Star Trek Machinema Remake Idea

[Pauln6]

I'm not a huge fan of the overly sterile form of Trek so I wanted to make the world of the Federation a little bit murkier, building on concepts from the novel Traitor Winds, Star Trek VI, and Babylon 5.

Well, I actually think it would be interesting if the story involved a serious undercurrent of corruption that has managed to go undetected for years.

I think that's a fun choice - although don't feel that you have to restrict yourself to humans and Earth. There are dozens of Federation planets with whom you can play. A large part of TOS is Kirk/Spock/McCoy but Read Traitor Winds too - it's a great example of a cracking corruption & espionage plot and a good example of how you can allow the 'supporting cast' to shine outside of the Big 3's shadow.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

PaulN6

I think that's a fun choice - although don't feel that you have to restrict yourself to humans and Earth. There are dozens of Federation planets with whom you can play.

I definitely agree, and this corruption would include various politicians/officials in the Federation, various high ranking officers from various Federation planets and races.

A large part of TOS is Kirk/Spock/McCoy but Read Traitor Winds too - it's a great example of a cracking corruption & espionage plot and a good example of how you can allow the 'supporting cast' to shine outside of the Big 3's shadow.

Actually, I was thinking of largely putting new characters on the Enterprise as most crew would be rotated off after a long deployment. Uhura and Chekov would remain, Decker and Ilia would be added as they were in TMP and I think they were good characters.

BTW: Was there anything that explicitly stated that Ilia was a Navigator back when Decker met her?

 

[Pauln6]

A large part of TOS is Kirk/Spock/McCoy but Read Traitor Winds too - it's a great example of a cracking corruption & espionage plot and a good example of how you can allow the 'supporting cast' to shine outside of the Big 3's shadow.

Actually, I was thinking of largely putting new characters on the Enterprise as most crew would be rotated off after a long deployment. Uhura and Chekov would remain, Decker and Ilia would be added as they were in TMP and I think they were good characters.

BTW: Was there anything that explicitly stated that Ilia was a Navigator back when Decker met her?

The Rec Deck scene contains a large assortment of crew plus TMP had a lot of background aliens designed for it. You can check out the official background on each species plus information put in place by the various role playing games.

There is no pressing need to limit your options by rotating established characters off the ship though. The ship has three duty shifts and the characters need not all be on the same shift. In a dire emergency, it's likely that the Captain and First Officer would both come to the bridge and that Kirk is very likely to ask Spock (who would only be science officer if Decker is first officer) but even that isn't essential. Phase II was going to feature Xon in place of Spock and it was anticipated that Shatner was likely to step back to occasional guest roles like General O'Neill in Stargate SG1 after an initial run of 13 episodes. The TNG episode Lower Decks is a good example of how to focus on newer characters.

Just copy the Riker/Troi background since they are basically the same characters as Decker and Ilia. So he, being slightly older, would have been posted on Delta IV as a junior officer while she was studying. The background for Deltans states that they are good at mathematics and spacial geometry and this makes them efficient navigators.

The only changes I have made to the main line up is that I introduced the andorian Thel'Darra as chief of security and Chekov is her deputy as chief tactical officer (he would be a terrible security chief), Sulu is chief operations officer who occasionally spends time at helm (I though he was just too senior to be stuck in a post usually manned by ensigns), and I am considering promoting Chapel to head of life sciencies who occasionally assists McCoy in Sick Bay (since she is wasted as a supporting medical doctor).

I will admit that I am also sneaking in limits to the technology to try and keep a grip on what the characters can achieve. So in my version of Trek, transporters work more like the teleporters in Blakes 7. None of this using sensors to beam people up - they need quantum scanning links contained in their communicators and biobelt monitors or they will be stuck on the planet. It makes it much easier to place them in peril but not majorly so since the ship can beam communicators down if they can locate crewmen.

Oh and make a conscious effort to maintain a balance of the sexes. Star Trek has a tendency to have an imbalance of men, albeit Arcturians are sexless, Rhaanarites are androgynous, Saurians are reptiles (I will probably give males a larger crest but no boobs for women!) etc.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

PaulN6

Just copy the Riker/Troi background since they are basically the same characters as Decker and Ilia.

