It is 2015 - Paramount Pictures, happy with the returns for the opening of Star Trek XIII, the 3rd in the "reimagined" series of films with Matt Damon as Captain Kirk, and eager to celebrate the franchise's 50th Anniversary, are contemplating a 6th "Star Trek" series for a syndicated run to begin in September 2006.
You've secured the opportunity to pitch a "Star Trek" television-series idea to "the powers that be" at Paramount (none of whom were at Paramount when "Enterprise" was canceled). This is also a job interview - if successful, you will be hired as the show runner in addition to its creator.
Along with the invitation, Paramount sends you some notes about what the "Star Trek Series Six" hiring committee is looking for in the pitches it is presented.
1. Paramount is looking for a show with the classic "Kirk/Spock/McCoy" dynamic: they're looking for three to four series leads, with three to four supporting cast members (no more than seven regular cast members). Who would these characters be and how are they important to the show and unique from the other "Trek" series?
2. Paramount is open to any and all setting ideas. Starship, starbase, planetside. Pre-TOS, post-TNG, everything is fair game (although some people have confidentially whispered that Paramount wouldn't mind a setting that would allow for crossovers from other Trek series) with the understanding that the characters are affiliated with Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets (and/or their precursors or successors). What is your setting and how is it unique from the other series?
3. Paramount is interested in pursuing some of the features of recent television shows that they view as successful: the long-arcs and ongoing mysteries of "Heroes" and "Lost" are an element they would like reflected in a new "Star Trek" series, and as such, would like a general overview for how you, as the show runner, would develop the series over its first two seasons with this in mind. Warning: Paramount isn't opposed to the occasional episode which revists plotlines from previous shows, but it wants the show to stand on its own in terms of storytelling.
4. In addition, Paramount would like a "new" race to serve as principal antagonists, if and when they should appear -- the studio would like to keep away from the Borg, the Klingons, the Romulans, the Cardassians, etc., as much as possible -- so as to further distinguish the series. Who and what are this new race, and why are they in conflict with our characters?
Well? Have at it!
(PS - for the purposes of this Topic, I am the Paramount Pictures' "Powers That Be.")
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Screw this - why give the fuckers any of our good ideas for the future - or conversely stop them having a good show cause half of their ideas were already fleshed out on the internet.
Sorry for being so... terse.
Posted by Mikey T (Member # 144) on :
I'll pass. No one wants to see 'Die Hard' meets 'Queer as Folk & The L Word' in Star Trek.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Maybe a militant lesbian?
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Paramount in 2015 wants to have a show for 2006? Time-travel?
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Andrew - If you don't want to "play", no one's going to force you to. Your reasons seem, um, half-fleshed out.
Mikey - But it might be amusing!
Mars - Sorry, mistype. For 2016.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Sorry I got tetchy. Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
"A Ferengin a Bolian and a Breen walk into a bar..." Posted by Mikey T (Member # 144) on :
I pitched my story before about an admiral who survives Wolf 359 and ends up having a shuttlecraft accident a la 'Rascals' and having to deal with new Starfleet officers out of the academy onboard the Prometheus.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Humans...Spaceships...Gratuitous CGI Spacebattles...need I say more...Oh yeah, Spacebabes...
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
Give him Krenims number. I'd like to see Series ? on the screen.
Posted by HopefulNebula (Member # 1933) on :
I'd kind of like to see something that focuses on the Temporal Enforcement Agency (or whatever it's called; too buried in term papers to remember). It would def. run the risk of becoming a Who-clone, though...
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
More like The Time Tunnel meets Quantum Leap.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
In brief, for those who're curious, here's mine:
In the late 24th to early 25th Century, aboard the science-vessel USS GRISSOM, Commander Connor Macy and his crew conduct deep-surveys of solar-systems, spending up to a year to do the indepth work of scientific discovery.
STAR TREK: GRISSOM is a show geared towards character-study and interaction. While the show won't shy away from explosive shoot-outs on occasion, the show's purpose is to explore the Federation cultural dynamic (and some could argue "cultural divide") with a main cast featuring two humans and five aliens.
When it does come time to fire up the phasers and shields, Commander Macy's crew knows they have to use their brains and out-think their enemy (in this case, the TZENKETHI), since their tiny Nova-Class-like ship boasts limited defensive capabilities.
CMD CONNOR MACY is the ship's commander (addressed as "captain" by his crew, an honorific title referencing his position). He doesn't know much about science-missions, having spent most of his career fighting Federation adversaries. But he's in command of the GRISSOM because Starfleet wants a combat-experienced commander to balance out the ship's limited defenses, particularly given its first season assignment researching a solar system close to the Tzenkethi border.
LCMD SIPAR, DSc - Sipar wears a multitude of hats aboard the Grissom: He's the Mission Commander, the Lead Science Officer, and the Executive Officer aboard the GRISSOM. He's an experienced and well qualified scientist who isn't above "tooting his own horn" and considers himself -- not as a Vulcan, but as a scientist -- the best qualified officer aboard the ship. Sometimes, he doesn't understand that being the mission commander does not make him the ship commander, putting him in conflict with Macy.
In addition, our cast includes a Xindi-Sloth Operations Manager, LT (JG) HAAILST; an enlisted Andorian chief of security (who spent much of his career in the Andor Military Service before requesting a lateral transfer to Starfleet), GOSVAR; a Caitian Flight Manager who is able to provide a more sympathetic viewpoint towards the Tzenkethi, ENS MRAWLU; a Bajoran-Cardassian hybrid Chief Engineer torn between loyalty to what he considers his home (Bajor) and a pull towards his ancestral people (Cardassia), LT (JG) HADAAR; and a human Chief Medical Officer, Dr. KYLEI eager to explore the galaxy.
