Main character swap

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Imagine you could swap out the main character of any particular Trek episode with another main character from the same series - that is, put a fellow crewmember in the same position.

For instance, Chekov instead of Scotty in "Wolf in the Fold". With the youth and newness of the character (compared to Scotty), we might more easily believe he'd be impulsive than Scott, who managed to keep his cool until the Klingons insulted the Enterprise in "The Trouble With Tribbles".

With few exceptions (job-related, though some tweaks could fix that - an episode that centered on Crusher in her capacity as a doctor could be switched to La Forge with a similar engineering dilemma, for instance), most episodes could have some interesting swaps.

What other episodes would be different with someone else in the starring role and how?

 

[somebuddyX]

This is a pretty fun idea. I immediately went to "Let He Who Is Without Sin" and put O'Brien instead of Worf so he could just punch Fullerton in the head, then go have a relaxing sexcapade with his wife

 

[FederationHistorian]

TNG - Wesley replacing Tasha in “Skin of Evil”. With Wesley dying, it has a bigger impact on Crusher and the whole crew, considering he’s a child (and Crusher’s son). And gives Picard even more validity to abandon Armus.

DS9 - Jake replacing Bashir in ‘Past Tense”. It adds stakes of Sisko having to protect his son while having to protect the timeline, while his son gets an up-close history lesson. It gets rid of Bashir’s cluelessness of not being familiar with the time period he was in, and let Jake play the role of doctor with the hypoglycemic woman.

ENT - Hoshi replacing T’Pol in “Bound”. The psychological protection between T’Pol and Trip extends to Hoshi. Its Hoshi that shows interest in helping Trip with the engines in the first act, and in the fourth act, Trip comes back to Enterprise for Hoshi instead of T’Pol. It builds off of “Affliction” and concludes the T’Pol-Trip romance arc. And it makes the line of T’Pol and Trip’s relationship being over for 6 years in TATV make more sense.

PIC - Elnor replacing Rios in “Assimilation”. With Rios dying on the biobed, Elnor takes his place in exploring Los Angeles. Elnor would meet the doctor and her son, while having to keep his identity as a Romulan a secret. It would have repercussions for the whole season, including Raffi being bereaved over Rios instead of Elnor, which would make more sense in light of S1.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

Take out Romaine from ZETAR and swap her with Uhura. Keep the Scotty-Uhura love thing going. Why limit it to TREK 5?

Then, if it's also permitted, take out Kirk, Uhura and Cheekoof from TRISKELION replace them with Spock, Chapel and Scotty, respectively.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

McCoy instead of Spock in "Spock's Brain" - the situation would be more dire without the top doctor around to help, and seeing Spock's reaction to a man with no brain would be eerie. (Somehow the surgical removal technique makes McCoy able to survive without it, not Spock's Vulcan heritage.)

 

[somebuddyX]

Can I double swap "Insurrection"?: Beverly for Picard and Deanna for Data. Bev has her shot at getting the girl, whilst Troi has a chance at being a badass. Meanwhile Riker and Data start a relationship, and Picard stands around in the back noticing his hair growing back. "Have you noticed how your $%$% has started to firm up?"

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I was thinking more along the lines of plot decisions, not swapping jokes and partners.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

I was thinking more along the lines of plot decisions, not swapping jokes and partners.

If you say so. I was this close to making a TURNABOUT INTRUDER sequel titled ''Suluhura.''

 

[Brennyren]

OP, you mentioned swapping LaForge with Crusher? I can think of one TNG episode that would have made more sense if they had done exactly that: "Suspicions." Crusher is hosting what appears to be an engineering conference, or at least the pivotal discovery discussed is an engineering one. Even at the time when I first saw it, I remember thinking, "This should have been a Geordi episode." The only key element that would have needed to be changed is the part about the autopsy, since Geordi isn't qualified for that -- perhaps he could have enlisted some help from a medic, or done what he could with a medical tricorder, or perhaps he could have done something else to tick off Picard/the dead guy's family/whoever it was who he shouldn't have ticked off (been a minute since I've seen the episode). It's also likely that Geordi's support of the transphasic shielding innovation would have carried more weight than Crusher's (since, y'know, he's more qualified to evaluate these things), which might have won him more support from Picard and the senior staff. Possibly Crusher comes back into the plot here and does the autopsy.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Good choice. At the very least, she should have been most eager to enlist his support of her interest.

