What if the Star Trek crew were a sea crew instead of space crew?

[Captain Trekkie]

For me as a non sci-fi fan TNG turned out to be perfect and the only Trek series I’m truly invested in. I get what you mean tho - it tends to focus on the message (sometimes it goes a little over the top indeed), not the setting. I guess that’s why my then-bf shoved it at me the way he did, he knew it was the only Trek series I’d truly be interested in.

We can have a good message and setting. It's possible. But TNG just overstretched it with the limits of Sci-Fi.

 

[fireproof78]

When they've explored much of the galaxy one planet's oceans would seem insignificant. They'd just collect whatever data recorded by human explorers. An amphibious man would be a much more useful companion and crew member.

I see no reason to not have both. I really don't think the Vulcans would be like "Pfffttt...you've seen one ocean you've seen them all. Exploration is for lower lifeforms." Especially if they have been supporting humanity since the whole warp drive thing.

 

[Captain pl1ngpl0ng]

i too was inspired by this thread

something tells me it could actually been a good show

 

[Captain Trekkie]

I see no reason to not have both. I really don't think the Vulcans would be like "Pfffttt...you've seen one ocean you've seen them all. Exploration is for lower lifeforms." Especially if they have been supporting humanity since the whole warp drive thing.

Our hypothetical "Sea Trek" would be in another universe where space exploration and contact with the Vulcans is not so. SeaQuest and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea do explore the phenomenon of alien contact, but they are not in that era yet of full scale space exploration yet.

It would be in an era where the ocean is the frontier of focus.

 

[somebuddyX]

 

[1001001]

Is that a screen cap from Into Darkness?

 

[Colonel Midnight]

Wesley’s character could be named ENS Chum, who strangely disappears after the first few episodes for some unknown reason...

Cheers,
-CM-

 

[fireproof78]

 

[Takeru]

It would be the same show just with with water and islands instead of space and planets. The aliens would obviously be human but 99% of Star Trek aliens act like humans with strange habits anyway, so it wouldn't make much of a difference.

 

[Imaus]

What'll be the best timeframe for it?

Past 1600 most of the world is known.

So the 1500s? Nah, too limiting. Just shove everything from 1492 to 1800 in there.

What, Kirk is some kind of English Renaissance Proto-Humanist man?

What's Spock - a merman, or some kind of 'exotic' human?

Starfleet being the early or anarchonistic English Navy?

'Our Five year Circumnavigation Mission...to explore strange new isles...to seek out new cultures, civilizations, christians...to bodly go where no one has gone before...'

Episodes ranging from New York Harbor to the NE or NW passage, trying to find the pole. Of course you can spice it up with fantastical elements from LoveCraft to Atlantis and everyone in between.

The Klingons are now the Spanish/French? The Ferengi are the Dutch? The Romulans are the Swedes/Russians? Flare ups in the Spanish Main. Dealing with the Indian Rajs and Sultans of Indonesia. The Spice must flow...literally. An Episode going up the Congo river to the rapids and falls or up the Mississippi....

 

[Henoch]

Wouldn't Vulcan be an undersea, ocean world in this universe? Spock the half human love child of visiting aliens that once visited Earth? Lloyd Bridges the captain? If set in the late 19th century, the ship is like the Nautilus with that Victorian-Steampunk vibe. The main world powers are all deploying similar vessels now armed with torpedoes...

 

[StarCruiser]

Already been done - and quite well, thank you...

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[Captain Trekkie]

It would be the same show just with with water and islands instead of space and planets. The aliens would obviously be human but 99% of Star Trek aliens act like humans with strange habits anyway, so it wouldn't make much of a difference.

That's another downside to Star Trek and where Star Wars scores better. But let's not get into that on this thread. It can easily be discussed in another thread discussing the two in full detail.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Uhura would operate the sonar

She'd be a radioman

 

[Captain Trekkie]

The Klingons are now the Spanish/French? The Ferengi are the Dutch? The Romulans are the Swedes/Russians? Flare ups in the Spanish Main. Dealing with the Indian Rajs and Sultans of Indonesia. The Spice must flow...literally. An Episode going up the Congo river to the rapids and falls or up the Mississippi....

