The early 20-year mission concept, better or worse?

[at Quark's]

Was it is the studio or just a natural evolution in storytelling that moved the Enterprise closer to "home"?

Or perhaps an unconscious mirror of the real-world feeling that the world is becoming smaller and more connected all the time.

In Season 2 TNG, according to Wesley, only 19 percent of the galaxy is 'charted' -- much less explored. (Of course, "charting" is a very vague term, I think we could chart 19% of our galaxy right now, just not with much accuracy and detail). At the end of Voyager, phone calls from the alpha to the delta quadrant became possible (using a pulsar). That's quite an astonishing progress in only 12-13 years.

Of course, this is purposely ignoring other feats that had already been wrought in TOS and such

 

[Phantom]

Was it is the studio or just a natural evolution in storytelling that moved the Enterprise closer to "home"?

Since this concept was dropped early in pre-production, it never was implemented for it to "evolve" to begin with.

If you're asking if the natural process of concept development somehow required those concepts to drop, I'd say no. Some of the same ideas show up in later Trek productions (DS9 and Voyager), and have been used successfully by other shows as well (Andromeda, Babylon 5, etc).

 

[C.E. Evans]

You must know already that it would have been the same show because it wasn't really a part of the show's premise.

It was a part of the original premise, but it was dropped.

Actually the original premise wasn"t changed. It stayed the same. A ship out in space having a variety of adventures.

Regardless if its mission was 5 years, 7 years, or 20 years, the Enterprise would be doing the same kind of things. The whole idea of "to explore strange new worlds" for TOS and TNG was just an excuse to rationalize why the ships were out there ready for that week's adventure, with the mission length really unimportant or at best, of minimal importance. When necessary, both those Enterprises were always able to return to a starbase (for supplies, repairs, or crew rotation) whenever a story required it.

In the original premise, the Enterprise in fact would not be able to just head for a nearby starbase for repairs or whatever. That was part of the point. It would have been the ship, alone, out in the "wilderness" and reliant only on it's own resources and those of the crew. (They tried again to pay some lip service to the idea in Voyager, but once again the exigencies of weekly TV studio thinking messed that up.)

The question I am asking is: would that original concept, uninterfered with by the studio, have been a better or worse show.

The answer is that the original concept was the one used for the show. As was the case of TOS and the 5-year mission, it was never really going to be about how long the ship would stay in space or how far. For all intents and purposes, what we saw in TNG was the first seven years of a 20-year deployment.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Was it is the studio or just a natural evolution in storytelling that moved the Enterprise closer to "home"?

Since this concept was dropped early in pre-production, it never was implemented for it to "evolve" to begin with.

If you're asking if the natural process of concept development somehow required those concepts to drop, I'd say no. Some of the same ideas show up in later Trek productions (DS9 and Voyager), and have been used successfully by other shows as well (Andromeda, Babylon 5, etc).

I mean the creative process. The writing of scripts and the development of the characters and the setting. The show wasn't mapped out.They had x number of scripts completed and x number in development when the show started. As plots were approved and the actors grew into their roles, I've a feeling the show changed, evolved if you will. Some early concepts fell by the wayside ( as it did with TOS). It's seemed that "Galactic politics" moved to the forefront and the "unknown" dropped back. The same thing happened with DS9. I think the writers just like playing in that sandbox. Both Voyager and Enterprise left that sandbox and I think the writing suffered.

 

[WarpFactorZ]

A Trek show lasting 20 years? 1987-2007. ...
The Enterprise would have had to be like an actual ship in one regard though in terms of crew rotation. I doubt any cast member would have stuck with a show for 20 years, and certainly contract negotiations would have been a pain.....

This type of television has existed for years: the soap opera. Most of same have been on the air continuously for decades. It would have been (still would be) interesting to see a Trek series follow such a formula, with the only common factor between seasons being the ship and the "ongoing mission".

The interesting / challenging thing about this type of narrative, however, is that one cannot hope to hold consistent *viewers*, but only consistent demographics. Like any other show, the regulars who tune in week to week will inevitably become bored, move on, and will be replaced by a new set. The writers just have to make sure that the "crew rotations" match some similar phase in the viewership.

For example, an idea would be to have crews with four-year assignments. This matches the academic cycle of high school / university. That's where you would attract the highest ratings. As the crew grows, matures, and moves on, so do the viewers. When they're replaced by fresh recruits, so are the viewers.

One such show that comes to mind is Degrassi: The Next Generation, from Canada. This teen high school drama was on continuously from 2001-2015, and has been renewed on Netflix for 2016. Each couple seasons has a story arc of fresh students going through the usual trials of youth, with the older ones graduating and younger ones featured (who will one day enter the school). Kids could tune in for a couple years, be engaged in storylines, and tune out, without affecting past/future fans.

