If they're going to do a sitcom, I see no reason why a crime-procedural set in the
Star Trek universe wouldn't work. You could probably make the Orion Syndicate the "big bad" and use the criminal conspiracy the main characters are fighting to uncover something that connects to actions of the larger powers as the even bigger bad behind things, or maybe even something or someone within the Federation/Starfleet itself pulling the strings.
I remember one of the books went with the idea of what if you did
The West Wing within the Star Trek universe?
Basically, a story where the audience sees the policy issues and debates at the highest levels and how that filters down to the actions of Starfleet. But you could also get into what does the internal politics of the Federation look like? What would be the equivalent of a budget battle or hot-button issues like immigration, abortion, or a foreign policy debate in the 24th century? Are there people who think too many resources are allocated for Starfleet and feel like that instead of building starships policy should be "Federation First" and more insular instead of exploration?
The idea that I know could go all the way wrong if it was done bad, but that I would love to see is a
Star Trek love story! Something along the lines of
a KDrama set in the Star Trek universe.
What if you did a limited series but at the core of it was a love story, but you surrounded it with all the trappings of the
Star Trek universe and KDrama memes? One of my favorite love stories ever is a KDrama called
Something in the Rain, and I really think you could take that basic premise and
Star Trek-ify it and make something really interesting as a love story that's never been tried in any of the shows of the franchise.
- A Starfleet officer is assigned to a planet as part of a mission to help with issues, along the lines of what Starfleet did in helping Bajor get on its feet and ready for Federation membership.
- As part of their mission, they meet someone, and through the other part of the love story you can explore social issues in a Star Trek way (e.g., maybe the significant other is a lawyer or liaison to the government), but see those things through the eyes of this alien culture and use it to make commentary on the human condition. However, during these interactions, slowly but surely, sparks occur between the main characters.
- Maybe the family of the indigenous person they meet doesn't approve of a relationship with a human Starfleet officer, maybe there's an ex who's an asshole fighting to keep them apart, maybe the politics of the relationship complicates things and something Starfleet is not exactly happy about.
- Circumstances conspire to try to keep them apart. Maybe even Starfleet reassigns them and the latter part of the series is whether the main character can make it back to this planet and fight to get this relationship back?
Hey maybe she has a transporter accident and lands in Wonka's chocolate factory river
