star trek plot ideas

10 Classic Star Trek Plot Devices That Could Inspire The Next Movie

It’s already official: There’s going to be another Star Trek movie. But what elements of Trek lore should they put on the big screen next time? The first two Abrams films already mined Trek’s rich history for ideas, but they also left out some stuff. Here are 10 classic Star Trek elements that we’d like to see take center stage in the next movie.

10. Tribbles

There are a lot of baddies lurking in the first two rebooted movies, all with the potential to be the big villain in the next film. But did you notice the tribbles? No, you didn’t. Not really. Nobody suspects the tribbles. Which is the point of tribbles. They just sit there, looking cute, until they breed like crazy and overrun everything.

And what if they get… supercharged? Like, what if they’re injected with nanobots and start eating metal? What if they acquire a taste for human blood and their cooing causes paralysis? What if there is a zombie tribble outbreak? (You know that it could happen.) They finally have a big-budget movie to work with! Let’s see the real trouble with tribbles.

9. Harry Mudd

Most of the last two movies had to do with the Federation battling great threats and lifelong grudges. How about stepping away from the planet-destroying Romulans and the moral compromises of facing the Klingons, and look at what it’s like to actually be on “the final frontier,” with outlaws and smugglers and shady business dealings happening all around you? Basically, the return of Harry Mudd, or some other lawless smuggler types.

Taking this further, I’d like to see a movie that’s basically Star Trek versus Firefly. What’s going to win out — an enlightened yet stifling monolith, or a band of shady, but liberty-obsessed outlaws? You wouldn’t buy a ticket to see the movie. You’d buy a ticket to see the brawl in the movie theater.

8. Evil Sexy Ladies

The Shatner-Kirk had trouble with women. Multiple ex-girlfriends tried to kill him, his ensigns kept mooning after him, and no sooner did you see an “alien” woman with a high pony tail and a shiny dress than you knew she was going to be twining her arms around his neck by the third act. And Shatner-Kirk was restrained compared to Pine-Kirk. Pine-Kirk is what would happen if Shatner-Kirk and Zapp Brannigan had a fumbling, contraceptive-free night in a gene splicer. If you’re going to take a captain of a flagship and amp up his inner hound to eleven, you are going to have problems. Sexy evil alien ladies would both demonstrate that problem, and eliminate the need to show a crew member in her underwear. Two problems solved!

Most of you will not remember Redjac. Some of you will remember him from the original series episode, “A Wolf In the Fold,” in which the crew discovers an evil entity that feeds on fear and has been many of history’s greatest serial killers, including Jack the Ripper. Redjac fools the crew, and the alien civilization that they’re in contact with, for some time by framing a crew member as a serial killer. That doesn’t sound too impressive, you say. It certainly doesn’t deserve a higher position than Evil Sexy Ladies, you say. Why does Redjac get to be a villain, you ask.

Because, I patiently explain, the crew member that he framed was Scotty. And if you cast Simon Pegg in a film series, then by god, you use him. You don’t just trot him around an engine room yelling about what he “canna” do. You find some way to put him front and center, and if that means we all have to spend a movie watching people hundreds of years into the future doing a retread of From Hell, then that’s just what has to happen.

6. An Evil Computer

Many people complained that the first two Abrams films were missing the heart and soul of Star Trek: The Original Series — which is Kirk debating with evil computers. He does this in so many episodes of the show , it becomes one of the defining features. And we just had a huge hit movie based on Kirk’s confrontation with Landru. So maybe the next movie should be about Kirk facing off against a computer that’s gotten ideas above its station.

https://gizmodo.com/create-your-own-original-star-trek-story-5136738

Or maybe you could even borrow from TNG and have an early prototype holodeck go awry. After all, they had holodecks in the semi-canonical Animated Series. We could see Montgomery Scott working on the holodeck — thus giving us the crucial Simon Pegg screen time — and then all holographic hell breaking loose. Whether it’s Moriarty taking over the ship from its glorified entertainment center or, perhaps, holographic creations escaping into the ship and impersonating the crew, it’s a classic. And it hasn’t been done in a movie before!

5. Trelaine (or Q)

The last two movies should have come with warning: “people in the first four rows may have their retinas burned away by the intense stares of the villains.” Wouldn’t it be a nice change of pace to have a movie where Kirk was out-quipped by the evil-doer? More importantly, making the villain a mischievous all-powerful entity, like Trelaine or Q, would involve a refreshing change of motivation. Q was, in the series, a villain at worst and an annoying anti-hero at best, but he’s never motivated by tired notions of revenge. He, quite literally, wants humanity to be better.

He wants humanity — or even just individual humans — to be able to, through their experience in space, grasp concepts that no human had ever understood before. For all that Star Trek is meant to be about discovering new worlds and new ways of life, many movies and episodes are actually about saying humans are the best in the universe. Humans have become the smartest, the most compassionate, the most organized, the most virtuous, of any alien species. To have a villain expose that for the lie it is, and for the humans (and humanoids) to realize that we have to push ourselves intellectually, not just jump around and keep stuff from exploding, would make for an amazing movie.

4. Space Madness

The last suggestion sounded kind of profound, didn’t it? Don’t worry, it doesn’t keep going. As fun as forcing humans to transcend their limitations might seem, having the entire crew of the enterprise tripping out sounds like even more fun. Two different Trek episodes, “The Naked Time,” and “The Naked Now,” both dealt with a space madness that included someone taking a shower with their clothes on. (Realizing that link to the original Star Trek madness episode helped people in The Next Generation diagnose their own sudden space crazies.) I’d love it if the next movie started with someone taking a shower in their clothes and just Hunter S Thompsoned the rest of the way. I wouldn’t even care if they found a way to cure themselves.

3. The Organians

And back up to the high ground. The TOS episode “Errand of Mercy” introduced us to the Organians, another set of all-powerful beings. The episode involves the Klingons occupying Organia, a little backwater planet. Kirk and Spock set up a resistance, blowing up weapons caches as the Federation and the Klingons edge closer and closer to war. The Organians are apathetic until the climax of the hostilities, at which point they reveal that they are so advanced that they need fear nothing, and are appalled at the primitive civilizations blowing each other up for no reason. They incapacitate the weapons of both sides, and, over the protests of both sides that they have the “right” to wage war, force a peace treaty.

The two most recent Star Trek movies, in the end, have been about might making right. Both sides draw their weapons and fire, and one side happens to be successful in the end, though both sides take losses. Perhaps a movie in which an entity simply says, “you can work this out peacefully and you will work this out peacefully,” might be more of a commitment to a Star Trek ideal than armed conflict. Plus it’s more of a challenge, and it leads to a lot of storylines in which Kirk has to use cunning, instead of might, against the Klingons.

2. R’Ver

Remember the first Star Trek movie? Remember what happened after the fifteen straight minutes of looking at shots of the outside of the Enterprise? If you got past that, there was a storyline about a massive entity called V’Ger that threatens both the ship and Earth. And it turns out to be Earth’s own Voyager spacecraft, evolved into having its own consciousness somewhere out there in space, and returning with a vengeance. While the Voyager is still out there, we aren’t as focused on it today. Today we look towards Mars, and the Mars Rovers. I think it would make a nice little twist if Earth finally faced invasion from its nearest neighbor. The terrifying R’Ver, evolved after being buried under the sands of Mars, has developed consciousness and set its sights on Earth. Kirk can battle little red robots.

1. The Evil Enterprise Crew

In the end, though, no threat can be as awesome as the power of good, old-fashioned evil twins. Whether they should come from the Mirror Universe or a transporter beam accident, it doesn’t matter. I just know that I want Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and the rest of the crew to be fighting evil versions of themselves, and I want those evil versions of themselves to be wearing thick eyeliner. Not only do I think it would be great fun to see the actors play both parts, I would love to see a comparison of how this incarnation of Star Trek does Good and Evil. We’ve seen it in multiple different times. The earliest evil versions of the crew were slimy, manipulative, sexually-aggressive backstabbers by nature.

Later, in Star Trek: Nemesis, we see good and evil put more in terms of nurture. Picard’s clone has been twisted into something evil by abuse, neglect, and civilization-wide injustice. So while this concept contains a lot of superficial stuff, like evil laughs and amazing fashions, it also has the potential to examine the heart of a lot of questions about human nature. What is good? What is evil? What is it about us that makes us one or the other?

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Your Star Trek story ideas?

• Thread starter StarTrekker
• Start date Aug 24, 2009

StarTrekker

Lieutenant junior grade.

• Aug 24, 2009

These kind of threads don't normally do too well since its so incredibly difficult to think up a Star Trek plot, especially one that hasn't been done before. But feel free here to write any Star Trek plot ideas you might have. You can tie them into a particular show or you just can just write a sci-fi plot that could be done on any past or future Star Trek. Gateway An ancient Iconian-type gateway is discovered at an archaelogical site on a Federation colony. The crew of a starship is sent to investigate it and see if they can get it reactivated. When it is reactivated they discover that it is a portal to another planet thousands of lightyears away. The inhabitants of the planet on the other side are actually the descendents of those who originally lived on the Federation colony thousands of years ago who escaped the planet because of a great disaster. The descendents who have been trying to activate the gateway told of in their mythology to regain their homeland want their homeland back and believe it is rightfully there The question arises of whether they are entitled to the planet after thousands of years or not. Possible solutions- -The inhabitants of the colony destroy the gateway after hearing of the news and the possibility the people at the other side of the gateway are ready to use force to regain their planet -The descendents of the other planet come through the gateway and everyone agrees to live peacefully together. It wasn't intentional at all but I'm seeing a real parallel with Israel here, perhaps the ending would be best left ambiguous to avoid offending anyone. Or maybe the living together in peace would be best. Post your own ideas and any critiques you may have.  

barnaclelapse

That's a pretty good idea. I could get into that. I have to confess that I don't have a lot of ideas for Star Trek episodes, although I always had one idea of Spock, McCoy and Scotty getting together after finding out Kirk had died at the end of Generations. It was a pretty straight-forward fan fic I was planning to write back when I wrote fan fiction, but I never got around to it.  

Nerys Ghemor

Vice admiral.

I think its nice just to say short story ideas, people in there are writings pages and page of material I certainly can't be bothered to read through.  

Caped Trek Mod

• Aug 25, 2009

StarTrekker said: I think its nice just to say short story ideas, people in there are writings pages and page of material I certainly can't be bothered to read through. Click to expand...

Damn!  

ambessalion

Lieutenant commander.

one of my stories revolves around an alien race attacked my main one and they get xenophobic and attack all the neighboring races and create a repressive empire.  

• Aug 26, 2009

Mistral said: StarTrekker said: I think its nice just to say short story ideas, people in there are writings pages and page of material I certainly can't be bothered to read through. Click to expand...

I think its nice just to say short story ideas, people in there are writings pages and page of material I certainly can't be bothered to read through. Click to expand...

StarTrekker said: Mistral said: StarTrekker said: I think its nice just to say short story ideas, people in there are writings pages and page of material I certainly can't be bothered to read through. Click to expand...

Seems that this fellow just wants other people's ideas to use for his own story, since he can't come up with his own. Just look how he shoehorned Stargate to make it seem like his own and failed miserably at it. All this guy is, is a hack, I recommend everyone don't waste your time in here. All he's gonna do is continue to insult us and try and get everyone else to come up with an idea for him. That's what I'm seeing here.  

Rear Admiral

StarTrekker said: And I'm damned annoyed my thread has just been dumped in this quagmire. Click to expand...

senior street judge

I've got a few ideas mainly a series involving the Gorn where they attack the Romulans and the federation have to try to persuade the Romulans who are beating back the Gorn easily to stop their genocide. Got a few ideas about a series from the Romulan point of view and how they do things. I'm actually working on a Romulan based story now trouble with me is my grammar, I'm not too good with that.  

BolianAuthor

Writer, battlestar urantia.

And I'd say a moderator could wrap this up. I suspect further responses will be potshots at this clown's insensitive comments. You don't walk into someone's house and call it a s---hole, and you certainly don't go to a person's art display and tell them that it doesn't matter if their work is good or not because it's inconsequential and not worth the time. What is it the kids say these days? Massive fail.  

I really thought I was being courteous by suggesting the fanfic forum. But I see that no good deed goes unpunished--"quagmire"? Quite a discourteous way to return what was intended to be kindness.  

BrotherBenny

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Create Your Own Star Trek Plot!

Created by Unknown, Modified by Dan Carlson

I hope I’m not breaking any of Paramount’s trade secrets by posting this handy-dandy little form. It’s a great way to come up with story ideas... somehow I get the feeling that Berman and Braga use a similar system. Many of the Enterprise stories are certainly of similar quality... 😛

The Starship Enterprise The Crew of Starbase 19 The Crew of the USS Kirk The crew of the Enterprise Captain Picard William Riker Data Deanna Troi Beverly Crusher Wesley Crusher Worf Geordi LaForge Guinan Tasha Yar Dr. Pulaski Ensign Ro Lt. Barclay Nurse Ogawa Miles O’Brien Keiko O’Brien Molly O’Brien Alexander Spot Deep Space Nine The crew of Deep Space Nine Commander/Captain Sisko Jake Sisko Kira Nerys Julian Bashir Jadzia Dax Constable Odo Quark Rom Nog Garak Morn The Starship Voyager The crew of the Voyager Captain Janeway Chatokay Tom Paris Tuvok Harry Kim B’Elanna Torres The Doctor Kes Seven of Nine Neelix Captain Archer Subcommander T’Pol Trip Tucker Malcolm Reed Dr. Phlox Hoshi Sato Travis Mayweather A Starship A Starbase ,

while on routine patrol on duty travelling via shuttlecraft/runabout en route to Starbase 87 en route to the Alpha Quadrant investigating an unexplored planet opening diplomatic relations observing an impending supernova observing the wormhole exploring the Gamma Quadrant repairing a sensor array on a rescue mission transporting diplomats floating through space visiting his/her family home enjoying shore leave on Risa relaxing in Ten Forward sharing a drink in Quark’s bar enduring Neelix’s cooking communing with his/her animal guide endulging in a holodeck fantasy drinking Earl Grey tea/prune juice playing poker/darts/pool/racquetball playing the trombone tap dancing performing one of Beverly’s plays wishing for humanity sleeping peacefully on the verge of insurrection taking the cheese to sickbay attempting to look busy ,

is attacked by is invaded by is captured by is possessed by is disabled by is affected by is recruited by is contacted by falls in love with is propositioned by is seduced by is impregnated by is transported into disappears into gets lost in leaves Starfleet for is declared an outcast by is implanted with is trapped with is reunited with is called into duty with recalls a past incident with has a fantasy about time travels and meets a Romulan Bird of Prey the Klingon High Council a group of renegade Borg a mercenary Ferengi the Obsidian Order/Tal Shiar Jem’Hadar warriors shapeshifting Changelings organ-stealing Vidiians a Kazon sect the Grand Nagus Lursa and B’Etor a scheming Seska the cunning Lore a Betazoid empath Bajoran rebels Maquis raiders his/her own people the all-powerful Q one of the original NCC-1701 crew a character played by Denise Crosby 20th Century humans parasitic aliens tribbles the Suliban a parallel universe a time distortion a mysterious probe an energy anomaly a space-borne organism the 20th Century a transporter accident an unexplained illness an exotic culture strange delusions someone else’s memories the ship’s computer a holodeck fantasy an upstart officer a Starfleet bureaucrat a Vulcan emissary a Trill symbiont some bumpy-headed babe/hunk his/her sibling his/her parent(s) the “Skin of Evil” Lwaxana Troi the Traveler Morn Wesley and/or Alexander Neelix himself herself .

