CANON: to Trek or Non-Trek..?
wancow
Posts: 2,708
Okay,
Star Trek has a long history of trying (often succeeding) in getting technological theory correct. Surfinh on a wave of expanded space over compressed space and you have warp drive, for instance. Bussards lay out a parabolic field to collect fuel miles across. Particle beams and photon torpedoes. Quantum Communication allowing instant communication across galaxies. Graviton control for artificial gravity and inertial dampers and structural integrity... also allows the ship to “float” in an atmosphere like a dirigible (zeppline or blimp)
I am curious about some things: When you're thinking Trek, are you a purist? Or, in your fantasy do you incorporate elements of other Space Opera stories?
For instance: CJ Cherryh took a Heinlein Concept (Citizen of the Galaxy) and made it central to her universe in which Merchants were almost as well armed as warships, but privately owned by families that live on an run them.
Mercanter's Luck (Cherryh) and Citizen of the Galaxy (Heinlein) I think display this best.
I also loath the notion of Transporters for which there is no science save for a very vague, untestable hypothesis...
Then there is also the notion of Time Lines. What if Hitler died in 1915, and the British Empire never collapsed... nationalism was still a thing and Enterprise, or one of her sisters, could sidestep between these realities?
Some of you have seen the ISC Cruiser I'm working on. Frogs (or salamanders) who believe so much in a peaceful galaxy they'll kill to get it. Non-Canon, of course. But a product of Stat Trek licensed game. And I really like the meglomaniacle attitude of the frogs as the only race mature enough to enforce peace.
But, in general, what kind of non-trek elements do you incorporate into YOUR Star Trek?
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Comments
Apparently had Enterprise ran its 7 seasons instead of being cancelled early they were going to bring the Kzinti into it (which were in the animated series) which would have brought the Known Space universe into Trek canon.
I like a nice cross-over universe fiction even if they aren't canon. Like a Blake's Seven / Star Trek cross over.
I am not a true Trekkie ... but I was attracted more to the message of diversity, humanity, and optimistic hope for our future than the canon or science of the franchise.
I agree with you for the same reasons. Now, I like a good Star Trek render, but I'm not going to obsess over paint schemes, badges, etc. Let the true believers do that. I just enjoy (most) of the shows and films.
Is the following accurate? Not really. I put spots where the Phasers normally fire from, because quite honestly, they gave me the best position for the effect I wanted. If that causes teeth gnashing amongst the technical manual types, then so be it. ;-)
Cool render. I didn't see the other spacecraft until I looked at expanded full-sized.
Thank you! I came up with the idea after watching Wrath of Kahn one night. I really like the nebula. The effect is a bit dated in some spots, but it still holds up well. Scenery chewing by Shatner and Montalban hold it together. ;-)
I guess I'm not a true Trekkie either. I love the idea of Nationalism making its way into space...
But I encourage all of you to read Mercanter's Luck. It's a great adventure story in a space opera setting that I don't think could be told under the Star Trek umbrella.
http://www.amazon.com/Merchanters-Luck-C-J-Cherryh/dp/B0006FACEI/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428888738&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=mercanters+luck+c+j+cherryh
I started watching Star Trek from the initial broadcast (it actually aired earlier in the week here than it aired in the U.S.) and over the years there's been so much that doesn't always jive with what's come before that it's pretty obvious that "canon" is just something for people to argue over. The fact that Roddenberry himself kept changing his mind about what was and wasn't canon shows how unimportant it really is. The wiki on it is worth checking out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_canon
For the record, although they've done some experiments that show that transporters might actually be possible in the future, I'm in the group that doesn't like 'em, cool as they are. If Scotty can be held in a transporter buffer for 100 years, there's absolutely no reason a landing party's buffer can't be backed up and, as long as someone isn't completely dead, be returned to the state they were in just prior to the beam-down, negating any injuries they may have sustained (at the loss of their memories of the away mission).
-- Walt Sterdan
you touched on another level of why I hate transporters. If I ever got to do my own remake of trek, they would't be there. There's also Thomas (William Thomas Riker)... duh... that sounded so maniacally like fantasy... well... it is fantasy, so there...
I read Pride of Channur et al, again, fantastic stuff from a great author.
