Line #49 SoYouWantTo/WriteTheNextStarTrek


1	->''"There's an old saw in the entertainment industry: If you want to send a message, call Western Union. Trek, however, is very nearly the antithesis of that way of thinking--we prefer messages and meaning in our Trek plots, and are disappointed when we don't find any. But we're also disappointed when we're beat over the head with the message..."''
2	-->--Jim's commentary for '''[[http://www.reviewboy.com/memorial.html Memorial]]''' at [[http://www.reviewboy.com reviewboy.com]]''
3
4	->''"The original series is well known for presenting social issues in new ways, but this has led to modern Trek's all-too-frequent "message" show, where [. . .] the story is boxed in so that we simply ''must'' support only one conclusion [. . .] instead of presenting us with a muddy picture where we might actually have to think and make up our own minds on the subject."''
5	-->--'''WebSite/SFDebris''' review of the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Jetrel")''
6
7	Despite the many elements we scoff at nowadays, ''Franchise/StarTrek'' set a new standard for accessible sci-fi drama with enough staying power to pull off six series, twelve movies, a flock of video games and even a collectible card game.
8
9	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 [[Creator/WilliamShatner leading man]] puts [[LargeHam so much "drama"]] into his lines?
10
11	Many people have tried to guess at what made Star Trek such a success, so we'll throw in two cents: a PowerTrio, plus ''[[ComicBook/ElfQuest Passion]]'' [[ComicBook/ElfQuest and]] ''[[ComicBook/ElfQuest Compassion]]''. Make your characters care about what they're doing, and about each other, and make the audience care about ''them''.
12
13	This page will walk you through the tropes that helped make Star Trek the great success that it is. But before you start, you should head over to SoYouWantTo/WriteAStory to get some basic advice that applies across ''all'' genres.
14
15	----
16	!'''Necessary Tropes'''
17
18	'''[[FTLTravel Faster-Than-Light Travel]]'''
19
20	This is a must, otherwise you're more or less stuck with plain old boring Earth. You can play with the FTLTravel as well. Exactly how much faster than light can you go? How long does travel between two stars take? Hours? Days? Weeks? Does it work when in a gravitational field? Can the ship be yanked out of space? All things to think about, but be consistent, otherwise you're going to piss people off when your crew goes to the other end of the galaxy in one day, but takes a month to go a mere ten lightyears.
21
22	'''TheFuture'''
23
24	Trek's concept of the future started with a humanity that had finally overcome most of its "undesirable" qualities, from prejudice to sexual inhibitions to capitalism. Then it brought in a bunch of aliens who were not so enlightened... and, depending on how you want to [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation interpret the data]], maybe failed at proving that humanity was so above it all. (And that's without even accusing the series of promoting [[http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Essays/Trek-Marxism.html Communism]]... which is also a reasonable hypothesis.)
25
26	If you're going for that sort of utopian future, don't make it too perfect to be realistic. 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.
27
28	Then again, if the government's the BigBad, be careful not to make them ''entirely'' wrong either. Rulers are just men, after all, and they have their good side and their bad side. A lot of bureaucracy starts off with seemingly reasonable accommodations before it balloons up into impossible convolutions of rules. Big Business isn't inherently evil, and neither is Science, but there's reason to be cautious with both.
29
30	And think about the sort of ''feel'' you want. UsedFuture for a more gritty feel, or do you want CrystalSpiresAndTogas? What's wrong, can't quite decide? Well, since this is the next Star Trek, and Star Trek is a show where they journey to many different planets, you don't have to decide. Want a story with Crystal Spires and Togas? Well, there's an episode. Used Future? Next episode. SpaceAmish? Got it. Dystopian hell? Yep, another episode. And you can play against type by having that Crystal Spire planet hold a dark secret, or the SpaceAmish conceal fancy technology.
31
32	!'''Choices, Choices'''
33
34	First, '''Setting''': Mostly ship-bound, mostly planet-bound, or some combination of the two? Or something else entirely? A ship setting allows for more variety, while a stationary setting like a space station or planet usually means sacrificing variety for deeper arcs. Compare the mostly standalone episodes of most Star Trek series to the later, semi-serialized years of Deep Space Nine for an example.
