"Star Trek: Shenzhou" -- The Phantom Star Trek Series?

[DaveyNY]

It was an online hoax a while back about a supposed lost episode of TOS. It turned out to be a big waste of time.

Kor

OK.
I must have missed that one.

 

[F. King Daniel]

It was an online hoax a while back about a supposed lost episode of TOS. It turned out to be a big waste of time.

Kor

I just googled since I'd never heard of it. I like that it's referenced in official Trek novels

 

[guyute03]

A little mind exercise. Is Star Trek: Shenzhou the hypothetical "missing link"?

A normal season of CBS Trek seems like it would be 13 episodes. The first two episodes of DSC S1 are a prologue. The first two hours we see of Discovery are really the last two on-screen hours of the Shenzhou. Burnham had served on the Shenzhou for seven years. The "normal", "expected" length of a Star Trek series. Hold that thought.

If ENT had run for seven seasons, it would've gone from 2001 to 2008. DSC could've launched in January 2017 if they had everything together behind-the-scenes. Or, rather, in the middle of the 2016-'17 Season. Put the imaginary Star Trek: Shenzhou series right before, and you have a series that "ran" from 2009 to 2016. It would've started the year after Enterprise ended in this scenario.

The kicker: ENT is about an Earth that emerges from underneath Vulcan's thumb. The relationship is adversarial. Vulcans look down on Humans. Sarek not only married a human, Amanda, but raised a human in Michael Burnham. Michael views Sarek as her surrogate father. When the Vulcans first arrive on Earth, they're aliens from another world. To Michael, they're not aliens. They're family. And instead of Vulcans being overseers of Earth, they're now part of a Federation alongside Earth.

I've often called DSC the new DS9. If that's the case, then Shenzhou would've been its TNG. The Federation during a more peaceful time. With a model Captain, in the form of Georgiou, who's been compared to Picard. And the "next" Star Trek series is a direct reaction to the "previous" one, going in a different direction, with the "finale" of Shenzhou serving as the transition.

Makes sense to me. I do wish we got to see more of that ship, and I hold out a probably pointless hope that we may get some BSG-style two hour movies about that time period thrown into the mix here. I'd definitely watch them. And you're right, the tone of that would be way more TNG than Discovery's DS9.

 

[pst]

the latest short trek could’ve been a lost episode of “star trek: shenzhou” btw.

 

[Turtletrekker]

It's the "Requiem for a Martian" of modern Trek.

Kor

Or this boards "Interregnum".

 

[DarKush]

When I was watching the first two DISCO episodes I was thinking to myself I wish I had seen more of this ship and crew. I liked the design of the Shenzhou way more than Discovery. I wish we had gotten several episodes or a season on the Shenzhou with perhaps the Binary Stars battle being the season finale and next season its on to Discovery.

 

[Lord Garth]

the latest short trek could’ve been a lost episode of “star trek: shenzhou” btw.

The way these shorts have turned out... I think they should put one out every month, hiatus or not.

 

[pst]

The way these shorts have turned out... I think they should put one out every month, hiatus or not.

the short treks are helping me see the benefits of fuller's anthology series idea - not that i think that's what discovery should've been. but i like the format of the shorts, i appreciate that it allows for a range of ideas and settings and styles. and i want more.

 

[Burning Hearts of Qo'nos]

A Shenzhou based Short Trek is a must! A must! They have the sets and the actors, so why the hell not?

On that note, it'd be fun to see a 24th century based episode of Short Treks, but with fancy *modernized* versions of 24th century tech so we can see a brand new layer of civilized discussions on canon.

 

[pst]

On that note, it'd be fun to see a 24th century based episode of Short Treks, but with fancy *modernized* versions of 24th century tech so we can see a brand new layer of civilized discussions on canon.

you don't have long to wait for that, star trek: picard airs in a year and we'll have all sorts of new 24th-25th century tech to agonize over/bitch about.

 

[Burning Hearts of Qo'nos]

you don't have long to wait for that, star trek: picard airs in a year and we'll have all sorts of new 24th-25th century tech to agonize over/bitch about.

That much is certain, but I meant for a Short Trek that would be contemporary to previous existing Treks the way DSC is to TOS to make the joke work haha. It would be pretty cool to see a Short Trek told from the perspective of a ship at Wolf 359.

 

[F. King Daniel]

A Shenzhou based Short Trek is a must! A must! They have the sets and the actors, so why the hell not?

On that note, it'd be fun to see a 24th century based episode of Short Treks, but with fancy *modernized* versions of 24th century tech so we can see a brand new layer of civilized discussions on canon.

Whereas I would like a Short Trek with Pike, Spock, jellybean buttons and authentic TOS uniforms and sets.

They could film on James Cawley's sets, which IIRC aren't soundproofed (I recall once reading about Of Gods and Men takes being ruined by trucks driving past) but hopefully for a short film they can work around that.

 

[NeoStar9]

This is really good what if. I just want to say that.