The show will be set along the Tzenkethi border during its first season. The fiercly xenophobic Tzenkethi have been testing the waters for new incursions into Federation space, sure to provide tense moments for the GRISSOM crew.
In terms of other "Big" Star Trek races which might appear:
The Klingon Empire eventually collapsed after the expendatures of the Dominion War. A Klingon renaissance is under way, and the society is moving from a warrior-culture to an artistic and peaceful one. There are, of course, sub-cultures, some of which retain their Old Warrior Ways.
Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :
Say, whatever happened to that series you were writing? I forget what it was called, now... I just remember it had a USS Peleliu as the main ship...
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Fabrux -
Star Trek: Gamma Quadrant. Yeah, I wrote nine episodes and then lost interest - borrowed Gosvar and Macy from it, though. Re-read some it just a few weeks ago, actually: it was pretty bad.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
quote:Originally posted by Malnurtured Snay: the studio would like to keep away from.... the Romulans.... as much as possible
I'm out. I've always wanted to see more with the Romulans. They've always been under-utilized in my opinion.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Yeah it's about time we crossed into the Neutral Zone. I mean hell we know more about the Borg than we do about Romulans.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Here gos: A new tough baddie race is on the other side of the Neutral zone and the Romulans fought them off once before in a years-long conflict (explaining their long absence), but the baddies have since returned, are kicking the Romulan's asses and, as the empire crumbles on one side, the Klingons (under a relativly unknown new High Chancellor- Martok's fate a mystery) begin taking long "disputed" systems on the other.
The Federation, having recently signed a peace and mutual defense treaty with both the Klingons and Romulans (thus solidifying the Allied powers of the Dominion War into a solid chance for peace) is torn between it's old Klingon ally and it's new Romulan one and decides to send a starship into the areas of conflict to both assess the new threat and stem the tide of Klingon/Romulan war.
The ship would be something fairly large, combat capable and independant of immeadeate resupply issues. The ship would have, in addition to it's nifty combat abilities and Starfleet crew, a secondary hirearchy of diplomats and cultural experts from across the Federation- including a representive from both Klingon and Romulan Empires (to assure Starfleet is not secretly adiding the other side). A point of conflict would be that the (civillian) diplomats are expected to adhere to Starfleet codes of conduct and are subject to orders from the ship's senior staff (led by the ship's captain, of course).
Once inside the disputed space all long-range communications are blocked by an unknown force via means not understood and communication with the Federation is lost, this lack of commuication affects both the Romulans and Klingons as well (greatly adding to the confusion and keeping engagments to small skirmishes). Battle ensues between Klingon and Romulan forces, cutting off easy return to te federation, or a return at the cost of the mission's success. All debris from battle disappear within hours of combat's end with no explanatin.
All the details are up in the air as to cast, characters and shp design/specs, but that's the plot outline: and we all now that should come before all else, riiight?
Anyone want to fll in these blanks with me? No "Fanboy" ships though- no frikking Prommie or Dreadnaghts!
Posted by HerbShrump (Member # 1230) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: Anyone want to fll in these blanks with me? No "Fanboy" ships though- no frikking Prommie or Dreadnaghts!
Although it might be a bit on the small side. Of course, you could take an idea like this one and expand it a bit. Make the twin lower hulls have more deck space.
Posted by HerbShrump (Member # 1230) on :
Ideas that I think should be incorporated (and, apparently, so do some of you):
Ship based.
Exploration based (although the new Romulan war angle is very intriguing). One of the big lacking points in the previous Treks has been the lack of going where no one had gone before.
Can we stay away from mysterious disease affecting the crew or something breaks and the ship is in danger stories? These seem to be done to death.
Post-Traumatic stress stories may be interesting. Hopefully by the time this show hits the airwaves the troops will be home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Stories dealing with the aftermath of war and of soldiers surviving such situations would reverberate among the audience. The idea of the Captain from ST:REN fits nicely with this.
Posted by Joshua Bell (Member # 327) on :
Interestingly, the first several thoughts for "radical departure" series that popped into my head end up sounding like Battlestar Galactica or Andromeda clones. But here goes.
....
25th Century. Federation and her allies are recovering after a devastating war. None of this namby pamby Dominion War or Xindi tomfoolery, and the Borg were a relatively non-threatening joke in comparison.
Earth was oblitterated - billions dead. Humanity is represented only by the many colonies, none of which was "just like Earth".
Vulcan had gone further even further isolationist before the war, and survived by being neutral. Needless to say, Terrans aren't big fans of Vulcans any more.
On the other hand, Romulan society was straining at the seams before the war and afterwards are the Federation's strongest allies. In some ways, they have become more idealist than the Terrans.
The show would ostensibly be ship-based, with the ship travelling around the devastated worlds of the Federation and beyond, trying to help with recovery but primarily trying to wave the flag of unity. At this point, most formerly Federation worlds would rather go it alone, with the Earth colonies feeling extremely isolated and vulnerable.
The pilot would include flashback scenes to the war, with some tantalizing hints dropped. Later episodes would continue this trend with longer flashbacks and more revealed, eventually developing into entire episodes set in the past during the war. Many of the crew have history they are not particularly proud of - from avoiding combat and letting their friends and family die, to giving orders which resulted in massive casualties.
The initial plot arc (lasting 1-2 seasons) will simply involve telling the story of the war against the backdrop of the ostensible recovery. Further arcs will emerge, focusing on the emerging politics of the restored Federation and her allies. And dissuading the various powers that will be swooping in like vultures to try to pick over the carcass of the Federation. The overall tone of the series is a look at the costs of war, and the fragility of life in a hostile universe.