Picard Riker Data Troi Dr. Crusher Wesley Worf LaForge Guinan Tasha Pulaski Ro Barclay Ogawa O’Brien Keiko Molly Alexander Lwaxana Q the Traveler Spock Scotty Spot Sisko Jake Kira Dr. Bashir Dax Odo Quark Rom Nog Garak Morn Janeway Chatokay Paris Tuvok Kim B’Elanna The Doctor Kes Seven Neelix Seska Archer T’Pol Trip Malcolm Phlox Hoshi Travis A Starship A Starbase fires launches converts transforms rerouts injects transports warps pilots bounces throws runs empties talks diverts tricks seduces sings a phaser a photon torpedo the warp engines the transporter the replicator the deflector shields the ship’s computer the ship’s sensors the main deflector array the holodeck a shuttlecraft/runabout a tricorder a communicator badge Data’s neural net Geordi’s visor Spock’s brain Neelix’s lungs Neelix’s cooking tribbles a hastily-derived cure DNA strands imaginary sub-atomic particles the Prime Directive a drinking song a Klingon opera the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition gold-press latinum a bottle of Saurian Brandy Lwaxana Troi Wesley and/or Alexander Neelix it/her/him/them

into a spatial disruption a sonic pulse a particle accelerator a tachyon stream a baryon field coil compensator a quantum energy emitter a matter-antimatter overload a pattern buffer the ship’s communication system a Jefferies tube a parallel universe a time distortion an energy anomaly a space-borne organism the 20th Century animated suspension suspended animation the Q Continuum a sun’s corona a planet’s ionosphere the airless cold of deep space a logical implausibility self-destruction leaving Starfleet giving up breaking up disrobing having a baby doing it again Morn Wesley and/or Alexander Neelix it/her/him/them ,

thereby reaffirming that all life forms Humans Klingons Romulans the Borg Ferengi Cardassians Bajorans Jem’Hadar Changelings Vidiians Kazons the Maquis snooty omnipotent beings our heroes men and women both differently-abled persons future technologies different ideologies 24th Century values 20th Century values Starfleet bureaucrats bumpy-headed aliens space babes/hunks Trekkies Trekkers Babylon 5 fans Star Trek producers Star Trek writers Wesley and/or Alexander Neelix’ humorous caperings are precious are worthy of respect deserve another chance are deep and meaningful are the pride of the fleet are superior are dangerous are “bad” are short-lived have yet to evolve are a nuisance are “goofy” will never learn will believe anything have better things to do are “hot” can’t get enough are an accident waiting to happen .

Story Prompts

From star trek: theurgy wiki.

On this page, you can find Story Prompts , Writing Prompts and Token Rewards . Story Prompts are optional story-related sub-plots, while Writing Prompts are just general non-detailed writing ideas. Both lets the writers earn Tokens from the GM. A table below the listed Prompts will show how many Tokens each writer has earned in total. Remember that new Away Missions and incentives to write stories don't have to have any Tokens attached to them. The Tokens are not meant to be a requirement for story creation. They are just a fun thing created to reward writing of some plot development threads, to encourage those unable to come up with plot ideas of their own.

• 2 Episode Two: Cosmic Imperative Prompts
• 3 Interregnum 01-02 Prompts
• 4 Episode 01: Advent of War Prompts
• 5 Anthology Prompts
• 7 Token Rewards
• 8 Reward Rules
• 9 Old & Completed Prompts
• When considering a Prompt below, find writing partners via PMs or through the Main OOC board on the forum, or alternatively, check for interest on the Discord server's channel #writing-requests.
• In order to earn Tokens, one of the writers will have to PM the GM with a link to the starting post of the thread that is meant to fulfil the Prompt. This means that in order to have a Prompt marked as "In Progress," the starting post must have been made.
• Prompts are not to be written using Joint-Posts.
• Show the posting order for the participants in an OOC note.
• Show who will be participating in the thread, which is usually done with Mentions (seen as @Brutus ). This means the participants must agree on having their characters present for the thread .
• Show who of those participating are eligible for Tokens (since a writer can only earn Tokens from one Prompt at a time)
• The one who writes the starter must also add the link to any affiliated Calendar page for the board the Prompt belongs to.
• The Tokens earned by the writers will be handed out once the thread is Completed. It is only Completed by sending another PM to the GM via the Forum, who will update the list of accumulated Tokens per writer and mark the Prompt as Complete.
• As of Interregnum 01-02, all Prompts must have a posting order. If a writer does not abide by the General Rules and post within 10 days when it is his/her turn, the sum total of Tokens earned in the Prompt will be deducted by one (1) Token each time that happens for that writer. On the 8th day, the next poster in the order is always free to NPC the character of the wayward writer in his/her own post. In this case, the deadline of 10 days begins as of that 8th day. This is to ensure steady progress of the Prompt.
• You may only earn Tokens in one (1) Story Prompt at a time. This means that in order to earn Tokens in a new thread, the old one must be Completed before the new one is started. The reason this rule is important - and doesn't say one Prompt per character - is because otherwise writers with more characters might have an unfair advantage.
• Writers may participate in two (2) Story Prompts at the same time , but as stated above, only one will allow the writer to earn Tokens. Which Prompt that is must be clearly specified in the starting post of an Prompt in such a case.
• There are no restrictions on of number of Writing Prompts (not Story Prompts ) you partake in, since they don't grant a high amount of Tokens.

If a Theurgist earns enough Tokens, they can cash in a Reward as listed at the bottom of this page.

Episode Two: Cosmic Imperative Prompts

The table below shows available and unfinished Prompts for Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative . These prompts are meant to inspire the progression of the episode's plot and sub-plots that happen concurrently with the major story. Due to the nature of the episode, with the five chapters occurring simultaneously, writers may only choose the story prompts that are relegated to their chapter. Keep in mind, none of the prompts may be started until after the completion of activity within the chapter starters AND after at least one of the main chapter mission threads has been started.

Interregnum 01-02 Prompts

The below table shows available and unfinished Story and Writing Prompts for Interregnum 01-02 . Story Prompts are meant as inspiration towards completion of Star Trek: Theurgy story elements between Episodes 01 and 02 in Season 2, while Writing Prompts are less detailed non-Story related activities or ideas to explore together with other writers who enjoy the same idea(s).

Some large story events not listed will be addressed independent of Story Prompts , but instead considered the natural development of the story. These events include, but are not limited to, a mission to the Azurite Station, a memorial ceremony, an approach of the Federation Embassy on Qo'noS and the research into an anyonic secondary containment beam that may remove the parasites from their hosts.

Episode 01: Advent of War Prompts

The below table shows unfinished Prompts for Episode 01: Advent of War . These Prompts are meant as inspiration towards the progression of the Episode's plot, and sub-plots that happen concurrently with the major story. The sum total of Martok Support Points (MSP) gained will influence the outcome of the Episode's ending, with Martok's continued chancellery on the line.

Anthology Prompts

The below table shows unfinished Prompts for the Director's Cut board and the Parallel Universes "What If?" board. These Prompts are meant as inspiration towards:

• Scenes in the past of the story (ranging from Academy years to unseen events during Season 01), as well as...
• Events that might have happened if things had turned out differently (these are not canon , though).

If you have an idea for a new Prompt, PM the GM and pitch it!

Below are the Tokens earned by completing Prompts above. Only Theurgists who have earned Tokens are listed.

Token Rewards

Below are the Rewards earned by spending your Tokens. Only Theurgists who have earned Tokens may cash in a reward by sending a PM with the request to the GM .

Reward Rules

• Art requests may only be made for Theurgy characters for usage in the Star Trek: Theurgy sim.
• Highly specific requests may cost +2 Tokens extra. Examples being armament, certain poses, or backgrounds.
• Depending on time availability, the delivery of finished artwork might vary.
• The artist has the prerogative to decline an image due to time, challenge, etc. Other options (pics, poses, etc) might be proposed in those rare cases.

Old & Completed Prompts

Here is the archive of old and already completed Story Prompts :

‘Star Trek’ is the greatest sci-fi franchise of all. Why it’s stood the test of time

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Of all the science fiction franchises in the known universe, the one I would take to a desert island — or planet, I guess — is “Star Trek.”

I am not a Trekkie by any means (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I have never dressed as a Vulcan. I can’t speak a word of Klingon or identify the starships by their silhouettes or tell you how many tribbles it takes to make trouble. But a lot of general knowledge has seeped into my brain over the years: “Beam me up, Scotty.” “Fascinating.” “He’s dead, Jim.” “I’m a doctor, not a [insert any other profession].” “Make it so.” “Engage.” I’m au fait with all those catchphrases. I’ve watched every series, if not in their entirety, and all of the movies . (I do not count the J.J. Abrams big screen reboots, which operate on another timeline, though I’ve seen those too.) And I have greeted each new iteration with interest and a certain “Hello, old friend, what are you up to now?” affection.

This year marks the centenary of creator Gene Roddenberry’s birth and 55 years since the premiere of what is now officially referred to as “The Original Series” or “TOS,” and there are various home video remasterings and reboxings available. Thursday sees the premiere of the excellent “Star Trek: Prodigy,” streaming on Paramount+, where the franchise is star-based. This new CGI series is about a bunch of misfit teenagers escaping a slave-labor camp in a stolen Federation starship, on the run from a very bad guy — but kind of joyriding too. (It’s being advertised as the first “Trek” series aimed at young audiences, somehow forgetting or reclassifying the early 1970s “Star Trek: The Animated Series,” which featured William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley in their original roles as Kirk, Spock and McCoy, aired Saturday mornings, and won a Daytime Emmy as a “children’s series” in 1975.) None of the characters is human or in some cases even humanoid, apart from the hologram of Capt. Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), employed here as a kind of interactive help-bot. It is quite lively in terms of action, and funny where it’s supposed to be, but as in all “Star Trek” series and films, character is what counts most.

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From the name forward, the franchise bears comparison with “Star Wars,” with its spaceships and aliens and interplanetary scope, not to mention the range of storytelling platforms — movies and TV, cartoons and comics, novels and fan fiction.

I wouldn’t deny that there’s fun to be had from George Lucas’ baby, now bouncing for Disney, but “Star Wars” is not science fiction. It’s a fantasy set in space, where wizards do magic and heroes fight with swords and prophesied chosen ones take up their lightsabers; a special effects western cum samurai film cum collection of war movies in which, a few defections notwithstanding, good fights bad until one obliterates the other; and an expensive homage to the cheap Saturday serials of the 1930s. Its one endlessly repeated theme is bad parenting — or, in the case of “The Mandalorian,” the first “Star Wars” live-action television series, good (surrogate) parenting . But “Star Wars” on the whole has no real interest in ideas, in asking “Why?” or “What if?” The droids are comic relief, and slaves. Joseph Campbell’s the Hero with a Thousand Faces has often been cited, by Lucas and others, to connect these characters to a deeper storytelling tradition; the problem with a thousand-faced hero, however, is that you have seen that shtick a thousand times.

“Star Trek” is a different animal. From the beginning it had a mission, not just to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly go where no earthlings had gone before, but to model a future for its audience that was a little ahead of its time. Where “Star Wars” was slow off the mark with diversity — the only Black actor in “A New Hope,” James Earl Jones, supplied the voice of a white character, and even now has only managed one same-sex kiss between minor characters — “Star Trek” made diversity a point from the beginning, with George Takei’s Sulu and Nichelle Nichols ’ Uhura on the bridge. (Whether the 1968 kiss between Kirk and Uhura was the first interracial kiss on television is a subject of debate and semantics, but it was in any case ahead of its time.) The third series, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” put a Black man (Avery Brooks’ Sisko) in charge; the next, “Star Trek: Voyager,” a woman (Mulgrew’s Janeway). Throughout the various series, and in the sci-fi tradition, contemporary earthly issues — racism, Cold War politics, environmental degradation, despotism, sexism — are seen through the lens of future, extraterrestrial exploits. The presence of aliens (also ethnically diverse), on the crew or just passing through, offered writers a chance to comment with distance on the puzzlements of human behavior.

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That “Star Trek,” which originally ran from from 1966 to 1969, returned to television in the first place — there was a nearly 20-year break before “Star Trek: The Next Generation” — owes something to “Star Wars,” of course, which made space operas eminently bankable. But it had plenty of firepower of its own, charged by the the post-cancellation success of the original series, which flourished in syndication. A 1975 “Star Trek” convention in New York City, two years before “Star Wars” premiered, reportedly drew a crowd of 15,000 and turned thousands more away at the door; by 1986, the year before “The Next Generation” premiered, it was the most successful syndicated series going. A big-screen franchise, eventually numbering six films with the original crew, was up and running by 1979, followed by four “Next Generation” films — the first of which paired Shatner’s Kirk and Patrick Stewart’s Picard in a timeless corner of space.

To be sure, the revival of the brand may also be seen as a bottom-line event, designed to bring subscribers to what was then known as CBS All Access and is now called Paramount+, much as “The Mandalorian” was a boon to Disney+.

