WI: The Enterprise completes its five year mission (Star Trek survives for 5 seasons)

Who should be captain of the Enterprise-D in this timeline's TNG?

  • Patrick Stewart (same as OTL)

    Votes: 50 68.5%
  • Patrick Bauchau

    Votes: 6 8.2%
  • Yaphet Kotto

    Votes: 5 6.8%
  • Rutger Hauer

    Votes: 11 15.1%
  • Someone else (specify who in the comments)

    Votes: 1 1.4%

  • Total voters
    73
  • Poll closed .
Maybe the best option is to just make him less annoying and less of an insufferable genius (closer to Jake or Naomi, an actual realistic kid). Also maybe got the originally planned route and have him actually be Picard's son as a result of an affair. That could help humanise Picard (give him a flaw) and also more reason to actually want to help out Wes (who had been an utter arse and troublemaker in pretty much all five episodes before he got "acting" status).
That actually doesn't sound too bad.
 
That actually doesn't sound too bad.
Well one reason Jake, Nog and Naomi actually worked was they weren't creator's pets. They're just normal kids and while Naomi can be a little annoying she's no worse than the average six year old and helped humanise Seven quite a bit through their interactions.

Wesley not so much especially as he was clearly Gene's baby and thymey didn't really know what to do with him.
 
Well one reason Jake, Nog and Naomi actually worked was they weren't creator's pets. They're just normal kids and while Naomi can be a little annoying she's no worse than the average six year old and helped humanise Seven quite a bit through their interactions.

Wesley not so much especially as he was clearly Gene's baby and thymey didn't really know what to do with him.
At the very least, Roddenberry's Box won't exist ITTL.
 
Main problem with Wesley was not the genius bit or even the creator’s pet but it was the fact that he had no kids his age to interact with so Wes is always interacting with adults very awkwardly.

No adult wants a teen trying to be a buddy, and no normal teen wants to hang with adults. Give Wes some kids his age - it was always odd Ent-D had lots of little kids but no teens anyway.
 
Main problem with Wesley was not the genius bit or even the creator’s pet but it was the fact that he had no kids his age to interact with so Wes is always interacting with adults very awkwardly.

No adult wants a teen trying to be a buddy, and no normal teen wants to hang with adults. Give Wes some kids his age - it was always odd Ent-D had lots of little kids but no teens anyway.
I'm either leaning towards a teen or a young ensign just out of the Academy to fill the Wesley role.

There's going to be a lot more conversation on the TL when TNG starts, so I better be on my game. I'm a few updates from introducing the characters and actors, and although there will be a lot similar to OTL, there will be some major differences (Pulaski as doctor, no Wesley, Riker possibly switched to security chief, likely Geordi switched to Number One, no Roddenberry Box, maybe even a female chief engineer to start the series)
 
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Maybe have Wesley be Picard's son with Crusher. Not an affair, per se, but Jean Luc felt some real guilt for getting with his best friend's widow not long after he died. So volunteered to go onto some incognito mission into deep space leaving only a quick message to her before he left.

He came back and found out but Beverly had his kid and is kind of pissed. To be fair to JLP he didn't intend to be gone that long (shipwrecked? Prisoner?) She eventually would forgive him, but kept Wesley away. Only as he is in the academy has he started reaching out on his own.
 
Maybe have Wesley be Picard's son with Crusher. Not an affair, per se, but Jean Luc felt some real guilt for getting with his best friend's widow not long after he died. So volunteered to go onto some incognito mission into deep space leaving only a quick message to her before he left.

He came back and found out but Beverly had his kid and is kind of pissed. To be fair to JLP he didn't intend to be gone that long (shipwrecked? Prisoner?) She eventually would forgive him, but kept Wesley away. Only as he is in the academy has he started reaching out on his own.
Would make Wes a bit younger though as Jack died about a year before Stargazer was shot down (2355). I guess if you make him more like Naomi (without the rapid aging) that could work.
 
Main problem with Wesley was not the genius bit or even the creator’s pet but it was the fact that he had no kids his age to interact with so Wes is always interacting with adults very awkwardly.

No adult wants a teen trying to be a buddy, and no normal teen wants to hang with adults. Give Wes some kids his age - it was always odd Ent-D had lots of little kids but no teens anyway.
Also we kept getting episodes with him. It's one thing if he pops up once or twice, but when we keep getting them, in the early seasons that also had a lot of issues iwth the show growing the beard, and well....
 