Cast/Crew:
* Captain is a Terran Male. 30-something like Kirk, but extremely tired. He is a "war hero", meaning he didn't die. He's not sure that's a good thing - he bears heavy guilt, entirely justified, for the destruction of Earth. He is extremely cautious in all decisions, knowing that anything order he gives could lead to disaster.
* First Officer is a 30-something Romulan Male. Low level Imperial paper-pusher turned adventurer. He is ostensibly the Spock analogue, but decided not Vulcan. He is headstrong, a risk taker, but wickedly smart and capable of feats of logic. He will never save the day with technobabble, but will lead a combat team to victory with superior strategy and tactics.
Not sure on the others.
Ship:
The Enterprise, of course. But which one?
* One possibility is that it's the latest & greatest, hauled out of the construction dock to fight in the war and now a shattered hulk that looks pretty but is tactically weak.
* Another (fanwank) possibility is that the Romulans gave the Enterprise-C back to the Federation and it's actually the best thing that can be fielded by either power. Or perhaps, it's the only thing that's expendable for a flag-waving mission.
Elements to draw on from other series: * Diplomacy as a primary activity, from TNG * Earth-as-underdogs, from Enterprise * Vulcans as mistrusted, from Enterprise * Dark gritty future, from DS9 * "Alternate" timelines
Posted by Josh (Member # 1884) on :
I'd play the Section 31 card.
Have a rotating cast of characters in different eras of Star Trek taking part in main events of the various series. This approach has many advantages:
- It would allow the show to stay fresh with a rotating cast
- It would make it the most accessible show to the public since it has the no direct ties between episodes
- They could easily bring in actors from all the shows as guests and not have to deal with their aging
- It would break the mold enough from the older shows that it could draw in a new audience
Posted by Arichamus (Member # 1986) on :
One word:Celestial.The next series should be comedic in tone.Celestial fits the bill.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
What? Why would a random adjective fit the bill or be comedic?
Posted by Josh (Member # 1884) on :
Voyager was already the most expensive joke ever
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Just wait 'till the new movie...
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
I wasn't going to do this, but I started typing and I couldn't stop!
I'd suggest an archeology plotline. Set some time immediately after the Dominion war. A ship is given the task of finding out more about the history of the region: the Progenitors, the Preservers, the T'kon, the Iconians, and especially the first humanoid race. This allows lots of new plotlines, along with revisiting several older ones as desired. Major mysteries are discovered and resolved as the series progresses, leading towards large revelations of various kinds. Given the plot line of the first humanoid race, it's easy to see how themes of unity among differences grow out of this.
The ship is a small one, perhaps Nova class. It was typically relegated to scout or rear lines duty during the war, so it didn't see much combat action. It's not terribly well armed or equipped, and it's not that fast. But it's sensors kick ass, especially after an extended refit. The entire crew is new, due to the major redistribution of personnel after the war. Due to the thawed relationship between the Federation and Romulans, and given the ship's important mission and lack of armament, the ship may be equipped with a cloaking device.
The captain is an older human male, with moderate diplomatic experience, but he's not much into archeology. Not much into games or reading, either. Basically, he prefers reality to his imagination in all ways. His preferred entertainment is to walk his new ship, and get to know her and his crew. He can frequently be seen in the ship's bar, chatting. He hates the ship's only holodeck, and refuses to use it for immersive recreational purposes. He also puts strict limits on how the holodeck is used by the crew: no using other peoples' images without permission, no accidentally creating AIs, no holodiction. He finds a connection with both the Klingon and Romulan representatives, forming a balance between them, and keeping their general competition in check.
This is an inter-species operation, with Klingon and Romulan officers aboard. The representatives are experts in the cartography and history of their respective regions. In addition, the Klingon is a tactical genius, since studying Klingon history lends itself to that. The Klingon rep is also female, lending itself to a study of how exactly women are treated differently in Klingon culture. The Romulan is a male, and a general scientist. They're very competitive, and don't seek each other's company, but they're capable of working together so long as the captain acts as a buffer between them, forming your K-S-Mc triangle.
Each has a young aide/protoge. The Klingon aide considers the job a waste of his time, and as a male finds it demeaning to work for a woman. The Romulan aide (female) is thrilled to be there, very eager. She may be the daughter of her boss. The aides absolutely HATE each other because of their species, and would probably kill each other given half a chance.
The first officer is a young Bajoran male. The Bajoran militia has been assimilated into Starfleet by this point. He's never even been outside the Bajoran system before this assignment. And since Bajor was neutral during the Dominion war, he doesn't have much combat experience, or really space experience at all. He grew up in the resistance, having no idea who or where his parents were. Spending much of his time in caves, he was always fascinated by the artifacts other resistance members would ignore. Other Bajorans in the crew see him as something of a hero. The destruction of Bajor's cultural treasures by the Cardassians almost made him more angry than their treatment of the people. After the Cardassian withdrawal, he was assigned to help catalog and protect the important sites and artifacts left behind. His religious beliefs are shaky, as he was in his late teens when the wormhole was first discovered. He doesn't know how much of Bajoran religion was actually desired by the Prophets. He tried to ask them in an orb vision, shortly before leaving Bajor on this mission, but their answer was cryptic, possibly implying something about his destiny. If the Captain is away, he has a hard time getting respect from the Romulan and Klingon representatives due to his inexperience. If all three are away, it's even worse, because now he has to keep their aides at bay. He does establish friendships with both aides eventually, but finds it difficult for either to accept his friendship with the other.
