Flare Sci-Fi Forums: Ideas for series 5

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Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :

This may have been covered before, but after reading the Rumors thread, I want to know what you guys think would make a good 5th series. Obviously the creators need some help. So what do you want to see.

I'd love to see an Enterprise B or Excelsior storyline. The TNG Tech Man gives us plenty of room to explore the history of the Ent B.

Also consider this: a series of Trek mini series or TV movies. They could vary in themes covering alot of the areas fans want to see and establish alot of background. But there wouldn't be the pressure of keeping a weekly continuing storyline. Problems here would be the "Get to Know the Crew and Ship and Then They Go Away" thing.

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"Resolve and thou art free."

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Well, my pet idea for a Trek series is so introverted that it would never be successful...

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"If you are going to be my girlfriend please don't dump me after I like you."
--
Michael

Posted by Montgomery (Member # 23) on :

How about....
a contemporary setting!
A remake of sitcom "Dream On", except following people who mentally edit in Trek scenes and quotes as various hilarious things happen in their silly and zany lives.

How about...
a quiz show!
Who is the Master of Trek Trivia?!
A thousand trekkies stolen from around the globe are whittled down to a final winner!

How about.....
a nature documentary!
Follow the intrepid exploits of an Australian exobiologist as he cautiously edges up to a sleeping Denebian Slime-Devil and whisoers to camera, "I'm gonna stick my thumb in it's butt-hole!"

How about...
Trek-Style Challenge!
A fashion makeover everyweek for one lucky fan. We also get a regular update from our favourite Cardassian tailor about galactic fashion trends!

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"NO! NO! Kill you all!
Die! MAKE YOU SUFFER!!!"

Posted by adam on :

Much as I dislike Wesley Crushing I think an interesting idea would be to explore his adventures with the Traveler. Where has he been, what has he done, conflicts with the Q (W has similar if less power it seems to me) Granted it would never last 7 years! Any comments/ideas pertaining to this?

Also, I would love to see them eventually do a series bases sometime between 2300-2340. I think this is an era with lots of botential and unexplored! (lets see some Ambassadors, and fix the model!

I always wanted an Excelsior/Sulu series, but he is getting to old and most of the original cast wouldn't be able to make apperances. Ent-B is possible... but I just don't see the same possibilities.

One last thought, someone discounted the idea of a TOS remake. Maybe not the Ent, but consider the same time frame, similar stories, with todays film techniques, lots of ideas, but I don't think much potential eigther.

Adam

Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :

I'd just like to see no new series for at least a few years.

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"Remove your hand or I will remove your arm!" - 7 of 9

Posted by bear (Member # 124) on :

I agree with Andrew, at this point I think that the results of a new series would make Voyager look fantastic in comparison.

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http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/9268/index.html

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

I still like my joint-crewed, post-Fall of the Romulan Empire idea. I forget what thread that was in.

I did recently realize, however, that there was some resemblance between that idea and the New Frontier stories. As if that should matter.

How did it go?

The economic pressures brought by the heavy losses in the Dominion War becomes too much for an Isolationist Romulan Empire to cope with. It collapses, possibly with some help from without. This leaves a fragmented empire with various factions squabbling for power: Tal'Shiar, Unificationists, Republic-ans, Imperial-wanna-bes, etc. Plus all the previously unseen races in Rom. Space, former subjects and servitors, and whatever adversaries lay on the other sides of Rom Space. (a possible tie in with "Matters of greater urgency caused our absence" from "The Neutral Zone" TNG)

Our heroes' ship is crewed by a joint Klingon/ Federation crew, with Romulan expatriates as guides (probably with their own agenda), a couple new races, what-have-you, and perhaps a holographic bridge person or DATA II. They are acting as explorers of previously forbidden space, as well as peacemakers/keepers when necessary.

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'In every country and in every age the priest has been hostile to Liberty; he is always in allegiance to the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection of his own." ---- Thomas Jefferson

Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :

Except for the Hologram or Data II, I think that's about the best idea i've seen.

I liked the idea of a birth of the Federation series, but I think it would work better as a mini series.

