Star Trek Remake: Brainstorming Project

[CuttingEdge100]

I've been thinking of an idea basically revolving around a soft-reboot of Star Trek rather than the really extreme reboot done during the last movie. Admittedly, the movie did have a few redeeming qualities but I honestly think they just went too far from what the original Star Trek was about.

The idea I've formulated for the most part so far basically revolves around rebooting the storyline post 2273 which was evidently the time period where the USS Enterprise concluded her refit, with the storyline diverging from that point as the ship begins a new five-year mission.

Personally, I would like to assign a largely new crew to the ship as most personnel would not stay attached to a ship for more than a couple of years. I wouldn't mind having Lt. Chekov stay on, with the ship commanded by Captain Decker from TMP. I've always felt that he was a pretty solid-leader (especially in the TMP novel) who also got along well with the crew under his command, and never really got a chance to show his true potential. Other crews would end up re-assigned in the story.

Being that the ship's mission is exploration of space as well as alien civilizations (some possibly extinct), it would be interesting to have the work of the science teams role (not just the Chief Science Officer) emphasized a lot in the show in a manner similar to "CSI" or "Bones" (of course in this case, they aren't usually solving crimes, they're exploring planets). I know it sounds like a radical idea but it would make space and planetary exploration more interesting.

How does that sound so far?

 

[CuttingEdge100]

Reasonably speaking, what do I gotta do to get a response?

 

[BillJ]

Reasonably speaking, what do I gotta do to get a response?

I don't come around these parts as much as I use too...

We've already had seven years of Will Decker in the form of Will Riker on TNG. So I really think you need to go in another direction in terms of a captain. Perhaps a military man heading up a decidedly non-military mission with a lot of civilian scientists and engineers buzzing around killing his perfect little military world?

Other than that and more science officers I don't see a whole lot here.

 

[MemoryOmicron]

It would be an entirely new cast of actors if it was done today, so I don't really care if the captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise is Willard Decker or James Kirk. I presume that you are not proposing casting Stephen Collins as Decker or Walter Koenig as Chekov?

Since the Star Trek: The Original Series cast is too old to reprise their roles, I would just rather they would just leave the TOS and TOS movie years alone and move on to telling stories post-Nemesis.

 

[BillJ]

It would be an entirely new cast of actors if it was done today, so I don't really care if the captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise is Willard Decker or James Kirk. I presume that you are not proposing casting Stephen Collins as Decker or Walter Koenig as Chekov?

Since it's on paper I think it's up to the reader to imagine the characters however they like.

 

[MemoryOmicron]

It would be an entirely new cast of actors if it was done today, so I don't really care if the captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise is Willard Decker or James Kirk. I presume that you are not proposing casting Stephen Collins as Decker or Walter Koenig as Chekov?

Since it's on paper I think it's up to the reader to imagine the characters however they like.

Sorry, I thought that this was a new television series proposal when I read it rather than a fan fiction project.

If CuttingEdge100 wants to have Captain Willard Decker in command of the U.S.S. Enterprise in a fan fiction that is similar to Bones or CSI, than I just think that he should just get on with writing it and we can let him know what we think of the execution of the idea.

 

[Sandoval]

Reasonably speaking, what do I gotta do to get a response?

A little dance? Tell a few jokes?

 

[CuttingEdge100]

BillJ

We've already had seven years of Will Decker in the form of Will Riker on TNG. So I really think you need to go in another direction in terms of a captain.

For most of TNG, Riker was not the Captain of the Enterprise and, while Riker was indeed based on Decker were they exactly the same in every detail?

Perhaps a military man heading up a decidedly non-military mission with a lot of civilian scientists and engineers buzzing around killing his perfect little military world?

The Federation was not an organization that had only military objectives until TSFS evidently (with the Grissom being a specialized science team) -- it included missions that included military-missions, space-exploration missions, diplomatic & peacekeeping missions and so forth.

Other than that and more science officers I don't see a whole lot here.

The science complement would be the same, you'd simply see more of the science team in the story


MemoryOmicron

It would be an entirely new cast of actors if it was done today, so I don't really care if the captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise is Willard Decker or James Kirk. I presume that you are not proposing casting Stephen Collins as Decker or Walter Koenig as Chekov?