The crew needs fleshing out, including an engineer and a doctor. I'm still working on who the bad guy should be. I'm thinking someone old and awakened, but that's reminiscent of the Vaadwaur, and they sucked. Perhaps just the general forces of the status quo, ala Chang. The Romulan and Klingon representatives continually have a hard time convincing their respective peoples of the importance and impact of what they find (whatever that is), but eventually this ship's discoveries will change the Alpha Quadrant.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Omega, that's one of the very few fan outlines I actually like! The aides are kinda reminiscent of B5, but not in a bad way.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Thanks! Like I said, normally I don't do things like that, but I started typing and I just couldn't stop! I thought the characters as laid out gave a lot of potential for exploration of different character dynamics, different kinds of relationships among groups that hate each other but are really very similar. The religious angle is interesting too, and probably worth expanding. I was thinking that the XO might end up the spiritual leader of the ship's Bajorans by default, a role he's not comfortable with. Klingon spirituality is poorly defined, and I don't think Romulan religion has ever been mentioned at all. I was also thinking of having one of the undefined crew follow a real Earth religion. The idea that all of them have died out by the 24th century has always struck me as absurd. Using religious zealots as a villain might work too, but it also might be a little heavy handed.
Posted by Krenim (Member # 22) on :
I've never fleshed it out, but the idea that's been floating around in my head for years is telling the tale of the two ships that were apparantly sent out by Starfleet to meet up with Voyager. Spend 2-3 seasons outbound towards the Delta Quadrant, possibly with the Romulans playing a heavy part in Seasons 1 & 2. Then the ship(s) get the message that Voyager is back home. The next 2-3 seasons is getting back home, revisiting a lot of the successes/mistakes/catastrophes from the first few seasons.
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
Everybody's ideas are so good. I want to comment on all of them, but I wouldn't feel comfortable doing so without throwing my hat in the ring:
Towards the interests of involving some sense of mystery, my Trek show concept is called Star Trek: Enigma. (This is the project for which I was designing that proto-miranda a while back.)
The show is set at the end of TOS, but pre-TMP. Production design to be late TOS era with some small TMP influences. It follows a young Lt. Cmdr on her new assignment as the XO transferring aboard the USS Spinoza, a modest exploration vessel charting a vast and dense nebula in unclaimed space beyond the Federation, near the Klingon Empire. Run-ins with rogue vessels would not be uncommon, and a variety of old and newer races would, of course, be represented, whether indigenous or just trading in-region.
Meeting at a distant outpost, the Lt. Cmdr has brought new orders with her that the vessel is to delay its charting mission in order to investigate some anomalous gravitic events in the area. The distance and spatial disturbances will mean that the ship will be out of contact with Starfleet for months. The Spinoza's gruff Captain is less than enthusiastic about departing his old mission, but after some polite, if awkward authorization-checking is, ultimately, a company man. The confrontational Tellarite engineer is more vocal about his reservations. After they are under way it would come out that the Lt. Cmdr's real mission is less about investigating stellar phenomena and more to do with evaluating the loyalty of the ship's Captain and its crew.
That crew is largely made up of enlisted personnel, and while military, the attitude is less formal than previous Trek shows have tended to be. Do you know those guys who work on oil rigs, (rough-necks I think), or who are stationed at McMurdo in Antarctica? These are those guys. Lonely, strange and brilliant men. The crew is small (100 or so) due in part to the nature of their mission and also to another member of the crew, the artificial intellect prototype M6.
Following the catastrophic test of the M5 computer, the Daystrom Institute scaled back the scope of their program, and developed the M6 to act as a ship's science officer. As a safety precaution, M6 has been completely isolated from the ship's primary systems and its only function is to interact and coordinate the ship's sensor and cartographic features for their mission. Of course the crew is skeptical of this reformation, but M6 has been programmed to be exceedingly polite and deferential (precisely because of this, perhaps).
Unlike previous Trek stories, the Captain, though a regular character, would remain somewhat aloof. In fact, as the show progresses the commanding officer's secrecy would become an issue: clandestine meetings, unexplained course-deviations, etc. The show would focus on the bright-faced Lt. Cmdr. as she and the crew try to discover not only the provenance of this abundance of black holes, but the true intentions of her Captain.
[ May 12, 2007, 07:34 AM: Message edited by: bX ]
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
I am the thread-breaker. I speak and all are silenced.
I realize that my ideas are of the the utmost and ultimate brilliance and perfect in every way. That all of you are intimidated, not only by my prodigious talent, but also my audacious good looks. However, I'd still like to see the continuation of the most interesting thing to happen to this sub-forum since Mark wore a dress or whatever.
Out of impatience and in the spirit of constructive criticism, I thought I'd forgo the polite few posts waiting period before sharing my opinions of some other treatments.
MinutiaeMan:Your wayback link wasn't working when I clicked on it, but from what I remember it was a post-Dominion War Federation. Which is a compelling setting. I don't suppose you'd have the source you could cut and paste into this thread so we could see it.
Malnurtured Snay: First of all, fantastic thread idea. The Tzenkethi sound great. I love picturing people just pronouncing the name. I don't really have a picture of what they are like as a people (other than that they are fiercely xenophobic) and I think that might help in the appreciation of the story. Like how the crew is part of this conflict and what part they play in the interaction. The Xindi-Sloth and Andorian crew members are great ideas and introduce a whole level of intrigue and conflict by their very presence. I'd like to see that fleshed out a bit. You have an entire crew listed, but who do you consider your "big-three"? How will that work? I like that it's a smaller vessel and that it isn't an Enterprise. However, the Grissom always makes me think of ST3 and that's maybe not the association you necessarily want. Maybe a new name? Love the post-Dominion Klingon stuff, and it might be interesting to tie that in to greater or lesser extent in the conflict with the Tzenkethi.
