With everything going on I decided to thrown some ideas I had together and come up with a possible story idea. Tell me what you think:
quote:The year is 2380. 5 years after the bloody Dominion War has brought an unheard of level of peace and cooperation across the Alpha Quadrant. The Feds, Klingons, and Romulans work together like never before, but that still doesn't mean that they have a "few" squabbles, though.
For a couple weeks before, an unknown force has hit several colonies, worlds, bases, and convoys from every known Alpha Quadrant race, including the remnants of the Dominion. Where they strike, usually nothing is left alive. A few people have, but no records were recovered on who they were and the survivors are insane with fear.
With time ticking down and options disappearing, the Federation Alliance has no choice but to go forward with an experimental project that isn't totally complete yet.
In a secret shipyard only known by the highest members of the Alliance is a prototype ship, the Vesuvius. Combining crews from several different races (Human, Klingon, Romulan, Vulcan, Andorian, etc.) and technology into one ship. It is untested in combat and with a crew that isn't a "well-oiled" machine, but it's the last hope the Federation has.
It's new mission is to discover what this new threat is and, if possible, to end it. Because if they don't, who will?
For the stories, I'm thinking it will be a mesh between Trek's episodic and B5's arc that won't contradict itself. Like what DS9's Final Chapter was, except it would be about half a season instead of 9 episodes. There will be an element of flexibility to the arc because there's really only 2 sure things about giant, awful, scary dangers:
1) If we're smart, capable, and resourceful, we can survive them. 2) There's always another one lurking right behind the last one.
It helps to avoid the Voyager paradigm in where if Voyager gets home, the show's pretty much over.
This series also has the advantage of having a multi-racial crew. We can explore different beliefs and behaviors while also adding in the thoughts from the other characters. Since the main members of the alliance are the Federation, Klingons, and Romulans, we can also explore different worlds inside their respective territories to see different architectures of each race, and to find out deep and dark secrets that also come with them.
The Vesuvius (OK, put whatever name you feel like in this, it just sounded neat and approiate) is the main ship that everything takes place in. Sleek, deadly, big but fast, and maneuverable for its size. It combines the design philosophies of the 3 main races while still coming up with something new and never-before seen (no sense for the bad guys to get the great looking ships). There are some bugs that still need to be worked out because of the tech meshing, but they will usually be minor, usually, just like the crew. The crew is also a factor at times. Being multi-racial has its disadvantages. Even though at peace and working together like never before, there is tension between the Klingons and Romulans, which is more noticeable at different times. It will be a major plot point like the Starfleet/Maquis crew of Voyager in Season 1, but instead of forgetting that, it will be something that would be ongoing.
While I haven't figured out the crew yet (or names for that matter), I have a good idea on the captain. He (yes, he) would be a human captain that was a veteran of the Dominion War. He's not a jarhead, mind you, but he's dedicated to his job and crew. He is diplomatic at times (like during crew squabbles) but he takes no crap from anybody (Ambassadors and officials alike). He's not a "straight-arrow" as while it appears he has one thing in mind, in reality he usually has another (and better) idea. He isn't a stiff by the usual definition. He's crew comes first and he's always there if they are in trouble. If one's having troubles (with a guest or a member of the crew), he won't put up with it at all. He does get eccentric sometimes and has an odd sense of humor.
Well, what do you think?
------------------ Daniel Henderson Senior Babylon 5 Editor http://www.myrkr.com
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
I like it a lot!! Name the prototype and all ships that come after, for volcanos. Cool!!
------------------ Outside of a dog, a book is a mans best friend. Inside of a dog, it's to dark to read. Groucho Marx
Posted by Dan (Member # 129) on :
Thanks. So far the count is 2 yes and 1 no (undecided is more like it). There's some extras I added over at the Decipher boards (along with something from Phoenix Rising, one of the Gene R. shows upcoming). Here's the addy:
They mostly revolve around a TOS answer for the "aliens." Time travel would be at a minimum (one good thing about Voyager) and God rip-offs need not apply.
------------------ Daniel Henderson Senior Babylon 5 Editor http://www.myrkr.com
Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :
IMO, a flotilla of existing ships would be more realistic and better suited to this purpose than one new "experimental" one.
1) It's been 5 years since the Dominion War has ended so they have time to develop this.
2) There needs to be a new design. It's a necessary evil when dealing with Star Trek. Besides, I like the idea of a combined ship with ego up to wazoo.
------------------ Daniel Henderson Senior Babylon 5 Editor http://www.myrkr.com
Posted by PPG Skittles on :
I think the idea of a new unknown and deadly force, sounds just like the Dominion war. The Federation knew almost nothing (I would say, but then again, I didn't watch DS9 as much as I watched Voyager) about the Dominion, except for Odo's knowledge (and even he didn't know that much about his own people.)
If the producers wanted to get funny sometime during the production, they could make the unknown deadly force, just random space phenomenon that is usually rare, but for some reason are common now. Hee hee, that would be funny when the new experimental ship gets out to the battle field, to find an anomaly causing mass destruction. *Eats a few more Skittles - like she really needs anymore*
Also, I would say the captain described sounds alot like Captain Janeway. Human, dedicated to job and crew, doesn't take any crap from anybody, not a "straight-arrow" and usually has another idea (meaning, "forget the Prime Directive!" if that's what you meant), crew comes first and is always there if someone is in trouble. I know there are quite a few episodes where Janeway was willing to sacrifice herself for her crew ("Night" for example), or went extremly out of her way to get a crew member back, ("Dark Frontier" for Seven of Nine), or did not follow the Prime Directive for whatever reason (I know she does this plenty of times, in one episode she talked about it, but I don't know the episode name.)
