Given how much Star Trek there is, let's check out how much there isn't!
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00:00Hello my friends, Sean Federick here for Trek Culture, and today's video is brought to
00:03you by Star Trek Fleet Command.
00:05Hooray!
00:06More on that now in a second.
00:07When Star Trek first hit the screens in 1966, there were a lot of ideas that were swirling
00:12around this brand new show and what Roddenberry's team of writers could come up with.
00:17Ideas and suggestions abounded, with entire fleshed-out proposals dismissed and hastily
00:21rewritten.
00:22Plot threads and episode ideas were hashed out and rehashed out over and over again until
00:27a finished product could be brought to screen.
00:30While some stories and ideas would fall foul of creative differences, some would be discarded
00:34due to scheduling conflicts and production difficulties.
00:37This is true of almost every television show, but given just how vast the franchise of Star
00:42Trek has become over the decades since Captain Kirk first sat in the captain's chair, there's
00:47a lot that was left on the cutting room floor.
00:49With a fanbase as passionate as Trek's, it's no surprise that many of these details have
00:53been dug up and discussed at length.
00:56So with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with Trek Culture, and here are 10 Abandoned Star
01:00Trek Ideas That Would Have Been Incredible.
01:27Yes, that is true.
01:28To coincide with the launch of the show on Paramount+, it is launching in-game.
01:34What does that mean?
01:35It means you get to use the souped-up Enterprise.
01:36It also means you get to use the holodeck, which is a little bit cool.
01:39But we have new characters coming.
01:42Those characters including Captain Pike, you've got Lieutenant Spock, and you've got Lieutenant
01:47La'Anne Noonien-Singh, who I would follow into battle in a heartbeat.
01:52Of course, as you know, the game itself is open world, it's constantly evolving, so
01:55there's always new games, new things to do.
01:58In fact, there's more than 25 new missions on the way with Strange New Worlds as well.
02:03There's also a little bit of a surprise for those of you who feel he didn't get his due.
02:07While he's not Strange New Worlds exclusive, there is a rare Reginald Barkley that you
02:12can play as.
02:13Now initially, he's only going to be available on PC before he extends into the mobile game
02:16as well, so make sure that you grab him while you can.
02:19Just to say again, thank you so much to Fleet Command, it is available via the description
02:23in the link to this video.
02:25Straight away, let's go.
02:2610.
02:27Maurice Hurley's Plans for Q
02:29After the tumultuous production of The Next Generation's first season, head writer Maurice
02:33Hurley was ready to pack in the whole bridge crew and start afresh.
02:37He had said in an interview with William Shatner that he had hoped to kill off the main cast
02:41and build the second season around finding a new crew for the Enterprise.
02:45Pretty drastic.
02:46Maurice Hurley eventually left the show at the end of the second season, and the 1988
02:51strike put pay to many of his plans.
02:54Many of the episodes that he had intended weren't produced, and those that did make
02:57the screen were often last-minute replacements to scrapped plans.
03:01Hurley's plans for Q would have been extensive.
03:04The idea was that early in the second season, Q would pay another visit to the Enterprise
03:08to torment Picard and warn him of the dangers that were out there.
03:12Because of this, Q would be stripped of his powers and have to live on the Enterprise
03:16for a time, until he was able to regain his abilities.
03:19If all of this sounds familiar, it's because this plot was condensed into two episodes,
03:24Q Who and Deja Q.
03:26The missing Q arc was essentially Q having to adjust to humanity and learn how to get
03:30along with Picard as an almost equal.
03:32Ronald D. Moore later commented that Hurley's plans were more plot-focused, and after his
03:37departure from the series, the show became much more character-focused.
03:41He stressed that they didn't want to overuse characters like Q, which this arc may well
03:45have done.
03:46Privately, however, there was one difference in Q Who that didn't make it into this arc.
03:51Q wouldn't have introduced humanity to the Borg.
03:53That would have been something else entirely.
03:569.
03:57Maurice Hurley's plans for the Borg
03:59Q wasn't the only Season 2 plan that Maurice Hurley had to leave by the wayside.
04:04Initially, his plans were for the first season finale episode, The Neutral Zone, to be the
04:09first of two parts.
04:11The second part would focus on the Enterprise and the Romulans being forced to work together
04:15to unravel the mystery of the missing colonies in both their territories.
