Here's how I would do it: Instead of doing a Twilight Zone sort of thing with self-contained episodes, create stories that span the course of anywhere from two to four or even six episodes. This allows you the ability to develop a story and characters over more than just the course of a single hour. You could set your stories anywhere, anytime, and about anyone in the Trek universe. You want a Section 31 story? How about something focusing on Klingons? You can have both. The added advantage is that if one story doesn't work, or the audience doesn't like certain characters, you're not stuck with them for the next seven years. At the same time, if the audience responds positivity to a particular story or character, you can bring them back again and again in different stories.

From a production standpoint, while you would have to keep building new sets, you wouldn't have to worry about the escalating costs of a regular cast. You would only have to sign actors for however many episodes their story lasted. An anthology series would also allow writers from outside of Trek to come up with one-shot stories.
Imagine being able to invite writers from science-fiction literature to pen their own individual Trek stories. No need to worry about injecting new blood into the writing staff.

That's my $0.02

On a personal note, make a series about the Prometheus and other experiment ships.

------------------
"You dare question my orders? That would be...foolish."
-Weyoun

The end of the Dominion crisis and the invention of transwarp drive should have brought about a Renaissancve for the United Federation of Planets. But a growing minority was right. The fedeeration, as well as the other major alpha qudrant powers, were dying.

The federation was built on ideals centuries old. But as confliuct after conflict arose in the galaxy, the federation began to forget its ideals

The klingon empire was built on honor and pride. But many klingons allowed the corruption of their governement to try to save the empire's pride.

The Romulan star empire had been isolated for decades. But its recent involvement in galactic affairs borught about a liberal movement, trying to overthrtow the conservative governemnt.

In 2378, the distant world of Naka'Zenu was invaded. The invaders, known as the Shrekari, singled out 30 million native Naka'Zenus (Nakians) for death.

The federation, citing its outdated prime directive, declared that it would not get involved in the extermination of these 30 million innocent souls because it was "an internal affair of the Naka'Zenu." Many agreed with the federation. But one Starfleet captain, a famous explorere and war hero, did not agree. She set of one her own, to begin an effort to move the 30 million Nakians to a religous world of theirs known as Natakarin. In this year, 2378, nine different sentient beings from across the galaxy would be brought together by fate to not only get involved with the Nakian affair, but to get involved in a change throughout the galaxy that would be in so much more. There was....

THE SOLDIER, a young patriotic starfleet captain
THE REBEL, a former member of the slaughtered Maquis
THE REFUGEE, an important meber of the Romulan Ungerground
THE POLITICIAN, the respected federation council representative for Earth
THE WARRIOR, a Klingon political outcast
THE PEACEMAKER, a pacifistic Nakian refugee
THE ENTRRPRENUR, an ambitious Ferengi buisnesswoman
THE HELPER, a politivcally non-aligned doctor
and
THE LEADER, a starlfleet officer who leaves the federation to save the Nakians from death

all part of.....
star trek: REVOLUTION

season 1: In the cramped two-hour premiere, all of the nine charctersa are borught together. Its kinda complicated, so i won;t get into it here. In the first season, the enterprenuer and the warrior get a bunch of ships together to transport the Nakians to Natakarian.

season 2: In a story continued from season 1, the refugee steals a bunch of the freighters transporting the nakians to help save romulan undergroudn leaders. The soldier, captain of one of starfleet's slipstream ships trying to capture the leader defects to help the Revolution. Some epsisodes take place on romulus as we learn about the undergroudn there, some of it takes plave on Natakrian as the defected slipstream vessel helps quciken the evacuation.

season 3: The shrekari are about the beign to exterminate the nakians who were schdelued for death, known as the nashrek, or at least those who reamin. why they havfen;t killed them yet will not be explored until later. In a desperate attempt to gain more equoipment to help the evacuation, the leader gives up trying to take to the federation council to get help, the leader heads to romulus to tey to get help from the romulan underground. On romulus, the leadser learns that the underground is about to begin a bloddy revolution to gain control of romulus. The leader, in a great feat, stops the bloddy revolution before it starts, saving the lives of millions.

season 4: Some followers of the warrior, in an attempt to gain control of the klingon empire, sign an angreement with the Romulean Empire (RE) to invade Qu'nois. The invasion starts, but is unsucessful, and tuns into a bloddy war. the fefderation does nothing.

season 5: the RE, in its second attempt, invades Vulcan, this time sucessfully. The federation does nothing, and knowcks Vulcan out as a federation memeber. u see, the federation does not want to get in another war. The federation is truly dead in this year. Its betrayting its people to save itself. The federation then joins the war against the klingons in a request from the romulans. The peoples of the federation protest, but the governemnt does nothing.

