Apologies. Don't use the forum very often until recently. Will put the first episode up in the fanfiction forum. If I get positive feedback then can think about producing something
Plot for a new Star Trek Series
- Thread starter dan_bevan
- Start date
Apologies. Don't use the forum very often until recently. Will put the first episode up in the fanfiction forum. If I get positive feedback then can think about producing something
I would be grateful if people could offer criticism and input a bit more constructively and, especially, pleasantly.
I would also be grateful if people could accept criticism more pleasantly--no matter how rude or unpleasant that feedback and criticism might be.
I would also be grateful if people could accept criticism more pleasantly--no matter how rude or unpleasant that feedback and criticism might be.
Which is also one of those over-used plot devices. The heroes have to team up with the most unlikely of allies.
dan_bevan, you wanted constructive critisism. The harsh truth is, in both topics you started people have kindly tried to point out that this story is full of been there's and done that's.
The overpowerfull and/or millenia old alien returning to the galaxy has been done to death. And Star Trek isn't even about that. Conflict, yes. You need conflict to tell a story. But what about internal conflict? Conflict between characters? Political conflict?
Star Trek at its best was always about adressing current social/political issues, covered up with latex and special fx. And sure, there was big shooty-shooty and 'splosions and stuff. But that's not what the core of Trek is. Star Trek is not about fighting ancient old threats to the universe. That's Star Wars.
(notice the joking winks at the end of the posts, pointing out that that was a small joke, not an attack on Star Wars fans)
Three things:
1) If you attack Janet by saying she'll practically become Sally... you've attacked Sally. In fact, you've insulted Sally worse than Janet. Hi, I'm Sally! This is not exclusive to this board. It's a life lesson.
2) There is no shortage of Star Trek Fan Filmmakers in the UK, but none in Northern Ireland. Check the map! You can move it around, zoom in, or go to it at Google Maps. If you are in England, Scotland, or Wales, there's a fan filmmaker near you!
3) Making a fan film is a giant undertaking. This is not like writing a short story, or even a novel. It's an insane amount of work. And, since it's a fan film, you can't sell it. You can't charge for DVDs or to put it in theaters. I'm working on a non-Trek sci fi novel. Even that is an INSANE amount of work, but at least if people like it, I may make a few bucks. I index these bouts of insanity known as Star Trek Fan Films because I respect the energy, effort, and love they embody. I also like watching them, even most of the bad ones. And I'm not the only one. On average, my index gets over 50 visitors and over 200 page views each day. I'm not exactly Amazon.com, but that's not bad.
1) If you attack Janet by saying she'll practically become Sally... you've attacked Sally. In fact, you've insulted Sally worse than Janet. Hi, I'm Sally! This is not exclusive to this board. It's a life lesson.
2) There is no shortage of Star Trek Fan Filmmakers in the UK, but none in Northern Ireland. Check the map! You can move it around, zoom in, or go to it at Google Maps. If you are in England, Scotland, or Wales, there's a fan filmmaker near you!
3) Making a fan film is a giant undertaking. This is not like writing a short story, or even a novel. It's an insane amount of work. And, since it's a fan film, you can't sell it. You can't charge for DVDs or to put it in theaters. I'm working on a non-Trek sci fi novel. Even that is an INSANE amount of work, but at least if people like it, I may make a few bucks. I index these bouts of insanity known as Star Trek Fan Films because I respect the energy, effort, and love they embody. I also like watching them, even most of the bad ones. And I'm not the only one. On average, my index gets over 50 visitors and over 200 page views each day. I'm not exactly Amazon.com, but that's not bad.
Im open to criticism but I won't tolerate rudeness. My series will involve internal conflict. Each of my characters will be flawed in some way or another. The crew will not trust each other and do not want to work together. But over the course of the series they will learn to work together and in doing so learn new things about themselves they never knew were there. The Captain starts off with a big ego and overly confident but when he is charge of a mission of this magnitude is he as confident as he thought he was? The First Officer is a man who has followed Starfleet rules and regulations blindly but over the course of the series the very principles he has always lived by will be shaken. The Doctor is fresh out of med school, is she ready for this much responsibility?
Yes the pilot may be about an alien species who want to threaten our galaxy and the federation, but these aliens will exist in a dimension where they operate outside our time space continuum, which can lead to all sorts of stories involving time travel, alternate dimensions, etc. Not every episode will involve these aliens but they will be the reason behind Starfleet starting the first deep space exploration voyage in centuries. Plus pilot episodes have always been more action packed than other episodes.