Well, if this is just fanfic, it's going to be written text. You can envision the characters however you'd want. If it ever progressed to a fan-film, it would most likely be a machinema (using a game engine like Crysis) and it would probably be possible to make the characters look like Kirk, Decker, and all the rest.

 

[Ln X]

The way I see it there are four ways a new series could go:

1. JJ Abrams universe, remake the original series.

2. Whole new series set some time after the Dominion war.

3. Whole new series in the 25th (pick your century) century, exploring the Beta Quadrant.

4. A reboot of DS9.

Option 1 doesn't seem likely to me, as JJ Abram's vision seems pretty limited to movies, and has mixed support from the fans. Disregard that.

People seem comfortable with option 2, and it would be kind of a reboot like CuttingEdge100 is suggesting. A ship exploring the Beta Quadrant... A few good story arcs and several decent characters could make it work.

Option 3 gives the series more flexibility, but conversely more explaining to do. It could be a TNG style format, DS9 style format, or both... Again same ideas apply to Option 2.

Option 4 is what I think is the controversial option, but when I say a reboot of DS9, I don't mean starting directly after the end of the Dominion war. No let ten, or more, years pass, let the dust settle and pick half of the original main characters and bring in three or four new main characters. Since story arcs are DS9's speciality, then if the reboot had a direction from the first season (of the reboot), and good characters it could work.

My gut feeling is that Option 3 will be picked... But Option 4 is intriguing, one that I build upon in my fan fic stories. Not only that the DS9 writers deliberately left the series with an open ending, so someone would resolve the loose threads (and add new ones of there own). However with Option 4 forget about those DS9 relaunch books, they are not the continuation of DS9 because a) they lack that direction and subtleness the series had, and b) having all those events happening after the Dominion war seems forced...

Some ideas in general are the following:

• Everything that happens to the characters has consequences, lets not be so quick to wrap it up in an episodic format.
• The first season needs a direction.
• The number of episodes could be limited to around 20, weed out filler-in episodes.
• Keep the series balanced; if to much crazy shit happens to characters, then the characters become inhuman if they don't get jaded or wearied by what is happening.

That's about all I have to say, the rest is up to the future...

 

[T'Girl]

similar to "CSI" or "Bones"

What I like about both of those shows is that the people are overtly intelligent, except for David Boreanaz's character. Your show should also have someone like Agent Booth, but not someone like Sheriff Jack Carter, Booth never seemed overly impressed with the more intelligent people he found himself surrounded by. Perhaps the Booth-like character could be the Captain. You could even name him Decker if you'd like.

One of the things I really liked about Riker in the first couple of seasons was his ambition, I sometimes received the impression that he viewed his first officer's position as just a stepping stone in his career (that disappeared later). You could give your Captain the reputation of "The School Master" when it came to first officers. Every year or so give him a new first officer, a early thirties officer on the way up, the Captain would fine tune them prior to their first command. That would involve a new character periodically.

In both CSI and Bones, you saw the characters putting the pieces together to form a conclusion to the episodes mystery. A ship's computer, sensors and replicator didn't do it for them. The problem with a 25th century setting is that there a danger of the technology entering the ridiculous level. A 23rd century story might be better for that reason.

As I recently mentioned in another thread, TOS era gave you a space mission where the ship seem really out there on it own, alone in the dark. They didn't alway seem to know exactly where they were going, no Vulcan star maps (ENT), no elaborate interstellar infrastructure (TNG/DS9), no hedge hog who had been there before (VOY).

a decidedly non-military mission with a lot of civilian scientists and engineers buzzing around

Eureka did this quote well. Although, some of the "missions" were military/national defense.

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[CuttingEdge100]

Ln X

Some ideas in general are the following:

Everything that happens to the characters has consequences, lets not be so quick to wrap it up in an episodic format.

I agree, everything builds up on everything before it.

The first season needs a direction.

I agree, but you have to keep in mind, just like life, the plot will have weaves and twists in it.

The number of episodes could be limited to around 20, weed out filler-in episodes.

Well the idea is to basically rather than have like 90 episodes, or six-movies, to have 20 mini-movies.

Keep the series balanced; if to much crazy shit happens to characters, then the characters become inhuman if they don't get jaded or wearied by what is happening.

Yep, and the characters have to be realistic. I've often found that after a few seasons of a TV-show to keep the story interesting they keep modifying the characters to the point where they become caricatures, or unrecognizable from what they were.


