Star Trek of the FAR future...

[AlboOfBorg]

Ok so let's look ahead in the Star Trek future for a possible show or movie idea... say, 500 to 1000 years in the future after the end of Nemesis. What possible future could you see?

I see a future in which interstellar travel has been increased to the point where travel between the two sides of the galaxy can be done within hours or days, where the major factions of the galaxy have made peace, where the Borg have been defeated, where humans have found new biological and cybernetic technologies to extend life, and where the human race is ready to enter the new final frontier... intergalactic travel. How about a new series or movie that focuses on humanity's first steps outside our own galaxy? Encountering alien life unlike anything that has been imagined before?

 

[CommanderJMic]

Only if the aliens actually looked alien, a la Farscape. I can understand (see TNG's "The Chase") the abundance of humanoid aliens in the Milky Way, but if we're going to different galaxies, we should encounter different types of beings.

 

[Deks]

Taking into consideration how the Federation began using time travel during the mid 26th century (at the latest per TNG), then it stands to reason that going from end of the Galaxy to the other would take minutes, if not seconds.

I would postulate since the Feds will be focusing on TT technology in the future, distances will not be an issue.
They can jump one second into the future to a desired location because distance as such wouldn't matter anymore.
I would surmise they would be using more than one FTL method of traveling through space.
Quantum Slipstream is one thing, TW another, folding of space.
Combination of all 3 for example if possible?
You name it.

By the end of the 24th century alone (several years after Nemesis actually)
I can see Quantum Slipstream (v2 from Timeless = 10 000 Ly's in 1 minute) could be practical.
Right after Nemesis, I can see one or two experimental ships testing/refining those technologies, which would be used more actively as time goes by and more widely by other ships in the fleet, and other species.

As for prolonging the lifespan ... I can definitely see SF doing some extensive research into Borg nanoprobes and what they do exactly in order to devise alternative methods for extending the lifespan.
But this would also be happening sometime after Nemesis ... however, it would be in it's early stages.

The Borg don't necessarily have to be defeated.
I can see them retreating to another place of the galaxy so they can regenerate and keep coming (which is essentially what they will do).
I don't buy the fact they could be completely destroyed ...
Not unless the Feds or someone else devises a method to disengage every drone in existence from the Hive and force them to behave as individuals for some time.
Remember that most of the disengaged drones would want to return to the collective upon being disconnected, and those who were the recent ones or fairly recent drones, their individuality would start surfacing.

I would definitely like to see the Feds prospering and their technology evolving/changing, along with their capacity for understanding, etc ...
But unless they are willing to make several story arcs out of it all, the details will be lost.
Season long story arcs that really dig into the details like the novels do would be really great in my perspective.

And I would surmise that a singular novel could be successfully translated to on-screen in 4 episodes for example.
I'm using novels as an example because the mini-arcs would be sufficient to tell 1 novel in pretty good amount of detail if each episode lasts 45 minutes or an hour.

Ok ... getting back to the topic.

We need to see more larger fleets and more crews interacting with one another.
Using 1 ship to be the 'hero' ship and save the day is growing tiresome.
I can appreciate the accomplishments of the hero crew, but give the others a chance as well.

The large mushroom-type starbases ... they could easily survive 500 years into the future with proper maintenance and all.
I could also see the Feds developing technology to potentially create their own Dyson Sphere perhaps in the 29th or 31st century ... but would they perceive it as relevant?
I don't know since they would have the technology to create ships/stations that are bigger on the inside than on the outside by then.

 

[P0sitr0nic]

Well, in Voyager, Q mentioned that the federation werent supposed to be in the gamma quadrant for about 100 years, by the late 25th century, the galaxy should be completely mapped.

 

[Meredith]

I would like to see entire solar systems filled with space colonies and more space based infrastructure, than all the crap about only living on planets.

 

[Jadzia]

If there were to be great leaps in velocity, we'd expect some distant races to have developed the technology already, and would have been running rings around the 24th century alpha quadrant.

I personally don't like the idea of super fast space drives and time drives being practical, and I think it has harmed star trek's future outlook to have shown us these technologies.

The whole point of warp drive was to make alien worlds visitable. Faster drives don't give anything new... Just more star systems and planets which is the same programme.

What we'd lose... We'd risk making the universe too small, and undermining the significance of the great empires.

Those strange far away places would become too accessible, which would lessen the mystery.

 

[Deks]

I'm getting sick of the 'mystery' factor.
What's the point in having a Trek show in the distant future where advances in technology are 0?
Give me a break.
Besides, Time travel, slipstream and other technologies are very consistent with Federations accelerated development in comparison to other species for example.
It's a perfect example of a unity working towards a similar goal.

It won't make the Trek universe too small.
Heck there are plenty of things to be doing in the Milky way galaxy alone, let alone going to another galaxy like Andromeda for example.

