Topic: Another Trek TV Series?

[Age]

Enterprise's relative unsuccess was due in part to the Era.
After you've seen Warbirds, Cubes and other very nice ships and you look at that almost civilian one...well it's kinda ... (don't know how to describe the feeling; not good anyway).
The next logial series should happen after TNG Era, with a Species 8472 invasion of the alpha Quadrant.

I absolutely disagree with this.   Era had nothing to do with it; poor writing did.  The show had a great cast and grat potential, it was just handled very, very badly.  The problem wasn't that it was a prequel.   The problem was that it was a prequel that they tried to write for as if it was still Next Generation.  (But most of the writing would have stunk even if it had happened in Next Generation.)

Personally, I would find an early era show far more interesting than moving further down the timeline.

-S'Cipio

I couldn't agree with you more and it would be nice to see something from the 23C. for a change to much TNG except DS9.The link isn't working btw.

[Chris Jones]

hmm.

link fixed..

I'd like to see a series with Riker and the USS Titan, as a follow up to Nemesis.

OR

More of the Mirror Universe from the Enterprise perspective.

[E_Look]

Chris, I'd love to see Big Bad Admrial Picard running Starfleet Command in such a series, one to whom all Starfleet captains quake in their boots, Klingons ask favors of, and Romulans test wits against.  Problem is, I don't Patrick Stewart would accept such a role anymore.

[AlchemistiD]

Prob'ly not.  But Admiral Janeway is already there.

Dammit man...Janeway is the boss NO ONE can bitch to.  She's been across the galaxy lost trying to get home with no resources, had to deal with the borg and numerous threats, had to deal with Q, was present at the big bang, and a myriad of other stuff...

I feel sorry for starfleet...no one can complain about anything anymore.

[Overmind]

Well, the parallel dark side Universe might not be a too good ideea.
Practically the Federation was gone and there was total chaos.
Everything would be turned to a fight of a resistance cell against everyone else.
As for the USS Titan + Riker... this would be good to have, but some old crew  "infusions"would probably become necessary.

[trident850]

I personally would like to see a series more or less modeled on a book series i read recently...about IKS Gorkon..captain Klag(Ryker's friend from the cultural exchange)..it takes place after the Dominion war..the Klingon Empire needs to expand to recover..and it is an excellent series...doing a show in that vein might be refreshing


Trident

[Nemesis]

Klingon civil war with the TOS Klingons returning to power and making the Empire a power house once more.

[Magnum357]

Klingon civil war with the TOS Klingons returning to power and making the Empire a power house once more.

????

 

[Lepton]

I'll tell you the problem with Trek right now.  Prepare to flame away.  It's the captain as hero.  This is such a tired formula. The hierarchy, the pseudo-military feel, the navy in space. the same old dialogue again and again.  "Set course".  "Engage".  "Fire photon torpodoes". Yada Yada Yada.  It's so lame.  It is lame in trek.  It is lame in Andromeda.  It was nearly lame in Firefly, although they expanded, distorted and played with the captain as hero thing on that show.  It's a tired paradigm and no longer engaging as far as I am concerned.  The whole call and response, crew as extension of the captain's will, yada, yada, yada.  The future is not like this and if it is, I want no part of it.  If you're not a captain, you are merely a cog, a dialogue call and response box.  Perhaps you will say this is merely symptomatic of bad writing, but I think there is a deeper thing going on here.  The most popular sci-fi I have seen in the past ten years has been based on more of a cyber-punk, anti-hero/persecuted man sort of thing.  This "to boldy go where no one has gone before" stuff is not cutting it in a cynical world.

[Commander Maxillius]

they could try "Star Trek meets The Matrix"

Imagine a story telling about how the Borg came to be.  A people much like ourselves except that they think it would be cool to be in an alternate machine reality

But what happens when they want more?

sounds very complex and quite interesting if done properly


I'm imagining a very artistic approach...  anime-styled scenes...  unconventional storylines.... 

[E_Look]

You mean like Professor Moriarty exploring virtual space in a virtual shuttlecraft inside a memory module?  I hope it wasn't made by a factory in a land that cares more about immediate profit than quality of the product using underpaid, abused labor... Moriarty would really pay the price, not virutally!

