The Next Trek?

[Axis Kast]

So, now that this Trek is ending, does anyone have any opinions about what should happen next?

Me, I think it'd be a nice departure to feature not one, but two vessels loaded out for investigation of previously uncharted space.

One of those vessels would serve primarily in the "escort" role, adding the firepower a multi-role vessel could not. Both might carry augmented weapons systems and regenerative shielding, as well as complements of MACO-type personnel (perhaps created during the Dominion War).

I think the captain of at least one vessel should not be averse to violating the Prime Directive on occassion, and that might be a major story arc - like Voyager, these vessels would be in a location where help and direct commands from home would not necessarily be readily available.

[Robert Walper]

Hell, even I want a break from Trek. If for nothing more than to not have to listen to people bitching about how it sucks all the time.

[Ra]

I think we all agree with you on that. But, let's jump ahead ten years.

I'd want a TOS remake myself, a la neo-BSG. It would also once again bring us the cool Klingons - the ones that weren't damned Space Vikings. Seeing the good old Connie in her CGI glory from "In a Mirror Darkly" gave me this idea.

The problem is that many people would have a problem with seeing a new Kirk, Bones, and Spock. Gender-bending would also tear people apart. Say, if they tried to make Sulu a woman.

There's a lot of problems with a TOS remake, but it could also kick ass, and allow modernizing of uniforms, the interior, etc. The OUTSIDE OF THE SHIP CANNOT BE TOUCHED! Hell no.

As for battles, I'd like to see the way Trek ships fight totally redefined. No more "walls o' ships". Real fleet tactics need to be thought about, as well as the mano-a-mano fights.

Finally, the Federation needs to be explicitly portrayed as a democracy. Anyway, I'm not suggesting a more "militarist" TOS. Far from it. The exploration [mrspock]Prepare to photograph![/mrspock] and sense of adventure were what made TOS what it was, not the battles (except for Balance of Terror, of course) and NOT the t3chn0b4bbl3.
That is all.
- Ra

[Lord Revan]

If had to make more Trek I'd make it TOS era, but not the Enterprise "in Mirror Darkly" showed us that you still use the TOS sets as they are if corrrectly and a CGI connie looked cool.

[Ra]

The sets were stellar, I agree with you. I was just saying the uniforms and sets for a TOS remake needed to look more up to date. At least the uniforms need to be redesigned, and look more professional.
In the defense of TOS sets, I liked the vibrant colors. While they don't look like the interior of a ship, it's far easier on the eyes than the dark, gloomy, and bland interior of the NX-01. That had to be the worst interior of any series.
- Ra

[VT-16]

As always, I second the call for more TOS-era fun. And yes, there is no need to retool anything in the designs (save for the computer screens). Even keep the annoying background noise for continuity´s sake. *Beeu beeu beeu*

and look more professional

You could start out a slight anthology series, starting with the Pike era (where landing parties looked more professional), and move on over the TOS and into the TOS movie-look.

[Ra]

Please! Not that! It hurts my head every time I hear it.
How could anyone work with that noise?

Reminds me of a spoof I toyed with where one of the crewmembers go and destroy the viewscreen because of that noise.
"MAKE....*kicks*....IT....*tears*....STOP!"

Ahem. Anyway, I always wondered about shifting the character's roles to better match a real ship. The bridge usually has the Captain and the Officer-of-the-Watch (a post never seen in any Trek series) around. Captain commands, OotW usually gives the helm navigational commands, unless the Captain takes direct command. The XO is usually only present in battle situations, the rest of the time being below decks to handle the crew. Also, what's up with the "communications officer"? Commo is usually handled by enlisted personnel.

This is the only thing that really bugs me about Trek, the fact that some of the officers do enlisted people's jobs. That and using the viewscreen as a gigantic videophone. The captain should have a smaller montor for that kind of thing, while the viewscreen is preserved for tactical maps and navigational displays.
- Ra

[Drooling Iguana]

The sets were stellar, I agree with you. I was just saying the uniforms and sets for a TOS remake needed to look more up to date. At least the uniforms need to be redesigned, and look more professional.
In the defense of TOS sets, I liked the vibrant colors. While they don't look like the interior of a ship, it's far easier on the eyes than the dark, gloomy, and bland interior of the NX-01. That had to be the worst interior of any series.
- Ra

Why not just set it a few years before TOS? The sets and uniforms from The Cage could easily be put in a modern series with very little modification and not look out of place.

[Ra]

Why not just set it a few years before TOS? The sets and uniforms from The Cage could easily be put in a modern series with very little modification and not look out of place.

Hey! That's not a bad idea. It could be about when Captain April or Pike did on their 5-Year Missions.