Besides, it's easy to explain things ...
For example, if you want a certain amount of time to pass between getting from one planet to the other, then the crew can simply use lower speeds for getting there if they want to get some rest and whatnot.
They could use warp speeds to traverse distances in immediate area of space, and for vast distances they can easily use Slipstream and other options.

 

[Jadzia]

Those strange far away places would become too accessible, which would lessen the mystery.

I'm getting sick of the 'mystery' factor.

Sorry Deks, but I am and forever will be just a dreamy romantic, who is easily seduced by the mysterious. :-)

But in my view, Star trek isn't about technology. It is a romanticized view of the future. And I do not look at the future in terms of technological advancement, but of human advancement; socially, and emotionally.

Technology comes and goes. People's attitudes towards exploration and space travel will change when it all becomes too much of 'the same old routine'. Just like the Ba'ku - people might finally become interested in the simple pleasures of building utopian communities, educated in sci-tech, finding happiness in the arts, and seeing no reason to build ridiculously fast starships and time drives just for the sake of cataloguing arbitrary planets and anomalies. Trying to collect maps of every last star system would be futile and obsessive.

Even Q expressed boredom with the monotonous rote of starfleet, suggesting that there is more fun to be had than charting more and more space.

 

[Deks]

The Feds aren't likely to change in that retrospect any time soon.
If anything they will both continue with the exploration of space in large quantities and adopt Q's advice.
While ST isn't always about technology, it's a SCIFI show.
As I said, going into the far future with humans not moving from the 24th century tech is plain and simple DUMB.

If the writers were to do such a thing, then they effectively showed they lack the ability to adapt the more advanced tech to suit the drama without dumbing things down (and dumbing things down was done 90% of the time on DS9 ... which is one of the reasons I didn't like it very much).

 

[hellsgate]

I agree with Deks & the others. I'd explore non-Humans, A-Story/B-Story/C-Story plots with the older Trek races reexamined such as the Tzinkethi, the Arexians, etc. Their politics, homeworlds and cameos / flashbacks about how certain Captain's brought ruin or shame to the Alpha Quadrant & specific homeworlds since Endgame. Section 31 & whether or not they ever attained any publicity / acceptance as a "necessary evil" such as the Department Of Homeland Defence is regarded now?

 

[doublegood]

I would like to see a Star Trek set in the far, far future. Maybe a story in which the Sun is dying and one human being sets foot on the cold, dark planet earth...etc.

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

I think you could keep the mystery and romannce of outer space in the show, even if the majority of the galaxy or all of it had been explored. It might be old hat to the characters on the show, but to the audience they'd be seeing and learning about aleins/people that they've never seen before. Or be shocked at how the returning species have been changed over the years. (The Andorians embrace Surak's philsophies!? WTF!)

I would really like to see this sort of thing pan out, though. I think if it ever was to happen that it'd most likely be a series of books or an anthology of short stories since the editors are more willing to take crazy risks.

 

[Arcanum]

That would be a great show, say 300-400 years after TNG and exploring not space but a consolidated galaxy and getting to know old races on a deeper level. Am tired of forehead races of the week and don't want to see Magellanic Clouds and Andromeda populated by such.

One thing that is VERY strange is that in VOY Living Witness, humanity/Federation is nowhere near that planet in DQ, it is set in 3100's and they have never met a human!

 

[Deks]

It's possible the race from 'Living Witness' does know of the Federation.
It was merely stated how the Doctor took a small ship and set a course for the Alpha Quadrant, nothing more.
He probably just wanted to reach Earth itself like the rest of Voyager crew and didn't care too much about the other possible colonies or areas of space the Feds might have in the DQ by that time ... as he assumed the graves of his crew-mates would probably reside in the AQ.
It's also possible the Federation expanded a great deal but did not make contact with that particular species (avoided it on purpose or something else).

Whoever said the Federation would have expanded to cover the entire/most of the Milky Way by the 31st century anyway?
And besides, with all the modifications to the timeline that happened after that episode, it's possible the outcome would be different as the writers certainly weren't looking that far ahead.

 

[blaXXer]

Ok so let's look ahead in the Star Trek future for a possible show or movie idea... say, 500 to 1000 years in the future after the end of Nemesis. What possible future could you see?

I see a future in which interstellar travel has been increased to the point where travel between the two sides of the galaxy can be done within hours or days, where the major factions of the galaxy have made peace, where the Borg have been defeated, where humans have found new biological and cybernetic technologies to extend life, and where the human race is ready to enter the new final frontier... intergalactic travel. How about a new series or movie that focuses on humanity's first steps outside our own galaxy? Encountering alien life unlike anything that has been imagined before?

Yeah and humans now use swords, made out of pure energy and and we call them 'lightswords' and they have evolved to the point where parts of them can use psychic powers and they call it it 'the source' and the federation is now a 'galactic democracy' which is overthrown by an evil hegemony and, and, and...

 

[Broccoli]

When I saw the title, I thought this was going to be about a possible Trek series appearing in the 23rd or 24th century. At this, I would point out that real life is not canon.