Makes sense

So he, being slightly older, would have been posted on Delta IV as a junior officer while she was studying. The background for Deltans states that they are good at mathematics and spacial geometry and this makes them efficient navigators.

This could also make them good engineers, science officers, and helmsman as well as navigators. If it's not explicitly stated that she was training as a Navigator; I'd like to re-make her character into the ship's science officer.

Being that Persis Khambatta was 30-31 when the film was being made; it would probably be best to simply bump her rank up to either Lieutenant Commander or Commander (Keep in mind James Kirk was 32 when he reached the rank of Captain; Robert T. April was 34 when he reached the same rank).

 

[Pauln6]

So he, being slightly older, would have been posted on Delta IV as a junior officer while she was studying. The background for Deltans states that they are good at mathematics and spacial geometry and this makes them efficient navigators.

This could also make them good engineers, science officers, and helmsman as well as navigators. If it's not explicitly stated that she was training as a Navigator; I'd like to re-make her character into the ship's science officer.

Being that Persis Khambatta was 30-31 when the film was being made; it would probably be best to simply bump her rank up to either Lieutenant Commander or Commander (Keep in mind James Kirk was 32 when he reached the rank of Captain; Robert T. April was 34 when he reached the same rank).

Ah I see. Age doesn't mean much - Kirstie Alley was 30ish and Saavik was still a cadet! Jadzia Dax was a science officer while still a lieutenant as well.

Still, all Starfleet officers are trained in operations up to a certain level so any of them is capable of navigating a ship. All Starfleet officers will also have a specialism in science or engineering, although some will be qualified to a greater degree e.g. Phd equivalent. Sulu was a physicist for example. Chekov showed training in zoology and ecology (which is why I found his transfer to head of security to be out of character). I admit I'm a bit more anal about this sort of thing. Decker was more of an engineer but he was bunged on the science station because he was the only available officer who could use the new scanners? Ludicrous!

Navigators do give the impression that they are more likely to have a more detailed background in astrophysics than say a communications officer, who is more likely to have an egineering background. So a jump to science officer would not be that wierd.

I approach it by saying that the character's position on a ship is often not that relevant to the story. Their job might be relevant to whether they are suitable for a particular landing party and for problem solving plots (I was quite irritated by Harry Kim or Wesley Crusher getting to save the day just because they were main characters when I wanted actual engineering staff to save the day but that's just me). However, they are characters. If you write a story around them, simply tailor it to them, regardless of their job. I think that Ilia's alien qualities give her certain advantages from a story point of view so putting her in a faily mundane, uninteresting job means she will still be able to contribute to the story. Science officer on the other hand is quite fertile ground on its own (which is why Spock gets so much airtime). Mayweather and Sato suffered because their jobs were dull and the characters had no unusual qualities. If you place another character at navigation you need to work on making them interesting in some way to prevent them being lifeless and underused (like Sulu just repeating Kirk's orders in TMP).

I think that I prefer the approach of Buffy, Babylon 5, and BSG as far as characters are concerned and I want to avoid the traditional Star Trek TNG method of having 9 characters that you try to shoehorn into the story. Pick 3-5 main characters, a second tier of key characters who will appear a good chunk of the time (e.g. Scotty, G'Kar, Londo) a third tier who appear in suppoet roles and occasionally take a key role (Uhura, Chekov, Sulu, Vir, Talia, Lennier, Na'Toth, Ro) and then guest characters who appear when a story requires them (Barclay, Lwaxana).

My approach to landing parties is born out of years playing dungeons & dragons. I think they should be 3 - 6 characters with a leader (often Kirk, Decker, or an Ops duty officer) 1 - 3 crew whose jobs are specific to the mission (which is where you bring in your guest (cannon-fodder characters), 1 - 2 security officers (don't be too quick to kill them though since the eventual demise of a recurring security officer will have much more impact), and a medic (either a doctor, nurse, or field medic qualified in another area as well).

