# Your rules if you were the showrunner on a Star Trek series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2016, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136 "2016-12-19T15:30:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/61 "2016-12-21T19:58:38Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > 1 & 3, yes. > > No talking about why this present time is so backwards and barbaric. If I have to listen to Picard declaiming how stupid and evil we “were” I will harf. And yet Star Trek officers all seem to get a schmoopy over artists from the past. No one listens to any contemporary music evidently because they’re all listening to either Beethoven or Beastie Boys. ---
**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:** [December 21, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/62 "2016-12-21T20:00:18Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > No miniskirts. Let’s not go backward on equality in Trek. Nichelle Nichols says the women’s uniforms were liberating. She loved them. I’m puzzled as to how wearing pants suits is equalizing. Women are equal only if they’re dressed like men? ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/63 "2016-12-21T20:06:59Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The Federation is full of shit; they claim they come in peace, but their ships are rather well armed. Enterprise is literally a “Constitution-class heavy cruiser.” “Heavy cruiser” is a military term. Nobody calls a fishing boat a “heavy cruiser.” They wear uniforms and have ranks and are responsible for the defense of the Federation. So they’re a military, _and yet politically they try to pretend that’s not true._ That cultural, institutional doublethink is fascinating, if done right. They’re telling the citizens and themselves “we’re super peaceful” but are perpetually at war with someone or other and go everywhere armed to the teeth. I’d be bored without space battles, and most aliens are pricks when you first meet them. ---
**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:** [December 21, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/64 "2016-12-21T20:08:27Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > In ST:TNG they had a couple of crewmen running around in something very close to the miniskirt. In one episode, a dude wearing one of those “unisex” uniforms was doing Federation stuff in the background with his back to the camera. His bald spot was clearly visible. The overall effect was ludicrous. Thank God they got rid of those silly things almost immediately. Yeccch! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/65 "2016-12-21T20:20:34Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Nichelle Nichols says the women’s uniforms were liberating. She loved them. > > I’m puzzled as to how wearing pants suits is equalizing. Women are equal only if they’re dressed like men? I’m puzzled as to how something which either affects your sitting posture or your view of body shame is liberating. I’ve always been puzzled about miniskirts being feminist, or seen as a sign of feminist liberation. It’s honestly a point of confusion for me: How can this garment, which seems tailor-made to objectify the female thigh, be a sign of liberation from a male-dominated society? It seems like clothing designed foremost for comfort would be the most liberating thing to wear, and fashion seems eternally at war with comfort, especially in women’s clothing. The miniskirt seemed to be the height of that in the post-hobble-skirt, post-corset period. This is yet another perfect example of a generation gap in action: Each side thinks it’s being perfectly reasonable and each side is staring at the other in mute incomprehension about how any intelligent person could _possibly_ believe _that_. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/66 "2016-12-21T20:23:19Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Every Federation starship to include an officer-level Master Cheesemaker as part of the permanent bridge crew. \*“I wear the cheese! It does not wear me!” \* ---
**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:** [December 21, 2016, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/67 "2016-12-21T21:20:20Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > I’m puzzled as to how something which either affects your sitting posture or your view of body shame is liberating. Why don’t you ask Nichelle? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/68 "2016-12-21T23:40:52Z")
•First, I’d do a lot of research, self-examination, and unbiased as possible artistic analysis to determine…whether there really needs to be a new Star Trek series at all, let alone if I should be the one to helm it. Is it going to add something new or good to the franchise, or televised science fiction as a whole? Is the creative or studio environment going to be workable to do so? Am I really capable of doing it? If it fails, is it going to undermine the image or the narrative heritage of the existing stories? Could it only _succeed_ by undermining the Treks that have come before? If I can’t come up with a satisfactory answer to all those issues, I’d at the very least step aside to keep the blood off my hands. •I’d keep in mind that it’s possible to write a science fiction story, even a “deep” one, that’s not just a straight (or heavy-handed) allegory for some real world social issue. There is, in fact, a dignified and appropriate place for deranged robots, invisible monsters, and giant space amoebas. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/69 "2016-12-22T00:10:03Z")
You should not use Aliens or Androids as stock/token characters. Make a series with a crew that is 99% non-Human…and One Human, the only one aboard. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/70 "2016-12-22T01:20:01Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > You should not use Aliens or Androids as stock/token characters. > > Make a series with a crew that is 99% non-Human…and One Human, the only one aboard. _This_ would be an interesting setting, but I’d stress the difference between _setting_ and _premise_: In short, a setting stays in the background and provides context, whereas a premise foregrounds itself and provides plots. Having a whole show about The Token Human would be a bit twee, but having the human provide interesting perspective on some more interesting plot would be a great reversal. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/71 "2016-12-22T02:47:02Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Here’s what’s stupid about the “Starfleet is not military” idea. They ARE military. They have military ranks, miltary command structure, military discipline, armed starships, and most importantly, they do the fighting when the Federation needs to fight. They also engage in gunboat diplomacy/“showing the flag”. Police, firefighters, and security guards also use uniforms, ranks, and command structure. Sure, the National Guard spends more time working at home but that’s because they’re the backup to the actual armed forces waging war. Starfleet is called upon to defend the Federation because there is nobody else. A ragtag collection of science vessels and exploratory ships. The only reason the Federation exists is because Klingons are too tribal to actually work together for long to create a cohesive force, and because Romulans are technologically far behind. ---
