? Or plants. Books. But at the same time, stuff that is used for work - like workdesks, maintenance, science, all should work drastically different and much, much easier in the future.

7: More non-humanoid races.

Yep!
More stuff like the Tholians. ("Like", not "more Tholians"). Or the Xindi aquatics and insectoids.

But keep the old, familiar humanoid races like they always were, don't change what isn't broken (re: Klingons in DIS). Just be more alien when adding NEW races to the canon.

8: More arcs but less lengthy arcs. Season 4 Enterprise was really starting to find a balance here.

Agreed. I'm even more a fan of ENT season 3's model, of having a similar, overarching story arc for the season. But one that is finished at the end of the season (so a new one can start next season), but that still has lots and lots of stand-alone episodes in-between. Stuff that can stand on it's own is IMO the bread and butter of Star Trek - people like to come back to unique and interesting episodes.

9: Retire Klingons and Borg. Mention them if you have to, but put them ice for a long long long time.

I love klingon characters. I hate klingons as a nameless groups of honor-screaming imbeciles.
Introduce new aliens first. Make them work. Then I'm fine with them revisiting klingons and Borg later on, as a little present for the fans. But just as that. Not as a crucial part.

10: Don't fall for the comic book universe traps. If you reboot, don't get tempted to draw back from old wells. Leave dead continuities alone. No matter how much your writers appeal to you, no matter how you think the fanbase wants it because you're hoping they want it because it would be so easy to undo things.. stick with the reboot.

Yes! Yes! Yes!
People don't notice it, but a lot of what made Star Trek work - both TOS and TNG and it's followers - was that they were already heavily avoiding the regular tropes and clichés of science fiction: No WWII-in-space scenarios, no badguys flying around destroying planets, not dumb alien monsters that are just evil and need to be stopped.

It doesn't seem like it, because old Trek has developed so many tropes on it's on - but it started out actively AVOIDING the regular tropes, and instead try to be as realistic as possible. That included taking advice from NASA and scientists.

Go back to that!

I'm much more comfortable with something breaking continuity, but that is scientifically correct, thatn something that is canonical correct, but scientific bogus.

 

[thribs]

It's the same way "section 31" gets more ridiculous the closer you look. In a present day show the concept could be interesting - a clandestine organization inside the US, operating outside US law. But since we know so little about Federation law - since it's all made up on the fly - diving deep into the exceptions of said law really doesn't make a lot of sense.

You should read Control. Section 31’s origin is even stranger than you thought.

 

[Rahul]

You should read Control. Section 31’s origin is even stranger than you thought.

Actually, I've stopped reading Star Trek novels a long time ago...
Not that I don't like them anymore. There is just SO MUCH literature I'd much more like to read, it's already an exercise following my regular reading list.

It's a good thing all Trek novels are non-canon anyway.

But because of that, if something important or noteworthy happens in one of the novels (like this one), can you please describe the important parts here in the forum? I barely even have the time to watch Star Trek and other television shows I'm following. I simply don't have the time for more Trek novels.

 

[valkyrie013]

Throw in my 2 bits..
1. As said above, limit the swearing, nudity, etc. Star Trek is meant to be watched by young kids, I grew up on it, Picard was a father figure to me. So should be as PG as possible. As also said above.. you can have mature stories with out being "Adolescent"
2.Move Star Trek Forward, not backwards or sideways. Go explore new parts of the galaxy, new aliens, new threats. A personal story that I've thought about that I need to flesh out is, post voyager by 20-30 years, Slipstream drive is tested and in service, ( though to me its the the slower version of the dauntless 40,000 ly in 3 months, not the cover 40,000 lightyears in a day version.Maybe 1000 ly in a day?) Story would be the first expedition outside the galaxy, maybe to the Magellanic cloud? At a 1000 light years a day, would take 5 months flight to get there. So maybe the first "arc" of the series would be setting up the fleet, and the trip out. Passing the barrier. Would be alot of storries one could do Lonliness, ptsd, species bigotry, dictators. Robot species etc.

Thats about it, lots of people have made some good sudjestions. But basically, Be Star Trek!

 

[Yistaan]

Aside from removing Earth dates, I'd basically get rid of visors, beeping wheelchairs, etc. Modern audiences have a higher expectation of advanced medical technology these days--Stephen Hawking was able to get a speech synthesizer more advanced than Pike's beeper.

Basically in a Trek reboot, Geordi's eyes would be cloned and he would see like everyone else. As for Pike, his plotline might have to be changed in new Trek, like it was for the Kelvin timeline.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

Aside from removing Earth dates, I'd basically get rid of visors, beeping wheelchairs, etc. Modern audiences have a higher expectation of advanced medical technology these days--Stephen Hawking was able to get a speech synthesizer more advanced than Pike's beeper.

