# Star Trek series set on Earth?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-series-set-on-earth/682391>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 27, 2014, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-series-set-on-earth/682391 "2014-02-27T06:07:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-series-set-on-earth/682391/41 "2014-02-28T01:24:56Z")

</div>

> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> I do not recall that. Which episode?

[Geek Link](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/T%27Pau)

=) 😃😛

Zev Steinhardt

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-series-set-on-earth/682391/42 "2014-02-28T01:52:47Z")

</div>

> [@Tanbarkie](#):
>
> So essentially a show focused on the two cops from “Futurama,” then?
> 
> I would watch that.

Yes, but I’d also like to rip-off “Troops,” “Men in Black” and “Reno 911.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-series-set-on-earth/682391/43 "2014-02-28T02:07:23Z")

</div>

> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> _Archie Bunker’s Spaceport_. He and his customers can be the last bigots on earth, and each week they can come up with new slurs for aliens.

> [@Aquadementia](#):
>
> Starfleet Security: San Francisco - Cops have to deal with all the difficulties with aliens coming to Earth.
> 
> “Sir, you should not have angered a horrible gelatinous blob. He has diplomatic immunity. The best thing to do now is wait until his body naturally expels you in a week or two, then grab a towel. It’s exfoliates the skin. You’ll come out looking great.”
> 
> “No ma’am. He is not from an alien race that ages backwards. It’s just a horny teen looking to get lucky and score some booze. Don’t believe every crazy thing someone tells you.”

Both of these ideas were incorporated into [Alien Nation](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096531/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_74). The T.V. series (and the movie on which it was based), started out being about the reaction of Earth bigots to aliens (“slags” being the preferred slur), and ended up being about a team of cops, one human and one alien, fighting crime in a mixed-species Los Angeles.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-series-set-on-earth/682391/44 "2014-02-28T02:16:38Z")

</div>

> [@zev\_steinhardt](#):
>
> [Geek Link](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/T%27Pau)
> 
> =) 😃😛
> 
> Zev Steinhardt

Oh, when Enterprise went Fan-Fic.  
Surak was a pussy. Didn’t look a thing like Mark Leonard.  
=)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-series-set-on-earth/682391/45 "2014-02-28T02:27:29Z")

</div>

> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> Oh, when Enterprise went Fan-Fic.  
> Surak was a pussy. Didn’t look a thing like Mark Leonard.

Surely, Surak was played by Barry Atwater and not Mark **Lenard**? :dubious:

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-series-set-on-earth/682391/46 "2014-02-28T14:30:23Z")

</div>

> [@deryk](#):
>
> Yes, exactly! Something like this was what I had in mind. I wasn’t thinking that ALL the action would have to be set on Earth, or that the main setting even needed to be Earth. Just a “planet-based” Star Trek (which obviously would not be a literal star trek :)). There could obviously be episodes, or even entire story arcs, that took place on a star ship or on another world, but the main focus would be on characters who don’t spend their entire lives flying through space, which, I imagine the vast majority of the population does not, even in the 24th century. It could even break from the “campy” style of all of the series’ to date, in a similar way that the two new movies are a break from the look and feel of the older movies. A more “adult” franchise is a good way to put it.
> 
> I don’t think something like that would be any less interesting than DS9, which ran for seven seasons, would it?

There is a reason that DS9 was forced to add in the Defiant and start zooming around the Gamma quadrent. They found being on the station and being limited to everything coming to them too limiting for the writers.

> [@Tanbarkie](#):
>
> So essentially a show focused on the two cops from “Futurama,” then?
> 
> I would watch that.

OK. So i was not the only person who read those in URL’s voice? Awwwww, Yeah. 😃

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2014, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-series-set-on-earth/682391/47 "2014-03-01T01:02:13Z")

</div>

> [@SpoilerVirgin](#):
>
> Both of these ideas were incorporated into [Alien Nation](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096531/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_74). The T.V. series (and the movie on which it was based), started out being about the reaction of Earth bigots to aliens (“slags” being the preferred slur), and ended up being about a team of cops, one human and one alien, fighting crime in a mixed-species Los Angeles.

It can’t be anything like Alien Nation, well, shouldn’t be, because bigotry should be left far behind by the enlightened people of Earth.

That doesn’t mean there is no room for conflict.

“Thanks for having us over last night. It was a lovely evening. By the by, we aren’t now infested with your young, are we? I was just reading how that is deadly in a chest bursting kind of way.”  
That’s a custody battle that’s going to need some ironing out.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-series-set-on-earth/682391.md?page=2)