Star Trek: JAG

[Kaziarl]

Ok, this one will probably get shot down pretty quick. But I JAG when it was on, and from the couple of episodes that dealt with the starfleet judicial system, I think it would be interesting.

What do you think?

What kind of crimes would they investigate? Strictly internal affairs? or anything in the federation?

There could be a lot of potential here, since that aspect of starfleet has never gotten a long hard look.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I thought up something similar a few years back. The upshot is that if anyone were to do it, everyone would say, "oh, it's like that JAG show". In a decade or two, people might say "oh, it's like a show that was on a long time ago" and anyone who said it would be laughed at - maybe then.

IMO it's a great idea, but somewhat un-Trekkian in that by its nature it would tend to rule out certain sci-fi staples (since when do JAG people explore deep space? The only one we ever saw was on a Starbase). Rather, it could be cool to have a dedicated Starfleet JAG officer aboard a ship who is tasked with interpreting Federation law and watchdog everyone as they inevitably infringe upon those laws. Sorta like how the Nazis had political officers on their ships, but a little nicer than that.

Actually, the TOS comics had that - a diplomatic observer named RJ Blaise who kept an eye on Kirk during his early days on the Enterprise-A. She didn't last too long, and of course she and Kirk ended up in bed....

http://startrek.wikia.com/wiki/R.J._Blaise

Mark

 

[Admiral2]

This has been suggested before. I think it's a pretty good idea. I didn't like it when it first came out, but as I've been watching reruns on cable I've gotten to like it. (Especially the theme song. It's like the US Navy Judge Advocate General march!)

At some point in this thread, you're going to hear from the usual naysayers: "You can't do Trek Jag beause there is no crime in Trek!" "You can't do Trek Jag because the crimes on that show don' t match the crimes on Trek." Yadda yadda. Don't believe it. There have been crimes depicted across Trek canon, ranging from (mind)rape to abduction to murder to Dereliction of Duty to Treason to Prime directive violations that would be perfect fodder for a series like this. Somebody's got to adjudicate it all, right? Why not Federation Starfleet JAG Corps?

'Sides, CBS/Paramount owns both shows, so why not do a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup with 'em? ("You got JAG in my Star Trek!" "You got Star Trek in my JAG!")

 

[Kaziarl]

I dunno, I think JAG's been off air long enough. And deep space outposts are probably where you would need a JAG presence the most. Atleast I can see that being a little more rowdy then closer to the heart of the federation.

 

[Kaziarl]

This has been suggested before. I think it's a pretty good idea. I didn't like it when it first came out, but as I've been watching reruns on cable I've gotten to like it. (Especially the theme song. It's like the US Navy Judge Advocate General march!)

At some point in this thread, you're going to hear from the usual naysayers: "You can't do Trek Jag beause there is no crime in Trek!" "You can't do Trek Jag because the crimes on that show don' t match the crimes on Trek." Yadda yadda. Don't believe it. There have been crimes depicted across Trek canon, ranging from (mind)rape to abduction to murder to Dereliction of Duty to Treason to Prime directive violations that would be perfect fodder for a series like this. Somebody's got to adjudicate it all, right? Why not Federation Starfleet JAG Corps?

'Sides, CBS/Paramount owns both shows, so why not do a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup with 'em? ("You got JAG in my Star Trek!" "You got Star Trek in my JAG!")

Yeah, I heard that before too. I think it's a load of bullocks. Any time there are people interacting, there's going to be crime. It's foolish to think otherwise.

And the whole "All crime is a mental disorder." I don't really buy that one either. Someone had to smuggle that bottle of romulan ale to Macoy, and I doubt that person was a loon.

 

[shanejayell]

I would think there would be JAG officers on starships, possibly. It could be a entertaining concept, handled right, tho I think it'd work best in a book format.

 

[Kaziarl]

I would think there would be JAG officers on starships, possibly. It could be a entertaining concept, handled right, tho I think it'd work best in a book format.

I'm working on a teaser scene, and I'm going to try to do it in similar format to JAG and other law shows (NCIS, CSI, etc...) I believe it was said that the Captain presided over tribunals, but I believe it's a military standard to have a JAG officer that had the ability to take that role if the captain proved somehow improper for the position.

