Variations of the post-Nemesis Prime Universe

[Danlav05]

While many are speculating on when Fuller's new show will be set I'd just like to ponder various iterations of the post-Nemeis Star Trek universe.

The Novelverse and the Online universe (including the IDW 'Countdown' comic) are easily the most prominent, however separate to both was the Star Trek: TNG - Hive comic despite using the familiar Titan bridge and ship designs from Sean Tourengau.

While these have shown possible futures for familiar characters, fan media has also shown this era - Intrepid is still ongoing, Hidden Frontier introduced a plethora of new faces as well as some guest characters from TNG in higher roles.

Back to old faces, Star Trek: Renegades brought back Chekov and a few 'Voyagers' in their pilot before going "original" and the Machimina Borg War was set 17 years after Voyager.

Dark Armada and Phoenix were also long past Nemesis, the latter updating the vision of the future quite dramatically!

What do people think and what would people like to have seen? A last hurrah for Picard and crew; him finally becoming an Admiral or retiring to the ambassador role? An adventure for the crew of the Titan? The ongoing troubles on DS9? Chakotay as Captain on Voyager?

 

[Tracy Trek]

I think I would like to see something about the starship Titan.

 

[Finn]

A movie with Picard falling to his death from a bridge, and having a Captain from the distant future keeping him company.

Picard's last words would be "It was fun....oh my"

 

[Tenacity]

A last hurrah for Picard and crew

For my tastes, Picard only. A cameo appearance of some sort, maybe a one time mission briefing of the featured crew in the new series pilot.

I think I would like to see something about the starship Titan.

This would be interesting, but there would need to be a "blank slate" beginning.

Only Riker and Troi, and they would be recast with new actors (but would retain the characters back history). Nothing from the novel series to give the show's writers creative freedom.

I've read a half dozen of the Titan novels, and while I have enjoyed them, I don't see anything that absolutely has to be brought across.

And please a new design for the Titan itself, something smaller and tighter. Given that it's Riker's first command, the Titan shouldn't be a brand new, semi-huge, top of the line ship.

 

[Arpy]

I wasn't a fan of NEM and haven't watched most of the things you've mentioned.

I like to imagine everything went along fine after the TNG movies in the feel of the TNG series.

If they were to do something in the Prime Universe now...I really don't like how cheesy Prime sounds BTW...if they were to do something in TOU now, I'd hope it was the 25th Century, with a whole new feel to it, in the way TNG was to TOS. I'd hope that, like TNG, they'd try to up the verisimilitude and sound the call to be better than you were yesterday. I'd hope the art and science are more sophisticated, as started with TMP, and they did not do continuity porn in a craven, dork-suckering, way, but in a natural unfolding of history way. And I'd hope they kept the small-universe syndrome to a minimum, which shouldn't need to be mentioned, looking at the verisimilitude above.

There's a new generation of science-fiction writers out there and lots of new perspectives on themes old and new to explore. I'd dare them as Michael Piller dared them to make the better future real.

 

[Richard Baker]

Just from the design standpoint I really liked the Mirror Universe version of the Titan-
http://www.shipschematics.net/startrek/images/altuniverse/galaxyconquest_titan.jpg
Weapons pods and much better looking engines,

It would be nice to see Picard in a cameo but I think the new series needs to bring something special all it's own instead of following up on existing timeline stories. It is a very big universe out there and plenty of adventures to be had- I just hope it does not fall into the Voyager trap and becoMe another TNG-Lite

 

[Terok Nor]

I want a brand new crew facing brand new aliens in a sector of the unexplored galaxy and it needs to be set 100-200 years after the TNG era to put some distance between the two. Basically do what TNG did and start world building from scratch. Obviously the established races from previous shows will play a part just like the ones from TOS did in the TNG/DS9/Voyager era but they don't need to dominate.

 

[The_Baroness]

25th century at the earliest. More dystopian. Earth has ceded from the Federation, or it's fully collapsed or something and other powers have moved in to dominate.

