You just gained control of Star Trek

[Solauren]

Hello.

Here's the idea.
Paramount just put you in charge of ALL of Star Trek. It is yours to do with as you please.

As side from either canning or raking "B&B" over the coals...

What would you do?

1- I would create a Star Trek Tech/Science Manual explaining how everything worked. These explainations would be consistent, and follow real-life science and engineering as closely as possible.
This manual would be canon, and would actually over-ride on screen dialogue and special effects.
Making this manual would be quite time consuming, and before publication, I'd be tempted to have people that would keep quiet about it read it over for there opinions. Scientists and Engineers obviously, as well as people that have done a good job in the past with Star Trek information. Darth Wong and Lord Poe both come to mind. Graham Kennedy does as well, despite his pseudo-science and bad Fan-Fic writing.
This would include a power-upgrade for about x10 - x100. I hate the idea of 64 megaton Photon Torpdoes. For Sanity sake, if that's all they do, use Nukes.
There would also be a canon manual covering details on the various space fleets (ala the FASA Ship books, but more detailed), planet's, UFP government and laws, Star Fleet regulations, etc. One would be planned later to incorperate the novels (see below)
All future episodes and novels and movies would be required to follow these manuals.
Species 8472 would also be examined in detail, and exposed to be using ships that appear to be organic, but really just have an organic 'casing' over there hulls to confuse sensors and so forth.

2- I would release script-rewrites with corrected dialogue for all the series and movies. Tech/Science corrected dialogue anyway. If I could get voice-overs done for offical DVD re-releases, I would do that as well.
Enterprise would also be put under this redo. All future airing's of Enterprise would be with the redone episodes. The 'orginal versions' would be locked away and only avilalbe on special collectors edition DVD's once Enterprise is taken off the air.

3- I would have a review of all published Star Trek novels. Those that do not conflict with canon would be put into canon, or subject to rewrites and the rewrites put into canon. Those that do not need major rewriting would be put directly into canon. Those novels that do make it into canon would be labelled Infinities.
This would be a long term effort, as there are nearly 400 Star Trek novels (that I am aware of). The ones I have read would fit nicely into canon. (TNG novels: Strike Zone, Exiles, Q-in-Law, Survivors) I would like to see this done because some of the novels are better then alot of TV episodes.

4- I would try to get LucasArts to agree to doing a canon cross-over series between Star Wars and Star Trek, to settle the debate once and for all. More then likely, it would be the result of a Borg conspiracy, and we would get the fun of 'watching' a joint New Repubic/Imperial Remant/Corperate Sector/Hapes/UFP/Romulan/Klingon/Dominion task force beating the day lights out of the Borg
I would also try, to draw more fans, to arrange cross-overs (novels or live tv) with other popular Sci-fi franchises, such as Stargate SG-1, etc.

5- ENTERPRISE would finish up the Xindi plot-line over the course of 4 - 5 or more episodes (depending), that would end in the revelation that it was a trick by whoever is behind the temporal cold war, with the Xindi closing there borders and putting up warning beacons.
I would also bring the Temporal Cold War to and end, and reveal it was the Dominion or Borg behind it. Temporal affairs from the future would clean up the mess, and only NX-01 would remember it. This would not 'delete' the bad episodes, but it would wipe them out from the timeline.

Proceed with bad first contact with the Klingons, as well as the Romulan War.
(incidently, this would change Akiraprise into what NX-01 should have looked like)

[Sir Sirius]

Is that list supposed to be somekind of a joke? If so you have a veri bizarre sense of humour, if not you might be the only person on Earth that could butcher Trek even worse then B&B have.

[Lord Poe]

Paramount just put you in charge of ALL of Star Trek. It is yours to do with as you please.

As side from either canning or raking "B&B" over the coals...

B& B are GONE. Period.

What would you do?

1- I would create a Star Trek Tech/Science Manual explaining how everything worked. These explainations would be consistent, and follow real-life science and engineering as closely as possible.
This manual would be canon, and would actually over-ride on screen dialogue and special effects.

No way. I'd adopt Lucasfilm canon policy. Movies-TV shows-Scripts-Novelizations as canon in that order.

TMs, Encyclopedias, etc. as official.

2- I would release script-rewrites with corrected dialogue for all the series and movies. Tech/Science corrected dialogue anyway. If I could get voice-overs done for offical DVD re-releases, I would do that as well.
Enterprise would also be put under this redo. All future airing's of Enterprise would be with the redone episodes. The 'orginal versions' would be locked away and only avilalbe on special collectors edition DVD's once Enterprise is taken off the air.

Nope. Leave well enough alone. You are trying to regain fan confidence, not alienate those that like the episodes they way they are. There are several novels that fix many continuity errors, like the Khan books. These should be referenced and put into the official chronlogy.

4- I would try to get LucasArts to agree to doing a canon cross-over series between Star Wars and Star Trek, to settle the debate once and for all.

No way. First of all you would please no one. Secondly, Lucasfilm wouldn't even entertain the idea. The most you could get out of this idea is having Luke visit DS9 or something for an episode. And it would basically be character interaction, not Luke attacking DS9 with his X-Wing.

