The next Star Trek series on TV will be Excellent
01/09/1999 . Source: Jessica Martin 

News has leaked out to the 'Nest concerning Brannon and Berman's new Trek universe series, you know, the one planned as the follow-on to DS9 and eventually Voyager when it's retired shortly.

Buy Star Trek Enterprise in the USA - or Buy Star Trek Enterprise in the UK

Here's the scoop. You know all that stuff about Star Trek Flight Academy. Forget it. That ain't the plot.

Apparently, the new Trek is going to feature a Star Fleet vessel called the USS Excellent.

The action is going to be set at the far end of the Federation frontier from where the Klingons, Romulans etc hang out - nice excuse to trot out some new races & faces.

We're not fountains of Trek lore, so some fans might be able to help us out here, but apparently in STTNG there were references to some 'good people'-type political alliance at the nub end of the Federation that takes 6 months in Warp to reach.

The analogy being if the Federation is the USA, then this other lot are the European Community.

All very settled and civilised, all rather peaceful and boring. No Trek stories to date have ever focused on this area of space - I guess trade deal arguments over tariffs on Romulan Ale don't an interesting plot arc make.

Well, apparently the EC analogue is being threatened by a newly discovered hostile alien super-power and large swathes of it quickly falls to their guns.

The Federation needs to make a decision. Do they support their previously friendly neighbour and risk all-out war with the new kids on the block, or do they let their chums fall and invite a deadly new enemy to camp on their distant borders.

The enemy (we weren't leaked the name) is being described as nomadic space barbarians - fairly primitive and gothic, possibly even steam-driven ion drives for in-system travel, but hordes and hordes of the buggers.

Sounds like Orks in space to us.

Because this area of space has been as exciting and as dangerous as Sweden for over a hundred years, the Federation has hardly any warships in the area - only trading stations, science ships, research posts and small police action capable vessels one size bigger than runabouts.

The one exception? The USS Excellent, a new class of mega-ship that has been sent to take part in an extensive joint Federation/EC knowledge & experience exchange program.

Yep, they're the only Federation vessel worth a spit on the ground - and likely to remain that way for 6 months - and the future of the UFP hangs on their actions.

Sounds like a good opener.

Our source was cagey about the casting choices because it's still going on, but there might be a few interesting species choices on the vessel following Paramount Chief's concerns that Babylon Five was out-gunning them on the realistic alien aliens front.

Do we detect a whiff of CGI in the air? Just as long as Jar Jar Binks doesn't make a crossover appearance, we will be more than satisfied.

More of the new Trek series from our Deep Throat source as we wheedle it out of him (or her).