Star Trek: 10 Things It Should Learn From Doctor Who

8. Keep It Familiar At First

One trick that Doctor Who used when it was being re-launched was to base every episode of the Christopher Eccleston season on or around Earth. This was a significant departure for Doctor Who, which had previously travelled mostly far and wide across the galaxy. Obviously this couldn't be replicated directly with Star Trek as it wouldn't exactly be much of a trek for the characters if the series never left the Solar System, but it does offer a significant lesson. The series should be kept familiar for the fans in order to make it accessible for new viewers - the first season of any new Star Trek series needs to be full of recognisable aliens. We're talking Klingons, Romulans, Borg, Ferengi, Cardassians - even the Dominion, as well as Federation regulars like the Vulcans, Andorians, Bajorans etc too. It'll make the older fans feel at home, and give the new fans something they can engage with immediately. The complicated trick of course is to have those new episodes stand alone, so that back-story isn't needed for the new fans in order to understand what was going on. You can build back-story in later when the viewers are hooked, which is something that Doctor Who did really well in the early days. Eventually we came to understand that everything linked together, but this consideration didn't matter at all for the first couple of episodes.