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Fool of a Took, throw yourself in next time!!
Gandalf

Posted by Elim Garak (Member # 14) on :

One thing that is nice in principle is a series of TV movies, but they're really a bad idea, IMO. You'd never get to know the characters, the sets and FX would be horrendously expensive for two hours of TV, and figuring in a plot would be hard enough. Would you be happy with "Emissary" or "Encounter at Farpoint" as all you ever got to see...?

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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")

Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :

When I say mini series, though, I mean like a 3 or 4 day thing. We'd be talking 8 to 10 hours here like North and South.

I do agree though that problems between creative teams and the seeming lack of interest on the part of the creators to do anything creative would make this concept impossible to implement.

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"Resolve and thou art free."

Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :

According to the Trekweb website (http://db.trekweb.com/stories/1999/11/08/942109427.html), Paramount has chosen a story premise by Braga and Berman for the fifth series. Supposedly, it will be very different, would have "close to zero technobabble," and be "very contemporary."

Be afraid, be very afraid.

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When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum

Posted by Vacuum robot lady from Spaceballs (Member # 239) on :

My idea for the next series:

Star Trek: Interstellar Late-Night TV Lawyer.

The title says it all. Doesn't it.

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"I've never seen anything this beautiful in the entire galaxy. Alright, give me the bomb" -Ultra Magnus, Fight or Flee

Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :

Everybody duck, but I really like 1/2's idea. That would be an excelent premise for a series. I mean EXCELLENT. Like, having more potential than Voy ever had. Gotta have a human captain, or at least a race that acts exactly like us, but throw a Klingon, a Romulan, and a Cardassian in there and you've got a great series. We just need a new "odd" character, in the grand tradition of Data, Odo, and the doc. Any ideas?

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Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons; for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :

Oh NO!

I was hoping Paramount were beginning to see Berman and Braga as a lost cause.

I feel like starting a new web site

NO NEW TREK! (at least for a few years)

That ideas that they have but forward (read at Trekweb and Treknews sound shite at best.

Why can't they apply all this creative energy to Voyager instead!?!

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"Remove your hand or I will remove your arm!" - 7 of 9

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

Um... No technobabble? How the hell do they plan to do that?

officer: "Captain, there's a thingy approaching at a really fast speed!"

captain: "Do that talking-to-them thing."

officer: "They aren't answering... And their weapons are doing that thing where they get ready to shoot at us!"

captain: "Hurry! Fire the doohickeys! Fire the ****ing doohickeys!!!"

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Rimmer: "Holly, put a trace on Paranoia."
Holly: "What's a trace?"
Rimmer: "It's space jargon. It means 'find him'."
Holly: "No it doesn't. You just made it up to sound cool."
-Red Dwarf: "Confidence & Paranoia"

[This message has been edited by TSN (edited November 10, 1999).]

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

*LOL*

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"If you are going to be my girlfriend please don't dump me after I like you."
--
Michael

Posted by The First One (Member # 35) on :

Just make sure them thar doohickeys ain't set on "y'all coulda knocked me over with a feather." 8)

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Remo Williams: "Chiun, you're amazing!"
Chiun: "No! I am BETTER than that!"

- Remo: Unarmed and Dangerous (1986)

Starfleet Weapons & Tactics

Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :

Is there anymore info on what this contemporary, no technobabble Trek is going to be about? And what does contemporary mean in Trek? The show isn't contemporary, it takes place 400 years in the future for crying out loud. I want to see something with a continuing story line, more like Star Wars or B5. It's what DS9 tried way too late to do.

Trek's biggest story flaw is that nobody thinks ahead and plans out how one season will effect another. So everything has a very isolated feel. Then when you want to go back and add something, you've got to deal with the fact that the two events were nevr really supposed to interact in the first place.

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"Resolve and thou art free."

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

Characters I'd like to see on a new show, just because:

An Andorian female (I just like women painted blue). Andorians are supposed to be very martial, so there's a possible security chief. Or a background tendency for another officer. (an agressive helmsman?)

A Kzin. (we have the computer technology, we can build him.) Another possible security head honcho. Even the Jem'Hadar would think twice about facing down a 8', 400# intelligent tiger with an attitude problem.

Klingon. Second in command, foil for the captain.

Romulan. Acting Ensign or Acting LtJg, only, cause we still don't trust the Romulans. Perhaps they did something unwise just after the end of the war. Acting as guide to area. Probably has secrets. Probably returns distrust.