Also we kept getting episodes with him. It's one thing if he pops up once or twice, but when we keep getting them, in the early seasons that also had a lot of issues iwth the show growing the beard, and well....
Which is why Jake, Nog and Naomi worked better, while they got heavy focus episodes it was no more than the rest of the ensemble cast got. Wes was depicted as the most important person on the ship while making a mess far to often and it's no shock people just didn't like him.
 
I think a Wesley character could work - have the whole ambiguity about if he is or is not Picard's son, leave it open since Beverly is not on the Ent-D. However, Wesley is a B-character appearing to cause Picard uncomfortable moments, get video message from his dead 'Dad', and helm the ship since he is an cadet in his final year.

Wesley can be on away teams and stuff to make up the numbers and occasionally say stuff, maybe even save the ship once in S1. However, he is not alone and there is a whole 'class' of cadets doing their final year 'in the wilds' - this is so Wesley has someone to talk to, also allows for Lower Decks (episode not series) style stories.

I would perhaps have Wesley injured near the end of the season and have the truth of his parents come out. I am leaning towards him being Picard's son, but am not 100% sure on that without Beverly there for the payoff. Perhaps save the mystery for later in the show if Bev joins?

If the fans take to Cadet Crusher perhaps he comes back in S2 as Ensign Crusher, specialising in command track?
 
Chapter 219: October 1986
October 1986. Mega-update today...it'll be a long read.

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LEADUP TO STAR TREK IV HEATS UP AFTER HUGE "EXILES" RATINGS

Star Trek IV's premiere before Thanksgiving received a huge boost from the popularity of the prequel miniseries "Star Trek: Exiles." Instead of kicking off the September television season with a fifth season of Starfleet Intelligence, Paramount was able to bring back the entire original Star Trek cast for six-weeks, and it paid off dramatically. This was the first time the full original cast appeared on television since the Starfleet Intelligence premiere back in 1982, and the ratings were tremendous. Between thirty-five and forty million Americans viewed all six episodes of Exiles, and it announced itself as an early leader in the 1987 Emmy Award miniseries race. Paramount estimated that Star Trek IV would earn $300 million domestically off the back of the Exiles ratings and approved the fifth Trek film even before the fourth film hit the theaters. The Exiles series even made back its huge production costs, most of which were based off the exploding pay demands from the original cast. William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley received in excess of half a million dollars, while Nichelle Nichols received close to that amount. Exiles even got a nod of approval from the now cantankerous Gene Roddenberry, who praised the lack of violence in the series. Roddenberry said that "the ability for Star Trek to tell a compelling story without firing a phaser or using a weapon in anger" makes it the "best television franchise of all time." Roddenberry was obviously not referring to Intelligence, which he still criticized with a passion due to its grittiness.

William Shatner, previously reticent about appearing on television again for six episodes due to his self-perceived status as a movie star, was happy with the results. He commented that "Admiral Kirk received a very compelling part," and was proud to play it. Shatner liked the fact that his Kirk was now a fugitive from justice who lost virtually everything and was about to lose his freedom, or so it seemed. Leonard Nimoy said that his Spock character was examined "as deeply in six episodes" as it had been in five seasons of the original series and three movies. DeForest Kelley enjoyed the Bones interactions with Spock, approving of the storyline he received, as he and Spock healed together from their personal traumas. Nichelle Nichols and James Doohan liked the Uhura-Scotty romance. George Takei didn't get a whole lot to do, because he was still mayor of Los Angeles and his duties to America's second largest city had to come first. He had already been away for several weeks for Star Trek IV's filming while his deputy mayors ran the city. Walter Koenig thought the "mysterious signal" was a bit of a giveaway for the Star Trek IV plot, but the fact that they did not reveal too much kept the audiences on the edge of their seats for the impending movie. Overall, Paramount was pleased because the Exiles miniseries put them in front of their competitors in the ratings battles and virtually ensured that the movie studio would easily finish first in total revenue in 1986.

However, Paramount was worried. The original Star Trek cast was starting to show their age. DeForest Kelley and James Doohan were sixty-six. William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Nichelle Nichols were all in their fifties. The Star Trek cash cow which Paramount turned into a separate division of the company needed fresh blood; a next generation. Starfleet Intelligence as currently constituted was running its course. Would they introduce a new Intelligence team to continue Nichelle Nichols' series or would they completely reboot the franchise...