**Author:** ![ganthet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@ganthet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ganthet)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/72 "2016-12-22T03:52:54Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > Police, firefighters, and security guards also use uniforms, ranks, and command structure. > > Sure, the National Guard spends more time working at home but that’s because they’re the backup to the actual armed forces waging war. > > Starfleet is called upon to defend the Federation because there is nobody else. A ragtag collection of science vessels and exploratory ships. It’s because Roddenberry wanted to have it both ways - Starfleet is peaceful and not a military outfit, yet they man and maintain defenses and border outposts, conduct espionage and sabotage operations, and most importantly, when a conflict breaks out they go to war and try to foment uprisings on occupied worlds. The police, firefighters, and security guards don’t do any of those things. And the National Guard is by definition military, even though they are sometimes more associated with disaster relief operations (which active duty military forces assist with as well). ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/73 "2016-12-22T05:20:48Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > You should not use Aliens or Androids as stock/token characters. > > Make a series with a crew that is 99% non-Human…and One Human, the only one aboard. Their use of holographic people got a little obnoxious after awhile. I’d love to see an alien ship with a token human on board, the way Worf was the token Klingon. Other species in the Federation have to have their own fleets filled with mostly their own kind with just a few other species on board for diversity purposes. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/74 "2016-12-22T09:04:58Z")
No “somekinda”. They got so damn lazy with that. “They’re shooting us with some kinda phasers!” instead of just saying phasers. Instead of exploring the differences (say for example having some engineers marvel over the dangerous but innovative ways the new phasers route power) they just shorten that process to “somekinda” to establish that it’s different but still the same. No monocultures. I want to see Klingon pastry chefs and Romulan hippies. There’s got to be a Klingon out there who has short, spiky hair and a Romulan who has long locks instead of the friggin’ bowl cut. Not every member of a given species has to be defined by the same identical trait. DS9 was pretty good at filling in some aspects of the major players but dropped the ball sometimes as well. The Dominion was originally conceived as a mirror to the Federation but ended up being nothing more than Founders, Vorta and Jem’Hadar with the Vorta and Jem’Hadar being clones and the Founders being identical to Odo! Of course TNG was the worst with the planet of scantily-clad death penalty people or the planet of terrible African stereotypes. Or how about when Gul Madred was torturing Picard and Madred’s young (seven years old says [Memory Alpha](http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Jil_Orra)) daughter comes in… wearing a Cardassian military uniform! I’d also get rid of that radiation that will kill you once the countdown expires but won’t do any damage at all unless that timer hits zero. And nobody, I mean nobody will go into the warp core and kick a damaged component back into place! ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/75 "2016-12-22T14:27:30Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > A perfect example of point 3 is “Plato’s Stepchildren”. McCoy develops a serum that gives humans superpowers. And then it’s never mentioned again. Or similarly, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. So the Borg are attacking and approaching Earth? Grab a starship full of people with high psychic potential and bounce off the Galactic Barrier. Some percent of them will become Godlike and can squash the Borg the way my nephew can break lego structures. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/76 "2016-12-22T15:06:47Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > Police, firefighters, and security guards also use uniforms, ranks, and command structure. Fire trucks generally don’t carry missiles and machine guns. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/77 "2016-12-22T17:05:39Z")
I see the original idea of _Star Trek_ as a set-in-space version of the ages-old type of story where a ship goes sailing from island to island and has a different adventure—encounters a different civilization or creature or mysterious artifact or character to interact with—at each island. Think _The Odyssey_ or Sinbad the Sailor or _The Voyage of the Dawn Treader_. And I’m perfectly okay with a new Star Trek series following this model. (Assuming, of course, that it’s done well, and the stories it tells are good stories—but that goes without saying no matter what rules you follow.) ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/78 "2016-12-22T17:28:49Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Fire trucks generally don’t carry missiles and machine guns. Or 16 _Giga_tons worth of antimatter-warhead torpedoes. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/79 "2016-12-22T17:51:23Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > Police, firefighters, and security guards also use uniforms, ranks, and command structure. > > Sure, the National Guard spends more time working at home but that’s because they’re the backup to the actual armed forces waging war. > > Starfleet is called upon to defend the Federation because there is nobody else. A ragtag collection of science vessels and exploratory ships. The Enterprise is a freaken Battlecruiser. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136/80 "2016-12-22T19:40:45Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The Enterprise is a freaken Battlecruiser. Now you’re making me laugh. The Enterprise is a lightly-armed science vessel, like almost everything else in Starfleet. It was only after encountering the Borg that Starfleet decided to build an actual warship, the Defiant. In what universe does a military force wait TWO CENTURIES to build a warship? And what military force has a prime directive of non-interference? Starfleet is a paramilitary organization. They have ranks, they have some weapons, they are capable of self-defence. But they are woefully equipped to wage war and all that entails. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-rules-if-you-were-the-showrunner-on-a-star-trek-series/775136.md?page=5)