Cardassian Science Officer? just because I liked the "vipers"

a few more human officers to round up the crew.

We need something truly new for the "alien" character, though. I dunno. A clone? Some race that only played a bit part before? A Horta?

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Calvin: "No efficiency, no accountability... I tell you, Hobbes, it's a lousy way to run a Universe." -- Bill Watterson

Ballo and I have been reading the same books :)

Posted by Vacuum robot lady from Spaceballs (Member # 239) on :

I think that a alien-yet-thinks-and-talks-and-looks-almost-100%-like-a-human is the necxt step. It may be something like Captain Calhoun, from the NF novel series. That's it! we should bring in Peter David to help!

Actually, Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin might be kinda cool as co-creators of a Trek series.

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"I've never seen anything this beautiful in the entire galaxy. Alright, give me the bomb" -Ultra Magnus, Fight or Flee

Posted by Montgomery (Member # 23) on :

NOOOO! No Peter "spawn of Satan" David!

Die! Die!

*jumps up and down on Peter David voodoo doll*

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"You will be swept away....
You, your men, your ship, your WORLDS!"

Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :

::Adds another to the list of Calvin & Hobbes fans::

How do they expect to make a show with no technobabble?!

::Plots to have Brannon Braga and his puppet Rick Berman shot from a cannon::

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7 of 9 alarm clock: "Wake up. Resistance is futile."
Dilbert: "I wonder if I could ever date a woman like Jeri Ryan."
7 of 9 alarm clock: "That too is futile."
Federation Starship Datalink - Now with a pop-up on every page...damn you Tripod!

[This message has been edited by Hobbes (edited November 10, 1999).]

Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :

Here are more rumors about series 5. A website called SF Crowsnest (http://207.201.173.29//sfnews/newse1199.htm) says that the Berman/Braga show involves a ship called USS Excellent (3x larger than EntD) that is helping a Federation-like alliance being invaded by a bunch of genetically enhanced barbarians (similar to the "Supermen" of the Eugenics war, but they won). Supposedly the captain will be an alien and Q will appear in the first episode.

Please take this with a big hunk o' salt.

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When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

Sounds like a bad "Sliders" episode.

"Captain Krax! The CroMags are attacking again!"

*looks quizzically at Montgomery*

I've never read anything by Peter David that I didn't like. Especially "Hulk: Future Imperfect"

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Calvin: "No efficiency, no accountability... I tell you, Hobbes, it's a lousy way to run a Universe." -- Bill Watterson

Baloo and I have been reading the same books :)

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

Did somebody say "Calvin and Hobbes"...? *gets himself a new status line* :-)

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"Alright, so it's impossible. How long will it take?"
-Commander Adams, Forbidden Planet

Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :

I still think that "The Icy Black Hand of Death" would be a better name for a club...

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Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons; for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :

As for a wierd character, a CGI would seem to be the next step, but I shy away from it for some reason. We had a sentient mass of circuits as a main character, then we had a big glob of liquid as a main character, then we had someone who isn't even there as a main character. What's left, having the computer itself be alive?

Just a minute. A living ship? Anyone like the sound of that?

As for the Kzin, did they originate in Ringworld and spread into all other sci-fi from there, or did I miss something?

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Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons; for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Paramount bought the right to use Niven's Kzin in an episode or two of the animated series.

As far as a CGI character...thanks but no thanks. I have yet to see any such character I would want to watch on a regular basis. They either have no personality, or I want to throttle them repeatedly.

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"If you are going to be my girlfriend please don't dump me after I like you."
--
Michael

Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :

A rumor about the new series (originally from SF Crowsnest) which I posted on the parallel series 5 thread says that they are thinking about making the captain (!) a CGI alien. However, a captain can't be a clown like Jar Jar Binks; he or she must interact believably and dramatically with the other characters. Also, I don't think you could produce that much CGI on a weekly basis. It would make filming much too difficult.

About the Kzin: Really? They actually bought them from Larry Niven? That's amazing. Has anyone heard of anything similar (except in comic book crossovers)?

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When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum

Posted by Baloo (Member # 5) on :

As far as I know, they negotiated rights to adapt one Kzin story for one episode of TAS. They did not, however, gain the rights to use the Kzin in perpetuity.

