Star Trek Series Design #6: Point of View

[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)

This week we decide the point of view we will tell the story from:
- Civilians: Our Primary characters would be people not enlisted in Starfleet, but would instead be the families of those who serve. Although not the wisest Starfleet does allow civilians on their military craft, could be interesting to see Starfleet from the outside
- Junior Officers: Our Primary characters would be in the lower ranks of Starfleet, they wouldn't be department heads or making the life/death decisions of the ship, but would be carrying them out instead. These characters could provide an interesting spin on the command structure as well as opening up more in-ship mystery plots without involving the anomaly of the week.
- Senior Officers: The same as the other series, our primary characters would be the Bridge crew and other department heads. These characters control the destiny of the ship so to speak and are a logical choice
- Enlisted Crew: Rather than following around any officers, our primary crew would be the enlisted crewman who work behind the scene in the other shows. These characters could provide some conflict as their experience could clash against the junior officers authority.

Poll will run for 8 days

[Nickswitz]

I personally would love to see the enlisted POV, something we haven't seen before, and on a military vessel it makes sense to have some sort of enlisted officers to round out the crew.

[Mikey]

Starfleet does allow civilians on their military craft

I'm not sure of this. I think it's better to say that Starfleet (as of TNG) uses its battleship as an explorer, and includes civilians as a function of the latter. There's no indication that families or other civvies were included among the complement of any dedicated warship which was actually being fielded as such.

enlisted officers

You mean NCO's? Otherwise that's a bit of an oxymoron.

Anyway, I also vote for enlisted crew - it would be interesting to see how things go on among the real gears and cogs of the crew.

[BigJKU316]

I have to ask how many have been on a ship and seen what enlisted sailors do. Generally the answer is not a ton, at least not from a story-telling purpose. They generally are not told what is going on or why they are doing it. Their job would be to say...man the lateral sensor array and report on its findings. Unless it is a smallish ship like a WWII sub-sized crew they probably are not privy to what is going on.

I think it is an interesting perspective but would be very hard to do a whole series around.

[Mark]

NO CIVILLIANS!!!


That said, I can't really vote.........as I'd like to see a nice mix here. You've almost GOT to follow the senior officers to some extent, but following the junior officers and enlisted would be an AWESOME oppertunity as well. Can you add another option for a mix up?

[Lt. Staplic]

this is primary POV. it's still possible to do occassional episodes from different viewpoints or to include some privary characters outside the POV, but just so we know what we're looking with.

[Tyyr]

You can't do an enlisted show, it won't work. You have to do the show with the people who can actually make decisions on the ship. The people who are privy to what's going on and how they can influence it. Now you can certainly have more of the junior officers and enlisted as part of the show and I think it'd be the better for it but you can't focus the show on them, it just won't work.

[Mikey]

You can't do an enlisted show, it won't work. You have to do the show with the people who can actually make decisions on the ship. The people who are privy to what's going on and how they can influence it. Now you can certainly have more of the junior officers and enlisted as part of the show and I think it'd be the better for it but you can't focus the show on them, it just won't work.

I have to ask how many have been on a ship and seen what enlisted sailors do. Generally the answer is not a ton, at least not from a story-telling purpose. They generally are not told what is going on or why they are doing it. Their job would be to say...man the lateral sensor array and report on its findings. Unless it is a smallish ship like a WWII sub-sized crew they probably are not privy to what is going on.

I think it is an interesting perspective but would be very hard to do a whole series around.

[Tyyr]

Is there a point to be made there or what? Yeah, I agree an enlisted show is just a bad idea.

[BigJKU316]

Is there a point to be made there or what? Yeah, I agree an enlisted show is just a bad idea.

I think you could do a show about enlisted people, but it has to be in the context of a larger event. See band of brothers for how this worked. They just were sort of along for the ride and you knew they were part of a larger story. But that is just hard to do with a naval ship. You basically have a captain and a bunch of people along for the ride. If he decides to be brave then the ship will be. If he is a coward, so is the ship.

Honestly, I would set the series up with a lot of web-based supporting material. Have enlisted people be a part of the show but you can also have them do side episodes for the web that are broadcast after the fact. So you can see what was going on in the forward torpedo room while the Captain was fighting off the enemy of the week.

[Tyyr]

Sort of the BSG style web-isodes? That could be interesting but I'd rather see some enlisted perspective brought in more consistently to the show itself. Like chief O'Brien in TNG. A constant recurring character who's not a bridge crew officer but then expand on it, have them in more episodes. Not have to be in every single one but when it makes sense use them. Same with Gomez and Lefler in TNG. Maybe some enlisted security guys who ride shotgun on away teams?

[BigJKU316]

Sort of the BSG style web-isodes? That could be interesting but I'd rather see some enlisted perspective brought in more consistently to the show itself. Like chief O'Brien in TNG. A constant recurring character who's not a bridge crew officer but then expand on it, have them in more episodes. Not have to be in every single one but when it makes sense use them. Same with Gomez and Lefler in TNG. Maybe some enlisted security guys who ride shotgun on away teams?

Yeah, I was thinking web-isodes when you did not have them. If you did it realistically (especially during a war or combat situation) it would mostly be enlisted people sitting around speculating wildly on what is actually going on and trying to piece things together with one another. But all the same it would provide an interesting perspective to see what one of them had to say when you are on a two year enlistment and Janeway blows up the caretaker array.

[Tyyr]

WTF BITCH!?

[Mark]

I'd have begun plotting her assasination at that point, personally

[Reliant121]

B'Elanna seemed pretty pissed at the idea. I'd try and work to her, get her on my side. Then i've got an Officer in my ranks.