Star Trek: Your Vision

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Yora
Narratively speaking, should a show about a pure Starfleet crew bother with having a dedicated first officer?

Yes, because that’s how Starfleet is organized. If you have a command crew without a first officer in a Star Trek context, you’ll need to explain that absence, which may end up being more trouble than it’s worth.

Beyond that, the XO is the captain’s hatchet man. The XO gets things done, even if they’re unpopular, and a captain can hide behind that—or at the least delegate all the hard work to the XO, as Captain Jellico did during his temporary command in the sixth season of TNG.

As for the rank’s use as a character role, I’d say that depends on what kind of stories you want to tell. Colonel Tigh on BSG showed how a character can have both personal and professional issues which interact with each other to the detriment not only of the character, but to that character’s relationships and the ship itself.

Originally Posted by Yora
Star Trek basically never bothers with the enlisted crew, so that aspect never really comes up.

I seem to recall that TOS included more technicians and ordinary crew, but for whatever reason that emphasis was lost in TNG, except when families were involved and they needed to show parents who were part of the crew.

A series that shows us officers and enlisted working together is very feasible, since Battlestar Galactica excelled at that. Many of the characters on BSG were enlisted, from Chief Tyrol and Cally to Dee and Seelix. With Dee and Seelix in particular, BSG also showed that enlisted can and do become commissioned officers while serving, which I don’t think Trek has ever shown. Given that so much of BSG was deliberately intended to be different from Trek, I wouldn’t be surprised if the emphasis on enlisted was part of that approach.

I would say that TNG’s lack of interest in the enlisted crew is a major drawback to the series, but there’s no need for that to be perpetuated. They’re the ones doing the grunt work, unglamorous and often out of sight; but they’re just as human as the officers, with personal lives that are just as complex and deserving of attention. And following an enlisted crewman on his rise through the ranks, until he earns his commission and joins the junior officers, would be a great way to explore the dynamics of the crew.

[Yora]

I am having quite a bit of fun running with my ideas, and it's starting to turn into some kind of actual fan fiction work. It goes beyond the actual topic here, but why not share it here anyway?

Spoiler: Star Trek: Perseverance

Show

2156-2160 Romulan War
2364 First Borg Invasion (TNG)
2373 Second Borg Invasion, Start of Dominion War (First Contact, DS9)
2375 End of the Dominion War (Ending DS9)
2376 Current Year

Background
After the war between the Federation and the Romulans, the two powers agreed on a buffer zone between their respective borders in which neither side would hold any territorial claims and was forbidden to send any military ships. Though there were still several inhabited planets inside the Neutral Zone.
In 2294, the Destarians send a message to the Federation requesting assistance with ecological problems on their planet Destar III, but because of the treaty with the Romulans the Federation did not send any ships to survey the situation. In the following decade, a space anomaly caused the star Destar to gradually increase its radiation emissions that causes health risks and greatly damages the environment, leading to the Destsrians establishing large numbers of colonies on nearby habitable planets. Even though millions have already fled to the new colonies, there are still 3 billion living on Destar III. With conditions deteriorating and the colonies not yet having sufficient housing to take everyone one, large numbers of Destaran refugee ships arrive at the Federation border begging for shelter.

"Season 1"
The research ship Perseverance receives an emergency call from a Destarian refugee ship just inside the Neutral Zone. The crew considers their experience with the Kobayashi-Maru Exercise, but the captain makes the call to go and assist, but also broadcasting a signal that they are only a research ship with minimal weapons and that they are providing assistance to an emergency at specified coordinates.
When they arrive, they find the ship in terrible conditions. They escort the ship to Federation space and the captain asks about the reason to travel like that. She asks why the Destarians didn't ask for help earlier and is told that they did a century ago before things got bad, but had been ignored.
The Federation wants to send a major relief mission to Destar III, but the Romulans still refuse to allow military forces into the Neutral Zone. As a compromise they permit the passage of small ships with limited armaments, and only within a clearly defined area connecting Destar to Federation territory. As the Perseverance falls into that category, it gets a new mission.
The Perseverance has several adventures trying to get the building swarm of refugees to safety, help with the maintenance of Destarian ships, and deliver supplies to overcrowded Destarian colonies. They are trying their best but often have problems understanding why the Destarians keep going against the instructions they've been given, or act hostile to people who try to help them.

