PITCH] Star Trek: Asclepius - A Starfleet Medical Drama (Feedback Wanted!)

[Molyfar]

Sector General

Could this work in the Star Trek Universe – possibly a new series with a different title and characters?

Synopsis for Sector General (the sci‑fi hospital station series by James White).

"Sector General is a long-running, feel-good sci-fi series by James White set on a massive interstellar hospital station designed to treat a vast array of alien species. The stories follow medical staff, particularly Dr Conway, as they address complex alien illnesses and injuries, utilise "educator tapes" for knowledge, and emphasise peaceful coexistence through innovative medical solutions rather than war."

Key Details

• Setting: Sector Twelve General Hospital, a massive station located on the galactic rim, built to care for beings with diverse, often lethal atmospheric and gravity needs.
• Themes: Pacifist, proactive medicine, inter-species cooperation, and empathy.
• Themed Elements: Patients are classified by a four-letter system (e.g., FOKT, DBDG), and staff use "educator tapes" (shared memories) to gain immediate expertise on new species.
• Plot Structure: The series is generally episodic, chronicling Dr Conway’s journey

Source: Wikipedia — Sector General: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sector_General

 

[Molyfar]

Could a Star Trek medical-frontier series work? Concept: Star Trek: Mercy Station

Hello everyone,

I have been thinking about whether the broad idea of a multi-species science-fiction hospital could be reimagined in the Star Trek universe as a new series with original characters and a different title. The working version I have drafted is called Star Trek: Mercy Station.

The basic premise is a Federation-led frontier medical and humanitarian station near the edge of explored space. Instead of centring the drama on a starship or a war, the series would focus on Starfleet and civilian doctors, alien specialists, rescue crews and diplomats treating species whose biology, culture and politics are often barely understood.

I am not proposing a direct adaptation of Sector General from James White's novels, but rather a Trek-style concept inspired by the general appeal of interspecies medicine, peaceful problem-solving, and ethical science fiction. The main storytelling engine would be medical first contact: every patient is also a mystery, every treatment may become a form of diplomacy, and every crisis tests Federation values in a practical way.

I would be interested to know whether TrekBBS members think this could work as a Star Trek series, what era might suit it best, and whether a stationary medical setting would need regular rescue missions or starship elements to keep the format varied.

Comments, criticisms and alternative title ideas would be very welcome.

 

[Molyfar]

Could a Star Trek medical-frontier series work? Concept: Star Trek: Mercy Station

Hello everyone,

I have been thinking about whether the broad idea of a multi-species science-fiction hospital could be reimagined in the Star Trek universe as a new series with original characters and a different title. The working version I have drafted is called Star Trek: Mercy Station.

The basic premise is a Federation-led frontier medical and humanitarian station near the edge of explored space. Instead of centring the drama on a starship or a war, the series would focus on Starfleet and civilian doctors, alien specialists, rescue crews and diplomats treating species whose biology, culture and politics are often barely understood.

I am not proposing a direct adaptation of Sector General from James White's novels, but rather a Trek-style concept inspired by the general appeal of interspecies medicine, peaceful problem-solving, and ethical science fiction. The main storytelling engine would be medical first contact: every patient is also a mystery, every treatment may become a form of diplomacy, and every crisis tests Federation values in a practical way.

I would be interested to know whether TrekBBS members think this could work as a Star Trek series, what era might suit it best, and whether a stationary medical setting would need regular rescue missions or starship elements to keep the format varied.

Comments, criticisms and alternative title ideas would be very welcome.

I have a 3-page Concept Proposal: Star Trek: Mercy Station, if anyone is interested.

 

[Turtletrekker]

The idea of Frontier medicine worked well enough in this comic series...

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Leonard_McCoy,_Frontier_Doctor

 

[publiusr]

Transporter accident survivors...concepts of Venter's "minimal humans," bio-warfare...the aftermath of the kids in TNG's "Unnatural Selection," and other concepts.... HOSPITAL STATION from the Sector General novels is proof of life

LIFETIME was originally medical programming...I remember "What Every Baby Knows," nephronauts in a pseudo documentary...live surgery broadcasts...back not long after MTV left music and ESPN had Aussie Football.

