Its rare that I enjoy reading an academic discussion, but you touch on alot of the issues that unfortunately have plagued Star Trek. I may not agree with all of them, but I can certainly see where you are coming from.

However to me, I don't regard TNG as the holy grail of Star Trek. I grew up on Star Trek Voyager, and grew to love DS9 whenever I could catch it. (Watching 5 days or so of almost non stop Trek was awesome). I even enjoyed alot of what Enterprise tried to do, even if I felt it didn't have a place.

I think the greatest challenge Star Trek will have to face now is appealing to new audiences, without alienating their old audience, which in itself is splitting, dividing, subdividing, etc. You've got people like me, who love the darker, edgier depth of DS9 and Voyager, and you've got people who love the optimism of TNG to name a few. I'm sure its hard living up to so many fans.

But on a lighter note, here's to hoping the new Trek movie does not disappoint.

Your characters are very believable, and you are good at capturing real emotions in real emotive moments. You also have a wit that has a slight Rowling catch to it. What I really liked most about this piece--beyond its originality--is how vivid your imagery is and how well you describe and paint pictures. The best fantasy-ish pieces I've ever read have great imagery and in vast worlds and realms of old. You have brought that to work here. I look forward to more.

You covered the entire franchise well, and cited your sources from many reliable places. Definitely a solid essay the Trek people should consider. I also agree with how you mentioned that tapping more into the style that DS9 brought could in fact help Trek. BSG and another forgotten great story, Babylon 5, did that very well. BSG, DS9, and B5 were all dark and serial in nature. At the same time, Trek is still about that optimistic vision of the future as Takei would often point out at conventions and interviews. The Federation also needs to be portrayed as not being perfect, which DS9 did very well too. I really like your conclusion too about having that darker feel and balancing it with Gene's positive vision. I think if good writers can do that in a solid, believable balance, Trek will live on. In my opinion, I still think they could stay in the 24th century though, or the 25th, but the new movie does show promise. Well done.

This was very descriptive and I particularly liked this part:

"The memory of that kiss was always with him. He had intended to only touch his lips to hers, but those intentions faded as soon as he came close and she grabbed his face and pulled him to her, crushing her lips against his. "

I also like the problem you have set up within this story...the one from the "well off" family and the one considered to live on "the wrong side of the tracks." It's going to be interesting to see where you take this.

I really enjoyed this. The writing is excellent and I can see the conflict that is going to occur now that one is still royal and the other is a pauper. I hope this is going to be about Jonathon, he was the interesting one to me but Eric has possibilities too. And of course, I'm curious as to where Elaine has been all these years. I'm sure that will be revealed as well.

Great start!