Jason Abbadon: Oh yea, Romulans! The continuity geek in me loves the idea that the Rommies fought a conflict in their backyard without us ever being the wiser. The Klingon expansion is perfect with the pride and the glory thing. This is a really great setting into which to throw our main characters. I agree that the ship would have to be a fairly big-one, and I love the idea of the diplomatic core vs. the Starfleet crew. So long as both sides are occasionally wrong and occasionally right and we don't have commodore dummy-pants coming in and screwing everything up, because that plot is SO over. I am of course, intrigued by the comm-blackout and I like that it restricts conflicts to smaller battles. I'd be very curious about the crew, and if you're ever looking to bounce ideas around, I'd love to hear more...
Joshua Bell:Great concept. I loved every picking-up-the-pieces episode the Trek milieu has had. "Yesterday's Enterprise" is my fave TNG ep. (I vote E-C) You blew the Earth up! Goodness. No, but I like the idea of a Trek series with crappy ships and mis-matched hull-plates. Still trying to be optimistic and bringing enlightenment and morality, but what the scattered population really needs are bandages and food. Federation idealism is still in the building, but deeply wounded. Great opportunities for characterization there. The Vulcan rift is a really good idea so long as their motivations are logical and we don't go back to the twatty Enterprise Vulcans. I also like most of the conflicts being with the "vultures" as you mention, descended and preying upon the human carrion. There could even be Starfleet mercenary ships and crews out there. Neato. This might be too "Lost" but the flashback things could even become part of the structure for storytelling. The advantage your story has is the potential to perfectly answer HerbShrump's call for post-trauma/post-war stories which as he points out would certainly be in the Zeitgeist. And right off the bat, your characters are great. I like the survivor-guilt-ridden commander. Echoes of Sisko (it's a good thing). The Romulan First Officer is interesting, and I'd like to see a little more with him, some flaws maybe. Perhaps bitterness at his inglorious role behind a desk for the big conflict. Speaking of which, and perhaps this was your intent, but we still don't know what that conflict was! Good god, man, you blew the Earth up and we still don't know whodunnit! And if that's the point, I apologize, because that could be very cool, (Jericho anyone?). Anyway, I really like your ideas and am curious to learn more...
Josh: I do like the idea of exploring more Section 31, but I'm not sure fans of the series would be as hooked into it. It's an interesting concept.
Omega: This is great. Despite your protestations I think of all the stories here, you have the best fleshed-out crew. Or at least, I can picture them most clearly. The intrinsic conflicts between them write their own stories. Smaller ship. I like it already. Eliminating lame holodeck stories? Sign me up! The B5 diplomats plus aides format is very appealing, as is the presumed generational gap. You mentioned later the conspicuous absence of contemporary Earth religions, and I've always thought Star Trek could benefit from a bit more spirituality. And I think so long as it doesn't fly in the face of scientific attitudes that could be fertile ground for some good stories. I just hated it when zealots were total morons and would ignore any evidence that flew in the face of their fundamental doctrines and Starfleet all laughed and them and then sighed and shook their heads. Anyway getting one of the big three (Captain maybe) involved in that could be very rewarding. I can definitely see that magic triangle as you lay it out. I'm a little worried that your cast is too boy-heavy. You might consider making either the Captain or the Bajoran officer a woman just to mix things up, but I like the outlines for both of those characters very much. The inexperienced officer trying to wrangle these stubborn, older aliens would be very cool. I'm less enthusiastic about the archeology plotline. When you say archaeology, people picture pith-helmets and digging up very old and boring things. I think I know you don't intend for every episode to be about this, so maybe you should frame it differently. Or bury the word archaeology deep in the treatment. The concept of digging up something ancient and bad certainly holds appeal, and I think gives the show a big-arc on which to hang your stories. The first-humanoid race was a silly one-off episode to answer the question of why every alien was humanoid with bumpy heads. Which is to say, I think while you shouldn't ignore it entirely, I don't think it should be the focus of your show. My knee-jerk reaction to that is wanting DESPERATELY to change the channel. But the T'kon and Iconians certainly hold appeal. I'm less familiar with the Progenitors and Preservers, but they could also be interesting. With the caveat that you already have the diplomats and aides, be careful not to make Star Trek: Babylon 5 with Shadows and Vorlons and Bruce Boxleitner yelling at million year-old species...
Krenim: I like it except that we already know that at the end of Season 2 Voyager's going to be back home.
OK, that is my long, frikking response. I hope that further discussion will now ensue. Bitches.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
For those who aren't familiar with the URL structure at the Internet Archive, here's the link to the list of archived pages; one of them would have to work...
The Renaissance Primer is a rough outline of preceding seasons, aimed at helping new readers catch up on the important plot points of the series and become familiar with the basic agendas and interactions of the crew. Also included is a list of recommended episodes that are key to developing the plot of the over-arcing story.
Season One Summary
It is the dawn of the 25th century, about twenty-five years after the end of the Dominion War (seen in Deep Space Nine). Starfleet is about to launch the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-G, the eighth starship to bear the prestigious name, under the command of Captain Neil Cross. Cross gathers his disparate crew: a Romulan exchange officer named Talora; Erik Grey, a by-the-book engineer; Gril Dojar, a young Cardassian tactical officer; and Elris Lea, the ship's doctor and Cross's estranged wife. The Enterprise itself is an experimental starship equipped with many new technologies, most notably the quantum slipstream drive, which allows the ship to travel many times faster than standard warp speeds.
On the Enterprise's shakedown cruise out to the Klingon border, the ship intercepts a pirate, Jennifer Quinlan, who brings word of a massively powerful alien force that has attacked a Klingon battle station inside the Coular Nebula. As the Enterprise crew investigates, they themselves are attacked by an enormous alien vessel that is apparently searching for something on the surface of Coular IV. While Cross and Dojar travel down to the planet to find what the aliens are searching for, Talora commands the Enterprise in a disastrous attack against the alien ship that leaves the Starfleet vessel crippled. A larger conflict is barely averted when Cross and Dojar discover what the alien ship is looking for: a crashed scoutship with an alien trapped in suspended animation. The alien, a Q'tami named Y'lan, later joins the Enterprise crew as an "observer" to learn more about the Federation and its many cultures.
