Star Trek series ideas revisited

Cafe Society
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A while back (its too old to resurect w/o violating forum protocol) there was a thread where people talked about and shared ideas about what would be another good series w/i the Star Trek Pantheon. I remember reading it, while lurking, and thinking it had great ideas.

One of the ideas that impressed me most was the idea of a ‘stolen ship’ being chased by an Ahab-esque captain and crew. I thought about it…and here’s how I see it setting up:

We are introduced to a group of people who are normal merchant space travellers…perhaps with families. They operate salvage operations, but work hasn’t been plentiful and they are rather poor (Dark under-belly of the Federation). Due to bureacratic nonsense, they have been cheated out of their business, all except the rights to one asteroid, for mining purposes.

Now, they have exclusive rights or reservations to everything found in this chunk of rock…and when they start chipping away, the find the tip of the hull of a ship.

Working quickly but secretly, they learn that it is a duplicate of the USS Reliant ( destroyed in ST2). The hull’s properties are clearly different than SF’s…its clearly a different ship, that formed at the center of planet Genesis when it was created. There is no life on board (No Khan, sorry.), but once free chipped free of the rock around it, it would be perfectly useable, if old, and all of their families could live on board and maybe operate their business from there.

There is clear title to the ship granted fully legally, before its discovery was disclosed/announced, and after it is freed, there is a large news story about it.

But, the Federation decides to reneg on the deal…and has decided to confiscate the ship w/o any compensation. The various people lok to their captain, who decides that there isn’t too much for any ofthem to look forward to in this sector of space. And the Federation can’t steal what’s not in its jurisdiction…so the ship is quickly loaded and heads at high warp away from Federation space.

Elsewhere, a disgraced captain, who only has the job due to political appointment and family connections, is ordered to chase them and re-capture the ship, regardless of consequences or lives lost.

Its a sort of forced exploration…where the Reliant’s crew have their freedom and lives at stake. The other crew, the dregs of the Federation, have only known patrol duty, restocking at starbases. the Reliant’s crew are adept at trading and taking merchant jobs; the other no. Still, all it takes is one mistake and everyone, from the bridge crew to the families, lives are over.

I think that it would be an interesting contrast…and would make a good series. Think “The Fugitive”, but in space.

I guess my question is: Would you watch it…?

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I’d watch it…

My idea:

Do a “History Channel” type of series… where the charectors and ships are very fluid, and the story archs are just enough to cover some detail…

This week on Trek History, we cover the Romulan Earth Wars… Next week Khan, truly evil or just misunderstood? They could include already filmed snippets (canon material) as well as expand upon the ideas… taken as a “look back”, they could have all kinds of fun.

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re: OP Sounds like Star Trek: Serenity.

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Oh yeah. The colony where the young Kirk saw Kodos or whoever kill some colonists to save the others.

The Romulans leave Vulcan.

The ship that was lost before “A Piece of the Action”.

The Klingon rulers.

You could do at least a season with this kind of stuff.

5

How about an all-new show, set during the Classic Trek era?

On, perhaps, a smaller, less-powerful ship, with a less brilliant crew?

After all, the Constitution-Class Heavy Cruisers were staffed with 100% Officers, to make them elite-level vessels–Superships. But Starfleet has Enlisted Personnel, too.

And a former cargo vessel, retrofitted as an explorer/mapping ship, with limited weapons, could force non-combat solutions, making for more interesting (or at least more contrived) scripts.

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I’ve always wanted to see a ST show about a ship captained by a cynical misfit who realized and resents the dark side of the federation and has a crew to match: con artists and womanizers (or, um…“menizers?” in the case of female crewmembers) and drunks, or political firebrands…

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How bout the Earth - Klingon wars from the Klingon POV?

Khaless - Klingon or Myth?

Could even do it from the future, where they could do “What If” scenarios and play with the timelines… (The Enterprise D goes back with the C, etc…)

Not that I should get excited about my own ideas or anything…

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You know, I was worried someone would complain about that. Obviously, I would want it to be written in a completely different manner. I just wanted it to be away from the rules and regulations of the military, as I think that it would open things up more. That, and I wanted to show the dark side of the Federation…where there is still corruption and nepotism and cronyism. I wanted to show that it is not ‘always right’, the way it has in cookie-cutter fashion in the past. That, and I wanted to keep the family aspect of the show (teaching school in a converted science lab).

Its an older ship, so its weapons wouldn’t be a match for major battles. But I was also thinking that the hull would be found to have unusual properties in a good way (hard to lock-on to, possible stealth and or regenerative features) from its unnatural creation.

