should the next Trek film be about a virus/pandemic?

[STEPhon IT]

WE know there were a handful of pandemic stories done on television, but could a story like that be produced for a feature film and be successful? It would be interesting to learn how it would be handle and the tone it would set in? Action has been the motto for the latest feature films, could they transition to something like a pandemic???

 

[fireproof78]

Yes, I think they could.

 

[Qonundrum]

STID had discussed terrorism and in an intriguing way, post-9/11, and how many times has Trek discussed pandemics to the same level it talks about other issues...?

Apart from a throwaway line of "Stardate 12345.6something, we are headed to Plot Device II in the Maudelin Cluster to pick up a vaccine so we can cure a disease because this is season one and vaccines are used to prevent diseases and not cure them", then someone gets kidnapped, Picard throws a tantrum and uses half a dozen photon torpedoes to detonate around the planet's orbit to terrify everyone with even though they're completely innocent, never mind he just broke among other things his own Prime Directive he uses as means to let people die in a few dozen other stories because it's the galactic plan Sarjenka knows nothing about or in that overly-contrived masterpiece society or a dozen other episodes...

So it can be done, absolutely. Especially when TOS covered topical issues at the time said issues occurred (e.g. "A Private Little War" hammered in somewhat tactlessly a war of significance happening at the time, even using a name callout... so why not for any virus?)

They don't even need to use another race or evil admiral o' t' week cliches. Leftover weapons from another civilization discovered and brought back to Planet Plotdevice IV and oops the technician slipped and the safety seals in the room malfunction - there, it's a new plot. Okay, it's not really new but so underused that after all this time that it feels fresh and new. Or better yet, the thing went boom in the sealed room and for whatever happenstance the room seals failed (solar flares far greater than expected* based on all known models and projections, it's a trinary star system too, why not) and not due to evil admiral moohahahaha subplot.

* in which case, if solar flares and EMP and all that are so risky, why would anyone build there? Why do people build tunnels right under lakes, seas, or oceans? Or build insanely tall buildings and/or nuclear reactors near earthquake zones? Same reasons could be applied to this solar system and a greater good.

 

[AmbreP]

Well having lived on the northern California coast, people build stuff in bad places because its cheap, no choice (no other place to go) , someone gets a kickback, literally no one else wants the spot, close to pop area, already own the land, etc...or any permutation and combination of all of the above.

I really dreaded a large earthquake off the coast/tidal wave hitting the diablo nuclear power plant at any time Its on the coast) but I live in Southern Arizona now so have at. Maybe like fukashima in japan people will get a clue, but I digress.

An awful large number of people are going to die and/or be permanently disabled by the corona/covid virus and speaking as a disabled person in my experience people will avoid at all costs as we are teh most discriminated against group crossing all ethnicitces, countries, ages, and all. It would be so hard to to do w/o significant carefully crafted PR that it almost certainly would not be worth it for a topic that will upset so many people and have to be so sensitively handled to not be worth it.

The black death in the middle ages missed up art for generations because it was such a sensitive flashpoint because of all teh changes it made, including raising the wages of the common worker and reducing the ranks of the nobility many of whom holdings were reduced from splitting estates among children so thereby their standard of living increased. So w/o the black death and the magna carts from a century before would the renaissance and later teh industrial revolution have happened?

I just don't see other than light schlock because so many factors would have to be perfect to carry it off successfully, or even to have a studio consider red-lighting a script. You are talking about corporate types that stress return on investment over all else, which is why its so hard in the current structure of the industry *sigh* so many are going for crowdfunding or indie which official star trek isn't.

look at Tv shows like Whedonverse (buffy angel, dollhouse, etc...) and he was only able ot get one onto the big screen because the studio system finds him scary because his stories aren't predictable.

Accountants want predictible.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Only if it's the Klingon Augment virus and explains away all dem nasty looking reptile ones.

 

[publiusr]

In other news, Jersey is to be the location of a Covid inspired pulp fiction movie helmed by the famous director...


Trenton Quarantino