"Where Are We Going This Time": The Golden Age of Science Fiction
- Thread starter Timelordtoe
- Start date
We debated briefly on Betty White or Bea Arthur for Kelly's grandma, but Betty White just fit better. Bea might show up in a guest appearance on DS9 or ODY, though.
Timelordtoe
Monthly Donor
WARNING: While most of this is replies to your comments, there's a lot of infodump here too. Proceed at your own risk.
It has an even number of nacelles, four to be exact. I've always liked non-traditional nacelle looks. I'll probably make some diagrams for the next season, but I see the Athena-class being made of stock similar to the Sovereign-class, but more heavily armed, and designed for war, not exploration. After the war, it would be more easily convertile than a Valiant-class.
The Athena-class has two warp cores, one in the saucer section, and one in the secondary hull. Two of the nacelles are attached to the saucer section, and the other two are on the secondary hull. I've taken some design pointers from the Federation-class as seen in the Technical Manuals, though obviously with four nacelles, not three. It has the ability to separate to saucer, but both saucer and drive sections have warp capability. Given that it's designed more for warfare, both sections are heavily armed, so it's more like the Prometheus-class's multi-vector assault mode (though god do I hate that ship). Still, it's an emergency action only, and one we won't see too often. In normal operation, both drives will be used, in part just because she's beefy and needs all the power she can get, but it's also something of a return to the "brute force" method of high warp.
The Athena-class is very much the test-bed for many new technologies, not dissimilar to the USS Aventine or the rest of the Vesta-class from the books. No slipstream here though. While this makes it extremely powerful, they are few and far between, and the cutting edge tech might not always work as planned. She's a powerful gal, but that strength comes at a cost.
Ultimately, besides giving us another real ass-kicking ship, both I and @The Chimera Virus really want to explore what Starfleet is like when it is pushed into a war that they could very well lose. Part of that will be seen this season, and next season, as Starfleet starts to militarise, dividing the staff. People like Sisko (was at Wolf 359), Kelly (was the tactical officer of the Enterprise at that time) and O'Brien (who fought in the Federation-Cardassian war) will be more in favour of this mobilisation, while Bashir, Troi, Dax and some others will be less keen. Suffice it to say, we'll see the Federation at their worst, and they can be terrifying. "The Siege of AR-558" is one of my favourite stories after all. I do feel sorry for the Jem'Hadar.
I don't want to give a huge amount away, but this is not the only time we'll see TNG cast in DS9. I don't plan to bring anyone over as part of the main cast, but a few guest appearances may be in order. Riker especially, given that we've already seen Tom Riker. When the war starts in earnest, there will be some mentions of what the Enterprise is up to, though obviously, we won't see too much of her. She may be relegated to being behind the front lines, to boost morale. Of course, right now it's pretty much business as usual, though as you can guess by the fact that there's a film coming up, that doesn't mean that things are uninteresting.
No, you can't go wrong with Betty White. @The Chimera Virus wisely pointed out to me "Who doesn't like Betty White?", to which I replied "Nobody".
Right, one last little infodump about the Athena-class. Here's a few of the ship names. You can guess the connection:
The question of how large Starfleet is is the subject of much debate. I see Starfleet having fewer vessels than some of their "evenly" matched rivals, but their vessels are much more powerful one-on-one. While it's clear that they're making close to a thousand ships a year, from Wikipedia, there were over 1500 Klingon ships involved in the Dominion War, so I could see Starfleet easily having as many to spare, given that a lot of the older vessels won't last too long. This number could easily take things like runabouts into account too.
Suffice it to say, most task forces won't have an Athena-class handy, and they'll be used as a real capital ship. You may be able to guess who is getting the Brigid, and they'll be getting a promotion to a rarely seen rank too. Seeing two Athena-class ships together will be very rare, and generally a sign that the situation is dire, or that Starfleet really wants to send a message.
In short, I've done far too much thinking about the Brigid, especially given that we don't see her until next season. But she's very much my baby from a design standpoint, and I wanted to make her just as fleshed out as the ships from OTL, and I sort of tackled a couple of other things along the way. Also, Troi is in DS9 Season 4 and I'm excited.
