Hi all. Nice to see this site has gotten a forum, I always felt it would be a good idea to have one here.
This is a subject myself and a few friends occasionally talk about. If, for some reason, ownership of the Star Trek series was given over to you what would you do with it?
Would you create a new series or film or just give Trek a rest for a few years? Or would you do something completely different?
"You've all been selected for this mission because you each have a special skill. Professor Hawking, John Leslie, Phil Neville, the Wu-Tang Clan, Usher, the Sugar Puffs Monster and Daniel Day-Lewis! Welcome to Operation MindFuck!"
What I would do...a few buddies of mine had a good conversation about this at Applebees a few weeks ago.
I would essentially borrow an idea from the Anime, the OVA/OAV (Original Video Animation). My goal is to test the waters for future Star Trek Series by making shorter run series. 6-12 episodes a piece. Mid Season Fillers.
Some ideas that were thrown around:
Dominion War - Special Forces: Now we know the Federation has the goodie too shoes science types, but we know they have fought hard, as I loved the DS9 seasons that had the Dominion war. It presented a warriors side of the federation we don't get to see often enough.
Earth-Romulan War: This would be an interesting history block, could be a good in depth explanation from the views of all the sides.
Enterprise-B: To say the least, I hate the whole Enterprise series with a passion. I would like them to try something more realistic, with the Enterprise-B. There is allot of ST history in this era that could be filled out.
Post Voyager, DS9, TNG Era
I would be interested to see a partial-spin off with crew from all three groups with some new characters. There were a few officers who could use bigger and different roles, and room for new officers.
Finally, it would not be bad to take something from the books, such as possibly Star Trek: New Frontier or Star Trek: Titan.
I really think there's lots of room for Star Trek expansion, but whatever moves are made, I think we need to watch to avoid another disaster such as Enterprise. We need a series even if we need to start off small.
Hmmm...... If I were in the charge of the franchise, I think the first thing I'd do is make a series of direct-to-DVD, or perhaps theatrical, movies, one for each of the live-action television shows. It seems like Paramount is always focusing on one show at a time, at the expense of all others. Making a series of movies like this would give all of these series' fans a turn in the limelight. Then, once these were made and given time to draw attention, the next thing to do would be to gather all the creative cream-of-the-crop from the past Star Trek series (Ira Steven Behr, Ronald D. Moore, the Reeves-Stevenses, Manny Coto, Rene Echevarria,etc. ) along with a few new faces (J.J. Abrams and co.) and get them all fixed up with contracts. Then, I'd split the group in two, roughly, and give one half the job of starting a new movie series, and the other the job of planning Star Trek's return to TV. I'd give them pretty much free rein creatively (within reason, of course), and wouldn't overrule them except when absolutely necessary.
Oh, and while I'm wishing, I'd also like a pony....
"Lo, blessed are our ears for they have heard;
Yea, blessed are our eyes for they have seen:
Let the thunder break on man and beast and bird
And the lightning. It is something to have been."
Easy... Firefly/Star Trek crossover! Jayne weds Dr. Crusher and quickly uses "Vera" to dispatch Wesley.
Okay, not really.
I'm in relative agreement with good Captain: Straight to DVD would be interesting, or as I have mentioned in occasional conversations with a friend, a yearly miniseries made up of between four and six 2-hour episodes that could possibly involve crossover characters in a post-Nemesis setting.
That being said, within these mini-series, I might also take an approach similar to George Lucas, and take various aspects of the books and make canon. It seems to me that the authors of the novels all have a deep respect for each other now, as well as a respect for carrying on the legacy of Star Trek and its stories while respecting continuity. Thus, recurring characters such as Christine Vale, Mackenzie Calhoun, Nan Bacco, etc. are made "official" and fans of the novels see some visualization.
First mini-series: 6-part of the events dealing with the collapse of the Romulan Empire, post-Shinzon. I'd approach it from the eyes of three different people, with the stories all intersecting at a variety of points: Riker and the Titan and the perspective of a Starfleet crew, Donatra and the Romulan perspective, and the aforementioned Nan Bacco and the political perspective. Thus, elements from such books as Titan: Taking Wing and Articles of the Federation could be canonized and the ideas of these writers be allowed to see fruition.