I’m still thinking it could be more David Jansen’s ‘The Fugitive’ than ‘Star Trek: Serenity’. Heck, we could name the captain of the persuit ship Captain Gerard…

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And this is a bad thing because…?

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You mean like the New Battlestar Galactica?

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How about a Star Trek series about the travails of six single young Starfleet officers – three male, and three female – as they hang out in the local raktajino bar?

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Good idea.
Firefly was a great series.
Trek had some great incarnations.
DS9 explored the dark side of Star Trek.
A series about a Maquis group operating like Firefly sounds good to me.
They can’t afford phasers and transporters and avoid Star Fleet. Hell, I’d view it as damned boring if they were involoved with Star Fleet in more than 10% of the episodes.

13

Naw, just ONE ship, not the whole Federation…

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For years now, I’ve been wanting to see a series about the Federation Marines (Makos, right?). I’m tired of seeing the fluffy pink side of the Star Trek universe, with families travelling throughout the galaxy, on a mission of peaceful exploration. I don’t want to see people getting in touch with their feelings. I don’t want to see the ship’s freakin’ empathic psychiatrist in command of the flagship.

I want to see shit get blown up! I want to hear someone say “Screw the Prime Directive” and mean it! If there’s an android, he’s got to have friggin’ laser beam eyes! I want a hard-as-nails captain on that ship, and he NEVER goes down to the surface of planets (along with the entire command crew)- no, he’s got grunts with guns to do that!

Maybe have the Federation collapse, with Earth under alien occupation. Make it interesting, dammit. Yes, we get it- the Federation is supposed to be Utopia on Earth- hey, Utopia is BORING! Conflict and strife are INTERESTING.

Oh, and bring back the short skirts on the women from TOS.

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You want the “dark side”?

You want to see the creative abuses of Treknology we’ve all talked about, over the years?

Ever wondered how a galaxywide, pure communist technocratic Utopia really manages to keep one step ahead of anarchy?

I give you…

Star Trek: Section 31

“…men can only be highly civilized while other men, inevitably less civilised, are there to guard and feed them.”—George Orwell

Coming Summer, 2008.

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In one of these threads a while back, I suggested basically that, but with a twist: Many of the stories would take place in parallel with existing episodes and arcs, but “off stage” as it were, so we could see what it really took to bring about the happy ending of the “main” episode. Sort of like in “Trials and Tribble-ations” but without the time travel and the cutesy humor.

I dunno. I think it would be cool.

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What do you think of doing it like CBS’ The Unit?

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Here’s my idea for a Trek series that actually uses time travel in a good way:

A Constellation-class starship from TOS* goes through a timewarp or somesuch, and finds itself in our universe’s version of the twenty-first century (except that there is no Star Trek tv show or movies naturally). Not only was there no Eugenics Wars in the late 20th/ early 21st century, but the history of space exploration is entirely different from what the computer banks on the ship record. No A.I. probes to the nearest stars, no moonbases, no expeditions to Mars. Instead there is only the moribund space programs we actually have today.

A quick survey of the star systems around Sol reveals more surprises: no abundant habitable planets, no life, much less intelligent life, still less intelligent life modeled on the humanoid plan. Only an empty wilderness of gas giants, airless moons and frozen snowballs, with no sign that life exists anywhere else in the galaxy besides Earth.

Dismayed at what happened to the galaxy that they knew, the crew investigates and discovers evidence that the Trek version of history is in fact the result of time being altered. That the “barren galaxy” reallife version of history is the original version. Gradually, it’s revealed that mysterious forces have brought the starship and crew to create their own timeline, the version of galactic history that will eventually make the Trek universe the reality.

So they get bounced around in time a lot altering history, sort of like a cross between Quantum Leap and Sliders. The producers buy the rights to various fictional SF series, and we get to see various alternate versions of outer space based on different fictional series and movies, like UFO** or War of the Worlds.

*so that we get to see the version of the future where miniskirts and go-go boots are perfectly suitable attire for women in a professional government organization. :smiley:

**see first footnote. :smiley: :smiley:

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I’ve never actually seen The Unit. (I’ve been wary of network TV the last couple of years—it seemed like whenever I started to get into a new show, it’d just get canceled, so I’ve been gunshy.)

Yeah, so maybe like that show…if the Unit was run by Professor Moriarty
and G. Gordon Liddy.

[pause] You’re not going to believe me, but I thought up that analogy before I remembered that Moriarty had actually been a Star Trek villain at one point. :eek:

If that ain’t an omen, I don’t know what is.

20

No time travel. Smacks too much of the Bergama. :dubious:
Good ideas, even the time travel one, just got a little bit of a grudge here, see?