season 6: the federation plunges into civil war in three factions: those who think the federation should leave the war wiht the klingons and take care of itself, those who think the war should continues, and those who have joined a movmeent begun by the leader at Natakarian. This movement, known as the Unisist movement, wants peace for the qudrant. Afterall, they stopped the romulan revolution, how come they can;t stop some toher conflicts? But actually, the romluan revolution has not been stopped, as the romulans revolt, and the romulan civil war begins. The kligon empire, near defeat, is itself in civil war, with the followers of the warriors on one side, and the followers of the corrupt governemnt on the other.

season 7: The bloody revolution across the qudrant continues. But the Unisitst do get something done. They acheive an agreement by all factions to not fight on earth, which, if it was faught on, would be destoried because it is inhabitied by all sides of the revolution. Many Unisisst-following federation memeber leave the federation, in an attempot to isolate the bloodhsed. And the klingons are defeated, and come under control by the RE, the federation, and the followrs of the warrior. It seems that things are rather bad. Buyt, here comes the series finale....

In the series finale, the leader, in a great unisist gesture, getsa the leaders of all of the factions in all of the revolutions and all the civila wars to meet together. Some leaders come on their own, others are kinapped. The talks could go someher, except many leaders bring fleets of warships with them, and a battle ensues. One faction drops a trilithium bomb into the star of the world on which the leaders are meeting. The leader convinces the leaders that if peacre is not found within 12 minutews, all of them will be killed. She explains that the bloodshed can stop here, once and for all, if just for one second all of the leaders forgot their old hatreds. They do, quickly sign a peace agreement in which the RE, federation, and warrior followers leave qu'nos, in which the romulan underground is given some power in the RE, and in which the federation civil war gains a cease-fire. With this peace, the leaders evacuate the world right before it is destoried.

And what of the Nakians who were going to be killed? The last of them are evacuated during the finale. They come together, tunr into enrgy live forms, and leave the galaxy behind. What is the whole point of this nakian arc throughout the srerties then? Its a metaphor, which I will leave for u to figure out and for the leader to explain in a voice over at the end of the finale.

Then, fade back in, a few months later, on Earth.....

The frederation civil war has ended. All of the leaders of all of the different factions and memeber worlds meet on earth and right a new constitution for the New United Federation of Planets. This constituion came because the old federartion was dead. This new one has revitalized its ideals, and allows many more cultures within its borders under the creed of tolerance and respect. Among the worlds to sign the constitution are all of the memebers of the old federation, many new memebers who were discovered with the slipstream drive, and the worlds of Qu'nos and Romulus. The leader begins a voice over, as we see shots of the leaders sighing the contitution......

"And so, the many peoples of the many worlds of the Galaxy joined togehter, and created a grand federation in which tolerance and repect borught about knowledge and peace. People who had hated each toher with hatreds that were centuries old finally, for the first time, came togehter to make peace. The sodlier bcame captain of a great starship, and set off the explore the galaxy. The rebel was accpeted into this new federation and became a reat political leader. The refugee returned home for the first time in years the their once peacful life. The politician who be remmbered forever [he dies]. The warrior went home too, regarded as a hero among her peopple. The peacemakier had joined her people in the deepenss of space. The enterepenuer fiannly acheived her dreams. The helper would continue to help."

Then, the shot changes to a lone runabout, headed to Natikarian. You see, many romulan refugees had ened up here, as did many other refugees from across the qudrant. We see her leaving her runabout, and comging up to a bunch of refugees building a house who are surpirsed to see her. She ingnores this, and helps them build the house.

Fade to black.

I worte this a little quick and it was pretty abrigdgted. I left out a bunch of stuff for size concerns. Oh well, maybe I'l post them some day. I don't really knpow is this would make a food serieries, but I would like to point out that ther reason DS9 was so sucessful is that a space station is a plce where lots of stories can go on at the same time, and where lots of interesting characters can come throguh. The next series should be something like a space station (or a rebel organization) so that many characters can come through and bring interesting stoties with them.

------------------
"How many people does it
take before it becomes
wrong? 6,000? 60,000?
How many people does it
take admiral!?!" -Ambassador
Picard during his command
of the Enterprise-E in the
Ba'ku incident.

That, and I think reports of the Federation's decline have been greatly exaggerated.

The basics are; he or she stays in the mirror universe to help the resistance; takes place on a small starship, mostly a battleship with a small crew mostly being the main cast. But the interesting part is seeing twisted versions of everything we know, new take on the Romulans, Star Trek characters, mirror Riker leads a ship of his own. The list goes on, something new and different but the same.

Hobbes
9905.19

DS9 should make at least one big screen venture - but not you everyday - thousands of Cinema's deal - make it intelligent, thoughtful, artistic, and let it push the envelope - THAT is DS9 not, some generic free for all money spinner - that has its insides wrenched about by some Viamcom exec.

Andrew