Don't you hear my call, though you're many years away, don't you hear me calling you?
Well I was always fascinated with a few less-examined aspects of the Trek universe. Perhaps my fascination lies largely with the fact that it's less examined. Any psychologists out there want to answer that one?
Anyways, here're the things I'd like to see looked at in more detail (in no particular order):
-aspects and the advancement of starship design. (as seen in the Voyager episodes "Message in a Bottle", and "Non Sequitur", the TNG episode "Booby Trap", and probably others that don't come to mind). Graham does an excellent job of speculating and whatnot, but man would it be great to see it actually played out, and in canon!
-civilian life on 24th-century earth (as somewhat glimpsed at in DS9 episodes set in New Orleans, as well as ever-so-faintly in "Non Sequitur"). I'd like to see the cultures, customs, norms, technological advances, and similarities and differences to civilian life on 21st-century earth.
-similar to the above, life and work of Starfleet officers positioned on earth (as seen in the DS9 ep "Homefront", a bit in ST:III, "Non Seq", and probably others that I can't recall)
-to continue the theme, and political junkie that I am, political life in San Fransisco and Paris (as probably examined in "Articles of Federation"-which I intend to read later this year, so no spoilers!!!, as well as in "Home Front"). It would be interesting (yes, it would) to see the interstellar federal republic at work within itself, as well as in it's relations with Q'onos, Romulus, Cardassia Prime, etc. (the theme of Federation foreign policy is of course heavily dealt with in ST:VI, which is then by no coincidence one of my favourite films of all time). Due to the peaceful (read: less adversarial/we all actually get along, apparently) nature of the Federation, it might actually be more interesting if we got to see the political behind-the-scenes leading up to, including and possibly following the Dominion War, in which the tensions within and between the branches of government were probably more heated (i.e. more interesting).
-another political theme would be to look at the intrigue and whatnot within the Romulan Empire (looked at in Nemesis and some episodes such as TNG's "Unification")-which seems quite different than the Federation (or 21st-century liberal democracies for that matter)-it's obviously closer to the Roman political culture, but still with different concerns and whatnot. Oh and with large green starships...
-a wholly different theme would be rooted in my fascination (or at least one I know I used to hold) with all things Vulcan, and to see it in 24th-century society, or perhaps when implementing the teachings of the Kirshara after it's rediscovery, or even examining the Surak Enlightenment itself would be fascinating
-finally, one thing that's bugged me is that in all the crews we've seen throughout the series and movies, they've all been vastly human-dominated, and even American-dominated (Picard was the only non-American captain we've had, except for Spock, who hardly counts. Besides, his mom was probably American... Oh and Crusher, who hardly counts either, and although she might have been Lunar, she was basically Americanish...). I'd like to see a crew with much, much more diversity. How about even a non-human captain! (see not about Spock not counting...)
an inclusion to the Romulan idea as promulgated by Bryan as well as myself, one thing that bugged me a bit about Nemesis was that while there was mention of more congenial ties between the UFP and the RSE, there was no mention, not by Picard, not by Data, not by anyone, of Spock's Unification effort. I know it's an underground movement, but it would have been great if it showed up at least in conversation between Data and Picard. So yeah the addition is to also look at post-war/post-Shinzon Romulan reconstruction from the point of the Unificationists, who might see it as an opportunity for greater, freer expression, perhaps suffering setbacks and making great strides in the pacification of Federation-Romulan relations.
Earth - Romulan war, as others have said it is an interesting opputunity.
Perhaps something focussing on a Federation planet, it would be very interesting to see civillian life, culture, how the planets are run and maybe some Federation ground equipment.
Maybe some films foccusing on other series than TNG and TOS.
Maybe something after the Dominion wars, it would be very interesting to see the consequences of the war.
Thats just a few rather vague ideas, unlikely we're going to get anything like it though.
"You've all been selected for this mission because you each have a special skill. Professor Hawking, John Leslie, Phil Neville, the Wu-Tang Clan, Usher, the Sugar Puffs Monster and Daniel Day-Lewis! Welcome to Operation MindFuck!"