I've done a lot of planning for the Brigid. I really went all in on my tendency to over-worldbuild, so I have a pretty good idea as to how it will look. There has been a Dreadnought type vessel in canon already, the Federation-class USS Entente from TMP, though in fairness, we didn't get to see it on-screen. I'll probably keep referring to the Athena-class as a Dreadnought, though much like the Valiant-class is considered an escort officially despite being more of a battleship, I could easily see it being considered a heavy cruiser, possibly even super-heavy. Right, prepare for an info/worldbuilding-dump.
It has an even number of nacelles, four to be exact. I've always liked non-traditional nacelle looks. I'll probably make some diagrams for the next season, but I see the Athena-class being made of stock similar to the Sovereign-class, but more heavily armed, and designed for war, not exploration. After the war, it would be more easily convertile than a Valiant-class.
The Athena-class has two warp cores, one in the saucer section, and one in the secondary hull. Two of the nacelles are attached to the saucer section, and the other two are on the secondary hull. I've taken some design pointers from the Federation-class as seen in the Technical Manuals, though obviously with four nacelles, not three. It has the ability to separate to saucer, but both saucer and drive sections have warp capability. Given that it's designed more for warfare, both sections are heavily armed, so it's more like the Prometheus-class's multi-vector assault mode (though god do I hate that ship). Still, it's an emergency action only, and one we won't see too often. In normal operation, both drives will be used, in part just because she's beefy and needs all the power she can get, but it's also something of a return to the "brute force" method of high warp.
The Athena-class is very much the test-bed for many new technologies, not dissimilar to the USS Aventine or the rest of the Vesta-class from the books. No slipstream here though. While this makes it extremely powerful, they are few and far between, and the cutting edge tech might not always work as planned. She's a powerful gal, but that strength comes at a cost.
Ultimately, besides giving us another real ass-kicking ship, both I and @The Chimera Virus really want to explore what Starfleet is like when it is pushed into a war that they could very well lose. Part of that will be seen this season, and next season, as Starfleet starts to militarise, dividing the staff. People like Sisko (was at Wolf 359), Kelly (was the tactical officer of the Enterprise at that time) and O'Brien (who fought in the Federation-Cardassian war) will be more in favour of this mobilisation, while Bashir, Troi, Dax and some others will be less keen. Suffice it to say, we'll see the Federation at their worst, and they can be terrifying. "The Siege of AR-558" is one of my favourite stories after all. I do feel sorry for the Jem'Hadar.
Troi will have a story dedicated to her, suffice it to say that reaction to her is somewhat mixed. Kelly and O'Brien are happy to be working with her again. This will be explored a bit in the "story thread", but I see Troi and Leslie Crusher having helped Kelly settle in to life on the Enterprise, so I see Troi and Kelly being pretty friendly. However, she will be dealing with the fact that she's joining this crew that already sort of has their dynamic figured, and now she's the outsider. I see Sisko being apprehensive to talk to her, and possibly outright hostility from Kira. I'm interested to explore the crew's reactions, especially as they've all met her mother. Odo especially.
I don't want to give a huge amount away, but this is not the only time we'll see TNG cast in DS9. I don't plan to bring anyone over as part of the main cast, but a few guest appearances may be in order. Riker especially, given that we've already seen Tom Riker. When the war starts in earnest, there will be some mentions of what the Enterprise is up to, though obviously, we won't see too much of her. She may be relegated to being behind the front lines, to boost morale. Of course, right now it's pretty much business as usual, though as you can guess by the fact that there's a film coming up, that doesn't mean that things are uninteresting.
I'm glad I made the choice to bring in Troi. She's giving us a lot to work with on stories, especially given the fact that this crew is perhaps more in need of her services than any other one we've met. But we didn't get to see her character properly until late in TNG, in part because Berman saw her as two breasts in a non-standard uniform. There's a reason she was a lot better from "Chain of Command" on. I'd like to explore more of her character, and this was a good excuse to, especially as you can't really do that with film. I didn't actually have this in mind when I used the pay dispute to get rid of Berman, though it's worked out wonderfully.
