"Star Trek: Series VI" is set during the fourth season of the popular Star Trek: The Next Generation. The series focuses on three friends who come together after being drummed out of Starfleet under false charges. They acquire a used civilian exploratory cruiser (think the Raven in "The Raven") and decide to make a living as a courier and transport ship. They run afoul of not only their former Starfleet family, but also familiar faces from the Star Trek universe. Their mission: carve out a living on their own for the first time in their lives as outcasts from the 24th century utopia of the United Federation of Planets."
Okay, here's my Series VI pitch: Star Trek®: Relay Station Gamma™ The time: Approximately ten years after the Dominion war. The place: A newly constructed relay station (as seen in TNG's "Aquiel") on the Gamma side of the wormhole. It's purpose: To ensure the communication between the Federation and the Dominion and therefore the prolonged peace talks between the powers. The station is crewed by a minimum of just six starfleet technicians who run the communication systems. But the crew is as diverse as it can get: The commanding officer is a war veteran who has scars more of the emotional kind than of the physical. Serving under him is a fresh-from-the-academy ensign, who just entered starfleet because of the war -- he wants to become a hero. Another crewman might be a female lieutenant who lost her whole family in the war. To continue the Trek tradition of old foes becoming friends and to raise the bar of drama the pilot would also introduce a Vorta representative from the Dominion who will clearly have problems getting on with the starfleet personnel. I imagine the main themes of the series would be post-war trauma and the problems of a small crew getting by. What do you think?
Ok. My idea is to have the federation fighting an enemy, but there are complications. First off, there are immigrants of the same species that have become Federation citizens beforehand. Some will agree with the enemy ideology, some won't, some won't give a shit. Some will be enemy agents who have infiltrated various positions in the Federation political and military structure. But many "good" folks have naturally done the same, they've joined the millitary to defend their adopted homeland, they've worked in the beareucracy, etc. You literally cannot tell which is which, so people are suspicious. But I'm not going to give out easy answers either. The heros will screw up and things will explode, plagues will be unleashed, and critical computer systems will go down (imagine such a sympathetic group being able to shut down the life support system or create daily Katrinas on colony planets). There will always be the fine line between protecting people, and fascism on the other. But no matter what choice they make, there will be consequences. Either you'll arrest or shoot the wrong guy (and make his neighbors more likely to want to strike back) or you're too willing to give the benefit of the doubt (thus leading to explosions, plagues and mahem). Spoiler: I' I'm even thinking that at one point or another, I blow up the current incarnation of the Enterprise. How's that for fear. at any rate, the whole idea is to make the choicees that this crew (leaning to a ship, personally) makes matter. And not making it easy for them.
FIRST CONTACT: The Iron Horse is an online novel that hails from the post-atomic year of 2079 AD... The supercarrier APC Iron Horse is outfitted to carry the building blocks of recovery through the Frontier of a shattered American Wasteland. She is wheel-dependant, hydrogen/solar powered, and six primary cars in length. The Iron Horse's hydrogen power supply can be refueled at any water source, so she may negotiate the Frontier almost indefinitely. She is two lanes wide and crowds the shambling roadways of tommorrow. Crew approx. 25 persons. The APC carries ancillary environmental mechs (CATS) for exploring dirty / radioactive areas. Agile and strong, with quad-track-to-quadruped differential allowing a four legged climb and gallop. Our diplomat is Mr. Steel of Vulcan, he is twenty Standard years old, and has lived fifteen of those years here on Earth. His hair is long and will not be cut until First Rites are passed. His mission is First Contact to the variety of human civilizations the Iron Horse encounters. Some areas are advanced, others regressed, others spiritual or tribal and so on. Even others are repressed (LANDRU) by technology, or large geopolitical factions such as the infamous Colonel Green, and his mighty army of the Fifteen Optimal States... Product placemnet is subtle. (Caterpillar, Levis, Stetson, Timex, etc.) ...and so on. Anyone who might be digging this premise are invited to tune in to the adventures of FIRST CONTACT: The Iron Horse, now showing on the FanFiction board...
