'Prototrek'

[ngc7293]

I suppose the more interesting thing about such a show is the small cast. You wouldn't have a bunch of extras running around.

 

[HIjol]

Time is relative. Tomorrow is yesterday. The future is now.

For years, I've thought the title of a Carpenters song would be great for a Star Trek episode-- "Yesterday Once More". I've no idea what it would be about, but time travel is probably involved somehow.

For years, I've thought the title of a Carpenters song would be great for a Star Trek episode-- "Yesterday Once More". I've no idea what it would be about, but time travel is probably involved somehow.

I like this!

Oh, man did both of you just hit a nerve with me...Carpenters...I had better not go any further at the sure and certain risk of losing my man card...suffice to say, I like the title and I think the PTB should hire us right now to solve the Franchise problem...

 

[HIjol]

I'm a big fan of submarine dramas, which for hostility of surrounding environment -- and the necessity of devoting every square inch of space to multiply-redundant systems that keep you alive -- are a pretty useful analogue for space travel. If you're in a ship built for deep-space operations, cramped quarters should never not be a major element of the ship sets, because no matter how much your technology advances, you're still going to want to expend the maximum possible amount of power on your drives, shielding and environmental systems. Comfy living quarters will always be a second-tier priority.

Really committing to that sense of things provides an ever-present plot mechanism, because in a really hostile medium, the smallest mistake or malfunction can kill you, your resupply and refuelling concerns are constant (and can drive any number of stories), the sense of exploration itself as a dangerous... enterprise where your greatest enemy is your environment comes to the forefront.

Put the crew in compression suits instead of slacks and shirts for their uniforms. In case of a hull breach, they can just throw on gloves and a helmet and they're good to go. Same goes for away missions plus a nifty cowboy belt for their phaser. Uniforms would incorporate nifty stuff like smart materials to assist movement and regulate temperature, electronically tinted visor, HUD, and a tricorder in the gauntlet. Maybe a low-power forcefield like the life-support belts from TAS. Not enough to make them phaser-tanking Iron Man expy, but enough to protect against radiation and thermal hazards. This whole kit would reflect the precariousness of the crew's situation - they're out in deep waters on the strangest of tides, and they can't really afford to let their hair down too much. Something could go wrong at any minute.

The Enterprise is cramped, like a submarine, but clean and brightly lit, with design DNA that kind of makes it look like a high-tech version of a module from the ISS, looking more scientific than militaristic. Everyone has their own "sleeping cabin", but it's basically like one of those Japanese capsule hotels. Yes, even the captain's cabin. It's not cosy, strictly speaking, but would have a charm all its own.

Little things like that. It's mostly window dressing, from a storytelling standpoint, but anything that makes Trek try something new, in terms of futurism and general production design, is welcome in my book. ST09/STID isn't really that radical of a reinvention when you get down to it.

Shoot, do a Trekified submarine movie/series synthesized of elements from those films above. You don't have to have all that danger/heroics stuff every episode. Deep space exploration in a sardine can, meeting alien races who range from primitives to advanced technology. It would be like a modern sub discovering Tahiti or the Chinese 500 years ago.

Maximum want.

Loving it, loving it, loving it!!!...keep writing, keep writing...I am putting in the pizza and falafel with Hommous is going on the table right now, so you all better get over here to the U.A.E. so we can bang this thing out!!!

...you think the Sub-Enterprise should look more like seaQuest DSV or the Seaview, or even more claustro?...Das Boot or K-19?...the Red October?...it is writing itself!!!!!

 

[HIjol]

I suppose the more interesting thing about such a show is the small cast. You wouldn't have a bunch of extras running around.

Well, now...let's not get too carried away...we gotta have a couple a "red-shirt equivalents" so they can go flying around when we roll or get shot at...maybe they could just go flying out of their 4-stack bunks, or at the table in the crowded crew mess...

 

[Melakon]

I don't know what the ship would look like, but I'd want its exterior and interior designs to remind us of a submarine. Preferably designed by Rick Sternbach and Mike Okuda, since I think they really helped refine what a Starfleet ship looks like. And they'd get a chance to try something retro. Retro Deco, whatever that would be.

 

[Mage]

I think that the focus has gone to much to what ship it is set on, who should play the captain, what villians should we have.

Star Trek is about building a better future for humanity. I can't see a better way of showing that, then to set a show 5 years after First Contact, when we now from canon humanity was doing better, but still not perfect. It could be the show not about where we'll end up, but how we got there. Fine, drop a ship in there every now and then, show us humanity's first steps out there. But like Picard said; "I envy you, taking these first steps into a new frontier." To me, he was never talking about humanity's first steps into outer space. He was talking about humanity's first steps into finally becoming what they can be.

Yeah, that would be a show I'd watch.

 

[BigJake]

^ Apparently shows about the politics and bureaucracy of running a space program are a harder sell. I think that sort of thing done right could be interesting, myself, but I'd be more interested in seeing the space adventure done right first. A lot of people forget that Sixties Trek was not the Trek Roddenberry dreamed of making; it was the Trek he was stuck with making by the budgets, technology and network politics of the time. There's further yet to go.

 

[T'Girl]

Star Trek in a submarine-like space craft = boring. Do you really want to see such a claustrophobic show on a regular basis?

I rather liked the Defiant on DS9. YMMV.

If it takes place after Cochran but before Enterprise, what other than warp drive (which nearly every space sci-fi film features in some fashion) would identify it as having anything to do with Star Trek?

Interstellar Exploration, in the established fictional history of Trek Humans started exploring within a few years of the first warp flight.
.
Colonization, multiple colonies predate Enterprise.
Interactions with aliens, aliens are living on Earth before Enterprise.
The Kzinti war (wars?).

Some parts of Earth would still be in bad shape, part of the hero ship mission would be to locate resources to prosper Earth and look for trading opportunities for new technologies (Vulcans aren't helping).

Everyone has their own "sleeping cabin", but it's basically like one of those Japanese capsule hotels.

Interesting, but might be taking things too far. Having most of the officers with a room-mate and the crew in barracks might be better.

***

A work around for what was seen on Enterprise is that the Enterprise's warp five engines were such a accomplishment because they were indigenous Human designs. The hero ship's engines in ProtoTrek are basically alien imported technology, certainly the plans were, with Humans actually doing the construction. This will let the hero ship move at a reasonable rate of speed.

Lot's of modern countries on Earth have jet aircraft, but most of them imported the planes and engines. It would be like that.

Having the hero ship simply be exploring the galaxy on the opposite side of the solar system from Andoria, Tellar and the Klingons would explain why they never encounter Humans before. Lot's of aliens out there, we can meet some new ones (not just the same tired previous ones).

Star Trek is about building a better future for humanity.

No, not at all.

What Star Trek is actually about is adventures in space and interesting character interactions.

I can't see a better way of showing that, then to set a show 5 years after First Contact, when we now from canon humanity was doing better, but still not perfect.

A show that centered around depicting the rebuilding of war torn Earth would (with respect) suck donkey anus.

Occasional references to such would be fine, but should be background info.

Fine, drop a ship in there every now and then, show us humanity's first steps out there.

No, center the show on the ship and crew.

For me, one of the things that absolutely kill the last season of Enterprise was the excessive references about building the "Coalition of Planets."