No, you can't go wrong with Betty White. @The Chimera Virus wisely pointed out to me "Who doesn't like Betty White?", to which I replied "Nobody".
Right, one last little infodump about the Athena-class. Here's a few of the ship names. You can guess the connection:
- USS Athena (NX-50467)
- USS Minerva (NCC-51092)
- USS Brigid (NCC-51122) (this is the one we'll see most)
- USS Sulis (NCC-51273)
- USS Neith (NCC-51304)
- USS Innana (NCC-51374)
- USS Ishtar (NCC-51591)
- USS Astarte (NCC-52004)
The question of how large Starfleet is is the subject of much debate. I see Starfleet having fewer vessels than some of their "evenly" matched rivals, but their vessels are much more powerful one-on-one. While it's clear that they're making close to a thousand ships a year, from Wikipedia, there were over 1500 Klingon ships involved in the Dominion War, so I could see Starfleet easily having as many to spare, given that a lot of the older vessels won't last too long. This number could easily take things like runabouts into account too.
Suffice it to say, most task forces won't have an Athena-class handy, and they'll be used as a real capital ship. You may be able to guess who is getting the Brigid, and they'll be getting a promotion to a rarely seen rank too. Seeing two Athena-class ships together will be very rare, and generally a sign that the situation is dire, or that Starfleet really wants to send a message.
In short, I've done far too much thinking about the Brigid, especially given that we don't see her until next season. But she's very much my baby from a design standpoint, and I wanted to make her just as fleshed out as the ships from OTL, and I sort of tackled a couple of other things along the way. Also, Troi is in DS9 Season 4 and I'm excited.
Interesting ship class you are building there. I don't like Prometheus-class's multi-vector assault mode either.
Please could redeem Tom RIker? It would be interesting if had been working for Starfleet Intelligence the entire time for example.
Given what you have done to the timeline I am surprised you are still doing for a UFP-Klingon War instead of say a Klingon-Romulan war for example given the potential for more chaos that way since it would leave the UFP as the only people guarding the wormhole, plus risks pulling the UFP in as well if the founders make it seem to be the Romulans fault. Seems more like the Shadows modus operandi to me esp as the Klingons have more beef with the Star Empire than UFP at this point.
Please could redeem Tom RIker? It would be interesting if had been working for Starfleet Intelligence the entire time for example.
Given what you have done to the timeline I am surprised you are still doing for a UFP-Klingon War instead of say a Klingon-Romulan war for example given the potential for more chaos that way since it would leave the UFP as the only people guarding the wormhole, plus risks pulling the UFP in as well if the founders make it seem to be the Romulans fault. Seems more like the Shadows modus operandi to me esp as the Klingons have more beef with the Star Empire than UFP at this point.
Timelordtoe
Monthly Donor
We've not seen the last of Tom Riker. A redemption arc for him and another character may well occur.
The UFP-Klingon war puts the cast on the front lines, however briefly, and it's still in the Founders' interests to diplomatically isolate the Federation. Though they have no doubts about their own ability, their MO is very much divide and conquer. Having all three major AQ powers at each others' throats is a lot of help to them. Bear in mind that both the Founders and the Shadows have agents working around right now. And in a very strange way, the Shadows will be proven sort of right in one regard by the end of the season. The chaos caused by the brief UFP-Klingon war will make the alliance stronger than ever, and increases the military presence at the wormhole.
Also, we don't really have too much of a Klingon presence right now, and the war serves a good way to bring them in. I don't want to give too much away, but we have more plans for the Klingons than we do the Romulans, at least in DS9. A Klingon-Romulan war could work, but I think that this bring the Klingons in better, as well as giving a more clear "strange bedfellows" situation as the crew of DS9 find themselves essentially allied with Dukat.
In fact, while the Shadows will be antagonists, they will be seen in a way similar to Section 31. In a twisted sort of way, they want the races of the galaxy to be stronger and more prosperous, they just think that that must be achieved through chaos. In much the same way as Section 31 wants what's best for the Federation, but is less concerned about the morals of their actions, the main issue the characters will have with the Shadows are the means, rather than the ends. These aren't the Pah-Wraiths from OTL, they're definitely going to be distinct. How that affects the characterisation of Dukat remains to be seen. Their ideology will be "proven" wrong on multiple occasions, but they aren't completely villainous.
