Where Star Trek should go

Star Trek seems to be prequel crazy, but if I got to write the next Star Trek series I’d take it in the direction it was always meant to go, the future.

Prequels and reboots are easy, that’s why Hollywood loves them so much. In a prequel you know where the story is going to end up, you can easily live inside a created cannon, and you can use familiar characters that a fanbase knows. Reboots and prequels can use those familiar characters to pull an emotional response out of an audience and get them to a theater or to watch a show with minimal effort.

Counting Star Trek: Discovery, Trek will have had two prequel series in a row; on top of that Star Trek has seen a series of three reboot movies. Now I’m not here to disparage where Trek has gone, but if I was to take the helm I’d point in a very different direction.

Star Trek is about discovery and moving forward, so prequels and reboots are inherently going to miss a little of the magic of what makes Trek great. What prequels and reboots are in the eyes of a studio is safe. Star Trek isn’t about being safe, it’s about being bold.

If I were going to get to choose where Star Trek goes I’d point the ship at the future of Trek, post Star Trek Nemesis. I’d make another jump in time. The events of Star Trek Nemesis happen in the late 24th century,  2379 to be exact. So let’s jump to at least 2500 to get away from Star Trek: The Next Generation and move on to our next next generation.

Star Trek has in many ways covered the entire galaxy at this point. We know what lies in the alpha quadrant, beta quadrant, delta quadrant, and gamma quadrant. It’s time for a new galaxy. Now getting to a new galaxy won’t be easy, and it will mean leaving behind most of what we know of Trek, but it could be a fantastic move for the franchise.

If we follow a Federation vessel sent on a one way mission to explore and report back about the Andromeda galaxy we certainly would have a lot of new material to get into. It could also recapture that feeling of a big galaxy with lots to explore, without having to go backwards in time. The mission would be a one way trip, maybe even involving cryogenic sleep until arrival. So this would tie together the feel of early space travel and the Star Trek we all know and love.

Instead of getting caught up in political plots swirling around the huge Federation it could be one ship out there exploring and only communicating with Starfleet as a mission control of sorts. It would have an Enterprise feel of newness, without having to retread material, which was Enterprise’s weakness.

As for familiar alien species to anchor the show in the Star Trek universe you’d certainly have plenty right on the ship. The ship’s crew would be made up of familiar Vulcans, Klingons, Humans, Andorians, etc…

This future of exploration would also help avoid the apocalyptic dystopian future. One of the things that makes Star Trek great is that it isn’t the usual dystopian science fiction. Many of the ideas about the future of Trek revolve around a galaxy where the Federation has fallen or is falling apart. That’s an interesting idea, but really goes against what Trek stands for, humanities continued progress through science.

That’s just my idea for where I would take the franchise, where would you go if you had the helm?

NEXT: Alien Species We Want To See In Star Trek Discovery

That’s just my idea for where I would take the franchise, where would you go if you had the helm?  Let us know on Facebook or in the comments below.