Where should Star Trek go next?

[Essie]

For many people the prequel idea was not a success (even though it appears to be one they're continuing to bang their heads up against). What do people think that the writers should do to get people interested? Was it the idea of the prequel that didn't work or was the cast not endearing / engaging enough? Or just not developed enough? Or is Star Trek as a series finished? (I seriously hope not). What do you all reckon?

 

[Harleyquin]

to a degree one could argue this has been answered.. there moving it back to the Kirk / Spock days...

Some people thought that the original series is where it should have stayed, and to a certain degree I can agree - in that series money really didnt seem to matter - yet in TNG gold plated lattinum was quite profoundly there... also in the original there was only one prison left in the universe for murderers... yet come TNG and Voyager there where plenty of prisons everywhere... also TNG introduced councelors and other 60's nonsence - with the original we had colour cubes for food - one starship could practically destroy a world - they toned all this down in TNG.

if they keep the franchise going I think they need to go back to the basic concept of an idealised humanity .

 

[The Ace]

I think they should leave it alone, but they'll never do that.

 

[Dave]

We've had this discussion before, but it was a long time ago, and since then they have continued on with the prequel ideas, for some unknown reason.

I would class myself as a Star Trek fan, so I am the target audience, and therefore I expect that what I would like to see would appeal to others too.

I would like them to do five things:

1) A DS9/Voyager film with characters from both series set in the 'present' i.e. about 10 years after Voyager returned home.

2) A new 45 minute episode TV series set in the very far future - 29th Century - aboard a Timeship policing and correcting Temporal Anomalies. This would give the opportunity to go back and re-visit all different scenarios from the past and future. We saw such a ship in Voyager, though the Captain himself had become deranged.

3) A TV mini-series with longer 2 hour episodes - each one would focus on a different event which had not been fully covered before - the Vulcan/Romulan schism - Khan and the Eugenics Wars - Colonel Green and the Third World War - the formation of the UFP - the Khitomer Accords - the Cardassian occupation of Bajor - the Dominion occupation of Cardassia.

4) A new 45 minute episode TV series about a Klingon ship and it's crew. That could be set anywhere between Kirk and Picard, but the earlier the better probably.

5) A new 45 minute episode TV series about Captain Sulu and the USS Excelsior around the time of the Khitomer Accords.

Okay, nothing really original there, nothing that hasn't been put forward before - even petitioned for - but they don't seem to be listening.

 

[Overread]

I think they should leave it alone, but they'll never do that.

I have to say this is my view as well. Taking things further into the future, past voyager and things start to get like sliders - and that other police sci-fi show. Plus - as we have seen from enterprise and the new film - the more they play around with the already done timelines, the more they mess them up for dedicated fans. My view is let Star Trek die off and start a new sci-fi --- granted it might be called a copy-cat = but I would prefer a good copy which can develope into its own, than a continuation that makes no sense to the avid fan

 

[ray gower]

TNG was far more idealised than TOS, which is why they had Councellors, spent hours talking about what they might do and not doing anything, to be honest they could all have been robots.
Compared to them Kirk was anything but 'Ideal', never discussed if what he was doing was right and just went and did it. The aliens were generally more civillised!
Enterprise tried to go back to the TOS concepts, kept the robots and was dead long before it reinvented itself (again) for the fourth series.

Overall it has been a subject that kept us going for months on the old Ascifi boards. The opinion on all occasions was the franchise was not dead, just it needed a rest and to return in a few years time with fresh creative team and a complete story.

A few of the last looks
http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/23222-if-there-was-a-series-6-after-enterprise.html
http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/28031-health-of-the-franchise-what-does-the-future.html
http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/22621-how-would-you-improve-star-trek-seriously.html

 

[Essie]

I had a look at some of the other threads - thanks. There's definitely some interesting ideas knocking around. Lots to think about. I'm not sure what I want but I wasn't really taken with Enterprise although I did watch it. I'm rewatching some DS9 at the moment and I'd almost forgotten how good Star Trek can be. I would like to see a new series but only if its any good obviously and I'm not sure what would make it good. I'm not sure if TNG and DS9 particularly worked because it was the right series at the right time. Does Star Trek just not work now? Current scifi seems keen on the story arc which obviously was more prevalent in DS9 and then in later Enterprise - I'm not sure why a purely episodic series doesn't seem to work right now. I don't know the answer to any of this but I do miss a regular Star Trek series running.

 

[ray gower]

Actually rereading my own posts in another thread on the subject, taking the overall concepts, there are several obvious series to come:
Enterprise was the foundation of the Federation
TOS the spread of Federation influence
TNG/DS9 the Federation at the height of its power and the start of decadence.

To follow: The struggle to maintain the Federation as it starts to break up in disillusionment and other strains both internal and external. (Perhaps it becomes more of a police state, where Star Fleet has to start taking control)
The final destruction of the Federation. (Blakes 7?)
And finally the rebirth. (Just I would prefer it if they didn't do an Andromeda on it)

 

[Overread]

I was about to say that sounded a lot like the Andromeda with the collapse and rebuild
I must get round to watching hte rest of that show

 

[Ice fyre]

Andromeda WAS the Star trek show that never was. It was based on, I am informed by my sources, a script outline for a star trek show that was never used either rejected by the studio or by roddenberry himself. Never took to the show so cant say all that much about it. But what I did see did make me think of star trek.

 

[Overread]

I know that andromeda was written by the same person that wrote the original star trek - so to say that Ice it does makes sense - though the whole galaxies of interaction was rather on the extreme side.
A post apoc collapse star trek would be fun (oh ,,, that made me think of Fire Fly *goes to morn its loss*

 

[Essie]

I have been thinking maybe they just need to leave a gap for a bit - I mean there was almost twenty years between TOS and TNG. Maybe a bit of time off, let everyone realise how much they love it and then a few years down the line, come up with a new series. We may all be ready for it by then and keener to allow it to find its feet before we stop watching.