I'll sum up the Shadows in one quote: "Strength through chaos". Kudos if you know what that's from.
I realise that the cast of DS9 is getting quite full at this point but been thinking a dedicated Federation ambassador might be a good addition to the crew. I know they show this time around is borrowing from Babylon 5’s idea of the stations captain being the Earth/Federation representative , but it always felt a little weird giving a captain that much authority, especially in a war situation. And after rereading Articles of The Federation, it might be helpful to give audiences a window into which to view the workings of the UFP, seeing as we already know so much about the workings of the Klingon or cardassian governments.
Storywise, you can hand wave such a late introduction as being Starfleet wants Sisko to be more combat focussed and prepared for war while the Federation council wants more civilian oversight. You can get plenty of story and tension out of Sisko and the new ambassador, him feeling like their appointment reflects a lack of trust in his abilities, clashing civilian/military frames of mind, Starfleet ideals butting up against ambassadorial realpolitik, frontier ambassadoring clashing with politics back on earth etc. They don’t have to be a main character in every episode but a dedicated reoccurring character like that might serve thestories of DS9 for the better
Storywise, you can hand wave such a late introduction as being Starfleet wants Sisko to be more combat focussed and prepared for war while the Federation council wants more civilian oversight. You can get plenty of story and tension out of Sisko and the new ambassador, him feeling like their appointment reflects a lack of trust in his abilities, clashing civilian/military frames of mind, Starfleet ideals butting up against ambassadorial realpolitik, frontier ambassadoring clashing with politics back on earth etc. They don’t have to be a main character in every episode but a dedicated reoccurring character like that might serve thestories of DS9 for the better
Chapter XV: "If You Ever Want To Be Free"
Timelordtoe
Monthly Donor
Part III, Chapter XV: "If You Ever Want To Be Free"
“I had much more fun on the set than I was expecting to. Christian and Colm helped me to settle in, and everyone else was very welcoming. It had more of a ‘let’s get down to business and make a TV show’ feel on set, but we’ve pretty much all remained close friends to this day. But the most fun I had that first season was Homefront. Working with George again was good fun, and we all got to see a side of Sulu that we hadn’t before with him as the Federation President. Of course, given where George is now, I can’t help but to think that that was where the idea started for him.”
- Marina Sirtis on her joining Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.With Season Three, Deep Space Nine had started its major plot arc, the Dominion arc, in earnest. The power of the Dominion had been seen, and Starfleet had started to militarise in response. Rather than continue to deal with the Dominion directly, though, the fourth season would opt to stay primarily within the Alpha Quadrant, following the crew as they dealt with the Dominion’s attempts to turn the powers there on each other. Though, the opening two-parter, “Ghosts”, would deal with the Dominion more directly, as it saw the Hur’q make their first on-screen appearance.
Season Four of Deep Space Nine would gain a small amount of viewers, averaging 10% of US households, a 1% increase over the previous season. As it became clear that Deep Space Nine was tackling bigger issues and was not just a run-of-the-mill science-fiction show, audiences that had previously dismissed the genre began to give the show a try, in part due to the advertising scheme which made use of the internet, unlike most shows of the time.
