What were the proposed ideas for a new series?

[Greg Cox]

No it didn't.

Of course it did. That was the whole point.

Pretending otherwise is just denial.

Wait, what? The point of the way they did it (creating a new, parallel timeline) was to allow "our" prime timeline to remain (mostly) intact. They even say it in the movie.

Sorry. I thought you were denying that the new movie had happened, or that maybe that somehow the new timeline was somehow going to revert back to the old timeline. Guess I've seen too many people arguing that way and jumped to the wrong assumption.

Granted, to my mind, worrying about whether the old timeline still exists is kind of like wondering how many Klingons can dance on the head of a pin. We're never going to see it again (except in the books and comics), so why does it matter?

 

[Myasishchev]

I find it funny the strange looks I get from fellow fans when I say just jump ahead another 100 years and have another Enterprise.
It's a simple idea and the most likely to succeed. Niche shows like an all Klingon crew or the story of smugglers or something probably won't last long.

I agree with the latter point. (Firefly may have shown that such a show wouldn't last even if it were good; and modern Trek has not been very good at being good for long time...)

As for the former point, a century jump might be be too far to comfortably portray. As it stands, the Federation already looks somewhat stagnant in the late 24th century, with only two major innovations (replicators and holodecks) distinguishing it from the 23d, and not much more in the way of social change (some of first season TNG's bizarre postulations notwithstanding)--although this is definitely intentional, given Roddenberry's "end of history"-like belief in the social development of his "evolved humanity."

If another hundred years have passed, could the Federation realistically still be struggling with basic sci-fi concepts like sapient rights for AI, or failed to have figured out that their technology could logically be used to permit (and has been shown to permit) immortality? A 25th century show that didn't include a frankly transhuman dimension would come off, to me, as inauthentic--yet at the same time Trek has, till now, been humanistic to a fault and openly antagonistic to transhumanism.

Even the main villains were centred around the captains, in DS9 and TNG. The Borg are relentless, you cant talk and negotiate with them, the perfect challenge for Picard. The Dominion, though sometimes violent, mainly trys to invade the alpha qaundrant through political manipulation, alliances and treatise, the perfect challenge for such a passionate leader as Sisko.

I rather like this analysis. Hadn't thought of that before.

I dont know how this could be done without being an obvious touch up of VOY, but thats what I would like to see. A situation where the captain doesnt have the experience, but needs to learn fast to cope with new realities, and really needs to learn from his mistakes. I know it will be ridiculed, but I imagine someone like Niles Crane, a man or woman who was so NOT made for this task, but has this task thrust upon him, put in a situation where he isnt just at a desk, but where his desicions cost lives, and hes there to see the bloodshed. Where the ship cant support holodecks or replicators, where theres nothing to distract the crew from going stir-crazy. Testing out the starfleet ideals in a place far from starfleet on the edge of total desperation. I think this would really emphasis the humanity that is so present in good Trek.

It does sound like an obvious retouch of Voyager, but it is still a good idea. At the same time, it reminds me of that goofy sketch the cast of Frasier did where they were the crew of Voyager. (On the other hand, this probably would have made a less goofy and more entertaining series than Voyager. Even with all the easily-sorted-out-if-they-thought-about-it-but-still-hilarious mistakes of identity and motivation that would necessarily ensue.) In twenty or thirty years, I could see someone making a serious effort to remake Voyager along those lines.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Of course it did. That was the whole point.

Pretending otherwise is just denial.

Wait, what? The point of the way they did it (creating a new, parallel timeline) was to allow "our" prime timeline to remain (mostly) intact. They even say it in the movie.

.

Granted, to my mind, worrying about whether the old timeline still exists is kind of like wondering how many Klingons can dance on the head of a pin. We're never going to see it again (except in the books and comics), so why does it matter?

I agree. Any Trek we see in the future will be in this NuTrek universe. I think the new movie was obviously a total reboot and the mention of alternate timelines was to placate most of the fans.
If Star Trek itself weren't this huge juggernaut of fandom then they wouldn't mention alternate timelines at all.

Though I just got the Trek novel Inception and in my mind's eye it'll still be Shatner and Nimoy speaking their lines.

 

[Zakk]

I think an new series should focus more on captain pike and his adventures I always thought it would interesting to see the enterprise under his command and maybe an younger looking Spock

 

[Nerys Myk]

Trek Rock. A weekly hour-long SF musical. It can't miss.

 

[Nardpuncher]

I think an new series should focus more on captain pike and his adventures I always thought it would interesting to see the enterprise under his command and maybe an younger looking Spock

The new movie just told us what happens to Pike though.

 

[ReadyAndWilling]

What about a show set outside of the galaxy?

