What could a Star Trek anime series look like?

[cal888]

Two topics seem to come up repeatedly in various threads... How can a Star Trek series be done at a lower budget? ~and~ How can Star Trek appeal to Gen Z (those born roughly 1998 till 2012)?

Animated Star Trek has been done before. Most recently PRODIGY ostensibly targeted Gen Alpha and their parents, while LOWER DECKS seems to be for die hard Star Trek fans that love RICK & MORTY and ahem "aren't too precious" about tone and verisimilitude.

Gen Z is anime crazy. Could a Star Trek anime be a good onboarding point for them to the franchise, while also giving existing and older fans something to enjoy as well?

The only anime I've watched all the way through is DEATH NOTE, thanks to the recommendation/strong arm twisting of a close friend. But over a dozen friends have recommend dozens of anime series over the years, so there must be something there.

For all the people out there with an in depth knowledge of anime, do you think a Prime Timeline in-continuity Star Trek anime could work? What anime series could serve as structural benchmarks? What tropes could easily be adapted?

 

[Lord Garth]

I think it could work. I have to put some thought into this. First of all, all the anime I like is from the '80s, '90s, and '00s. Not today. But I know some things haven't changed and I'll give this my best stab.

In broad strokes:

I think it would have to take place during an unexplored time period after most of the series. Some point in the 25th Century, further along than Picard was. Anything we need to know from the live-action series will be explained or depicted through flashbacks.

It would 100% be a serialized series. Unfortunately, there's also a very strong chance it wouldn't break 20-something episodes. After that, these days, would come a sequel series.

Star Trek was originally pitched as a Space Western. Cowboy Bebop is a space western. And it predates Firefly by four years. I've already mentioned Legend of the Galactic Heroes a few times. Space Battleship Yamato is another Star Trek like anime, it's from the '70s, but there's a more recent version of it as well. Those are the three series I'd look at to base an anime Star Trek on. At least off the top of my head.

A post-apocalyptic world is a common trope in anime... but the Star Trek equivalent is post-Burn. I think an anime series introducing Star Trek to the anime crowd should have the Federation intact. So that's NOT a trope that I think should be employed with the Federation. Maybe there can be a planet they encounter that's been ravaged by a post-apocalyptic scenario.

Androids are another common trope in anime. Armitage III is a good look into AI and how androids were created to be slaves and were treated like second-class citizens.

Appleseed takes it a step further. It has genetically-engineered biodroid clones who've lost the ability to reproduce.

Tropes:

• There will be a deep, passionate romance.
• Almost everyone will be under 25.
• The Captain will either be 30, and someone who was on the fast track, or someone who's much older and will serve as the mother or father figure.
• One character will have a hidden power or ability that's unlocked.
• Starfleet will have to constantly create more and more powerful defenses to stand against escalating threats.
• There will be FAR more inner monologues than we're used to seeing in Star Trek. More than just log entries.
• Expect to see a lot of flashbacks to further develop the characters.
• Someone's going to betray someone.
• A former enemy is going to cross over to Our Heroes' side.

I'll stop there for now. This is a good enough start before I add more.

EDITED TO ADD: They'd be on a journey to a specific place for a specific mission. Whatever they run into along the course of the way is going to make up the bulk of the series. It'll be about the journey, for most of it, instead of the destination. Then, once they hit the destination, all bets are off.

 

[cal888]

I guess one card you could play as well is the lost in the 22nd century human colony rediscovered in the mid 25th century that has had a lot of time to diverge.

 

[JRob94]

I think it could work. I have to put some thought into this. First of all, all the anime I like is from the '80s, '90s, and '00s. Not today. But I know some things haven't changed and I'll give this my best stab.

In broad strokes:

I think it would have to take place during an unexplored time period after most of the series. Some point in the 25th Century, further along than Picard was. Anything we need to know from the live-action series will be explained or depicted through flashbacks.

It would 100% be a serialized series. Unfortunately, there's also a very strong chance it wouldn't break 20-something episodes. After that, these days, would come a sequel series.

Star Trek was originally pitched as a Space Western. Cowboy Bebop is a space western. And it predates Firefly by four years. I've already mentioned Legend of the Galactic Heroes a few times. Space Battleship Yamato is another Star Trek like anime, it's from the '70s, but there's a more recent version of it as well. Those are the three series I'd look at to base an anime Star Trek on. At least off the top of my head.