List of Episodes of Season 4 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
- Ghosts (Part I)
- Ghosts (Part II)
- The Visitor
- Indiscretion
- Needs and Aides
- Trials and Tribble-ations
- Sanctuary
- A Whole-Body Tragedy
- The Way of the Worrier
- Narn
- Little Green Men
- Return to Grace
- Creatures of Logic
- An Embarrassment of Riches
- Starship Down
- The Last Serenade
- Our Man Bashir
- United We Fall (Part I)
- Divided We Stand (Part II)
- Hard Time
- The Quickening
- Apocalypse Rising
- The Long Dark
- For the Cause
- To The Death
- Homefront (Part I)
Main Cast of Season 4 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
| Captain Benjamin Sisko | Laurence Fishburne |
| Constable Odo | Rene Auberjonois |
| Lt. Jadzia Dax | Famke Janssen |
| Jake Sisko | Cirroc Lofton |
| Chief Miles O'Brien | Colm Meaney |
| Quark | Armin Shimerman |
| Dr. (Lt.) Julian Bashir | Alexander Siddig |
| Lt./Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Kelly | Christian Slater |
| Major Kira Nerys | Nana Visitor |
Recurring Cast of Season 4 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
| Captain John Sheridan | Peter Capaldi |
| Anna Sheridan | Kirsten Dunst |
| Admiral David Gardener | Pierce Brosnan |
| Counselor (Cmdr.) Deanna Troi | Marina Sirtis |
| Keiko O'Brien | Rosalind Chao |
| Kasidy Yates | Penny Johnson Jerald |
| Lt. Cmdr. Michael Eddington | Kenneth Marshall |
| Mildred Jean Kelly | Betty White |
| Rom | Max Grodenchik |
| Nog | Aron Eisenberg |
| General Martok | J. G. Herzler |
| Elim Garak | Andrew Robinson |
| Gul Dukat | Marc Alaimo |
| Tora Ziyal | Melanie Smith |
| Damar | Casey Biggs |
| Weyoun | Jeffrey Combs |
| Navarch Winn | Louise Fletcher |
| Kai Bareil | Philip Anglim |
| Female Changeling | Salome Jens |
| Grand Nagus Zek | Wallace Shawn |
| Lt. K'Rene | Virginia Madsen |
| Commander Arpad Tigan | Bryan Cranston |
| Commander Solaris | Linda Hunt |
| Ambassador T'Prieke | Mädchen Amick |
| First Omet'iklan | Clarence Williams III |
| Ambassador Delenn | Mira Furlan |
Though the show seemed to be keeping viewers, some long-time fans were turned off by the sharp shift away from the episodic format. Deep Space Nine, by and large, was not the sort of show where one could watch the episodes in whatever order one wanted to. This did have many upsides, however. The increased serialisation meant that the larger stories were more nuanced, and time could be spent on the detail of the stories, as they built to a larger conclusion. In addition, time was available for all of the characters to be developed, even those who were recurring. This contrasted greatly with The Next Generation, which was at times, derisively referred to as the "Picard, Riker and Data show". Some of the writers were worried, though, especially as that with each season, the size of the recurring cast would increase, compounded by the announment of the recurring cast additions for Season Five, including Reese Witherspoon as Lt. Ezri Perim. [2]
The continued success of Deep Space Nine was proving the versatility of science fiction as a genre, and was helping UPN to firmly establish itself as a "go-to" network for entertainment.
[1] @Ogrebear's suggestions are really helping me inject more Babylon 5 into this. I think that they'll make for some good stories. Only one is adapted straight from a B% story, though.
[2] I am finding it somewhat difficult to give each character the time they deserve, but Season 4 is the last time there's a large addition. Witherspoon is pretty much the only new cast member in Season 5. From here, the recurring cast will slowly decrease in size for a few reasons.
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Some interesting names there, both in the episode list and the cast. Capaldi, Brosnan, Witherspoon? Interesting. Looking forward to the synopsis.
Nice hint on Takei's political career there. Let's hope he does well.
Glad you found the suggestions useful. I'll dig some more ideas up for you.
Nice hint on Takei's political career there. Let's hope he does well.
Glad you found the suggestions useful. I'll dig some more ideas up for you.
Looking forward to you synopsis.
Based on the Cast list, I take it the character of John Sheridan is very different then in Babylon 5.
Sheridan never had a daughter in B5 .
Based on the Cast list, I take it the character of John Sheridan is very different then in Babylon 5.
Sheridan never had a daughter in B5 .
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God damn, y'all must be working hard on this. There's a lot to unpack here and this season looks incredibly dense.
Is there a particular reason Troi is only a recurring character and not in the main cast? How often does she appear?
Ezri Kell....a composite of Ezri Dax and Kell Perim? It's a shame we won't get to learn about her for a while...