"Season 2"
All kinds of criminals are trying to exploit the Destarian regugees and the Perseverance is trying to fight off pirates with their limited offensive capabilities, and hunting ruthless con men and slavers. The ship gets a new exo-culture communications expert to help the command crew better understand the needs and frustrations of the Destarians.
At the same time, terraforming projects are started to make more planets suitable for Destarian colonies close to their homeworld, which the Romulans thinks goes beyond disaster relief and accusse to be a blatant attempt to build illegal colonies under Federation control. They also claim it violates the Federation's Prime Directive as their support will give the Destarians an advantage over other neutral species in the Neutral Zone.
Meanwhile the Federation is greatly concerned about how the Romulans are dealing with refugees heading towards their territory, but the Romulans allow no interference with their activities, which are always shrouded in deceptions.

"Season 3"
With the most pressing issues adressed, the Perseverance turns its attention to transform the hastily created refugee camps on harsh planets into self sustaining colonies. Internal conflicts about allegiance to the government of Deatar III and the social model for the new colonies causes problems with the first directive. Meanwhile some people from the Perseverance form personal relationships with some Destarians on a new colony they regularly visit.

"Season 4"
Some of the Destarian colonies that have been established outside of the Neutral Zone want to become full members of the Federation. The main Destarian government refuses to grant them independence and considers the colonies Destarian property, and Federation law forbids the joining of worlds with disputed sovereignity. This leads to a civil war in which the Romulans are deliberately poking the hornet nest while trying to deny their involvement.

Main Players
Captain of the Perseverance
Captain of Starfleet Ship #2
Starfleet Admiral for the Relief Mission
Federation Ambassador to the Romulans

Romulan Proconsul for the Border Region
Tal Shiar Task Group Leader (assists Proconsul)

Foreign Minister of Destar III
Destarian Colony Leader

Compassionate Freighter Captain
Greedy Freighter Captain

Various Concepts
The Perseverance has a small command crew of only five officers, but these a supplemented by several regular crewmen, chiefs, and ensigns, who end up doing a lot of the dirty work, like treating injured, repairing infrastructure, and distributing supplies, where they get first hand encounters with regular Destarians and freighter crews that have been chartered by the Federation.

The story is greatly focused on learning about situations and talking things out. Being set in the Neutral Zone, there's barely any presence of military power. That does make run ins with pirates or Destarian patrol ship very dangerous for the Perseverance, but they don't have the weapons or the shields to just slug it out. Confrontations are more about talking things out or running for safety. The crew also isn't much suited for fighting. With their ship being useless against the Dominion, they never got anywhere close to the war.

The series brings back the concept of visiting new planets with strange cultures that make the Starfleet people uneasy. But unlike earlier show, the episodes don't end with the primitive natives being educated about their misguided ways, or the captain giving a sad shrug and saying there is nothing they can do to help, but at least the superior Federation culture is above such things. Instead the lessons are that people doing things differently does make them wrong, and that assistance should be in the form of helping them to work out their difficulties among themselves and not dictate a solution as outsiders.

The idea for the Destarians is directly inspired by the Bajorans, but should not be a copy. They are not subjugated people who are rebuiding their society after an occupation. They are climate refugees who building new lives for themselves in new places after arriving with almost nothing. Their hardships are about receiving assistance to build a new existance, integrating with a new culture, and disagreements on how much they should try preserving their old culture.
Their biggest challenges are people not carring what happens to them or trying to exploit them while they are vulnerable.

The Romulans still don't trust the Federation and are genuinely worried about Starfleet not going to leave the Neutral Zone after the current mission is over. They also don't let any opportunity pass to point at any mistake the Federation makes while always being deeply offended at any criticism coming their way, and always shouting loudly about Federation hipocrisy. (Insert world leader of your choice here.)
The Romulan Proconsul is genuinely concerned about security and sees Destarian settlers in Romulan space as a potential benefit for the Empire, if they can keep them highly regulated. He's a political rival for the Perseverance captain and the Admiral, but not an enemy. (Maybe like Dukat in the early seasons, but without the genocide.) The Tal Shiar officer puts on a smile, but really just wants to harm the Federation at every oppostunity, despite the Proconsul's wishes.

