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What If TNG Was Based During the Lost Era?

Klingons would still be enemies.

Yeah and that makes me wonder what the Berman era alien enemies would've been like if the Klingons were still filling the primary antagonists role. The Ferengi might still show up as side villains but what about the Borg and the Cardassians?
 
Klingons would still be enemies.
10 years after khitomer? they wouldnt be best freinds, but they also wouldn't be enemy's. It would be another few years untill ST6 did happen, but they could have just let it be not said why there more freindly, hell in ST4 they were talking about a peace treaty.. Just having them not be openly hostile..
Romulans, could have had a 20 year isolation instead of 50..
Honestly, it would be just some small details, bit of polishing, it could be carried out just as it was shown.
 
I know many fans want to know more about the era between Generations (the beginning) and TNG. And basing TNG 75 years later is quite unprecedented for it's time. But it has me wondering: what if TNG came right the Voyage Home? How different would it be? Idk, I feel like it would be an interesting What if scenario

Some ideas I assume would've happened:

1. Picard would've commanded the Excelsior or another Excelsior-class ship

2. More TOS aliens would show up so I'm curious how that would affect TNG/DS9 aliens.

3. On that note, maybe a few more crossovers with TOS main characters.

I've gone through this a number of times over the years.... and if TNG came right after Voyage Home....

It would have been on the "A" and it would have included most of the original cast at one point or another. The "A" would still have a holodeck.

They would explore Kirk's feelings with both the Cadet and the Klingon as part of the crew, considering what happened with David.

Spock would be a recurring character, only showing up for big event episodes. McCoy would be replaced by the end of Season 1, by his granddaughter, Katherine. McCoy would start out bickering with The Android, and it would shift after the first season. Kirk would like to tease the Android with logic puzzles. At some point, Scotty and the Blind Pilot would have a storyline together where engineering needs the Blind Pilot to help with something/needs his tech, and they take him under their wing, to eventually replace Doohan.

Chekov and Uhura are senior officers and department heads. Say, Security Chief and Second Officer/Ops if its a thing. They finally get the spotlight.

A version of Decker/Ilia is still imported, so we still get the young officer arguing with the Captain, and his oversexualized former girlfriend.

Most of the same beats would get hit as TNG, but with a TOS movie aesthetic and OG cast members.

Maybe Spock, in one of his special appearances, would be taken by the Borg. Maybe connect it to V'ger. Would Kirk-as-Locutus work?

The pilot would be a callback to the original series, and de Lancie would be playing Trelane.
 
Interesting analysis. I still feel the captain would be Picard but Kirk would probably regularly appear. His feelings about Worf would certainly be interesting although in STIV & V he didn't seem to particularly hate the Klingons.

I definitely would like to see Kirk and Spock meet the Borg. Spock confronting their emotionless collective could lead to more introspection about suppressing his own emotions. I think them meeting the Ferengi would also be somewhat of an interesting storyline

I would hope whatever the Illia type alien is would actually be interesting and not the bland Deltans/Betazoids. Maybe an Andorian or a Trill or something else

I know many have connected Trelane to Q so making it more overt is definitely a possibility. Same with V'Ger and the Borg.
 
Interesting analysis. I still feel the captain would be Picard but Kirk would probably regularly appear. His feelings about Worf would certainly be interesting although in STIV & V he didn't seem to particularly hate the Klingons.

Shatner was still doing TV, so I don't see the point of wasting the opportunity. For this thought experiment, I'm returning to the original Phase II concept of Kirk being a little older and more experienced, like Picard, but also needing to adapt himself, what with the Decker/Riker type leading away teams and being the devil's advocate. We skip V altogether by jumping from TVH to the TNG/P2 TV show, so his issues with Klingon's at this point are completely unexplored. Having The Cadet in the same place as The Klingon brings these issues to a head.

I definitely would like to see Kirk and Spock meet the Borg. Spock confronting their emotionless collective could lead to more introspection about suppressing his own emotions. I think them meeting the Ferengi would also be somewhat of an interesting storyline

Thats part of why I am undecided on who would become Locutus - Spock may be a natural choice, because he's already melded with V'Ger! But from a dramatic standpoint, for Kirk of all people, to lose his indviduality, and putting Spock in the chair for the Special Event Episode Guest Appearance to face down his old friend..... stakes have never been higher.


I would hope whatever the Illia type alien is would actually be interesting and not the bland Deltans/Betazoids. Maybe an Andorian or a Trill or something else.

