Stetching TREK's legs

[RobertScorpio]

Okay, so none of my ideas for the FUTURE Of TREK have gone over. But this forum is supposed to talk about the Future Of Trek. I am one who believes the formula of plopping crews on a ship and exploring space has been done...to death. TREK has explored human issues of all kinds via this template and falling ratings from TNG seas-4 onward suggest to me that it isn't bringing in new people anymore..

The new movie will be reaching back to bring in new fans, and the results are not in.

And there is a large group of fans who think the show should go foward. Well, okay, if forward is the way to go...step up to the plate...what ideas do some of you have that will, if need be, include another mixed crew, but will also take the show in a new direction that will appeal to new fans....

If reality programing isn't going to do it, what will.... here is what i don't think will work..

A mish-mash show with TNG-DS9-VOY crew. First off, the ratings fell from TNG onward, and too much time has passed. Outside of us fans there just isn't a clamoring to bring it back.

A show in the 25th century. Okay, a jump in time in the way TNG did for TOS on a new version of the Enterprise. I am not so sure anything new would come from this other than a change in the setting. They would reallyhave o do something different, especially to bring in new fans to watch 'another crew on a ship' show...

Here are some ideas I think would work, and turn off most of this Forum, but preaching to the choir isn't going help TREK. Rocking the boat will..

A star trek law show. A "BOSTON LEGAL" if you will .We have kicked this idea around in other areas on the BBS and I think some folks out there have come up with great ideas and issues they could explore that would have great connections to the issues of our time...

A temporal force of Trek that fixes the time line after some unwitting trek captain breaks it. Perhaps the pilot would start with key scenes from City on Edge of Forever. The dude who evaporated himself with phaser died and because of it, temporal police have to go back and save him after mccoy's phaser kills him. How? I don't know...but something like that...would allow occasional epsides that tie into other shows...this wasn't my idea, so I don't want to take credit. But whoever suggested this elsewhere, I did read it, and I thought you had something there...

Just my thoughts and ideas..would love too see some of my TREKONIAN brothers and sisters step up to the plate and take a swing (Not at me..at TREK's future)

Rob
Scorpio

 

[Anna Yolei]

A show in the 25th century. Okay, a jump in time in the way TNG did for TOS on a new version of the Enterprise. I am not so sure anything new would come from this other than a change in the setting. They would reallyhave o do something different, especially to bring in new fans to watch 'another crew on a ship' show...

LOLWHUT

Star Trek doesn't need to bring in new viewers.

Okay, maybe it does...but it doesn't need to be gimmicky about it, like your last two ideas suggest. Trek needs to get back to telling compelling stories that people can sympathize with and understand without all the sci-fi dressing. THAt is what made Trek what it was. The setting was a bonus.

 

[RobertScorpio]

A show in the 25th century. Okay, a jump in time in the way TNG did for TOS on a new version of the Enterprise. I am not so sure anything new would come from this other than a change in the setting. They would reallyhave o do something different, especially to bring in new fans to watch 'another crew on a ship' show...

LOLWHUT

Star Trek doesn't need to bring in new viewers.

Okay, maybe it does...but it doesn't need to be gimmicky about it, like your last two ideas suggest. Trek needs to get back to telling compelling stories that people can sympathize with and understand without all the sci-fi dressing. THAt is what made Trek what it was. The setting was a bonus.

I used to think that...but I don't anymore. The failure of so called modern scifi shows, BSG/FIREFLY, to generate ratings is proof that putting on scifi shows, with crews on ships, with stories about people, with little special effects, is proof story alone is not the problem.

I believe it has been done to death. 79 episodes of TOS...176 episodes of TNG-DS9-Voy Five years or so of BAB-5. A couple years or so of Andromeda, Farscape..a season of Firefly...Four season of BSG...and the last time any of these was a ratings hit was season 4 of TNG in 1990-91.

The next real test? STAR WARS live action show.

Rob
Scorpio

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

Okay, so none of my ideas for the FUTURE Of TREK have gone over. But this forum is supposed to talk about the Future Of Trek. I am one who believes the formula of plopping crews on a ship and exploring space has been done...to death. TREK has explored human issues of all kinds via this template and falling ratings from TNG seas-4 onward suggest to me that it isn't bringing in new people anymore..

But that is what Star Trek is. Even Ds9, which didn't have a crew on a starship, had its characters encountering new lifeforms and exploring the Gamma Quadrant. The fault isn't with the core concept, but with the execution of it. The premises of Voyager and ENT, the two most maligned series, were solid. It was the execution of the premises that fell down in some people's eyes. Going too far away from the core concept of Star Trek would make it far less interesting to me and would really transform it into something else entirely.

To me the best idea for future Trek would be to do something fresh with the concept, which is what Abrams and Co seem to be intending with the new movie, rather than transforming it into something different.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I am one who believes the formula of plopping crews on a ship and exploring space has been done...to death.

That's what "Star Trek" is - and it's all that "Star Trek" is. If it's dead, Trek's dead.

Next.

