HOW I WOULD RUN STAR TREK

Steve Cole muses wistfully:

I joked recently that the main reason I kept ADB going was so that, one day, Paramount would realize that they should put me in charge of Star Trek. I honestly think I'd do a better job.

For one thing, I'd listen to the fans a lot more, and not to industry insiders. For another, I'd keep the writing of each series and each episode (and each book and comic book) consistent with the established background.

I'd start by creating a new series called STAR TREK: PRIME DIRECTIVE. This would be a small prime team (an ensemble cast of six characters, plus the cranky retired Star Fleet captain who drives around the small starship they use to get from place to place. This solves the silliness of sending the bridge crew down to explore the planet, negotiate the treaty, cure the plague, and spy on the Klingons.

A year or two later, I'd start a second series, and a year or two after that, a third. I'd want to keep two (preferably three) on the air all the time. (Think CSI or Law and Order.) One of these would be STAR TREK: KLINGONS since I like Klingons. Another would be STAR TREK: THE EVIL EMPIRE about the mirror universe, where Shatner would be the Emperor of Earth and Spock would be his "good guy nemesis" running the rebellion.

The key to success would be quality writing. Frankly, the writers that we use in Captain's Log do better stories than the ones we saw on DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise. I wouldn't have the characters "get in touch with their feelings" and I'd bring some military common sense to the scripts.