 

[Snowdrop82]

I always wondered what if the Inner Light replaced Picard with Riker, or even Worf with Picard. How they would have dealt with living a whole other life, especially Worf.

 

[Airin]

"Arena" but McCoy fights the Gorn. Instead of physical combat and building a cannon, he needs to find something that works as anesthetic to hypo the Gorn, while absolutely avoiding being caught by him (bc he'd be dead in a minute).

Then there are episodes that were actually built from a character swap. "For the World is Hollow..." was at first a Scotty love story. And "This Side of Paradise" had Sulu instead of Spock.

 

[Snowdrop82]

McCoy instead of Spock in "Spock's Brain" - the situation would be more dire without the top doctor around to help, and seeing Spock's reaction to a man with no brain would be eerie. (Somehow the surgical removal technique makes McCoy able to survive without it, not Spock's Vulcan heritage.)

Could also be "Kirk's Brain" in which Spock has to become Captain because Kirk is believed to likely die.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

For once, Kirk can't talk the computer to death, because he is the computer.

 

[Snowdrop82]

For once, Kirk can't talk the computer to death, because he is the computer.

Hahahaha, would love that!

 

[somebuddyX]

I was thinking more along the lines of plot decisions, not swapping jokes and partners.

Does that mean I can't do "Nemesis" with Worf replacing Picard and Riker replacing Data? A little Worf clone raised by Remans, and a Riker double they have to reassemble

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

If you can find an equivalent way that makes sense.

 

[Snowdrop82]

Does that mean I can't do "Nemesis" with Worf replacing Picard and Riker replacing Data? A little Worf clone raised by Remans, and a Riker double they have to reassemble

Instead of a clone of Riker in the Transporter Accident, you have a Worf Clone who was cloned by a Klingon Transporter accident when he was too young to remember. The Clone is adopted by a Romulan Officer who has him modified to not appear Klingon, but the Clone always knew something wasn't right and wants to discover who and what he really is and upon some sort of encounter with the Enterprise, the truth comes out.

 

[somebuddyX]

Can I cheat and do a bunch for Star Trek III? I would replace Styles with Sulu, replace Saavik with Chekov, so Chekov and David are on Genesis. So now you have Sulu forced to chase down Kirk with the Excelsior, and I'd keep Scotty there. Meanwhile you have Saavik at the conn with Uhura and I'd bring in Rand to be communications officer. It's not an ideal scenario in separating David and Saavik but I love the idea of all the women being the ones to steal the Enterprise

 

[FederationHistorian]

Can I double swap "Insurrection"?: Beverly for Picard and Deanna for Data. Bev has her shot at getting the girl, whilst Troi has a chance at being a badass. Meanwhile Riker and Data start a relationship, and Picard stands around in the back noticing his hair growing back. "Have you noticed how your $%$% has started to firm up?"

For INS, imo, it would be better if Worf and Riker switch places. It would give a resolution to Worf-Troi romance, and an opportunity to have Worf in the captain’s chair. Meanwhile Riker helps Picard with the Ba’ku refugees, and is with him on the Collector ship.

The movie that would make more sense to be focused on Troi and Beverly is NEM. Though it would require a quadruple swap. Troi replaces Picard, Beverly replaces Riker, Picard replaces Troi, and Riker replaces Beverly. By proxy, it would make Shinzon a Betazoid clone. The viceroy would be targeting Picard. Beverly gets a badass moment.