 

[Wonderlust King]

A law show would be absurd. I wouldn't even watch the pilot for that, it would not only flop but it could jeopardize the future of the franchise. I sure am glad you aren't going to be on the development team for this "new show". So far we have seen these horrible ideas from you

Star Trek: RISA (what are you 12?)
Star Trek Reality Show : You must be kidding
Law and Order: SPACE VICTIMS UNIT -
Star Trek Wrestling League - these may be stereotypes but, wrestling is for meat heads and star trek is for nerdy types, that would be a horrible idea.

im sorry i had to take my swing at you. I just couldn't help it.

 

[STIntergalactic]

Well, he certainly has had some...creative ones.

Can you really fault him, though? He just wants to get a discussion going. What else is there to do in FoT other than spitball new series ideas. They certainly won't all be winners.

 

[Balthier the Great]

I think it would be kinda silly to try to shoehorn another show on top of trek. If you want to do BL, do BL. There's no reason to add Trekness to the concept. It seems too gimicky to work.

I'd personally like to see some kind of a disaster-relief or medical ship crew. They have to deal basicly with the aftermath of whatever the Cap'n did on Rigel 7. So if there's a plague, the Mercy has to get the cure there in time. If the Redshirts get blown up, they have to put 'em together again. Maybe you could do some things that bring up ethical issues -- faith VS medicine or something, choosing who gets the limited supplies, or whether it's a good idea to quarinitne a sub population to prevent the spread of a plague.

I think we need to get farther outside the box, do something that people haven't seen yet. People have seen a hell of a lot of legal.

Maybe a civilian crew? Or Maquis? Next-Trek shouldn't be tame.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Well, he certainly has had some...creative ones.

Can you really fault him, though? He just wants to get a discussion going. What else is there to do in FoT other than spitball new series ideas. They certainly won't all be winners.

In fairness to RobertScorpio, while a lot of his ideas have been off-the-wall goofy, they are at least a change from the usual "Captain Riker, First Officer Tom Paris, Dr. Bashir, and T'Pol's granddaughter on the Enterprise-Z, in the far-flung reaches of the Mirror Universe version of the Gamma Quadrant" sort of thing we get in here.

 

[STIntergalactic]

XO Tom Paris, eh? I like that idea.

 

[hellsgate]

An interesting idea; however, I'd have to keep the idea restrained (at first) to a few character cameo appearances in one of the other series ideas you've been experimenting with.

Some suggestions ---

Time Period: 2390.

Where: The Alpha / Beta Quadrant.

Executive Officer Thomas Eugene Paris aboard the U.S.S. Voyager-B, a Legacy-Class starship allocated to the Starfleet Diplomatic Corp. The U.S.S. Voyager-A has been wrecked beyond recovery in 2389 in a battle with the (The Fury) & The Federation's skating on the same thin ice as Starfleet during The Dominion War. Among his crew are a Vorta diplomatic officer & a Jem Hadar Tactical Officer / Security Chief.

The Dominion are now allies of the Federation Alliance against The Fury, "since we were the ones who sent them into Dominion Territory in the first place."

(Source: "The Final Fury".)

 

[greenmystik]

Sadly I don't think we are ever gonna see a new TV series in our lifetime.

I hope that I'm completely wrong of course.

 

[Wonderlust King]

An interesting idea; however, I'd have to keep the idea restrained (at first) to a few character cameo appearances in one of the other series ideas you've been experimenting with.

Some suggestions ---

Time Period: 2390.

Where: The Alpha / Beta Quadrant.

Executive Officer Thomas Eugene Paris aboard the U.S.S. Voyager-B, a Legacy-Class starship allocated to the Starfleet Diplomatic Corp. The U.S.S. Voyager-A has been wrecked beyond recovery in 2389 in a battle with the (The Fury) & The Federation's skating on the same thin ice as Starfleet during The Dominion War. Among his crew are a Vorta diplomatic officer & a Jem Hadar Tactical Officer / Security Chief.

The Dominion are now allies of the Federation Alliance against The Fury, "since we were the ones who sent them into Dominion Territory in the first place."

(Source: "The Final Fury".)

No. People don't want to see more of the same. That would only attract fans of Voyager, which not even all trekkies are (especially not me). I think the time period needs to be maybe 20-30 years after TNG/DS9. That way it allows for cameos of everyone from TNG, DS9, and VOY. But we need a fresh young crew aboard the USS Enterprise-F. They could call it something like Star Trek: G-3. Having a character from voyager or ds9 or tng as captain would be a horrible idea.

 

[Wowbagger]

I've said it before: abolish the timeline. Return to using stardates like they were intended to: a form of deliberate obfuscation. Saves you a whole world of trouble. Also solves the "what time period?" question rather neatly.

 

[STIntergalactic]

No. People don't want to see more of the same. That would only attract fans of Voyager, which not even all trekkies are (especially not me). I think the time period needs to be maybe 20-30 years after TNG/DS9. That way it allows for cameos of everyone from TNG, DS9, and VOY. But we need a fresh young crew aboard the USS Enterprise-F. They could call it something like Star Trek: G-3. Having a character from voyager or ds9 or tng as captain would be a horrible idea.

Personally, I would love more of the same. I doubt it would be succesful, but at least I'd be happy.