On the next Star Trek series. in Whey and Sonic Screwdrivers.

  • Nov. 28, 2015, 3:54 p.m.
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(In no particular order.)

Greater representation for women. No series has had an initial cast of more than 3 women. TOS had one. (Chapel and Rand were never regulars.) TNG had three initially. DS9 had two. Voyager had three. Enterprise had two.

While lgbtbdsm needs representation, I think the easiest way is to tell an actor “Pretend you’re Captain Jack from Doctor Who.” Technically, Phlox from Enterprise was bisexual in addition to being polyamorous, but this isn’t talked about enough. Having some (younger?) character sleeze up the galaxy would bring this facet a bit more to the forefront.

Less white people. Oh sure, it’s so simple to say “ethnic diversity.” Maybe in the 60’s, a “scotsman”, a “russian” and a “vulcan” are all different, but by today’s standards they’re all played by “white” actors. B’lanna was played by a latina, but she was always labeled half-klingon. You want a vision of the future? Have a jew and a muslim be bffs. I don’t care who plays the captain, just don’t make it a white guy. Hell, cast an Indian woman and toss in an arc about her parents are still trying to get her married.

Character arcs and character stories. After the second season of TNG, the style shifted to focusing kind of one character at a time. A “Riker” story or a “Data” story. Ronald D Moore was fantastic at threading ongoing events in “Battlestar Galactica.” Oh sure, there’ll be the Alien of the Week, but we should see how it effects someone, rather than the crew just being wooden and replaceable.

Dare to use allegory to current events. There’s a TOS episode where the klingons are arming primitives on a planet, so the Federation debates arming their enemies to make it “even.” Hello, allegory to Korea and Vietman. It doesn’t need to be heavy-handed, but it shouldn’t shy away from issues like TNG did. That agender species episode got close but got scared.

Don’t be afraid to make changes if the show doesn’t feel right. Remember how bad the first season of TNG was.

HAVE A WRITING STAFF ESTABLISHED AND BE CLEAR WHAT YOUR WRITING PARAMETERS ARE AND WHO IS IN CHARGE. Sorry, saw a documentary on TNG, and they had a packard of how many writers were fired the first season or two. It was a LOT.

Revisit old concepts but don’t abuse it. The mirror episodes in DS9 and Enterprise worked because it was still a twist on an old concept.

Avoid the tendency for things to be GRITTY. This isn’t battlestar galactica. It shouldn’t be as perfect as the TNG universe, but at some point that theme of Roddenberry optimism should be present. Hope, man. We should have a hopeful future, even if you stutterstep to get there.

At least one alien who has some level of make-up.

A betazoid male who had issues handing his feelings. What did I say about allegory to modern times? Watch the difference between Troi in the first couple seasons and then the later seasons. She used to actually ACT. Maybe he’s friends with a resident vulcan who help each other.

More objectification of men. See: Trip Tucker of Enterprise.

Less technobabble. We got shields, a deflector dish, torpedoes, and tractor beams. If they need some random THING to cause something, fine. But that should lead to a story, rather than the technobabble BEING the story. See the next paragraph as an example of technobabble done right.

Less time travel. Though, that episode where Miles O’Brien keeps seeing DS9 destroyed and mutters to himself “I hate temporal mechanics” was a fantastic way to use time travel as a plot device rather than a quick fix. Temporal loops or alternate timelines, okay. But don’t have them voluntarily go “Hey, let’s just go back in time.”

Did I say have tension between characters? Roddenberry had a rule for TNG that in his “perfect” future, none of the cast could have tension. This is why TNG is accused of being wooden at times. Meanwhile, DS9 was written with Kira resenting Sisko, Odo distrusting Quark, O’Brien being annoyed by Julian, and Jake and Nog wondering how they could be friends. Voyager had the incorporation of the Maquis into their crew, but the writers COMPLETELY dropped the ball on creating any tension.

While not a requisite, a thought is to do a complete reimagining. Just throw away the entire prime timeline, set it some “far” time in the future, and create a new future. Borrow things, but no longer are they bound to all of this built up “future history” that fanboys like me know like the back of my hand. Ten movies and six series will always be there. Jar Jar Abrams proved that the creative energy of what was Star Trek might be dead, and it may be time to move on.

The warp core should look like a goddamned warp core, not a brewery. Take cues from TOS, TNG, AND Enterprise’s submarine style, but don’t make it look like a luxury liner.

And whatever they do, NO DAMNED LENS FLARES.


Last updated November 28, 2015


Fawkes Gal November 30, 2015

No tension between characters? That is bizarre, but makes so much sense now when I think of how TNG felt. I never knew about that.

I wish you lived close enough that I could lend you my Red Dwarf DVDs. I think you would enjoy it.

Timmy™ Fawkes Gal ⋅ November 30, 2015

I thought this facet was well-known. Roddenberry's vision of the future was all "but everything is perfect and the cast shouldn't have tension." Hence how, since DS9 was created after he died, DS9 had the freedom to build in tension between characters.

Fawkes Gal Timmy™ ⋅ November 30, 2015

I'm only very casually a part of the Star Trek fandom. I kind of grew up watching TNG, because my father and older sister were big fans, so I'm fairly familiar with it, but I never delved into any behind-the-scenes stuff. I never even watched TOS until I was into my late twenties, although I had watched the fourth Star Trek film a lot, because WHALES. The differences between TOS and TNG are quite striking, but that puts a very firm finger on what the difference is. Odd that it wasn't something I could just automatically recognize. I suppose there's a BIT of tension between Beverly Crusher and Captain Picard, but that was only sexual tension, and it only bubbled to the surface every now and then. Oh, and Warf got irked with the humans every now and then too. In TOS you have Bones being driven nuts by Spock and his Vulcan ways, Kirk being irritated at literally everyone who isn't confident or who doesn't know what they're doing, Spock being irritated by the illogical humans who can't be more black and white about things.

I have to say, even though I grew up with TNG, I kind of prefer TOS. I never really watched any of the other incarnations. I tried to get into Enterprise, but I think I had a hard time not seeing Scott Bakula as Sam from Quantum Leap. That and the guy who looked like the love child of Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones freaked me out.

Timmy™ Fawkes Gal ⋅ December 01, 2015

Funny. I like Voyager Home for what it is, but I get annoyed when nonfans are all "oh, I like the one with the whales." It's probably the most accessible.

You know, you're right about the vague sexual tension between crusher/picard, not to mention riker/picard. And in season one, they rip on wesley THE BOY whenever they can. But I guess it's not the "plot" of an episode can't be centered around intracrew issues.

I grew up on TNG. While TOS is fun for background noise, I rarely sit down to watch it. Something about how TNG tends to have an A story and a B story, sometimes eventually intertwining, makes the episodes flow better. TOS tends to have a single thread spliced with lots of reaction shots and close-ups.

I hear you on Enterprise and Bakula. By the time I watched Enterprise, I came into it with very low expectations. So. First two seasons, I felt "Hey, this isn't so bad. I like this." Except for the confusing "temporal cold war" arc. They took a giant chance with the Xindi arc in the third season, I'll give them credit for trying. Problem is, it gets exhausting in a marathon to STILL be dealing with that arc. Never a single fluff episode like you might get tossed with DS9. Breaks up the tension. It's really really unfortunate Enterprise got canceled. Even with any inconsistencies, they were trying to go somewhere with the show.

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