The Next Captain Should Be . . . (Fill In The Blank)!

[Red Ranger]

Cary L. Brown said:

BoxWhatBox said:
Personally, I would like to see an Andorian Captain who alien nature is never watered down to make him more human. That way we can see the crew of mainly humans trying to work with someone completely alien on a day-to-dya basis.

If were destined for a human captain. I would like to see an incredibly young British Captain who really is only just learning what it really means to be a Captain. Other then that I would like to see an experienced human captain who has an attachment to his home (not Earth) and no great love for Earth.

All the ideas for "cool alien characters" sound great in one-line descriptions.

But remember, the audience for these shows are HUMAN BEINGS. We need to have characters we can identify with and relate to. Otherwise, (see the movie "A.I." for a great example) we simply do not want to watch.

So, you either end up with an interesting alien (who's truly alien in nature) who the audience cannot relate to, or a "watered down" alien who is simply a Southern Californian with bad forehead acne.

Remember, we're not REALLY talking about true stories here. We're talking about INTERESTING STORYTELLING. Key to that is "the audience can relate to the characters but the characters represent what we aspire to be, more than what we are." You can take that TOO far (TNG got boring often enough because the people were ... "too evolved"... and thus we couldn't relate so well, for instance). But the whole Kirk/Spock/McCoy triumvirate was a near-perfect example of this. Kirk was the "heroic" side we'd all like to have. McCoy was our passion, our heart, our sympathetic side. Spock was the outsider that we all sometimes feel like we are, who was able to overcome that and be the smartest, coolest guy on the ship. All of them represented some portion of us.. US... that we could connect to, relate with, and aspire to be more like.

So... looking at it from a pure STORYTELLING and CHARACTERIZATIOn standpoint... how can we possibly have a storytelling situation involving characters none of us can relate to, and have that show with any popular success whatsoever.

Sure, give us "tangential" characters who are utterly alien... but the key characters must be "us, but a little bit better" if we're going to become really involved in the storytelling.

Cary,

I disagree with you that an unusual character as the lead can't be creeated that can evoke sympathy and understanding.

Certainly, an "outsider" as the principal character can easily be made relatable this way: Many of us have been in new situations where we are the outsider. We then have to learn to work with the "insiders," while they in turn adapt to the new kid in town. It's never quite a one-way street, especially in a situation where the new kid is the boss.

And if you read my earlier posts, I certainly went beyond a "one-line" description of the lead I'd like to see. To go beyond that, I'd like him/her to seem to be just a little bit crazy -- like a fox.

My other premise for my Terran/not born on Earth character is he/she is given a "Dirty Dozen" type of assignment, where the crew is like a "Dead End Kids" group, characters with an edge. And before you say, "That was DSN," or "That was VOY," it's not. I'm talking about a crew of malcontents who are forced to work together. And the captain could be a malcontent as well.

It just takes a little imagination, friend.

I do reluctantly agree with an earlier poster that it might be more likely that we'll see Kirk return to the small screen.

Red Ranger

 

[voss749]

Why Alien captains dont work...or maybe they can

If a captain is a man
a) Women should want to be with him
b) Men should want to be like him
He doesnt have to be young.

If a captain is a woman
a) Women should think shes cool,
b) Men should perceive her sexual energy that does not mean shes "in a catsuit" or a young nymphette. A 40 something woman can have sexual energy if the writers stop trying to make her into the ships mommy.

 

[Woulfe]

Re: Why Alien captains dont work...or maybe they can

^ And if the captain can't be seen as male or female because it's an alien that has no recognizable gender then what ?

- W -
* Thinking outside the box *

 

[voss749]

Re: Why Alien captains dont work...or maybe they can

You can have an alien captain as long you have the human "audience proxy" , the human crewmember who gets to know the captain. As the audience gets comfortable with the captain you can gradually shift the focus to the captain.

A series with a VERY alien captain might have the captain as a background character and focus on the humans who live among a mostly alien crew.

 

[VonHelton]

Red Ranger said:
Cary,

I disagree with you that an unusual character as the lead can't be creeated that can evoke sympathy and understanding.