^ Um...didn't Roddenberry propose Star Trek as nothing much more than a western that takes place in space?
^ but they weren't trapsing across Idaho in a giant train fighting natives and bringing civilisation. There is such a thing as taking "wagon train" too literally.
The Iron Horse owes much of its premise to Gene Roddenberry's Genesis II. The Horse has replaced G-II's world-wide turbolift network, and the stage of planet Earth has been re-dressed to comply with 40 years of Trek canon. (Tips hat) Thank you for the kind response...
Just one thing, Michael. Don't you think there'd be more aircraft in use as opposed to a huge land vehicle? \S/
I'll cop to that, though it would be more of a cross between Firefly and Futurama, with the whole courier aspect. I also think it would be a show with a good deal of light-heartedness along with some serious action and drama. The Prime Directive would not play a factor in these guy's lives, and they'd have to bend and out and out break the rules they used to live by to survive. Along the way in the pilot episode, they rescue a female Starfleet medical officer from the wreckage of a ship attacked by the Cardassians, and a civilian slob in a bar who turns out to be an experienced and extremely gifted pilot. Conflict ensues with four men and one woman on a small ship, just trying to make their way in the galaxy. \S/
The short answer is yes. The Restored United States in the west does employ various support aircraft to areas on the mend. But this is the Post-Atomic Horror, and resources are highly valued. Aircraft are fragile, and require lots of support and resources currently available only the West Coast. (circa 2079) The Horse is a First Contact vessel, operating on the Frontier. Her mission takes her east, into the areas controlled by Colonel Green and his Fifteen Optimal States. The few aircraft seen on the Frontier are privately owned, refurbished artifacts scavenged from the pre-war Consumer Age. As new areas are secured, more sophisticated means of support are introduced, including aircraft. The Horse carries "probe" units, small unmanned light saucers that "float" or "fly" on eight independant rotary blades to produce thrust. Sort of like the Moller M200X, only smaller. Finally, there is a new generation of Eagle satellites, from which the Operations Officer of the Iron Horse (and the fleet) can upload real-time images for plotting courses and spying on the no-goodniks. Our eyes in the sky, you might say....
Star Trek: Pioneers Zefram Cochrane and a hardy band of early colonists on Alpha Centuri. All human main cast, with the Centaurans done entirely in CGI. They'll be a dying race, so only onscreen for important plots. Dilithium prospectors. A quirky genius keen to escape his fame on Earth and Vulcan interference. Parallels to the old west with natives driven to near extinction. Star Trek: Tales from the Final Frontier Anthology series. No regular cast or setting. Expect the unexpected each week. Potential to revisit old favourites, skip across several centuries to focus on single characters, cautionary tales and a testbed for new concepts, some of which might go on to have a second appearance or their own series.
How did that get turned down for Planet of the Apes? I saw an ep or two of PotA and it was the stupidest thing ever made.
Wait til ST XI comes out. Maybe do a ST XII. Wait a couple more years and let the cast age so they can do the 2nd 5-year mission after STTMP and really delve into Spock's acceptance of his humanity between the first 2 movies. Flesh out the secondary characters that don't have a lot of continuity baggage to deal with.
Agreed. I certainly admire Mr. Roddenberry's forward-thinking concepts, the man was truly ahead of his time. What would Gene do today? Nobody knows, but you can bet that his latest pitches would be "outside the box," and would be very daring for television. (More conceptually bold, rather than heaps of generic sex and violence.) Considering what the networks allow on the air today, Gene would likely lay down some bold new ideas that would have given fits to the censors of yesteryear...
A Continuation of Star Trek: Enterprise featuring the Earth-Romulan War and the Birth of the Federation.
^ I too would prefer that show to acheive its full potential before any post TNG series is considered.