Starfleet Ship #2 has a crew from species that breath methane, that always wears environment suits when visiting the Perseverance or lands on planets.

[Cikomyr2]

Backup captain. Vice president of the ship. First one command goes to. Someone for the captain to bounce ideas off.

That's not the role of an XO on a ship. The administrative role of the XO is closer to a Chief of Staff to the captain, where all day to day operations with the department heads has to be handled by the XO, with the Captain involving himself at his own discretion as much or as little as he sees fit.

[Peelee]

That's not the role of an XO on a ship. The administrative role of the XO is closer to a Chief of Staff to the captain, where all day to day operations with the department heads has to be handled by the XO, with the Captain involving himself at his own discretion as much or as little as he sees fit.

Are we talking about real-life XOs or Star Trek First Officers, though?

[Blackhawk748]

I had this idea years ago, and I still think it would be a good direction: Make it about a medium sized ship (50-200 people) that is assigned to a fixed region of space. Moving around a lot in that space, but always coming back to the same places where you know people and people know you. I'm not quite sure if a border patrol ship would be the right thing for Star Trek, but something in that direction.
I vote for putting it close to Romulan space, because I really would love to see the Romulans getting fleshed out like the Cardassians and Klingons were in Deep Space Nine. The encounters with Cardassian civilians in the first half of DS9 was always one of my favorite things in the show, until that got thrown out the window to have an edgy war story like Babylon 5. In the same way, learning about the Bajoran population was a great thing. I'd really like to see something like this again, but the situation needs to be something different than the Bajorans and Cardassians.

Personally I wanted them to go off of Star Trek Online's story arc, which is far more war focused but that makes sense for the game. Setting after the Second Iconian War ( which takes place in STO) would let us do just this, except that the ship could be in the Delta Quadrant and using the Iconian Gate stationed in the Dyson Sphere that the Federation/Romulan/Klingon forces control (the Federation controls the one on the other side, it's the one they found in TNG)

This lets us go to a place that is familiar, but wasn't fully explored (the Delta Quadrant) and lets us flesh out the Kazan and other Delta quadrant species, who were fairly well liked if shallow.

[Cikomyr2]

Are we talking about real-life XOs or Star Trek First Officers, though?

Both. There are three instances where we see Starfleet XO act as chief of staffs in the Trek Verse, or their role are discussed:

- TNG: Chain of Command, where Jellico expect his XO to be the one who reorganize the ship from 3 shifts of 8 hours to 4 shifts of 6 hours.
- TNG: Tapestry, where we see a lowly ranking Picard approach Riker to discuss advancement opportunities.
- VOY: Night, where Janeway falls into a depression and withdraw to her quarter on a permanent basis. Chakotay defends her, says its her privilege as captain to be there only as much as she wants.

PARIS: Rumour has it she never leaves her quarters.
CHAKOTAY: Captain's privilege. She'll come to the bridge if and when she's needed.
TORRES: Spare us the protocol, Chakotay. It's pretty odd, you've got to admit it.

Obviously, Chakotay tries to convince her to stop, because he feels it's against the best interest of the crew for Janeway to stay put. But he only does it privately and in public backs his CO 100%

[Storm_Of_Snow]

The position certainly has it's purpose in the crew hierarchy.

But is it sufficient as a character role in a multi-season episodic TV show?

I think Riker and Chakotay have both shown very well that it doesn't. It's not enough to define a character who will be interesting in that role in the long run.
It might be possible to make it work, but I think TOS, DS9, and ENT did the right choice and give that role to a character who is primarily defined by other things.

Well, the Enterprise-D as the Federation flagship was very scrambled egg heavy (a lot of officers ), and to an extent, Riker's role was to take the dangerous away missions and similar roles for Picard, so they wouldn't be risking the senior captain in the Federation, plus run one of the crew shifts (New Frontier shows it better with Calhoun, Shelby and Kat Mueller as the XO), and I've a vague memory if him being responsible for crew evaluations etc on a few occasions.

