IMO, the best elements of the best series (TNG and DS9 IMO) were good characters, good acting and excellent enemies. Regarding enemies, there has already been a super-enemy (the Borg) who are near invincible. There already was an enemy (the Dominion) who wished to annihilate the Federation.
I think in a new series, why not make the enemy other humans? It doesn't have to be Federation members/citizens, but it could be a rogue group, or even a grouping beyond Federation borders.
The basic setting would be a new Starfleet ship class, the Blitzen-class. It would have a compliment of 500, and will be equipped with limited transwarp drives (in the form of jumps from sector to sector) and can sustain warp 9.9 for 400 light years straight. In the pilot episode, the crew are testing the transwarp jump capability of the USS Champion, a new Blitzen-class vessel recently commissioned by Starfleet.
This is towards the end of the ship's shakedown cruise, but a malfunction in the drive send the ship of an intended course, and 8000 light years beyond the furthest exploration the Federation had made at that point (which is about 9,000 from the Federation border). In general, it is towards the far side of the Alpha Quadrant, away from the Beta Quadrant border.
The crew detect signs of sapient life in a star system 10 light years from their new position, and seeks out to investigate. It happens that they discover human life signs on an M class planet in this system, and are quickly hailed by the inhabitants. They speak in modified forms of ancient human languages, such as Latin, Sanskrit, etc. and open fire on the Champion. The humans appear warp capable, and send a message stating that they wish to avenge the kidnappings of their ancestors.
Whilst under attack, the Champion temporarily loses its shields, and part of the ship's database is downloaded by the humans. The Champion manages to reach Federation space again, but informs Starfleet Command of a new threat, this time being other humans. This will be a recurring enemy, with an arc within the final season outlining them finding who is responsible for taking them from Earth.
Other sub-plots in the series length will be tension between the Federation and the Klingons, the Cardassians signing a treaty of protection with the Federation (due to Cardassia Prime being almost destroyed by the Dominion), the Romulans signing a memorandum of understanding with the Federation, and the Federation mediating wars between minor powers (the Tzenkethi overthrowing the Talarians would be an example).
As for characters, the CO would be human, and have a strong grounding in engineering. The XO would also be human, but be female, and have experience in tactical tasks. The CMO would be a hologram, but fitted with an internal mobile emitter, similar to the one the Doctor had in Voyager. The Security/Tactical officer would be Andorian, whilst the flight controller is Tellarite. Moreover, there would be no ship's counsellor as a principal character, and the chief engineer would be human also.
The chief engineer would also be the Ops officer, since these roles largely overlap, and require the same skill sets/competencies to perform. In this case, the chief engineer would be present on the bridge to a large degree, and have a team lead (who is not often seen on screen) to manage things in the Engineering section when he she (,i.e. the chief engineer) is not present there.
I think in a new series, why not make the enemy other humans? It doesn't have to be Federation members/citizens, but it could be a rogue group, or even a grouping beyond Federation borders.
The basic setting would be a new Starfleet ship class, the Blitzen-class. It would have a compliment of 500, and will be equipped with limited transwarp drives (in the form of jumps from sector to sector) and can sustain warp 9.9 for 400 light years straight. In the pilot episode, the crew are testing the transwarp jump capability of the USS Champion, a new Blitzen-class vessel recently commissioned by Starfleet.
This is towards the end of the ship's shakedown cruise, but a malfunction in the drive send the ship of an intended course, and 8000 light years beyond the furthest exploration the Federation had made at that point (which is about 9,000 from the Federation border). In general, it is towards the far side of the Alpha Quadrant, away from the Beta Quadrant border.
The crew detect signs of sapient life in a star system 10 light years from their new position, and seeks out to investigate. It happens that they discover human life signs on an M class planet in this system, and are quickly hailed by the inhabitants. They speak in modified forms of ancient human languages, such as Latin, Sanskrit, etc. and open fire on the Champion. The humans appear warp capable, and send a message stating that they wish to avenge the kidnappings of their ancestors.
Whilst under attack, the Champion temporarily loses its shields, and part of the ship's database is downloaded by the humans. The Champion manages to reach Federation space again, but informs Starfleet Command of a new threat, this time being other humans. This will be a recurring enemy, with an arc within the final season outlining them finding who is responsible for taking them from Earth.
Other sub-plots in the series length will be tension between the Federation and the Klingons, the Cardassians signing a treaty of protection with the Federation (due to Cardassia Prime being almost destroyed by the Dominion), the Romulans signing a memorandum of understanding with the Federation, and the Federation mediating wars between minor powers (the Tzenkethi overthrowing the Talarians would be an example).
As for characters, the CO would be human, and have a strong grounding in engineering. The XO would also be human, but be female, and have experience in tactical tasks. The CMO would be a hologram, but fitted with an internal mobile emitter, similar to the one the Doctor had in Voyager. The Security/Tactical officer would be Andorian, whilst the flight controller is Tellarite. Moreover, there would be no ship's counsellor as a principal character, and the chief engineer would be human also.
The chief engineer would also be the Ops officer, since these roles largely overlap, and require the same skill sets/competencies to perform. In this case, the chief engineer would be present on the bridge to a large degree, and have a team lead (who is not often seen on screen) to manage things in the Engineering section when he she (,i.e. the chief engineer) is not present there.