That would actually be a more realistic presentation, barring the discovery of actual warp drive. But I think it's generally agreed we need real humans for identification purposes.
Pitfalls the new series should avoid
- Thread starter The Overlord
- Start date
LoL,
You get into some writers meetings and I'm like you can sit the Klingon and the Andorian next to each other without one huge thermostat for them to fight over.
The major pitfall I would like to see avoided is ignoring continuity. For some people continuity is an anvil constricting freedom to tell stories. That is wrong; continuity forces writers to be creative in writing their stories and ensures that their story contributes to a greater whole.
Another pitfall I would like to see avoided is using technology to solve every problem. I don't dislike technology but particularly with voyager it overrode the story and became a technobabble fest.
Another pitfall I would like to see avoided is using technology to solve every problem. I don't dislike technology but particularly with voyager it overrode the story and became a technobabble fest.
The JJVerse is the bigget pitfall I want avoided. Going over old stories is another I want rid of.
Didn't we already have that with Star Trek : Voyager?
No, we didn't.
I'm for continuity, but your phrasing would actually convince me otherwise. I want the writing to be organic; unforced and uncoercive. Coercion is an unhealthy mindset. Continuity is a foundation upon which to guide and build. We're not forcing anything.
For whatever it's worth one of the Voyager books has a medical ship that is crewed by mostly Holograms. The 'actual' crew is real...has a human captain etc.
Something I would like to see just for my own amusement is the Starfleet crew going to a planet where our standards of beautiful do not apply. They would pass over Seven and Riker for plain Jane or Joe Ensign from the lower decks. Instead of going gaga over the standard eye candy they would get all excited over a random Bolian. As I said...for my own amusement.
And there wasn't much of a separation between TOS and TNG, at least for me. I was born in 1970, which made me 17 when TNG started, and that gave me the previous 16 years to already enjoy TOS.
Hi RAMA,
by overrated - do you consider continuity to be some kind of barrier? Personally I think it isn't, moreover I think it creates a rich universe in which writers can play in and explore with their writing.
which leads me to;
Hi JWPlatt,
maybe forced is a bit of a clumsy word. What I mean is that if a writer encounters something that continuity constricts, rather than taking the easy way round by ignoring the troublesome conflict, it encourages them to think of creative ways around it, perhaps even spawning new stories from that initial resolution.
Look at the transporter for example, they used this as a plot device that resolved the budgetary concerns of landing a ship every week on TOS. Noted this is not an example of writing creatively within continuity but highlights that it is possible to write around problems with a positive outcome.
Carried over from "Uniforms in the new series" thread:
This capability would of course be nerfed when dramatically necessary.
Thinking this issue through further, how much info could advanced tech convey to the ship? Could a crew member experience a mission virtually? Actually, this would be a good use of a cybernetic organism, someone who could be present on the mission but also on the bridge at the same time (somewhat rendering the rest of the crew redundant, but never mind).
One thing that will have to change is the lack of communication between away team and ship, especially those scenes where someone tries to describe what they're seeing. I mean, it's the future - use the camera in your phone!
This capability would of course be nerfed when dramatically necessary.
Thinking this issue through further, how much info could advanced tech convey to the ship? Could a crew member experience a mission virtually? Actually, this would be a good use of a cybernetic organism, someone who could be present on the mission but also on the bridge at the same time (somewhat rendering the rest of the crew redundant, but never mind).
This reminds me of two things:
AVOID THIS SORT OF STUPID, STUPID DIALOGUE:
PICARD: What is it, Number One? What are you seeing?
RIKER: Trouble.
Any officer should have a reprimand on his permanent record for that. Also, just as bad, any coy statement such as "You want to see this" instead of saying exactly what "this" is.
Additionally, all communicators should be equipped with holorecorders and holoemitters.
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That sort of shit is standard TV dramatic writing though, along with the Pronoun Game, where you force a character to ask who 'he' is in order to set up a dramatic reveal in the last line before the act ending. It's going to take more than Star Trek to change that approach to writing scripts!
They tried this (with unnecessary complications) in the TNG episode Interface.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interface_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)
But it restricts writers to fully explore their world, especially when the continuity was flawed. There are core things which represent Star Trek and that's all they need. Story continuity be damned, the new series deserves a clean slate; start fresh without anal fanboys dictating what needs to be on the show.
It's why I'm warming up to JJtrek more because it's not bogged down by over 500 episodes of Rick Berman television. Once the new showrunner be stupid and open that pandora's box, the series will wind up back into the continuity hell which someone like me will dissect.
Make the series their own and move forward.
Can someone please tell me which parts of the continuity are allegedly an issue? Are a few contradictions and plot holes really that big of a problem? I've yet to be convinced the established continuity, flaws and all, contributed to the decline of Star Trek. It was bad writing and recycled plots that ended Star Trek on tv. Enterprise wasn't a dud because it was lumbered with continuity issues. It was a dud because it was a terrible and uninspired television show. Voyager couldn't even remember its own continuity and it managed to last 7 seasons so I think this issue has been blown completely out of proportion.
My assumption has been, and what I have been responding to, is that there is the thought that the Star Trek canon is so deep and so detailed after 50 years that there are no new stories to tell in the Star Trek universe, and if there were stories, there's no place to put them because the canon is full. Thus the call to "fuck canon," keeping only the basics of Star Trek: warp drive, two nacelles and a saucer, phasers, tricorders, transporters, "to boldly go," and so forth.
I call BS. What we have is a foundation to springboard more and greater stories.