I am resolved to build at least one freighter, maybe two, that can fit into the Trek universe, at least on the fringes. Despite Star Fleet "not being a military organization (BULLCRAP, Wrath of Khan director Nicholas Meyer correctly characterized Star Fleet as using "Gunboat Diplomacy") I think that leaving out commerce in Trek has been a long overlooked aspect with a great deal of potential.
In my "re-imagininng" I'd probably do something like take Star Base 12, on the fringes of Klingon Space, focus on three different ships, Enterprise being Kirk's Enterprise, the guy that jumps without looking, Constitution, commanded by the "Old Man" who is stodgy, and will not explain his orders unless necessary, a Frigate or Destroyer who would have a lot of contact with Piracy, and a freighter that supplies SB12... with the Federation telling her captain "YOU Can't have all these weapons mounted! You're not running a warship!" "Oh yeah?" answers the captain. "What do you want me to do when some Orion or whomsoever comes for your cargo?" A little conflict within the Federation could go a long way, IMHO, but the optimistic outlook of the original need never be lost. Lest the Galaxy suddenly explodes, it would be difficult to wipe out humanity, and different "ways of life" founded on whatever world could be realized...
What I love best of all is this: we have the means to produce such a thing :) That's the coolest part of all... I'm hoping I get to see some of you guys produce your visions in Graphic Novel format... lots of work going on here, hopefully with all the resources we have at our disposal some of those on the Star Trek builders thread could maybe start off with some anecdotal stuff and build it into... something more... I believe, on the Fan Art side, Paramount has rather lost control of this monster they've produced. And while nobody on the fan-art side will make any money at it, there's always the influences that come out of it, whether Paramount choses to admit it or not.
...well, for one. a very hearty welcome back.
Grew up with TOS, watched Next Gen, DS-9, Voyager, and Enterprise. Take away the 'Temproal Cold War" and I kind of liked Enterprise. No Prime Directive, they still used shuttles (transporters were not approved yet for living beings), the Vulcans were suspicious of us "humans" (and introduced velcro® to the world), and really liked Dr. Phlox. [Even "borrowed" the name Groznik (spelling it Groznek) who was the third husband of Phlox's first wife for the family name of the star character from the story I am working on because it sounded right for someone from the northern Balkans .]
Haven't done much Trek art myself but I do lurk on the Trek Render thread here and am a watcher on The First Fleet gallery over on DA.
Canon-ites? Not one of them in any genre. Heck I'm currently ripping apart the Shadowrun RPG universe to create the setting for my own story..
Also love C.J's work and read a good deal of her SF output. Actually met her at a Westercon in Sacramento back in 1981. the year the first novel of the Chanur series was released. Loved that series as the lone human character was cast as "the alien".
ISC? Inter Stellar Concordium. SFB :). Some interesting stuff there for sure.
This site has some very interesting speculative Pre TOS ship designs and history. http://www.starfleet-museum.org/
My first foray into 3d modeling was playable ships for an online game based on SFB rules, Star Fleet Command II, back in 2002. Used milkshape.. and mostly 256 texture maps lol. This was a design I did for an early Klingon Police/Penal Gunboat. :). Less than 300 polys. I designed 40 or so ships for expanded TOS for my game.
A very neat thing re Star Fleet Command was commerce. Convoy Raiding and escorting were very important. All fleets had merchant/Freighter ships... and armed aux freighters. The other neat thing was Carriers with fighter wings. We had fleet Tugs lol.
My Trek world was expanding TOS and Pre TOS into logical fleets with far more ships than Connies, D-7s and Mirandas.
My singular, raging pet peeve with Trek Modeling is scaling the BOP up to dreadnaught and beyond size. In general TMP TNG didn't do much for me, design wise. I never want to see an Excelsior class or BOP again.
The most tech flak I got was for my Federation experimental Light Cruiser. Inboard Nacelles!!! Blashphemer!!!
Very cool models, I'm a huge[/] fan of the smaller ships. Shortly after TOS ended and before the TAS began, I was daydreaming about a "Tales from the Star Trek Universe" anthology, rotating characters from different aspects of the worlds they'd created. I really would have loved to see James Garner captaining a small trader ship and getting involved in different scams, Maverick/Rockford-style. I eventually got Han Solo and Malcolm Reynolds, but Garner would have been my pick way back then.
-- Walt Sterdan