...But I still think it's a good idea! :-)
------------------ Do you eat your red Prozac pills last?
Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :
A new design from our point of view would be great, but it doesn't need to be a new design in the Trek universe. Maybe they could use one of those "unseen" classes.
I gotta say it ... I love the idea, personally. Sounds a lot better to me than that "Flight Academy" rumor that's been going around. I'm not sure how crazy I am about this unknown, mass-destructive force (it's been done time and again ... but then again, who knows? ... it might work), but I like the concept of this multi-racial joint venture. The conflict 'twixt the Klingons and Romulans would make for some pretty interesting "character-building" episodes, IMHO.
Well, that's my babble for now.
------------------
"God gave me a gift: I shovel well." - The Shoveler
[This message has been edited by The Prophet (edited August 20, 1999).]
Posted by Dan (Member # 129) on :
Man, taking a nap for 6 hours and watching 2 movies lets your mailbox fill pretty fast:
PPG Skittles:
quote:I think the idea of a new unknown and deadly force, sounds just like the Dominion war
Nope, sorry. Different direction. They think it's new, but it actually isn't. After watching B5 for a couple years it really brings to light more than a couple of ST's flaws, like continuity. They've left more than several races and threats open in mid air. They forgot about them. I playing with several different ideas on the threat (I'm a big TOS fan so expect to see some of the "old" Starfleet behavior in the captain and crew).
quote:Also, I would say the captain described sounds alot like Captain Janeway.
While having some of her characteristics, he's hardly anything like Janeway. He doesn't back down from a fight. He doesn't play the "mommy" character which annoys me to death. It's like he's the friend to lean on instead of the parent. The closest SciFi character to compare him with would be Matthew Gideon on Crusade. He also has some of my characteristics and none (hardly any) of the things that 24th Century captains have. If he's attacked, he'll fire back. He won't wait for half his ship to be gone before hitting back like Picard sometimes does. He'd be almost an anti-hero at times like Dirty Harry.
Frank:
quote:A new design from our point of view would be great, but it doesn't need to be a new design in the Trek universe. Maybe they could use one of those "unseen" classes.
Not possible due to the nature. I doubt the Apollo class had Fed/Klingon/Romulan technology.
Prophet
quote:I'm not sure how crazy I am about this unknown, mass-destructive force (it's been done time and again ... but then again, who knows? ... it might work)
Like I said above, it wouldn't be an "unkown" threat as in we (the viewers or the Feds for that matter) in the sense that we've never seen them before. We have. It's one of those alien threats in TOS/early TNG that were never followed up on like the Bluegills or the Keldans or the Doomsday Machines.
quote:but I like the concept of this multi-racial joint venture. The conflict 'twixt the Klingons and Romulans would make for some pretty interesting "character-building" episodes, IMHO.
Yeah, it would work very good with writers like Rene Echieverria and Joe Menosky. If they could get them, Ron Moore and Rob Wolfe could work wonders (and so would jms, but that's something different).
I'm glad (and impressed) that there are so many good comments on this. Thanks.
------------------ Daniel Henderson Senior Babylon 5 Editor http://www.myrkr.com
Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :
Actually, we've seen the Apollo. But the technology level of the Klingons, Romulans, and Federation is about the same; there's no need to "combine" them.
Yes but there are some areas that one or the other excel in that the others don't. It would help nullify that weakness between the designs shown in DS9 (with the Klingons immune to the Breen weapons while Feds and Rommies are still vulnerable). And if it isn't a new ship built with each of their techs, it wouldn't be a multi-racial because neither the Kligons or Romulans (and Feds to a point) would want to be on the other's ship. You put a Fed captain in charge of a Romulan ship he hasn't to get use to a new design philosophy that isn't found in the Federation. It would have the advantage of being within all of their philosophies (to a point).
------------------ Daniel Henderson Senior Babylon 5 Editor http://www.myrkr.com
Posted by PPG Skittles on :
Dan: Well then I stand corrected. I don't give 100% attention to DS9 anyway, and I've never seen B5, nor do I want to. But with Janeway being the mother figure, how can you blame her? She's female!
------------------ Do you eat your red Prozac pills last?
Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :
As I was saying, then, use one or two existing ships from each race instead.
BTW, five years probably isn't enough time to combine the three design philosophies.
O'brien combined Cardassian and Federation tech pretty fast. They don't have to really combine tech to build the ships, as long as they work together, and all three races build this class of ship.
Lets face it. The Borg have lost two cubes to the Federation. When they come the next time, it just can't be with one ship. Even current Star Trek writting isn't that bad. If the Borg sent five cubes, it would take a combined effort to defeat them. And I've often wondered what was on the other side of the Romulan Empire, not to mention whatever happened to the Gorn, or the aliens from "Conspiracy".
------------------ Outside of a dog, a book is a mans best friend. Inside of a dog, it's to dark to read. Groucho Marx
Posted by Elim Garak (Member # 14) on :
Given a time and a few light-year jumps, Voyager could be showing us what's on the other side of Romulan space.
------------------ Elim Garak: "Oh, it's just Garak. Plain, simple Garak. Now, good day to you, Doctor. I'm so glad to have made such an... interesting new friend today." (DS9: "Past Prologue")
