You are waiting for more borg and romulans? Are you interested in a new enemy of the federation to appear or have another re-encounter like the cardassians?
I just want something new and original. No more nostalgia bait, no more member berries. Can you imagine if TNG never introduced the Borg and just stuck with Romulans? Even when they didn’t nail it right away with the Ferengi, the franchise stuck with it and ended up giving us a pretty interesting culture with some of the best characters and stories in DS9.
No one wants to take risks anymore, makes me sad.
I want the Borg to assimilate Khan from another timeline where he is a Gorn
How about something like The Culture?
Highly advanced multi-species civilization ruled by benevolent AIs?
I have a nagging feeling that something like it should have appeared in Trek at some point.
I mean, The Culture is just The Federation if it actually followed through on post-scarcity utopianism.
Nor really.
The Feds still have meatbags making decisions.
The Culture humanoids are “lucky” enough to have benevolent AIs who spoil them like pets.
Less benevolent AI rule might look like Saberhagen’s Berserkers, or Battlestar Galactica’s Cylons.
I know you didn’t ask, but:
As weird as it sounds, I don’t think the Borg are ruled by AI. If they were, they’d be a lot scarier than they already are. Cyborg meat brains, e.g. the Borg Queen, are still in charge of making stupid decisions.
The Minds of the culture are people, with the same rights as any other inhabitant. Even the ones unwilling or unsuitable to coordinate the systems of a ship or orbital.
By contrast, both Data and the Doctor had to argue for their personhood, to convince the Federation that they should have rights, and their utility played a role in that decision.
The Federation talk a big game about fair treatment for all sentient beings, but they sure are willing to deny rights to those they don’t like, and they are meat supremacists.
