I wish my Karma had run over your dogma.
Cervaise. I think your bad guys are called the Yuuzhan Vong. But you forgot to mention out the jedi. 
-Joe
Which would that be?
Nope. They’re Solarians.
They should bring back Gary & Mike.
My proposed outside threat is something new and something different (and nothing so prosaic as the, uh, SWEU self-mutilators :p; it’s a truly alien presence like Trek rarely attempts), but rather than being another gratuitous add-on to the universe like the Suliban, there’s a very good dramatic reason for the addition. Or, rather, there would have been, since I think the overall idea has been rendered obsolete now. Doesn’t really matter, anyway; the show wouldn’t be about the threat, it would be about the aftermath. And besides, like I said, BSG is already doing most of what I would have wanted to do narratively, so I don’t see the point in dwelling too much on hashing out the details of my specific premise.
My reason for offering it is simply to demonstrate that it’s possible, within the constraints of what we already know about the Trekverse, to do something new and interesting with it, and that as such there’s no reason to hoist the gravestone just yet. (Especially a gravestone that has the wrong middle initial. ;)) Mostly I wanted to shake up the mood and get us thinking about what we’d really like to see from a hypothetical new show, and I tossed in my description as an example of how you can make a Trek series that really is a Trek series in the Trek universe but that takes what we know and love about Trek and goes off in an unexpected but interesting direction.
That’s it. Trying to get away from the funereal atmosphere and spark some creative conversation, is all.
Huh? Are you speaking Dogg? Enterprise was boring. It had no character development of anyone except T’Pol and Archer in S3 (T’Pol’s developments were dumb and Archer’s were bungled). Many of the episode concepts were dopey and almost never had anything to say at deeper levels. The acting was all one level (the fault of the plots, not the performers). Oh, and did I mention that it was stultifyingly boring.?
Voyager didn’t have much character development, but most episodes in the last three seasons or so were enjoyable action stories with the occasional standout. DS9 was fantastic; after the first couple slow but thoughtful seasons they made several action-packed but thoughtful seasons and ultimately the most meaningful Trek series (although it rarely hit the glacial heights of the most excellent TNG episodes, it was oodles more consistent). Enterprise, OTOH? Boring.
–Cliffy
Star Trek: Porthos Religiously cancelled this Fall on UPN.
Join us as Rabbi Porthos and his First Officer Barfolomew sniff out new life and new circumcisions.
Hoshi: “Sir, the Antioch’s are gaining.”
Porthos: “Trop, we need more speed.”
Trop: “Sir, the dreidel, she canna spin no faster!”
[sub]Oh, you meant truly creative conversation. Hmmm, let’s see…[/sub]
Hopefully what the Star Trek franchise will learn from this is to not give their shows to UPN. We don’t even get UPN where I live, and if you want to watch Enterprise you have to record a replay of it Sunday mornings at 12:00 AM.
UPN totally bites, if you ask me.
If I were Paramount, I’d put Trek on ice for ten years, then get a whole new writer and production team to start up something. Maybe kick things off with a movie, and then use that as the “first episode”. Have things kick off after, say, some massive Q-related catastrophe that fucked things up, big time… destroyed the Federation, subspace, timelines, whatever. A Big Cosmic Reset Button. Get Star Trek back to its roots… exploring the strange and unknown.
Erase all the crap that’s accumulated. As of right now, in the Trek universe, everyone and his brother is omnipotent, there are seventeen alien species per known planet, and the Borg are the strongest, yet the weakest, monsters around. The Future Feds can do anything they want… there’s nowhere to go. Everything is headed towards one giant wankpit.
Here’s what they need to do: NO TIME TRAVEL. Fuck that shit. Once you open that can of worms, you’re screwed. Only two movie series’ in history have handled time travel well, and those were Back to the Future and the Bill & Ted flicks. If you’re not either of those, NO TIME TRAVEL.
Fuck, Paramount should give me ten grand and six months, and I can plot out a bitchin’ storyline. But then, I’m sure every fanwriter thinks that… well, guess what? I’m not a fan!
I agree wholeheartedly. When I heard the premise for the series I thought that it really had the potential to be great. I don’t know why they didn’t take advantage of the chance.
New Jersey.
But you wouldn’t make any money off of it. You probably wouldn’t have the job in ten years.
Concepts I’ve thought need would Star Trek: Maquis. Esenitally rip off Firefly.
Star Trek: Colony. A miniseries. Set it before Enterprise. The journey of the colonists to the planet over a year long journey. The Usual Unexpected Life Form Already There. Maybe cover two of three colonies with different problems and issues.
Star Trek: Romulan War Enterprise era ships fighting the Romulans.
No time travel is a very good idea.
Very much agreed. When you start doing time travel episodes, it’s time to fire your writers.
http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp02032005.shtml
Applies to most every fandom.
Long-term investment. They’ve already milked the cow dry for forty years… continuing to do so is harming their image, which is harming EVERY product they put out.
Maybe ten years would be too long, but several years would be necessary. Put together a nice, quality movie, let it kickstart a new incarnation of the series.
Outside…
The final frontier.
These are the voyages of the Space Dog Porthos.
His continuing mission, to explore strange new paths.
To pee on new plants and new mailbox posts.
To boldly GO where no dog has gone before.
I agree, and I liked your idea.
Just tell them don’t dare give it to [url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0370263/]Paul Anderson**, or we’ll end up with Jem Hadar vs. Darth Vader.
(Or worse… Tribble vs. Ewok 
)
:: firing up temporal vortex generator ::
:: opening “Make your own Temporal Incursion Ray” kit ::
:: assembling parts ::
:: heading off to 1980 to erase the Barmaga from history ::
Here’s one thing I’ve ben thinking about…
Star Trek hasn’t been cancelled. Just the latest series. Star Trek has been a part of TV, movies, and even books and Vegas theme hotels for as long as most of us have been alive. It permeates our sci-fi viewing culture. And it always will.
A new Trek, either movie or TV series, maybe even TV movie or mini series will come along and totally blow us away once again. Or at least keep us happily occupied.
As long as we find a way to keep Braga and Berman occupied with something else. My long term prediction has Manny co producing a series of made for cable movies that take advantage of his long story telling/guiding ability. Prediction? you say. Or just a wish?
Heh … that threshold has long since been shattered. I remember seeing “Get A Life” – which didn’t even make it to a third season – in syndication on USA.