And I'd argue Riker did become an interesting character over time. Especially when the writers remembered there were other people than Data and Wesley Crusher to write for.

As for Chakotay, well, that really shows how badly produced Voyager was - he should have been the link between the Federation and the Maquis crews, and to an extent taking flak from elements on both sides (once a traitor, always a traitor from the Fed side, or sold out the cause as far as the ex-Maquis are concerned). He could even have been seen by some people as a potential candidate to mutiny, overthrow Janeway and take over the ship, whether he ever intended to or not.

[Kitten Champion]

Are we talking about real-life XOs or Star Trek First Officers, though?

That depends on the series though. Spock was more about being science officer and adviser than managing staff in any given story. Him being first officer was more about the drama it offered the writers when Kirk was no longer in command - for whatever reason - that this entirely human crew would be subject to this unfeeling Vulcan which almost always led to acrimony. T'Pol on Enterprise was designed to be much the same.

Riker however does fit that description though. He's the day-to-day guy who deals with duty shifts, department reports, individual promotions, and whatnot. Chakotay too, for the most part.

[Trafalgar]

I suspect I’m not the only one who would rather look ahead than behind. So, what would you like to see in a Trek series that boldly goes into a new era?

I would like to see something more than a corporate attempt to cash in on nostalgia.

I would like to see a show where most of the effort goes into writing well crafted dialogue (like GOT Season 1) and not into creating over long, tiring CGI spectacles (like GOT Season 8).

I would like to see an ensemble crew of at least 6 decent actors whose characters develop from episode to episode.

I would like to see a show that doesn't confuse science fiction with pew-pew-pew.

I would like to see a Star Trek show where the crew is committed to the ideals of the Federation. If the crew fails, it should be because the ideals are hard to live up to and not because the ideals are dumb.

I would like to see a show that remembers what the Prime Directive is and why it exists.

I would like to see a show that does not try to cram in any crew members from TOS, TNG, DS9, ENT, STD, or Picard just for fan service. If the new characters are likable, I don't need a Wesley Crusher cameo.

I would like to see a show with little or no Klingons in it. Don't get me wrong, I like Klingons, but I feel like they have been done to death.

I would like to see a show that makes feel that a better future is possible.

[Yora]

I would like to see something more than a corporate attempt to cash in on nostalgia.

I would like to see a show where most of the effort goes into writing well crafted dialogue (like GOT Season 1) and not into creating over long, tiring CGI spectacles (like GOT Season 8).

I would like to see an ensemble crew of at least 6 decent actors whose characters develop from episode to episode.

I would like to see a show that doesn't confuse science fiction with pew-pew-pew.

I would like to see a Star Trek show where the crew is committed to the ideals of the Federation. If the crew fails, it should be because the ideals are hard to live up to and not because the ideals are dumb.

I would like to see a show that remembers what the Prime Directive is and why it exists.

I would like to see a show that does not try to cram in any crew members from TOS, TNG, DS9, ENT, STD, or Picard just for fan service. If the new characters are likable, I don't need a Wesley Crusher cameo.

I would like to see a show with little or no Klingons in it. Don't get me wrong, I like Klingons, but I feel like they have been done to death.

I would like to see a show that makes feel that a better future is possible.

Yes.

All of it.

That's all that Star Trek really is about.

[Rodin]

My only dissent is that I'm broadly okay with cameos. However, it needs to actually be a cameo, and not the character taking a major part in the story. For example, in one of the TNG novels Picard is shown fencing in the holodeck against a holographic Sulu. The fencing comes up again later. Sulu does not.

Take the Starfleet Academy show idea. If they want Riker to deliver the commencement address (whether in the flesh or in the distant future as a standard recording all students are shown), that's perfectly fine. If they make him the commandant of the academy who plays the Principal Belding role...ugh.

[Trafalgar]

My only dissent is that I'm broadly okay with cameos. However, it needs to actually be a cameo, and not the character taking a major part in the story. For example, in one of the TNG novels Picard is shown fencing in the holodeck against a holographic Sulu. The fencing comes up again later. Sulu does not.