[KBF-Kapact]

I'll tell you the problem with Trek right now.  Prepare to flame away.  It's the captain as hero.  This is such a tired formula. The hierarchy, the pseudo-military feel, the navy in space. the same old dialogue again and again.  "Set course".  "Engage".  "Fire photon torpodoes". Yada Yada Yada.  It's so lame.  It is lame in trek.  It is lame in Andromeda.  It was nearly lame in Firefly, although they expanded, distorted and played with the captain as hero thing on that show.  It's a tired paradigm and no longer engaging as far as I am concerned.  The whole call and response, crew as extension of the captain's will, yada, yada, yada.  The future is not like this and if it is, I want no part of it.  If you're not a captain, you are merely a cog, a dialogue call and response box.  Perhaps you will say this is merely symptomatic of bad writing, but I think there is a deeper thing going on here.  The most popular sci-fi I have seen in the past ten years has been based on more of a cyber-punk, anti-hero/persecuted man sort of thing.  This "to boldy go where no one has gone before" stuff is not cutting it in a cynical world.

I disagree. Sorry. Everyone gets their own opinion. I don't think the idea is of a Captain as hero is bad. I think the Captain should be a hero, and I wouldn't care much about a ship that was otherwise. The challenge is to make that hero human and vulnerable and not perfect. Same with the crew. They're people, and they have stories to tell.... I think it is just a matter of genre, and which you like.

[Hexx]

What they should do (and send me royalties when they do) is have a show basically like Firefly.
Show an ex maquis trying to make it as a smuggler or something. -And have them stay ex maquis, not like Voyager where
they seemlessly integrated unless the discord was needed for a plot point.

I honestly believe (after watching Firefly, BSG and even some SG! episodes) that I probably won't watch another ST series unless they stay away from the "Flagship of the Fleet" "Best Crew " angle.
How many times can you seriously watch a show where (as mentioned) every alien race encountered seems to eventually  decide it would be better to be more like humans. How many times can you watch a show where for all intents and purposes the only race that ever seems to be able to adapt is the human one. -When the Borg were introduced they were cool, the ulitmate bad guys, able to adapt to anything. Been adapting to overcome for ages. Few years later they're seemingly incapable of out adapting one tiny ship.

Smaller scale so the writers don't have to invent a 'Super Enemy"
And of course better writers would help as well.

[Magnum357]

they could try "Star Trek meets The Matrix"

Imagine a story telling about how the Borg came to be.  A people much like ourselves except that they think it would be cool to be in an alternate machine reality

But what happens when they want more?

sounds very complex and quite interesting if done properly

I'm imagining a very artistic approach...  anime-styled scenes...  unconventional storylines.... 

Ugh!  I don't know.  I use to like the Movie the Matrix when it came out back in 1999 (consider it one of the best Si Fi stories I ever saw), but now I'm actually a little scared to watch that movie anymore.  Morpheous wasn't kidding when the story said we was there too "Free your mind".  I haven't watched the last one, but the first two movies felt like they wanted to tackle the topic of "what is existance" then trying to make a fun story out of it.   

I don't know, is the Matrix Trilogy really just an "Anime" type Film??

[Magnum357]

I think I agree with the points that KBF-Kapact and Hexx stated above.  Ya, the "super captain" role may be a little over done, but then again, in The Original Series of Star Trek it was mostly Kirk, Spock and Mecoy as the main characters.  I don't recall many TOS episodes the doved into topics of the other crew.

And just too point out, the new series of BSG and Stargate do try to do eps similar to waht KBF-Kapact and Hexx suggested.  I think it might be best if Star Trek just took a break for a while, it broke into a lot of new territory in Si Fi, but it has a lot of competition now.

[Nemesis]

they could try "Star Trek meets The Matrix"

Imagine a story telling about how the Borg came to be.  A people much like ourselves except that they think it would be cool to be in an alternate machine reality

But what happens when they want more?

sounds very complex and quite interesting if done properly


I'm imagining a very artistic approach...  anime-styled scenes...  unconventional storylines.... 