What about something where the Federation, or Alpha Quadrant species align themselves and set out to explore regions that no AQ species has ever been?

that would be epic. imagine having a ship filled with cardassians, klingons, romulans, and the regular federation people.

they could even have a fleet instead of one ship.

i'd love it if they made it similar to B5; having the show completely scripted out in one pack, rather than having it done per season as in DS9 or per episode in Voy.

 

[ReadyAndWilling]

bump

 

[GalaxyClass1701]

The next series IMO shouln't be a series at all, it should be a serial like 24 were every episode connects. The last two seasons of DS( were partial serials it is much more exciting.

 

[Mirror_Barclay]

I'm sure anthology ideas have popped up, but for me what television is uniquely good at is developing a cast of characters. Anthology shows can't do that; neither can the movies.

 

[milo bloom]

I'm sure anthology ideas have popped up, but for me what television is uniquely good at is developing a cast of characters. Anthology shows can't do that; neither can the movies.

Like I said, an anthology show set on a repair station. Have the recurring cast be the base engineers/mechanics and other personnel (ranging from officers to noncoms for a wide variety of characters), but also have the visiting starship crews come in and out each week to spice things up (this would also give the producers the ability to "test drive" new starship crews for possible ship-based spinoff shows).

 

[Penta]

Problem I see: An anthology series like that would be amazingly expensive to produce. Especially in terms of sets and CGI models.

 

[milo bloom]

Problem I see: An anthology series like that would be amazingly expensive to produce. Especially in terms of sets and CGI models.

Honest question: how expensive is it to do "palette swaps" with CGI models? By which I mean simply changing the name and registry of a ship so one CGI model can represent many different vessels in that particular line?

Believe me, I gave the idea of cost some thought, I still think it could be doable. I imagine you'd save some money by not having an ongoing crew constantly asking for pay raises each year, and I've noticed in our rewatch of TNG s1, we've already seen three bridge sets (regular, battle and Stargazer) so that wouldn't be horribly expensive either.

I think there would some value in an anthology format, especially if, like I mentioned upthread, you could use it to test concepts for full spinoffs of regular type series.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

This was started almost a week ago? I missed it.
Can this be moved to Future of Trek for discussion?

 

[Misfit Toy]

Why yes. Yes it can.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

serialized

The next series IMO shouln't be a series at all, it should be a serial like 24 were every episode connects. The last two seasons of DS( were partial serials it is much more exciting.

Wasn't certain seasons of ENT standalone episodes and then there were serialized story arcs spread over multiple episodes?
I believe the fan retention rate is affected with serialized TV:
my post from New Fan Retention Rate thread

There are 3 ways the next Trek series can go:
1. standalone episodes
2. some continuing story threads and 2 or 3 parter episodes
3. serialized storytelling which requires a recap at the start of the show wasting 1 whole minute.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

There were no proposed ideas for a new series after ENT.

There's a ton of stuff they could do, proposed around here - alien-centric series, Fall of the Federation, another stab (more accurate this time) at Birth of the Federation, Fed Civil War, post-Dom-War, Eugenics War Era, planet-based, Earth-based, far-flung future, anthology, even time travel or Academy based though those are often cited as ideas nobody should ever, ever do.

The jury is way out on whether CBS has any interest in doing another series. If they did, it would only be because of the interest spawned by JJ Abrams' success.

Yes, excluding all temporal precedents is certainly that easy.

See the TNG ep Parallels.

Time travel in Trek has no internal consistency so any type of story is possible. I just describe the Trek XI situation as parallel realities rather than timelines. The time travel stories are within a single timeline, but that's not what Trek XI is about. See? Problem solved.

TOS was about exploration, about going boldly where no man had gone before.

The funny thing is, it wasn't. It was about the Feds playing Space Soldier and Space Cop for the Federation and its interests; doing some diplomacy; having some personal adventures unrelated to their job description; and doing some exploration (often with the goal of either correcting Fed blunders, inducting new members into the Federation, gaining important contacts for the Federation, often related to resources, and the like).

Really, TOS was: Kirk & the gang go boldly to serve Fed interests, expand Fed power, fend of Fed enemies, protect Fed colonies and outposts, and chart some nebulae in their spare time. This may not sound as romantic as exploration for its own sake, but having the Federation serve as the rationale for most of the stories is a strong organizing principle. I'd like to see the next series, for example, return to the long-neglected role of Starfleet as the Federations' cops.

 

[Maestro]

Set a Captain Pike series in the Prime Universe. Or a Bob Wesley series. Going in to the 25th Century puts it too far in the future. A Fall of the Federation is too Andromeda/too BSG. To bold go...

 

[CaptAhab]

Of Course there could be a Special Ops Star Trek based upon Section 31, . . . .

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I'd like to see another 24th century Trek, either Post-Nemesis in the Prime Timeline, or the first half of the century (2300-2350).

One thing I would like to see would be a gay Captain.

-Brydon