There are really two ways that any future Trek series can go... the "safe route" (a ship with a bunch of friends flying around having adventures) or the "dangerous route"(setting it in a known setting but putting that setting through ten types of hell, so the situation at the end isn't the same as at the beginning).
While the story as proposed seems waay too much like a preteen fantasy, it does have the benefit (as far as I'm concerned) of being one of those "risky" ideas. The thing is, I don't really see it as being "risky" so much to change things and give us real growth and chance as I see it as being a way to pretend that someone else is the same characters, and thus to take us back to where we've already been.
Some of you may recall my story concept. I actually have written it up into a proposal, and while it wasn't bought... it hasn't been rejected yet either. Most of these things are rejected outright, so...
I wrote it up, got an agent, submitted it, and didn't get the immediate rejection that most people get. We'll see if it ever pans out... I'm not counting on it, but I've been pleasantly surprised so far.
Without ruining anything, let's just say that it's a take on the dark side of technology, and what happens when the Federation becomes so advanced that the beings who live in it are totally dependent on their technology... and that technology is starting to become self-aware. Set post-Nemesis by several decades, with the heroes being a crew that's been on a "long patrol" beyond the borders for a number of years. You have room for "standard bottle shows" but there's an underlying theme that won't be apparent at the beginning. Sort of like the few hints that were given in season 1 of Babylon 5 which you only catch onto when you rewatch the series... but with the same level of "change" involved, too, eventually. (and no, it's not a "fall of the Federation" story per-se).
I was driven off onto this path by a discussion we had here over a year and a half ago as I recall. A lot of talk of "Fall of the Federation" storylines which all seemed to lose track of the whole point of Star Trek... which was that this is the HUMAN ADVENTURE. I wanted to take us back to that. Yet talk about sentient AI (Data, Moriarty) and biological manipulation (see fully 1/2 of TNG or VOY episodes, I think!) where you can rewrite a person's physical structure, replicate new body parts, etc...
All combined with the old McCoy line about wondering if, when you transport, your soul goes along with you. So, toss in a little bit of "The Stepford Wives" or "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" into the mix.
I still really sort of doubt it'll get picked up... these things are always longshots... but I'd love it if it did... it'd make for one hell of a ride!