But your thinking of it in too obvious of a way. 

The Borg past and present is portrayed in a way that is inconsistant - so there is a mystery to solve. 

The Borg supposedly wish to assimilate other cultures to improve themselves.  They do so by attempting to totally assimilate the technology and biology of other races.  That is self defeating.  To explain, if they were to attack Kirks Federation and assimilate it they would never gain anything from the future, by raiding it instead they could come back in a century or more and gain once more.  So the question becomes what are the Borg really after?

There is also the Borg strength and weakness to account for.  On the one hand the Federation always survives fighting them on the other Guinans people were forced to scatter across the galaxy to survive.  The same Guinan who makes Q nervous with her power.  How can a race that can scare the Q be defeated by the Borg but the Borg be defeated by the Federation?

It will take a little to get back to the Borg so be patient with the next section I will come back to the Borg. 

Imagine instead the USS Intrepid NCC-38907 (Excelsior class) ship being launched on a very special mission (with a supporting fleet of freighters and liners etc) of indefinite duration.  Survey for duplicate planets and cultures and find their origin.  The Enterprise found planet IV, system 892 with a copy of the Roman Empire whose history matched that of the Earth Roman Empire but one that didn't fall.  The Exeter found the planet Omega IV which was a total copy of Earth up to the late 20th century but more than a 1000 years older than Earth itself. 

Other planets were found to have transplanted cultures from Earth such as the Indians visited by Kirk and protected from an asteroid impact.  The transplanted cultures were moved by a race called the Preservers who seem to attempt to preserve human (and humanoid cultures).  Searching them out would also be part of the Exeters mission.

Next there are the Ur-Humans the creators of the later races and just perhaps also the Preservers or their ancestors. 

Finally there are the Organians, humanoids evolved past a material form.

The questions being:

1/ Who made the duplicate worlds and cultures?
2/ Why?
3/ What connection do these powerful and ancient humanoids have (if any) to the duplicates and humanity?

As the Exeter explores far outside the Federation they would encounter duplicate worlds other than Earth, Klingon, Vulcan and Romulan to name 3.  They might even discover that the twin Romulan worlds are themselves duplicates of Vulcan that met early in their stellar explorations and merged into a united culture.

So what would the Exeter ultimately find out?   

1/ The Ur-Humans are still out there, evolved past the Q.
2/ The Organians are the most advanced along the path the Ur-Humans want humanoids to follow and act as intermediates between the Ur-Humans and the Preservers
3/ The Preservers are an advanced humanoid race (possibly similar to the Talosians) and are well on the way to Organian levels and act under Organian direction to preserve lesser races
4/ The Borg are a tool created by the Preservers to help save lesser races.

Under this outline Guinans people are a small step below the Preservers but were stagnating so the Preservers sent in the Borg (with Preserver enhanced powers to beat them) to disperse them and cause them to develop.  The result is Guinans people have evolved further and the Borg only harrass them to keep them going.

The Borg attacking the Alpha quadrant do so because (like Sargons people before us) the Quadrant is on the verge of the next big technological leap and would destroy themselves in war (like Sargon) unless faced with a common threat to unite against.  The Borg are that threat, difficult but scaled to be beatable with detectable flaws.

Perhaps a complex enought concept to last several seasons.  It also could be based in a duplicate Federation and the Intrepid could meet the Enterprise NX-01 with Captain Archer in charge.  The audience shock when they found there were multiple Federations would be interesting.

It would have the added benefit of curing some continuity errors as Kirks Federation need not be Picards or Archers.

[Kid Carrson]

I still think a series set soon after DS9 involving a group of characters who are brought into the secret spy society of the Federation (the one that involved Dr. Bashir in DS9) and how they deal with various tough issues, grow and change over time would work well.  You could have 8 or 9 key characters, with different initial views, that meet at the start of their "secret spy" career.  They stay in loose contact, and episodes of interest and intrigue with one or more of the characters spin over the galaxy on different ships and sectors of space.
 