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STARFLEET INTELLIGENCE TO END AFTER FIVE SEASONS; TO SHIFT TO MINISERIES FORMAT

Nichelle Nichols defied Paramount's dictum that Starfleet Intelligence become more mainstream after its ratings plummeted from the top five in its first two seasons to 20th in season four. Nichols was given an order from the suits that she believed was "whitebread;" she would not go along with it. She hired S. Epatha Merkerson, at that point a largely unknown Black actress, to play her second in command, Lieutenant Commander Maria Battles. Battles premiered to mixed reviews in Star Trek: Exiles. Critics believed she could be a star, but her tough natured character could turn off potential viewers. Nichols tried to convince the Paramount executives that Merkerson had the ability to be a leading lady once she exited the show, but Paramount TV chief John Pike was unconvinced. Nichols and Pike struck a deal. This season of Intelligence would be its last, but the series would switch to a miniseries format after the tremendous popularity of Exiles. After the 1986-1987 television season, Nichols would produce three television movies per year to fill in the times when the new series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, was off the air.

Nichols was proud of her achievements. Intelligence was considered one of the best television shows of the 1980s by American television audiences and the Emmys bestowed it multiple awards. She was happiest for her friend Walter Koenig, who won a screenplay Emmy for his second season epic Genocide on Beta Polaris. Nichols launched the careers of several actors, including Alfre Woodard, the extremely popular Lieutenant Commander Garvin in seasons one and two, and a young Don Cheadle, who played Ensign James in seasons three and four. Nichols would continue to provide African-American performers the opportunity to become stars, even if it meant that her series was scaled back. Gene Roddenberry gave her the chance to be a star back in the 1960s and she took it. Nichols remembered the words of Dr. King back in 1967 when she threatened to walk off the original Star Trek due to lack of opportunity. Providing younger Black actors and actresses chances to shine was to be her legacy, even beyond the end of Starfleet Intelligence...


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GROMYKO QUELLS RIOTS IN THE USSR: UNREST CONTINUES IN POLAND


Andrei Gromyko, the new but aging Soviet premier, ruthlessly cracked down on dissent in the USSR. Perceiving the newly found freedoms of speech given to the Soviet public by deposed General Secretary Gorbachev as an act of weakness, Gromyko activated the Red Army to patrol the streets of major Soviet cities along with the notorious KGB. He succeeded, at least for a short time, in reimposing a steel grip on the rest of the SSRs, including the Baltic states, where tens of thousands of soldiers marched down the streets of Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius with menace in their eyes. A return to the oppression of the Brezhnev era was at hand, and the return of the deceased Brezhnev's doctrine meant that Moscow had to quell dissent in its satellites. Gromyko's anti-democratic actions were denounced in the United States. President Glenn declared that the "Cold War has returned due to the violent behavior of the USSR's illegitimate premier, Andrei Gromyko." The Gorbachev thaw, which Glenn welcomed with some reservations, appeared gone forever.

To consolidate his power, Gromyko also needed to remove Gorbachev's allies in the Politburo. He ousted Nikolai Ryzhkov, Gorbachev's economic minister; Eduard Shevardnadze, Gorbachev's minister of foreign affairs; and Yegor Ligachyov, Gorbachev's secretary of ideology, who helped craft perestroika and glasnost. Gromyko replaced them with three hardliners: Valentin Pavlov as economic minister, Vladimir Kryuchkov as secretary of ideology, and Grigory Romanov, a Gorbachev rival, as foreign minister. With those three lackeys in places, Gromyko turned the Politburo from a pro-reformer body to a pro-Brezhnev apparatus. Shevardnadze's removal provoked more riots in Tbilisi but they were once again quelled with violence by the authorities. In a speech on October 15, 1986, Gromyko declared the era of detente and reconciliation with the United States over. "We shall build a great Soviet Union once again," Gromyko said. "Our improved relations with the United States of America have revealed our soft underbelly, which they have used to provoke weakness in the USSR and the Warsaw Pact. The United States of America will no longer take advantage of us."

The speech was welcomed by the hardliners in the Warsaw Pact capitals, now occupied by hundreds of thousands of Red Army and local troops on alert. Erich Honecker felt secure enough to return to East Berlin from his hideout in Leipzig, as protests dissipated in East Berlin out of fear. Budapest, which also saw protests, calmed down significantly, but the undercurrents of rebellion from Communist rule remained. Romania remained in virtual lockdown under the cult of Nicolae Ceausescu. However, Gromyko remained displeased with Poland. He viewed its leader, Wojciech Jaruzelski, as weak in the face of Solidarnosc. Despite Lech Walesa's deportation to Moscow, the streets of Warsaw were still teeming with protesters, and Jaruzelski's leadership was at risk. In the face of losing Poland, Gromyko demanded Jaruzelski declare martial law again. Jaruzelski refused, believing that he caused the protests in 1981. Gromyko deposed Jaruzelski and placed Polish general Florian Siwicki in charge in Warsaw. Polish Red Army and Soviet troops fired on the Warsaw protesters, and for a time, Poland locked back into place as a member of the Warsaw Pact...but only for a time...



