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Star Trek: Restoration: FAQs and Other Tidbits

Written by Dan Carlson

Introduction

Hopefully reading this page will fill you in on the background of this story. There's some background on how I developed the idea, and FAQs at the bottom.

Some people have commented that this idea is similar to the premise for Gene Roddenberry's "Andromeda." I was a little surprised to hear that as I didn't know anything about the plot of the series when I started working on "Restoration." I had heard about the new show based on Roddenberry's notes, but I had no clue that they were working on something like that. Sort of like how B5 and DS9 are so similar (in some ways).

It's going to take me a while to start work on the actual episodes. I want to be sure I have a solid base on which to write them. And I have a life, too, so I can't always work on this. But rest assured, it will be written.

About the Creation of the Series

First off, I'm a rabid "Star Trek" fan. (If you haven't figured that out yet, shame on you.) The Dominion War brought out the best of modern Trek. The ideals, the conflicts, the humanity. The war, the Founders, Sisko deceiving the Romulans, the Cardassians... the list goes on and on. There were so many nuances to the show, and that's what got me so interested. Even in the middle of the bloodiest war in galactic history, the core values remain important.

That's the kind of theme I want in any new series. The galaxy is not likely going to be a happy place, like the Original Series and TNG usually showed. There will be conflict and bloodshed, and through this, it's important to remain true to the morals which the first series set forth.

I'm a perfectionist. Usually, if I want something done I have to do it myself, if I want it done "right." I wanted to try to make my own version of the next series. At first it was just a basic outline and some background history. Then I added on, and soon I had almost 200 years of history filled in. And it's still growing.

How I developed the basic premise... Of course, there was a lot of speculation and analysis shooting around after the DS9 finale. I came to realize that the DS9 war was only Act One— the Founders will to try again. They've got plenty of patience, and their main power base in the Gamma Quadrant was left completely untouched. There were a bunch of Pro-Dominion websites that sprang up in the months after the end of DS9. Then I watched a rerun of "Statistical Improbalities," when Bashir claimed that the Dominion is unbeatable.

"That's typical Dominion strategy. They offer to give up something valuable, in order to hide the fact that they want something even more valuable in the long term. That's how they think. Big picture, they don't worry what will happen tomorrow, they're thinking long term. They're thinking what's going to happen a year from now, a decade, a century." — Jack

I realized that the Founders' first invasion didn't go as planned, but there's nothing that could stop them from trying again. The only reason that the Dominion lost in the first place was because they didn't have control of the wormhole. But what if they did?

I'm also a big Babylon 5 fan. (Someone who loves both Star Trek and Babylon 5?? Unthinkable!!!) The series premise there — the formation of a galactic Alliance — really appealed to me. The unending conflict between Order and Chaos. Trek has moved in that direction as well, in its own way. But B5 was a legend, an story of epic proportions. It had the feel of history. And unlike Trek, it focused on events rather than characters. (Characters were explored and developed through the events, rather than the other way around.)

The B5 creator, J. Michael Straczynski, took an approach to the storywriting that was very different from contemporary Trek. He wrote the episodes in serial form, rather than episodic. While each episode was its own story, they were all closely tied together to make a greater whole. JMS had pretty much the entire story planned out before it even premiered. That kind of planning is a big part of B5's success.

To borrow a phrase, I decided to combine the best of both worlds. :-) I wanted to use the Trek universe, write about my take on the unfolding events in the Alpha Quadrant, and have a story of epic proportions about a group of heroes who make history. This is my attempt to do that.

Okay, so I'm not a writer. I have little or no experience with scriptwriting. I'll probably be a History or German major, and I still have no idea what kind of career I'll have. This is just a hobby. Please don't criticize the storytelling too much.

Some of the events in the timeline are based on "pro-Dominion" sites such as Dateline Dominion and Star Trek: Renegade. (Both gone.)

Thanks to everyone whose input and contributions helped get this project started:

FAQ - Five Anticipated Questions

  1. What happened to Odo and the Great Link? I thought he convinced the Founders to stop the war?

    I don't think that Odo could convince the Great Link that the Solids were not a threat. If you remember DS9's "Behind the Lines," the Female Changeling descibed individuals as "droplets" and the Link as an "ocean." The sheer size of the Link would mean that he couldn't exert much influence over them. He was able to convince the single Female Changeling because she was severely weakened and had been away from the Link for years. I'm sure he would have less success with the whole Link. As for him curing the disease, I think he just cured the few around him, and they spread the cure from there in a "chain reaction." (That would be why the whole Link was cured so fast.)
  2. So how the heck can you bring back Weyoun? The cloning facility was destroyed and they couldn't make another of him!

    True, the only the cloning center in the Alpha Quadrant (Rondac III) was destroyed by Damar's rebels in the final days of the First War. But who says the Dominion wouldn't keep multiple "backup copies" on reserve in the Gamma Quadrant? Weyoun apparently was one of the Dominion's best operatives. So why risk losing him by sending the only clones into enemy territory? And besides, Weyoun is just too cool to kill off. :-)
  3. How do you measure time?

    I decided that the stardate system would get too unwieldy after several hundred years. By the TNG/DS9/VGR system, 2631 would be "Stardate 273000.0." Try putting that into a Captain's Log and it gets cumbersome. So I am developing a system based on that opinion.

This page was last modified on Friday, February 08, 2008.