Series about the Star Fleet Academy, why not?

[Cary L. Brown]

BalthierTheGreat said:You almost had me, until the time travel stuff.

Nothing personal, but I'm tired of trek and time travel.

You know what I'd like to see, just to be surly? One final big "time travel" movie that ends up altering the structure of space-time in such a way that time-travel become permanently impossible forever after.

Oh, and this bit (emphasis added by me) was sufficient to conclude that the poster wasn't REALLY serious...

Starfleet Academy - Truth, Peace, Knowledge, Love, Sex, Loyalty, Honor, Opportunity, Career.

 

[hellsgate]

Actually I was completely serious about everything I suggested for the "S.F.A.: Genesis" concept. I won't disregard possible (minor) "ripple effects" of the Temporal Cold War.

[*] (Example: the hiccup effect Barclay had after being deprogrammed by the Cytherians when he helped the officer in Ten Forward get a check-mate despite never playing chess himself.)

[*] The Pah Wraith (otherwise known as the transdimensional beings from Ent?) as we never really did see the Pah Wraith in their native form except when Jadzia died at the hands of a possessed Dukat.

[*] Or, the Q continuing to monitor us in order to keep Starfleet & its allies from taking on too much too quickly.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

hellsgate said:
Actually I was completely serious about everything I suggested for the "S.F.A.: Genesis" concept. I won't disregard possible (minor) "ripple effects" of the Temporal Cold War.

[*] (Example: the hiccup effect Barclay had after being deprogrammed by the Cytherians when he helped the officer in Ten Forward get a check-mate despite never playing chess himself.)

[*] The Pah Wraith (otherwise known as the transdimensional beings from Ent?) as we never really did see the Pah Wraith in their native form except when Jadzia died at the hands of a possessed Dukat.

[*] Or, the Q continuing to monitor us in order to keep Starfleet & its allies from taking on too much too quickly.

So you were actually being SERIOUS when you mentioned "love and sex" as part of the Starfleet Academy MOTTO???

You need to put in "free love" and add "drugs and rock and roll" just to REALLY get that silly hippie feeling down pat.

You were actually SERIOUS when you put that in? Yikes... "Next Week... Starfleet Academy's bi-weekly orgy... set your VCR!"

 

[ancient]

Starfleet Academy's bi-weekly orgy

I'm failing that class.

 

[hellsgate]

No, not orgies...silly people. Just Picard/Crusher, Janeway/Chakotay style 'shipper B-plots. Somewhat embarrassing "accidental" holodeck discoveries. Things of that nature. An ongoing, foreboding "C-plot" that helps determine who "Future Guy" from "Star Trek: Enterprise" might be...possibly one of the members of Theta Squad?

 

[hellsgate]

hellsgate said:
[*] "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy"
"Genesis"

Earthdate: September 2378.

The story of four students in Theta Squad.

Despite the withdrawal of the Jem Hadar from Alliance territories, & the Vorta are visibly honoring their agreement to return to the Omarion Nebula.. the hysteria over possible remaining infiltrators in Starfleet hasn't completely subsided quite yet. Rumors are surfacing of possible collaborators....

Only a handful of people know anything about The Bluegill Parasites (from TNG's "Conspiracy",) and Species 8472's infiltration and former plans to invade Earth.

Admiral Leyton & his prodigies in Red Squad have all been expelled, arrested & charged. Or have they?

The Klingons & Cardassians (among others,) are doing their best to rebuild in the midst of Romulan/Vulcan political upheaval...

Life on Earth has attempted to get back to normal, however, there are still a variety of subdued sinister machinations going on behind closed doors. And realize this -- not all of those doors are on Earth...or in this time.

Starfleet Academy - Truth, Peace, Knowledge, Love, Sex, Loyalty, Honor, Opportunity, Career.

As Q once said "the trial isn't over."

I just added "Love" & "Sex" as part of my pitch, not as SFA's actual motto. Just something to add to a e-book splash image. Just so you know. EEP!

 

[jonnyskywatcher]

Cary L. Brown said:
You were actually SERIOUS when you put that in? Yikes... "Next Week... Starfleet Academy's bi-weekly orgy... set your VCR!"

Well, Starfleet is always talking about exploration.

 

[cardinal biggles]

^With that in mind, next week Professor Braga leads the cadets to a spelunking expedition on the Planet of the 50-Foot-Tall Women. :thumbsup:

 

[Broccoli]

cardinal biggles said:
^With that in mind, next week Professor Braga leads the cadets to a spelunking expedition on the Planet of the 50-Foot-Tall Women. :thumbsup:

Which Professor Coto will be able to connect to Kirk's encounter with the Greek god Apollo.

 

[hellsgate]

Nah, nothing that bad. Maybe uncover something left behind by The Preservers & others that knew their days were numbered.