I've been curious as to what Pike did between the Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before. And I do like the Cage uniforms, BTW. I second your idea.
- Ra

[General Zod]

how many threads does this make on what people think should happen next for trek again?

[Uraniun235]

I've long lost count.

Why a remake? Why Kirk/Spock/McCoy? That just sets us up for endless shit over "who was better, Shatner or so-and-so?", whether the new cast has a chemistry that works as well as the old chemistry did, it sets us up for a lot of bitterness...

Drop the TOS remake; the TOS Federation, as portrayed, was fairly vague by design. You could easily just do a new TOS series and manage to develop the Federation as a different beast from the one that evolved into TNG, and still not step on too many toes. And then, you can create new characters and develop them however you want to without some old fucks screaming about sacrilege.

While I appreciate the TOS aesthetic, I think a movie-era approach would just plain look better. Push buttons, switches, and the occasional lever would be good; plastic tap-screens would be bad.

[Darth Lucifer]

I've always wanted to see a "Starfleet Academy" setting, but I've always been afraid they would just turn it into "Star Trek 90210."

It would be kind of cool to see old cast members reprise roles as instructors/guest lecturers or something. And the editing department would have a field day working in stock footage from previous Trek shows as "Historical Documents" or whatever. And think of how much they would use the holodeck...

Um- maybe this wouldn't be so cool.

(1 wording edit)

[Ra]

A must for any new series is that the Holodecks are the ultimate taboo. I mean, it's the only entertainment medium ever designed that can kill you, and is the setting for some of the stupidest plots ever.

We're supposed to be exploring the galaxy, not saving our asses from an interactive device that is trying to kill us and/or destroy the ship!
- Ra

[Axis Kast]

That's why I think a take on the Delphic expanse route with a less morally scrupulous crew and a pair of ships rather than one would be the best bet.

It offers the chance to do new things, still kick ass, and inject the perfect amount of moralizing while still not dredging the show in rhetoric.

I also have a thing for Voyager as compared to the rest of the series, but probably because that's where my exposure essentially began.

[Crossroads Inc.]

On the topic of the 'Next Trek' All I know is, I won't be happy till I see a CGI Deadalus in all it's glory. I LIKE Those ships!

[RedImperator]

I'm in the TOS remake camp myself, but I agree with Uranium that there's a lot of potential trouble there. There was a lot of screaming about neo-BSG from the old school fans, and that was over a mostly forgotten late 70's/early 80's cheesefest that had one decent season and one utterly atrocious one. Of course, when it turned out that neo-BSG is a damn good show, a lot of those complaints disappeared. That's the key--if you're going to do a TOS remake, you'd better have the best writers and actors you can get.

As for the aesthetics, I'd stay with the Matt Jefferies ship designs, with the exteriors mostly unaltered. The only thing I'd change is the lighting: have the ships lit with their own floodlights, like in the TOS movies, not brilliantly lit like the biggest spotlight in the universe is pointed at them (on TOS, they didn't have much choice in the matter, but there was no excuse for that in TNG onwards). For the interiors, I'd keep the bright colors and as much of the set design as possible. The only thing I'd do is lower the ceilings--I noticed some of them in "In a Mirror, Darkly" looked 12 feet high, maybe more. The bright colors, I think, make a great deal of sense: the crew is spending most of their lives crammed in a flying tin can in space. All they have to see out the window, if they even have any, is black sky and white stars. Why not make the interior of the ship bright and cheery?

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Argh, stop making this thread!!

I don't care what they do as long as they wait until after at least 2015 to do it.

[Uraniun235]

Could we have a thread like this stickied so that any time someone forgets the last one and thinks "Hey, I'll share my brilliant ideas with everyone else" they can post it in the stickied thread?

[Ra]

Good idea.
- Ra

[ali-sama]

I have a pretty good idea for the sereis which will use old characters and new and take it for a spin. the series will be diffrent enough yet familiar enough to attract new old and others alike. I haev told a few about the ideas i had and they liked it.
ali

[Damaramu]

I was (and still am) hoping for the adventures of Captain Sulu abooard the Excelsior.

Remember that Voyager episode that featured the Excelsior. Ah, what could have been.

[Kurgan]

Queer Eye for the Starfleet Guy

[Mopeyennuui]

What abour Kirk's father from 'Best Destiny'? Do some cool stuff. You'd maybe need a young Kirk but... who cares?

Good chemestry too. Plus, the 1701 is reised in a nmew series.

[Knife]

And once again I'll plug the Federation Civil War. Red will probably disagree again, but.....

[RedImperator]

And once again I'll plug the Federation Civil War. Red will probably disagree again, but.....

Meh, we've had this discussion enough and I doubt we'll get anywhere new. Anyone who wants to can run an archive search and see what we both think about it.