T'Girl

What I like about both of those shows is that the people are overtly intelligent

And it tends to be in line with the idea of science fiction though CSI and Bones was based on real science capabilities -- science fiction would also require characters who knew how to use their heads.

Your show should also have someone like Agent Booth, but not someone like Sheriff Jack Carter, Booth never seemed overly impressed with the more intelligent people he found himself surrounded by. Perhaps the Booth-like character could be the Captain. You could even name him Decker if you'd like.

Nah, Decker was pretty smart actually. I wouldn't want to do that. I'd like to keep Decker as much like he was in the story.

In both CSI and Bones, you saw the characters putting the pieces together to form a conclusion to the episodes mystery. A ship's computer, sensors and replicator didn't do it for them. The problem with a 25th century setting is that there a danger of the technology entering the ridiculous level. A 23rd century story might be better for that reason.

The idea would be to start right around the time of TMP so you'd be in the 23rd century still.

Eureka did this quote well. Although, some of the "missions" were military/national defense.

Well, the science team is mostly SF personnel... regardless ST TOS generally followed along this line. Mostly scientific and space-exploration missions and also military and national defense. The Enterprise was designed as a ship that was configured for space exploration though it could duke it out with the best.

 

[T'Girl]

Well, the science team is mostly SF personnel...

The (American) Department of Defense has many thousands of civilian employees, some of whom are scientists. Who says Starfleet can't as well?

I figure that when Keiko was originally aboard the Enteprise Dee, she was a civilian Starfleet botanist assigned to the ship. The teachers we saw, the same deal, they were employed by Starfleet. The blue barber and others.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

T'Girl

The (American) Department of Defense has many thousands of civilian employees, some of whom are scientists. Who says Starfleet can't as well?

True, but the fact is that I'm not fond with being either too militarized or too corporatized. I'd prefer most of the science team onboard the ship (which goes into hazardous conditions) to be SF personnel.

 

[T'Girl]

I've alway seen Starfleet as the Federation's "Department of Defense." In function, if not in name.

Of course they're also the Federation's State Department, the Bureau of Mines, NOAA, and FedEx too.



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[Bry_Sinclair]

I quite like the idea of a ReBooted TMP-Era Enterprise. Decker did seem like a damn fine Captain, who really should have gone over Kirk and Nogura's heads and filed a protest.

Anyways, a new crew would be interesting. Hows about something like:

Commanding Officer - CAPT Willard "Will" Decker (Human)
Executive Officer - T.B.D.
Chief Communications Officer - T.B.D.
Chief Engineering Officer - CDR Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (Human)
Chief Helm Officer - T.B.D.
Chief Medical Officer - LT Christine Chapel MD (Human)
Chief Navigation Officer - LT Ilia (Deltan)
Chief Science Officer - LT JG Xon (Vulcan)
Chief Security Officer - T.B.D.

A mostly new crew, though I think that Scotty would have been in charge of the refit and would then do everything possible to remain with the ship--to make sure her new Captain treats her right. I liked the idea of Chapel being a Doctor and having to fill McCoy's shoes, maybe adopting a few of his mannerisms in order to get the job done. Ilia was another underused character from TMP, and the history between her and Decker kinda does mean that she would need to be kept onboard. Xon was from the Phase-2 project that was cancelled in favour of the film, but I prefer the idea of a younger, inexperienced Vulcan Science Officer.

I would like to see an Andorian on the crew (maybe Thelin from the TAS episode "Yesteryear"?), which would also give a different edge to the more peaceful Vulcan and Deltan perspectives. Another alien (one of the many introduced in TMP perhaps) and two more humans could round out the senior staff nicely.

But that's just my thoughts. I do like the idea of stressing the exploratory/scientific nature of their mission, with a mostly new crew (the other original cast members could have the occassional cameo where necessary).

Where would the TOS Crew be?
Kirk - Flying a desk at HQ, probably gagging to get back out into space and more than willing to usurp anyoen to get it.
Spock - Retired from Starfleet for a life on Vulcan.
McCoy - Retired from Starfleet for a life as a private practice doctor.
Sulu - Promoted to XO of a frigate/cruiser.
Uhura - Promoted to XO of a starbase.
Chekov - Promoted to Security Chief alongside Sulu.

 

[BillJ]

I quite like the idea of a ReBooted TMP-Era Enterprise. Decker did seem like a damn fine Captain, who really should have gone over Kirk and Nogura's heads and filed a protest.

