Star Trek: Dove

To boldly go...
Some have said that the STAR TREK sequels (and prequel) lacked the vision of the original. They've been exciting space adventure, but without the social relevance of the classic. This criticism is not entirely spurious. Oh, there were strides, to be sure - a black and a female captain are now a part of our collective consciousness. And any number of TNG, DS9, STV, and STE episodes dealt with subtle issues of immense social import.
But it's time to get the TREK vision humming again. I give you the next series, STAR TREK: DOVE.
The original gave us a glimpse of a human future wherein war, poverty, religion, and disease have been consigned to the scrapheap of our barbaric past. The next step? Our boldest yet - putting killing and violence behind us. The Dove is the first vessel of the line to be commissioned with no weapons. The series is set a decade or two after VOYAGER (so, y'know, room for old series guest appearances). The captain will be a non-white bisexual woman, whose doctor has a heart of gold and pines for her in silence (played by yours truly). The captain's romantic interactions with aliens and humans alike will be a focal point of the show (well, obviously). The doctor is her truest friend and confidante, whom she always goes to for advice, laughter, and comfort. In the first episode, she drops her pants for an inoculation. When he points out that pants-dropping hasn't been required for hundreds of years, she replies that her gesture is symbolic, and that he will henceforth be the one person she will always "let her hair down" with. He administers the shot, and upon learning that he hasn't been inoculated, she takes the hypo, gestures for him to turn around, he drops trou while looking her in the eye, and the tone of their relationship is set.
Miral torres-paris is the helm officer, and white males do not predominate. The bridge crew rarely go on away missions, and a surgeon is never sent where a medic is more appropriate (it only takes Starfleet 300 years to realize that 837 starships have been left leaderless when the captain, first officer, and chief surgeon were eaten by a big rhododendron). A regular character will be the "away mission major" (though i'm sure the captain will be abducted from time to time, so don't fret). An away mission medic, science officer, and perhaps empath will also be regulars. Many of the crew will be played by actors of mixed descent, so that you're left guessing as to their ethnicity. And holodecks will occasionally be seen used as a crew on a years-long mission with possibly minimal sexual release would logically use them. The sexuality of these future humans will be less victorian than previous TREKs, and more in line with human sexual nature (i.e., non-monogamous). And let's dispense with the nudity taboo of previous incarnations. Having janeway cover her breasts in "modesty" was a 20th century hangup - the future of humanity will be a thousand times less repressed. Audiences have become accustomed by the good people at Showtime to casual nudity - it's time for TREK to lead again, not follow.
The Dove will survive without weapons because the shields are so advanced that damaging the ship is virtually impossible with any known technology. The Dove is the fastest craft in the fleet, with multi-directional tractor/repulsor beams to deal with hostiles. Plus some sort of deadening beam that can disables other ships' systems. Hand phasers will be stun-only (with perhaps one standard one per away mission, for heating rocks and such).
And may we have a vulcan who isn't an over-emotional ninny, please? Nimoy pretty much got it right. Russ came close. Other than that, it's been pretty abysmal. The writers have been as much to blame as the actors and directors. And don't give me "they're just failing to repress nature"...i haven't even had the benefit of growing up in an emotionless society, but time and again i personally outdo these "vulcans" in detached serenity.
In the first episode, we learn that for decades Starfleet has known of an advanced alien society who have an impenetrable defense screen around their system. They never venture outside, and refuse entry to any vessels which possess weapons of war. The Dove is built for the purpose of first contact. Afterwards, the Dove will continue on a mission of deep space exploration. For much of the first season, the Dove is accompanied by an armed Starfleet vessel, until Command is convinced the Dove can function alone. At some point, a sister ship is commissioned, the Organia.
And no, it was not my intent that there be a series known by the abbreviation STD. That was just a little bonus.

(postscript: If it should prove impossible to get the current "owners" of STAR TREK on board [since berman's ouster, people like frakes apparently can't even get a meeting], this visionary is open to having this produced as an altogether new, non-TREK entity entirely. It's not the name that matters, it's the vision.)