Warning: There are major spoilers for the show beyond this point!
As the flagship of the Federation, the Enterprise is quickly plunged into some of the galaxy's most controversial situations. Captain Cross is forced to make numerous unpopular decisions -- among them the decision to halt aid to the desperate Cardassian Union because the aid was being misused. The Enterprise also becomes embroiled in the Klingon Civil War when Cross is kidnapped by the rebel Reformist faction. With the support of his mentor and superior officer, Admiral Henry Portman, Cross also refuses an order from Starfleet to accept the deployment of Marines aboard the Enterprise.
Despite their disparate backgrounds, the Enterprise crew gradually coalesces to form a united team. Talora learns to work within Starfleet regulations (which are vastly different from traditional Romulan conduct), and develops a close friendship with Dojar, who sometimes feels alienated because of his Cardassian heritage. Quinlan, a former Starfleet officer who had resigned in disgrace, manages to prove herself once again and is appointed as the ship's new pilot. Elris gradually manages to overcome her intense dislike of her estranged husband and captain to become a contributing member of the crew. And Y'lan, though ever the outsider (even bringing threats from the renegade Faction on the crew), begins to gain some insights into the ways of the humanoid cultures.
However, at the end of the year, the crew is dealt a stunning blow when the Klingon Reformists launch a vicious attack on Starbase 23, killing everyone onboard -- including Admiral Portman. Grief-stricken, Cross leads a furious counterattack against the Reformists' home base, killing over one hundred Klingon civilians in the process. Though they have come together in the past year, the Enterprise crew seems on the edge of being torn apart...
Recommended Episodes Episode 1x01/1x02: "Aftermath" Episode 1x03: "Confidence in Princes" Episode 1x09: "Between Two Worlds" Episode 1x12: "In Sickness and in Health" Episode 1x18: "Changing Symphony" Episode 1x21: "Faction Protocols" Episode 1x22: "Men of War and Science" Episode 1x26: "Shadows of a New Dawn"
Season Two Summary
Following the trauma of the Klingon attacks, the Enterprise is recalled to Earth, and the crew begins to fragment. Y'lan disappears, and Cross goes into hiding. Starfleet convenes a war crimes tribunal to investigate the actions taken in the assault on Coular, and the Enterprise is temporarily deactivated. While investigating the circumstances surrounding the Coular attack, Talora and Dojar find references to a Federation operative named "Janus", who has secretly collaborated with the Klingon Reformists and who arranged the attack on Starbase 23. Dojar is apparently killed on this mission, although he is actually rescued by Y'lan before the ship he was on explodes. Y'lan reveals to Dojar that the renegade Q'tami Faction (a group of Q'tami who refused to participate in the linked mind of the Hegemony) are attempting to assassinate the entire Enterprise senior crew and ensure the ship's destruction, for reasons unknown. Dojar and Y'lan begin working together to secretly save their shipmates and foil the Q'tami attacks.
On Earth, Cross is sentenced to life imprisonment for the apparent war crimes he committed in his attack. The Enterprise is slated for decommissioning, and the remainder of the crew break up, going their separate ways for a time. They are brought back together, however, by a sudden attack against the Utopia Planitia shipyards, when a group of Faction Q'tami take the entire station's crew hostage and demand that the Enterprise and her crew be turned over to them. Cross is quickly released from prison to mount a last-ditch stand against the Q'tami. At the end of the day, the Enterprise crew is reunited and Cross is reinstated as captain.
All is not well, however. Suffering from depression over the loss of life he had caused in his attack on Coular, Cross experiences a severe crisis of confidence in his ability to command. It is only with the help of a residual mental "echo" from Admiral Portman and the Diplomat (left over from their temporary mental bond the previous year) that Cross is able to overcome his doubts and fears, and resume command of the Enterprise. Also, Dojar is suffering from strange side effects after his rescue by Y'lan -- the Q'tami transporter gave him temporary insights into the minds of his fellow crewmates. Although much of this information was forgotten, he still remembers many feelings and thoughts of his friends and crewmates. He also begins experiencing acute headaches, that only got worse as time went on. And the full extent of the effects to Dojar remain unknown.
Although the crew have come back together in body, they find it harder to reunite in spirit. Grey harbors resentment towards Cross because of the attack on Coular. He also breaks up with his girlfriend and coworker, Sarah Boyle, after he discovers that she is having an affair with Lewis Carter, a disreputable journalist whom Admiral Delfune had assigned as a sort of "observer" aboard the Enterprise. Talora, Dojar, and Quinlan have to keep secret their discovery of "Janus" and their attempts to investigate his manipulations of Federation policies, for fear of tipping their hand and revealing what they know.
At the end of the year, the Enterprise crew has a stroke of luck. After recovering a PADD from the abandoned wreckage of the Tears of the Jackal, a smuggling ship belonging to a Janus operative, Talora, Dojar, and Quinlan discover a secret Federation base where the Q'tami who had been captured in the raid on Utopia Planitia are being tortured and experimented upon. This base is run by a group of rogue officers loyal to Janus, attempting to discover the secret of Q'tami biology and technology. But during an attack by an unknown party on the base, the tortured Q'tami begin to wake up...