If the writing were done correctly, the characters could grow and evolve, making the story fascinating.  Spy stuff can inherently be somewhat action and mystery oriented.  Tough questions can be brought up and a whole new area of Trek could evolve. 

I personally loved the DS9 story where Sisko drew the Romulans into the Dominion war.  Tough ethical issues, done properly, can be very powerful. 

KC

[Dash Jones]

Riker, Titan...can include cast members from other series (excluding Enterprise)...

[Commander Maxillius]

they could try "Star Trek meets The Matrix"

Imagine a story telling about how the Borg came to be.  A people much like ourselves except that they think it would be cool to be in an alternate machine reality

But what happens when they want more?

sounds very complex and quite interesting if done properly


I'm imagining a very artistic approach...  anime-styled scenes...  unconventional storylines.... 

But your thinking of it in too obvious of a way. 

The Borg past and present is portrayed in a way that is inconsistant - so there is a mystery to solve. 

The Borg supposedly wish to assimilate other cultures to improve themselves.  They do so by attempting to totally assimilate the technology and biology of other races.  That is self defeating.  To explain, if they were to attack Kirks Federation and assimilate it they would never gain anything from the future, by raiding it instead they could come back in a century or more and gain once more.  So the question becomes what are the Borg really after?

There is also the Borg strength and weakness to account for.  On the one hand the Federation always survives fighting them on the other Guinans people were forced to scatter across the galaxy to survive.  The same Guinan who makes Q nervous with her power.  How can a race that can scare the Q be defeated by the Borg but the Borg be defeated by the Federation?

It will take a little to get back to the Borg so be patient with the next section I will come back to the Borg. 

Imagine instead the USS Intrepid NCC-38907 (Excelsior class) ship being launched on a very special mission (with a supporting fleet of freighters and liners etc) of indefinite duration.  Survey for duplicate planets and cultures and find their origin.  The Enterprise found planet IV, system 892 with a copy of the Roman Empire whose history matched that of the Earth Roman Empire but one that didn't fall.  The Exeter found the planet Omega IV which was a total copy of Earth up to the late 20th century but more than a 1000 years older than Earth itself. 

Other planets were found to have transplanted cultures from Earth such as the Indians visited by Kirk and protected from an asteroid impact.  The transplanted cultures were moved by a race called the Preservers who seem to attempt to preserve human (and humanoid cultures).  Searching them out would also be part of the Exeters mission.

Next there are the Ur-Humans the creators of the later races and just perhaps also the Preservers or their ancestors. 

Finally there are the Organians, humanoids evolved past a material form.

The questions being:

1/ Who made the duplicate worlds and cultures?
2/ Why?
3/ What connection do these powerful and ancient humanoids have (if any) to the duplicates and humanity?

As the Exeter explores far outside the Federation they would encounter duplicate worlds other than Earth, Klingon, Vulcan and Romulan to name 3.  They might even discover that the twin Romulan worlds are themselves duplicates of Vulcan that met early in their stellar explorations and merged into a united culture.

So what would the Exeter ultimately find out?   

1/ The Ur-Humans are still out there, evolved past the Q.
2/ The Organians are the most advanced along the path the Ur-Humans want humanoids to follow and act as intermediates between the Ur-Humans and the Preservers
3/ The Preservers are an advanced humanoid race (possibly similar to the Talosians) and are well on the way to Organian levels and act under Organian direction to preserve lesser races
4/ The Borg are a tool created by the Preservers to help save lesser races.

Under this outline Guinans people are a small step below the Preservers but were stagnating so the Preservers sent in the Borg (with Preserver enhanced powers to beat them) to disperse them and cause them to develop.  The result is Guinans people have evolved further and the Borg only harrass them to keep them going.

The Borg attacking the Alpha quadrant do so because (like Sargons people before us) the Quadrant is on the verge of the next big technological leap and would destroy themselves in war (like Sargon) unless faced with a common threat to unite against.  The Borg are that threat, difficult but scaled to be beatable with detectable flaws.

Perhaps a complex enought concept to last several seasons.  It also could be based in a duplicate Federation and the Intrepid could meet the Enterprise NX-01 with Captain Archer in charge.  The audience shock when they found there were multiple Federations would be interesting.