ISRAEL DEFEATS ARAB ADVERSARIES; PALESTINIAN FATE GRIM

By October 1986, the situation was deteriorating dramatically for the Jordanian and Iraqi forces trapped in the West Bank. Israel sealed off the Jordan River border and prevented any attempt to rescue the Arab troops in the West Bank pocket. Having secured the Golan Heights from Syria, the IDF forces moving south from the Golan and Israeli Air Force went to work. Slowly but surely, the combined Jordanian-Iraqi force were compelled to surrender. On October 20, 1986, Jordan sued for peace. Israel granted them a truce if they waved a white flag of surrender. The few Iraqi forces that made it across the Jordan all the way from Baghdad also surrendered a few days later. In response to the surrender, Saddam Hussein executed his minister of defense in a show trial. Israel had won the fifth war it fought against its Arab adversaries in 38 years of existence. Their mood towards their neighbors was dark. They could never trust Jordan again due to King Hussein's overthrow. However, to Yitzhak Shamir's surprise, Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger successfully engineered King Hussein's return to Amman. Shamir saw Hussein back in power as an opportunity to mend fences with the Jordanians. Hussein was not responsible for the war and tried (although failed) to make peace. For that, Shamir eyed the recently empowered Jordanian monarch with suspicion, because he failed to hold up his end of the bargain.

More pressing for Shamir was what to do with the Palestinians in the West Bank. The Israelis executed one major deportation of Palestinians in 1948 during the creation of the Jewish state. The Palestinians called this the Nakba, or the catastrophe. Yasser Arafat, who commanded the PLO forces from Lebanon, feared another nakba, and his fears proved correct. In the last week of October, the Knesset approved the deportation of 300,000 Palestinians to Lebanon and Syria. Over the next three months, Palestinians, many completely innocent and a few not, were evicted from their homes and forcibly sent north under armed guard by the IDF. Syria and Lebanon protested, but there was little they could do about it, or they would provoke another war which they were in no condition to fight. Sabra and Shatila, the two infamous Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, swelled in size, and three new refugee camps were established. One was established in Dekwaneh, just outside of Beirut, and two were established in the Al Sabinah area south of Damascus. The Palestinian plight, already bad, became a whole lot worse...



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LIVERPOOL DEFEATS EVERTON IN EUROPEAN CUP

A unique situation unfolded in the 1986-1987 European Cup. For the first time since 1978, two English teams would participate. Everton, the 1986 European Cup champions, would gain entry by way of being the holders, while Liverpool, who won the 1986 First Division title, gained entry by being English champions. Everton received a bye to the second round, but Liverpool had to play a match against Anderlecht in the opening round. The Reds dispatched the Belgian side 4-1 on aggregate; two goals from Ian Rush and two goals from Jan Molby gave them their margin of victory. The Merseyside clash was set.

Back in 1978, Liverpool met Nottingham Forest over two legs in the European Cup's early stages. Liverpool gained entry as the holders while Forest earned their invite by winning the First Division title. Peter Taylor's men from Nottingham won 2-0 on aggregate that time; Kenny Dalglish was determined to avoid that fate again. He was on the pitch for both legs of that defeat to Forest; this time he was player-manager, although mostly a manager by this stage of his career. The first leg was held on October 22 at Goodison Park. Rush, the destroyer of Everton dreams, scored in the first half to make it 1-0. However, the Blues held firm and got an equalizer from captain Graeme Sharp. Although Liverpool had more chances to find a winner, the Merseyside rivals could not be separated. They would go to Anfield on November 5 all square. At Anfield, Gary Lineker was controversially denied a penalty in the first half when Liverpool defender Alan Hansen brought him down. The second leg remained scoreless until the 82nd minute, when it was Rush once again who slotted home after the Blues failed to clear a corner. The Reds once again got the best of their Blue neighbors, and Liverpool advanced to the third round 2-1 on aggregate, avoiding their fate from the autumn of 1978...



