Firstly, let me say this, in the press release it states that it is not connected to Star Trek Beyond (2016), which implies that it won’t be connected to the recent box office movies at all. Another reboot? NOT LIKELY, that would take too much money and too much set up. Besides, in this ages of social media they'd hear the outrage over it REAL fast. Once you do the long division and check the math, I believe the new show will take place at some point in the original “Gene Roddenberry” created universe.
Secondly… like the title says, what WOULD a new show be about? Well, let’s start with what HAS been covered:
- Enterprise already covered the “decade(s)” right before the Federation charter was signed, the retirement of the NX-01 and the end of the Vulcan/Andorian War.
- The TOS series covered the Enterprise’s five-year mission under the command of Captain James T. Kirk (or James R Kirk who changed his middle name inexplicably after one episode…). Now, it is cannon in that story that Captain Christopher Pike already took it on a five-year mission BEFORE that… so we’ll get back to that.
- The TOS movies are fairly self-explanatory… KHAAAAN.
(Side note, in ST6, the Excelsior was already exploring the “Beta Quadrant”.)
- TNG jumped forward some 75 years and showed us the Federation after relative peace was established and all the hilarity that ensued afterwards with the Enterprise-D and Captain Picard.
- DS9 showed us other worlds and introduced us to the Gamma Quadrant, what an all out war with the Klingons looked like, as well as with the Dominion. It showed the Federation at its darkest hour and it’s brightest.
- Voyager showed us real exploration again, with a lost ship far far away from ever getting home. Until of course you get to the finale episode… SPOILERS… they get home. Essentially, they showed us the Delta Quadrant and the Borg.
IN SUMMARY HERE:
- We’ve seen ALL quadrants of the galaxy now, Alpha (where Earth, Kronos, Vulcan etc… are located), Beta (in passing), Delta and Gamma (most of it).
That begs the question, what HAS NOT been done yet?
- We have not technically seen what happened AFTER Star Trek Nemesis, that story was supposedly “wrapped up” in the Star Trek (2009) prequel comic “Countdown” with Romulus destroyed, the Enterprise-F under the command of Captain Data and Spock missing. However, THAT is “JJ-Verse.”
- We’ve never actually seen Captain Pike’s story in dept despite the MASSIVE amounts of background write-ups that Gene Roddenberry did. We only have the original pilot in all its goofy glory.
- We’ve also never seen Captain Robert April who was never officially part of canon until the “Enterprise” Mirror Universe episodes.
WHERE TO GO:
- In my opinion as a lifelong Star Trek fan, I think that CBS’ smartest play would be to go with the adventures of Captain Christopher Pike, right around when he gains command of the Enterprise. Perhaps have him take over after his mentor Captain Robert T April who is retiring or something.
- Honestly CBS is on a roll, so far Supergirl is doing GREAT ratings wise, Madam Secretary remains VERY high for network and Blue Bloods is a continual hit. This excludes the multitude of cop shows they also have…
o Make this new Star Trek in the vein of Blue Bloods, Madam Secretary where the characters are a tight knit group, sometimes there are flare-ups, but they work it out and they get stuff done. There is literally no need for the SyFy style “I hate your guts but we’re working together and I’ll occasionally punch you” thing.
- Have Pike take over command and bring in his 2nd officer (originally had no name) who is similar to Majel Barrett’s character, but they obviously will get to expand on her. Now, Spock is in the original pilot, but I don’t think he should be brought in right away, maybe in Season 2 (assuming they get one). The Doctor of the series was already written in, Doc Phillip Boyce, who again can be expanded upon better than the original episode.
WHY THAT STORY?
- The Federation is in its early days, less than even 75 years old. When the United States (AS AN EXAMPLE…) was 60 years old we’d barely done much and had already seen another war with Britain and had around half the states that make up the country now. Point being, there’s a lot of story there. What happened before Kirk’s era of the Federation being a stalwart steady constant?
- And on that note again, the Federation was not that big prior to TNG. If anything, the example is the small stadium of representatives at the end of “Enterprise” to nearly a third of the Alpha Quadrant by the end of the TNG movies. There’s lots of room to explore and expand on what happened before the Kirk era but Post-Federation formation.
WHERE THEY CAN LEARN FROM:
- Take notes from what works, shows like “The Last Ship” on TNT where the crew is again a tight knit group, the Captain is not just that brash strong-jawed do-gooder. Strong, WELL developed female characters, something the Kirk TOS era did not expand on much other than Uhura and the very occasional guest.
- Take notes even from the CW’s The Flash where they’re not afraid to embrace the comic book ridiculousness. Embrace the source material and don’t be afraid to steer to the ridiculous rather than the “dark and gritty” Star Trek wasn’t meant to be dark and gritty. Make it swashbuckle-y, make it fun.
- In essence, don't be afraid to strive for that hopeful spark again. Don't be afraid to pioneer the show into new avenues and address REAL issues. Afterall, that's what CBS did with it back in the day, so why not do it again now that they are starting up a new series on the same network?
If you’re still reading… way to go! I spewed this onto the page after a day of thinking about this new show. As long as the TV show isn’t in the JJ-verse, count me in. I mean I would still watch a Post-Nemesis show, but that's already been mostly done in the novels.
PS: I’ll still see Star Trek Beyond, even if it is JJ-verse. They're a blast in the theater even if the previous films missed the mark.