I did some looking and found a couple generic idea's of what the SFUCMJ might look like, but they seem a little cheesey. So I'm using the UCMJ the United States Military uses as a base and updating them as I go through writing them.

 

[mirandafave]

I did some looking and found a couple generic idea's of what the SFUCMJ might look like, but they seem a little cheesey. So I'm using the UCMJ the United States Military uses as a base and updating them as I go through writing them.

Give a whirl and using the UCMJ as a base will work because you're best using something that makes sense to you, feels real and solid so you can create your story around it especially if dealing with legal structures etc. [don't know anything about it itself mind]

Good luck

 

[Kelso]

As long as it stars Jeffrey Combs as Samuel T. Cogley.

 

[Kaziarl]

Ask and you shall receive. Here's the first couple scenes. Comments and questions either here or on the story thread. All comments are welcome. SFJAG

 

[CorporalClegg]

As a long time fan of JAG (Yup. I'm the one.), I actually think this is not that bad of an idea. However, I think the season one format would work better than that of the later seasons. (It got to be just way too much courtroom.)

I also think it has the potential to be much more "Trek" than the [insert the Star Trek war show of the week] idea. Because the characters (The Rabb and Mac, if you will.) could argue the socio, political, and philosophical, ideology of the topic of the week.

Exploration could also be interjected if they were aboard some sort of special deep space JAG authority ship or whatever. Like they're out in deep space "on call" to deal with various legal and diplomatic issues that arise.

Or maybe combine it with the "Lower Decks" idea. That is, say, put them on the Big E-F. It's got a fully functional slip stream and is sent out to explore the other quads. Since there is no Fed oversight in those deep reaches of space, the ships is require to carry a JAG crew. The show can be told from their perspective and you'd almost never see the Senior Staff.

Heck, Frakes says he wants to do more Trek. They could go the 12 episode guest star route which would make things more flexible for him. Just have the Titan Blowed-up in the pilot and finally give him the shot at the Big-E. It's win, win!

 

[Kaziarl]

As a long time fan of JAG (Yup. I'm the one.), I actually think this is not that bad of an idea. However, I think the season one format would work better than that of the later seasons. (It got to be just way too much courtroom.)

I also think it has the potential to be much more "Trek" than the [insert the Star Trek war show of the week] idea. Because the characters (The Rabb and Mac, if you will.) could argue the socio, political, and philosophical, ideology of the topic of the week.

Exploration could also be interjected if they were aboard some sort of special deep space JAG authority ship or whatever. Like they're out in deep space "on call" to deal with various legal and diplomatic issues that arise.

Or maybe combine it with the "Lower Decks" idea. That is, say, put them on the Big E-F. It's got a fully functional slip stream and is sent out to explore the other quads. Since there is no Fed oversight in those deep reaches of space, the ships is require to carry a JAG crew. The show can be told from their perspective and you'd almost never see the Senior Staff.

Heck, Frakes says he wants to do more Trek. They could go the 12 episode guest star route which would make things more flexible for him. Just have the Titan Blowed-up in the pilot and finally give him the shot at the Big-E. It's win, win!

I like your ideas, and thank you for the input.
In adition to the deep space JAG, I would personally guess that most (bigger) ships would have atleast one JAG officer. Just like we have international waters treaties and laws to abide by, intersteller law has been mentioned on ST more then once. ST:TUC for example, Kirk was arrested under Intersteller Law, instead of Federation or Klingon Law. Where JAG might come in is deciding which way intersteller law would go.

 

[hellsgate]

I also think it has the potential to be much more "Trek" than the [insert the Star Trek war show of the week] idea. Because the characters (The Rabb and Mac, if you will.) could argue the socio, political, and philosophical, ideology of the topic of the week.

I like this idea very much. Type it up & submit a few chapters / paragraphs as a 'prologue'.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stnewworlds/

trekwriter31@yahoo.ca

 

[Admiral2]

As a long time fan of JAG (Yup. I'm the one.), I actually think this is not that bad of an idea. However, I think the season one format would work better than that of the later seasons. (It got to be just way too much courtroom.)

Actually, I prefer the courtroom eps.

The early episodes tend to turn me off, and one big reason is that too many of them are about "Harmon Rabb, ACTION MAN!!!! Saving the world and the US Navy from the forces of EEE-vil!"

He's a lawyer. He should be in a courtroom.