But it has produced excellent results. I’m a fan of all these shows: “Star Trek: Discovery,” especially in its adventuresome second and third seasons, with a fourth season premiering Nov. 18; the deep and thoughtful “Star Trek: Picard,” with Stewart back in the saddle (though going rogue); “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” an adult cartoon about service workers on a “second contact” vessel, that both parodies and celebrates the spirit and story conventions of the live-action shows while adding quotidian context and details. (We see how the ordinary crew lives; I can’t tell if it’s canonical, but it should be.) And there are more “Treks” arriving: the aforementioned “Prodigy”; “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” a spinoff at once from the second season of “Discovery” and the original “Star Trek” pilot, with Ethan Peck as a well-cast young Spock, Anson Mount as Capt. Christopher Pike and Rebecca Romijn as his Number One; and when one of the current series departs and other stars align, “Star Trek: Section 31,” another “Discovery” spinoff, with Michelle Yeoh reprising her role as Philippa Georgiou.

Because it was born and grew up on television, in an age when special effects were a luxury and not a given, the franchise has been devoted less to action than talk, and to philosophical questions — what it means to be human, or Vulcan, or Klingon, an android or noncorporeal. The fact that there are many, many, many hours of “Star Trek” content — which are, to some extent, preserved in the new series, with their intersecting plotlines — means that “Star Trek” has had the space to tell many sorts of stories: mystery stories, love stories (and impossible-love stories), funny stories, family stories, spy stories, horror stories, workplace stories. Much of the charm in the original series derives from the double act Shatner and Nimoy developed, based in a kind of affectionate mutual incompatibility, and subsequent “Treks” developed bonds between characters it is easy to invest in, and which in some cases (as with Capt. Picard and Data) became their very foundation.

It’s an emotional show, and not infrequently a show about having emotions — giving in to them, repressing them, making use of them. On the one hand you’ve got Spock, and all the Vulcans who came after, pumping for logic; on the other, there’s Data the android, a logical being who dearly wants to know what it is to be human, like his friends. It’s significant that the second series, “The Next Generation,” added a therapist to the crew — Marina Sirtis’ Deanna Troi — and eventually a bartender (Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan), which is to say, another sort of therapist.

The original series could be incredibly silly, unwittingly (and sometimes wittingly) self-parodying. The lack of money, one might say, was on the screen. One could practically smell the gray paint and plywood on the Enterprise sets. The series’ celebrated technobabble is just a kind of reformulated abracadabra; human characters get the hang of alien gear faster than you could look up how to reset your car’s clock in the owner’s manual. Everything happens in the nick of time. Kirk’s occasional romantic interludes might have seemed kind of hilarious even at the time, but certainly are risible now; and although there were strong roles written for women from the beginning, they were often stuck in some sort of minidress.

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And despite their hopeful tenor, these shows’ creation was not always peaceable. Roddenberry, whose involvement was lesser and greater over the years for reasons of health or business, could be critical of “Trek” made under others’ watch if he felt they weren’t staying true to his big themes. (Wikipedia will give you a pretty good idea of the rough roads some series and films have taken on the way to launch, and after.) But taken as a whole over time, “Star Trek” has remained remarkably true to a vision: Peace is better than war; violence is dramatically less interesting than discussion; difference is not merely respected but portrayed as a positive good.

There is the convention of the disposable crewman (“redshirts,” referring to the color of their uniform, has become a generic term for an anonymous character who dies early in a scene to indicate danger), but death even of the nameless is not usually paid back with death; revenge, while it is a motivating factor for characters in many stories, is regarded in the “Trek” universe as a dish best not served at all.

Mighty heroes mowing down hordes of literally faceless enemies, crowds cheering military victories — that is not the “Star Trek” style. There is relief when a foe is sent packing, but rarely glee. Phasers are usually set to stun. Spock’s Vulcan nerve pinch can send an opponent to the floor, but the Vulcan death grip (“The Enterprise Incident,” Season 3) is a fiction, a subterfuge. Current custom and affordable, high-quality modern SFX technology does mean that there is more space battling in the new “Treks” and more martial arts-style fighting (you are not going to leave Yeoh sitting in a chair, after all), but diplomacy remains the goal, and it is only when that fails that big things are blown up. “Get us out of here” is a thing Capt. Kirk would regularly say.

“Star Trek” envisions an Earth in which, as in John Lennon’s “Imagine,” the old dividing lines — ethnic, political, religious — have all disappeared; there is no war, no poverty, no pollution, and technology finally works for us rather than against us. Though these things seemed possible in the progressive era when “Star Trek” was born, I’ve grown increasingly doubtful about humanity’s ability to intelligently regulate its most local affairs, let alone join with alien species in a project of interplanetary goodwill.

Which may be why I love the “Star Trek” universe, and why I melt when, at the end of the third season of “Discovery” — a season very much about coming to terms with one’s nature and needs, limits and abilities — Sonequa Martin-Green’s (newly promoted) Capt. Burnham says, “The need to connect is at our core as sentient beings. It takes time effort and understanding … but if we work at it a miracle can happen.”

And who knows? The future is a long road.

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10 best unused ideas from star trek movies.

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So You Never Watched Star Trek’s Mini Episodes? Short Treks Are Now Must-See

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​every time the gorn appeared in star trek (so far), star trek's greatest bromance is finally returning.

Before the cameras start rolling on a Star Trek movie (and sometimes even after the cameras have started rolling), the story will go through dozens of changes. From the first draft of the script to the final cut of the edit, scenes, plot threads, and even entire characters can come and go from the project.

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Some Trek movies have been the result of pitches by writers that intrigued executives; others have been pieced together by the executives themselves based on market research and industry trends. So, here are the 10 best unused concepts from the development stages of Star Trek films.

Sulu Bumps Into His Ancestor On Earth (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , the crew of the Enterprise travels back in time to present-day San Francisco. There was originally going to be a scene in which Sulu met a little boy who turned out to be one of his ancestors.

However, the child actor who was hired got upset on the day of filming and couldn’t be calmed down. It was too late to recast, so the scene was cut. The scene does appear in the movie’s novelization, but that’s not the same.

Apocalypse Now Homage Plot (Star Trek: Insurrection)

The plot of an early draft of Star Trek: Insurrection was an homage to the plot of Apocalypse Now  — which, in turn, was an homage to the plot of Joseph Campbell’s Heart of Darkness . Picard would’ve taken on the role of Captain Willard, tracking down an old friend who’s become dangerously unstable.

Starfleet would’ve filled the role that the U.S. government filled in Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam War epic. This storyline would’ve given more justification for Picard’s titular “insurrection.”

Nichelle Nichols Cameoing As Uhura’s Grandmother (Star Trek)

When J.J. Abrams was developing his 2009 Trek reboot, Nichelle Nichols approached him with an idea to briefly appear as Uhura's grandmother in the movie.

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Alas, at the time there was a writers’ strike going on, which prevented Abrams from writing the scene Nichols had suggested . If Nichols had made an appearance, it would’ve been a joy for Trekkies, as well as a poignant passing-of-the-torch to her successor in the role, Zoe Saldana .

A Shapeshifting Alien That Impersonates Biblical Figures (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)

In early versions of the script for Star Trek: The Motion Picture , the crew of the Enterprise would’ve faced a shapeshifting alien that impersonated biblical figures. The climactic set piece would’ve seen Kirk fighting the alien in the form of Jesus Christ.

The Enterprise crew would go on to encounter God himself in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , which may have grown out of this scrapped concept.

Kirk’s Son Working For Khan (Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan)

In Harve Bennett’s initial draft of the second Star Trek movie, which was subtitled The War of the Generations before it was subtitled The Wrath of Khan , Kirk would go to a distant planet and discover a band of rebels working for Khan.

Among these rebels would be Kirk’s son, who would eventually defect from the rebellion and team up with his long-lost dad to take down the bad guy.

God Turns Out To Be Satan (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)

Despite the infinite potential for thought-provoking sci-fi in a movie about the Enterprise crew encountering God in deep space, a lot of Trekkies were disappointed by Star Trek V: The Final Frontier . In the final cut, God turns out to just be some alien pulling a fast one.

In an early draft, God turned out to be Satan in a shocking plot twist. The Devil would’ve dragged Bones to Hell, and Kirk and Spock would’ve dived in to save him. It would have been spectacular.

Picard Recreates Kirk In The Holodeck (Star Trek: Generations)

When Star Trek: Generations was in development, Paramount wanted to have two scripts to choose from, so Maurice Hurley (who had previously worked as a writer and producer on The Next Generation ) was hired to write a script alongside the one that ended up being used.

In Hurley’s version, Picard recreated Kirk on the Holodeck to help him stop a militant invasion from an alternate dimension. This would’ve tied in with Kirk’s experiences from The Original Series episode “The Tholian Web.”

Eddie Murphy’s Role As A Conspiracy Theorist/Radio Personality (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

Lifelong Trekkie Eddie Murphy was originally going to be given a role in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . He would’ve played a conspiracy theorist with a radio show who got swept up in the Enterprise crew’s time-traveling antics.

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The producers feared that Murphy’s comic relief role would be too similar to Richard Pryor’s role in Superman III , which turned out horribly, so they retooled the character to be a love interest for Kirk called Dr. Taylor.

The Borg Travels Back In Time To The Renaissance Era (Star Trek: First Contact)

In Star Trek: First Contact , the Borg travels back in time to the “past” of the Star Trek universe, but the future of the real world. Originally, the script had the Borg traveling back to the Renaissance era.

The producers got cold feet about presenting the movie as a period piece and changed their minds, but bringing real history into a sci-fi storyline would’ve made for some engrossing visuals.

Spock’s Sacrifice At The Midpoint (Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan)

One of the most heartbreaking moments in Star Trek history is Spock’s sacrifice at the end of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan . Originally, this sacrifice was going to take place at the middle of the movie, as a staggering midpoint twist in the mold of Psycho ’s shower murder .

Instead, the producers decided to make Spock’s death the climax of the movie. It would’ve been more unexpected at the midpoint, and raised the stakes with plenty of movie left to go.

NEXT:  10 Best Unused Ideas From The DCEU

Columns > Published on August 24th, 2020

The Best Star Trek Novels: A Personal List

Star Trek has always been my fictional comfort food. When times are tough, I can always put on an episode or open a book and things aren’t so bad for a while. I don’t know if it’s the excitement of scientific discovery, the positive vision of humanity’s future, or just the premise of a diverse and competent crew working together to make the galaxy a better place—I almost always end a Star Trek story feeling a little more hopeful than when I began. If, like me, you’ve watched all the Star Trek out there and still want more, here’s a list of books to get you started.

The Rihannsu Series

This series of novels follows the Original Series crew as they become entangled in various Romulan plots to dominate the galaxy, beginning with a secret lab of psychic super soldiers and climaxing with a doomsday weapon aimed at the heart of Federation space. Kirk is initially sent to investigate the hijacking of a Starfleet vessel. There he meets and (eventually) befriends Ael, commander of Bloodwing , a warship full of defectors from Romulus. Together, the two crews work to keep the simmering tensions between the interstellar powers from boiling over into all-out war. The Rihannsu books provide a densely detailed portrait of Romulan history, philosophy, and culture. You will come to understand the origins of their language, and how it shaped the thinking of their people and their quixotic sense of honor. While all of this is technically non-canon, you can definitely see its influence on the show Picard . If you always wanted to know more about this fascinating yet enigmatic people, Rihannsu and Picard make an excellent pairing.

Buy My Enemy, My Ally at  Amazon

"Metamorphosis"

The Enterprise-D finds a seemingly magic mountain on the planet Elysia. Commander Data is sent to investigate and ends up literally going on a Hero’s Journey, complete with a quest to help a fair maiden by traveling into the underworld. This adventure tests Data to his limits, for at the end awaits a treasure beyond compare, the android’s only wish: to become human. That would be enough to explore for any novel, but  Metamorphosis keeps going past where the credits would normally roll on an episode. We get to follow Data through his awkward first steps of being human, learning how to live with a fragile fleshy body, and coping with his new limitations. My favorite moment is when Data realizes he no longer has all of Starfleet’s databanks in his memory and will have to actually do his homework to prepare for briefings. The story keeps twisting from there, and goes to some pretty ridiculous lengths that I won’t spoil for you. The whole book feels like a metafictional commentary on narrative structure, and I love it just a little bit more every time I read it.

Buy Metamorphosis at  Amazon

"Planet X"

Speaking of ridiculous premises, there was a comic in which the crew of the Enterprise-D entered the Marvel Universe and fought Kang the Conqueror with the help of the X-Men. Even more ridiculous, this novel is a sequel to that comic book. This time, the X-Men end up in the Star Trek universe and help Picard and crew resolve the civil upheaval on a world experiencing mutations in its population. People are developing strange and dangerous powers, and the rest of the society hates and fears them for it. The X-Men find this all too familiar, and together with the Enterprise crew, they manage to bring both sides of the conflict together to find a peaceful way forward. There’s lots of fun bits like characters commenting on the uncanny resemblance between Captain Picard and Charles Xavier, years before Sir Patrick Stewart played the latter role. My personal highlight is Worf and Wolverine fighting X-Men villains together on the holodeck. Is it great literature? No. But it is a fun and weird pop cultural artifact worth exploring if you can find a copy.

Buy Planet X at  Amazon

The Mirror Universe Series

The Mirror Universe is a dark reflection of the Star Trek universe we know and love, and the source of endless “evil twin” plots. Basically, everything is its opposite. In the Mirror Universe, the tolerant and peace-loving United Federation of Planets is actually the xenophobic and warlike Terran Empire. Instead of the collegiate atmosphere of cooperation, these human supremacists are motivated solely by hatred and self-interest. In the Terran Empire, the quickest way to a promotion is literal backstabbing. The rest of the universe is similarly warped, and these books will take you on a guided tour through it all. You will learn the history of the Terran Empire’s bloody rise and catastrophic fall, follow the adventures of a space pirate named Luc Picard, and witness the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance crushing the galaxy beneath its boot heel. Just a few of the bizarre reflections you will witness as these books take you to all your favorite corners of a familiar galaxy to see just how different things could be. Honestly, it reads like what would happen if they tried to do a “darker and grittier” Star Trek reboot. If you enjoyed Discovery’ s voyage to the Mirror Universe, this series is for you.