Take the Starfleet Academy show idea. If they want Riker to deliver the commencement address (whether in the flesh or in the distant future as a standard recording all students are shown), that's perfectly fine. If they make him the commandant of the academy who plays the Principal Belding role...ugh.

Maybe I used the wrong word. In "Encounter at Far Point", McCoy has a cameo and is shown around the ship by Data. It makes me roll my eyes when I rewatch that episode, but I wouldn't say it took away from the series. But I would definitely say involvement by an original character just to bump ratings would be offensive. Kind of like Kahn in "Into Darkness". We are going to change everything about this character and shoehorn him in just so people say "Ohhhhh, that's Kahn".

[Blackhawk748]

I don't mind cameos. I actually liked the episode with Scotty in TNG and if the new show wanted to do an episode where we run into Captain Harry Kim and get to see what he's up to 30 years out I'm fine with that.

Or hell, I wouldn't even have an issue with Harry BEING the captain for the show. Such an underutilized character.

[LibraryOgre]

Take the Starfleet Academy show idea. If they want Riker to deliver the commencement address (whether in the flesh or in the distant future as a standard recording all students are shown), that's perfectly fine. If they make him the commandant of the academy who plays the Principal Belding role...ugh.

Ok, it would be HORRIBLE Star Trek, but I admit to being amused at Will Riker playing Principal Belding.

I've said it before, but I think Star Trek started to go downhill at DS9... not because DS9 is bad (it very much is not), but because DS9 is where they shifted from "the ideals of the Federation" to realpolitik as a driving force. And while realpolitik makes great drama, it does not, IMO, make for good Star Trek. Voyager, in many ways, tried to get back to the ideals of the Federation, with our two principal Maquis cast members (Chakotay and Torres) being former Federation who return to the Federation's ideals under Janeway's guidance. But when you get to Enterprise, you move to realpolitik, with the Federation being in its infancy. Discovery has also tended towards realpolitik, as shown by the end of the 1st season. And that can be great science fiction, and great drama, but I think it is more limited Trek.

Ideally, Federation captains should be Paladins, devoted to the ideals of the Federation, and upholding them above all else. Increasingly, though, they've moved away from that, making the moral and ethical compromises that might push the story forward, but don't forward the Federation ideals.

[akma]

As for Chakotay, well, that really shows how badly produced Voyager was - he should have been the link between the Federation and the Maquis crews, and to an extent taking flak from elements on both sides (once a traitor, always a traitor from the Fed side, or sold out the cause as far as the ex-Maquis are concerned). He could even have been seen by some people as a potential candidate to mutiny, overthrow Janeway and take over the ship, whether he ever intended to or not.

I disagree with you.
He did immediately show great loyalty to Janeway, but other then that you are wrong on all counts. In the beginning there were doubts and friction regarding him and the Maquis. Torres broke another officer's nose, there were discipline issues that Chakotay helped to resolve, two former Maquis became traitors, Tuvok made a simulation to prepare for a possible revolt.

[LibraryOgre]

As for Chakotay, well, that really shows how badly produced Voyager was - he should have been the link between the Federation and the Maquis crews, and to an extent taking flak from elements on both sides (once a traitor, always a traitor from the Fed side, or sold out the cause as far as the ex-Maquis are concerned). He could even have been seen by some people as a potential candidate to mutiny, overthrow Janeway and take over the ship, whether he ever intended to or not.

That was the plot of an entire episode... Tuvok wrote a simulation of a Maquis mutiny, and it starts with him approaching the crewman and feeling him out about it.

There was a later episode where 7 of 9 becomes somewhat paranoid, and presents to BOTH Chakotay and Janeway the same information, but presenting the other as a potential traitor.

[Cikomyr2]

Ok, it would be HORRIBLE Star Trek, but I admit to being amused at Will Riker playing Principal Belding.