For those viewers who are TOS Degrassites, there's a familiar overarching character tying things together, and focus on former students as they head through life is also a regular occurrence. As a viewer of all incarnations of Degrassi, I found this to be a very successful formula that kept me hooked. It was rather fitting they chose "TNG" as their oroginal subtitle.

Anyway, it'll never happen. But it's fun to speculate.

 

[Phantom]

Actually the original premise wasn"t changed. It stayed the same. A ship out in space having a variety of adventures.

That is vastly over-simplfying things, CE, and you know it.

"A ship out in space having a variety of adventures (as part of a vast organization with plenty of other ships to aid it and bases to support it)."

Is very a different premise than:

"A ship out in space having a variety of adventures (with only the resources at hand, dependent entirely on the skill of its crew and the leadership/experience of its Captain).

The answer is that the original concept was the one used for the show. As was the case of TOS and the 5-year mission, it was never really going to be about how long the ship would stay in space or how far.

See above. Open up your mind a bit and contemplate just how differently things might've turned out if (for example) the Enterprise encountered the Borg out in deep space all alone without the ability to call up a battle group to intercept them or run back to the Federation for repairs afterwards.

They paid lip service to the idea again in Voyager, but again executive meddling kiboshed really showing us what that would have been like in a Trek context.

I mean the creative process. The writing of scripts and the development of the characters and the setting. The show wasn't mapped out.They had x number of scripts completed and x number in development when the show started. As plots were approved and the actors grew into their roles, I've a feeling the show changed, evolved if you will. Some early concepts fell by the wayside ( as it did with TOS). It's seemed that "Galactic politics" moved to the forefront and the "unknown" dropped back.

You could see little hints of it in some of the early scripts (mostly the pilot), that is true, but as early as the 2nd episode they were already clearly tacking back to the "classic" story model by having them encounter yet another Federation starship, which wouldn't've happened if they were using the original premise as Enterprise would have been the only Federation starship in the area (literally).

I think the writers just like playing in that sandbox. Both Voyager and Enterprise left that sandbox and I think the writing suffered.

Both shows quickly scampered back to that sandbox. Voyager tried to at least keep a formal semblance of holding to the premise of "one ship, alone", but never really implemented it, leading to the infamous "Voyager Reset Button" effect.

Enterprise did a better job initially of showing the premise, but by mid-late S2 it was back in full communication (after starting the process back in Season 1) with Starfleet and regularly doing all the "classic" stuff again.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Actually the original premise wasn"t changed. It stayed the same. A ship out in space having a variety of adventures.

That is vastly over-simplfying things, CE, and you know it.

No, that's simply telling the truth for what it is. Anything else is largely the result of fans adding whatever spin they want on it, but in the end of the day, that's truly the original premise of the show and it was never changed. Thinking otherwise is a faulty assumption.

Open up your mind a bit...

No rose-colored glasses please. Look at the show for what it actually was. It was basically the exact same concept as TOS, but with new characters and a few new spins here and there that made it different.

 

[Lance]

I like the concept of the Enterprise leaving known space on a 20+ year mission into the complete unknown. I'd kind of like to see a Star Trek show try that.

 

[cgervasi]

Both shows quickly scampered back to that sandbox. Voyager tried to at least keep a formal semblance of holding to the premise of "one ship, alone", but never really implemented it, leading to the infamous "Voyager Reset Button" effect.

The reimagined BSG really did a good job giving the feeling of one group of ships totally alone. Voyager said they were far from home, but I never really felt it. At the beginning they talked about all the single people marrying one another and becoming a generational ship. The characters treated it mostly as a joke. They could have benefitted from a map, so people could visualize their progress.

I would have liked to see the Enterprise D stranded in a distant place like the Magellanic clouds, something along the lines of Where No Man Has Gone Before. They could have done it such that they were pretty certain they'd get to some wormhole or something to take them home after a year. The idea would be to skip most melodrama about missing home but force the writers to come up with new aliens and situations that won't appear again.

 

[Maurice]

...What good is a mall, especially for a series in the first couple years that went on & on & on about how humanity had moved away from the need to material things (which was always a load of bullcrap, but still -- it's what was said repeatedly). Plus the whole ideea is just silly as hell if you really think about it...

As the National Mall in Washington D.C. makes clear, "mall" doesn't necessarily refer to a shopping center, but as a public area where people walk. That was more the intention: the ship's public space.

[The Mall, promenade in London, originally a pall-mall alley]
a : a usually public area often set with shade trees and designed as a promenade or as a pedestrian walk
b : a usually paved or grassy strip between two roadways