Rebranding a Fan Film: United Federation of Planets

[Matthew Raymond]

I felt this desired its own thread, seeing as it seems like a hard problem to solve:

What name would you use in place of "United Federation of Planets"?

"Intergalactic" is out of the question unless you're expanding the scope to include worlds outside the galaxy. I think anything with "Federation" in it is automatically out. Anything with "Confederacy" is out for obvious reasons. I've heard that Renegades uses "Confederation". I'm not in love with it because it sounds like the two terms I just mentioned.

I really like the name "Interstellar Alliance", but Babylon 5 beat me to it. (Does anyone know if this is a generic term, or if it's specific to B5?) In fact, nearly any combination of words that generally mean "united federation of planets" are already in use by some person or fictional franchise. No, seriously. I created a matrix of synonyms and did a brute-force Google search, and the best I came up with was "Inter-Sidereal Consortium".

"Alliance of Space-Faring Civilizations" is okay, I suppose. It yields a couple of Google results, but as a description rather than a title.

Any suggestions? Should I be calling JMS?

 

[Tosk]

Galactic Fellowship? Interstellar Congress?

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

40 Planets with FTL Drives, Inc?

 

[Tosk]

The ASL. (Alliance of Sentient Lifeforms.)

 

[ihno]

I was always wondering why the dwarf planets don't have a Federation. Ok, not always but since they came up with them.

Why don't you use a geographical place in your name? Like Leage of bla bla bla?

 

[Nyotarules]

The Terran Empire

 

[Matthew Raymond]

I suppose I should give some ground rules:

1. Name should sound as little like a CBS/Paramount trademarked term as possible. (Such as "United Federation of Planets")
2. Name isn't similar or identical to a non-generic name already in use. (Generic names are fine.)
3. Name must be distinct enough to avoid confusion with other terms.
4. Name should preferably describe a federated government made up of interstellar civilizations.
5. Name should not use language that contradicts the idea of a United Federation of Planets. ("Empire", "Corporation" or "Intergalactic")

Galactic Fellowship? Interstellar Congress?

A Fellowship is usually a group of like-minded people, not a government. A congress is a governmental institution, rather than a government itself. Both don't adequately satisfy Rule #4.

40 Planets with FTL Drives, Inc?

Violates Rule #5. UFP isn't a company. Your answer is illogical.

The ASL. (Alliance of Sentient Lifeforms.)

Actually pretty good, but it violates Rule #2 in that it's too similar to "Citadel Alliance of Sentient Lifeforms".

Why don't you use a geographical place in your name? Like [League] of bla bla bla?

You mean, for example, name it "Anchorage Alliance" and just say that they signed the treaty in Anchorage? I've thought about it. We can bend Rule #4 if there's a name people really like.

The Terran Empire

Would everyone in the fan film have to wear a goatee?

 

[Nyotarules]

^ Yeah why not a goatee for all, even the females!

 

[Hartzilla2007]

I think anything with "Federation" in it is automatically out.

Square Enix would disagree with you on that one, because the Star Ocean don;t seem to have a problem using it among all the other stuff that sounds like Star Trek with the serial numbers filed off.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Alliance of Worlds

 

[Tenacity]

Name should sound as little like a CBS/Paramount trademarked term as possible.

The Paramount Planets.

A Fellowship is usually a group of like-minded people, not a government.

But the Federation is more than it's Council.

Shouldn't what you're trying to describe be "a group of like-minded people?"

Alliance of Worlds

I like this, it's simply and to the point.

An Alliance isn't just a group of governments, it also applies to people and communities.

 

[Nyotarules]

The Galactic Commonwealth - TGC

 

[uniderth]

The Great White Brotherhood of the Ascended Masters.
You could even have the Ashtar Command.

Come on go full 50's.

 

[Matthew Raymond]

A Fellowship is usually a group of like-minded people, not a government.

But the Federation is more than it's Council.

I can just hear Charlton Heston's ghost crying out: "The Federation is people!"

Doesn't change the fact that a "Galactic Fellowship" sounds more like a scholarship granted to you by the Galactic Emperor than any kind of federation of planets. (Not trying to be mean, but you pressed the issue.)

The Galactic Commonwealth - TGC

Already in use, so says Google.

One concert about the term "Galactic" is that it implies a government that is galactic in scope, whereas the Federation is in one corner of the Alpha Quadrant. The "Alliance of Worlds" example has that in its favor because it can be two worlds or two trillion.

Wait, does World imply that the civilization must exist on a planet? Would Venus, for example, qualify as a "World" in the Alliance of Worlds if the Venusian colonies were all cloud cities and there was nothing on the planet's surface?

 

[FormerLurker]

Wait, does World imply that the civilization must exist on a planet? Would Venus, for example, qualify as a "World" in the Alliance of Worlds if the Venusian colonies were all cloud cities and there was nothing on the planet's surface?

Even Star Trek allows for that one; The Cloud Minders.

 

[fireproof78]

I can just hear Charlton Heston's ghost crying out: "The Federation is people!"

Doesn't change the fact that a "Galactic Fellowship" sounds more like a scholarship granted to you by the Galactic Emperor than any kind of federation of planets. (Not trying to be mean, but you pressed the issue.)


Already in use, so says Google.

One concert about the term "Galactic" is that it implies a government that is galactic in scope, whereas the Federation is in one corner of the Alpha Quadrant. The "Alliance of Worlds" example has that in its favor because it can be two worlds or two trillion.

Wait, does World imply that the civilization must exist on a planet? Would Venus, for example, qualify as a "World" in the Alliance of Worlds if the Venusian colonies were all cloud cities and there was nothing on the planet's surface?

Well, a world is a specific planet that doesn't have to be fully covered in human civilization. "World," at least to me, implies a specific celestial body, like a state.

Allied Planet States of Olympus or something.

 

[Nyotarules]

The Great White Brotherhood of the Ascended Masters.
You could even have the Ashtar Command.

Come on go full 50's.

Andorians - Blue
Vulcans - Green
Humans - mainly brown or beige or pink
Tellarites - brownish
Anaers - literally white

 

[Matthew Raymond]

Well, a world is a specific planet that doesn't have to be fully covered in human civilization. "World," at least to me, implies a specific celestial body, like a state.

Therein lies the question. Is the term "World" flexible enough to encompass any space-faring civilization? For example, is a Battlestar Galactica-style space caravan made up of Space Romani considered a "World"? Another issue is whether we're conflating "planet" with "state" unnecessarily. Then again, you could use the term "Cross-World" as a sort of synonym for "Interstellar" and it might be more inclusive. Example: Cross-World Confederation.

Here's some more names off the top of my head:

United Interplanetary Civilizations
Allied Worlds Network
Post-Singularity Alliance
League of Celestial States
Space United Nations (S.U.N. or Space U.N.)
Stellar Tribes Amalgamated Republic (S.T.A.R.)

 

[uniderth]

Andorians - Blue
Vulcans - Green
Humans - mainly brown or beige or pink
Tellarites - brownish
Anaers - literally white

Well to be fair:

"The use of the term 'white' refers to their use of white magic, as opposed to black, and is unrelated to race."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_White_Brotherhood

 

[E-DUB]

A friend of mine and I once were writing an ST parody and came up with the term "Galactic Union". Even had a line in there about "union dues".