I wanted to start out with canonical elements and blend them into something that hangs together continuity-wise. I also wanted to retain Roddenberry’s optimistic outlook of mankind, rather than going all grim-and-gritty. Here’s what I came up with.

Backstory: Humans invent a warp drive and meet the peaceful Vulcans. Humans then take Vulcan technology and advance it another hundred years in about a decade, becoming technologically dominant. Humans start colonizing other planets. In order to do this, genetic engineering is employed to adapt humans for survival under various planetary conditions. This leads to assorted bumpy-forehead “races”. This also leads to the Eugenics Wars, which is as much about the benefits of transhumanism vs. baseline humanity as it is about independance of colony planets and political/theological issues.

The Vulcans have their own historical schism, with the Romulans, so they side with the Earth humans. The Romulans provide arms and training to colonies and transhumans. What the colonies realize too late is that the Romulans just want to occupy them, exploit their resources, and use them as a cheap labor pool. After a long and bloody conflict, an armistice is signed. The United Federation of Planets is formed as a sort of United Nations in space, with Earth, Vulcan, and assorted newly-independant colony worlds signing on.

Eugenics aren’t outlawed, but leave a bad taste in peoples’ mouths and not pursued further. One colony, however, plays with cyberware instead and eventually become the menacing Borg.

Just a peace breaks out, the Klingons show up. They’ve got various races, some with bumpy heads and some without. Oh, and they’re as factionalized as humanity, but keep the empire together via a strong military dictatorship. There are sympathetic Klingons who are part of a resistance. Starfleet is assembled from the assorted battle fleets from the Eugenics War into a combined force to protect UFP members from the Klingons, as well as the Cold War with the Romulans. The Romulans tried to ally with the Klingons, but the Klingons just killed them and took their stuff, including their cloaking device.

Which brings us to the present. The USS Enterprise has multiple missions: bring colony worlds into the fold of the UFP, transport diplomat and supplies between member worlds, act as a military presence against Klingons and Romulans. Not so much on the seek out new life and boldly go where no man has gone before; they didn’t do a lot of that in TOS or TNG, either, so I don’t feel like we need to hold to that mandate. Well, at least not at first…

We’ve got the originals: Kirk, Spock, and Scotty are essentially the same. McCoy is the same, except he’s African-American, although still a Southern Gentleman. Chekov is a woman and Sulu is gay. Uhura is a diplomat, a sort of wandering ambassador with the power to negotiate treaties between independant planets and the UFP, and broker deals between member planets. Janice Rand is the head of the redshirts, the ships security/marine detail who escort the crew on away missions. The redshirts will have names; we’ll get to know them. When they die, and they will, the deaths will have emotional impact. I’d also add Harry Mudd as a regular, a sleazy civilian businessman transporting mining equipment and medical supplies to the colonies while looking for new ways to make a fast buck.

Along the fringes of colonized space, however, Starfleet begins to encounter what I call Clarke’s Law beings, with technology so advanced it resembles magic. The Q, the Squire of Gothos, the Gamesters of Triseklion, those sorts of beings. That’s when we start seeking the new life and new civilizations, when we start investigating the quasi-omnipotent ones.

The big reveal is that all of these beings are of one race, the Progenitors, who are the forebears of all three starfaring races, the Humans, Vulcans, and Klingons. They schismed just as the humans and transhumans, the Vulcans and Romulans, and the assorted Klingon factions. The moral of the story is that we’re more alike than different, and we all need to work together to survive.

That’s how I’d do it.

S.L. Shirley 04/25/06 9:55 AM
That’s cool… and it would make a lot of fans go beserk, “No one else can play [favorite TOS character], but…” I like that. Especially the changing the sex of one of the crew. I don’t think I would go with Chekov though… maybe Bones or Kirk.

The thing is though, that’s only Trek because you used trek names for stuff. That could just as easily be back story for any number of sci-fi series. It’s like you are trying desperately to NOT be Trek.

Which I suppose is what I really want Just like you I would prefer to see something original. But, gods forbid they draw me back to my television with original thought.

(I predict the lurking doom that is the upcoming Star Wars series will spark similar debate.)

Berin Kinsman 04/25/06 10:08 AM
Female Kirk = Starbuck. No. Hells no.

McCoy black works for me. Gender switch of Chekov because, come on, he’s a minor character nad it can slip in easily.

Of course people will bitch about recasting. That’s half the fun. So you do it well.

S.L. Shirley 04/25/06 10:13 AM
eh. To each there own.

I like my mirror universe/TNG idea. Very political, recasting would go down easier.

I like the idea of more black characters though, and your justifications for a female Chekov are cool.

I would want to see more religion on the vessel, maybe introduce the Enterprise’s Muslim “chaplain?” Don’t know what the right term would be there; I know chaplain is the more military term these days.

Oh! And fighters. Not just capital ships.

Berin Kinsman 04/25/06 10:34 AM
I don’t know about fighters. Not on or in conjunction with the Enterprise, at least. Too BSG/Star Wars. Part of the Trek flavor is that it was call capital ships. Maybe give the Klingons fighters, to raid colonies and outposts with. They’d be ineffective against Enterprise (shields) and phasers would cut them to ribbons (picture the Shadow ships from B5 cutting fighters clean in half).

Let’s make Uhura the Muslim. A female, black, Muslim diplomat. Yes, we need more religions represented.

And I AM trying to be Trek. I’m trying to take all of the good bits and popular bits and make them fit together. Why so many bumpy-forehead aliens? Khan. Q. The Borg. Green Orions (genetically engineered melanin to block out the harmful rays of the colony’s sun?). Roddenberry’s vision of races and ethnicities and such all working together for the betterment of all.

S.L. Shirley 04/25/06 1:35 PM
Ok. Now our wavelengths are reaching some kind of harmonic convergence.

Maybe not fighters, but more bird of prey and smaller style corvettes and blockade runners in both the Federation and everywhere else.

I want to see more “private” ships too and variety in those designs.

And I agree, no fighters on the enterprise. Fighters would be like in Midway anyway, not really a threat to the big ships except for the one shot shield killer torpedo, or the suicide attack.

Uhura as a muslim… And a female in a posistion of authority. I like. I like that a lot.

Still want a ships chaplain though.

And I don’t need any convincing on your take on the borg.

As to the likes of Q; have you read Gravity Dreams by Modesitt(sp?)?

But I don’t want Chekov to be 7 of 9, or Troi… More of a Kaylee. Know what I mean?

And Mudd has a differnt scheme in every episode and has some connection to some member of the crew… maybe he and Bones used to be friends, or he’s an old chum of Kirk’s.

CASTING! Give me casting! Hey, as long as we are playing this game, right?

S.L. Shirley 04/25/06 1:35 PM
LOL! I’ve just been inspired.

Shatner as Mudd.

Murat 04/25/06 5:16 PM
Shatner would make an awesome Mudd.

Berin Kinsman 04/25/06 9:35 PM
Shatner’s already playing Harry Mudd. Have you SEEN Boston Legal?

I have no casting ideas. I’d use relative unknowns selected for their acting ability.