Basically in a Trek reboot, Geordi's eyes would be cloned and he would see like everyone else. As for Pike, his plotline might have to be changed in new Trek, like it was for the Kelvin timeline.

I think Geordi's eyes a la First Contact were right up the alley of modern expectations. The visor may be clunky, but that doesn't mean you have to have every single problem perfectly fixable. There is room for people to still be living with technological solutions rather than straight-up organ replacement - especially if the technological solutions are more efficient than the natural organs.

 

[Yistaan]

I think Geordi's eyes a la First Contact were right up the alley of modern expectations. The visor may be clunky, but that doesn't mean you have to have every single problem perfectly fixable. There is room for people to still be living with technological solutions rather than straight-up organ replacement - especially if the technological solutions are more efficient than the natural organs.

All current science indicates that technological solutions aren't going to be more efficient than natural organs (or cloned organs). Hearing aids can never reproduce the true sound lost by cochlear hair cells by one example--that's why labs now are trying to find ways to regrow them.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

All current science indicates that technological solutions aren't going to be more efficient than natural organs (or cloned organs). Hearing aids can never reproduce the true sound lost by cochlear hair cells by one example--that's why labs now are trying to find ways to regrow them.

That's great for hearing aids, but the human eye can't see in most of the spectrum and HD tvs already look sharper than real life so its not really relevant. Not to mention the whole point of sci-fi is to look past just those things that people already think are possible.

 

[Yistaan]

That's great for hearing aids, but the human eye can't see in most of the spectrum and HD tvs already look sharper than real life so its not really relevant. Not to mention the whole point of sci-fi is to look past just those things that people already think are possible.

I'd be with you on the whole electromagnetic spectrum thing if it weren't a frequent complaint of Geordi's on the show that he wants to see like normal. When Riker became Q, he gave Geordi that opportunity.

Also, the entire Trek message up till now is more or less to let humans be humans (except in regards to correcting genetic defects like Geordi's). Just because we can alter humans to see the entire EM spectrum doesn't mean we should. That was the whole point with Khan and the Augments.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

I'd be with you on the whole electromagnetic spectrum thing if it weren't a frequent complaint of Geordi's on the show that he wants to see like normal. When Riker became Q, he gave Geordi that opportunity.

Also, the entire Trek message up till now is more or less to let humans be humans (except in regards to correcting genetic defects like Geordi's). Just because we can alter humans to see the entire EM spectrum doesn't mean we should. That was the whole point with Khan and the Augments.

Is it? He was never my favorite character, but didn't Geordi explicitly reject an actual medical solution that could've made his eyesight normal and eliminated his pain specifically because he didn't want to give up his unique view of the world (and it's incredible usefulness for his career/ship)?

 

[Yistaan]

Is it? He was never my favorite character, but didn't Geordi explicitly reject an actual medical solution that could've made his eyesight normal and eliminated his pain specifically because he didn't want to give up his unique view of the world (and it's incredible usefulness for his career/ship)?

I didn't know that, I must have missed that episode. If it's true then he must have issues (which to be fair were indicated with that whole Brahms thing).

 

[Grendelsbayne]

I didn't know that, I must have missed that episode. If it's true then he must have issues (which to be fair were indicated with that whole Brahms thing).

I looked it up to check. It's the episode 'Loud as a Whisper'. He doesn't explicitly say no on camera, but when the offer is made his first reaction is 'I don't know. I'd be giving up a lot.' He then tells Dr. Pulaski he'll think it over and as far as I can tell it's never mentioned again. The only reason we know he declined in the end is because he still wears the visor for the rest of the series.

This did also all come after an earlier scene in which he specifically says that he doesn't resent being blind or having to wear the visor because that's part of who he is and he's happy with who he is. This all ties into what is one of the main themes of the episode (about embracing differences).

 

[Yistaan]

I looked it up to check. It's the episode 'Loud as a Whisper'. He doesn't explicitly say no on camera, but when the offer is made his first reaction is 'I don't know. I'd be giving up a lot.' He then tells Dr. Pulaski he'll think it over and as far as I can tell it's never mentioned again. The only reason we know he declined in the end is because he still wears the visor for the rest of the series.

This did also all come after an earlier scene in which he specifically says that he doesn't resent being blind or having to wear the visor because that's part of who he is and he's happy with who he is. This all ties into what is one of the main themes of the episode (about embracing differences).

Insurrection made a big deal of Geordi rushing to see a sunrise when his eyes regenerated. There were many instances of him wanting to see normal.