35
36	Second: '''Aliens'''
37
38	Believe it or not, RubberForeheadAliens are not going to be the death of your show. In fact, if you stick to the [[SlidingScale/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.)
39
40	Still, there are options:
41
42	* '''Total CGI'''. Expensive, but awesome. Still, if you make ''every'' alien computer-generated, there's no contrast to play against; furthermore, the humans begin to look more and more out of place.
43	** 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 [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dante]] played Jake Sully in the stunt scenes.)
44	* '''AnimatedSeries'''. Animating an alien isn't that much more expensive than animating a human, assuming you didn't make it [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm too complex]].
45	* '''[[Creator/JimHenson Muppets]]'''. Depending on how much money you're willing to sink into their creation, they can range from [[Series/TheMuppetShow children's-program]] to [[Film/{{Labyrinth}} willing suspension of disbelief]] to [[Series/{{Farscape}} professional-grade alien races]].
46	* '''The Blob'''. Make some sort of large, decidedly non-human costume, then have an actor get under it and move around. Or you could glue it to a remote-controlled car.
47	* '''The Tribble'''. Some tiny furry toy whose personality is supplied by the other characters reacting to it, plus some sound effects and perhaps a little string.
48	* '''Non-humanoid robots'''. ''Series/RedDwarf'' has a talking toaster: all the character with none of the human actor. If you can glue bits and bobs together to make a classic Franchise/StarTrek prop, you can probably do the same thing to make some sort of robotic lifeform (Star Trek even had the Exocomps). However, you might have to take some care in designing how the durn thing ''moves''.
49	* '''RidiculouslyHumanRobots'''. ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica\|2003}}'' had lots of talking toasters. A step up from RubberForeheadAliens, you get a wide range of robots, androids, cyborgs, simulants, etc.
50	* '''[[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 [[ComicBook/ElfQuest time-travel]].
51	* '''FantasyKitchenSink'''. You know all those stories about elves and dwarves and [[Literature/TheHobbit halflings]] and goblins and more? How about vampires, werewolves, and mermaids? They're aliens. They're all aliens. Or, well, as many of them as you want to deal with. A bit of creative costuming and a bit of camera magic and you have RubberForeheadAliens with a twist. WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief? Get past the initial hurdle of "premise" and it's all yours.
52	* '''Tiny Aliens'''. Depending on the size, you can use camera tricks to get LittlePeople or the inhabitants of a MouseWorld.
53	* '''InvisibleAliens'''. Or if not actually invisible, then those tiny enough to write in without having to envision them at all. Telepathic entities that we never see go here too.
54	* '''Only Alien Animals'''. Back to the Tribbles up there, only with various versions of animal life, none of which are sentient enough to communicate via language. Could be friends, enemies, defensive, or neutral to the presence of outsiders.
55	* '''[[AbsentAliens No Aliens - At All]]'''. Easy on the budget, potentially very hard on the writing: How do you keep the audience's interest? But ''Series/RedDwarf'' managed to pull it off for much of its run, as did ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', though its run was much shorter.
56
57	And if you can think of another path to take, by all means take it! We welcome originality in many shapes and forms. Check the second half of the SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism for more possibilities.
58
59	!'''Pitfalls'''
60
61	Make the AppliedPhlebotinum serve your story, and not the other way around.
62
63	Secondly, avoid ApathyKilledTheCat. [[LiesDamnedLiesAndStatistics Maybe a third]] of all shore leave episodes led to serious danger that could have been easily avoided if the crew asked simple questions such as "What sort of laws do you have here, and which actions of ours could lead to the death penalty?"
64
65	!'''Potential Subversions'''
66
67	''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 show-stopping moment.
68
69	----
70	!'''Writers' Lounge'''
71
72	!!'''Suggested Themes and Aesops'''
73
74	Gene Roddenberry being the humanist 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.
75
76	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/StarTrek2009 2009 pre-boot]] was missing, but it got flak for that all the same.
77
78	!!'''Potential Motifs'''
79
80	Stars. Lots of stars. Beautiful gas nebulas and breathtaking shots of planets set against the backdrop of black space. Space may be deadly, but it's also stunningly ''gorgeous''.
