Star Trek Series Design #5: Mission

[Lt. Staplic]

So Far we've decided:
- Series will take place 20-30 years after TNG/DS9/VOY
- The series will primarily follow the Federation, however we may have plots involved and centered around The Klingon Empire and/or the Romulan Empire
- The main setting will be a Warship
- The Warship will be of a new design (which we'll do later)

Now we discuss the main mission of our ship:
The missions for each of the enterprises was exploration, that probably won't be the central one for our craft. There aren't really any definite answers so I thought we'd leave this up to discussion. Some things previously mentioned are, Escourt craft for an exploration group, member of a Battle Group, Border Patrol, ect.

I'm going to open up the next one too as this won't have any definate end date.

[Tyyr]

I'm big on the escort for an exploration group. It would allow the ship to be constantly hopping back and forth between ship setting up the usual problem of the week. It allows you to have four or five exploration ships who can become a B list of characters who can rotate in and out of the view of the main crew. When you need something big you can bring in a two or three of the explorers.

[Tsukiyumi]

I agree with Tyyr on this one.

[Mikey]

I'm not as sold... I can't help but get the feeling that such a milieu would just end up being the same "deep-space-mission" theme as TOS/TNG/VOY/ENT, just with more guns per capita, or worse - liitle bitch-ship who comes running whenever the explorers call.

I think a border a/o trade-route patrol allows for both they typical shoot-'em-up that such a mission would expect as well as for the ship being called away to investigate or deal with unique issues.

[BigJKU316]

I'm not as sold... I can't help but get the feeling that such a milieu would just end up being the same "deep-space-mission" theme as TOS/TNG/VOY/ENT, just with more guns per capita, or worse - liitle bitch-ship who comes running whenever the explorers call.

I think a border a/o trade-route patrol allows for both they typical shoot-'em-up that such a mission would expect as well as for the ship being called away to investigate or deal with unique issues.

That is what I would go for. A remote border with like the Tholians or Breen that Starfleet command is not micro-managing like it would the Romulans. Then your ship/commander are more like an old ship of sail task force left alone to make decisions and basically be the Federation where they are.

Think the US Navy in the Med. against the pirates in the early 1800's.

[Mark]

I'm gonna go with colonial support. You know, all those colonies on the fringes which are months or even a couple of years away from the nearest real support. You open up a whole new window for episodes. You've got the "Warship" patroling the colonies, repelling attacks from pirates, raiders, or even hostile neighbors.....while also being there for the incidential scientific discovery or medical emergency.

[Vic]

I'd have to go for the colonial support as giving the most options. Although Tyyr's idea does have merit, maybe find a good mix between the two?

[Tyyr]

I think your border patrol show is still going to wind up with largely the same mentality. A colony whines and the ship comes running. I think the colony idea has merit but you're going to have to come up with something to really happen or the show won't last.

[Mikey]

I believe that's going to be endemic no matter what. It's an innate part of the franchise. The only series which was different was DS9, and that's only because the mindset and "flavor" of the show changed along with the setting. Even then, it took the wormhole to keep it going; if the main setting platform couldn't go out and about amidst the galaxy, there had to be a device to bring the galaxy to the characters.

[Tyyr]

Which is largely the issue with this series. To sell me on a border patrol type setting I need to know what's going to change to make it interesting and watchable long term as opposed to patrolling the forgotten ass end of the Federation for five to seven seasons.

[Mikey]

Which is largely the issue with this series. To sell me on a border patrol type setting I need to know what's going to change to make it interesting and watchable long term as opposed to patrolling the forgotten ass end of the Federation for five to seven seasons.

Agreed. Any endeavor such as this would require forethought and drama in the writing. With the setting being an escort, I'd be afraid of it just ending up being the same as TOS/TNG/VOY/ENT, with the small modifcation of the hero ship being the remora rather than the shark.

[Tyyr]

I won't argue that, because it certainly could. I'd just prefer to start off with explorers pushing out into deep space which inherently has the ability for interesting things to happen as opposed to the border patrol which needs to be sold with the event that will make it interesting.

And the episodic nature is something independent of the setting. Nothing says that an exploration format has to turn into TNG and nothing says that the border patrol set up won't. To me that's an entirely different argument to have independent of the mission of the ship in the show, to avoid the episodic nature and work for long term stories.

[Mikey]

The episodic vs. arc determination of the show should be independent of the milieu... but it unfortunately often isn't. E.g., the number of wonderfully-done story arcs in DS9 compared with the number in... every other 'Trek franchise in the history of ever.

[Tyyr]

I'd point to Voyager. Their set up practically screamed for long on running stories, episode to episode continuity, etc. And they did an episodic TNG show. Just because the core concept might bias a show in one direction doesn't mean the writers will follow suit.

[Mikey]

Exactly. Writers, like water, will take the path of least resistance.