The recent rumours that a new Star Trek show was in the works were actually based on a pitch that was doing the rounds a good decade ago. You know, right around the time Paramount were looking to put the kibosh on Enterprise and shove the whole darn franchise into quarantine until it was deemed no longer toxic. It's a shame they never ran with the pitch for the new series tentatively titled Federation though, because it was pretty good. And, depending on how the business side of things works, they could still do it. The set up is that, way into the future of the series (and this could be used to fit into the films too), the Federation has become lazy and complacent. Humans are fat and happy kind of like in WALL-E and kinda run their bit of the cosmos, with all the other alien races withdrawing their support and looking after their own. The Federation have done basically nothing for generations, until a young Lieutenant called Alexander Kirk has a run in with a new threat called The Scourge, and then he gets brought on board to lead a new Enterprise ship the first for many decades. It's a cool premise, and definitely avoids many issues with a more traditional follow-up. Plus the Federation needs taking down a peg or two.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