It would have the added benefit of curing some continuity errors as Kirks Federation need not be Picards or Archers.

Oh wow, I love this idea!  I think it's deep enough to make a mini/maxi series (a season of hour-and-a-half episodes, bi-weekly, and each season separated by a year or so to tell the story in the propper scope).  The idea of a show that meanders along aimlessly for 7 years is an old one, and one that Star Trek has evolved past.  The fans want and need a huge story, one that can play on and use the massive back story of the entire series to augment a new story, evolve an old one, and forge new territory entirely.

One quibble I have with using the Intrepid is that a lot of the same names are used throughout the Trek universe.  It's an interesting idea, however a human-centric one.  The Federation at the time of the Excelsior-class comprises of 125 species.  Using *another* Earth name (Intrepid) for such a far-reaching mission seems to me to send the wrong message.  Of course, I can't think of another name lol!

Also, including a fleeet of support freighters and liners seems to doom the expedition to failure.  the Excelsior can do warp 9.2 out of the dock, but most freighters are likely limited to warp 5 and are pitifully armed.  However, sending a battle fleet with carriers, battle tugs, battlecruiser flagship and smalller frigate and destroyer support ships may undermine the purpose of the entire mission, inciting attack by wary empires fearing such a formidable force.  The first option could very easily degenerate into a Battlestar Galactica clone; the latter more closely resembling Babylon 5.

I'd watch either one, so long as it was shot more like Sci-Fi Channel's Dune series than Star Trek.  It would just rock to get cutting-edge camera work and effects to back up stellar stories.

[Nemesis]

One quibble I have with using the Intrepid is that a lot of the same names are used throughout the Trek universe.  It's an interesting idea, however a human-centric one.  The Federation at the time of the Excelsior-class comprises of 125 species.  Using *another* Earth name (Intrepid) for such a far-reaching mission seems to me to send the wrong message.  Of course, I can't think of another name lol!

The original Intrepid had a crew of 400 Vulcans.  It could easily be presented that the name Intrepid was the translation from the original Vulcan by the Universal Translator.

Also, including a fleeet of support freighters and liners seems to doom the expedition to failure.  the Excelsior can do warp 9.2 out of the dock, but most freighters are likely limited to warp 5 and are pitifully armed.  However, sending a battle fleet with carriers, battle tugs, battlecruiser flagship and smalller frigate and destroyer support ships may undermine the purpose of the entire mission, inciting attack by wary empires fearing such a formidable force.  The first option could very easily degenerate into a Battlestar Galactica clone; the latter more closely resembling Babylon 5.

The idea of the support fleet was to allow the mission to extend to decades if needed.  Remember this is no Enterprise D equiped for families.  What do you do when your Vulcans report that they are entering Pon farr?  Transfer them the Vulcan liner for the duration.

To flesh out the fleet if I was using SFB/SFC for the ships I would have NCL based scouts and DDGs for firepower.  Repair and factory freighters to supply the fleet as needed.  The Intrepid would be a Galactic Survey Cruiser.  Liners for families and recreation.  Possibly even towing along a couple of FRDs.  I'd equip the fleet with P/Fs for defense and research missions (attrition craft - major ships would be irreplacable).

Basically the idea was that the Scouts would range ahead and off to the sides finding the interesting stuff when the Intrepid would be called in.  The fleet would be kept well back in previously explored areas, which doesn't mean that they couldn't run into unexpected troubles. The Intrepid would mostly be with the fleet.  The action would be out front with the 1st contacts - which sometimes would mean the Intrepid would be called in by the Scouts.

Each episode need not use the same crew.  One episode a Scout is out exploring and runs into something "interesting" and resolves it, next episode might result in calling in the Intrepid and several destroyers or a repair freighter to solve issues of an alien encounter.  It would need a more diverse set of actors but that diversity would allow more flexibility if actors left or returned.   A helmsman is missing?   Transferred to another ship as 1st officer.    The Intrepids Captain is making a movie that ran over time?  Film episodes that don't use the Intrepid.