On May 13, 2005, at 7:30 PM, Travis Edmunds wrote:
From: "Gary Nunn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
As most of us know, Star Trek Enterprise signs off tonight with two back to back episodes. ... I wonder what the next incarnation of Star Trek will be?
Hard to say. Personally though I'd like to see a jump to the not so distant future. Similar to the TOS - TNG transition in essence; i.e. far enough ahead to evoke the sense of progression for this universe, yet close enough to be easily connected with "present day" Trek a la the conclusion of Voyager.
I have been hoping for a while that we'd see a darker Federation. A Fed from the perspective of colony worlds who had not joined it, who didn't want (necessarily) to join it. Set it in the Kirk era, when tensions were at their all-time high.
I mean -- OK, so the Federation features high tech, highfalutin philosophies and of course lean hardbodied crew. Wouldn't it be magnificent to see the story of a world that didn't want to get barcoded and look exactly like FedVolken? These people, maybe, have had to eke out a living for decades on some barely survivable rock at the farthest fringe of almost-forgotten space. They have traded with the Ferengi, the Klingons and even the Romulans on more or less even terms, and they've managed over the years to develop their own culture and sense of independence.
Along comes some guy in a big shiny vessel with a command shirt and a brief to standardize the planet to Fed guidelines. But they don't *want* those guidelines. To them the Fed is little different from the Borg. And because of strategic position or planetary reserves, the Fed wants them badly, but the Ferengi, Klingons and Romulans would all benefit from seeing this world retain its non-Federation affiliation.
What happens then?
And suppose these people have access to Fed history (current events?) ... and often quote one James Tiberius Kirk regarding the values of independence, internal ethics and so forth?
Use the Trek model to interrogate the values of the Federation, IOW. That to me would be interesting, particularly if there was no reset button. Wouldn't it be cool to see a Fed captain saying something like, "Prime Directive be damned! We MUST have this planet! We WILL have this planet! Disable their shield and arm the torpedoes!"
Presumably you would suggest that the planet in question be a former Klingon world whose name rendered into Roman characters looks a little like iRaQ' . . . ? And the captain's name might be, oh, maybe "George" something?
Subtle Political Statements Were Always Star Trek's Specialty Maru
-- Ronn! :)
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