I've said it before, but I think Star Trek started to go downhill at DS9... not because DS9 is bad (it very much is not), but because DS9 is where they shifted from "the ideals of the Federation" to realpolitik as a driving force. And while realpolitik makes great drama, it does not, IMO, make for good Star Trek. Voyager, in many ways, tried to get back to the ideals of the Federation, with our two principal Maquis cast members (Chakotay and Torres) being former Federation who return to the Federation's ideals under Janeway's guidance. But when you get to Enterprise, you move to realpolitik, with the Federation being in its infancy. Discovery has also tended towards realpolitik, as shown by the end of the 1st season. And that can be great science fiction, and great drama, but I think it is more limited Trek.

Ideally, Federation captains should be Paladins, devoted to the ideals of the Federation, and upholding them above all else. Increasingly, though, they've moved away from that, making the moral and ethical compromises that might push the story forward, but don't forward the Federation ideals.

I feel these ideals to be weak when they aren't challenged by a hard reality.

Holding on these ideals in adverse situation should be the morality tale. And DS9 showed that you could do your best to keep on the Federation belief, even when it's damn hard.

[Dire_Flumph]

That was the plot of an entire episode... Tuvok wrote a simulation of a Maquis mutiny, and it starts with him approaching the crewman and feeling him out about it.

I thought that episode was funny, because it admits that there really hasn't been any friction between the two crews and when asked why Tuvok even made the program in the first place he could have been speaking for me when he said basically "I thought this would be a bigger thing".

It's sad, but many of Voyager's best episodes were looks at alternate realities of what the show could have been.

[Rakaydos]

Some interesting plot elements in this thread.

A hologram crew, on a ship who's warp drive is lethal to barionic life has some interesting interactions.
Being able to travel to quarrenteened worlds, with the deadly warp drive sanitizing the ship between stops.
Organic passangers can only be transported inside the Transporter Buffer, and have no conception of time between stops.

Hmm.

Organic mission specialists who start each episode being released from the warp buffer, while hologram crew manage the ship in warp. That puts hologram crew front and center, and introduces a dichotomy between programs who "arnt real" and organic crew who simply dont exist until called on. And because the crew spends a lot of time not existing, along with the fancy warp 9 cruising speed, this ship does a lot of REALLY long range exploration, between episides, and able to jump back and forth between federation space and the deep frontier.

[Trafalgar]

I don't mind cameos. I actually liked the episode with Scotty in TNG and if the new show wanted to do an episode where we run into Captain Harry Kim and get to see what he's up to 30 years out I'm fine with that.

Now that I think about it, that episode and the TNG episodes with Spock were alright. So I lined out "No Cameos" from my earlier post.

I guess I need to think about what a decent cameo looks like versus a bad one.

[Rodin]

Now that I think about it, that episode and the TNG episodes with Spock were alright. So I lined out "No Cameos" from my earlier post.

I guess I need to think about what a decent cameo looks like versus a bad one.

A good contrast of good and bad character revisits can be found in Picard.

Riker and Troi were great to see again. They show up as people Picard trusts who can give him advice and emotional support. They don't affect the story much otherwise - Riker shows up at the end, but his presence is unnecessary for the resolution of the plot. We get the nostalgia factor while still keeping the story focus on Picard and Soji.

Hugh and Seven of Nine are bad revisits. Hugh is unnecessary and the way his character is used is...distasteful. Seven of Nine takes over the story for several episodes, pulling the focus away from the Romulan samurai dude whose story we're supposed to be following in those episodes.

Data is somewhere in the middle. There was some good stuff, there was some bad stuff. I liked it, but I can easily see how it would drive others crazy.

[Caledonian]

V-Ger returns.

We've had that already, in the Borg. Star Trek I is totally the origin of the Borg, I don't care what Enterprise suggested.

[russdm]

I think that i have had 3 star trek ideas that could work for a show

1) Captain Sean -- Sean Bean runs the ship

2) Basically what the plot of some of what the Star Trek Adventures X Expanse tabletop RPG was about. Starfleet crews exploring a new area of space that has colonized, but include Romulans as major enemies also freemenies, solely. Basically the feddies are going in an area that is claimed by the Rommies

3) Have a crew of cadets working on a ship (Oberth/Miranda class) who have been doing some make work when suddenly they get tossed to a part of space claimed by a trio of hostile powers and the cadets land on some neutral planet between the three. All three are also partially interested in or have heard of hte federation and especially federation technology, so they want that to improve their chances of destroying the other sides and becoming top dog. All 3 have legitimate and illegitimate issues with each other. The starfleet cadets (who have to figure out how to run the ship with officers because there are no others) must decide how to employ the power they have while dealing with how much they can keep federation rules.