Couldn't help but notice Winn has the title Navarch and not Vedek. I don't know if this is new or if I missed it before. One has to wonder if Bareil can survive another season.
That last footnote is very ominous.
I have faith you can find a way to fit all the important storylines and characters in, especially with an extra season.
Is there a particular reason Troi is only a recurring character and not in the main cast? How often does she appear?
Ezri Kell....a composite of Ezri Dax and Kell Perim? It's a shame we won't get to learn about her for a while...
Couldn't help but notice Winn has the title Navarch and not Vedek. I don't know if this is new or if I missed it before. One has to wonder if Bareil can survive another season.
That last footnote is very ominous.
I have faith you can find a way to fit all the important storylines and characters in, especially with an extra season.
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Are we seeing a hint of President Takei? Now that would be a massive milestone!
It's great that all of the characters get their own chance in the spotlight.
Timelordtoe
Monthly Donor
I mentioned Witherspoon because she's going to be making an appearance this season, but it will be part of the guest cast. Still, I'm very excited to show her character off when she appears in earnest.
I was somewhat at odds with myself as to whether I hinted towards Takei having a political career, but I decided that I was fine with it in the end. As I've said before, I'm generally trying to keep the timeline away from politics, but there are a few places where it will be mentioned. Shows like Doctor Who have always commented on the currect political climate, and the next season will be no exception (as it touches on what's going on politically in the UK). We're living in times where popular culture is having an effect on the political world, and ultimately, the timeline will reflect that, as the butterflies start to affect the non-pop-culture world.
And again, thank you for the suggestions. I was having a hard time figuring out what B5 to put in, and I know that I'm going to be using a lot of your other suggestions next season.
Sheridan is pretty different. His personality is pretty similar to B5's Sheridan, though. Anna is sort of there to ground him, and gives us a chance to have some more interactions with the Ambassadors. She's her own character, though, and we have some exciting stuff planned with her. I know now what's going to happen in every season, and the plots we're going to cover. We'll see a darker version of the Federation than we even saw in OTL, covering some interesting topics. Anna is involved with at least one of them.
Sheridan is very much a kindred spirit to Sisko, though most of his interactions are with Kelly and Dax at this point. While Kelly is the XO for the Valiant, he's spending a lot of time on the Lakota, as is Dax. Sheridan definitely has more political aspirations than Sisko, and he idolizes Sulu a lot. That will play into "Homefront" a lot, as it follows Sisko, Sheridan and Gardener. I'll tell you something, it's a hell of a cliffhanger.
To be honest, I've had everything I need to do this for about a week, but I keep getting distracted. This season is about a season and a half of OTL packed in, with a few of our own additions. That being said, it should be a real fun ride.
Troi was a relatively late addition to the cast from a production standpoint. Her appearances will be more in line with Garak in the later seasons (i.e. basically main cast, but recurring cast for now). She's main cast for S5 at least. She has one episode dedicated to her, and she'll be involved with most of the ambassador related stories. She gets another day in the spotlight during "Divided We Stand", though.
Ezri Kell is very similar to Ezri Tigan/Dax of OTL, but as you can guess, she won't be going through everything that Ezri of OTL did. She makes an appearance during "United We Fall/Divided We Stand".
The Navarch title is a change for this season. It's part of the power-sharing agreement between Bareil and Winn. Navarch is the title Li Nalas had during the S2 three-part opener. They report directly to the prophets, which puts her even closer to that title of Kai. Bareil will be needing to watch his back. Winn may not be Kai, but she's getting more powerful by the day.
I didn't intend for the footnote to be that ominous, it's more things like that Eddington won't be recurring cast after this season, he'll be guest cast. I'm considering changing it to Main Cast and Secondary Cast, as that's more in line with how they are. I won't be pulling punches with killing off characters though. I'm not affraid to do that.
The extra season will be a lot of help, especially as it will let me drag the war out a little longer. I'm going to take the opportunity to do some of the things I wish OTL had covered, especially later on. Everyone should get a chance to shine.
Obviously, I don't want to give too much away, but your question will be answered pretty soon.
