The Spiritual Successor of Star Trek

[Brainsucker]

Ok, there were a lot of Star Trek Idea, with a lot of people who want to take the Star Trek TV series project, but the result is always the same. It is a NO go. So rather than making a new Star Trek TV series with the same idea, but different ship and crew, why not making a new space adventure that we can call as "The spiritual successor of Star Trek series".

The story is still about the same thing : Explore the universe; one ship with their crews going around the star. Everything else will different.

The atmosphere of the series will be like Prometheus. The design of the ship should be different than the movie, but the inside of the ship (the corridor view, the bridge, the computer system) will use Prometheus as the inspiration.

Earth is a multi country like in Real Life. But it's structure, and it's city will be very advanced and beautiful.

We call the era of the series as "The new exploration era of Humanity". All the super power countries have gone to space and build their colony in another planet. Yet even in other planet, there are more than one ruler. So you can go to (For example) Chinese Colony in Mars and Russian and US colony in Mars.

The protagonists are not government agent / explorer. They are a private company that focus on exploration and surveying the universe. They got contract from a client (usually one of the super power) and go to the star system of the mission, explore and survey that location.

The Alien won't be like Klingon, Romulan and Vulcan. But savage creature like we saw in Alien, or killer like in Predator, or maybe other kind of dangerous creature. So negotiation with Alien is almost impossible here.

The challenge of the protagonists will to survive in a hostile environment, face predatory Alien, and other thing. But also included to survive in the harsh of competition of their business. They are not the only Private Exploration Company out there. So they must beat the rival to get mission and get paid by the clients. And sometime, the competition can goes dirty.

As civilian, equipping their ship with weapon is illegal. But the harsh and challenge in the universe will force them to do the "illegal things. Equipping their ship with weapons. And that make them sometime have to face the law.

The main protagonist is the boss of the company. But because he is not a mega business owner, so he actually lead the only one ship he has to explore the universe and finish the mission; although he hate it. At the course of the story, the main protagonist will manage to buy other ship and get a new team, but also lose his investment in the harsh of the mission (even lose one of his ship out there). So we can see how he has to avoid to pay his tax, run from his loan, face the law, get trouble from Mafia, etc.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Where is the community, unity and cooperation? People coming together in spite of differences and working together, regardless of race or species? The hope and optimism that what we'll face out there will be as much wonderful as terrifying?

 

[shivkala]

Sounds less like a "Spiritual Successor of Star Trek" and more a TV version of the Prometheus/Alien universe.

 

[JarodRussell]

I always considered seaQuest DSV a spiritual sibling of Star Trek.

 

[Brainsucker]

Where is the community, unity and cooperation? People coming together in spite of differences and working together, regardless of race or species? The hope and optimism that what we'll face out there will be as much wonderful as terrifying?

Is it? Very idealistic. But I don't see Star Trek like what you write in here. That kind of community, unity, and (maybe) cooperation? is something I consider not important. Well, that's my POV of Star Trek anyway. If it ever there, I consider it as the flaw of Star Trek. You may disagree with my POV and answer here. But it is just because of difference taste between us. I like more of conflict, adventure, and action. Plus struggle. For me, a good space story should has more of conflict, adventure, action, and struggle. More of human face danger and must survive. Not something that full of ideology and idealism. But unfortunately, I don't like Star Wars, as it is more of fantasy rather than a story about human and space.

Plus, if you want me to be honest here. Star Trek is not about what you write, but more of American goes space. Not Humanity goes space.

 

[-Brett-]

In today's market, with today's prevailing attitudes, it has about a snowball's chance in hell of happening. After all, no one cares about characters they're not already familiar with, and it's impossible to convince an audience to care about characters they don't already care about.

As long as we're fantasizing, I'd love to see a spiritual successor to Star Trek, although your ideas in particular are kind of a mixed bag.

A true successor to Star Trek would have to acknowledge the wide array of possibilities for alien life. Bestial and sapient. Peaceful and war like. Able to communicate with us and not.

I'm also not enamored with the idea of it being private sector. That seems too limiting.

 

[JarodRussell]

In today's market, with today's prevailing attitudes, it has about a snowball's chance in hell of happening. After all, no one cares about characters they're not already familiar with, and it's impossible to convince an audience to care about characters they don't already care about.

Not sure if serious or sarcastic.

The characters from Breaking Bad, Dexter, House, Sons of Anarchy, Homeland, House of Cards are all new. And those shows hit it big time.

