Here’s an idea. Suppose Star Trek had never been done. How would you redo the entire concept of Star Trek if you were creating the show today? Here’s my take:
Back Story: In the Twenty-First century, two pivital technologies are developed. One is practical sub-light interstellar travel. The second is human genetic engineering. Conflict breaks out over widely differing ideas on how to use genetic engineering to customize the human race, culminating at the end of the Twenty-first century with a series of upheavals collectively called the Eugenics Wars. The outcome of the wars is that Earth and the Solar system are mostly held by the traditionalist alliance, who disapprove of radical changes in the human genome. The various progressive and radical factions that propose major alterations of humanity flee Sol system to establish colonies in distant solar systems. The discovery that black holes are more common than previously realized and that they can be used for one-way FTL trips means that these “genohuman” colonies are scattered across thousands of lightyears of space.
Little is heard of the outcasts for the next few centuries. Earth gradually establishes cordial relations with the few nearest Sol (Alpha Centari, etc.) and these diplomatic ties become the nucleus of a United Federation of Systems. Then Federation scientists perfect warp drive, and now FTL travel is finally practical. The newly formed Starfleet is given the mission of seeking out and making contact with the various human and genohuman colonies scattered throughout the galaxy. Peacefully if possible, but prepared to defend the Federation if necessary.
The captain of the Enterprise has a somewhat unusual background. He is from an Earthside group of ultra-traditionalists who maintain the primitive customs of Twentieth-century America. (Which allows the Captain to be contemporary with the audience.) His first in command is an exchange officer from Vulcan, a genohuman member of the Federation, whose people experimented with trying to remove “primitive” emotion as much as possible.
In this version of Star Trek, the “aliens” are mostly Earth-descended humanoids, although some have been radically modified from what we think of as human. The stories mostly relate the various cultures that are discovered, usually illustrating some moral. An ongoing arc will also deal with hints that some intelligent species was around millions of years ago, and might have left some ruins/artifacts/legacy; but non-Earth descended aliens will not be apparent, due to Fermi’s Paradox (Where Are They?).
If it’s a different backstory, isn’t it more like different science fiction, rather than Star Trek?? Other than the use of the Federation and Vulcans, I fail to see the point.
Get rid of both the replicators and the holodecks, or at the very least, rework the concepts so that they aren’t magical wishing machines that can do anything. Too many episodes rely them as a crutch to make “ship in a bottle” stories.
I stopped watching TNG regularly after they started using that stupid holodeck. If I’d wanted to watch a roleplaying game, I’d participate in them myself.
Ooh. I don’t know if I’d redo anything about the original series. Other than improving Shield technology to quit folding after two or three hits.
I agree the holodeck did get a bit gimmicky after lotsa use. I did like the First Dixon Hill one (The Big Sleep?), which did have a very good point at the end. Outside of that, tho, if they wanted to do a story about the crew being Robin Hood and the merry men, just get Q.
Oh, they did that. Oops.
SPOOFE, about your comment that the Borg were cool until Voyager made them less formidable: I completely agree. They were unstoppable, terrifying aliens in TNG and Star Trek First Contact. Voyager made them into something to fall back on when no one could think of any other kinds of scary aliens or interesting plots. That’s what I meant when I said they should get rid of the Borg–they’re too tame now, and they’re just a crutch to pull the series along. It’s time to say farewell to them when Janeway can waltz right into the Borg stronghold, be assimilated, and then escape totally unharmed. Voyager runs circles around the Borg nowadays, and they aren’t nearly as terrifying as they once seemed. Get rid of 'em or make 'em more formidable is what I say.
Well, you’re right that they screwed up the Borg, but you’re wrong in how they screwed up the Borg…
In a TNG episode, in the earliest days of us knowing about the Borg, it was said that the Borg usually don’t bother with individual starships, especially if they don’t represent a significant source of technological or biological “addition” to the collective.
Now, the Borg are simply power-hungry maniacs, bent on assimilating anything and everything… not a one-minded race seeking perfection.
