Another Piece of Trek Kurtzman Ruined

Hi Alex,

With all this talk about Star Trek's television side, I have totally forgotten that there is another part of the Trek universe that Kurtzman and his hacks at Secret Hideout ruined. For decades, dozens of novelist have worked hard to continue the universe on the written page.

In 2021, because of Kurtzman and his dreck, a trilogy of novels called Star Trek: Coda did a hard reset on the novel-side of Star Trek. Everything set post Star Trek: First Contact (2373) has been given the Expanded Universe treatment. (If you don't know what that means, ask a Star Wars fan when happen to their novels when Disney took over and I'm sure they will explain it to you in detail.)

And yes, Peter David fans, that means all of Star Trek: New Frontier is now gone from the timeline. I'm not blaming David Mack, who wrote Coda. I'm blaming Kurtzman. 

It is his mismanagement of the franchise, his disregard for continuity and his utter lack of writing skill that caused this. Secret Hideout could not write the ingredient list to a box of cereal without losing the plot and having somebody burst out into tears at least three time before getting to the end.

They are complete and utter hacks !

Okay, rant over. Have a nice day,

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302 on X) 

Ah, frak it ! A Star Trek Pitch

Hi Alex, 

Yesterday, I wrote a letter to Robert Meyer Burnett. It was a plan for resetting Star Trek for the post-Kurtzman era. And key to it was an antagonist/villain I called Captain Black. Long story short, Captain Black has been messing with the timeline. He is stopped and the timeline is fixed. If you want to read the long version, check out...

https://xanthi-rising.blogspot.com/2025/09/how-to-fix-star-trek-in-5-steps.html 

But Captain Black was only a placeholder name/character. So who could Captain Black really be ? Well, I made a top three. So let's get going...

1) Somebody New... This might be the easiest thing to do. Just create a new character for the reset. Somebody from some race we haven't heard of before. Or a member of some old foe cooking up a plan to take over the galaxy yet again.

2) Future Guy.... One of Enterprise's biggest loose ends. I know the novels answered this question. But IMHO that solution was a bit....meh. And Paramount has made it clear that the novels are not canon to the shows. So here's a chance to do it again.

3) The unhinged one and my favorite.....Rassilion

Wait ? That crazy president guy from Doctor Who ? The one played by Timothy Dalton for a bit ? Dude, that's not even the right franchise ! I know, I know, but hear me out....

The last time we saw Rassilion, the 12th Doctor exiled him from Gallifrey. At the time, Gallifrey was located near the end of its universe. There was a fair chance that there was nowhere for Rassilion to go. So it makes sense that he went to another universe. This also provides a nice McGuffin for why he survived The Master's shenanigans in the Timeless Child plot-line. I won't bother you with a recap of that plot, all you need to know is that the (most of) the Time Lords were wiped out AGAIN. 

But more importantly, the Time Lords have a piece of tech called the Hand of Omega. It allows them to remotely manipulate stars. The Hand is a perfect way to explain the Romulan Supernova, which is one of the stupidest things in NuTrek. Remember, the Romulans started out as Vulcans and colonized a new world. The idea that they would not check if all the nearby stars for supernova potential is TOO STUPID FOR WORDS. 

If any of the stars near Romulus were only a few thousand years from kicking the bucket, there would have signs. The colonists would have seen them and not settled the planet. But if it was Rassilion using the Hand to mess with the star, things start to make a lot more sense. Especially since the Romulans use black holes to power their warp drives. And don't use dilithium. 

This also stitches the absolute disaster of a plot that is the Burn a bit. Not only is it a little less far-fetched if there is a puppet master, it makes sense that Rassilion would take out the Romulans first. Since they are the only major power that would not be effected by the next phase of his plan. 

What is Rassilion's end game ? Well, I think he's the one who created the Time Wars. Having fought in the Last Great Time War, he would know exactly how to do it. Which strings to pull. And then the governments do exactly what he wants them to do. They totally outlaw time travel. Leaving him with a total monopoly on time travel and unshackled to play god.

And the beauty is that nobody is every going to suspect him, because everybody thinks he doesn't exist. He's 'just some character from some old TV show'.  

That's all I have.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302 on X) 

How To Fix Star Trek in 5 steps

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)