04:19The answer to that mystery?
04:20A migratory, insectoid, hive-mind species called the Borg.
04:25That's right, in the eyes of the man who came up with them, the Borg weren't meant to be
04:28a race of cyborgs.
04:30They were meant to be Space Army Ants.
04:33They were extracting all materials from planets in their way.
04:36The Enterprise would discover that they were heading deeper and deeper in the Federation
04:39and would have to scramble to collect allies in facing off against this threat.
04:43The Romulans and Klingons would be among them.
04:46This plan would have seen the complete defeat of the Borg at the conclusion of the second
04:50season.
04:51Just think on that for a moment.
04:52The Borg were only meant to appear for a single season, and they weren't introduced by Q.
04:58Perhaps it's for the best that the writers striked through these plans asunder, because
05:01afterwards Maurice Hurley left the show and it took a very different direction.
05:05A better one?
05:07Perhaps not, but a fascinating one, certainly.
05:108.
05:11Giant Ferengi
05:12A script by Stephen DeKnight for Deep Space Nine was simply going to be called Giant and
05:17would have placed a humorous bent on Ferengi evolution.
05:20Worf, while accompanying Jadzia Dax for a drink in Quark's bar, would have found a Ferengi
05:24hitting on Jadzia and angrily dismissed him.
05:27He would have uttered the line,
05:29"'There's no honor fighting a single Ferengi,' only to hear, I'd say the same thing about
05:33Klingons from behind him."
05:35Worf would then be faced with a Ferengi who was at least his equal in height and body
05:39mass, and the two of them would engage in a traditional barroom brawl.
05:43Eventually, it would turn out that these two Ferengi, one little and one large, were brothers
05:47on the run from Ferengi space.
05:50Worf and Dax would have been tasked with escorting them back there, discovering that the two
05:54of them had discovered a scientific formula to activate the genes for physical strength
05:58and prowess that was deep within the Ferengi genome.
06:01They explained that Ferengi were once large and strong, but had developed down an evolutionary
06:05path to be smaller, sneakier, and thus not considered a threat by larger species.
06:11When the four of them were attacked by Jem'Hadar on the way, they'd all have to work together
06:15to survive.
06:16Eventually, Worf would have to acknowledge the history of the Ferengi as warriors in
06:20their own right.
06:21Could have been fun!
06:227.
06:23Ronald D. Moore's obsession with musicals
06:27Yes, before Buffy the Vampire Slayer hit us with its beloved musical episode, Ronald D.
06:31Moore wanted the next generation to have a musical episode.
06:35When the idea didn't go over particularly well there, he attempted to get it made on
06:39Deep Space Nine, and was again shot down.
06:42Ron's ideas were never fully fleshed out.
06:43His desire sprang simply from thinking that making a musical episode for either show would
06:47be fun.
06:48He's quoted as saying,
06:49"'There's some tech virus that infects the crew, and they can only communicate in song,
06:53you know?
06:54And just do it and have a ball.'"
06:55Alas, nobody was interested in pursuing it, and the idea went nowhere.
06:59Coincidentally, Linda Park pushed to have a musical episode on Enterprise as well, given
07:04that she was a trained singer, as were John Billingsley and Scott Bakula.
07:08This idea didn't go anywhere either.
07:10Given the enduring popularity of Buffy's Once More with Feeling, maybe it might have been
07:14wise to cash in on the musical vibe.
07:16Also, has anyone attempted to adapt that Buffy episode into a stage show yet?
07:20If not, why not?
07:226.
07:23The literal year of hell
07:25Scuttlebutt would have us believe that the plans for Voyage's year of hell were much
07:28more extensive than the two-part episode that we eventually received.
07:32While this two-parter was sufficiently brutal as we witnessed the degradation and crippling
07:37of our beloved Voyager over an extended period of time, it could have been more.
07:41The plans for the year of hell were for it to have spanned an entire season, with the
07:45Crennan temporal ship haunting them for more than 20 episodes.
07:49Voyager would have accumulated more and more damage as time went by, as there would be
07:53nowhere for the ship to repair itself and they would slowly lose crew members.
07:57The two-part episode did do an excellent job of conveying the damage that Voyager is continually
08:02subjected to, but picture that breakdown spread over a whole season.