 

[korblborp]

sector general, there's a series by s.l. viehl, there's that "second best hospital in the galaxy" animated series i havent gotten around to watching...

"starfleet medical" as an idea has legs

 

[korblborp]

i read at least one trek novel where bones had to learn some alien biology or something via some sort of quick-learning, like educator tapes, but it think it involved RNA

 

[Molyfar]

Hey everyone, I've been thinking about how we've never really had a deep dive into the Starfleet Medical Corps. DS9 gave us great frontier-station drama, and Voyager had the EMH, but what if we combined the high-stakes xenobiology of Trek with the fast-paced workplace soap opera of an ER or Mercy Point?

Here is my pitch for a Starfleet Medical series. Let me know if you would watch this or what you would change!

Title: Star Trek: Asclepius

The Logline: Set on a sprawling, underfunded Starfleet hospital station on the edge of the Alpha Quadrant, a diverse team of Federation and non-Federation doctors navigate bizarre xenobiological crises, interspecies political tensions, and their own messy personal lives.

The Setting: Starbase 84 (aka "Asclepius")

Set in 2392 (just before the Picard era), Asclepius is a massive, multi-environment medical space station located near a major subspace shipping lane. It acts as the primary trauma centre for Starfleet border patrols, independent asteroid miners, Romulan refugees, and neutral freighters. Because it's a medical sanctuary, weapons are strictly banned, meaning bitter enemies frequently end up recovering in beds next to each other.

The Tone & Vibe

Think DS9 meets Grey's Anatomy, Holby City or Casualty. It's grounded, fast-paced, and treats sci-fi elements as operational medical hazards.

• Zero-G Surgery: How do you stop an arterial bleed when the gravity plating fails and blood forms floating spheres in the OR?
• Alien Anatomy: Doctors constantly have to figure out how to treat species with copper-based blood, redundant nervous systems, or patients who exist partially out of phase.
• The Soap Opera: Endless on-call shifts lead to burnout, secret romances in the biolabs, and clashes over the Prime Directive versus the Hippocratic Oath.

The Core Trauma Team

• Dr T'Kaan (Chief of Surgery - Vulcan): A brilliant Vulcan surgeon who struggles with Kolinahr (the purging of emotions) because the sheer trauma of the ER keeps triggering her latent empathy.
• Dr Garek Entek (Xenobiologist - Cardassian): A former Cardassian military bio-researcher seeking asylum. He is a genius at alien anatomy, but Starfleet brass constantly questions his medical ethics.
• Commander Julianne Vance (Chief of Station - Human): An exhausted Dominion War veteran whose job is to keep the station running while dealing with massive Starfleet budget cuts and supply shortages.
• Nurse Phlox Jr. (Charge Nurse - Denobulan): Descended from the NX-01's CMO. He has a ridiculously cheerful bedside manner, manages the chaotic triage floor, and requires almost no sleep.

Sample Episode / Pilot Arc: "Triage"

A massive subspace collision occurs between a Tellerite civilian transport and a Breen warship. Asclepius is flooded with hundreds of casualties. Dr Entek has to perform unapproved, experimental surgery using a transporter buffer to save a Breen soldier without removing his refrigeration suit. At the same time, Dr T'Kaan is forced to make brutal triage choices as the station's bio-gel packs begin failing under the strain—meanwhile, a romance blooms between a junior Starfleet medic and an Orion bio-engineer in the quarantine ward.

What do you guys think?

Does a pure medical-procedural set in the Trek universe appeal to you, or does a Trek show need a starship exploring the unknown to feel like Trek? What kind of weird alien medical emergencies would you want to see them tackle?

Reference
See my other posts with a similar thread.

Mercy Point - Wikipedia

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The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy - Official Trailer | Prime Video

 

[Molyfar]

I am not a professional writer, but someone with a deep and abiding love for the subject. I have carried many of these ideas for a long time, and I offer them freely, with no expectation of payment or authorship.
My only wish is to see them take form in the hands of a proper storyteller. You are welcome to alter anything you feel the story needs.