Buy Dark Mirror at  Amazon

The Cold Equations Series

This series is all about the many different forms of artificial life that exist in the Star Trek galaxy. Doctor Noonien Soong is surprisingly not dead, and leads the crew of the Enterprise-E on a merry chase as he carries out a crazy complicated plan to resurrect his artificial son. On his journey you will learn a great deal about his life and work, as well as the development of Data. Once Soong succeeds in bringing him back, Data proves himself to be a chip off the old block, setting out on a quest to resurrect his departed daughter, Lal. Along the way they discover a secret Fellowship of Artificial Intelligences, from whom they learn the ancient history of artificial life. Of course, it turns out the AIs are scheming to destroy all organic life in the galaxy, but the books take this plot in an unexpected and much more satisfying direction than the more recent Picard . Finally, if you were wondering what the hell happened to Wesley after he vanished from TNG, these books have answers for that, too.

Buy The Persistence of Memory at  Amazon

The Department of Temporal Investigations Series

Time travel is a big no-no in Starfleet. Divergent timelines, alternate histories and temporal revisionism are all frowned upon by the members of the Department of Temporal Investigations. It’s their job to keep people from screwing around in the timestream and rewriting history. If you fly your ship back to the past and pick up a whale, you’ll likely get to have an unpleasant chat with Agents Dulmer and Lucsly. The regulation of time travel is a fertile subject for sci-fi, and this series covers every angle from policing abuses to helping victims of temporal displacement cope with their situation. There are complex political machinations between the different states as they try to agree on responsible rules for time travel. It’s fascinating to witness the debates of a governing body composed of people not just from different places, but also different eras. These books are able to cover (nearly) the entirety of Star Trek history, making narrative connections between almost every time travel event in the canon. It’s a real treat for completist fans, and has a ton of fun playing with all the tropes and toys in the time travel box. The second book in the series is both a sequel and its own prequel. They’re honestly some of the best time travel books I’ve ever read, Star Trek or not.

Buy Watching the Clock at  Amazon

The Klingon Empire     Series    

If you’re tired of reading about very polite and pleasant professionals working together in the post-scarcity utopia of the Federation, perhaps you’ll enjoy a rousing adventure with Star Trek’s beloved space vikings: the Klingons. The Empire must expand again, meaning there is battle, honor and glory to be had—a Klingon’s three favorite things. The first three novels of this series embed you with the crew of the IKS Gorkon on a tour of duty. It’s one of few stories that explores Klingon culture beyond the warrior class. The books use multiple point-of-view characters to paint a complete picture of life in the Empire at all levels of their society, from lowly medics to mighty commanders. It’s also a fun way for fans to catch up with all of the Klingon supporting characters from the shows. And of course, no Klingon tale would be complete without an epic battle. At one point, they pause their war of territorial conquest to fight a civil war on the side over the outcome of an honor duel. If you’ve ever been intrigued by Star Trek’s greatest warriors, the Klingon Empire series will show you a good time.

Buy A Burning House at  Amazon

The Q Continuum Series

This series focuses on the impish immortal prankster Q. He has once again kidnapped Picard to take him on a wild transcendental trip to learn about the secrets of the universe. They go back in time to see Q’s misspent, troublemaking youth and witness the secret history of the Q Continuum. But on this stroll down memory lane, Picard learns about a terrible threat that awaits them beyond the bounds of their galaxy. The Q Continuum is preparing to face its greatest foe, an utterly malevolent being with the ability to reshape reality at will, more powerful than even the Q. Picard and the Enterprise end up playing referee in a battle between gods for the fate of all existence. This series is another treat for completists—through Q’s life story, the novels manage to tie together the most extensive history of the Star Trek universe I had ever read at the time.

Buy Q Space at  Amazon

Star Trek is a fictional universe of unlimited narrative potential, perfectly built to support a never-ending collection of stories. Sometimes I find it hard to believe Star Trek didn’t begin as a novel, as its dense ideas and rich world-building are perfectly suited to the form. These are just a few of my most fondly remembered favorites. It is by no means a complete or ranked list. Any of the listed series will be worth your time, but there’s plenty more where that came from. If there are any great ones I left out, feel free to leave them in the comments.

About the author

BH Shepherd is a writer and a DJ from Texas. He graduated from Skidmore College in 2005 with degrees in English and Demonology after writing a thesis about Doctor Doom. A hardcore sci-fi geek, noir junkie and comic book prophet, BH Shepherd has spent a lot of time studying things that don’t exist.  He currently resides in Austin, where he is working on The Greatest Novel Ever.

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Continuing Mission

A Fan Site for the Star Trek Adventures RPG by Modiphius

It Builds Character—Ideas for Bringing Your Characters to Life in Star Trek Adventures

By Troy Mepyans

Sometimes it’s hard to come up with an idea for a character, particularly human characters that aren’t just two-dimensional paper cut-outs without any real dimension. What I have found to help counter this is to randomly select a birthplace, or location where the character spent their formative years, and build the character from the ground up. This is particularly useful if you are having the character start from Earth since there are so many tools on the web to randomly select countries, cities, and even smaller towns from which to begin.

Once you have your starting point, it pays to do a little bit of research about the area that you have come up with and the culture that is in the surrounding region. For example, if you randomly came up with Tokyo, Japan, you would want to research a little about the city itself and the surrounding area, along with the culture from the past to modern times. Your character may be able to trace their lineage back centuries to a famous figure of the region, or they are simply familiar with the history of that part of their family and it has become a hobby of theirs.

The population would…come together for survival in ways they hadn’t before those times. Cultures and ethnicities would blend together and the strong lines of demarcation between them would blur as the decades and centuries pass.

Something to keep in mind is that humanity of the 23 rd and 24 th centuries would likely look very different than it does now. After the Eugenics Wars and the Third World War, the population would have been forced to come together for survival in ways they hadn’t before those times. Cultures and ethnicities would blend together and the strong lines of demarcation between them would blur as the decades and centuries pass. That’s not to say your character has to follow that model, but it is something that may help you design an even more fleshed-out backstory as you make your build. For example, the character from Tokyo may have been born in Japan and have Japanese ancestry on one side of their family; but they may have an entirely different ethnicity on the other side of their family that they can trace back to various groups fleeing wars, famine, disease, or whatever crisis comes to your mind.

In addition, in the idealistic future, hundreds of years of racist policies and ideologies would have faded away encouraging a new, wiser society that encourages and celebrates multicultural and multiethnic unions.

Once you have the foundation laid for your character, it’s time to breathe a little life into them. Choose hobbies or activities that dovetail with the focuses and talents you’ve chosen for your character. For example, if you have chosen Mean Right Hook as a talent, your character may be a skilled boxer or at least a student of that particular sport/martial art. Other things to think about are how they relate to their past and how that can translate into talents and focuses as well. This is where your upbringing can really come into play, rather than simply adding to stats on a piece of paper. If your character grew up on a farm, what focus did they choose and how did that focus apply to life on the farm?

This same process can be applied to Academy life; and, even later, to the events that shaped their careers before they arrived at the assignment that will be the focus of your campaign. Was your character involved in athletics at the Academy? What did they do when they had time away from their studies? Did they travel to other worlds as part of their curriculum? If so, where did they go and why? Perhaps your character was involved in the Battle of Wolf 359, or the Dominion War if you’re in the TNG, DS9, Voyager era; or the Romulan or Klingon Wars of the 22 nd and 23 rd centuries. Was there an event that truly changed their outlook and personality? How have they dealt with the aftermath of those events? Even positive events like First Contacts or being Mentored can have a lasting impact on the development and attitudes of a character. Always be thinking of how things you are doing as you build the character might affect them as people and officers.

“I used Random World Cities to help generate a hometown for my latest homebrew character. I build the backstory from there.” Troy

Whatever you choose to do, keep in mind what you have discovered as you build your character, especially their Values and possibly their focuses as well. Don’t forget to let your GM in on your character’s background, as they can use that to craft plots and subplots that help develop that even further and truly bring your character to life.

Above all else that has been mentioned here, HAVE FUN! If some of this works for you, but not other parts, that’s great! If you already have a concept in mind, run with it and see if you can add even more to it! Not a human? That’s cool too!  Do some research on whatever world they’re from or use a random world generator from the web to create something totally new and different to start your journey.

Good luck as you take your first steps into the Final Frontier! Live long and prosper!

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Plot hooks, plot seeds, modules, encounters, etc

The idea being that the plot hooks and encounter seeds presented in various STA books being helpful or not, and in comparison with adventure modules such as D&D modules. Spinning off from a comment in the Alpha Quadrant sourcebook thread:

Among my thoughts on this matter drive down to the fact that your average Star Trek adventure (in whatever system) is going to be fundamentally different than your average D&D adventure (in whatever edition). Even most fantasy RPGs, I’d imagine, not just D&D in particular, but D&D being the 800 lb behemoth, let’s stick with that as the comparison.

Most D&D modules assume you have some mix of fighter, rogue, wizard, cleric or some alternative combination of classes that’ll go into the module and hack and slash their way to victory or death. Whatever their alignment, whatever the class spread, the adventure is written to a baseline assumption that some adventuring group is going to adventure within the parameters of the module.

It’d be up to the DM to take that module and modify it for use with their specific game group, adding in subplots, NPCs, setting elements, and other details to drop it into their campaign and make it relevant to their group of characters. Though I’ve also seen DMs take their group of PCs and just drop them into a published adventure with little to no pre-prep or work ahead of time, just running the PCs through the published module and seeing what happens. All valid forms of gaming.

We do this with STA as well, in our published adventures available in PDF and/or in the mission compendium books. We set up a story and present scenarios and NPCs and things for the PCs to do, with the assumption that a GM will tailor the presented adventure for their specific group of PCs. No publisher can hope to make every published adventure work for every game group without some form of modification–the number of variables are too high.

Star Trek Adventures is somewhat more complicated too in that, at its best, Star Trek stories are about characters and relationships. It’s one thing to pit a random crew against the monster of the week at the planet of the week, but it’s another thing to pit a crew against the monster of the week that just so happened to have wiped out the colony one of the PCs hails from and which remembers the event and is penitent about it but can’t communicate that to the PCs without some effort but really wants to before the PCs inadvertently harm it.

The plot hooks in the division books and the encounter seeds in the quadrant books are designed to be tools to spark imagination and ideas, and ways to get the GM and players thinking about how to adapt specific situations and campaign ideas (a Maquis campaign, a front-line war campaign, a Borg-focused campaign, etc.) to their specific set of PCs. We also provide full-length adventures, and I’m working on some additional materials that are something between an encounter seed and a longer adventure for future products.

So far, I’ve borrowed and modified missions from the living campaign (Adrift and Abyss Station both played well) and from the first mission compendium. They went well, and as random inserts, they served as good episodes of the week. That is, chances for the player characters to simply do their thing in an open environment, free to play on values, but also not bound to character backstory and ongoing plots.

I’ve found that most of the missions I get inspired to personally develop play into longer arcs, or very tightly tailor to particular character arcs. (One of my players is running a Vulcan character with Romulan sympathies, which led to a mission in which the Tal Shiar tried to use his background to turn him into an asset.)

That being said, it’s great having the easier, minimal set-up missions and plot hooks to play with. A.) there are weekends when we want to play STA but I haven’t had time to write up anything of my own or prepare materials, and B.) detours serve to reinforce the nature of Starfleet- that it is rare for any crew to enter a long term, super focused mission. Even sitting at the mouth of the Wormhole during the Dominion War, DS9 participated in numerous tangential and completely separate missions from the War.

The plot hooks have given handy bits of inspiration when I was looking for a path in to a story. Sometimes, you know where you want to go, but it’s not clear where to start off from. The hooks can help give a little direction when composing a storyline.

So far, I haven’t used much of the material from the encounter seeds from the Quadrant books, though I’ve stolen a few NPCs from there.

Anyway, that’s my thoughts/observations for now.

When I hear “random encounter tables” I think “the GM doesn’t want to do any advanced planning”. While certain games can be lots of fun with the seat-of-the-pants approach (did it just recently with Astraterra and had a blast!), I don’t think that Star Trek is one of those games. I think that typically you’re going to need at least a solid-ish outline of a story beforehand. A game like this takes more prepwork than some other types, I just embrace that. That being said, I’m happy to have as many tools as possible for sparking ideas that lead to new adventures!

It is a little offtopic, but since you mentioned it at a beginning: if you think that character or relation-driven story is good one for Star Trek, maybe you should consider creating some help for players to build connections between their characters.

I do not know a lot of systems, but there are some, which mechanically support strong connections between PC. I know that we have Values that we may use, but it is very non obvious choice, especially for beginners.

Which character from your team do you like the most? Why do you disliked captain Rogers? Why are you hesitant about your colleagues?

Honestly I do not know how it might work but after I saw people actually playing with connections, this set a new level of our game experience.

Many a great adventure is prepped for using random tables then figuring out What the Bleep this all means.

I keep an eye on the OSR movement, especially the Trek games therefrom (most of which are free; the ones that aren’t are obfuscated just enough to avoid lawsuits); the adventure generation tables are quite handy for generating an adventure to prep, and can, at times, be particularly useful in game when players do something totally unexpected.

I am a GM by the “seat of my pants” type of person, with the events in my sessions being almost as much a surprise for me as my group - Improv GMing if you will. Despite that approach, I can’t stand random encounter tables. Never use them. The stuff they have have never makes any sense to me.

I do what makes sense in the context of where my group takes the session, following whatever they show me to be the story that interests them.

If I am looking for adventure ideas, generally, I find the best inspiration from everyday News - there is more out there than just all the biased political garbage being spewed.

So, first: STA already has fabulous random tables. With this, I mean the tables originally from the Command Department Sourcebook, giving hints on focusing different plot-types on different divisions/departments. I compiled these in a small generator script for my personal use. I just invoked it two times, receiving:

“Deep Space Exploration Plot focusing on Engineering-Department” and “Near Space Exploration-Plot focusing on Medical-Department” as results.

So, obviously, the script recommends that a strange anomaly out there entraps the ship, crippling warp-drive and impulse propulsions so the engineers have to save the day (and the ship, for that matter). It also recommends that there is a system nearby where people are falling for a strange illness that has its origins in outer space. In order to find a cure, the crew has to identify the source of the illness and, after that, means to turn newfound knowledge into a vaccine/medicament. Those plots could also be interconnected, meaning that not only the ship is affected by the phenomenon but also the crew / population of a nearby colonoy suffers from radiation/gravimetric waves/twists (insert technobabble here).