Someone else brought up Miranda Jones, and I'm thinking of the New Humans / Humans with Psi potential like Mitchell, so they could go any number of directions with The Empath/Telepath. Definitely hope for a better result that Ilia or Troi.

I know many have connected Trelane to Q so making it more overt is definitely a possibility. Same with V'Ger and the Borg.

They could still name his race the "Q" and keep everything including DeLancie the same. Just background world building back to TOS is more acceptable here, since its only a couple years later, and should be emphasized rather than ignored.



Obviously, there is no reason to remake Naked Time this go round, but a lot of the other S1 episodes would still work extremely well.



This whole concept of mine started because I think its a damn shame we never got to see the "A" / refit in a weekly series and I think it would have been a sight to behold. realizing it launched and TOS got its "reset button" immediately before TNG launched, and my overall prference for the TOS crew anyways..... yeah.... lol.
 
There was really nothing shown in TNG that couldn't have happened 20 years after the TOS films rather than 80. The only thing that springs to mind is "Yesterday's Enterprise," but they could have used the Enterprise-A for that rather than the C.

It would put Kirk, McCoy and Spock in the position to become those Evil and Meddlesome admirals we saw in TNG....
 
They would not have used the Enterprise-A studio model as the hero ship in TNG. The model was too large and unwieldy to film. And making a smaller model would have lost much of the detailing that the larger model had.

Also, the original plan was to keep making a slew of TOS movies while TNG was being shown on television, necessitating the need for two different ships. Of course in actuality this was completely nonviable, as TFF showed.
 
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Shatner was still doing TV, so I don't see the point of wasting the opportunity.

I don't think he would be willing to do *the new show*, at least for the first 3-4 years he would also see it as competition and keep insisting that it couldn't work, fans wouldn't accept a new show without the original cast or at least the original lead.
 
I don't think he would be willing to do *the new show*, at least for the first 3-4 years he would also see it as competition and keep insisting that it couldn't work, fans wouldn't accept a new show without the original cast or at least the original lead.

But he would be the original lead. In this reimagining most of the original crew is still there or at least guest appearancing. So what if, is no more movies after the reset button in voyage home is hit, everything goes back to TV for the new show. I'm not saying it's realistic but an interesting thought story narrative wise.
 
Might there be a way to headcanon STNG not so long after the original casts' movies?
I don't know, just thought about it, there might be something weird about it?
 
It would be interesting but I wouldn't want to miss out on Picard.

However I'd be curious to see Kirk & Spock be good admirals on the show. And skipping ST5 isn't something that bothers me

If they didn't use the A model then I think they'd still use an Excelsior model
 
IMO, Picard was one of the weaker parts of the original show. At the time, I wanted him to stay a Borg and have Capt. Riker, Shelby and Data as the leads. I would trade him for more Shatner/TOS, ten times out of ten, with no hesitation. YMMV of course.

The Excelsior was designed to be the "ugly villain ship" of ST3. I know a more filmable model would need to be made, but the initial draw of this thought excercise, for me personally, was imagining an entire series of wonderful angles and shots of the "A" as a weekly special effect.

As the older TOS regulars are slowly replaced (McCoy with Pulaski, Scotty with Geordi) and Spock only as a recurring, anyways, you could definitely get away with the TOS Admirals bit, but I don't imagine Kirk stepping down any time soon when he JUST got his command back. Even in the official canon, there could be a 3rd 5ym there.

When Shatner is finally ready to move on, you can introduce Picard, as the new Jellico-style hated incoming Captain. LMAO!
 
One of the weaker aspects? Picard is one of the few actually fleshed out TNG crewman. Riker is rather bare by comparison though enjoyable at times. And tbh having another Kirk like captain would just make the show more in t herh shadow of TOS.

And tbh, 1 of my issues with Trek is characters being stuck in the same position for 25 years. Having Kirk go backwards falls into that trap.

I still wish we got to see him interact with the Borg, the Ferengi and the Cardassians. But he didn't have to be in the same chair to do that
 
But Kirk DID go backwards. As a PUNISHMENT. And the end of an arc showing that it was always his best destiny. Not stangation for 25 years, but as a full circle learning curve.

There is no way we get to see Kirk interact with any of that other fun stuff if he ISN'T the star of the show. Its the reason they didn't bring TOS stars into TNG for so long - they didn't want to overshadow the new characters.

This is the way around that. Full integration. The show wouldn't be in the shadow of TOS. It would BE TOS.



Sorry, I've never been interested in Picard as a character, I don't think he was all that multi-dimensional, and that he was quite often an arrogant hypocrite. I agree with very little of TNG's philosophy, and would happily keep the interesting parts, and roll everything back to the TOS Gold Standard.