Certainly, an "outsider" as the principal character can easily be made relatable this way: Many of us have been in new situations where we are the outsider. We then have to learn to work with the "insiders," while they in turn adapt to the new kid in town. It's never quite a one-way street, especially in a situation where the new kid is the boss.

Already been done. Go watch Farscape.

 

[ancient]

Re: Why Alien captains dont work...or maybe they can

voss749 said:

If a captain is a woman
a) Women should think shes cool,
b) Men should perceive her sexual energy that does not mean shes "in a catsuit" or a young nymphette. A 40 something woman can have sexual energy if the writers stop trying to make her into the ships mommy.

Well, the writers should certainly not be all flakey and just ignore the extremist PC crowd, who are never happy anyway. They shouldn't have to jump aroud making her more this and more that each week.

 

[NathanielM]

Chris Rock?

Crew: "A BLACK CAPTAIN?"

First Officer: "Well Why not, it worked in Blazing Saddles!"

AND If it turns out to be Will Wheaton. I will take that writer, and wash his hands with SOAP... for such EVIL blasphemy... EEEW!!!!




Nathaniel

P.S

And no I am not racist. It is a quote from a Mel Brooks Movie with a few modifications

 

[NathanielM]

OH Hell no...Hackman would NEVER do Star Trek.

He's too good of actor for Trek. I couldn't see him lower himself from the good action/drama roles he plays to do a Science Fiction...

Nathaniel

 

[voss749]

Michael Ironside would make a good captain.

It would be fun to have captain who is a real SOB but a likeable SOB. The kind of character that would defy the goody-goody stereotype of starship captains but doing so in a way that audience sees that he does what needs to be done.

 

[-Brett-]

The next captain should be a zombie. Seek out new life and new civilizations because the captain wants to eat their brains.

Seriously though, the lead will have to be human. Probably American or of American ancestry. Of course, the lead and the captain don't necessarily have to be the same.

 

[Sec31Mike]

The next Captain...........

How about no Captain per se, how about a series centered around a concept where there are multiple objectives being handled by a multitude of teams, ships, starbases, etc.

That would let us see if they could pull off Star Trek solely on the merits of the story arc. Not things like how a particular couple are doing (Trip/T'Pol, Riker/Troi, Paris/Torres, Picard/Crusher, etc.) or the inappropriately dressed woman (7 of 9, T'Pol, Yeoman Rand, etc).

But if they do another series I think the captain should be a captain first, whose goals are the betterment of the Federation, not blindly following orders, or trying to be eloquent in every sentence that leaves their mouth (Picard), or being hypocritical (Janeway).

When I first saw Hunt for Red October, I thought that Connery in a Starfleet uniform would have been awesome, he has presence and command dripping out of everywhere.

Kirk in this new farce of a movie should be an unknown if they wish to pursue the series afterward. Matt Damon wouldn't handle doing a dedicated series, nor would it be cost effective to pay what he would need to be paid.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I think the next captain should be a captain with a certain degree of irrelevance about him or her. Not necessarily a troublemaker, but someone who is slightly eccentric and has a definite sarcastic wit at times. At the same time, it should be someone who can appreciate the wonders that space has but is not easily intimidated by baddies.

Hmm...I guess what I'm talking about is "If Doctor Who was a Starfleet captain...?"

I think the captain should definitely be Human, but ethnicity, gender, and age should be based on the best actor or actress for the role, IMO...

 

[voss749]

C.E. Evans said:
I think the next captain should be a captain with a certain degree of irrelevance about him or her. Not necessarily a troublemaker, but someone who is slightly eccentric and has a definite sarcastic wit at times. At the same time, it should be someone who can appreciate the wonders that space has but is not easily intimidated by baddies.

You lost me at Doctor Who...and the word youre looking for is Irreverent not irrelevant.

Now if youre looking for someone who could be the kind of captain you want (but not Dr. Who)

Hugh Laurie an actor has proven he is very capable of playing both straight roles and comedic roles.

 

[Sec31Mike]

Hugh Laurie is a known name and comes with both financial and stereotype baggage.