5- ENTERPRISE would finish up the Xindi plot-line

ENTERPRISE would end its run this season, and have that timeline implode as if it never happened, and show the TOS era begin.

[SirNitram]

I'd put the show to rest, get some better authors to start writing novels, and hand the game contract over to whoever made Star Trek: Shattered Universe.

[Robert Walper]

This would be fun:

The Borg invade the Federation again. But there's a catch...several hundred cubes at once. The Borg classified the Federation as a major threat after Voyager's little annoying attack during "Endgame". The Federation falls in one of the biggest, but one sided space CGI battles ever. Earth is assimilated, and so are most of it's member worlds. Visuals include cubes carving up the surfaces of planets, assimilatig billions of victims. Thousands of combined Federation, Romulan and Klingon ships litter the screen. The Borg are victorious...or so it seems. Most major characters survive, and attempt to rebuild a small Federation again, but a small one in a tiny corner of the Galaxy. They are constantly pursued, attacked and forced to retreat under the might of the Collective.

Finding a extremely unusual spacial anomaly, they enter a different galaxy, one so different it seems to exist in another dimension. They don't know where or when it is, but they're certain it is a long time ago, far, far away...

And thus begins the clash of a galaxy virtually under Borg control and a New Republic united with an Imperial remant and survivors of distant galaxy pleading for ther help...

Ahhhh....let the fun begin...

[beyond hope]

Gratuitous shot at B&B: "Ahrrr, matey... it's out the airlock ye go."

With them out of the way, the first thing I'd do is sit the new batch of writers down and get the Canon facts straightened out. Everything is going to stay as it is, power-wise, but everything will work consistently now. No more Deus Ex Technobabble to deal with story complications. No technobabble as time filler, either: that's time that can better be served advancing the plot. While that's going on, the story will also get straightened out. Assuming I'm taking over while Enterprise is still in production, I'd steer the storyline to a point where it can reach rough agreement with TOS again (some misunderstanding with the Klingons that starts the UFP-Klingon "cold war," a surprise attack by the Romulans which ignites the UFP-Romulan war, and so forth.) Perhaps this "temporal war" storyline in Enterprise could end with a large-scale attack on Earth which causes massive damage to Starfleet headquarters, erasing a lot of records and therefore explaining Kirk's suprise at encountering things the NX-01 has seen before. Further contradictions in the existing story (ie. thanks to TNG, DS9 or Voyager) will be dealt with in the new series I have in mind.

Here's the basic setting for the new series. The alpha quadrant is reeling from the aftermath of the Dominion war. Worlds which the Dominion occupied are still trying to cope with the devastation left in their wake. For the first time since the "cold war" with the Klingons, a substantial portion of the public is clamoring for a military build-up. Most shocking to the UFP leadership, some of the most strident voices come from formerly peaceful worlds such as Betazed. Relations with the Romulan Star Empire are ambiguous: moderates are currently in power, but old enemies such as "Denise Crosby with pointy ears" (I can't remember the character's name - bite me) and other hardliners are still very much in evidence. The new Cardassian government is off to a very shaky start: already, stories are reaching the UFP of worlds compelled by force or treachery to remain members of the Cardassian Union. Compounding that problem, a low-intensity conflict is already raging along the Cardassian-Klingon border. Each side blames the other. Smaller powers (such as the Tholians and Gorns?) have seized upon the sudden instability of the region to make gains for themselves. Starfleet intelligence suspects that the Ferengi are involved, using the smaller powers and inflaming conflicts such as the Cardassian-Klingon border skirmishes to fuel their profits and expand the Ferengi sphere of influence.

All of that is merely the backdrop for larger problems. It seems that Admiral Janeway's release of the doomsday virus into the the Borg unicomplex has had unexpected results. The Borg collective has fragmented into several warring factions: a group of "Royalists" working to restore the queen; a second group of "collectivists" similar to the Borg as they first appeared; and a final group of "autonomists" who still retained some vestige of their pre-Borg identities, somewhat like the group Lore was leading. While the various Borg factions are currently preoccupied with each other it is only a matter of time until their civil war spreads to engulf the gamma quadrant, and possibly the entire galaxy. The Borg civil war has also taken pressure off some of the hostile groups which Voyager encountered, some of whom are looking towards the alpha quadrant with the intention of settling scores. Most disturbing of all, a few refugee ships have reached Federation space from the delta quadrant. It appears that the Dominion has ceased to exist as a power. Reports from the refugee former subjects are confused, but they all agree that the founders, their fleet and the army of Jem'hadar are no more. Along with those reports, strange sensor readings are being recorded on the fringes of the Federation, and by other races.

