If you could make a Trek series...

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Graham Kennedy
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If you could make a Trek series...

Post by Graham Kennedy »

...what would it be?

By series I really mean series of stories in any formal you like - a book series, an actual TV series, even a movie series.

Would you go with yet another "Starfleet's best and finest exploring the galaxy" format, or do something new? When would you set it? What would your characters be? Why would you do it that way?

Me, I'd kind of like to see something a bit grungier and greyer than Trek usually does. Maybe a commercial ship of some sort, a trading vessel with a relatively small crew, ekeing out an existence beyond the Federation frontier. A Firefly / Red Dwarf vibe to it. I'd make the Captain a disgraced ex-Starfleet type... a promising career, but when his Starfleet ship encountered a planet where a natural disaster was threatening to wipte out the locals he chose to openly intervene and save them. I know, it's more or less what they did to Kirk in Into Darkness. But you could play with that in a series, because it would give the captain a genuine chip on his shoulder and a reason to dislike Starfleet and the Federation - and they a reason to dislike him, for that matter.

How about you?
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Re: If you could make a Trek series...

Post by Tyyr »

I think one of the best ideas for a Trek show I heard was an idea to make three half seasons (12 episodes) of a show. The first is a West Wing style show about the Federation President. Actually have some background on the Federation itself and what it takes to keep a government that has hundreds of member species and thousands of planets going. The second is a Section 31 show. Have it be about an idealistic Starfleet officer who gets recruited by Section 31. He's disgusted and intially rejects them but as he's pulled in you've got them bending him to their way of thinking that sometimes it may be necessary to keep the Fed going. Finally a show that follows several ships operating in the same region of space.

The overall idea was that they'd all be tied together. You'd have the West Wing-esque one kick it off and after a couple of episodes you start into rumblings on the... I dunno, Gorn border. The rest of the season is about handling a getting worse situation. The section 31 part picks up about half way through the West Wing season as tensions are picking up and they start trying to head off a devloping war but find thing spiraling out of control regardless. Heck, have them make it worse in the end. Then the ship series starts off mid way through the Section 31 season, the end of the west wing one, and follows through the situation's resolution. Basically follow a developing situation from the top down and let people see how the Federation functions as a whole and maybe use that as a launching point for a full West Wing-esque show.

Myself, I kinda want to remake Voyager. I still think conceptually Voyager could have been AMAZING. With the right follow through the show could have been fantastic and really put a strain on the old Federation morals.
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Re: If you could make a Trek series...

Post by Teaos »

I agree with the Voyager idea, I always thought it had the most potential. Maybe I'd have it lost on purpose. They found a wormhole that is stable but they arent 100% sure it can get them back, so they have a ship, a crew who knows what they are getting into and some basics of a plan.

Star Gate universe did a great job of doing lost in space, it was everything voyager should have been.
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Re: If you could make a Trek series...

Post by Jim »

I had two, relatively opposite ideas.

The first is more war based. Although the Federation says it is not military... they have fought a lot of battles and wars. So a show that follows either a few Defiants or Akira Class ships. Basically the part of the fleet that gets the call to battle first. It could follow something like old WW2 movies/shows.

The second is a comedy. It would be based on a starbase. DS9 was station based but they traveled a lot. This show would stay on the base and NOT include the bridge crew. The cast would be the lower crew and be more about their off-duty life. There could be some on-duty stuff to keep the tech part alive. It would be possible to have EVERY class of ship on the show... just not as central parts of the plot. Soert of Red Dwarf like if there wasn't the radiation leak.
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Re: If you could make a Trek series...

Post by McAvoy »

I have not a clue if a comedy set in Star Trek would work. That could be any sci fi show. But that is just me.

I always liked the idea someone came up with after ENT was cancelled and the threat that Nemesis would be the last of the Prime verse we see before Star Trek got rebooted.

It was four part mini series. It would be on a more epic scale than previously done on a series with the formation of a more permanent alliance between UFP, Klingons, Romulans and the Cardassians. It will show the initial distrust of all four powers when talks fail badly due to terrorist actions then group up and find out who is responsible. Now his idea was better thought out and I am remembering something eight years ago.

Then you could do a series of Lost Years style Star Trek mini series. Chronicle special events in Trek. Eugenics Wars, Romulan War, Cardassian Border skirmishes etc. Or create whole new events.
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Re: If you could make a Trek series...

Post by Sonic Glitch »

I've actually been thinking a lot about this recently, to give me somewhere to start writing mostly. I would like to see something set in the prime timeline maybe a year or two after the destruction of Romulus. That event in itself should open a whole new can of political and exploratory worms. I would make the first season or two more DS9 style in terms of exploring the political and personal fallout but it would be set on a starship, possibly a small task force or something. Later as those stories develop we see the push from within a federation/starfleet that has become more militarized and politicized than ever anticipated to return to the "exploration" routes and spend a few more seasons developing the newest exploration mission and the show rounds out "exploring strange new worlds" -- with the occassional political bombshell from the destruction of romulus.

I'd also include a lot of the political developments from the Destiny/Typhon Pact novels.
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Re: If you could make a Trek series...

Post by Teaos »

You could have several species that use to be under Romulan control suddenly ask the Federation for membership since the Romulans are weakened.
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Re: If you could make a Trek series...

Post by shran »

How about a bit more of civilian life. It is always depicted as a sort of paradise, but sounds more like a crapsaccharine world to me. When Lily asked how much the Enterprise cost in First Contact the immediate answer was 'there is no money in the Federation' or something along those lines. Almost a dogmatic response. Another thing I found disturbing was that although the Voyager files were basicly publicly accessible in VOY: Non Sequitur, he was immediately under the radar, after talking to Tom Paris, without anything suspicious about it yet. As if you're not supposed to be not-happy. I would mos certainly like to see more of it. The series in my case woud probably be about a part of an organisation with the purpose to keep the Federation the happy place it's supposedly is, not as in section 31, but more like a mellowed down thought police. I haven't yet thought beyond this premise. Perhaps some Federation members who would prefer to leave, but are kept in against their will, stuff like that.
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Re: If you could make a Trek series...

Post by McAvoy »

You could do a Firefly type show. Have a crew scraping together is their ship getting caught in the middle of the Maquis but not joining them. Follow them through their misadventures by being dogged by Cardassians and Starfleet with a mixture of pissed Maquis and even the Orions. Follow them through the death of the Maquis and even through the Dominion War.

Or do a seperate event.
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