Not that my approach is more valid than any other of course!

 

[Barbreader]

Anyone who is a joined Trill (I guess somebody has to be the first host, so that's not quite true...) is going to have more skills than their age would indicate.

 

[Pauln6]

Anyone who is a joined Trill (I guess somebody has to be the first host, so that's not quite true...) is going to have more skills than their age would indicate.

True but we know from her trial that Jadzia Dax's rank and position were based on Jadzia's tenure as an officer, not Dax's lifespan. She was a Lt at age 28 and it was several years before she was promoted. Knowledge alone doesn't make a good officer. Look at what a shambles Ezri was! Trek writers sometimes treat intelligence as more important than experience - Kirk's meteoric rise in NuTrek for getting the right result for all the wrong reasons is a good example.

Mind you, if I have an issue with the Trill it's that the species itself was as sloppily designed as the betazoids. Take an unjoined Trill and ask what are the defining traits of the species? Spots? Oh and/or wierd noses depending on whether they are northern or southern Trill! All the writers' efforts went into symbionts and their relationships with their hosts. The hosts might as well have been humans.

I really liked Deltans though - that probably has more to do with Zinaida and Jedda in the TWoK novelisation (I think they were mathematicians on the Genesis project) than Ilia.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

PaulN6

Ah I see. Age doesn't mean much - Kirstie Alley was 30ish and Saavik was still a cadet! Jadzia Dax was a science officer while still a lieutenant as well.

Okay, so the question LCDR or CDR? Your call.

So a jump to science officer would not be that wierd.

Should work out

I really liked Deltans though - that probably has more to do with Zinaida and Jedda in the TWoK novelisation (I think they were mathematicians on the Genesis project) than Ilia.

Still, honestly, I'd prefer to just have her character be a human. That way there wouldn't be all that problem with the pheromone/celibacy thing and she could have kept her hair. Of course, the name Ilia isn't an Indian name as far as I know (though truthfully Sulu isn't a Japanese name, but I'd rather use names that are ethnically accurate when possible). Maybe I should just remove her character as heretical as that would seem. At least you'd have three characters retained (Chekov, Uhura from TOS, and Decker from TMP)

So far under this concept, the crew concept I have works as follows

Captain Willard Decker: Commanding Officer
DOB: 37 (Arbitrary figure, makes him older than Kirk was when he got command of the USS Enterprise)
Notes: Off the shelf character

Commander Dana Sinclair: Executive Officer
Age: 34
Notes: Name made up on the fly

Commander Martin Ericksen
Age: 41
Notes: Name made up on the fly, Norwegian descent.

Commander T'Vor: Chief Engineering Officer
Age: 40
Notes: Having two Vulcan science officers back to back seems corny and played out; plus many of the same skills a science officer would possess would also be possessed by an engineer

Lieutenant Commander Nyota Uhura: Chief Communications/Intelligence Officer
Age: 35-40
Notes: Off the shelf character. Since communications would require cryptography, and intelligence involves cryptography the two go hand in hand. Plus I remember one of Franz Joseph's drawings he talked about an intelligence console and I figure it's best to just fold that into the communications console.

Lieutenant Commander/Commander Ilia: Chief Science Officer
Age: 31
Notes: Off the shelf character repackaged from a Deltan Navigator into a human science-officer.

Lieutenant Commander George Kapsalis: Helmsman
Age: 29
Notes: Recently promoted to LCDR

Lieutenant Pavel Chekov: Chief Tactical Officer
Age: 27
Notes: Off the shelf character

Lieutenant Dylan Carter: Navigator
Age: 25
Notes: New character

Ensign/Lieutenant J.G. Evan Colson: Security Chief
Age: 24
Notes: New character

What are your opinions?