Back in the earliest TNG episodes, a Borg cube couldn’t care less about the Enterprise, and this apathy was what made them so… creepy. There was always this notion of “If the Borg wanted to attack, they’d decimate everyone who stood in their way.” After ST: FC and Voyager, this bubble was been burst.
And the Borg used to have a cooler greeting. “We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. Your cultural and biological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile.”
I seem to recall that the very first Borg episode on TNG was when “Q” threw the Enterprise at a Borg cube, and the Borg went after them. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems like the Borg wanted to assimilate Enterprise from the get-go, at least in that first episode. My memory of that episode is too dim to be of use, though, so you’re probably right. Certainly they did show apathy towards Picard and his crew in many instances, until they became a “threat.”
But wasn’t the reason Picard was assimilated just so the Borg could use him to launch an assault against Earth?
The Borg didn’t chase the Enterprise that far just to get one ship. It recognized that the Enterprise came from a culture they had never seen before and wanted to discover how to find it.
I heard somewhere that the reason the Borg’s response to Federation ships has changed is because Earth has become something of an obsession of the hive mind, because it has repeatedly resisted assimilation. Seems like post facto rationalization to me, though.
Fear Itself (but for whom we have nothing to fear) wrote:
I would go one very important step further than this:
GET RID OF THE TRANSPORTERS!!
They break just about every known law of physics (including, but not limited to, quantum mechanics). The only reason Roddenberry introduced transporters into the show at all was because the planetside set for the Galileo 7 shuttlecraft had not been built yet.
Couldn’t agree more. It doesn’t bother me that it breaks all known laws of physics - after all, the warp drive does that too. It’s just that it’s too powerful a tool to use effectively in a story. If a machine can scan, destroy and re-create any object, why can’t it also reproduce anything and anybody? Or store anything/anybody indefinitely, like critically injured patients? Surgery should be obsolete too - just scan, modify and recreate.
Actually, there are way too many overly powerful and underutilized technologies that should be gotten rid of. Time travel is definitely one of them. Rigidly defined and limited plot devices are usually far more effective.
My pet peeve is the way they transport down to the surface of an alien planet without any protection and without any idea of what’s down there. Completely unrealistic. They could at least beam down an unmanned probe first.
…I think the best of all the Star Trek episodes was TNG episode in which Picard is struck down by the probe and lives an entire life as someone else on another planet, which turns out to be a dead culture whose last bid at immortality was the probe. Anyone recall it?
As for things that sucked in Star Trek… ummm, Betazoid (?) tomfoolery was annoying… and I thought when Data got emotions it pretty much took his “charm” away.
What about the Betazoids bothered you? I had a bit of a problem with the fact that they were a species where every single individual was 100% telepathic with all other Betazoids (And most other humanoids), and yet they have complete individuality. Asimov’s Gaia was a better (though still slightly odd) take on a fully telepathic race.
Perhaps it was the way the role was played that I didn’t like - I never was able to accept Troi as a serious character, although finally getting her a uniform helped. Alas, the specifics of my annoyance are something tacit which I find hard to make explicit at this moment.
Top Ten Reasons The Federation Should Abolish Transporters
One in every four stories involves a transporter mishap.
They never work when they need them, and when they don’t need them, they always take a shuttlecraft, anyway.
Anybody can tap into the transporter system from anywhere in the ship, posing a massive security risk.
The pilots need the damn practice of flying through an atmosphere, anyway.
What if you’re transporting the alien ambassador over to your ship for peace talks, but the signal deteriorates and he dies. Betcha wished you took a shuttle then, huh, pal?
We don’t want to see Mr. Scott, older and fatter than ever, in the new series.
Imagine the jet lag…
If you try to transport a Hutt or Roseanne, it’ll drain all the power from your ship’s core.
What if some prank-minded ensign transports you into the mess hall while you’re sitting on the toilet?
Two words: Pattern buffer. Not exactly comforting, is it?