This series will be fundamentally based on the principles of Star Trek and will involve a number of social and philosophical issues. The human race will be thriving and may be at the peak of its technological advancement but what of the rest of the galaxy? A number of alien races in the galaxy will regard the Federation the same way as many countries in today's world regard the West. Dilithium deposits across the galaxy are depleting... once prospering civilizations are the brink of collapse. What are these species capable of doing when they are desperate?
Yes the pilot may be about an alien species who want to threaten our galaxy and the federation, but these aliens will exist in a dimension where they operate outside our time space continuum, which can lead to all sorts of stories involving time travel, alternate dimensions, etc. Not every episode will involve these aliens but they will be the reason behind Starfleet starting the first deep space exploration voyage in centuries. Plus pilot episodes have always been more action packed than other episodes.
This series will be fundamentally based on the principles of Star Trek and will involve a number of social and philosophical issues. The human race will be thriving and may be at the peak of its technological advancement but what of the rest of the galaxy? A number of alien races in the galaxy will regard the Federation the same way as many countries in today's world regard the West. Dilithium deposits across the galaxy are depleting... once prospering civilizations are the brink of collapse. What are these species capable of doing when they are desperate?
I probably do not have the resources to be able to do something like this on my own, why is why I was asking people if they would like to join in a project. I would be more interested in being part of a writing team.
Even if it meant compromising your original vision? It is the inevitable result of being part of a team, rather than being a figurehead...
I think you'll mostly find that the people who want to make fanfilms generally want to make the stories they are interested in: which means stories they create. Coming in as a writer and trying to find people to make a film based on your ideas is likely going to be an uphill battle.
I've made a few changes rather than setting it too far into the future maybe the year 2600 would be better.
Got some ideas on the crew but the character i'm most having difficulty with is the Captain... with the way tv and film is now a new trek series would need to involve a lot of action. My original thought would be to have the all american action hero as the Captain.
It would definately work for TV and Film but I think a lot of the older Trek fans would believe it to be too similar to Kirk and they wouldn't want a younger inexperienced captain again, even though my captain would have been very different to Kirk.
I've now decided that my Captain needs to have the integrity and experience of Picard but also needs to be a younger man... someone in their mid thirties. Someone fit and strong for any action scenes or fights required to do and good looking to also be a ladies man. I'm trying to think of an actor who could fit this role well so I have an image in my head of what this Captain would be like. He could also be British too.
Also some further ideas for the ship. It would be a Generation class Starship. One of the largest starships ever with a large crew quantity, but also sleek in design. Something along the lines of the Enterprise J which was seen in one of the episodes of Enterprise. This ship would hold families on board, have zoos and parks, and other entertainment and recreational places to go on board. The ship would have the most advanced computer which is basically a think tank of the most intellectual minds of the galaxy.
Got some ideas on the crew but the character i'm most having difficulty with is the Captain... with the way tv and film is now a new trek series would need to involve a lot of action. My original thought would be to have the all american action hero as the Captain.
It would definately work for TV and Film but I think a lot of the older Trek fans would believe it to be too similar to Kirk and they wouldn't want a younger inexperienced captain again, even though my captain would have been very different to Kirk.
I've now decided that my Captain needs to have the integrity and experience of Picard but also needs to be a younger man... someone in their mid thirties. Someone fit and strong for any action scenes or fights required to do and good looking to also be a ladies man. I'm trying to think of an actor who could fit this role well so I have an image in my head of what this Captain would be like. He could also be British too.
Also some further ideas for the ship. It would be a Generation class Starship. One of the largest starships ever with a large crew quantity, but also sleek in design. Something along the lines of the Enterprise J which was seen in one of the episodes of Enterprise. This ship would hold families on board, have zoos and parks, and other entertainment and recreational places to go on board. The ship would have the most advanced computer which is basically a think tank of the most intellectual minds of the galaxy.
HoserTrek37
Ensign
Mr. Bevan: I love the idea as either fanfic, e-novel or fan production. I'd love to assist. What is the name of this species?
Suggestions:
I could see the Species you're talking about as one of the rivals of the Q, that has been angrily seething as a result of being "locked out" of the Milky Way but spent Millenia feeding on the neural energy of other mortal & long-lived species everywhere else they could reach near the tiny weak spot in the barrier.