This is also the way how I normally use prepared adventures: To draw inspiration from them. I now GM for about 15 years or so and 80% of the time I am improvising like hell because I either lack the time for preparation or my group completely derailing the adventure. STA will actually be the first RPG where I try to just use without much alteration the pre-generated adventures, from the Mission Compendiums as well as from the Living Campaign and the Stand-Alone Adventures.

So, when I wish for more adventure seeds / plot hooks / etc. I am looking for a short idea I read, making my head go “Oh, this is cool and then … happens, so … generates drama while … struggles with … before all is resolved by ….” Most of the times, I have a general idea where I want to go with an adventure, like this.

Another thing would be the “oh, I could use … now!”-scenario, meaning that the crew just started a bar-fight for whatever reason with those Nausicaans burtes urging them to play dom-jot – and now I need stats for angry Nausicaans.(thank you for providing them within the Alpha Quadrant Sourcebook). I would draw from pre-generated encounters for this.

Last, but not least, I use random encounters for that “hey, why not”-sort of ideas. While I would say that I can be creative, naturally, my creativity is limited. For D&D, for example, there are certain monsters that are very iconic to my campaign-themes. So, I have no problems creating a not-so-random random encounter with them (meaning a short fight in case I need one to wake people up from hous of in-character-play or get them back into game quickly after we had a lunch break). But I would never think of using others, were it not for the random encounters. Why not create a cool encounter around 1d3 harpies (or with Horta, for that matter)? Random encounter tables can be creative challanges. Also, they can give directions on balancing; this is another ‘inspiration’ I tend to draw from them.

Focuses are one way to build connections among characters; another way is through talents. Some talents specifically help characters when they work together in the best tradition of the various series. Advisor, Follow My Lead, Pack Tactics, are all examples of talents that you could build some character connectivity with. There are others in the various supplements too.

Something that I’ve always liked was a linked character-creation. I tried this out a little bit within my D&D-group and it worked out quite well. It could be adapted within the lifepath-system very easily, The basic idea is that every player character has to have some kind of backstory with another character. This can be either conflict, friendship or just “I served with her on the Titan under Riker. We never really met, for she was in the engineering department in the alpha-shift and I in the science-labs in gamma. Heard, she’s an incredible talented engineer, though.”

Those connections are an ultimate source for plot seeds, also. My entire D&D campaign’s side-plots revolve around the back-stories of the characters. Everyone is getting their side-adventure. Adds a lot of fun.

Coming back from slightly off-topic: I would love to see some ideas on how to generate plot-hooks from certain lifepath things. With most of the career-events, that’s easy. But what about upbringing etc.?

Before I start please keep in mind our group has fun playing STA and I find it to be a unique and interesting game system and I respect the staff of Modiphius and their efforts.

While I do believe random encounters has a place in STA, my point in the example I gave was that more information was provided to GM’s then just story suggestions. The developers tried to provide game specific mechanics and stats to assist GM’s and make their jobs easier. Plot lines are interesting but the hard part is fleshing them out.

So far, I’ve created some games from scratch and some are heavily adapted prewritten modules. All have taken considerable effort (more then any other rpg) but worthwhile. What I’m looking for from Modiphius are tools to help with that process. I’ve used variations of the Romulan Bird of Prey numerous times. That stat block alone has been very useful and made my job easier. Plot seeds, etc, briefly translated into STA game mechanics are invaluable.

If your plot line involves a rogue planet, give me the skeleton of that with possible inhabitants, resources, possible reasons for game conflicts, random encounters (on planet or from space), etc. Give me a stat block. It can be adapted numerous times to many situations and cuts down on my prep time as a GM.

So, to sum up, a plot seed or story idea that is not directly translated to STA rules and mechanics is imo, incomplete.

I think the Cortex life path system (originally used in the Smallville rpg and now part of the generic Cortex Prime game) could be hacked to do this really easily.

Or st least steal one of the basic ideas from it - you do character creation all together at the table, and at each stage of the life path when you make your choice (species, home world, etc) you add one detail to the setting and connect it to one of the other players.

I’m right there with Mister X. Rolling on the division random tables focuses my creativity into creating stories. What kind of political intrigue? What kind of medical emergency? And of course, let’s not forget our job of tying these to the values of our characters to bring forth the personal dramatic moments. I like to think which of my characters haven’t had much primary roles in the recent adventures, and I go to that division book and roll something up. Repeat with a second character. There I go. An A and B plot for an adventure. Garrett

I’m interested in something in-between: a sort of “Mission Tropes Book”. Something that breaks down a lot of archetypal mission/encounter types and offers some general guidance about how to structure an adventure around those mission/encounter types.

Example types might include:

• an accident has happened in engineering. Crew members are injured. The warp core is in danger
• the ship has encountered a previously-unknown subspace phenomenon
• the ship has hit a multi-phasic mine
• traditional “this species is about to succeed at Warp Drive so it’s time to introduce ourselves”
• a ship of unrecognized configuration has been detected. Who are these new travellers?
• Deception! It’s really Bad Guys!
• Especially difficult rescue (e.g. the ship is trapped in a high-pressure gas giant atmosphere)
• “Forget us! Just save our cargo! Please!” What’s up with that?
• Protecting a trade ship from raiders
• “Nothing must happen to this planetary delegation!”
• “Everyone hates these prisoners, because they did that thing. So people want them dead.”
• A delegate of a relatively unknown species is being transported to a nearby starbase
• The universe’s worst guest has come aboard
• An NPC from a PC’s past is being transported to a trade delegation
• The visitor claims to be from a parallel universe or another time
• The PCs have been called in to negotiate the release of hostages
• Making it personal: maybe a hostage includes a PC’s friend (or enemy!). Or maybe the hostage-takers include the friend/enemy
• The “hostages” involves an entire Starfleet starship and its crew
• a Federation-friendly world is undergoing revolution and the government has asked for assistance
• perhaps the government is awful and the revolutionaries want justice/democracy/etc.
• perhaps the revolution is backed by Bad Guys (the Orion Syndicate, the Breen, the Gamesters of Triskelion), for their own nefarious reasons
• a Very Important Person has contracted an unknown condition (an important diplomat, or an important NPC)
• an outbreak of an unknown disease has broken out (on a Starfleet ship, or a world)
• the crew is called upon to held broker an armistice between two rival factions
• perhaps the armistice is a ruse as part of another nefarious plan (possibly to get the faction leaders in a known location)
• perhaps a less fraught example of a negotiation.
• an independent world wants to join the Federation
• a scientific team has designed a new piece of technology (drive system, computer AI, shields) and the crew’s ship has been chosen to test it out
• Ruffians have taken all the communicators and left the PCs in a bad part of town
• “Dude, where’s my shuttle?”
• an important astronomical event is taking place
• an archaeological survey on a dead world has uncovered some interesting finds
• the crew has been called to investigate the cause of a murder or a terrorist attack or the destruction of a starship
• the ship is due to host a wedding. Perhaps two (or more) members of the crew are getting hitched! Or the wedding is part of a diplomatic process.
• suddenly there are a lot of wedding guests roaming around on the ship. Is this a security concern?
• an NPC has suddenly developed major Psionic abilities but can’t control them
• “I am like a god!” / “Absolute Power is kind of neat!”
• the crew is called upon to take part in an exercise simulating one of the above scenarios

The book could cover a number of broad suggestions for each trope:

• include suggestions for complicating factors (for example, if there’s a disease, provide some suggestions for why the transporter biofilter can’t be a cure-all)
• Era-specific guidance
• key story beats
• suggested threat spends
• using a race against time
• for example, for the Medical Emergency, a preset research track for investigating the disease
• For example, while a lot of drama comes from complications that go wrong, I’d love to see guidance on how to create challenges even when things are going right (e.g. you don’t have much time to study this stellar phenomenon, so you need to get through this research track in this amount of time).
• Random complication tables
• “It started as a space wedding, but now it’s a hostage negotiation!”

Anyway, that’s my idea for something somewhat in between “published module” and “plot hook”.

That would be quite useful!

Maybe you could turn it into a full-fledged book by adding some discussion of the tropes and of campaign arcs, then round it off with a set of stand-alone example scenarios? Putting the theory into practice kind of thing.

That one could work just as well in reverse…

Here’s a thought for a campaign supplement: what ifs.

Take a major event from one of the TV series or movies, and give it a little twist to change history so that the Enterprise (or whichever ship/crew) never gets involved and now there’s a new campaign for a PC ship and crew.

As an example…Star Trek II. What if Captain Terrell did the minimum due diligence and counted how many planets were actually in the Ceti Alpha system before beaming down?

Or for TNG, what if Kurn is murdered by the Duras family before he ever makes it to the Enterprise to tell Worf about the machinations in the Klingon High Council in “Sins of the Father” ? The whole Klingon Civil War might play out very differently, and it can be a PC crew that winds up in the thick of it rather than Picard and the Enterprise.

I’m quite keen on using some random generation tables to inspire me. Which OSR trek-style games were you thinking of? Stars Without Numbers ? Something else?

Related Topics

• Star Trek: Discovery – Aftermath in Review

Warp Factor Trek

The star trek fan website, how to pitch stories for star trek.

When I was on the writing staff of Star Trek: Voyager , one of my duties was to take pitches every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. So, how did writers get in to pitch for Voyager ?

At the time, all the Trek shows had an open script submission policy, which meant anyone could send in an episode they wrote, whether they were represented by an agent or not. Someone on the Voyager staff would read all these scripts, looking for two things: a good story idea or a good writer. If they liked the story idea, the producers might buy it. If the story didn’t work but the writing was good, they’d call the writer in to pitch other ideas.

However, many non-professional writers had no experience in pitching. They consequently made some basic mistakes.

One of the most common mistakes was going into too much detail about the story. As someone on the receiving end, I always appreciated a short initial pitch, consisting of a log line and a few more sentences giving me the concept of the story and which characters it featured. If I was intrigued by that, I could always ask the writer for more detail. The advice I always give new writers about pitching is to pretend you saw the episode last night and are telling a friend about it today. Hit the highlights; what makes this episode interesting?

One reason for passing on a pitch was that the story just didn’t feel like our show. And, yes, I know how annoyingly vague that sounds. But if the story was too dark or violent, or was about an alien society more than our characters, it would get a pass. Most importantly, a story pitch couldn’t involve our characters behaving in ways they simply wouldn’t. Writers needed to do their research. We didn’t expect them to have seen every episode of Voyager , but to have watched enough to get a feel for the characters and overall tone of the show.

There was also budget to consider. A story that took place in many different locations on an alien planet was simply too expensive to produce. Big space battles also had a hefty price tag. The most prized type of story was an interesting “ bottle show ;” that is, one which could be shot on our standing sets, without too many guest stars or special effects. Those episodes were money savers.

Another common reason to pass on a story was if it was too close to a story we already had in development. This is the “best” reason you can hear for someone passing on your idea. It means you’re in sync with the producers and on the right track.

Pitching to any show is not for the thin-skinned. No matter how much experience you have, most of your stories won’t sell. Most of the ideas the Voyager staff writers pitched to each other got shot down. It’s a mark of professionalism to gracefully take “no” for an answer. One of the worst things writers did in pitch meetings was to argue with me about an idea I had passed on, hoping to convince me to change my mind. This never works, and will hurt your chances of ever being invited in to pitch again. Before Voyager , I pitched to Deep Space Nine four times before selling them a story. Being invited back means the producers are impressed with you and want to hear more of your ideas.

If the person you’re pitching to starts to play around with your story idea and posing “what ifs,” don’t fight it. This is a very good sign. It means the producer sees potential in your idea and wants to help shape it to fit into the show. I heard pitches from some writers who refused to consider changing a thing about their idea. If the basic concept was strong enough, the story might still sell, but the producers will be wary of working with that writer again. In addition to selling your ideas, the purpose of a pitch meeting is to establish relationships with the people you’re pitching to, so that they’ll look forward to seeing you again.

So, what if the producers loved your idea? Most often, we would buy the basic concept from the writer, then write the script ourselves. It’s just faster that way and television shows have unrelenting deadlines. But, if the writer had a great writing sample, and had consistently pitched good ideas, they might get the opportunity to write a first draft of the script. Which would then be polished up by the staff. Again – deadlines. And once the staff bought a story, they could basically do whatever they wanted with it, such as seeding small ideas from the story over the course of a season, rather than using the full story in its originally intended state.

Unfortunately, the current Trek shows don’t read scripts or take pitches from non-professional writers anymore. Neither does any other show on television. You can blame that on lawsuits. Remember when I said we’d sometimes pass on pitches because they were too close to a story we already had in development? When the similar episode aired, a few writers decided that Trek producers had stolen their idea and sued the studio. The truth was, the producers went out of their way to avoid even the appearance of stealing ideas. If a pitch was like a story we already had, we would sometimes buy it just to head off misunderstandings. Professional writers know that similar story ideas can occur to different people without either one of them taking it from the other. Especially when they’re working from the same source material.

It really is a shame that the door has closed on script submissions, since many Trek writers got their start that way. Now, they only take pitches from writers who come to them through an agent. Still, the best way to get your foot in the door is to write a great sample script, then get it into the hands of as many people as you can.

A staff writer on Star Trek: Voyager , Lisa Klink worked on that series for three years. She has also worked on several other shows, including Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , Roswell , and Pandora . Lisa has written or co-written four novels, as well as short stories, graphic novels and screenplays.

7 thoughts on “ How to Pitch Stories for Star Trek ”

What if I have an idea, I don’t know how it would be classified. . . Not a series, not an episode of any current series, not a movie idea. . . I guess, I have an idea for a concept that I think would make for the birth of opportunity to tie some series and timelines that cannot be resolved, together as well as an opportunity to expand the Star Trek universe. And, what if in the pitch or attached to it the submitter was to relinquish any rights or expectations of the submitted content? Then could I get an intern to at least skim the pitch? Maybe, possibly mention it in passing at the next staff meeting or something? lol.

I just have an idea for a possible concept that would be fun to explore. I don’t have any pre-written script or have it mentally casted in my head or anything. Again, not even a particular series in mind. So I don’t need any credit or anything like that. . . Ideas can be moulded and added to. Call it a group project if you will.

This shoots down my hope as a fan to submit a fully plausible connection between the current Strange New Worlds version of the Enterprise being so much larger than Kirks TOS ship. Basically, canon is canon and no matter how much others try to say the ship is the same, Terry Matalas blew that out of the water with the NCC-1975 New Jersey version of the Connie class being shown.