 

[Tenacity]

Earth has ceded from the Federation

Earth is a part of a different alliance now, which has lot's of new members. The Federation still exists, but is seen as the opposition.

Look at political alliances and allegiances from centuries past, verses today, they're different.

Why would Earth just endlessly participate in the Federation?
There could be greener pastures.

 

[Shawnster]

Because Earth = Federation? The capital of the Federation is Earth. Sector 001 is the Sol system. The Federation is very Earth-centric.

Now, what if the other member planets left because of this? Hmm....

 

[Tenacity]

Well, the UN central organization is located in America, but it could be relocated. The EU in Brussels, it too could be moved.

Essentially Earth decides to switch mobile phone providers and tells the Federation to take a hike. The new group doesn't insist that the council meets on Earth, and the fleet headquarters has to be on Earth, and Humans form the bulk of the fleet, and all the other crap that the Federation shoved on Earth because no one else wanted to do it.

Earth-exit.

 

[Annorax849]

Since I was a kid, I've always had an idea for another Enterprise set in the mid-late 25th century. It's at the point where it's been built up so much in my mind that it'll be almost disappointing for something different to happen, but I'll manage lol.

One thing I definitely don't want is anything post-apocalyptic or overly dark. Star Trek has always been about a generally positive future, even if certain terrible things happen.

 

[Arpy]

Since I was a kid, I've always had an idea for another Enterprise set in the mid-late 25th century. It's at the point where it's been built up so much in my mind that it'll be almost disappointing for something different to happen, but I'll manage lol.

One thing I definitely don't want is anything post-apocalyptic or overly dark. Star Trek has always been about a generally positive future, even if certain terrible things happen.

It's the one thing they have over other sci-fi's. If they give that up, I think they'd be as uninspiring. Sure Star Wars may be bigger, but that's about it. And Wars didn't inspire generations of astronauts, Civil Rights leaders, etc. That's not to say Trek isn't tedious when it's preachy, but my god I'd take that over the simplistic Light Side/Dark Side stuff. I was really taken out of the narrative at the end of Force Awakens when Kylo Ren was having his big dilemma. The structure and imagery of the scene was great, but the dialogue and dilemma itself was farcically bad.

Earth seceding from the Federation I think would knock half the wind out of Trek's sails. The Federation isn't real, and casual viewers wouldn't care if Earth rejoined or not. A new generation of fans wouldn't be inspired by diplomats failing. And if they ever got back together, the big finish would be to arrive back at square 1. Oh yeah; let that be the sum of all a generation's efforts.

I get the feeling the secessionist idea takes off with established fans bored with the status quo. They're looking to pick a fight because they're not inspired to much else. I think that's a reason to push things forward into the 25th century, and that's the producers' job moving ahead. Until then, a fan's job is...I'd say that if you liked Trek in the first place, do what it's always been about and look to broaden your horizons.

 

[Scotchy]

It would be nice to see it going forward into the future. We've enough enough backtracking with Enterprise and even JJ's stuff. Roddenberry's Trek was always about humanity's advancements, whether it was technological, personal, societal, etc.

 

[Tenacity]

I get the feeling the secessionist idea takes off with established fans bored with the status quo

That certainly would be a part of it, change just so it wouldn't be more of the same old '80s and 90's Star Trek. Plus I personally like the idea of two separate "good guys" in competition with each other, instead of the stale light and dark sides of the force where anyone who opposes the Federation is automatically a evil empire. Been there - done that.

It would be nice to see it going forward into the future

Anything forward of 2016 is the future, one of the disadvantages of moving into the 25th century is the technology in the 24th was already advanced to the point of being "goofy" (a small drop of red matter could collapse a planet) and made solutions too easy. A hypothedical series between say the Romulan war and TOS would kick the tech backwards while still being more advanced than present day.

Either that or come up with some reason the Federation stopped advancing (or even lost technological abilities).