DS9 really gave the secondary cast a lot of time to shine. They felt like more fleshed out characters than the main cast of a lot of other shows. DS9 had a few faults, but character development was not one of them. I'm trying to take some of the characters in a new direction though. Dax's worldview, especially how she sees her own society, is being challenged a lot by Arpad's presence, and that's going to be compounded by Ezri. Kira isn't entirely sure who she is either, after "Second Skin", and things aren't quite the same with her fellow Bajorans now (whether she is or isn't Bajoran isn't a question I acutally want to answer, as I think leaving it undetermined is more interesting). The crew have a lot of demons to deal with, and that's part of the reason that Troi is there now.
For the show, I'm reminded of Quark's quote about humans from "The Siege of AR-558" (it's too long, so I won't paste it here). We'll see the Federation at its worst, and tackle some issues related to war that OTL didn't cover, especially on the civillian side of things. Starfleet is militarising at the moment, but that doesn't mean that the public are happy with it.
Oh, we just realized we don't have a Ferengi story this season, so Hippocratic Oath will be deferred to next season (where, admittedly, it works far better).
Timelordtoe
Monthly Donor
Hey everyone,
Sorry that there hasn't been an update for a few days, there's been some other stuff I've needed to focus on. I'm currently in the process of changing which university I am enrolled at, and I forgot how stressful it could be. But that's not why I'm making this little update.
I'm going to make a few more supplemental updates, one focussing on fandom in general, while another will take a look at the internet. Also, once we're done with 1997, I'm going to go back and give Part I a freshen up. I'd like to bring it up to the same standard the current updates are at. There will be a few ret-cons, but nothing that will affect the overall story being told. A couple of names will change, the first season of TNG might have a few alterations. Think of it more as a remaster than a remake.
Also, the next "Where Are We Now?" style update will be the last. Almost everything in there will be getting its own update once 2000 hits, especially Eurovision. I have Eurovision planned up to the current year, and I'm going to do some media stuff for that (alternate scoreboards mainly). Bond stuff will get its own updates too. The way I see it now, if something is important enough for me to want to mention it, it'll either be big enough for its own update, or it can fit in another update.
Right, that's about all I wanted to say for now. Another update will be out soon (depending on how quickly I can get all my UCAS stuff sorted out).
Sorry that there hasn't been an update for a few days, there's been some other stuff I've needed to focus on. I'm currently in the process of changing which university I am enrolled at, and I forgot how stressful it could be. But that's not why I'm making this little update.
I'm going to make a few more supplemental updates, one focussing on fandom in general, while another will take a look at the internet. Also, once we're done with 1997, I'm going to go back and give Part I a freshen up. I'd like to bring it up to the same standard the current updates are at. There will be a few ret-cons, but nothing that will affect the overall story being told. A couple of names will change, the first season of TNG might have a few alterations. Think of it more as a remaster than a remake.
Also, the next "Where Are We Now?" style update will be the last. Almost everything in there will be getting its own update once 2000 hits, especially Eurovision. I have Eurovision planned up to the current year, and I'm going to do some media stuff for that (alternate scoreboards mainly). Bond stuff will get its own updates too. The way I see it now, if something is important enough for me to want to mention it, it'll either be big enough for its own update, or it can fit in another update.
Right, that's about all I wanted to say for now. Another update will be out soon (depending on how quickly I can get all my UCAS stuff sorted out).
Well, that was an entertaining read. As someone with minimal knowledge of any of the franchises really explored here, I wasn't sure exactly what I was getting into with this timeline, but I'm very glad I did.
This has been a pretty interesting read, detailed enough that even someone unfamiliar with the franchises can keep up with what's going on (It helps that a lot of the content deals with the 'backstage' aspects of these shows and settings, which is pretty universal no matter the content. Also, the footnotes are great!), and I'm definitely going to be reading along with anything else you post in this.
Keep up the good work, Timelordtoe!
This has been a pretty interesting read, detailed enough that even someone unfamiliar with the franchises can keep up with what's going on (It helps that a lot of the content deals with the 'backstage' aspects of these shows and settings, which is pretty universal no matter the content. Also, the footnotes are great!), and I'm definitely going to be reading along with anything else you post in this.