I don't have any definite ideas on how the story would go from there. With the trouble they had getting all the cast back for Nemesis, I'd say that a new cast is called for. A new ship will be appearing as well, since quantum slipstream drive will have to be a practical reality for the storyline I have in mind. Enterprise and Titan will crop up now and then, helping to deal with some of the many problems the UFP faces. The first couple of seasons would probably revolve around the alpha quadrant storylines, with the new crew racing around trying to put out brushfires (and, incidently, tying up as many of the inconsistancies as possible in the storyline.) Growing militarism in the general populace and paranoia regarding lingering founder infiltraitors would be major subplots. Starfleet losses would have to be made good quickly: for that reason we'd see actual enlisted men in service (and perhaps hear the Federation council debating conscription.) Fear of member worlds being occupied in future wars would lead to the creation of a ground arm for Starfleet. That would lead into the story arc with the Borg and the gamma quadrant. That would last another couple of seasons, allowing the lose ends from Voyager to be tied up in the process. The disappearance of the Founders would be revealed early in that story arc, setting the stage for the exploration of the delta quadrant in season 5. It could possibly be tied into the Borg civil war or other events in the gamma quadrant. The forces responsible for the downfall of the Dominion would gradually be revealed in season six, with the last season an all-out conflict. Obviously I don't have any specifics in mind for this new enemy (or enemies?), aside from the fact that it will be something beyond the Borg or the Dominion in power and will thus require wits to defeat rather than brute force.

Comments?

[Darth Fanboy]

This would be fun:

The Borg invade the Federation again. But there's a catch...several hundred cubes at once. The Borg classified the Federation as a major threat after Voyager's little annoying attack during "Endgame". The Federation falls in one of the biggest, but one sided space CGI battles ever. Earth is assimilated, and so are most of it's member worlds. Visuals include cubes carving up the surfaces of planets, assimilatig billions of victims. Thousands of combined Federation, Romulan and Klingon ships litter the screen. The Borg are victorious...or so it seems. Most major characters survive, and attempt to rebuild a small Federation again, but a small one in a tiny corner of the Galaxy. They are constantly pursued, attacked and forced to retreat under the might of the Collective.

Finding a extremely unusual spacial anomaly, they enter a different galaxy, one so different it seems to exist in another dimension. They don't know where or when it is, but they're certain it is a long time ago, far, far away...

And thus begins the clash of a galaxy virtually under Borg control and a New Republic united with an Imperial remant and survivors of distant galaxy pleading for ther help...

Ahhhh....let the fun begin...

Federation uses one shot virus that Picard was too stupid to use at first.

Borg Die.


OR

BnBorg Cube Accidentally ends up in SW Galaxy, meets up with ISD

"We are the Borg you will service...."

"Fuck you tinman"

One TL blast destroys Cube, borg collectively (heheh) shit pants and go into the pastry business.

[beyond hope]

...The Borg classified the Federation as a major threat after Voyager's little annoying attack during "Endgame"...

Is it just me, or do other people also think the phrases "major threat" and "little annoying attack" sound odd in the same sentance?

[Uraniun235]

My plan:

Kick out the existing "creative staff" and re-staff with science fiction writers. Air science fiction stories set in the Star Trek universe. And finally, make sure the writers listen to the goddamn technical advisor.

No "soap opera in space." Because I don't like "soap opera in space."

Oh, and hire some Trekkie fanatic at minimum wage who has the entire franchise memorized to act as "Continuity Advisor." Bingo, all "OMG too much crap for us po' writers to remember" arguments regarding continuity just went out the window, because that's what the Continuity Advisor would be there for.

[Patrick Degan]

I'm afraid a good ten or fifteen years are going to have to pass before Star Trek will again be a viable creative concept. But had I the charge of the "new" Star Trek, it would be a careful and respectful reimagination of the entire concept.

For a start, I'd place the series much farther into the future —5000 years into the future. Why? Because that would allow for a timeframe in which various human migrations into the galaxy could occur; in which they lose contact with Earth, settle on new worlds, evolve distinct civilisations... and thereby become the known nationalities of the Trek universe. The Vulcans, Romulans, Klingons, Andorians, et al would all be human-stock; maybe there would be some slight variation either from mutation or deliberate adaptive engineering, but they would be all be homo sapiens. Lost descendants of colony groups from planet Earth. There would also be sufficent time for Earth to undergo the upheavals of a third world war, the rise and fall of the genetic tyrants, and the rise of a new United Earth civilisation which eventually reaches outward into the galaxy in force. Additionally, it would also provide a more realistic period to allow for the development of the future technologies of the series.

The writing would devolve upon fundamental human drama and themes, with a creative staff of genre professionals and those writers capable of understanding what dramatic writing is. Plausibility would be the first commandment of the series bible, with technobabble kept to an absolute minimum.

And lastly, I'd buy the rights for the designs produced by the guys at Ex Astris Scientia for the starships. The examples here http://www.starfleet-museum.org/index.htm are beautifully realised and look like plausible space vessels.







This design in particular would be a good one for the Enterprise.

[Robert Walper]

...The Borg classified the Federation as a major threat after Voyager's little annoying attack during "Endgame"...

Is it just me, or do other people also think the phrases "major threat" and "little annoying attack" sound odd in the same sentance?

Yeah, kinda contradictory. Sorry, just typed it out and hoped for the best. I do that far too often.