Recommended Episodes Episode 2x01: "Living in the Shadows" Episode 2x02: "Dead and Buried" Episode 2x11: "Together We Stand" Episode 2x12: "Home" Episode 2x15: "The Walk" Episode 2x18: "Outstanding Questions" Episode 2x25: "The Last Temptation" Episode 2x26: "This Side of Hades"
Season Three Summary
The captive Q'tami break out of their stasis tubes and escape in a shuttlecraft. The shuttle, running on autopilot, returns to its point of origin -- Bajor. There, the Q'tami run rampant and wreak havoc on the city of Tamulna, almost completely destroying it and leaving thousands of people dead. Dojar, who had been unintentionally linked telepathically to the "lost" Q'tami, was killed in the attack, but he was revived -- after a fashion -- by Y'lan, by "fusing" their life-forces together, essentially making them one entity. Dojar takes a leave of absence to cope with his identity crisis, and Quinlan is promoted to Chief of Security.
In the aftermath of the Q'tami attack on Bajor, Admiral Delfune reveals to Cross that they are in fact on the same side -- they are both enemies of Janus. Delfune had previously believed that Cross was secretly working for Janus, thus explaining her previous hostility towards the crew of the Enterprise. Although they strongly disagree on methodology, Delfune points out that they still seek the same thing: the strength and safety of the Federation. She tells Cross that she will provide the Enterprise what support she can.
A few months later, Cross and his crew are faced with a specter from their own past... the Dominion. The crew discovers that a delegation of diplomats from the Dominion, led by the Founder Odo, have offered to negotiate a lasting peace treaty between the two former enemies. The Enterprise is one of the ships that is assigned to provide security for the critical negotiations, which are held on Deep Space 9.
During the negotiations, Cross struggles to conquer his inner demons, the result of the two years he spent in a Dominion prisoner-of-war camp as a child during the war. Talora gets an incredible opportunity -- the chance to represent the Romulans as one of the chief negotiators. Carter gets involved with a sinister Bajoran terrorist cell that seeks to drive a wedge between Bajor and the Federation. Dojar is kidnapped by a rogue officer who is convinced that Y'lan holds the secret to destroying the Dominion. And behind it all, the mysterious Janus seeks to manipulate the negotiations towards his own sinister ends.
The negotiations come to a sudden and spectacular end when the Jem'Hadar's supply of Ketracel White is mysteriously poisoned, driving all of the Jem'Hadar among the Dominion's delegation violently insane. After a furious battle to contain the Jem'Hadar and protect innocent bystanders from harm, the Dominion voluntarily withdraws from the negotiations and returns to the Gamma Quadrant. Ambassador Odo bitterly observes that while the Dominion has reformed and is interested in peace, the Federation seems to have degenerated since the war.
After the disaster at Deep Space 9, the Enterprise tries to return to its normal routine. But normalcy seems impossible. On a seemingly-routine patrol inside Cardassian space, the Enterprise is suddenly confronted by the Virus, a semi-sentient holographic computer program whose only directive is to kill non-Cardassians. Admiral Delfune orders the starship Marshall to attempt to capture the Virus for study. But the Virus manages to gain the upper hand, practically destroying the ship in the process. Talora and the crew watch in horror as the burning wreckage of the Marshall descends into the Cardassian atmosphere...
Recommended Episodes Episode 3x01: "The Lost" Episode 3x05: "Whispers from the Other Room" Episode 3x06: "Nor Bid the Stars Farewell" Episode 3x10: "What Shadows We Pursue" Episode 3x11: "Release" Episode 3x16: "Ships That Pass in the Night"
Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :
And then there was season 4, which got really weird with a Federation Civil War that never got to being explained due to loss of interest of the writers, IIRC.
I once had an idea for a series, but in hindsight it is a lot like Crusade (I forget which came first). It involved an unknown alien race managing to alter Luna's orbit, sending it crashing into Earth. The hero ship was sent on a mission to retrieve the Tkon star-moving technology and adapt it to move a planetary body (Luna) before it was too late.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Thanks for the comments, bX! You're probably right on all counts. If there's gonna be a spiritual aspect to the show, everyone's beliefs are probably going to be touched upon at one point or another. And of course all religious believers will be portrayed intelligently. Unless one is portrayed unintelligently to make a point about that, of course.
My established cast is a little boy-heavy, as you say, 4:2 ratio. Since I still need an engineer and a doctor, at least one of those can be female, bringing the ratio closer to unity. We may also need another bridge officer, but really, extra bridge officers tend to fall by the wayside on these shows. Mayweather, Kim? No need to create a character unless they're interesting. On a small ship, the XO could easily serve as first shift conn officer.
I knew the aides thing was straight out of B5, but races work so much better when you have more than one example of them! Worf is stoic Klingon warrior. But are they all like that? Could you have said for the first few years of TNG? One guy's an individual. Two are a group. Oh, and I wasn't really planning on the Klingon and Romulan reps being diplomats. They're actual science/military officers, representing their peoples' interests in the ship's mission, but also assisting it in a material fashion. They're our tactical and science officers, respectively.
You're probably right about the first humanoid race not being terribly interesting, unless we can pin other historical things on them. But since they're probably hundreds of millions of years back, I'm not sure what that could possibly be. Short of becoming the Founders, at least, but there's not much drama there. And no, not every episode would be about archeology as such. Exploring some sort of historical mystery, quite possible, but not necessarily archeology. Hm. Perhaps someone in the crew should be a folklore expert. XO maybe.
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
You're welcome Omega. Thanks again for sharing your ideas. Sorry I misunderstood about the diplomats (probably the influence of Jason's cool idea confusing me). You're right, as crewmembers it does make it different than B5, while still giving you the opportunity, as you say, to compare and contrast different experiences of these heretofore alien cultures. I don't think the XO ought to be the folklore expert. Either he/she is naive or not. Follklore implies a sort of wisdom, and while that's something I can see the character building over several seasons, I think it might be more rewarding to apply that to a different character. Certainly a female Klingon spouting folklore could be A) entertaining and B) illuminating. So now that I think about it maybe you don't even need to mention archaeology directly by name. The pilot could be them responding to a distress call from a team conducting an historical survey on what was thought to be a long-dead planet, and the mysterious circumstances of the (now missing? dead? insane?) survey team becomes the focus for the story. That some ancient T'kon (memory beacon? weapon? temple?) device has been activated is secondary to the primary action of, intitally, "WTF?" and eventually, "Please stop killing us, oh ancestral lords of darkest apocalypse." or whatever. At any rate, yeah love it.