 

[Pauln6]

Still, honestly, I'd prefer to just have her character be a human. That way there wouldn't be all that problem with the pheromone/celibacy thing and she could have kept her hair. Of course, the name Ilia isn't an Indian name as far as I know (though truthfully Sulu isn't a Japanese name, but I'd rather use names that are ethnically accurate when possible). Maybe I should just remove her character as heretical as that would seem. At least you'd have three characters retained (Chekov, Uhura from TOS, and Decker from TMP)

So far under this concept, the crew concept I have works as follows

Captain Willard Decker: Commanding Officer
DOB: 37 (Arbitrary figure, makes him older than Kirk was when he got command of the USS Enterprise)
Notes: Off the shelf character

Commander Dana Sinclair: Executive Officer
Age: 34
Notes: Name made up on the fly

Commander Martin Ericksen
Age: 41
Notes: Name made up on the fly, Norwegian descent.

Commander T'Vor: Chief Engineering Officer
Age: 40
Notes: Having two Vulcan science officers back to back seems corny and played out; plus many of the same skills a science officer would possess would also be possessed by an engineer

Lieutenant Commander Nyota Uhura: Chief Communications/Intelligence Officer
Age: 35-40
Notes: Off the shelf character. Since communications would require cryptography, and intelligence involves cryptography the two go hand in hand. Plus I remember one of Franz Joseph's drawings he talked about an intelligence console and I figure it's best to just fold that into the communications console.

Lieutenant Commander/Commander Ilia: Chief Science Officer
Age: 31
Notes: Off the shelf character repackaged from a Deltan Navigator into a human science-officer.

Lieutenant Commander George Kapsalis: Helmsman
Age: 29
Notes: Recently promoted to LCDR

Lieutenant Pavel Chekov: Chief Tactical Officer
Age: 27
Notes: Off the shelf character

Lieutenant Dylan Carter: Navigator
Age: 25
Notes: New character

Ensign/Lieutenant J.G. Evan Colson: Security Chief
Age: 24
Notes: New character

What are your opinions?

Off the top of my head:

1) Assuming that T'Vor and Dana are women you have 4/10. Try for one more to make the sexes truly equal!

2) Why so many humans? The TMP cast was full of aliens! Maybe some third tier recurring aliens would be cool.

3) And since you are already straying into reboot territory, why not just recast Ilia entirely if you don't want a Deltan. Personally, I love the potential for pheromone abuse (relieving or instilling fear, pain, lust, by touch - I can see that saving their asses in a tight spot) and the fact that a physical relationship with the extremely hot woman you love could drive you insane adds a fresh dimension (albeit one covered in Buffy to good effect).

4) Spock was a Lt-Cdr for at least 2 years and was also exec for at least a year when he was aged 33-34.

5) Maybe think about introducing some alternative characters so that you don't always have the same people on helm, navigation, communications etc. Having spare characters lets you kill recurring characters while having spares to step in and replace them. BSG used this to great effect.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

PaulN6

Off the top of my head:

1) Assuming that T'Vor and Dana are women you have 4/10. Try for one more to make the sexes truly equal!

You have to keep in mind that in reality things aren't exactly equal -- it's very rare. Sometimes you have 40-45% sometimes 55-60%. I could however alter Dylan Carter's character into a female... I have seen Dylen used as a female name -- just alter a a lter and re-adjust the gender.

2) Why so many humans? The TMP cast was full of aliens! Maybe some third tier recurring aliens would be cool.

Well, in TOS there was a very blended and diverse crew. If you have the ship with a highly diverse crew several times in a row it might come off as repetitive. Starfleet as far as I know is mostly human though there are other species involved.

3) And since you are already straying into reboot territory, why not just recast Ilia entirely if you don't want a Deltan.

Okay, I could do that. I'd have to create a new character or recast the XO as both.

4) Spock was a Lt-Cdr for at least 2 years and was also exec for at least a year when he was aged 33-34.

Yes, but Kirk was a Captain at 32 so having a CDR at 34 wouldn't be that odd, especially if Decker is a Captain at 37.

5) Maybe think about introducing some alternative characters so that you don't always have the same people on helm, navigation, communications etc. Having spare characters lets you kill recurring characters while having spares to step in and replace them. BSG used this to great effect.