Keep up the good work, Timelordtoe!
Supplemental: Fan Works and Copyright
Timelordtoe
Monthly Donor
Supplemental: Fan Works and Copyright
When discussing the popularity of franchises such as Star Trek and Doctor Who, one must inevitably mention the fandoms around them. Many fans who enjoy the shows decide to produce their own derivative works thereof, and the makers of the shows will occasionally take notice.
While some creators disallow any such works to be made, perhaps most notably Anne Rice, who made a habit of issuing cease-and-desist orders to fanfiction writers, the franchises of Doctor Who and Star Trek have historically been much more forgiving. Both followed the general rule that fan works were perfectly permissible provided that they were not for profit, and that any “mature” works would not be shown to minors.
This is a policy that earned these franchises a great deal of good faith from their fans. Many writers on the modern show had got their start in fan works. Nicholas Briggs, who was in charge of the “Big Finish” audios, and was considered to be the right hand man to Neil Gaiman, had gained notoriety in the fandom during the early 80s with his series of “Audio Visuals” audio dramas. At the time, the stories were distributed on cassette, though the increasing popularity of the World Wide Web meant that its more modern equivalents were starting to be distributed online.
Doctor Who and Star Trek were, in many ways, more suited to having fan works being made than other franchises. There was plenty of time between televised stories for fans to include their own works, and there was ample room for fans to create their own characters, or new versions of characters that had already been introduced. One of the most notable examples is the so-called “Barbara Benedetti Doctor”, named for the actress that portrayed her. The Benedetti Doctor is considered by many fans to be an alternate Sixth Doctor, as her stories were released around the same time as the three Amblin films. The Benedetti Doctor is also notable for being an appearance of a female Doctor, many years before a woman would be cast in the role in the main (British/American) continuity. Many other fan works would follow suit, with occasional productions cropping up more often since the release of the NBC/BBC produced continuation series.
For Star Trek, though no major organised fan work would be released until the early 2000s, with The Voyages of the Lancaster, it was perhaps one of the most notable franchises in terms of fan-fiction. The often derisive term “Mary-Sue” originated from Star Trek fanfiction which often saw author insert characters appear alongside characters from the various shows. Online, many authors decided to follow the voyages of another vessel, rather than create new stories for existing vessels.
Despite the prevalence of these fan works, they were not considered to be legal. Though it often hurt their image, creators who disallowed fan works to be made were entirely within their rights to do so. Though the online archives were proving to be something of a legal grey-area for now, this would be resolved by the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The act would be the one of the most important in how copyright, and liability for infringement, would be dealt with in the US until 2014.
1998 would also see the passing of the Copyright Term Extension Act, often nicknamed the “Mickey Mouse Act” given that it prevented the early works featuring that character from entering the public domain. This act would see copyright extended in the US to the life of the author plus 60 years, of for 90 years for works which had no single author. Though this did not go as far as many had hoped, it was still widely criticised and even faced legal challenges.
Fan works would remain a “tolerated but not necessarily legal” area for many years until the passing of the highly controversial 2014 Fair Use Act, made in the aftermath of the ruling in Parkes v. Warner Bros. This act greatly expanded the definition of “Fair Use”, and saw limits placed on how far copyright terms could be extended legally.
Alright, there's a fair bit of OTL here, but it's important stuff. I thought that it was important to mention. There's a good amount of teasing future things here, some very obvious, some less so. I suspect that a lot of you will pick up on all of it, though some of this obviously won't be paid off for a while. There's another supplemental update coming soon about the internet and the current (in-timeline) Dot-Com bubble and the search engines in the timeline. Unsurprisingly, there will be a lot of subtle changes. Some people who failed in OTL will succees, and some people who succeeded in OTL will fail. I'm hoping to get the next DS9 update out soon, but it's taking a bit of time. The writing discussions have a tendency to get sidetracked, and we'll plan something in the future out very well, but do little on what is immediately pertinent. As a result, there's some stuff a couple years down the line that's really fleshed out, and should be really fun to write and hopefully for you to read.