81
82	Besides that, you can choose on a sliding scale between pristine and functional architecture versus dirty, grimy metal monstrosities that hardly ever work. For your ships, for the spaceports, for the planetside cities, and so forth.
83
84	!!'''Suggested Plots'''
85
86	[[AlienNonInterferenceClause Prime Directive]]: Lots of mileage in this one. You're buzzing around the galaxy in a ship filled with state-of-your-art technology. How do you handle contact with an alien race that thinks digital watches are voodoo of the dirt gods/a good idea/laughably primitive? Will they conclude that you're here to conquer? Or will they badger you for your advanced knowledge/gadgets? Do you have them, even? The trope article suggests bending the rules until they cry for mercy, but could they be played straight?
87
88	Our alien Aliens are ''truly'' alien Aliens: Kirk had the UniversalTranslator to help, but you could show how much work it would be to find even the beginnings of common ground between you and another race.
89
90	[[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 [[SlidingScale/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.
91
92	----
93	!'''Departments'''
94
95	!!'''Set Designer / Location Scout'''
96
97	First, the ship. How big? Well, how big a crew do you have? What's the ship's purpose? And is this an old clunker or a shining example of the best the fleet has to offer the universe? Does it look like it's build for speed, or more like a thought experiment into the kind of ship that could support a multi-generational colony?
98
99	How many interior locations are you gonna to visit on a regular basis? The bridge, the sick bay, engineering, a recreation lounge? And please tell me you can invent better names for these places. What about personal quarters, or is the ship so small that they all sleep in the cargo hold?
100
101	There may be other ships you encounter; consider whether they should look basically the same as or be radically different from the main ship.
102
103	Second, planetside. Are these civilized worlds? What level of technology? How great a population in how small an area? Or are they unconquered wildernesses meant only to test our heroes' ability to improvise?
104
105	!!'''Props Department'''
106
107	You might need weapons. Since those who travel through space are too far advanced to use swords (except perhaps to show The Warrior Race in comparison to the civilized races), you'll probably be using guns - and not just any guns, but those classic FamilyFriendlyFirearms, energy weapons.
108
109	Don't forget a bunch of space-agey scanning equipment and various devices that make life easier than it was in our day. Or vastly more complicated. Your call.
110
111	!!'''Costume Design'''
112
113	Are you a military vessel with a dress code, a private company's [[Series/RedDwarf mining ship]], or a civilian rig out enjoying the scenery? Do your characters wear identical skintight body suits, or do they show personality in the way they dress? What about haircuts?
114
115	Are there space suits around in case the ship springs a leak or needs to be abandoned, or might these be worked into the normal clothing as-is (say, a clear hood of "space silk," where all you have to do is pull the top down to your collar and attach it)?
116
117	Check ''[[http://www.rocketpunk-observatory.com/spaceguideA-E.htm#apparel The Tough Guide to the Known Galaxy]]'' for some comments about apparel in SciFi.
118
119	!!'''Casting Director'''
120
121	Here's the real secret of Star Trek:
122
123	'''''The crew cared about each other.'''''
124
125	Sure, yes, at times they fought, at times they got on each other's nerves, and there was barely an episode when Spock and [=McCoy=] weren't [[VitriolicBestBuds at each other's throats]] (ideologically speaking). But primarily, the crew acted like one big family. Excluding the {{Red Shirt}}s, who nobody cares about anyway... let's just call it "the bridge crew... and Scotty." [=McCoy=] was on the bridge enough, right?
126
127	''Aaaaa''nyway, the main characters, the ones we grew to love, they worked together like a team. They loved each other. They sacrificed for each other. They [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind refused to leave anyone behind]]. And when Kirk said "I'm going to get Spock now, and [[LineInTheSand you can stay here if you like]]," did you think even for a moment that even one crewmember would take him up on it?
128
129	Somehow Hollywood has never figured this out. A new movie comes out with a team that has to Save the World, and what's the one thing we know about these guys before the trailer's even over? They're gonna be [[TeethClenchedTeamwork at each other's throats]]. And not in a [[VitriolicBestBuds friendly rivalry]] way like Spock and [=McCoy=], either.