By introducing that one element (NCC-1975) my whole story to fully explain how current (canon) Pike ship got so big then down to Kirks smaller Connie then back to larger size in The Motion Picture using similar strut design is fully explained. Pikes story remains the same and canon is brought ‘Full Circle’ – what I would title the 2-part finale of SNW and does the unthinkable as Terry Matalas did for Picard – and bridge a unfinished story in to a fully and easy to understand 2-parter finale for SNW that organically leads in to TOS.

Example would be showing as last 10min of SNW finale could be Kirk (Paul Wesley) and other SNW regulars who are now part of Kirks Enterprise start off with a few seconds of the first Kirk-led episode – word-for-word – then fade in to another episode from TOS for a 10-20sec clip.

Then in to another etc until 3 years had gone by (maybe 3-4min in real time), and then maybe some live action of the Animated Series episodes (one or two special characters should not break a budget) until finally Kirks 5-year mission is over and he is reassigned until The Motion Picture. Perfect send off to Kirk too and the canon timeline has now addressed major holes for all future Trek to fall back on. If you can re-imagine Pike as in ‘If Memory Serves’ then you can do the same with Kirk

Number One – when Pike is replaced as Captain, Una goes on to lead Starfleet Academy, which fulfills the Boimler poster shown in Lower Decks.

There are a few other small stories I have come up with the fill in some blanks, such as Robert April as a 18yo watching Jonathan Archer at 100yo giving a speech at Starfleet Academy, and he was inspired by the NX-01 refit (Doug Drexler design). This inspiration led April to join Starfleet and help design the new Constitution Class ships. Make is a 10-15min short or a flashback scene. Age wise it lines up and April is said to of helped design the Connie class – now you can show the inspiration.

The other idea is how the AI leftover fragment from the Section 31 lead ship made its way to Starfleet HQ, and ultimately led to Pikes accident.

These make up most of my plausible thoughts and as I said earlier – I am not a pro or have an agent so none of this will ever make it to screen, muchless CBS.

I’m afraid that if your idea involves the Trek universe, it would have to come from an agent and go through Paramount Studios, even if you intend to surrender all rights to the idea. The production company that currently makes Trek shows probably gets idea pitches all the time. Sorry.

Thank you for your kind words Lisa. It is ok – I can fully understand why they have to do it that way. Look at the problem Discovery had with the storyline of Season 1 with the Tardigrades. A person who had written some comics used a Tardigrade and ended up suing CBS over Discovery using it. So yeah I have no doubt why CBS has to be careful.

Unless I can get an agent to pitch my ideas above (plus a few more) then I am happy knowing you and your site are a means to allow me to share it and if nobody takes the ball and runs with it then at least I tried. As for an agent, that takes money I do not have.

Greed is not my motivation. #1 is to get canon ‘filled in’ with realistic (and easy to create) bridges, #2 if possible would be maybe a mention of thanks in credits for story idea, and in my dreamworld #3 would be maybe help navigate thru the process to become a legit (credit-worthy) participant.

Thank you again for your kind words Lisa,

Jonathan F. Richards

A (long) while back I had an idea which I pitched directly to Rick Berman. Unfortunately, the idea would have steered the series in a different direction that was already planned but not yet released. Rick wrote me the most wonderful rejection letter ever composed in which he nevertheless said my pitch was “too cool for words”. I recently went to my high school reunion and reconnected with an old Trek buddy and by the end lightening had struck again. How to find that agent?

Hi Lisa, does the same guidelines hold true for a Star Trek graphic novel pitch as it does for series/movies pitches?

my name is Elleston spence and I’ve been watching STAR TREK since 1972 it was the year that I immegrated from Jamaica to Canada.. to see a show where everyone of different species living together as friends..was assumed.. so I watched every time that I could.. I have a idea for a spin off from VOYAGUR ..character..7 OF 9..THE DOCTOR..CAPTAIN JANEWAY.. NELIX.. AND some more characters.. it’s a family story.

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How to Pitch Stories to StarTrek.com

StarTrek.com accepts pitches for essays, reported work, features, and more. Below, you'll find a few general tips for pitching to our Managing Editor and staff. If your pitch is accepted, your assignments will be contracted and paid. Writers from outside of the United States are more than welcome. We are interested in pitches on the following topics (as they relate to Star Trek ) for 2024 : 

• Star Trek: Discovery   – The highly anticipated series returns with an action-packed fifth and final season that takes our crew on an adventure across the galaxy. Let us know how you connect with the series that kicked off Star Trek ’s modern era! Did any of the series’ crew, guest stars, and/or storylines leave an impression on you?
• Heritage and Awareness Months  – March is Women's History Month. May marks Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Jewish American Heritage Month, and Mental Health Awareness Month, while June marks LGBTQ Pride Month. September is Latinx Heritage Month. In addition to months, there are a number of days that recognizes one's heritage and identity. Has any of the series’ portrayals resonated with you?
• Points of First Contact - In addition to the epic conclusion to Star Trek: Discovery , 2024 also marks other great entry points into Star Trek with the 15th anniversary of Star Trek (2009) and the 45th anniversary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture . We'd love to hear how you got into Star Trek , whether it was from friends and/or loved ones, or just by happenstance. Or if you've used certain episodes or films to get your friends into it?
• Star Trek  Captains  – Everyone loves Kirk and Picard, but let’s give it up for other decorated Federation officers. Do you have a pitch around the captaincy of Benjamin Sisko, Philippa Georgiou, Gabriel Lorca, Michael Burnham, Jonathan Archer, Christopher Pike, Kathryn Janeway, Carol Freeman, or Dal?
• Senior Officers, Bridge Crew, and You! - It's not just captains that make going boldly and exploring new worlds possible. Where would we be without the likes of O'Brien, Chekov, EMH, Chapel, Yar, Detmer, Dax, T'Pol, etc.? And let's not forget the Lower Deckers or Prodigy cadets-in-training. Let us know who you connect with most!
• Star Trek  Films  – From  Star Trek: The Motion Picture  to  The Undiscovered Country  to  First Contact  to  Star Trek Beyond , and everything in-between,  Star Tre k films continued the adventures of our beloved various crews and served as entry points for a lot of  Star Trek  fans.  In addition to anniversaries for Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek (2009), other anniversaries this year includes the 40th anniversary of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , the 35th anniversary of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , and 30th anniversary of Star Trek Generations !
• Ahoy! Shore Leave, Captain’s Holiday, and More  – As we dream of warm temps and inch closer to spring break and summer holiday, we want to hear about your favorite crew vacations and getaways. Also, if you’ve embarked on the  Star Trek : The Cruise   or  Star Trek : Missions (or any other event/convention), we want to hear about your experience!

We  are  always interested in pitches on the following evergreen topics:

• Current world events and how those relate back to  Star Trek.
• Timely responses to recent  Star Trek  episodes. This is  not  a call for recaps. It’s a call for deeper looks at various aspects that might have been introduced or explored in an episode.
• Interviews with one-off  Star Trek  guest stars.
• Trek -related essays (We will also consider video essay pitches on a case-by-case basis.)
• Personal essays that relate back to  Trek .
• Any reported work that ties current events back into  Trek,  including...
• Reported pieces about current space exploration (NASA, SpaceX, ISSA, etc.)
• Reported pieces about technology relevant to Trek. (ie, Do you know of someone developing an EpiPen that operates like a hypospray? We want to know about it.)
• Deep dives (Did you reread Planet X and find some revelatory detail that warrants 1500-2000 words? Hit us up.)
• Listicles (we're eager to hear about your top 10 Class M Planets!)
• Interviews with and profiles of interesting Star Trek fans.
• Pieces that center voices from marginalized communities.

Any other creative ideas you might have! Please make sure that they do not fall under the category of things we explicitly do  not  want:

• Pitches for  Star Trek  products.  Star Trek  license holders should email their Consumer Products contact(s) for all requests related to products and posts on StarTrek.com.
• Episode recaps for any  Trek  shows, past or present
• Spec scripts for current or former  Star Trek  series
• Star Trek  series pitches
• Star Trek  fan films
• Star Trek  fan fiction

How to Submit:

• Before you submit a pitch, read all of the below Terms and Conditions.
• Pitches should be sent to [email protected] . Pitches that StarTrek.com is interested in commissioning will receive an email in response. Pitches that we are not interested in will not receive a response. This means that we do not send rejection emails. Please allow us at least 10 business days for responses to evergreen pitches.
• Please use the following email subject line format to ensure that we see your pitches: "PITCH: TK TK TK"
• If your pitch is timely, please use the following subject line format: "URGENT PITCH: TK TK TK"
• Please send pitches. Do not send completed work.
• The more unique your pitch is, the better!
• StarTrek.com generally does not publish articles over 2000 words.
• Please don’t forget to introduce yourself and provide clips that demonstrate your ability to write whatever it is you happen to be pitching. Please do not provide clips from personal blogs, personal websites, personal Medium.com pages, etc.
• Get to your point! We don't always need an 800 word pitch. Make sure that what you’re pitching is clear within the first 2-3 sentences so that we don’t have to dig for your thesis. Then you can build your case for why the reader should care.
• Please make it clear how you're going to execute your piece! Is this an essay? Is it a personal essay? Is it a reported article? Is this a list? Is it a hybrid? You're going to interview HOW many people in just 600 words? Please be sure to layout your format and plan.
• Relatedly, please include an approximate word count and propose a filing date.
• Overall, do be sure to come through with a complete idea. We are here to help you tweak and shape your pitches, but not give you your pitches!

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By submitting the pitch material (the "Material") to [email protected] for consideration by StarTrek.com, you are representing that you have read and understand these Terms and Conditions and consent to be bound by them. You acknowledge that no confidential relationship exists between you and StarTrek.com, nor is there one intended or created by the submission of the Material. All references herein to “StarTrek.com” or “CBS” will include CBS Studios Inc., CBS Broadcasting Inc., StarTrek.com, their respective parents, any of their affiliates and subsidiaries, as well as the respective directors, officers, agents, employees, consultants, successors, licensee and/or assigns (collectively, “CBS”) of each of them. 

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Den of Geek

The Star Trek: Voyager Sequel You’ve Always Wanted Already Exists

The story of Star Trek: Voyager continues in Prodigy, the animated series that is as much for fans of '90s Trek as it is for a new generation of fans.

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Star Trek is an ever-growing franchise, with 11 television series, plus two series of shorts and two separate film series. But despite all these spinoffs and spinoffs of spinoffs, only a couple of branches of the franchise have been given sequels. The Original Series has The Animated Series as a continuation, then its run of six sequel movies (seven, if you include Generations ), plus a prequel series ( Strange New Worlds ); and The Next Generation has four films and a sequel series ( Picard ), plus a spiritual sequel in Lower Decks . But Deep Space Nine has had to make do with a single episode of Lower Decks and Enterprise gets nothing but the occasional mention as easter eggs.

Voyager , however, has been more fortunate. The inclusion of Seven of Nine as a main character in Picard has already given at least one Voyager character the full sequel treatment, but some fans might not realize that there is another series that functions as a Voyager sequel in more ways than one— Star Trek: Prodigy .

Prodigy’s Two Audiences

One of Prodigy ’s biggest challenges has been to capture the interest of two separate target audiences. The series was produced with and also aired on the children’s channel Nickelodeon, and is aimed at children and teenagers. This also means it is aimed at new viewers, as no one assumes that children watching it will have seen any Star Trek before. The series introduces core concepts like what Starfleet is and how starships function in the Trek universe to brand new fans, and it does so very well.

However, it is also aimed at existing Star Trek fans of all ages. Season 1 of the show includes many callbacks and references to earlier Star Trek series that fans of those shows can appreciate. The episode “Crossroads,” for example, is a sequel to The Next Generation’ s “The Outrageous Okona”; “All the World’s a Stage” is a sequel to the Original Series ’ “Obsession” and the whole episode is basically an Original Series homage; and “Kobayashi” hasn’t just taken its name from the most overly referenced Star Trek story of all time ( The Wrath of Khan ), it actually features guest appearances from several past Star Trek stars who are no longer with us in the form of original audio clips (Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, James Doohan, and Rene Auberjonois) and a guest appearance from Gates McFadden as The Next Generation ’s Doctor Crusher in newly recorded dialogue.

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Prodigy Features Several Main Characters From Voyager

Most fans will be aware that one of its main characters is a hologram of Voyager ’s Captain and main character, Kathryn Janeway, played by Kate Mulgrew. Janeway primarily appears in the form of a hologram of Captain Janeway at around the age she was when Voyager was lost in the Delta Quadrant (based on her rank, as she was promoted to Admiral not long after they got back, and on her hairstyle, which matches Janeway’s famous “bun of steel” from Seasons 1-3 of Voyager ). This hologram is programmed with all of Janeway’s memories (including post- Voyager , as it would hardly make sense for her to exist like a time traveler who doesn’t know what’s going on) and with her personality, making Kathryn Janeway an integral part of Prodigy from the start.

What viewers who have not watched the series might not know, though, is that hologram Janeway is not the only character from Voyager who appears in Prodigy . As the season goes on, we also get to meet Admiral Janeway—the flesh and blood Janeway we followed for seven years on her journey through the Delta Quadrant, as she is at the time Prodigy is set, which is in the year 2383. (This is just after the setting of Lower Decks , which is set in 2380-2381, and a couple of decades before Picard , which is set primarily in 2399-2401). As the storyline develops, we get to meet another main character from Voyager as well, and a third, Robert Picardo’s Doctor, is lined up to appear in season 2.

One thing grown up fans might not realize is that Prodigy is aimed at middle grade and teenage children. It’s not like some other animated spin-offs of major franchises, like Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures or Marvel’s Spidey and His Amazing Friends , which are aimed at pre-schoolers and which, although fun, don’t have all that much appeal to an adult audience. Prodigy may be animated, but it is much more similar to something like The Whoniverse’s The Sarah Jane Adventures ; the lead characters are children and teenagers, but the plot, tone, and themes are all sophisticated enough to be enjoyed by grown ups as well—in fact, Prodigy probably skews slightly older even than The Sarah Jane Adventures .