DESPITE FIERCE CAMPAIGN, DEMOCRATS FEAR DEFEAT IN MIDTERMS

President Glenn switched into nonstop campaign mode after Labor Day with determination. He undoubtedly improved the lives of everyday Americans with his Real Deal legislation, even though they were only starting to feel the stimulative effects of the spending injected into the economy. He traveled to several states where his old friends in the Senate were struggling to win reelection. Despite all of the President's huffing and puffing on the campaign trail, Glenn's Chief of Staff, William White, gave him the bad news that he didn't want to hear: His party would lose at least 25 seats in the House and 8 seats in the Senate. The president figured, "I'd still have my majorities, but I'll be told I have to triangulate to the center." The only time President Glenn liked to triangulate was when he was orbiting the Earth in the Friendship 7. His surprisingly liberal agenda was being blamed by many of his old Senate friends for the imminent loss of their seats. They laid everything on the line for their former colleague, now President, and the voters were rejecting them in favor of a Republican agenda centered around rugged individualism. President Glenn feared for 1988; if all of his efforts failed now, how could he win in 1988, even if the economy began to improve? He thought the urban renewal bill, the most controversial part of the Real Deal, caused the backlash. Glenn knew that President Johnson was right about racism in the South and Midwest, and he dared to challenge it with the urban renewal legislation. White, his trusted chief of staff, suggested that Glenn tack to the center ahead of what would be a difficult reelection. Glenn believed that the images of Eastern Europe and the Middle East on fire on American televisions played just as great a role, and he disagreed with White. Glenn would take on the domestic ills in 1987 just like he did when he took office, and if it meant defeat in 1988, so be it. He'd rather be morally in the right and lose than be a coward and win reelection...
 
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November 1986 is going to be three parts:

General world situation plus the season 5 premiere of Starfleet Intelligence
Star Trek IV special
1986 midterms.

The last season of Starfleet Intelligence is going to make hay of the Warsaw Pact chaos and the Middle East chaos with some really strong stances on both
 
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Excellent update- S:I in miniseries form is a great compromise esp as a spring/summer show.

Isreal winning will be a mess. Is there much of a Palistinian population left now? They might as well finish the job it seems.

Good for you Glen, hope the gamble pays off.
 
Excellent update- S:I in miniseries form is a great compromise esp as a spring/summer show.

Isreal winning will be a mess. Is there much of a Palistinian population left now? They might as well finish the job it seems.

Good for you Glen, hope the gamble pays off.
The Palestinian population in the West Bank was about a million in 1986. This will lead to disastrous consequences for Israeli communities near Lebanon and in the Golan Heights. Those areas will basically be turned into an armed camp. Israel might actually offer an olive branch to the Palestinians who remain in the West Bank in an attempt to stop the nonstop terrorism that will occur (maybe full citizenship for the 700,000 who remain in the West Bank). Israel cannot deport the entire Palestinian population because the United States won't allow it. In the next update we're going to see that the American reaction to Israel's deportation is very negative...

As for what happens with Star Trek...SI will make one heck of an episode that will hurt a lot of people's feelings when they broach the Middle East events (and they will). It'll be condemned by pro-Israel folks as anti-Israel and by pro-Arab folks as anti-Arab. It might win an Emmy ITTL too.

Plus your idea on parts of the Klingon Empire possibly fragmenting is very interesting

Klingon Empire = Warsaw Pact
Federation = NATO
 
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Excellent update- S:I in miniseries form is a great compromise esp as a spring/summer show.

Isreal winning will be a mess. Is there much of a Palistinian population left now? They might as well finish the job it seems.

Good for you Glen, hope the gamble pays off.
Genocide under any circumstances would be the end for Israel as they can't depend on US support due to the revulsion and anything from Western Europe would certainly be gone. Also going that route would lead to the final end of "He who fights monsters," and not even on their worst day have the Isreali's been prepared to go that route (outside of some very extreme nuts).
 
Plus your idea on parts of the Klingon Empire possibly fragmenting is very interesting

Klingon Empire = Warsaw Pact
Federation = NATO
Interestingly, the Typhon Pact books do just that, because after Nemesis the Romulans begin to split, the Borg are gone, and everyone's scrambling to build up new alliances to fill the vaccum. It would be nice to see something similar happening with the other anti-Federation nations after Undiscovered.
 
Genocide under any circumstances would be the end for Israel as they can't depend on US support due to the revulsion and anything from Western Europe would certainly be gone. Also going that route would lead to the final end of "He who fights monsters," and not even on their worst day have the Isreali's been prepared to go that route (outside of some very extreme nuts).
In the next update the American reaction to Israel's actions in the West Bank will be very negative. I was actually doing a "WI there was a 5th Arab Israeli war" after 1973
 
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