There seems to be a huge gap between TV shows and movies in terms of originality.

 

[KMCarr]

Sounds less like a "Spiritual Successor of Star Trek" and more a TV version of the Prometheus/Alien universe.

Ah, no, I think he means the Prometheus from that one Voyager episode.

 

[BigJake]

There seems to be a huge gap between TV shows and movies in terms of originality.

On account of.

 

[Dukhat]

Sounds less like a "Spiritual Successor of Star Trek" and more a TV version of the Prometheus/Alien universe.

Ah, no, I think he means the Prometheus from that one Voyager episode.

No, he means the Alien prequel movie Prometheus.

 

[shivkala]

^
Exactly, Dukhat!

I figured it was obvious, seeing as how he refers to Prometheus as a movie:

The atmosphere of the series will be like Prometheus. The design of the ship should be different than the movie, but the inside of the ship (the corridor view, the bridge, the computer system) will use Prometheus as the inspiration.

and compares the alien, to, well, Alien and Predator:

The Alien won't be like Klingon, Romulan and Vulcan. But savage creature like we saw in Alien, or killer like in Predator, or maybe other kind of dangerous creature. So negotiation with Alien is almost impossible here.

and the corporations being behind things such as in Prometheus and the Alien movies:

The challenge of the protagonists will to survive in a hostile environment, face predatory Alien, and other thing. But also included to survive in the harsh of competition of their business. They are not the only Private Exploration Company out there. So they must beat the rival to get mission and get paid by the clients. And sometime, the competition can goes dirty.

So, again, I wonder, how can a TV based on/inspired by Prometheus and the Alien movies (as well as a little bit from the Predator movies) be a spiritual successor to Star Trek?

And I second JarodRussell, seaQuest DSv (the first two seasons) is probably the closest to Star Trek we've seen.

 

[SolitaryJustice]

Doctor Who. Not so much a spiritual successor to Star Trek, but it's Star Trek's British big brother. It's probably the second most popular sci-fi show in the world behind Star Trek, still going after 50 years, just like Star Trek soon... I think it stayed true to its roots. I think Star Trek can, too, after ST:09 III comes out, if it goes back to TV and works to fix the timeline. Then you have a great story, and the potential to explore anything, especially some damn good writing.

 

[Brainsucker]

Sounds less like a "Spiritual Successor of Star Trek" and more a TV version of the Prometheus/Alien universe.

To be honest, I wanted it to. Prometheus / Alien Universe is interesting. But my idea has to be different than Alien universe. Because it must be a new franchise. What I like from Prometheus is only the ship design and how they portray the Alien creature (and also the Predator one). (I hate the godlike creature in Prometheus Movie) Other than that, it has to be different than Prometheus / Alien Universe. Because there is no exploration theme in that franchise; and that universe only focus on three creatures. Alien, Predator, and human. Well Star Craft also take the idea from Alien and predator, but they go to different direction.

In today's market, with today's prevailing attitudes, it has about a snowball's chance in hell of happening. After all, no one cares about characters they're not already familiar with, and it's impossible to convince an audience to care about characters they don't already care about.

As long as we're fantasizing, I'd love to see a spiritual successor to Star Trek, although your ideas in particular are kind of a mixed bag.

A true successor to Star Trek would have to acknowledge the wide array of possibilities for alien life. Bestial and sapient. Peaceful and war like. Able to communicate with us and not.

I'm also not enamored with the idea of it being private sector. That seems too limiting.

maybe you're right about the wide array of possibilities for Alien life. But it should be different than what we have to seen in Star Trek now. Star Trek always show that it is easy to interact with Alien race. Even in Star Trek Enterprise, they are every easy to interact with us. It just like European human met African and Asian one in the age of exploration.

The Alien in here should be really-really different creature than human. They can be stupid like animal, or savage like in the Alien Franchise, or maybe very mysterious like the Gray. Or extremely warlike Civilization like the Predator. Maybe they are an extremely advanced creature, but still communicating with them will not be easy, as they are really-really different than human. But you're right, Alien should be put into matter in this idea of story; thanks for your input. And the attempt to communicate with them should be very important in this story. But the progress will be more difficult and time consuming. And even after the communication has established the relation will be more "uneasy" at best.