08:06Picture the sense of loss and isolation that could have been worked into the very fabric
08:10of the show as it progressed, mirrored by the increased frustration of Anorak's as he
08:14tries to shape an entire quadrant to his liking until it's unrecognizable.
08:18The ultimate conclusion of the season would still have been the same, with Janeway destroying
08:23both the crippled Voyager and the Crennan timeship in a spectacular final space battle.
08:27Eventually, the plans for the season-long arc were reduced to the two-part episode we
08:31watched.
08:32Jerry Taylor and Brannon Braga felt that a season-long investment that would be reversed
08:36at its conclusion was too much for the audience to bear.
08:39Voyager, for all of the excellent solo episodes that are within it, overall lacked cohesion
08:44as a series, and this missed opportunity could have paved the way for more overarching stories,
08:49the kind that Voyager's very premise demanded.
08:51But it wasn't to be.
08:53Number 5.
08:54Who's Killing the Great Voyagers of the Delta Quadrant?
08:57And why, yes, that title is directly taken from Who is Killing the Great Chefs of the
09:02The premise of this episode, put forward by Brian Fuller, was to follow the adventures
09:05of several alternate reality Voyagers.
09:08These different Voyagers are being systematically hunted down and destroyed by an unknown force
09:13that can somehow jump between these realities.
09:16Ideas included a completely Klingon version of Voyager, where the Klingon Empire had defeated
09:20the Federation back in Kirk's day, complete with Kate Mulgrew in full Klingon makeup,
09:25and a version that was completely crewed by holograms as well as a few others.
09:29Eventually, our Voyager and her captain Janeway would discover what's happening.
09:33They would be confronted by another Voyager, this one commanded by Chakotay, whose Marquee
09:37crew had overwhelmed the Starfleet crew.
09:40This alternate Chakotay had become convinced that Janeway was responsible for them being
09:44stranded in the Delta Quadrant, and while he had found a way to jump timelines, he hadn't
09:49yet found a way to cross the vast distance to return home.
09:52While this episode never panned out, it would have given Chakotay a lot more to do and probably
09:56would have been pretty fun.
09:58We'd already seen Worf jump from timeline to timeline in the Next Generation episode
10:02Parallels, so why not a rampaging alternate Voyager?
10:054.
10:06The Tantalus Prison of James T. Kirk
10:09You all remember the Tantalus device, yes?
10:11It was a minor plot point in the classic original series episode Mirror Mirror.
10:15When Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, Uhura, and Scotty are transported to the Mirror Universe by
10:20a freak ion storm, Kirk discovers a device in his opposite number's quarters.
10:25This is the Tantalus device, something that could simply make a selected target completely
10:30disappear.
10:31This device later cropped up in the palace of Emperor Georgiou when she used it to keep
10:35an eye on a wayward Michael Burnham.
10:37Frequent Star Trek novelist Judith and Garfield Reeve-Stevens had pitched a two-part episode
10:42for Star Trek Enterprise that featured the Tantalus device, where it would have been
10:46revealed that it didn't kill people at all.
10:48It simply transported them back in time, about 150 years, to an isolated penal planet.
10:54Host Mirror Spock, resplendent in his goatee, had used the device on Mirror Kirk just after
10:59the end of Mirror Mirror.
11:00This means that Kirk could still be there in the 2150s, when Captain Jonathan Archer
11:05and his crew would find him.
11:07You see, in the original pitch for this episode, the Mirror Universe hadn't been created by
11:11the 2150s.
11:12It didn't exist yet.
11:14Mirror Kirk and Archer would have tried to figure out what happened to it, and somehow,
11:18in some grave experiment, they would have accidentally created it.
11:22Yes, the plans for the Mirror Universe episode, In a Mirror Darkly, originally included a
11:26role for the evil version of Captain Kirk.
11:29While the episodes we did receive were amongst the strongest of Enterprise's fourth season,
11:33just imagine having had Kirk in the mix as well.
11:36Number 3.
11:37The first season of Enterprise
11:39So the first season of Enterprise could have turned out very different from the one that
11:43we watched.
11:44The pitch by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga was for a show that was set entirely on Earth,
11:49for the first season, at least.
11:50Much of the premise still made it into pilot episode Broken Boat, but some of the plot
11:54points from the fourth season, such as anti-alien resentment amongst some humans, would have
11:59made it into this storyline.