An Academy Cadet Cruise is patrolling the edge of Cardassian (Protectorate) space as a favor to the Detapa Council, to ward off Tzenkethi, Androssi, Orion & other Syndicates' raiders.

Meanwhile, they accidentally pick up an odd sensor anomoly from minerals that aren't supposed to be indigenous to that area of space or just not in the concentrations they're being detected in. They run all the usual tests & realize they've unwittingly seen something trillions of years old & go in for a closer look.

They discover a purposely buried archive of some kind on a hunk of destroyed planetoid which can only be openned by a specifically DNA-coded lock. A lock that can only be opened by getting a group of the preservers' descendants together to simultaneously touch the device to enable it to scan them & authorize entry. Easier said than done.

 

[DarKush]

BalthierTheGreat said:

DarKush said:
I like the Academy idea. On the Trek shows we've usually seen officers at their peak, but rarely have we seen how they got there. I think a Starfleet Academy show can show us that.

By using a younger cast, it might broaden the viewership, and have a ready-made seasoned cast for spin-off movies. College is a very stressful, important time in a person's life. There is a lot of drama that can be mined from that. In addition to throwing in aliens, galatic politics, internships on ships or stations, various training/away missions that could go wrong, etc. and you have the potential for some action. Taking cues from Smallville-it's amazing how it has brought a new audience to the Superman franchise while contemporizing the mythos as well. An Academy series could do this for Trek.

Well, yeah, it has the potential to do that, but I've not seen very many successful TV drama shows that center around students at a university. The things I have seen are either quasi-soaps(BH90210), comedies (Saved By The Bell), monster shows (buffy),or movies (Harry Potter).

I think you'd end up with a lot of padding between not so interesting events, unless you had the students somehow be the only ones who could save the universe. Even if the Fed is at war, it's not like they're gonna stick a bunch of cadets on the front lines. So even war wouldn't change things much. That's the biggest problem -- very few good storylines, and a lot of padding.

Also, if you put it late 24th century, post-Dominion War, you can use a lot of TNG/VOY/DS9 cast members as guest stars, adjunct professors. In fact, it would be great if they could bring Colm Meaney on board since as a cast member O'Brien was supposed to be teaching at the university anyway.

I don't know that having ex-trek actors is going to be much of a draw. Nothing against them, but having a "very special" Star Trek Academy in which Riker talks about sex is creepy. To me.

There are a lot of shows that are based around one setting or location-think of all the successful hospital shows or show's based in one town or police precinct that manage to do well.

Well, interesting things happen at a police station. Murders to be solved, pushers to be busted, prostitution rings, gang wars. That wouldn't happen at most schools, especially if it's a millitary academy. I don't care how sex-crazy young Kirk is -- he can't be a pimp at a millitary academy without getting thrown out. Stuff like DS9 or Law and Order work well because interesting stories come to those places. What's going to come to a millitary academy? Kirk studying for his biocemistry final isn't compelling drama, and I don't think they can have a lot of Potteresque secrets at SFA. Even at Hogwarts you don't have enough material to keep the story going for more than a year.

The key is creating an interesting, engaging group of characters. If they can do that, the Academy show can really work.

That being said, I think the idea would work better animated-a la Teen Titans, Legion of Superheroes style.

Characters are only half the story -- if nothing interesting happens, no one will watch.

1) Your examples prove that an Academy idea might have legs. 90210 was on for 10 years, longer than any Trek program or any other American sci-fi program, with the exception of Stargate SG-1. Saved by the Bell was one for a number of years as well. And Harry Potter is a raging phenomenon. So, there can be interest in shows set at universities if done right.

Also, shows with various premises fail all the time. How many cop, lawyer, or doctor shows don't make the cut? However, they are always being pitched, and some make it and become mega-successful. Same with sci-fi shows. I don't get why this Academy idea meets such resistance. Why not try it?

Trek has had four starship-based shows and one space station-based on. What's wrong with looking at different aspects of the Trek universe? It will force the writers to approach things differently. It will also give the viewers something different....perhaps.

2) Having Trek-vets doing guest starring roles could be a draw for Trek fans who might be interested to see what happened to Riker, Janeway, or O'Brien, etc. There is the potential for vets to be professors, guest lecturers, or maybe even having the cadets serve on their vessels or at DS9. Also, there is the potential to wrap up storylines from TNG, VOY, and DS9 on a post-DW, maybe post-NEM 24th century Academy show.

3) After attending college and then working at one for three years, I can personally attest that there is interesting stuff that goes on at college. There is the human condition-in all its beauty or ugliness. The location might be static, but that doesn't mean the people have to be. And a static location doesn't equate with a static show.

4) Creating good characters can sometimes led to interesting situations, based on that character's background or their predilections. Plus, internal conflict can lead to some great drama.

 

[jonnyskywatcher]

^ I agree with most of what you said. I think a problem with later Star Trek series is that the creators got too lazy with the premise and turned out run of the mill stories that didn't really require any creativity on their part.