130
131	If you write good plots, most of the conflict will come from outside the group, or from the ideological conflict between the members of the PowerTrio.
132
133	So here's the second element of casting: the PowerTrio. Two characters representing opposite sides of an ideological spectrum, with the main character standing between them, often choosing to TakeAThirdOption rather than let one side trump the other.
134
135	In the basic PowerTrio, it's the Ego (Kirk) standing between the Superego (Spock) and the Id (Bones). However, you might choose a different spectrum to work with, so do consider your options a bit before you decide.
136
137	Oh, and, just to be clear: don't forget your spaceship. The eighth character of The Original Series was (and is) the old girl herself, the USS ''Enterprise'', NCC-1701. Give your ship some personality. (Why wouldn't you?)
138
139	!!'''Stunt Department'''
140
141	The original series being a SpaceWestern, it involved plenty of fist-fights and shootouts (albeit with energy weapons). The first fist-fight is actually what prompted Leonard Nimoy to invent the Vulcan Nerve Pinch, as he thought that throwing a punch wouldn't suit Spock's character. There's also the chance for a good brawl if aliens invade your ship.
142
143	----
144	!'''Extra Credit'''
145
146	!!'''The Greats'''
147
148	You do have to study the original Series/{{Star Trek\|the Original Series}} and its sequels to see where they came from, where they went, and what fans remember about them. Not to mention the elements that fans deride.
149
150	You might also study similar sci-fi series:
151
152	* ''Franchise/StarWars'': A more epic struggle between Good and Evil, with PsychicPowers and lots of NewAge babble about the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil.
153	* ''Series/StargateSG1'': Take all that futuristic technology and give it to ''modern'' humans, specifically the modern military, and see how ''they'' handle it. Obviously less idealism about how humanity has moved beyond the need for violence.
154	* ''Series/RedDwarf'': BritCom in space, and a darn good one at that. Tiny cast, with almost all plots centering on the conflict created by a core group of five members trying to survive in space, no external forces necessary. This exaggeration of the PowerTrio idea was so influential that most of the shows listed below it use the same mechanic.
155	* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': ''Series/TheFugitive'' InSPACE, having fun playing with tropes 'n' stuff. Also Muppets.
156	* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica\|2003}}'': 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.
157	* ''Series/BabylonFive'': An example in making a giant MythArc work and work well.
158	* ''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]].
159
160	Also study some stories that don't come from live-action TV:
161
162	* ''The Rebels'', a futuristic spin-off of ''ComicBook/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).
163	* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': You may never see a wider array of diverse alien races. From the title character, an amorphous blob, to twin-bodied telepathic entities (two bodies, ''one'' person), to giant-legged bird-descended aliens with vestigal wings, to purple-skinned photosynths (they're actually genetically altered humans), to aliens whose "head" is just a single giant eyeball on a neck, to one race that just looks like koalas... and that's just scratching the surface. The author did say that, given the chance, he'd think twice about how hard it was to repeatedly draw a creature with four arms and eight forearms.
164	* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'': Also a great webcomic to study when you're considering the harder side of sci-fi, or at least avoiding the softer side of sci. A StarfishAlien, a genetically engineered lifeform, a bevy of RidiculouslyHumanRobots (who are less human-thinking than the average version of the trope, so study it for that alone)... plus a lot of good ol' comedy, something that Star Trek tended to lack (at least, ''intentional'' comedy).
165	* ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'': An RPG setting whose chief strength is it's WorldBuilding. Roughly midway between hard and soft. Well designed cultures and political systems.
166	* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': A good example of this framework in a video game. The player dictates much of TheCaptain's personality and decisions, creating a flexible narrative. Strong focus on action and characterization. An in-game codex supplies extra info about the setting, but it's not needed to understand the story.
167
168	!!'''The Epic Fails'''
169
170	...or, well, things you should study to see how ''not'' to do this. You should look up the fan wars on Franchise/StarTrek vs. Franchise/StarWars to see which insults they level at each other, just for a start.
171
172	* ''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 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.

Context SoYouWantTo / WriteTheNextStarTrek