A post-apocalyptic world is a common trope in anime... but the Star Trek equivalent is post-Burn. I think an anime series introducing Star Trek to the anime crowd should have the Federation intact. So that's NOT a trope that I think should be employed with the Federation. Maybe there can be a planet they encounter that's been ravaged by a post-apocalyptic scenario.

Androids are another common trope in anime. Armitage III is a good look into AI and how androids were created to be slaves and were treated like second-class citizens.

Appleseed takes it a step further. It has genetically-engineered biodroid clones who've lost the ability to reproduce.

Tropes:

• There will be a deep, passionate romance.
• Almost everyone will be under 25.
• The Captain will either be 30, and someone who was on the fast track, or someone who's much older and will serve as the mother or father figure.
• One character will have a hidden power or ability that's unlocked.
• Starfleet will have to constantly create more and more powerful defenses to stand against escalating threats.
• There will be FAR more inner monologues than we're used to seeing in Star Trek. More than just log entries.
• Expect to see a lot of flashbacks to further develop the characters.
• Someone's going to betray someone.
• A former enemy is going to cross over to Our Heroes' side.

I'll stop there for now. This is a good enough start before I add more.

EDITED TO ADD: They'd be on a journey to a specific place for a specific mission. Whatever they run into along the course of the way is going to make up the bulk of the series. It'll be about the journey, for most of it, instead of the destination. Then, once they hit the destination, all bets are off.

As a massive anime fan on top of being a Trekkie, I’m sold!

 

[El Maestro]

Just let the creative team behind Blue Eye Samurai do it. That show was beautifully done and an argument for anime as Art, with a great cast, story, script, and score.

 

[Danja]

• One character will have a hidden power or ability that's unlocked.

Please, let's not have them screaming their moves ("FLAMING WHIRLWIND!" )

Oh and let's not have them wait twenty episodes in order for them to do anything! (I'm looking at YOU, Bleach! )

Starfleet will have to constantly create more and more powerful defenses to stand against escalating threats.

Maybe they could set it in the post-32nd Century era? Maybe they could fly mechas like Robotech?

 

[Lord Garth]

They'll have a 1,000-year-old character who looks 10.

Maybe they could set it in the post-32nd Century era? Maybe they could fly mechas like Robotech?

Sure. Why not? If the Federation has enough time to recover. It'll add tension. "We can't lose everything we rebuilt!"

And horrific flashbacks to everything exploding. I can see it.

Let's make it the year 4000.

 

[Tenacity]

One character will have a hidden power or ability that's unlocked.

Cooking?

 

[Danja]

Cooking?

Sounds good to me

(I used to be a chef ... )

 

[Lord Garth]

Cooking?

Power Cooking!

 

[Danja]

Power Cooking!

"FLAMBE!"

 

[FederationHistorian]

A post-apocalyptic world is a common trope in anime... but the Star Trek equivalent is post-Burn. I think an anime series introducing Star Trek to the anime crowd should have the Federation intact. So that's NOT a trope that I think should be employed with the Federation.

There can be multiple anime series going at once. A post-Burn series in the late 31st/early 32nd century, a 25th century Federation series, etc.

I still personally favour a Klingon-centric anime series. I think it would be all kinds of amazing.

 

[valkyrie013]

Anime is a medium, so it can take any story it wants, it doesn't have to be an "Anime Trope" it can be a regular series, just animated. I love animation because you can show so much more and not worry about blowing a live action budget.

Saying that, I would LOVE to see what the Japanese would come up with, after seeing the Star Wars Shorts with some of the Japanese studios working on that, I would Whole Hardheartedly Support a Star Trek Anime.

As for a story:
Romulan War, with the original Enterprise voices
Tomed Incident
A "Lost in Space" type, basically Voyager but better follow thru, maybe far enough away to NOT be able to get back home within 100's of years.
I personally would stick to the 22nd to early 25th century, me no likey 32nd

Posibilities are endless

 

[Firebird]

I think a way to make a relatable Star Trek anime series would be to take a supporting character like Jake Sisko, but make him your main character in the show. You get to see the experience of growing up within this world through the eyes of a relatable character, as a lot of shonen, shoujo, and seinen series have that coming-of-age angle.