A Trek captain doesn't necessarily need to be human, there are other species that have achieved a high degree of normalcy like Vulcans and Trill.

Someting new doesn't mean something bad.

 

[C.E. Evans]

voss749 said:

C.E. Evans said:
I think the next captain should be a captain with a certain degree of irrelevance about him or her. Not necessarily a troublemaker, but someone who is slightly eccentric and has a definite sarcastic wit at times. At the same time, it should be someone who can appreciate the wonders that space has but is not easily intimidated by baddies.

You lost me at Doctor Who...and the word youre looking for is Irreverent not irrelevant.

Thank you, Spellchecker.
(you know had that one coming, didncha?)

Now if youre looking for someone who could be the kind of captain you want (but not Dr. Who)

Hugh Laurie an actor has proven he is very capable of playing both straight roles and comedic roles.

Hugh Laurie is a good comedic and dramatic actor, but not exactly someone I'd like to see as a Star Trek captain though (but as Dr. Who, yes).

But since we're on the subject of Laurie, I'd actually wouldn't mind his Blackadder co-star, Rowen Atkinson, as a more "irrelevant" captain...

 

[VonHelton]

If they stick to cannon as they claim, this is a non-issue, since the captain will be Pike, not Kirk, and Kirk & Spock will probably only meet briefly, if at all.

 

[voss749]

You lost me at Doctor Who...and the word youre looking for is Irreverent not irrelevant.


[/QUOTE]

"Thank you, Spellchecker."

I would be a spell checker if I was correcting you on a misspelled word...Irrelevant and Irreverent are TWO different words


(you know had that one coming, didncha?)

Now if youre looking for someone who could be the kind of captain you want (but not Dr. Who)

Hugh Laurie an actor has proven he is very capable of playing both straight roles and comedic roles.

Hugh Laurie is a good comedic and dramatic actor, but not exactly someone I'd like to see as a Star Trek captain though (but as Dr. Who, yes).

But since we're on the subject of Laurie, I'd actually wouldn't mind his Blackadder co-star, Rowen Atkinson, as a more "irrelevant" captain...

[/QUOTE]

Hugh Laurie as doctor Who is a cliche...the man has already proven he can do a variety of roles. I think it would probably cost too much to get him now.


I didnt want to be the first to bring up Rowan Atkinson
but the idea of him as a Captain is a good one. However in order for that to work you would need a really good straight man or more likely a straight woman.

I know some people mentioned an alien captain, if they did the series in a post-tng time period, Rowan Atkinson as a Romulan Captain. Imagine him as the first Romulan captain of a federation starship with a fussy, by the book woman as first officer.

 

[Admiral2]

voss749 said:I didnt want to be the first to bring up Rowan Atkinson
but the idea of him as a Captain is a good one. However in order for that to work you would need a really good straight man or more likely a straight woman.

No, you don't.

You just make the series STAR TREK: BLACKADDER GOES WARP!

Blackadder's the captain, Baldrick's his yeoman, Melchitt's the Science Officer, and the crew of the ship spends the bulk of the series trying to avoid all the situations that made the other captains in the series heros. It's golden!

 

[BragaKiller32586]

It would be great if the next captain was in no way, politically correct.

That's one of the things that has bothered me about recent Trek stories is the fact that no one has the balls to have an opinion anymore.

TOS disguised all of it's moral and political messages with aliens and far-off planets, new Trek doesn't really deliver morals or messages (evidently both are out of style).

Let's see a Trek that breaks rules again.

-K

 

[Cary L. Brown]

BragaKiller32586 said:
It would be great if the next captain was in no way, politically correct.

That's one of the things that has bothered me about recent Trek stories is the fact that no one has the balls to have an opinion anymore.

TOS disguised all of it's moral and political messages with aliens and far-off planets, new Trek doesn't really deliver morals or messages (evidently both are out of style).

Let's see a Trek that breaks rules again.

-K

That's why McKenzie Calhoun (Peter David's Excalibur captain from the "New Frontiers" novel series) is so popular. Gotta love a captain who keeps a sword over his desk... not a FOIL but an actual freakin' sword, which he has carried in battle and has killed with.