The Klingons are basically Mongolians in outer space according to Wikipedia. And from their looks, culture and habbits, that's pretty much true. Although they obviously don't speak Mongolian but speak Klingon.

 

[Captain Trekkie]

i too was inspired by this thread
something tells me it could actually been a good show

It would be. But these would probably be ceremonial uniforms and their actual sea gear would be futuristic stuff. For sure it would outclass Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, even if the inverse would be the same crew exploring outer space.

Mr Spock would also probably be better off different than that. He would have some traits of a sea creature, at least partially. For example the early concept art for Han Solo. He was described to be conceptualized as a green alien with gills. It would be much closer if not the same as my concept for a sea Spock:

 

[Shawnster]

This reminds me of what my ex-bf (or rather, then-bf) told me when he tried to convince me to watch TNG, which I really did NOT want to do since I had no interest in Star Trek. He said "a lot of the show could just as well be set on a submarine, a lot of episodes don't even have much to do with starships and battles, it's more like little morality tales". (He knew I'm not into science-fiction, I guess that's why he used this angle.)

Apparently it worked

 

[Brannigan]

I've always thought Star Trek would be interesting to see as a sail-going adventure. Our heroes are in the Kings Royal Navy aboard the HMS Enterprize (a real ship), and they are exploring the seas and visiting British islands and providence's. This would work much the same as some of the parallel earth episodes of TOS worked: A previous British captain or explorer visits an island and somehow contaminates it so the Crew of the Enterprize has to clean it up or help quell dissidence.
I feel like even though TOS was an American Show, it felt more like the Royal Navy of sail in space: Kirk acting as a Federation representative or diplomat much like British captains did during the age of sail, the Enterprise at times being out of contact with Earth, similar to how British ships could be gone a year or more from England. Plus it kind of allows a Horatio Hornblower type story telling, which was one of the inspirations for Kirk if I recall.

 

[Orphalesion]

I guess Troi would be a half-siren or something like that? Or a Circe-like sea witch? And Data would be a Homunculus, forged by an Alchemist?
Actually the Odyssey is a good way to look at how TNG, or any other Star Trek show might have worked as a "Sea Trek" instead of people form the future going to planets, you'd have a "Urban Fantasy" like crew from the age of discovery sailing some unknown archipelago with weird islands similar to those described in the Odyssey.

DS9 could take place on a far-off trade hub, with lots of ships passing through and such. The Bajorans would be another "magical" species...the Ferengi could be some sort of Sea Goblins and the Cardassians could be shark men.

 

[Tim Thomason]

I guess Troi would be a half-siren or something like that? Or a Circe-like sea witch? And Data would be a Homunculus, forged by an Alchemist?
Actually the Odyssey is a good way to look at how TNG, or any other Star Trek show might have worked as a "Sea Trek" instead of people form the future going to planets, you'd have a "Urban Fantasy" like crew from the age of discovery sailing some unknown archipelago with weird islands similar to those described in the Odyssey.

DS9 could take place on a far-off trade hub, with lots of ships passing through and such. The Bajorans would be another "magical" species...the Ferengi could be some sort of Sea Goblins and the Cardassians could be shark men.

Going by the Homeric mythos:
- TOS - Explorers of the Mediterranean in a long-ago time
- TNG - Explorers of the Mediterranean in the recent past (but still awhile back)
- DS9 - An island outpost on the far reaches of society dealing with strange invaders from farther out.
- Voyager - A ship swept off-course to some unknown sea, seeking passage or knowledge on how to return.
- Enterprise - Tales from either farther back than TOS of the first shipbuilders and seafarers in the earliest days of Man.
- Discovery - Returning to the days of TOS (the old stories), another group of seafarers involved in large-scale conflict. They found magic mushrooms that transported their craft through the realm of the Gods.
- Short Treks - Just some random odes and poems set throughout the old stories.
- Lower Decks - Humorous tales from another author set within the recent past (but still awhile back)