MinutiaeMan: Thanks for re-posting the information (and also teaching me something about how the wayback machine works.) Golly. There's so much here. You've got three seasons there. Not sure whether you want me to comment on it and to what extent, but I will provide some brief initial impressions. I like that the Captain has his estranged wife on the ship, lot's o' potential there. The pirate character is very interesting so long as she in no way resembles Dureena Nafeel, the cat-like thief-lady from Crusade. No, but Quinlan's reactions might be an excellent way of pointing out the humorous inflexibility of Starfleet conduct. If you were interested in pursuing this further, I might recommend re-writing the treatment as it took me some careful re-reading to figure out that the Q'tami had a faction and that Y'lan was not a part of that faction (in fact, why they were after him). Also I still don't get a clear sense of that ever-desireable Kirk-Spock-McCoy triangle, but maybe that's not what you're going for. I'll hold off on commenting further, in case you don't want me to. I should warn you that should you so desire, I shall be brutal and cruel and hard and all those things that screw up intricately planned seasonal arcs, characters, etc.
Posted by HerbShrump (Member # 1230) on :
quote:Originally posted by bX: You mentioned later the conspicuous absence of contemporary Earth religions, and I've always thought Star Trek could benefit from a bit more spirituality.
I think Trek could also deal with this from a slightly different perspective. Similar to your thoughts though, bX.
Something that has started to gripe me for a while now has been the homogeny of the alien cultures. Earth is full of different languages, different cultures, different religions.
Alien cultures, however, tend to all be the same. The lanugage is Vulcan or Klingon, the artifacts are Bajoran religious items. As if everyone on Vulcan spoke the same language or everyone on Bajor always believed the same religion.
I want to see these cultures have different langueages and dialects. I want to see them have different religious beliefs among their own people.
And why is it that only Humans have different genetic cultures? True, we've seen black Vulcans and a black Romulan, but that's about it. The albino Andorians seemed to come as such a big shock.
Speaking of a racial mix to the show - someone was talking on CNN the other day about the lack of Asians in lead roles on TV (Hiro from Heroes being noted as an exception). One of my thoughts was to make the captain a woman of mixed Chinese/Japanese/Korean decent. Her mother was mixed Chinese/Korean and her Father mixed Japanese/Korean (or whatever). This would allow the Captain to grow up influenced by all the various Asian cultures on Earth (born and raised in Japan, spent holidays with her grandparents in China and Korea).
This would allow the writers to explore a variety of Asian culture points and still be believable.
That would be more believable.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Well, Renaissance was something that was very much an experiment in some ways. I'd like to think that it was one of the first truly collaborative fan fiction projects out there (most others generally did their own thing and published collectively, we did a lot of story development together, at least at first). There were still a lot of failures, too, especially to do with our attempts to keep a regular publishing schedule, and keeping the story arc coherent in the later seasons. (Some day maybe I'll do a tell-all about why I think Renaissance fell apart. I'm not blameless in it, hardly, but...)
Anyway, yeah, there were some differences in the Renaissance cast. There wasn't an archetypal "big three" the way TOS and ENT had, our main cast dynamic was mostly akin to DS9, focusing on a few main characters and trying to have a few groups of strong friendships and cooperation. We developed some mystery and intrigue, lots of philosophical differences.
Very general spoiler: the ultimate goal of Renaissance was to expound upon the moral and philosophical contradictions in the Federation introduced in later DS9 seasons, leading up to a conflict that was roughly described as a "Federation Civil War." (The attempted fourth season was not exactly what we'd originally planned. Things came unhinged at that point...)
For characters, we tried to have some diversity in various ways: Cross was a very hands-off leader in some ways, with plenty of angst. Although it wasn't intended, I almost came to view him as a sort of anti-hero as the series developed. There was plenty of internal conflict; Talora, the by-the-book Romulan exchange officer and XO was a prime candidate for conflict with Quinlan, the former pirate, for example. And Y'lan was a perhaps heavy-handed attempt to develop a truly "alien alien," keeping the now-stereotypical "outsider perspective on humanity" role in the story.
Anyway, at this point the project is pretty much dead and buried (to borrow an episode title, for those that remember). I still have some of the scripts printed out and stored on my bookshelf, and I'm definitely proud of the project. It aimed high, and though we missed our ultimate target, we still told a hell of a story. If you have some time, try reading a few of the episodes!
Also, BX, send me a PM or start a new thread (I know there were one or two other Flareites who read the show)... Posted by HerbShrump (Member # 1230) on :
I read it. At least the first season. Then I got side tracked or the site was down or this or that or...
Posted by reggleton (Member # 1992) on :
I love Sunday late nights when the old ones come on. It does make it harder to get up for work the next day.
Posted by Krenim (Member # 22) on :
quote:Originally posted by MinutiaeMan: (I know there were one or two other Flareites who read the show)...
Maybe.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Cardassian reconstruction + most characters politicians, ambassadors, and/or agitators + intrigue = Star Trek: West Wing.
(Or, if I am as bitter and self-referential in 2015 as I expect to be, Star Trek: Studio 60.)
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
Lt. Cdr. Josh Lyman. So long as there's a leggy yeoman for witty riparte, I'm in.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Instead of calling it Studio 60, call it Starbase 60. You know to keep with the Star Trek theme.
Posted by Josh (Member # 1884) on :
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