If it ever goes any further, an acknowledgement as "Original Concept by Clive G Molyneux" would mean the world. And if not, a few lines of guidance for an autistic dreamer with more ideas than know-how would be just as valued.

If you do run with this, please can you send me a copy to show my family? It would be greatly appreciated.
I am deaf and autistic.

I use AI to translate my own ideas into readable English. The ideas are mine; the formatting is assisted, using Grammarly and Copilot.

 

[Molyfar]

Reference
My other Forum Posts

Could a Star Trek medical-frontier series work? Concept: Star Trek: Mercy Station

Could a Star Trek medical-frontier series work? Concept: Star Trek: Mercy Station Hello everyone, I have been thinking about whether the broad idea of a multi-species science-fiction hospital could be reimagined in the Star Trek universe as a new series with original characters and a different...

www.trekbbs.com

Sector General (the sci‑fi hospital station series by James White)

Sector General Could this work in the Star Trek Universe – possibly a new series with a different title and characters? Synopsis for Sector General (the sci‑fi hospital station series by James White). "Sector General is a long-running, feel-good sci-fi series by James White set on a massive...

www.trekbbs.com

Admin - please combine if necessary

 

[Turtletrekker]

Sounds good. I look forward to your first effort.

 

[Count Zero]

I've merged the threads.

 

[Molyfar]

Thread Title: Should Starfleet adopt a Sector General-style species classification system?

Hey everyone,

I was thinking about James White's Sector General series recently—specifically, its four-letter physiological classification system (where Earth humans are DBDG, Tralthans are EGCL, etc.).

For those unfamiliar, the letters don't care about where a species comes from politically or culturally; they describe how the creature functions physically: metabolism, mass, limb count, atmospheric needs, and gravity requirements.

It got me wondering: Does Star Trek have anything comparable, and would Starfleet actually benefit from adopting one?

What Star Trek Currently Uses

Trek has a few fragmented ways of labelling lifeforms, but none of them does what White's system does:

• Borg Designations: Purely chronological based on contact order (Species 5618 for Humans, Species 8472, etc.). Absolutely useless for medical or environmental needs.
• Planet/Atmospheric Classes: "Class M lifeform" works fine if you're a biped breathing nitrogen-oxygen, but completely falls apart once you get into exotic biology.
• Broad Biological Labels: Broad descriptors like Humanoid, Silicon-based, Non-corporeal, or Polymorphic. Helpful in a textbook, clunky in a crisis.

The In-Universe Case FOR It

If Starfleet Medical and Starfleet Operations implemented a physiological shorthand, it would solve a ton of field hazards:

1. Sickbay & First Contact Safety: A four-letter code instantly tells Dr McCoy or Dr Crusher whether a patient needs 1G gravity, a pressurised methane environment, or extreme cold before they open the stasis pod.
2. Transporter Protocols: Transporter techs are always scrambling when beaming non-humanoids like Tholians or the Sheliak. Standardised bio-tags in the transporter buffer would automatically streamline environmental containment.
3. Shipboard Quarters: Saves the quartermaster from accidentally assigning an ammonia-breather to Deck 5 without atmosphere re-routing.

Why It Probably Doesn't Exist In-Universe (and Meta-Reasons)

• The "Class M" Bias: Thanks to the ancient seeders (TNG: The Chase), most species Starfleet deals with can sit in the same chairs and breathe the same air. The need for strict environmental tagging doesn't pop up every day.
• Federation Ideology: The Federation puts heavy emphasis on individual and cultural identity. Reducing a brand-new civilisation to a biological code feels a little too clinical—or worse, a little too Borg. Starfleet wants to learn your name, not your environmental serial number.
• TV Technobabble: From a screenwriting perspective, hearing "We're beaming aboard a Tholian" immediately tells the audience what to expect. Hearing "We're beaming aboard a Class-4 Pyro-cyborg" adds unnecessary friction to a 45-minute episode.

Would you like to see Starfleet Medical use something like this for non-humanoid species, or is the current "Class M / Humanoid" catch-all good enough for Trek's storytelling?

Curious to hear your thoughts!