This means, among other things, that the adult and mentor characters—primarily Janeway—in Prodigy get as much attention and character development as the young leads. The Captain Janeway hologram has a lovely little story arc that builds to an emotional climax across the whole of season 1. But even more importantly for Voyager fans, Admiral Janeway has her own story arc going on as well. Over the course of the season, we see her reacting to a deeply personal loss, and we see some of her most notorious character traits playing out in a new setting—this Janeway may be older and rank higher, but she still leads with her heart, and she still makes mistakes sometimes when she trusts the wrong person, or jumps to conclusions. This is recognizably the character we know and love from Voyager !

Towards the end of the season and in the cliffhanger going into season 2, Prodigy also picks up on one of Voyager ’s best character relationships, which was notoriously neglected in the original show’s series finale—Janeway’s relationship with her First Officer, Chakotay (Robert Beltran). These two were one of the show’s most popular couples to “ship” romantically and the show itself dedicated at least two episodes to that idea (season 2’s “Resolutions” and Season 7’s “Shattered”) though in both cases they decided to stay just friends. Chakotay was paired with Seven of Nine towards the end of season 7, but that pairing was so unpopular with both fans and even the actors that it has never been mentioned again, and a suggested appearance from an alternate timeline version of Chakotay in Picard season 2 was turned down by Beltran .

Chakotay has made several guest appearances in Prodigy , though, including a flashback sequence that shows him and Admiral Janeway hugging, and there is a moment towards the end of the season in which Janeway is seen reaching out towards his image while he is missing in action. Since Prodigy is aimed at teenagers, not young children, it’s free to explore romantic storylines in a family-friendly way, and one of its recurring threads is the somewhat romantic tension between its main character Dal R’El (Brett Gray) and Gwyndala (Ella Purnell), so there is hope for Janeway/Chakotay shippers yet.

Whether or not the show intends to develop Janeway and Chakotay’s relationship romantically, it is certainly bringing their friendship to the front and center of its storyline—he cliffhanger which ended season 1 is built entirely around Admiral Janeway’s determination to find and rescue Chakotay. In other words, all of the tension around the end of the first season of Prodigy is about this central Voyager relationship and is carrying on a Voyager plot thread. Thank goodness Netflix has picked up season 2 after it was dropped by Paramount+, as having that particular carrot dangled in front of Voyager fans only to have it taken away again was just too cruel!

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Prodigy Is Also a Sequel to Voyager’s Plot and Story Arcs

Prodigy also functions as a continuation of Voyager ’s central concept and is able to pick up on other aspects of its story. In Voyager ’s pilot episode, the ship was stranded in the Delta Quadrant, a distant part of the galaxy more than 70,000 light years from Earth, a distance it would take “more than 75 years” to cover, even going at top speed all the time. The series followed the ship’s journey back home, combining Trek’ s traditional theme of exploration with episodes centered around trying to find a quicker way to get back. It featured a crew that had absorbed a non-Starfleet Maquis ship (a resistance group fighting the Cardassians) alongside the Starfleet crew.

The show became notorious for using an episodic style similar to The Original Series and The Next Generation rather than leaning more on its story arcs like Deep Space Nine as many fans would have preferred, and the concept of two conflicting crews working together was largely ignored after a handful of episodes in season 1. However, the ideas were still there, driving the show. There were occasional stories looking at the conflicts between crewmembers in later seasons, like season 7’s “Repression,” and although the format was primarily Space Anomaly of the Week, the journey home was a story that developed across all seven seasons, with multiple episodes focused on attempts to get home more quickly.

The Delta Quadrant setting also allowed Voyager to put a lot of focus on exploration and Original Series -style Planets of the Week, introducing viewers to lots of new alien species that the show added to the Star Trek universe. The Talaxians, the Kazon, the Hirogen, the Vidiians, and the Malon are probably the most memorable, but there were many others, as well as many interactions with Delta Quadrant-based Next Generation baddies the Borg .

The core concept of Prodigy follows on directly from Voyager ’s. In the pilot episode, we meet our motley crew of young aliens in the Tars Lamora prison colony in the Delta Quadrant. They are all of different races and one of them, Gwyndala, is initially an antagonist to the others, just like Voyager ’s two opposing crews.

By the end of the initial two-parter, our heroes have got their hands on the USS Protostar , a prototype for a small Starfleet ship that can travel much, much faster than any others we have seen. The ship was sent out to return to the Delta Quadrant, captained by Chakotay and accompanied by the Captain Janeway hologram, because they are the experts in that part of the galaxy and already have some contacts there, but it was attacked and lost before being found by Dal R’El and the others.

The Show Is Full of Voyager References and Easter Eggs

The action kicks off in the Delta Quadrant, picking up the pieces from a mission that was specifically designed to follow up on Voyager ’s journey. Over the course of season 1, we have seen appearances from the Kazon, the Borg, and the Brenari (a telepathic species whose refugees were helped by Voyager ’s crew in season 5’s “Counterpoint”), and we have heard references to the Talaxians as well as a more obscure Voyager species, such as the Sakari (the species living underground in season 3’s “Blood Fever”). Janeway has even mentioned the events of Voyager ’s most infamous episode, one so unpopular on its initial release that fans thought it had been written out of the continuity, but which is actually really rather fun and entertaining and is now probably one of its best known hours—she mentions that she was “once turned into a salamander,” a reference to her and Lt. Paris’s (Robert Duncan McNeil) transformation into lizards before abandoning their lizard babies in season 2’s “Threshold.”

The writers have even given the Protostar a new feature to fix one of Voyager ’s most notorious plot holes. The USS Voyager was lost in the Delta Quadrant with minimal resources, and several episodes revolved around the search for deuterium fuel. And yet somehow, despite numerous shuttlecraft crashes, many of which were specifically described as having destroyed the shuttlecraft, the ship never seemed to run out of shuttles.

Starfleet ships of this era are generally equipped with two shuttlecraft, as was Voyager , plus they had Neelix’s (Ethan Phillips) ship, which they hardly ever used. In season 5, they built their own shuttle, the Delta Flyer, which they proceeded to crash just as often as the other shuttles, if not more so. And yet they never ever ran out. Entire websites were devoted to counting how many shuttlecraft Voyager had lost and apparently replaced with identical shuttles. Were the crewmembers Janeway didn’t like trapped in the bowels of the ship somewhere, building and re-building shuttles? Why did they build them exactly the same every time, and keep giving them the same names? How were they constantly running out of fuel, having to ration replicator food, forcing everyone to eat Neelix’s hair pasta and leola root stew because they didn’t have energy to spare, but they were able to keep up a constant stream of replicated shuttles? This mystery has never been solved, but the writers of Prodigy thought ahead—the Protostar has a replicator specifically designed to replicate shuttlecraft-sized vehicles.

Voyager is not the only Star Trek series referenced in Prodigy . The show is absolutely bursting with references, easter Eggs, and follow-ups to stories, species, and tech from all of the pre-2017 Star Trek series. But its plot, setup, and story and character development make it not just a “spiritual sequel” to Star Trek: Voyager —it is literally a sequel series to Voyager , continuing Voyager ’s plot threads and further developing its setting. If you’re a Star Trek: Voyager fan and you haven’t yet watched Prodigy , you’re missing out.

Star Trek: Prodigy season 3 hits Netflix on July 1.

Juliette Harrisson | @ClassicalJG

Juliette Harrisson is a writer and historian, and a lifelong Trekkie whose childhood heroes were JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. She runs a YouTube channel called…

“Geordi was actually half alien”: Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Plan to Make LeVar Burton’s Geordi La Forge an Alien Was Totally Bonkers

L eVar Burton is one of the most accomplished Star Trek: The Next Generation alumni. The actor played the role of chief engineer Geordi La Forge for seven seasons and even directed some episodes in the series. He returned behind the camera for subsequent spinoff shows.

While La Forge’s character has a lot of mystery surrounding him, an oral history of the show revealed that the writers actually had a backstory on the character’s origins. According to producer Jeri Taylor, Geordi La Forge was written to be a half-alien hybrid with a horrific backstory.

LeVar Burton’s Geordi La Forge Had An Insane Backstory In Star Trek: The Next Generation

LeVar Burton was a huge Star Trek fan before he was cast as Geordi La Forge in The Next Generation . The actor has proclaimed his love for the original series and his admiration for the creator Gene Roddenberry multiple times. Burton played the character for all seven seasons of the show and reprised his role in the films and subsequent spinoff shows.

“It looked different than anything else and that was intentional”: Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Brilliant Body Horror Episode With LeVar Burton Was a Triumph of Practical Effects Over CGI

La Forge has often been regarded as one of the most underdeveloped characters in Star Trek history. The chief engineer is known by his signature VISOR which allows him to see as he is blind from birth. Apart from that, there is very little known about his history and upbringing.

However, the makers reportedly actually had some ideas on the backstory of La Forge. According to The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years, an oral history of the show, executive producer Jeri Taylor revealed their plans for LeVar Burton’s role,

We wanted to make Geordi an alien. He was going to discover that his father was not who he thought he was, and his mother had an almost Rosemary’s Baby–kind of thing and had been impregnated by an alien. As a result, Geordi was actually half alien and now, at his present age, his people were coming back to get him. I thought that would have given Geordi’s character a lot of elaboration.

Still, La Forge’s father and mother are referred to and make an appearance in an episode. While the idea of making him an alien was abandoned, more about his character and his journey was revealed in the spinoff show Star Trek: Picard .

LeVar Burton Hated Putting On The VISOR

Though it is not known whether LeVar Burton liked the idea of Geordi La Forge being a half-alien, he certainly hated one aspect of the character’s backstory. The actor has mentioned his disdain for the VISOR on multiple occasions and has often remarked on how difficult it was to wear it.

The Jonathan Frakes Episode Star Trek: The Next Generation Was Forced to Make after They Ran Out of Money

La Forge is born blind and the VISOR helps him detect waves in the electromagnetic spectrum, thus allowing him to ‘see’. The actor, however, was reportedly relieved when he went behind the camera as a director and did not have to wear the VISOR. He said (via EW ),

Do I miss that? Nooooo, sir. I don’t have to get up at 6:00 a.m. I don’t have to get into a space suit. I don’t have to put on that VISOR. Miss it? No. No.

The actor directed the most episodes on the franchise compared to other actors who returned to the series as filmmakers.

Star Trek: The Next Generation is available to stream on Parmount+.

'It's heart-forward:' Q&A with 'Star Trek: Prodigy' creators about Season 2 (exclusive)

A chat with Kevin and Dan Hageman on this brilliant series' second chance.

Fortified with an optimistic spirit and settling into its new home on the Netflix streaming platform, "Star Trek: Prodigy" is boldly shifting into second gear for its 20-episode sophomore season.

This season finds our crew of intergalactic alien teenagers under the protective wing of Vice Admiral Janeway as they embark on a daring series of adventures in the final frontier aboard the Voyager-A starship.

Here's the official Season 2 synopsis:

"In Season 2, these six young outcasts who make up the ' Prodigy ' crew are assigned a new mission aboard the USS Voyager-A to rescue Captain Chakotay (voiced by Robert Beltran) and bring peace to Gwyn's (voiced by Ella Purnell) home world. However, when their plan goes astray, it creates a time paradox that jeopardizes both their future and past."

Emmy Award-winning creators and showrunners Kevin and Dan and Hageman ("Trollhunters," "Ninjago") couldn’t be more pleased that their beloved " Star Trek " brainchild has a new online landing pad. The colorful second season of this underrated all-ages show appears to have an abundance of the engaging, character-driven, story-first momentum that made it such a satisfying sci-fi series when it first debuted on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon three years ago.

Related: 'Star Trek: Prodigy' warps into Season 2 with new Netflix trailer (video)

"Kevin and I, our first entry into 'Star Trek' was ' The Wrath of Khan ' and that special Kirk and Spock relationship," Dan Hageman told Space.com . "Being children of the '80s, we’re very Amblin with earnest storytelling, so all of that is into Prodigy.

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"In Season 2 with time travel , we always got the note, 'Is a younger viewer going to understand this?' We just need to spark something in their brain to want to dig into it more. We had a writer in the room who talked about a 'Star Trek' episode where they found Data's head buried in the sand, and it made his wheels start spinning of how that was possible. All 'Trek' fans will know that they were that kid too, where you take apart devices to see how they work. You want to know these things."

For the Hageman brothers, emotionality is everything; it surrounds and binds the entire animation project.

"It's heart-forward," Kevin Hageman adds. "When we think of the movies that stick to our bone as a kids, it's like ' E.T. ' He was dead lying on a table for a bit and I was crying. That's what makes a great story versus just some fun, funny comedy I saw as a kid. For us, whether it was 'Trollhunters' or even 'Ninjago,' it sticks with them.  We've talked to 18-year-olds, and they said that show meant something to them because we went there, and that’s what we wanted to do with 'Prodigy.'"

Exploring new territory was foremost on the creators' minds launching into this resurrected Prodigy outing, and the award-winning filmmakers were full of "Star Trek" universe ideas.

"We didn't want to have the same ending as Season 1, so it's got completely different feelings," said Dan Hageman. "These are now kids in the adult world. And also it's not just kids learning from the adults, but the adults learning from the kids. So, if anything, Season 1 is an entry point, and now we’re getting into real 'Trek.'"

One of the biggest challenges for the showrunners was to avoid being like " Star Trek: Lower Decks ," in which all the main characters are treated like underlings.

"How to do you do that, treat it for real, but still allow for some wish fulfillment and spirit of adventure?" Kevin Hageman said. "And you'll see that as you watch more of the new season. How do you balance that in a military system?"

"Prodigy's" return vocal cast includes Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway), Brett Gray (Dal), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Angus Imrie (Zero), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf), and John Noble (The Diviner).

Season 2's added co-stars feature Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Jason Alexander (Doctor Noum), Daveed Diggs (Commander Tysess), Jameela Jamil (Ensign Asencia), Ronny Cox (Admiral Jellico) and Michaela Dietz (Maj’el).

— 'Star Trek:' History & effect on space technology

— Star Trek streaming guide: Where to watch the Star Trek movies and TV shows online

— 'Star Trek: Prodigy' warps into Season 2 with new Netflix trailer (video)

Mulgrew and Picardo have expansive vocal duties in this Netflix season, and the Hagemens were fortunate to welcome such talented "Star Trek" luminaries aboard.