A small salvaged NX-Era design rebuilt after the Dominion War (Neptune-Class freighter/transport) loaded with civilians arrive at an Alpha Quadrant Alliance colony with regularly scheduled replacement parts and service-personnel on duty-rotation to find no hailing signal, no colonists and things get weirder from there. Its like the biblical rapture, no bodies, no clothing or signs of a struggle. Its like everyone just got up & left in the middle of everything.
Having spent her life patroling an area between Pius III, (the nearest heap of compiled Romulan, Klingon, Dominion, Cardassian, Federation wrecks) & the colony, The Captain, 37 year old Janine Cox, virtually just a kid with older family members that have been training her in being self-sufficient on routine milk-runs. Securing cargo, mediating disputes between crew-persons, flying, dog-fighting / raider self-defense, & bandaging expected injuries. But nothing's prepared her for what's coming.
Suggestions:
I could see the Species you're talking about as one of the rivals of the Q, that has been angrily seething as a result of being "locked out" of the Milky Way but spent Millenia feeding on the neural energy of other mortal & long-lived species everywhere else they could reach near the tiny weak spot in the barrier.
A small salvaged NX-Era design rebuilt after the Dominion War (Neptune-Class freighter/transport) loaded with civilians arrive at an Alpha Quadrant Alliance colony with regularly scheduled replacement parts and service-personnel on duty-rotation to find no hailing signal, no colonists and things get weirder from there. Its like the biblical rapture, no bodies, no clothing or signs of a struggle. Its like everyone just got up & left in the middle of everything.
Having spent her life patroling an area between Pius III, (the nearest heap of compiled Romulan, Klingon, Dominion, Cardassian, Federation wrecks) & the colony, The Captain, 37 year old Janine Cox, virtually just a kid with older family members that have been training her in being self-sufficient on routine milk-runs. Securing cargo, mediating disputes between crew-persons, flying, dog-fighting / raider self-defense, & bandaging expected injuries. But nothing's prepared her for what's coming.
If you want experience like Picard, but strong, like Kirk, consider a non-human from a longer lived species. Perhaps a Vulcan who has adopted some human ways (sort of an anti-Spock, who is half human and rejects that, this fellow is a full blooded Vulcan who admires human pluck but has Vulcan strength... at age 100.)
Building on HoserTrek37, it could even be one of the God-like species Kirk dealt with but who we never saw again. What happened to them? The Q threw them out.
HoserTrek37, Thank you for your input. Not sure if I'd want to bring in the Q into this series. I realise that they are a source for a lot of material and im certainly not ruling it out but for now I believe that the Iconians would be far more interesting to use. It's quite an interesting story that wasn't really delved into much by any of the Star Trek series, once by TOS and once by DS9 but it's still quite vague.
I like the idea of them being one of the main species that dominated the milky way millenia ago but were suddenly wiped out by an even more powerful species. Not all the Iconians were wiped out and those who survived used their gateways to escape to a different galaxy. Fast forward to 2600 and a group of Iconians show up to warn the Federation of the threat of this powerful alien species returning to the Milky Way again. Or another thought would be that maybe the Iconians are evil after all and its the Iconians returning through their gateways from a distant galaxy to attack the Federation. No one does actually know if the Iconians are good or evil. Maybe even the Q were involved and it was a 3 way war between the Q, Iconians and the Purge. The Q may have been a humanoid species at some point but then found a way of ascending to another level and the Iconians were defeated. I like the story of the Iconians and their gateways and it opens up an endless list of possibilities.
Plus it could lead to flashbacks and stories set millenia ago before the human race existed which showed this massive war for control of the galaxy.
In my story I would like the captain to be a male who is mid thirties, I was thinking human but im not against the idea of him being some kind of alien either.
I like the idea of the new ship having organic components too. I think it could be a fascinating ship which would look very different to any other star ship we've seen before, I'm not too bothered about a ship that just has more powerful weapons, better shields, faster warp, I want some cool original new features for the ship which hasn't been done before.
With it being a generation class ship, it would contain many civilians and families on board as well as starfleet personnel, federation ambassadors, etc. I suppose the only problem with this is that if it was made into a fan series or tv show then the costs would be higher with all the actors, you would need a lot of recurring and guest stars in the show.
HoserTrek37, I like the idea of them finding the colony with everyone and everything mission and trying to piece the clues together, it could be the first sign that this alien species is returning to our galaxy. I like biblical connotations being used in the story, but would have to be careful not to make it like DS9. End of time? The rapture, etc.