I don't agree with "private sector seems to limiting". It's not. Government sector can also be limiting. Even Military one has also it's own limitation. Private sector has it's own charm. You must remember East Indie Company. private sector can goes every where. Because they are not restricted to their government stand. They go only for profit, and their own interest. And with a lot of mega corporation in Space Exploration business, things can be colorful and nasty. A private corporation war can be every where and any time. As Space is too huge for the Earth Government to control. And Private Sector can also goes Indiana Jones. Remember, Treasure hunting is something that impossible for government protagonist to chase. Indiana Jones is also a private sector.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

I think it stayed true to its roots. I think Star Trek can, too, after ST:09 III comes out, if it goes back to TV and works to fix the timeline. Then you have a great story, and the potential to explore anything, especially some damn good writing.

How does reinstating the Prime Universe bring Star Trek back to its roots roots or lead to good writing?

 

[Brainsucker]

Ok, let me update my idea :

It is the 23rd century. Space is no longer empty and far from the grasp of humanity. The countries that we call super power from Earth have spread their wing to the outer space. Mars has been colonized; and colonies follow shortly after that. Earth has enjoy the prosperity by taking the resource from their colonies. But, the rivalry between big countries still exist. The space race still influence the mentality of human being. Thus, the race to explore the universe begin. No countries want their claim of new resources and life-able planet to be taken by the others. This problem lead into a brief 1st Space War.

But the things change after the first contact between Humanity and an Alien Species established. The scientists call them A123 race, but people call them a Snail or a Slug, as they are indeed a kind of big Slug Species. Communication is almost impossible. As both species are very different in term of anatomy and the way they communicate. But both parties still hope to find a way to communicate to each others. But, outside that attempt, suspicious has arise for both species. The fear of being invaded make both parties raise their military power. The military analysts on Earth say that with the power of all countries join together, they can stand against this Slug. But with the limited resource that the governments have, it also mean that they must abandon their other project. Like space exploration and colonization. Thus, the governments of Super Power countries on Earth can only rely to Private Sector for the other space program.

It is the time where Exploration and Colonization Companies emerges.

The protagonist father is one of the owner of Exploration Company from Earth. But because of something, he went bankrupt and has a mountain of debt to be paid. Because he didn't know what to do anymore, he killed himself.

The protagonist inherit his father's company, plus all his debt. Because they can't pay, his family lost everything. Including all his father's space ship. But he doesn't lost hope. With the help of his friend's money, he manages to repair his father old ship (that can not be sold because of it's age), and start his space exploration business. And because he wants to pay his family debt fast, he choose a mission that nobody want. To explore a dangerous sector that considered as red area by the governments. And this is his and his crews story.

The story will progress with how the protagonist build his business empire. Eventually, he will buy new ship, form a new fleet, etc. But also will lost something because of the harsh and the danger that they must face out there. yet, he'll command his own ship, the flag ship of his small company (which will be upgraded and become more powerful with the pass of time.

in this story, exploration business is not a cheap one. It is dangerous and costly. The protagonist will need scientists and mercenaries to protect his mission. And the cost can choke his neck. But when it success, it will bring him a great deal of fortune. The data can be sold in billion if not trillion dollars. But, not every expedition can be that successful. And they can always be sabotaged by their competitors.

 

[Melakon]

I don't know, even with your latest update to the premise, it sounds less the spiritual successor and more like The Weyland-Yutani Show.

Afterthought: You're proposing "Dallas... IN SPACE!"

 

[Brainsucker]

what is Dallas? What is Weyland-Yutani show?

 

[USS Triumphant]

what is Dallas? What is Weyland-Yutani show?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_(1978_TV_series)

http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/Weyland-Yutani

 

[Melakon]

what is Dallas? What is Weyland-Yutani show?

Well, as USS Triumphant indicates, "Dallas" was a long-running serialized show about a family running an oil business, most notably featuring an evil sadistic member of the family known as J. R. Ewing. Perhaps it's known as "Southfork" outside North America.

I find it rather incredible that you intentionally borrow concepts from Alien and Prometheus, yet have no idea what Weyland-Yutani is.

 

[Mudd]

I think it stayed true to its roots. I think Star Trek can, too, after ST:09 III comes out, if it goes back to TV and works to fix the timeline. Then you have a great story, and the potential to explore anything, especially some damn good writing.

How does reinstating the Prime Universe bring Star Trek back to its roots roots or lead to good writing?

It doesn't. They'll never return to the "Prime timeline."

The idea of calling Doctor Who "Star Trek's big brother" is a peculiar one, and can be based on nothing more than the fact that DW is a couple of years older than Star Trek. It's not clear that anyone involved with Trek in the 1960s was even aware of DW's existence.