 

[Dave]

I not so sure a fully agree with that. After TOS there was a great deal of fan pressure for it to return (with the first fan petition.) There was little else to compare with it on TV. Then came the films, so there was not actually a 20 year gap.

Contrast that with today: there are a whole host of similar TV shows. Due to syndication and digital TV you can see all 5 series at once. Star Trek is always on somewhere in the world. It is Star Trek saturation, hence no one complained much when it was taken off. It doesn't help that those in charge don't know what to do. Gene Roddenberry might have had an idea.

I think a gap is a good idea, but there is a chance that the gap might get longer and longer and never be jumped.

If you want something completely different that does not mess with timelines and the established chronology then why not my option 4:

4) A new 45 minute episode TV series about a Klingon ship and it's crew. That could be set anywhere between Kirk and Picard, but the earlier the better probably.

Take a Bird of Prey and it's crew like the ones seen in the TNG episode 'A Matter of Honour' or the film 'The Undiscovered Country' and have them serve missions in the Klingon Empire. They could have run-ins with Romulans, Ferengi and Breen, and the occasional Starfleet vessel. We could learn much more about Klingon culture and history.

It would require the right man to produce it though. Probably only Ronald Moore could do it justice. Ira Steven Behr or Robert Hewitt Wolfe maybe, but not Rick Berman or Brannon Braga - their stories are always too similar. Most of the people who learnt the ropes doing TNG and DS9 have now gone on to much greater things. It would be hard to tempt them back.

And there lies another problem - it isn't just the producers and directors who need to be found. The set designers, make-up artists, stunt co-ordinators, sound recordists - some of them worked their whole careers in Star Trek, moving from series to series from TNG to Enterprise. They have all been lost now.

 

[Kostmayer]

I like the idea of a few one offs, but they would probably prove expensive as there'd be less oppurtunity for re use of sets and the like.

I'd like to see more of the Dominion War. We heard of all these battles, but we only saw a few on screen, and all involved either the Defiant or the station.

 

[Essie]

For 'one off's' do you meen like a film length but for TV or episode length? I reckon there are quite a few places a one off stroy could be set so it might be a good idea.

 

[Darz Rixx]

I think the prequel idea was rubbish, I personally much prefer the more futuristic Star Trek (ie. Post Dominion War). However, I think that in order to get more ratings, the writers may need to stray from the normal scenarios, and possibly include more fighting, or make a marine corps canon. Many people don't like Star Trek because they find it too boring, so make it more interesting and the fan base should increase.

 

[RVM45]

.....If I were to plan a new Star Trek series, it would go something like this:

.....First of all, it wouldn't be about a Starfleet vessel- it would be about a shipload of privateers-i.e. Mercenaries/escorts/sometimes even pirates or Transport.

.....No prime directive to worry about.

.....Second, the ship would be from the same era the old Enterprise was (Captain Kirk's Enterprise). Weapons and drive would be retrofited to the best currently available- though there'd be a variety of sources for the weapons- Strarfleet; Ferengi; Klingon; etc.

.....The layout of the ship- and certain hard features like the Captain's chair; layout of bridge; etc. Would be the same as on the old Enterprise- for a blast from the past. However the color scheme- furnishings would be redone in neo-hippy; psychedelic paintings on walls; generous use of hanging bead curtains where the old automatic doors had given up the ghost; etc.

.....Imagine the bridge with a parrot on a perch over by communications; and a couple bloodhounds laying on the floor. The Captain would be a big; loud; brash; brawling type- built like a modest sized Sumo. Throw in a homicidal Ferengi first officer; and two Klingon women where Sulu and Checkoff used to sit. One is a traditional Klingon. The other wears pink skirts and tries to match the 50's ideal of human femininity. Maybe a really off-the wall; speed-rapping Vulcan- exiled from his own people for lack of emotional control.

.....Our surly; sometimes mutinous crew would spend lot's of time at each
other's throats. They'd be working at cross purposes to the Federation as often as not.

.....You could do a lot of things very differently; but still make use of the existing time frame.(Say the story is set about fifteen years after Voyager made it back. The ship migh also make use of the 'new' metal armor Janeway brought back.)

.....That's just one idea. Point is, they wouldn't have to keep wearing the same ruts deeper and deeper.

.....RVM45

 

[Darz Rixx]

Yeah, that would definitely work but many of the hardcore fans wouldn't go along with it as it would not conform to Roddenberry's ideas and ideals. Precisely the reason why many wouldn't go along with a starfleet marine based show. Also, placing the new series in the past (as in the TOS and Ent era) is a bad idea. After all both TOS and Ent only had 4 series, whereas the most successful series were made in the future (DS9 era.

 

[ray gower]

Enterprise failed because during it's first three seasons it insulted the intelligence of a 6 year old. The stories were flat and unimaginative, the cast was flat and lifeless (made Shatner and co. look positively Shakespearean).

When it comes to insulting 6 year olds Andromeda does it better and keeps its tongue in its cheek doing it.
Marines should be left to the failed Above and Beyond
Nor need it be as wrist slitting miserable as BSG, though that is the best drama to come out of US TV studios in over 20 years.

Trek needs to keep it's traditional concept, if anything it needs to be more 'Traditional' like TNG or TOS. It needs better writing with imaginative stories and a cast that wants to be there from the start.

 

[Einstein's left ear]

I have been thinking maybe they just need to leave a gap for a bit - I mean there was almost twenty years between TOS and TNG. Maybe a bit of time off...

I hope not, I'll be pushing up daisies in another twenty years time and I suppose I'm not alone either.