What kinds of storylines has Trek never had before?
Where no storyline has gone before
- Thread starter Laura Cynthia Chambers
- Start date
I suppose there's always new tropes being created - but they're just variations on older versions.
My first thought would be a storyline similar to that of Waiting For Godot. (that is, if you accept the plot as a storyline in the first place)
A story where two characters simply talk? That's kind of a Trek speciality.
(I'm speaking in generalities of course.)
If we’re looking at story fodder for future series, how about transhumanism and next steps in evolution—an Orville episode began to touch on this with one species that’s evolved beyond the concept of self. Also artificial intelligence in our everyday lives, living starships, the implications of super intelligences running things beyond ones on troubled little planets of the week, post-democratic societies, genetic-engineering that works, the ins and outs (teeheehee) of polyamorous relationships, new characters and aliens of known and unknown species with which to explore many things (sci-fi, and the world, is less awkward with sex today, maybe it’s time we do the Deltans right), quantum computing, nanotechnology, the dynamics of societies more focused on feeling superior than one side or resenting the other than moving into the future together, baddies that are sinister by not being sinister, are fleets problematic to begin with, where have familiar aliens evolved to now, episodes from the lower decks’, aliens’, and antagonists’ perspectives, lots of different new non-humanoids (with familiar and curious new ways of thinking), yadda yadda yadda…the unknown possibilities of existence.
Love, life, laughter…family and adventure. Sign me up.
Love, life, laughter…family and adventure. Sign me up.
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At the moment, I'd just say ''see THE SUBSTANCE.'' You'll find residual similarities to some TREK, and others to THE FLY, SOCIETY, BLACK SWAN and others. But other than certain fan-fictions, TREK's not known for its body-horror except for TUVIX......and believe me, THE SUBSTANCE is worse in situation yet better in execution.
The Federation civil war
A nonhuman captain in charge of the Enterprise and the main character
A nonhuman captain in charge of the Enterprise and the main character
In 'Darmok' the Tamarians communicated through metaphors.
If there already isn't one what if there was a culture that communicated only with music?
If there already isn't one what if there was a culture that communicated only with music?
At least
The Seven Basic Plots - Wikipedia
36, some say:
The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations - Wikipedia
A good depression storyline. Both Voyager and Discovery's attempts were wet farts.
- A love story: I've had this weird idea that they should look at the KDrama model and mix it with Star Trek. A limited series set around a crisis but the two main characters are a Starfleet officer sent to a world on a mission and falls in love with one of the residents, and you have the parallel stories of them meeting and falling in love while the Trek-iness stuff is happening in the background and they're eventually pulled into it. And it can go through all of the usual tropes a KDrama has. They meet, slowly fall in love, and then circumstances (e.g., exes, angry family members, etc.) try their best to keep them apart.
- Fiasco: There's a Stanislaw Lem story called "Fiasco" that's fascinating, and it deals with humanity attempting to make first contact with a species, only to fundamentally misunderstand why the species doesn't respond. There are elements of the story that wouldn't work for Star Trek, but I think the idea would be an interesting one for Star Trek, in a "what if?" Starfleet screwed up BADLY and totally misunderstood an interaction with a species and caused a mess.
- What are the limits of the Federation's kindness?: Picard season 1 touches on this to a degree, but a key characteristic of the Federation is the idea of peaceful coexistence of all species through cooperation and friendship. But does that have limits? What if the Federation ever encountered a species whose very nature was so repugnant it caused a split between members of the Federation? Think of it this way. What if the Federation encountered a species like the Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise, who on their homeworld and within their own space went all chestburster on the species under their control, but promised peace and goodwill with the Federation? Should the Federation take that offer of peace? Or are there some things that the Federation can't tolerate or give the appearance of condoning, even in the name of peace? Something similar to this is the starting off point for the Roddenberry inspired series Andromeda, where the Federation government equivalent, the Systems Commonwealth, makes a peace with a species called the Magog who reproduce by laying their eggs inside other sentient species. Elements within the Systems Commonwealth take this kindness as a sign of the Systems Commonwealth's weakness, and it becomes torn apart into civil war.
The 3rd one could easily have been produced by using the Borg, I think. While the Borg enter into a peace treaty (talks) with the Federation, they happily keep on assimilating non-Federation humanoid races. How does the Federation react to that?
A Federation civil war story would be deeply disappointing to me. The underlying ethos of Trek is that we can make the world better if we all just try to do so, and the Federation deeply embraces the idea that problems are best solved by talking.
I could see a situation in which the Federation split into multiple polities. But a story where those polities ended at war with each other doesn't fit in Star Trek. Save that for Star Wars or Battlestar Galactica.
I'd love to see a nonhuman captain, either as the main veiwpoint character or in a show where the viewpoint character wasn't the captain but rather a junior officer. Sort-of like Kendra Shaw from BSG Razor.
Threshhold, Identity Crisis, Genesis.
It’d be cool if they could do something with the four sexes thing.
The first couple of episodes of Andor, before the actual space-thriller stuff kicked in, struck me as something I’d never seen before: basically, mainstream fiction that just happened to be set in the Star Wars universe, where everybody’s concerns are entirely local, character-centered and not at all fantastic. That might be interesting to see in Star Trek, if briefly.
PG-13 body horror, yes. But having been SUBSTANCEd last week by Demi Moore........let's just say that's no-holds-barred ai-yai-yai grodymax which will deter most of us from ever eating jello again.
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