Rebooting Star Trek

[Count Zero]

Mmh, I'm not so sure about a Fantasy setting. After all, Star Trek had this message that the Utopian society it depicted was something humans could achieve if they put their minds to it. A Fantasy setting would undermine its vision of a possible future.

 

[pookha]

Well, the underlying theme is "the human condition", what it means to be human. I think it's the first movie that ends with the motto "The human adventure is just beginning.". I always found this very inspiring.
In the beginning (TOS), Star Trek was about the stories, not about technicalities. It seems that many people have lost sight of that. If you do a reboot, everything is fair game so you don't have to use the same characters as in the actual series.

Thanks. You mention that TOS was about stories and not the 'technobabble', but, for the life of me, I can't really pick out any significant sustained story arcs from either it or The Next Generation; the closest thing that TNG came to what I'd recognize as an ongoing arc was the stuff involving the Borg and the turmoil in the Klingon Empire, but can't really pick out any sustained arcs from the original series.

technically there wasnt an arc.
but in almost every episode the klingons were in had some mention of the organian peace treaty.
often it played a role in how in how the story developed.

 

[SFRabid]

Isn't this a job better done by someone who has watched the 5 Star Trek series?

 

[DigificWriter]

^ Just because I was unaware of what the franchise's overall underlying theme was doesn't mean I've never watched any of the shows. I happen to be a huge Trek fan, particularly of DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise.

 

[USS KG5]

Specifically, I'm first and foremost trying to find out what all 5 of the existing Trek series have in common at their core, since it's crucial to figuring out how to completely re-imagine the franchise. I can tell you what DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise are about - at their core - in just a few sentences, but, in order to figure out how to re-imagine the franchise as a whole, I need to know what its underlying themes are, and how each of its individual series relate to that common underlying theme.

I will have a bash...

1. The positive side of humanity, that for all our faults there is a lot of good in the human race and given time to grow and flourish that these qualities will help us to a better future, qualities like - loyalty, honesty, duty, honour, compassion, heroism, self-sacrifice.

That is the big one for me, also...

2. Belief in a big wide universe of infinite diversity in infinite combinations.
3. A willingness to explore today's issues through allegory, with an open mind.
4. The short story (which a TV episode sort-of is) to tell a parable, morality play, or action piece, as opposed to the "novel for television" approach.

I could go on but I think no 1 is most important. Trek might be interesting with a change in No. 4.

 

[DigificWriter]

I'm starting to get some ideas for a rudimentary pitch for a Trek reboot, but need a bit more time to finish putting everything together. In the meantime, let me ask you guys for your opinion(s): of the five series, which had the cast of characters that best fit into Trek's overall theme? Also, if you take characters from all five series and put them together in one crew, what would that crew look like?

 

[mimi2two49]

I think a new Startrek should start off where Voyager left off. Use the same ideals that Roddenberry did. "The good guys should always win" Add new gadgets that might really be available in the 30th century. Have it entertaining, a kind of "What if it could really be this way"

 

[stj]

Star Trek should be rebooted by being set in our future, instead of the Sixties' future. That can make it relevant again.

Instead of a human/Vulcan hybrid---which is even more foolish than a radish/chimpanzee hybrid!---imagine one character is a genetically engineered variant human, a Khan without comic book bwa-ha-ha.

Instead of the Fifties sitcom family, imagine that strict population controls mean all children are only children, only parents who pass tests have children, children usually leave the family home at the age of twelve or thirteen, to live in adolescent communities marked by work/study apprenticeships instead of today's schools.

Instead of fifty beginning middle age, imagine most people now could expect to top two hundred---but the handful of people from previous centuries who have already lived so long have massively oppressive prestige as Seniors.

Instead of a militaristic Star Fleet, imagine the officers elected by the ranks (it's been done before!) and civilian authorities on the ships/colonies are more important.

Instead of a ridiculous universal translator, imagine that some mysterious supercivilization has broadcast a library of languages translated into a basic tongue.

Instead of Majel Barrett being all the computers, imagine a variety of A.I.s in myriad locations. People don't cheat on their spouses/paramours because the bed will tell on them!

Instead of bad clothing, imagine freakishly bad clothing that lights up, changes color, has three-dee effects, goes transparent. (This would take good SFX.)

Instead of pointy sideburns, imagine getting a new skin color for grooming---or a temporary sex change. (True the SFX on that would have to be groundbreaking.)

But don't imagine that aping the trendiest styles in cinematography or regurgitating misanthropic politics will rejuvenate Star Trek.

PS Forgot to add---read some more recent SF than John W. campbell's Astounding.