Create a new series premise

[Gatac]

I know it has potential to suffer extreme amounts of prequelitis, but here's my pitch:

Remember when Zefram Cochrane shook hands with the first Vulcan he'd ever seen after his warp flight? Yeah, we all cheered. That was great.

But what now?

The world's in shambles, we're still getting used to the fact that there's aliens, and just what the hell are supposed to do about it? So much to do...so much to explore...and not two people who agree on how to do it.

This is mankind's greatest test - beyond experiments, beyond propaganda missions, beyond trials and scientific trivia. This is when we reach out for the stars.

I wonder what's out there...

Gatac

[Nate the Great]

I'm not sure if I like the vorbium idea. There are too many shows already that rely on a basic premise of "we need to find MacGuffin X at all costs."

Second Idea:

A starship assigned to a new species. First Contact was only a year or so ago, and the natives still don't really understand Peace, Justice, and the Federation Way yet. Their culture, while not completely rigid, is extremely resistant to change. They have some moderately valuable resource. Certainly nothing that would cause the Romulans or somebody to declare war on the Federation for, but definately good enough to send in some spies and operatives, both known and unknown. Perhaps a safer variant of the ever-valuable bio-mimetic gel. Our starship crew is moderately isolated. Backup is perhaps a few days away, and even subspace transmissions will take hours to get a reply for. We've got to protect this resource, convince the natives to join the Federation, and keep the adversary away. In the meantime, this is still a new region of space, and there are other planets to explore. Perhaps one of them has a species with more technology but fewer resources. Some form of discrimination is preventing these two peoples from cooperating. Spies are sent back and forth to steal information or raw materials, depending on the direction. They won't work together, partially due to Romulan interferance. How can we bring them into the Federation?

[NAHTMMM]

The vorbium isn't a single item (which I suspect differentiates it from some of the "MacGuffin" examples I can think of, like BSG), and it wouldn't be the sole storyline (ideally) in the series. In the part I linked to, I've already set up various character relationships and potential factions and so on that only touch on the vorbium issue in passing.


Yours is a very interesting idea as well, one that would probably bring up a lot of the same sort of situations as mine.

[Nate the Great]

It just occured to me that it doesn't even HAVE to be the Federation. Pocket Books has published a series set aboard a Klingon starship. Granted, a series based around that would be A. Horribly expensive in terms of makeup, B. Horribly niche-based. Would anyone OTHER than a Trekkie want to dive into Klingon politics and interpersonal relationships?

Or how about a Federation starship that actually has humans as the minority faction? There are plenty of alien makeups that aren't too involved. Think about it. Vulcans, Rigellians, Bajorans, Betazoids. If we had, say, a Rigellian in command, he'd have a vastly different mindset than a human. What command choices would be different? There'd be cultural influences that we've never seen before affecting the plot.

I'd still like to see a series based in the TOS-timeline on another Constitution-class starship. We could have our remaining TOS actors cameo via audio transmissions. Perhaps there was a ship that sort of followed the Big E around, doing "cleanup," so to speak. What DID happen to our favorite TOS races after Kirk left? After all, when properly done, even the technology of the mid-23rd century was particularly effective. Besides, 1701 was in the Beta Quadrant a lot ("we're the only starship in the quadrant"), what was happening closer to home? We could see the setting up of the Nimbus III agreement. Perhaps see a preliminary design for Excelsior. When was the big breakthough in transwarp? Whose stupid idea were the grey pajamas?

Having greatly enjoyed the novel Sarek, I'd think even a series based on a Federation ambassador and his staff might be cool. Let's see the ambassador/starship captain interaction from the other side. Is there a traitor in his staff? What cultural snafus are still waiting to be made?

[NAHTMMM]

I've read the first two books in that Klingon series. They're pretty good yarns.


I suppose the Enterprise WOULD need a "cleanup" ship following her around. Gotta have someone on-hand to sweep up all the rubble of computer-controlled civilizations, broken hearts, and funky spacetime warpages left in her wake!

[Nate the Great]

Yarns? "Come and listen to my story 'bout a man named Jed..."

[ijdgaf]

Way long ago I had an idea for a fanfic that I never wrote much of. At this point, I doubt I ever will so I don't really care if I spill the beans on the whole thing now. I think it's a pretty nifty premise that could be extended for a series length show.

I called it "Star Trek Polonius", though Polonius was simply the planet where the miniseries (six-part story) took place. The ship I called the Muskogee, but if the name weren't already taken, I think the idea for the series would best be summed up by the title "Star Trek: First Contact(s)"

Anyway, the series takes place somewhere in the decade following Nemesis. The U.S.S. Muskogee is a tiny patrol ship -- one of four of the same class (each with a different tribal name -- I always liked ship classes where the names were consistant) deployed by the Federation at this time to patrol the neutral zone -- the Romulans have once again secluded themselves to within their own territory. I don't recall the ship's class name, but I thought of it as a logical next-step from the Defiant. That's not to say the ship was anywhere near as powerful, of course. The Defiant was meant to be a heavily armed attack craft, while the Muskogee is moderately armed and geared more toward policing duties.