If the chosen path is to go for a slice-of-life series, you've got the kid on a starship with other adolescents their age. Make it an exploratory vessel with a multi-year mission to stabilize your cast. You can hit the typical stations of the canon in a high school anime series (exams, cultural festivals [set in the holodeck], love confessions, etc), while throwing in the points of view of non-human children.

There's ways to hammer the circle into the square if the adaption wants to go into the battle shonen style show where the teens somehow are in these ridiculous positions of power. Maybe some accident happens aboard the ship that hurts the adults or renders them unconscious, and the only way for the ship to get back home is for the kids to take command.

I tend to think about this a ton since I'm writing a Trek and Evangelion crossover that deals with a lot of these concepts and pitfalls. After doing it for the last two years, I'm convinced an anime could be a slam dunk prospect for the franchise because the possibilities are endless. Plus, it would be refreshing to see the show from a different cultural point-of-view than the western one.

Please, let's not have them screaming their moves ("FLAMING WHIRLWIND!" )

Oh and let's not have them wait twenty episodes in order for them to do anything! (I'm looking at YOU, Bleach! )




Maybe they could set it in the post-32nd Century era? Maybe they could fly mechas like Robotech?

I could easily see a series like Martian Successor Nadesico transposed to the Dominion War era. Plus, the voice actress for one of the characters was the Japanese dub actor for Beverly Crusher.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Please, let's not have them screaming their moves ("FLAMING WHIRLWIND!" )

Star Trek has voice activated computers. They can dramatically scream ANYTHING.

 

[137th Gebirg]

MANY years ago (feels like over 20 now - maybe even 25+), there was someone here who did some concept TNG-movie-era artwork in an anime style. Possibly on a "what-if" topic of pitching a new TNG animated series.

The one I remember that stands out in my brain specifically, was Picard, rather upper-body muscular, holding a phaser rifle, looking to the side, possibly wearing his under-vest without the outer tunic. Looked like a recreation of a scene either out of Nemesis or Insurrection. It looked amazing and I still wonder what it would have been like to have a animated TNG-era series with the original cast doing voice-overs. No idea where those pics went, though. Probably gone by now, unless someone knows what I'm talking about and has a link to somewhere.

 

[Danja]

It looked amazing and I still wonder what it would have been like to have a animated TNG-era series with the original cast doing voice-overs.

Someone did a TNG fan film in the Filmation style:

 

[Nerys Myk]

One character will have a hidden power or ability that's unlocked.

So basically Spock in TOS?
MIND MELD!
NICTATING MEMBRANE!
SLAP HEALING!

 

[FredH]

I kind of miss the style of 80s anime, which has been long left behind. (Super Hull-Separating Starship ENTERPRISE!)

 

[Brainsucker]

Two topics seem to come up repeatedly in various threads... How can a Star Trek series be done at a lower budget? ~and~ How can Star Trek appeal to Gen Z (those born roughly 1998 till 2012)?

Animated Star Trek has been done before. Most recently PRODIGY ostensibly targeted Gen Alpha and their parents, while LOWER DECKS seems to be for die hard Star Trek fans that love RICK & MORTY and ahem "aren't too precious" about tone and verisimilitude.

Gen Z is anime crazy. Could a Star Trek anime be a good onboarding point for them to the franchise, while also giving existing and older fans something to enjoy as well?

The only anime I've watched all the way through is DEATH NOTE, thanks to the recommendation/strong arm twisting of a close friend. But over a dozen friends have recommend dozens of anime series over the years, so there must be something there.

For all the people out there with an in depth knowledge of anime, do you think a Prime Timeline in-continuity Star Trek anime could work? What anime series could serve as structural benchmarks? What tropes could easily be adapted?

Well, Japan also has their own space opera anime that the quality is on par with Star Trek. So I don't see why they need to make Star Trek Anime.

Look at these anime :
Mugen no Ryvius, Space Battleship Yamato, Toward the Terra, Crest of the Stars, Legend of Galactic heroes, etc...

But, if they ever make Star Trek Anime, they will choose to make Star Trek Starfleet academy type anime.