Hi Rob,
It's been a while since I've written in, so I hope this letter finds you well. I'm not going to beat around the bush and get straight to the point. Kurtzman Trek sucks !! It's either people crying in corridors or dumb, nonsensical set pieces. So, without further ado, here is my action plan to reset Trek and clear the deck for new, good post-Kurtzman shows...
Step 1: Introduce a villain. Make the current mess of a timeline somebody's fault. An unseen puppet master has been deliberately messing up the timeline. Let's call him....Captain Black, after the Mysterion agent from Captain Scarlet.
Step 2: Captain Seven and the crew of the Enterprise-G figure this out. One of the stupidest things about Picard Season 1 was that the Federation just let Mars burn. We learn that they did try to put out the fires, but Captain Black sabotaged the attempt. So the Enterprise-G goes back in time and puts a wrench in his plan. The good news is that the fires are extinguished, the bad news is that Captain Black escapes.
Step 3: You now have a major point of divergence in the timeline. And the further you go forward, the bigger the changes get. Like a tsunami as it approaches the coast. But first to address the elephant in the room....why do the incursion here ? Why not prevent the attack on Mars altogether ?
Because IMHO the only good post-2005 Trek is the stuff Kurtzman didn't work on. Lower Decks was not my cup of tea, but it was well made. Together with Prodigy and Picard Season 3, its the baby we don't want to throw out with the bathwater.
By doing this way, we're not messing with the Lower Decks and the end of Prodigy. But Mars can now be resettled, maybe even by Romulan refugees, which will influence the timeline and remove Discovery Season 3, 4 and 5. Along with Star Trek: 90210 aka Starfleet Academy. And now we are ready for....
Step 4: Go over the Picard Season 3 scripts with a fine toothed comb.
People are saying 'but if we keep Picard season 3, we're also stuck with Seasons 1 and 2.' Are we ? Pay attention, what do the characters actually say ? The SPECIFIC you are stuck with, the IMPLIED you can jettison.
For example, Jack says that Jean-Luc told him that Q was dead. People extrapolate from that this means that the whole Confederate/2024 trip is therefore stuck in canon. No, it doesn't. All this means, is that Picard was there when Q kicked the bucket. The circumstances, the time, the place...none of that is locked down by what Jack said.
Another example...we see Raffi aboard the La Sirena. But the "fact" that it used belong to Rios and then by Seven, is not referenced. So is that it's pre-season 3 history in this rewritten timeline ? For all we know, Rios never left Starfleet in this timeline.
So, study the episodes, takes notes and then get to work... With research and clever writing, I think you can cut Picard Season 3 loose from Seasons 1 and 2.
Step 5: Deal with Captain Black
So now we have dealt with the post-2385 mess. But what about Strange New Worlds and the first two season of Discovery ? Well, I'm thinking that with the timeline partially repaired, the USS Relativity could show up.
Future Starfleet has detected the Enterprise-G's shenanigans. And since now-Captain Ducane has worked with Seven before, it made sense to send the Relativity to back the Enterprise-G up. Together, they hunt down Captain Black in the far distant past, where he has been messing with the geology of Boreth.
That's how the time crystals from Discovery came about. And they are the roots case of Micheal Burnham's history. The two ships stop Captain Black and create a cascade effect that rewrites the 23rd century back to how it was before. Captain Black is thrown in the Relativity's brig and both ships go home.
And we are left with a nice, clean slate of a future. While keeping the few nuggets of gold and getting rid of all of Kurtzman's dreck. Thoughts ?
Regards,
Ruben Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302 on X)