(thumbs through notes a bit)

The commander I named Rene Jacobsen. Yeah, just a commander -- that'll come into play in a sec. Grew up on a rural Danish farm. Been in charge of the Muskogee on several extended patrol duties for years. Finds it boring, but hasn't found much opportunity for advancement.

The first officer was Lt. L'Marra Durrx, of a new species I made up. Krevyn. The quirk with her race (every Trek species needs one) was that its members have virtually limitless memory. Character-wise, think of someone with a snarky personality (McCoy) mixed with practically encyclopedic knowledge on any given subject (Data).

The tactical officer was a timid, shy young woman named Jess Manning prone to aggressive rages when and if battle should occur. I also had a young Andorian helm officer named Thalvin, as a character who hadn't been away from his homeworld very long and has difficulty understanding humans (yeah, the standard cliche). Other characters like the engineer, doctor, and transporter chief were mostly set dressing... but might be fleshed out a bit if the concept were extended.

Anyway, the set-up goes something like this. This story would have spanned six parts, but I had the idea it would work as a pilot as well.

Somewhere at a Federation listening post, a warp signature is detected in the neutral zone. Everyone assumes some sort of Romulan aggression, but the signature is weak and brief and fits the profile one might expect of a civilization's first flight. This is quite unexpected, as the Federation monitors worlds that are on the brink of making such a flight, and none of these worlds are anywhere near this particular sector. As one might expect, the neutral zone is one of the most thoroughly explored regions of the quadrant, and the nearest planet to the signature has long been assumed uninhabited. The planet is something like 95% covered in oceans.

In any case, the Federation can't risk letting this matter sit for long, so they send their nearest ship, the Muskogee. Cmdr. Jacobsen sets course immediately, and upon arrival heads down to the planet with Durrx aboard a shuttle, to scout around.

Anyway, they fly around and detect large quantities of plotdevicium in the planet's ore -- something (and I borrowed this from some episode I don't remember) that obscures the ships' scanners. They notice this, and then suddenly find themselves under attack by a trio of ships emerging from the water -- submersable, flying craft. The shuttle is destroyed and we cut back to the ship.

Lt. Manning is in charge when a Federation shuttle warps in and requests permission to board. On board is a Captain Larson and Lieutenant Weiss from starfleet intelligence. Larson takes command, but it's clear he's spent most of his career at a desk.

Oh, and the shuttle they bring is an aqua shuttle. Like in TAS, but 24th century style.

Anyway, I'll cut this short and explain things in broader strokes. Jacobsen wakes up and undergoes several interrogations from the Polonian authorities. He eventually discovers the underwater civilization is extremely advanced but fanatically religious as well. Among the core tenants of their faith are a Polonius-centric universe where they are the Gods' only creation, and the skies above are desolate and unreachable. Thus, the civilization has advanced quite far in many different directions without achieving warp travel -- as such a feat is believed heretical and impossible. They have advanced planet-bound vehicles and transporters (which, unlike the Federations', work just fine with all the plotdeviceium in the planet's crust) -- and of course, this is how they managed to capture Jacobsen.

Ultimately, a resistance movement manages to get a hold of him, and he learns that this rogue scientific/political faction with radical beliefs contrary to the planet's monarchy has organized a warp flight from under their noses. They had planned to use this achievement to rally the masses against the government, but propaganda has created a skeptical public. By capturing Jacobsen, they think they can use him as evidence to stir up the population.

I'm forgetting a lot of the details here, but a command struggle occurs between Larson and Jacobsen. Larson makes Weiss operations officer (I forgot to mention, Jacobsen's operations officer is his nephew, who is on shore leave during this story -- Larson uses this opportunity to turn this into a transfer and to replace him with his own man). Durrx develops amnesia and it's later discovered that Weiss is a member of Section 31 (of course!) sent to stiffle sensitive information about this planet (of which Durrx is privy), and to use this event to provoke a war with the Romulans, ("while they're weak and cowering"). Larson has been dealing with the Polonian monarchy, and he and Jacobsen find themselves on opposite sides of an erupting civil war.

Eventually things work out, somehow. Jacobsen defies Larson's orders, undergoes a court martial, and manages to prove Larson's incompetance and regain control of the Muskogee. Jacobsen and his crew, instead of returning to the Neutral Zone, are sent to another tricky first contact situation after having proven worthy on this mission.

Anywho, I'm sure I could have summed that up like this: "How about a show that follows a ship and crew that specializes in tricky First Contact situations?" But of course I felt the need to give more detail. Especially when I worked it all out so long ago and never had outlet for it. Apologies.

But seriously, I always thought it would be an easy direction for a show to take. Focus on the exploration aspect, and on new worlds and new civilizations. I always wanted to see more episodes like "First Contact" and "Who Watches the Watchers", anyway. And as such, the series could do multi-part arcs for particularly interesting contacts, or short stand-alone episodes, or best yet, a mixture of the two.