This makes no sense, Nogura was the commander of Starfleet and deemed Jim Kirk the best man to handle the crisis. Who exactly was Decker going to protest to?

The mission needed Kirk and Kirk needed Decker and Spock to succeed. Decker didn't have the hands on experience of dealing with the unknown and Kirk didn't have the experience with the technology of the new Enterprise.

Nothing that happened in the film was a commentary on Decker's ability to command, it simply acknowledged the fact that he didn't have the same "wealth of experience" that Kirk did.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Nogura was never stated as being the Commander of Starfleet, but rather just an Admiral. Decker could have at least filed a protest at the demotion (he was pretty bitter about it for the rest of the film).

It stems from my dislike of Kirk and annoyance that Decker was so underused in the film. Ok he may not have had the experience of Kirk, but out of his original senior staff only himself, Sonak and Ilia weren't on Kirk's five-year mission, I would think that Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, Chekov and Chapel would have more than enough experience between them to help him through. He was far more familiar with the ship and knew her crew, so to me he was just a much more logical choice for CO--he winds up being the one who solves the mystery of what V'Ger is after.

He was still a Captain of roughly the same age as Kirk was, so obviously he knows what he's doing and has proven himself worthy of the rank, as well as the prestige of commanding the Enterprise.

But that's just my thoughts, which are coloured by my own preferences.

Anyways, lets get back to the original discussion point.

 

[BillJ]

I'm like a dog with a bone.

Nogura was never stated as being the Commander of Starfleet, but rather just an Admiral. Decker could have at least filed a protest at the demotion (he was pretty bitter about it for the rest of the film).

Let's just say that he had some 'oomph' as he was able to reassign the 'Chief of Starfleet Operations' with a hand wave.

It stems from my dislike of Kirk and annoyance that Decker was so underused in the film. Ok he may not have had the experience of Kirk, but out of his original senior staff only himself, Sonak and Ilia weren't on Kirk's five-year mission, I would think that Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, Chekov and Chapel would have more than enough experience between them to help him through. He was far more familiar with the ship and knew her crew, so to me he was just a much more logical choice for CO--he winds up being the one who solves the mystery of what V'Ger is after.

But without Kirk, he's a digital pattern twenty minutes in and without Kirk he never gets to the center of the cloud to solve the mystery.

But that's just my thoughts, which are coloured by my own preferences.

Every Trek captain has their strengths and drawbacks. If the mission needs a war-planner, Ben Sisko is your man. If the mission is of archeological import, you send Jean-Luc Picard without a doubt. If you need someone with balls of steel to throw a 'hail mary' pass, you send James T. Kirk. Personal feelings should never rule out the best person for the job.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

Bry_Sinclair

So far, what I've got is...

Commanding Officer
- Captain Willard Decker
- Human Male
- 17 years of service

Executive Officer
- Commander Dana Sinclair
- Human Female
- 12 years of service

Chief Science Officer
- Commander Martin Erickson
- Human Male
- 20 years of service

Chief Engineer
- Commander T'Vor
- Vulcan Female
- 19 years of service

Chief Medical Officer
- Lieutenant Commander Michael Kaplan
- Human Male
- 33 y/o

Chief Communications/Intelligence
- Lieutenant Commander Lisa Martin
- Human Female
- 13 years of service

Helmsman
- Lieutenant Commander George Kapsalis
- Human Male
- 8 years of service

Navigator
- Lieutenant Dylan Carter
- Human Male
- 4-years of service

Chief Tactical Officer
- Lieutenant Pavel Chekov
- Human Male
- 6-years of service

Chief of Security
- Lieutenant J.G. Evan Colson
- Human Male
- 3-years of service

A mostly new crew, though I think that Scotty would have been in charge of the refit

That's what I plan as well.

Where would the TOS Crew be?

Kirk would be a Rear Admiral and deputy Fleet Operations director

Spock would be an academy instructor holding the rank of either Commander or Captain

McCoy would have retired

Sulu would be promoted to Lieutenant Commander, and be charge of a light cruiser like a Miranda Class

Uhura - TBD


Sound good?

 

[BillJ]

Sound good?

This is your biggest problem. Question is: does it sound good to you? Does it fit the needs of the story you want to tell?

Writing isn't about seeking others approval of your work. It's about scratching your creative itch.