12:01Essentially, the series would begin with first contact with the Klingons, which would have
12:05left Starfleet Command scrabbling to finish their first Warp 5-capable ship.
12:09So far, so familiar, but there was no temporal Cold War in this proposal, and humanity would
12:14have stumbled at the first hurdle.
12:16The brand new Enterprise would have been destroyed in its first attempt at a launch, leading
12:20the design team to go back to the drawing board.
12:23Eventually, this idea was rejected, and the show we got was a lot more like its predecessors
12:27in the original series, The Next Generation, and Voyager.
12:30Eventually, Enterprise would shake up its format with The Zindi War, but the first two
12:34seasons were not what they could have been.
12:37Number 2.
12:38The Godhead
12:39A scrapped episode from the third season of the original series, The Godhead was meant
12:43to be the 26th episode.
12:46This would have put it to be the very last, beating out the somewhat troublesome turnabout
12:51intruder.
12:52In this episode, the crew of the Enterprise would have discovered an ancient alien race
12:55that had discovered a way to accumulate all of their vast knowledge and place it inside
12:59a single person.
13:00While the details of who this single person were to be weren't released, it was likely
13:04to have been one of the crew, but unlikely to have been either Kirk or Spock.
13:08Whoever they turned out to be, the Godhead themselves would have been driven mad with
13:12power and would have become determined to use the Enterprise to conquer the galaxy.
13:17This story was actually put into the first stages of production, but the final two episodes
13:21of the third season were cancelled by NBC, and this one never saw the light of day.
13:26The Godhead is one of many original series episodes that could have been.
13:30In fact, our very own Brie has made a whole video talking about them, which includes some
13:34Oscar-worthy acting by Adam Cleary, so be sure to check that out.
13:38But for now, number 1.
13:40Star Trek The Beginning
13:41The tentative title for an eleventh film that never came to pass, The Beginning was meant
13:46to be the first of a trilogy of films that bridged the gap between Star Trek Enterprise
13:51and Star Trek The Original Series.
13:53A full treatment was approved and multiple versions of the script were written, but the
13:57project fell apart in favor of going with J.J. Abrams' reboot film in 2009.
14:02Set four years after the events of Terra Prime, the United Earth's Stellar Navy is being folded
14:07into Starfleet, and a few officers are resentful of the move.
14:10One called Tiberius Chase has family ties back to the Terra Prime movement, who wanted
14:15to drive all alien influence from Earth.
14:17Somewhat suddenly, a massive Romulan attack fleet emerges from behind Earth's moon.
14:22They demand for Earth to turn over all of the Vulcans living on the planet, to which
14:26Admiral Gardner refuses and manages to rally Starfleet and UESN forces.
14:31When the Romulans are just barely driven off, it's discovered that the Romulans are planning
14:35to regroup with reinforcements.
14:37Tiberius Chase and his band of survivors track down the nuclear stockpile of an isolationist
14:42group, then hijack the USS Spartan from its dry dock in Saturn and attempt to bring the
14:46war to the Romulans.
14:48This would be the opening moves of the much-talked-about Earth-Romulan War, during which the two sides
14:53did not see each other face-to-face.
14:55The war was fought entirely in ships, and a subsequent Neutral Zone Treaty was negotiated
15:00over subspace transmission.
15:02In one final detail, Tiberius Chase would be sending letters to Penelope Gardner, the daughter
15:07of Admiral Gardner, who was a schoolteacher in Iowa, where a certain Captain was born.
15:12While the 2009 reboot of the franchise seemed like a better bet, the franchise lost a lot
15:17by not following through with this project.
15:19But given how much of Star Trek there is, we, its faithful fans, must always remember
15:23that there were so many more ideas out there.
15:26Many would have sucked, but so many would have been just awesome.
15:29In theory, out there in an alternate timeline, they all got made for our viewing pleasure.
15:34Just think on that one.
15:36And that concludes our list.
15:37If you can think of any other examples, then do let us know in the comments below.
15:40And while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe, and tap that notification bell.
15:44Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there, and I can be found across various social medias
15:48just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
15:50I've been Ellie with Trek Culture.
15:52I hope you have a wonderful day, and remember to boldly go where no one has gone before.