Let Picard get lost in the Delta Quadrant for all I care.

(if we insist on Picard, I guess we could Punish Kirk by sending him to command Deep Space Nine instead, but I would rather lose Picard than Sisko, given the choice.)
 
But that's exactly my issue: Kirk going backwards

And he coudlve always come back like Spock did: for a 2 or 3 parter

Also, what's wrong with TNG's philosophy?
 
In reality, Shatner and Nimoy would never have participated in TNG. They were both vociferously against it when it first premiered, most likely because they were worried that it would overshadow them in popularity. But for this thought experiment, I would have had them (and the rest of the TOS cast) only in the first season, and then just as guest stars to help segue the main cast into the show. I would have had Riker as Kirk's XO on the Enterprise-A (rather than DeSoto's XO on the Hood), and the rest as replacements for the main cast. Picard would have been in command of the Stargazer for the last 20 years (after The Voyage Home), and just recently given the promotion to captain of the Enterprise-B. As one of his last actions as captain before his retirement, Kirk would recommend Riker for transfer to the B as Picard's XO. Beverly would have studied under McCoy as the head nurse on the A and would also get transferred to the B and a promotion to CMO. Geordi, Data and Yar would be transferred from different ships, Worf would be part of the Federation/Klingon exchange program, and Troi would be a civilian and her first posting as counselor would be on the B, as this would be a brand-new position.
 
In reality, Shatner and Nimoy would never have participated in TNG. They were both vociferously against it when it first premiered, most likely because they were worried that it would overshadow them in popularity. But for this thought experiment, I would have had them (and the rest of the TOS cast) only in the first season, and then just as guest stars to help segue the main cast into the show. I would have had Riker as Kirk's XO on the Enterprise-A (rather than DeSoto's XO on the Hood), and the rest as replacements for the main cast. Picard would have been in command of the Stargazer for the last 20 years (after The Voyage Home), and just recently given the promotion to captain of the Enterprise-B. As one of his last actions as captain before his retirement, Kirk would recommend Riker for transfer to the B as Picard's XO. Beverly would have studied under McCoy as the head nurse on the A and would also get transferred to the B and a promotion to CMO. Geordi, Data and Yar would be transferred from different ships, Worf would be part of the Federation/Klingon exchange program, and Troi would be a civilian and her first posting as counselor would be on the B, as this would be a brand-new position.

Shatner and Nimoy were against it? Dang

I think your concept works. Maybe Troi would actually do something. But I still think she coudlve been an alien. Just a more interesting and distinct looking alien
 
I would also have had a lot more conflict among the crew, such as:

-there would still be enmity against the Klingon Empire, so Worf and the crew would have a hard time adjusting to each other (perhaps Yar came from a colony that was attacked by the Klingons, etc);

-there would be tension about having an android crewmember (perhaps Geordi would feel resentment about having to work with Data, etc.);

-Picard's aforementioned anxiety about being in Kirk's shadow as captain of the Enterprise;

-Riker, having served under Kirk, might undermine Picard's actions, thinking 'This isn't how Kirk would have done things,' etc.)

-Tension between Picard and Crusher about Wesley, and who his real father might be, etc.

I understand that this scenario would probably not work well in 1987 for a brand-new sequel to the original Star Trek, but it would definitely feel more realistic than the 'everybody gets along' mentality that Roddenberry had for the show.
 
I would also have had a lot more conflict among the crew, such as:

-there would still be enmity against the Klingon Empire, so Worf and the crew would have a hard time adjusting to each other (perhaps Yar came from a colony that was attacked by the Klingons, etc);

-there would be tension about having an android crewmember (perhaps Geordi would feel resentment about having to work with Data, etc.);

-Picard's aforementioned anxiety about being in Kirk's shadow as captain of the Enterprise;

-Riker, having served under Kirk, might undermine Picard's actions, thinking 'This isn't how Kirk would have done things,' etc.)

-Tension between Picard and Crusher about Wesley, and who his real father might be, etc.

I understand that this scenario would probably not work well in 1987 for a brand-new sequel to the original Star Trek, but it would definitely feel more realistic than the 'everybody gets along' mentality that Roddenberry had for the show.

Yeah, I agree. Not everyone would necessarily get along. Especially Worf.

Keeping that in mind, I'd have made Starfleet less Earth centric if it's supposed to represent the whole Federation

Also, I would've made the Ferengi more formidable from the get go, rather than hopping around so goofily
 
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