Personally I think star trek has gone a bit to aggressive and the fact three of its series were in the same time-frame bored me a bit. Furthermore, the continuous break with continuity by ENT irritated me (and a lot of other fans) greatly. I think I would bring the series a bit further in time, say the mid 25th century. The borg are destroyed (or so we think), the Klingons finally actually joined the federation after long negotiations and the Romulans have allied themselves closely. Furthermore, the Cardassians had little choice but to become a sort of vassal of the Federation and with this new status quo the threat of the dominion of the gamma quadrant is gone.
But, after having mapped virtually the entire galaxy and finishing up the map, what's left to explore. Well, TOS showed us a possibility, Andromeda. It was shown in TOS there is at least one species in Andromeda much more advanced than the federation in that era and probably many generations more. But such pages in history won't ever stop humanity's insaturable curiosity and the federation takes the chance. So instead of being a long way gone without being able to get home or contact them, technology still allows contact and the federation begins to explore Andromeda. And off course we will follow a ship, with but a few allied ships in the neighbourhood, not a base. It will be shown sometimes during the course of the series to show the progression of the first base but it is of no importance. Star Trek: Andromeda
That is actually a rather good idea about a 25th century series, we don't know too much about that time so it would, in my opinion, be very interesting. The fact there would be less canon you would have to be carefull of contradicting would be handy as well.
Perhaps a series in which the Federation has developed a better/faster form of FTL and is beginning to explore the Gamma and Delta quadrants? It could capture the old 'where no man has gone before' spirit all over again, which would be quite nice.
"You've all been selected for this mission because you each have a special skill. Professor Hawking, John Leslie, Phil Neville, the Wu-Tang Clan, Usher, the Sugar Puffs Monster and Daniel Day-Lewis! Welcome to Operation MindFuck!"
One thing I would do (if I added magical powers to my taking over of Trek...) would be to re-imagine the ENT series, to make it:
a.) more continuity-conscious
b.) more in-line with what SHOULD be there technologically
c.) deal with events in the 2150's. (you know, the Romulan War, the lead-in to the founding of the Federation)
I would actually keep the cast/crew, more or less. I would definitely change the ship!
I have actually thought about this, and might find a way to show my design for Enterprise on the ship design thread.
I would deal more with the attitudes of people back on Earth, and replace the Xindi with the Romulans as the big season long "crisis". The idea being that this would start the lead up to the Romulan War. I would not focus on that too much, in keeping with the desire to bring Trek back to less violent roots, but the last seasons could show the start of it a little, and a movie could finish it off and end with the founding of the Federation.
I'd also add the NX-02 into the mix after a few years. One could work on the increasingly bad brushfires caused by Romulan aggression while the other could keep exploring. I think it would be nice to show multiple locations going on at the same time. It would be even cooler if the two threads eventually tied together at the end!
The war itself would be shown as the great crisis it was, with humanity's very survival at stake. Of course I would show battles, etc, but the main theme would be humanity coming together and learning to trust other races, because we would need them! I would show how that conflict paradoxically caused humanity to look outward even more than before, to become a founder of the Federation.
Man, Enterprise could have been so cool, but I think the writers kind of blew it on more than one occasion. THAT is what I would change!
I really like the idea of multiple ships to follow at a time. Our generation has no attention-span.
You know what I'd REALLY dig though? A cast of characters that can actually drive the stories, instead of the other way around. I mean, the percentage of intriguing, multi-dimensional characters to cardboard-cut-out one-offs is abysmal in Star Trek. At least in my opinion, DS9 has the highest percentage of interesting characters, and even then there are several who just irritate the crap out of me. Data's quest to be human, and Spock's emotional struggles... those are compelling to me. I want more story and pathos, whatever that means.
@DBS
Yes! We definately need to redo Enterprise, so much potential wasted. What a pity.
The idea of following several crews and ships at once would be very interesting, while Archer might be convinced he is doing the right thing in situation X it would be interesting to see others reaction to it.
"You've all been selected for this mission because you each have a special skill. Professor Hawking, John Leslie, Phil Neville, the Wu-Tang Clan, Usher, the Sugar Puffs Monster and Daniel Day-Lewis! Welcome to Operation MindFuck!"
If I were given creative control over Trek I'd do a back to basics series about exploration set in the 25th century. Probably set aboard the Enterprise G.