After putting together clues they are led to some kind of ship or spacestation which is unknown in space which is creating a singularity through which this alien species can return through. The Captain orders to destroy it to stop the singularity but this ship has impenetrable shields...
I like the idea of them being one of the main species that dominated the milky way millenia ago but were suddenly wiped out by an even more powerful species. Not all the Iconians were wiped out and those who survived used their gateways to escape to a different galaxy. Fast forward to 2600 and a group of Iconians show up to warn the Federation of the threat of this powerful alien species returning to the Milky Way again. Or another thought would be that maybe the Iconians are evil after all and its the Iconians returning through their gateways from a distant galaxy to attack the Federation. No one does actually know if the Iconians are good or evil. Maybe even the Q were involved and it was a 3 way war between the Q, Iconians and the Purge. The Q may have been a humanoid species at some point but then found a way of ascending to another level and the Iconians were defeated. I like the story of the Iconians and their gateways and it opens up an endless list of possibilities.
Plus it could lead to flashbacks and stories set millenia ago before the human race existed which showed this massive war for control of the galaxy.
In my story I would like the captain to be a male who is mid thirties, I was thinking human but im not against the idea of him being some kind of alien either.
I like the idea of the new ship having organic components too. I think it could be a fascinating ship which would look very different to any other star ship we've seen before, I'm not too bothered about a ship that just has more powerful weapons, better shields, faster warp, I want some cool original new features for the ship which hasn't been done before.
With it being a generation class ship, it would contain many civilians and families on board as well as starfleet personnel, federation ambassadors, etc. I suppose the only problem with this is that if it was made into a fan series or tv show then the costs would be higher with all the actors, you would need a lot of recurring and guest stars in the show.
HoserTrek37, I like the idea of them finding the colony with everyone and everything mission and trying to piece the clues together, it could be the first sign that this alien species is returning to our galaxy. I like biblical connotations being used in the story, but would have to be careful not to make it like DS9. End of time? The rapture, etc.
After putting together clues they are led to some kind of ship or spacestation which is unknown in space which is creating a singularity through which this alien species can return through. The Captain orders to destroy it to stop the singularity but this ship has impenetrable shields...
Don't see why not. It's going to be a very big varied crew, so it would make sense to have certain crewmembers that are holographic. Another thought I have is to have educational institutions on board the ship, kids can learn then if they want to join starfleet they would even have a mini starfleet academy on board where they can go, graduate and then go straight into being crewmembers on the ship.
that is a amazing idea, something like the classrooms on DS9, i think a whole deck would suffice for the ships very own Starfleet academy, a few holo decks for training missions and such, i think a unique feature would be a armoury class, researching weapons from Starfleet history and other species and producing their own custom creation, plus a little starship design and stuff like that, included in that you can have holograms for teachers.
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The Iconians are a central feature to England's Star Trek Unity and The Further Adventures of Star Trek Unity. That fan production has two of them as Starfleet captains, one of whom is a Dr. Who "Doctor."
I think when presenting ideas on this site you have to have your shields up to maximum . I have experienced a lot of negativity and rudeness from pompous patronising and downright rude people. But sometimes if you stand back and look at it there's often valid points being made . There's also people with good insight and ideas to help you. I find it easier to just ignore the negativity.
Having read your idea there's a few things I like, but some things that other have mentioned are a bit cliche and out of place. Here's a couple of my thoughts. What is the main reason humanity has stopped exploring? Is it that they have charted the milky way galaxy? Something internal like a natural disaster has forced them to return home? Maybe theres no where left toexplore without entering enemy terroitory. I just can't buy the concept that we would give up exploration without good reason. Its the driving force of Star Trek after all.
When this new ship and crew begin the mission it should have some impact on the federation and also its nearby enemies. To make it just a ship of the week show isnt enough. How will it affect the alpha quadrant.
Good luck.
Having read your idea there's a few things I like, but some things that other have mentioned are a bit cliche and out of place. Here's a couple of my thoughts. What is the main reason humanity has stopped exploring? Is it that they have charted the milky way galaxy? Something internal like a natural disaster has forced them to return home? Maybe theres no where left toexplore without entering enemy terroitory. I just can't buy the concept that we would give up exploration without good reason. Its the driving force of Star Trek after all.
When this new ship and crew begin the mission it should have some impact on the federation and also its nearby enemies. To make it just a ship of the week show isnt enough. How will it affect the alpha quadrant.
Good luck.
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