"We felt like after the death of Hologram Janeway at the end of Season 1, we were tickled with this idea that they needed a new mentor," Dan Hageman explained. "Admiral Janeway isn’t as soft and lovey and Hologram Janeway, and we thought it was hilarious that the Doctor would want to be endeared to the kids as much as they were to Hologram Janeway. She was Mary Poppins in Season 1, and he's like Mr. Belvedere in Season 2, trying to keep them out of shenanigans. We weren't trying to make a ' Voyager ' spinoff, but naturally if you have Kate Mulgrew and Janeway at the center of it, these characters are going to gravitate toward her."

Buoyed by fan appreciation, the Hagemans have high hopes for "Prodigy's" future.

"I'm always inspired by our crew and cast," Kevin Hageman said. "From out of the writers room and the ideas and scripts that were coming out, I was loving this show. And to see the animation and hear the music and the vocal records. Everyone loved this show and poured their hearts into it. I hope that we'll get future seasons or animated film installments to keep this going."

All 20 episodes of "Star Trek: Prodigy" Season 2 are now streaming on Netflix.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Jeff Spry is an award-winning screenwriter and veteran freelance journalist covering TV, movies, video games, books, and comics. His work has appeared at SYFY Wire, Inverse, Collider, Bleeding Cool and elsewhere. Jeff lives in beautiful Bend, Oregon amid the ponderosa pines, classic muscle cars, a crypt of collector horror comics, and two loyal English Setters.

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Star Trek: 10 Most Overused Plot Tropes

Let's take a look at some recurring plots that've come to define Star Trek!

Star Trek has been around for so long that it's forgivable for it to slightly reuse plots from time to time, such as the Voyager episode Author, Author that plays out very similar to the Next Generation episode The Measure Of A Man, both episodes featuring an artificial lifeform (Data and The Doctor) fighting for their freedom as sentient beings, not the property of Starfleet. In Star Trek: Picard we see the continuation of this story with other synthetic lifeforms.

However, there are certain plot ideas that have been reused so much that they have become tropes. Moments that define Star Trek, and can be found across nearly all shows of the franchise.

From things that prevent their technology from easily saving the day, to rehashed ideas for conflicts, to repeated filler moments, this list will be counting down ten of the most egregious examples of Star Trek plot tropes throughout the franchise's history.

10. Characters Meeting Alternate Versions Of Themselves

Most fans are familiar with the mirror universe. This alternate reality where humanity rules the galaxy with an iron fist and subjugates all alien life has appeared on Star Trek: Enterprise, The Original Series, Deep Space Nine, and Discovery, and shows audiences a darker, more sinister reality devoid of Starfleet's morals.

There are also many other alternate versions of characters that pop up throughout the franchise. In the Next Generation episode, Second Chances, we learn that Riker was inadvertently duplicated through a transporter glitch. His duplicate was left alone on the planet as the ship warped away carrying the other Riker and was forced to survive on his own for eight years. Another example is the clone of Picard, Shinzon, created by the Romulans, who assassinated the Romulan senate and made a plan to annihilate Starfleet.

Other notable copies include Admiral Janeway from the alternate future in the last episode of Voyager, all of the characters from the reboot movie timeline, and many more. This trope appears constantly in Trek and gives us insight into how the characters we know and love would've been different if they'd had different lives.

Marcia Fry is a writer for WhatCulture and an amateur filmmaker.

You Can Finally Stream All the Star Trek Movies in One Place

Surely, the best of times.

Most science fiction movie franchises that get past six films are fairly impressive. Way back before the MCU blew up in 2012 or the Star Wars sequels began in 2015, sci-fi film franchises generally didn’t get into the double-digits. In fact, the seemingly immortal Planet of the Apes franchise just now released its 10th film overall. Star Wars has 11 theatrical films, but five of those all came out in the last nine years. This summer, the Alien franchise will release its ninth film in very fragmented continuity, which funnily enough, has the subtitle Romulus , a term that was arguably popularized by the scrappiest science fiction franchise of them all — Star Trek .

While it's tempting to think of Star Trek as primarily a TV sci-fi empire (there are 11 distinct shows, with a 12th in production) the fact is, as a film franchise, Star Trek is not only massive but also extremely durable. And as of right now, every single Star Trek movie — from 1979 to 2016 — are all streaming on Paramount+. Here’s why even someone with a casual interest in science fiction or Star Trek should binge these movies ASAP.

In 1979, a TV series getting turned into a major motion picture was not common. Before Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the best examples of TV shows having feature film versions were the 1954 Dragnet and the 1966 Adam West-led Batman . What made Star Trek: The Motion Picture significant is that not only was it a TV series-turned-movie, but it was also released a decade after the show had been canceled. On top of this, it was a major aesthetic redesign for the entire concept. While Star Trek: The Original Series was known for its over-the-top colors and melodramatic action-adventure-oriented directorial choices, The Motion Picture was a contemplative epic, directed by cinema legend Robert Wise, with a graceful score from Jerry Goldsmith. For any of its faults, Star Trek: The Motion Picture wasn’t an attempt to emulate Star Wars. If anything, it was the exact opposite.

And from 1979, each Star Trek movie — to some degree — has been a departure from the previous installment. While the films sometimes struggled to translate the smaller-stakes brilliance of the episodes of the various series into big tentpole events, there’s no denying that each Star Trek film is utterly dissimilar to all other Star Trek films. With 1982’s crowd-pleasing favorite The Wrath of Khan , director Nicholas Meyer solidified a nautical flavor and mashed it up with a revenge thriller. Directing two back-to-back films, The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home , Leonard Nimoy created one movie about a spiritual journey and another film about environmentalism. By the time you get to Meyer’s other Trek film, The Undiscovered Country , you’re dealing with a deeply political film with smart commentary on the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the dangers of nationalism in general.

And that only covers through 1991! The four films spanning The Next Generation crew’s jump to the big screen are equally diverse in themes and concepts. While 1994’s Generations explores ideas of mortality and addiction, 1996’s First Contact reimagined the Trek revenge film with the hero as the person at fault. And though Insurrection (1998) and Nemesis (2002) are generally considered some of the weakest films in the franchise, the performances from guest villains F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hardy are outstanding.

Data (Brent Spiner) and Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) battle the Borg in Star Trek: First Contact .

In 2009, J.J. Abrams famously rebooted the Trek franchise with a new film simply titled Star Trek . While this film still creates a fair amount of controversy in hardcore Trekkie fandom circles, it is probably the best J.J. Abrams movie ever, and holds up extremely well as a great contemporary blockbuster, 15 years after its release. Star Trek Into Darkness , its 2013 sequel, is probably one of the least-loved Trek films of all time, but that doesn’t mean that Benedict Cumberbatch’s take on Khan isn’t fantastic. Nor, can anyone ignore the brilliant spectacle of the film in general. But it was 2016’s Star Trek Beyond that provided one of the most well-balanced Trek movies since The Wrath of Khan. Helmed by Fast and Furious alum Justin Lin with a script co-written by Lin, Simon Pegg, and Doug Jung, Into Darkness’ much-superior follow-up movie showed a deep, deep love for the flavor of The Original Series.

Since 2016, there have been no new Star Trek films in theaters. Instead, the franchise has expanded significantly in the medium of streaming TV, while various plans for a new Star Trek movie have remained stalled for more reasons than even Data could recall off the top of his head. Late 2024 will see the release of the first direct-to-streaming Trek movie — the highly anticipated sci-fi spy flick Star Trek: Section 31 , starring Michelle Yeoh. After that, a new Trek “origin story” movie, directed by Toby Haynes, is expected sometime in 2026, just in time for Star Trek’s 60th anniversary.

Whether or not that movie will actually beam down is unclear. But, until then, if you want to experience a wide variety of sci-fi adventures, set in a cozy, yet compelling future, you can’t do much worse than to binge all the Trek movies, starting at the very beginning.

All 13 Star Trek feature films are streaming on Paramount+.

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Discover adventure-filled honeymoon ideas: Explore beyond the beach

Four easy-to-plan luxury honeymoon adventures worth considering..

Crafting your own well-curated honeymoon demands dedication and time, but there are transformative trips out there where your accommodations themselves become the heart of the adventure. The key is to focus on rich experiences that transcend mere lodging, offering more than just a place to stay.

With all the details thoughtfully arranged, you can explore new destinations and truly immerse yourself in the journey—free from the burden of managing every element and ready to embrace exploration.

Few things excite me more than meticulously planning holidays I’ve yet to go on. Imagining the destinations I’ll explore, selecting the perfect accommodations, and mapping out each must-see spot lights me up. This passion found a new outlet when I began sharing my travel insights on TikTok, where my early successes included curating intrepid honeymoon destinations that promised special adventures without the usual planning stress.

What began as a personal creative project blossomed into an unexpectedly popular series on my page, where I help fulfill my followers' requests for unique honeymoon ideas around the globe.

Driven by my deep love for hospitality and a knack for uncovering offbeat treasures, I specialize in destinations that blend exclusivity with authenticity. I adore trips that feel off the beaten path yet elevated and in tune with local experiences.

Whether you're mapping out your honeymoon or just indulging in future dreams (like me), this guide is for you. Let's move beyond the standard all-inclusive resorts and packages to explore four extraordinary adventures perfect for those seeking more than just beachside relaxation.

1. Trek through Nepal

If you're seeking a true quest for your honeymoon, consider Shinta Mani Mustang , a five-star resort nestled in Nepal's Lower Mustang region. Accessible by road trip from Pokhara to Jomsom, a scenic flight, or even a helicopter ride, the property ensures every detail of your vacation is expertly managed from the moment you set foot on the runway.

Only bookable by five-night packages — everything is included, offering a range of experiences, from wellness retreats to wilderness trekking and enchanting visits to charming Buddhist villages. Each stay includes spacious suites, all-inclusive, locally-sourced meals and beverages (even during offsite explorations), private guided excursions, and the dedicated service of your own Personal Bensley Adventure Guide.

A stay here vows not just a honeymoon, but a fresh expedition through Nepal's rugged beauty.

Book Shinta Mani Mustang.

2. the royal scotsman.

Imagine being welcomed by the soul-stirring sound of bagpipes at Waverley Station, where your travels aboard the Royal Scotsman begins with a glass of whisky in hand.

Picture yourself in a cozy cabin, watching Scotland's wild beauty unfold outside your window. Whether you choose to journey five nights along the iconic West Highland Line or four nights exploring untamed landscapes , Belmond's luxury sleeper train manages every aspect. From mingling at candlelit feasts to dancing at traditional ceilidhs, the atmosphere onboard is warm and inviting.

End your days with a pampering spa treatment at the train's new Dior Spa, a luxurious touch amidst your Scottish escapade. With everything perfectly planned, a train tour offers a honeymoon where every moment is crafted for romance and rejuvenation.

Book The Royal Scotsman.

3. a private island in madagascar.

Those looking for more than just a beach getaway will love Miavana by Time + Tide. Embark on an exhilarating helicopter ride soaring over mountains, baobabs, and shipwrecks that dot Madagascar's untamed coastline, culminating in a gentle touchdown on a secluded private island.

With only 14 oceanfront villas, guests enjoy panoramic sea views, direct beach access, and seamless transitions between indoor and outdoor living spaces, ensuring a truly immersive experience in this otherworldly destination. On land and sea, indulge in explorations such as nature walks, stand-up paddleboarding, lemur treks, and rejuvenating yoga classes.

Beyond accommodation, guests can embark on curated journeys that unite remote and pristine locales across the Indian Ocean, inviting them to experience unforgettable Time + Tide Safaris.

Book Miavana by Time + Tide.

4. a luxury yacht trip through indonesia.

Embark on a voyage aboard the Kudanil Explorer , a luxurious expedition yacht offering exclusive charters in East Indonesia. Several times a year, the yacht invites guests to book cabins on their captivating expeditions .

Whether you choose a pre-planned cruises or tailor your own route, the experience guarantees the trip of a lifetime. Bespoke itineraries may include surfing, diving, snorkeling, and other activities. Your private cabin features a king-size bed, private terrace, and day bed, perfect for soaking in the views.

With amenities like a jacuzzi, spa, and two stylish restaurants spread across its expansive 11,000 square feet of space, you'll have access to an upscale honeymoon experience that few get to savor.

The Kudanil Explorer's crew specializes in creating new encounters, from cruising to breathtaking spots to organizing private sunset drinks on the beach and more, ensuring each moment is filled with discovery.

Book Kudanil Explorer.

Ariana Dickson is a travel writer and hospitality-focused Brand Marketing Consultant based in Denver, Colorado. Often elsewhere, she's lived in Mumbai, India — traveling to 30 countries along the way. You can usually find her uncovering hidden travel gems, road-tripping, savoring lavender lattes, or cool-hunting and curating content for her discerning travel-lovers on TikTok.

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Wednesday, July 10, 2024 77° Today's Paper

Skydance Media close to sealing deal for control of Paramount

By Dawn Chmielewski / Reuters

July 3, 2024

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AMR ALFIKY / REUTERS / JUNE 5, 2023

David Ellison attends the U.S. premiere of “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” at Kings Theater in New York in 2023.

Skydance Media’s deal to acquire theater operator National Amusements, with its controlling interest in Paramount Global, could be finalized by Monday, sources familiar with the deal process said.

Parties are expected to work throughout the weekend to finalize the deal before Tuesday’s start of Allen & Co’s annual gathering of technology and media titans in Sun Valley, Idaho, which Paramount Global Chair Shari Redstone typically attends.

Skydance Media, an independent media company with interests in films, animation, television, video games and sports, has offered to pay $1.75 billion for National Amusements, the holding company that owns about 77% of the voting shares of Paramount.

The preliminary deal was referred on Tuesday to a special committee of Paramount’s board, which is reviewing the offer.

The two-step acquisition would merge Ellison’s independent production company and the venerable Hollywood studio.

Skydance and National Amusements agreed to a 45-day go-shop period that would open the door to other interested bidders, said one source familiar with the deal terms.

The century-old Paramount Pictures is known for films such as “Titanic,” “The Godfather” and the “Transformers” franchise. Skydance has co-produced Paramount movies such as “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Star Trek Into Darkness.”

Skydance CEO David Ellison, the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, has spent months in pursuit of Paramount, a combination initially embraced by Redstone, daughter of late media tycoon Sumner Redstone, multiple sources said.

She nixed the deal in early June after Skydance adjusted its offer to provide more money for other shareholders.

National Amusements re-engaged with Skydance over the past week, even as it continued conversations with other interested parties, one source familiar with the talks said.

CNBC was the first to report that the Skydance-National Amusements deal is expected to be completed this weekend.

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