One of those cat-like people (Caitians?) wouldn't be difficult though.

There seem to be a few fans this might please. There is even a fan-fic comic featuring a Caitian, though it's not quite serious in tone: Haul Trek.

--Baloo

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Remember: pillage before you burn!
[ol]-- G. Khan[/ol]
www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/8641/

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

IIRC, Niven himself wrote that episode of TAS and used the Kzinti in it.

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"Alright, so it's impossible. How long will it take?"
-Commander Adams, Forbidden Planet

Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :

Please enlighten my slow mind. What is TAS, who is Niven, and what is the race you mentioned. I must be a little behind on something.

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"Resolve and thou art free."

Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :

OK, I can give you some partial details.

1. TAS = Star Trek: The Animated Series
2. Larry Niven is an author of the Ringworld novel(s)?
3. The Kzin supposedly are a race of 'cat-like humanoids' from his novels - and since he wrote an episode of TAS - he used this race as an adversary. (I haven't seen that episode in question) What I have seen of TAS, hasn't been that bad.
4. Think of the Kzin as Kilrathi(esque) from the Wing Commander III computer game, at least - I didn't get I, II or IV or see the movie.
5. I like my idea that the Tzenkethi might be an alternate name of the Kzin - like Humans are to 'Earthlings' or 'Terrans'. The names look Kzintish...

Andrew

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Ralph: Um, Miss Hoover? There's a dog in the vent.
Hoover: Ralph, remember the time you said Snagglepuss was outside?
Ralph: He was going to the bathroom.

[This message has been edited by AndrewR (edited November 12, 1999).]

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

In fact, the episode of TAS that Niven rote is essentially a retelling of his Known Space story "The Slaver Weapon," With Spock playing the part of the Pierson's Puppetteer.

I suppose the truth is that they were short on stories at the time... I just love the idea of the Kzin.

Larry Niven: SF author, writing alone and often in tandem with Jerry Pournelle. Wrote, among other things,

Oath of Fealty (origin of my fave quote, "think of it as evolution in action.")
The Mote in God's Eye (and its sequel)
Ringworld (and its sequels)
The Man-Kzin Wars (and sequels)
The ARM stories
The Legacy of Heorot (and its sequel)
Rainbow Mars
A World out of Time
Fallen Angels
The Integral Trees (and its sequel)
Dream Park (and its sequels)

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Calvin: "No efficiency, no accountability... I tell you, Hobbes, it's a lousy way to run a Universe." -- Bill Watterson

Baloo and I have been reading the same books :)

Posted by Baloo (Member # 5) on :

Actually, "The Man-Kzin Wars" is a cooperative anthology. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote a couple of the stories, but it's actually a shared-world series. I recall seeing the intro in the first installment and either Larry Niven or Jerry Pournelle (or both) claimed that although they wanted to write stories about the Man-Kzin wars, they realized that war stories weren't their strong suit. Instead, they recruited authors who were good at the genre, filled them in on the background, and had them start filling in the blanks.

The Niven/Pournelle stories are quite good, but the others are just as interesting.

--Baloo

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Remember: pillage before you burn!
-- G. Khan
www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/8641/

[This message has been edited by Baloo (edited November 12, 1999).]

Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :

To respond to the CGI character idea, I think I would hate it. Jar Jar looked cool (the character got annoying) but he still wasn't perfect. The CGI effects for a series regular would have to be about 5 times better. And they wouldn't be, so I'd hate it.

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"Resolve and thou art free."

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

Keep in mind how fast computer technology improves nowadays. Can't find the tech to live up to your idea? Wait six months, you'll be able to do it.

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Calvin: "No efficiency, no accountability... I tell you, Hobbes, it's a lousy way to run a Universe." -- Bill Watterson

Baloo and I have been reading the same books :)

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Personally, I'd like to see the Tzenkethi be a bit more...unique. Quite possibly CGI in nature. Why? Well, all of Trek's seldom seen aliens tend to be more mysterious than your average Tarellian. Breen-humanoid in general form but unknown features. Tholians-cyrstaline...things.

Which reminds me, Tholians for Trek X!

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"If you are going to be my girlfriend please don't dump me after I like you."
--
Michael