 

[uniderth]

That certainly would be a part of it, change just so it wouldn't be more of the same old '80s and 90's Star Trek. Plus I personally like the idea of two separate "good guys" in competition with each other, instead of the stale light and dark sides of the force where anyone who opposes the Federation is automatically a evil empire. Been there - done that.Anything forward of 2016 is the future, one of the disadvantages of moving into the 25th century is the technology in the 24th was already advanced to the point of being "goofy" (a small drop of red matter could collapse a planet) and made solutions too easy. A hypothedical series between say the Romulan war and TOS would kick the tech backwards while still being more advanced than present day.

Either that or come up with some reason the Federation stopped advancing (or even lost technological abilities).

I think though that it is really in the telling of the story. Humanity has long had tales of gods and their struggles. Look at Thor. It's still possible to have good stories even when godlike powers are shared by all sides. I say, advance humanity to the level of the Q and have the new series in the 35th century.

 

[Scotchy]

Anything forward of 2016 is the future

Uh, yeah, but since we're discussing a fictional timeline that's fairly obvious. My point is going forward from the TOS period, which was the 23rd century.

24th was already advanced to the point of being "goofy" (a small drop of red matter could collapse a planet)

In TOS we had The Doomsday Machine that ate entire planets, Spock walking around without a brain in his skull, space hippies and aliens impersonating Abraham Lincoln. It seems the "goofiness" was in full swing before Picard's 24th century adventures.

moving into the 25th century

Who says it has to be the 25th century? It's not like every iteration of the series leapt forward 100 years. All I'm saying is don't regress the characters or the narrative. Let's not go back to Starfleet Academy. Let's not go back to the Captain Archer days so we can get to know the aliens we already know all over again.
Even if they did go into the 25th Century and advance Federation technology - that's the whole point of Star Trek. Writers on those shows use their imaginations, they innovate and dream up what tech that far down the road might be like. It some cases it can be fanciful, in other cases some Star Trek concepts have predicted real world tech that was invented later. Captain Picard's iPad being just one example.
So yes, asking what life is like in future centuries is the direction I would like to see them go. We've already seen the Academy, Spock and Kirk as little kids, Archer figuring out how to putt along at Warp 5 and other good old days concepts. Time to get back to writing thought provoking, future-looking science fiction.

Look at Thor. It's still possible to have good stories even when godlike powers are shared by all sides. I say, advance humanity to the level of the Q and have the new series in the 35th century.

That's thinking outside the box. I would watch that if it was well done.

 

[Nightdiamond]

One problem I see is that all the challenges are pretty much gone. Time travel, faster than warp travel, other dimensions, has been done to death.

The mystery and novelty of it is gone.

We've seen numerous 'big bads' already- the Romulans, the Borg, Dominion, etc.

So there is the question of what will the new show do to capture and keep the fan's interest.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Trek shouldn't be about how advanced the tech is anyway...it should be about telling good stories in an exotic sci-fi setting. The trick is having a level of tech that inspires awe and wonder in the audience but doesn't solve all of the characters' problems in-story.

 

[Tenacity]

Uh, yeah, but since we're discussing a fictional timeline that's fairly obvious. My point is going forward from the TOS period, which was the 23rd century.

From that view point, we could go forward from shortly after the time of Cochrane's warp flight. In a short period of time (perspective of first four series) Humanity had warp engines that were capable of reaching the edge of the galaxy and into the Delta Quadrant. Interesting time period to locate a new series.

It seems the "goofiness" was in full swing before Picard's 24th century adventures.

Of the examples you gave, only "Spock's brain" was an example of advanced technology.

Is the Doomsday Machine eating planets that much different than a starship using a bussard collector to acquire fuel? The space hippies were a just a case of social protest by people with poor fashion sense. Abraham Lincoln was a shape shifter, and not the first one we saw on the show. Tech "goofiness" reached full steam in the 24th century.

One problem I see is that all the challenges are pretty much gone. Time travel, faster than warp travel, other dimensions, has been done to death.

At one time, weren't each of those things new and fresh? Coming up with concepts and plot ideas that have never been heard of before is the challenge for the writing team.

If they're up to it.