Yeah, I agree, there would probably be three shifts for the bridge-crew and potentially some other crew-members who would have a secondary qualification.

 

[Pauln6]

4) Spock was a Lt-Cdr for at least 2 years and was also exec for at least a year when he was aged 33-34.

Yes, but Kirk was a Captain at 32 so having a CDR at 34 wouldn't be that odd, especially if Decker is a Captain at 37.

Characters' ranks are entirely dependent on their background and since you are inventing that background it's entirely up to you! Starship crews would not normally spend vast amounts of their careers together and a science officer may have no desire for full command - Spock was a bit like this which is why he moved into training rather than starship command. You could have a 60-year old science officer who is a Lt-commander. Yeah lets have an older woman in the role! We have 27 year old Matt Smith flirting outrageously with 48 year old Alex Kingston after all

The male-female thing obviously doesn't have to be 50/50 all the time. However, I would ask why it has never once been more than 50% in the women's favour? The closest we came was TMP with 7 men and 5 women in the key roles (including DiFalco), although even there the top 6 senior officers were male and two of the women were NCOs.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

I'll come up with a new character for the Science Officer and keep the XO as is...

 

[CuttingEdge100]

Chief Science Officer: CDR Alexis Kellerman
Sex: Female
Age: 46

Sound good?

 

[CuttingEdge100]

PaulN6,

Now the next question comes down to the ship. Much of the design would be based on the TMP Enterprise, but I'm wondering if you would want to change anything external?

 

[Pauln6]

Any mixture of Alexis Carrington and Sally Kellerman gets my vote.

I wouldn't change much about the TMP Enterprise. I love that ship, bowling alley and all and she seems very popular among fans. Well, with one possible exception - TAS had a holodeck and I can't see a space for one on the Rec-Deck. On a ship where space is a premium, it does make more sense to have a holodeck where you can play the sport of your choice, a shooting range, etc instead of a simple bowling alley. Apart from that, I think the ship plans are extremely detailed and practical. It wouldn't be a bad idea to add in a few high speed fighter 'shuttles' which would allow you to introduce some 'flyboy' (or girl) pilot characters. You are straying a bit into B5/BSG territory but if used sparingly I think that they can add another dimension to the stroytelling.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

PaulN6

I wouldn't change much about the TMP Enterprise. I love that ship, bowling alley and all and she seems very popular among fans.

I was contemplating reducing the surface detail more like TOS, but retaining the pearlescent sheen that the USS Enterprise had; also I had contemplating a smooth front-cap like the Phase-II Enterprise, and somehow removing the outboard grilles on the ship (my idea was to effectively take the concave shape of the grilles and make them convex and smooth 'em out, then take the area in between the forward and rear grille, and make it concave). I'm still undecided but I have some ideas.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

For the record, the reason for reducing the surface-detail is because the high surface detail on the TMP enterprise actually makes it look lower tech. Low surface detail generally implies more advanced design features.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

PaulN6

Additionally, I was also thinking in addition to removing the outboard grilles, and making the area where the grilles are convex instead of concave, and making the space in between the forward and rear grille concave instead of convex, I was thinking of shrinking the inboard grilles into two smaller grilles like this

(Image is courtesy of WickedZombie -- should WickedZombie wish for me to remove this image, I would encourage him to reply here and I'll tell the moderators to remove it)

What do you think?


CuttingEdge100

 

[Pauln6]

Looks groovy. I don't know if this is any use but this is a tutorial about how to use STO demos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn5_-xHGNMo

Hmm - if you are going to use TMP uniforms please save me some screenshots of male and female bodies in in 'normal' and action poses! I could do with them for my own Youtube story! I actually need to put Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Decker, and Ilia in dress uniform for the next part of my story but I might have to fudge that unless I come into enough money to replace my clunky old PC by the time I'm due to start the story.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

PaulN6

Looks groovy.

I plan to make a drawing illustrating what I'm looking for though, perhaps by drawing over an existent drawing and so forth.

I don't know if this is any use but this is a tutorial about how to use STO demos:

What are the minimum requirements for STO?