4) have an exchange officer serve longer on a klingon ship and go off doing klingon style of exploring with glorious battles etc.

[Bohandas]

A) set post DS-9 and Voyager in the original timeline (the heck with the Abrams movies and their "Kelvan" timeline"),

B) faithful to the tone of TOS, and

C) on actual broadcast TV (the heck with CBS's attempts to use Trek to get us to subscribe to their streaming service).

This is basically what I was thinking too (EDIT: And I would add, as a addendum to B, that the show must be extremely episodic, like TOS, and TNG were. Furthermore, all drama should be related to the planet of the week and contained within the episode.)

EDIT:
Regarding point C, I would propose that the Abrams timeline be unmade completely via the retcon ray from The Year of Hell

I would prefer the Borg become a member of the Federation to be honest. Instead of forced assimilation joining is actually voluntary, the new Data is a borg. The borg believe assimilation is inevitable, so the philosophical movement is towards making the collective appealing to Federation citizens. All they have to do is wait and eventually everyone will become a member of the collective by choice.

Forcing people to follow your ideals always seemed like a shallow endorsement of them, as if the group doesn't really believe people will see the value of them. A peaceful Borg would highlight the difference ideals of individualism in the Federation, and give an excuse to have an outsider everything has to be explained to.

The thing about the borg is that they're not what they claim to be. They're just zombies. And its clear to everyone in the federation. If they weren't then the Bynar and the Trill would have joined them willingly.

[GloatingSwine]

This is basically what I was thinking too (EDIT: And I would add, as a addendum to B, that the show must be extremely episodic, like TOS, and TNG were. Furthermore, all drama should be related to the planet of the week and contained within the episode.)

Never get made.

Modern premium TV just will not do purely episodic storytelling outside of comedy. Because the big news (and the primetime emmys) are in serial stories these days.

Also, the tone of TOS is a product of the 1960s and the tone of TNG is a product of the 1980s/90s. Unless you invent a time machine and kidnap writers from those time periods you will not get a Star Trek show with those tones because it is no longer the 1960s or the 1990s. And nor should you because Star Trek is a forward looking show that comments on the times in which it is being made.

Star Trek is just as much about the now as it is about the future, and always has been, very deliberately.

[Trafalgar]

1) Captain Sean -- Sean Bean runs the ship

Who is Number One? We need to know who takes over when he dies at the end of the first season/ movie.

[Rakaydos]

Who is Number One? We need to know who takes over when he dies at the end of the first season/ movie.

Hey now. In The Martian he only got fired.

[Bohandas]

Star Trek is just as much about the now as it is about the future, and always has been, very deliberately.

You know, it's funny you bring that up, because I was thinking it would be cool if they did a show set in the past, specifically the Star Trek universe's version of the 1990's, where Khan Noonien Singh conquers a quarter of the earth before eventually being deposed. If they must do a non-episodic show, I think it should be about that.

[Peelee]

You know, it's funny you bring that up, because I was thinking it would be cool if they did a show set in the Star Trek universe's version of the 1990's, where Khan Noonien Singh conquers a quarter of the earth before eventually being deposed. If they must do a non-episodic show, I think it should be about that.

That sounds like something a super attractive and smart person would say.

Also, someone could always try to see if they could work in a series based around the Eugenics Wars and go back to the 1990s. That, I think, could be interesting.

[Tvtyrant]

The thing about the borg is that they're not what they claim to be. They're just zombies. And its clear to everyone in the federation. If they weren't then the Bynar and the Trill would have joined them willingly.

This doesn't just vary by show but from episodes within the same show. Seven of Nine at times is tempted back just because she misses being a borg, the borg in STNG swing back and forth on whether they like being individuals or not. In the end having a collective option versus an individual option leads to more room for discussion, so I prefer going that route.