History SoYouWantTo / WriteTheNextStarTrek

* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' is the among the more divisive installments and has the dishonor of [[FranchiseKiller putting the franchise on ice for several years]]. While [[GrowingTheBeard it found its rhythm in later seasons]], one of the biggest criticisms of the first two seasons was that the political climate resulting from the then recent 9/11 attacks and UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror has hijacked the idealistic and social-commentating core of the franchise, leading to a tone that [[WereStillRelevantDammit came across as patronizing]] and [[TooBleakStoppedCaring needlessly bleak]]. Whether or not you like this show, DO NOT let IssueDrift become a problem in your work when writing analogues for current events.

If you're going for that sort of utopian future, first of all beware the MarySuetopia. It helps if you don't try to pretend that every single aspect of your future is hunky-dory; give us a few malcontents, a few rebels who upset the status quo - and don't make the situation all black-and-white. Maybe they have good reason to feel wronged. Maybe they even have good reason to blow up starbases or take starliners hostage. The government of a seeming utopia is unlikely to be entirely innocent.

Believe it or not, RubberForeheadAliens are not going to be the death of your show. In fact, if you stick to the [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness softer side of Sci-Fi]] and either [[JustifiedTrope justify]] or HandWave the very human-looking aliens, most viewers are not going to care. Just don't make them ''too'' dorky looking. (Additionally, since we have no frame of reference for life on other planets aside from Earth sentient bipeds could simply be a common evolutionary trait.)

[[AsteroidMiners Space Miner]] '49er: It's a new gold rush,[[RecycledInSPACE in space]]! $substance has been found in a remote asteroid belt and fortunes are being made. The danger and difficulty of asteroid mining can [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness be played up for drama and realism or down for romance and excitement]]. You can empathise the loneliness of chopping up rock in the black or throw in a Wild West mining town -- it's up to you.

...or, well, things you should study to see how ''not'' to do this. You should look up the fan wars on Franchise/StarTrek vs. StarWars to see which insults they level at each other, just for a start.

* ''StarWars'': A more epic struggle between Good and Evil, with PsychicPowers and lots of NewAge babble about the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil.

* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' is the among the more divisive installments and has the dishonor of [[FranchiseKiller putting the franchise on ice for several years]]. While [[GrowingTheBeard it found its rhythm in later seasons]], one of the biggest criticisms of the first two seasons was that the political climate resulting from the then recent 9/11 attacks and UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror has hijacked the idealistic and social-commentating core of the franchise, leading to a tone that [[WereStillRelevantDammit came across as patronizing]] and [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy needlessly bleak]]. Whether or not you like this show, DO NOT let IssueDrift become a problem in your work when writing analogues for current events.

* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' is the among the more divisive installments and has the dishonor of [[FranchiseKiller putting the franchise on ice for several years]]. While [[GrowTheBeard it found its rhythm in later seasons]], one of the biggest criticisms of the first two seasons was that the political climate resulting from the then recent 9/11 attacks and UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror has hijacked the idealistic and social-commentating core of the franchise, leading to a tone that [[WereStillRelevantDammit came across as patronizing]] and [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy needlessly bleak]]. Whether or not you like this show, DO NOT let IssueDrift become a problem in your work when writing analogues for current events.

* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' is the among the more divisive installments and has the dishonor of [[FranchiseKiller putting the franchise on ice for several years]]. While [[GrowTheBeard it found its rhythm in later seasons]], one of the biggest criticisms of the first two seasons was that the political climate resulting from the then recent 9/11 attacks and TheWarOnTerror has hijacked the idealistic and social-commentating core of the franchise, leading to a tone that [[WereStillRelevantDammit came across as patronizing]] and [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy needlessly bleak]]. Whether or not you like this show, DO NOT let IssueDrift become a problem in your work when writing analogues for current events.

''Franchise/StarTrek'' stuck to SpaceIsAnOcean and TwoDSpace so steadfastly that when a ship finally attacked by flying up from the bottom of the screen, it was a total [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome show-stopping moment]].

** Possibly cheaper and/or more practical now due to the mocap rigs Creator/JamesCameron developed for ''Film/{{Avatar}}''. It's an InkSuitActor wearing a digital costume. (It also helped with the doubling; nobody ever noticed that [[Franchise/DevilMayCry Dante]] played Jake Sully in the stunt scenes.)

Do note the quote at the top of the page: Not ''every'' Trek episode had AnAesop, but quite a few did. Many were unsubtle "this is the way any sane and moral man would and should think" jibes, some were AuthorTract and others were not. Others offered a topic, got the players hashing it out from different points of view, and left us to mull it over. Some of the harsher topics included "What is just punishment?" and "Is the Death Penalty acceptable?" - not to mention "To what extent should we be willing to force our ethics onto other cultures?" AnAesop was just about the ''only'' thing that the [[Film/StarTrek 2009 pre-boot]] was missing, but it got flak for that all the same.

* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' is the among the more divisive installments and has the dishonor of [[FranchiseKiller putting the franchise on ice for several years]]. While [[GrowTheBeard it found its rhythm in later seasons]], one of the biggest criticisms of the first two seasons was that the political climate resulting from the then recent 9/11 has hijacked the idealistic and social-commentating core of the franchise, leading to a tone that [[WereStillRelevantDammit came across as patronizing]] and [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy needlessly bleak]]. Whether or not you like this show, DO NOT let IssueDrift become a problem in your work.

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Gene Roddenberry being the idealist that he was, Franchise/StarTrek started off with the idea that mankind had outgrown a lot of its past sins. Various episodes put forth the ideas that [[PatrickStewartSpeech man was meant for great things]]... hrm...... more later.

Do note the quote at the top of the page: Not ''every'' Trek episode had AnAesop, but quite a few did. Many were unsubtle "this is the way any sane and moral man would think" jibes, AuthorTract or not. Others offered a topic, got the players hashing it out from different points of view, and left us to mull it over. Some of the harsher topics included "What is just punishment?" and "Is the Death Penalty acceptable?" - not to mention "To what extent should we be willing to force our ethics onto other cultures?" AnAesop was just about the ''only'' thing that the [[Film/StarTrek 2009 pre-boot]] was missing, but it got flak for that all the same.

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': Almost the SpiritualAntithesis to Trek in that it posits the Federation (here, the Alliance) is a giant bureaucracy that tries to control everything, while the rebels that were stepped on only try to eke out a living. Notable for having [[AbsentAliens no aliens]], [[SpaceIsNoisy silent space]], and being on the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical side of things]].

So how do you pull off a franchise that good when your special effects department is [[StarTrekShake hokey]], your costuming department [[RubberForeheadAliens primitive at best]], your offworld sets all look like [[KirksRock the same small chunk of real estate]], and your [[WilliamShatner leading man]] puts [[LargeHam so much "drama"]] into his lines?

* {{Traveller}} : An RPG setting whose chief strength is it's WorldBuilding. Roughly midway between hard and soft. Well designed cultures and political systems.

-->--'''SFDebris''' review of the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Jetrel")''

Many people have tried to guess at what made Star Trek such a success, so we'll throw in two cents: a PowerTrio, plus ''[[ElfQuest Passion]]'' [[ElfQuest and]] ''[[ElfQuest Compassion]]''. Make your characters care about what they're doing, and about each other, and make the audience care about ''them''.

* '''[[HumanAliens Humans]]'''. You can go the ''Series/StargateSG1'' route and say they all started on one planet but branched out a few millenia ago, or work in more recent moves (alien kidnappings, messing with alien teleportation artifacts, etc.) or even [[ElfQuest time-travel]].

* ''The Rebels'', a futuristic spin-off of ''ElfQuest''. Mostly humans, but some elves, a genetically engineered human-sized fairy (roughly), a robot, and an alien species that communicates by scent and speaks in plenty of scent metaphors ("May the odor of my service be pleasing to you" and such).

* '''[[Creator/JimHenson Muppets]]'''. Depending on how much money you're willing to sink into their creation, they can range from [[TheMuppetShow children's-program]] to [[Film/{{Labyrinth}} willing suspension of disbelief]] to [[Series/{{Farscape}} professional-grade alien races]].

* '''RidiculouslyHumanRobots'''. ''[[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined Battlestar Galactica]]'' had lots of talking toasters. A step up from RubberForeheadAliens, you get a wide range of robots, androids, cyborgs, simulants, etc.

* ''[[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined Battlestar Galactica]]'': Almost a subversion of everything Franchise/StarTrek, though Adama is excellent as TheCaptain. However, while in Franchise/StarTrek, humans have moved past their mistakes to try and make a utopia, in BSG everyone's still stuck with their flaws and foibles.

** Possibly cheaper and/or more practical now due to the mocap rigs Creator/JamesCameron developed for ''Film/{{Avatar}}''. It's an InkSuitActor wearing a digital costume. (It also helped with the doubling; nobody ever noticed that [[DevilMayCry Dante]] played Jake Sully in the stunt scenes.)

* '''[[JimHenson Muppets]]'''. Depending on how much money you're willing to sink into their creation, they can range from [[TheMuppetShow children's-program]] to [[Film/{{Labyrinth}} willing suspension of disbelief]] to [[Series/{{Farscape}} professional-grade alien races]].

Watch out for TheRoddenberryLine. Simply put: Make the AppliedPhlebotinum serve your story, and not the other way around.

* {{Traveller}} : An RPG setting whose chief strength is it's WorldBuilding. Roughly midway between hard and soft. Well designed cultures and political systems.