ReadyAndWilling
Fleet Captain
They need to try a new format. I would love to see something based around the crew of a Romulan, Vulcan or Andorian crew.
What about setting the show up from an alien perspective?
- Thread starter ReadyAndWilling
- Start date
Aliens represent a very small, indeed infinitesmal, viewing demographic outside of the panhandle of West Virginia.
That's funny, I thought they were mostly from Hollywood. May explain why they're so wildly over-represented in TV and movies.
The main obstacle to an alien-perspective series is that the perspective (not starships or Kirk & Spock or exploration or any of the other elements people assume are "required") is the one constant element in Star Trek, that all stories are told from the perspective of Federation ideals. Sure, a lot of those aliens would have Federation ideals, being in the Federation and all, but then are they "alien"? What you probably mean is that you want non-Federation alien perspectives, and that would boot the show outside the boundaries of Star Trek.
However, you could play around with this notion and get it to fit within Star Trek's boundaries. In addition to the aliens that accept and represent Federation values (for instance, the story of a young alien like Nog who comes from outside the Federation yet joins Starfleet) you can also have aliens who challenge Federation values (Garak springs immediately to mind). But Garak's perspective can only be within the bounds of Star Trek if there are Federation-minded folks, alien or otherwise, for him to contrast with - Sisko, Bashir, etc.
hellsgate
Commodore
Interesting. Submit your idea in ".pdf" or ".html" format to my anthology group in the Files area.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stnewworlds
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stnewworlds
I like this idea but only if it really is tangential to the Federation. Find some species outside the Federation with a different culture and make the show about them. Unfortunately, I don't think this would work in Star Trek land because the show would be about Romulans or Klingons and would get old faster than Sophia Lauren without plastic surgery.
ReadyAndWilling
Fleet Captain
hey man, i tried going to that link, but got an error about age?
i'm guessing i need to sign up to yahoo groups? never done it before.
Personally I think a comedy about some hardcore Klingons would be a great approach, not a black comedy but one that pokes fun at itself and other Trek would be a hit I think. If you could get the writers and producers to lighten up the Klingons and themselves (the producers) a bit, don't take Trek to be a philosophy but just entertainment which it is and they could pull of a well executed alien version of Trek. Any alien would have to have characteristics that attracted viewers to get past the strange appearance of the aliens and be able to identify emotionally with them, if you can't take that approach than you shouldn't bother.
Yeah, they could call it, uh, "Cavemen."
Shit, then I'm living in the wrong place. Time to relocate to the panhandle of West Virginia!
I think that this idea might show some merit if it were perhaps a mini series or something along those lines. I doubt an entire series would work in this way for many of the reasons already stated. One idea, that might work, is if it were a miniseries or single episode, make it the alien's perspective on some story that has already been done (first thing that comes to mind is Balance of Terror). I think it would be interesting to see this episode purely from the Romulan perspective and get into why they did these attacks in the first place.
Personally I think a comedy about some hardcore Klingons would be a great approach, not a black comedy but one that pokes fun at itself and other Trek would be a hit I think. If you could get the writers and producers to lighten up the Klingons and themselves (the producers) a bit, don't take Trek to be a philosophy but just entertainment which it is and they could pull of a well executed alien version of Trek. Any alien would have to have characteristics that attracted viewers to get past the strange appearance of the aliens and be able to identify emotionally with them, if you can't take that approach than you shouldn't bother.
No matter how much you think you would watch that show, I'm telling you right now that there is no way a general audience aside from the type of Trekkie who posts on BBSs like this one would watch that show. They just wouldn't, and it wouldn't matter how "smartly" it was written. You might as well put a warning label on it that says FOR GEEKS ONLY in green neon letters dripping purple Klingon blood.
All the aliens in Trek are supposed to be humans. Metaphorically. They're just the more fun humans, since 24th century humans (and, to a lesser extent, 23rd century) are a rather boring bunch. "We have evolved" and all that crap.
I don't think producers would want it from any point of view the audience cannot identify with. Sure, it's fun to see it once in a while because we're not used to it, but it can get boring. That is why I think the cartoon did not last very long, although they were still 'human' it's harder for people to relate to cartoons. The way I see it, Roddenberry got us to accostomed to Humans, with the exception of Vulcan here and there, but if they were to totally redirect their attention to an alien race or subspecies, there wouldn't be much interest.
Rather than Alien, people would prefer to see A German, A Jew, and a Palestinian working together in a starship
