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bimo asked:
Since Cavendish and I have recently finished binging For All Mankind
, a show in which astronaut Danielle Poole outs herself as a major Star Trek fan: In which aspects would you expect a FAM universe version of Star Trek most likely to differ from ours? Excellent question, fun for both fandoms. (Which share writers in the person of Ronald D. Moore.) Mind you, I had to look up when exactly TOS was broadcast, and found it finished on June 2, 1969, i.e. just when
For All Mankind timeline departs from "our" universe (by letting the Soviets get to the Moon first), which means the entirety of TOS stays the same.
(If TOS had been broadcast two or three years later, I'd have said we'd have been spared the episode
Turnabout Intruder, and also Uhura would have had Sulu's job, given the presence of female astronauts in the FAM universe from 1969 onwards.)
By the time TNG comes along, though, the differences are well and truly established, so instead of Patrick Stewart as Picard, we get Helen Mirren as Jeanne-Lucienne. (Sorry, Patrick Stewart. You still continue a fine career as a British character actor.) Ellen is still a senator and hasn't come out (TNG starts broadcasting in 1987, Ellen runs against Bill Clinton (and wins) in 1992), so American attitude towards homosexuality is still the same, which means no, Jeanne-Lucienne doesn't get to have repressed romantic feelings for Beverly Crusher (who still remains a woman), but otherwise she has basically the same characterisation (stoic, uneasy with kids, Shakespeare and archaelogy nerd). As to the fan reaction, while there is some of the same criticism Janeway got in our universe, it's not as much, not least because by this time, Danielle already has been commanding a few missions, and also, more consistent writing in TNG. (Mirren!Picard does get shipped by fandom with both male and female characters, of course. It's Helen Mirren! It's fandom!) The other thing different about TNG is that peace with the Klingons and Worf as a crew member is somewhat more controversial in fandom than in our timeline because while FOM does have Glasnost and Gorbachev, the US-Soviet rivalry went on far longer with greater heat (including that shootout on the moon), and the Klingons are definetely read as standing in for the Russians. But overall, FAM! Trekkers are on board with this.
Storywise, it's mostly the same for TNG, except there are a few more spy stories than there were already, and there is at least one shady rich entrepeneur character aiming at reintroducing money and privatizing space flight. Legend has it that this was first a Ferengi, but then some of the writing staff said "You cowards!", and it became a human character.
DS9, starting as it does basically simultanous to Will the astronaut and Ellen outing themselves, is mostly the same except for Garak/Bashir going from subtext to text. (Legend has it Ira Fehr pushed for Bashir/O'Brien instead, since they were his faves, but was told that would make Miles a cheater on his wife and he just wasn't that guy.) Which of course means no last second hookup with Ezri for Julian, but I'm afraid Jadzia still dies. Part of fandom gets upset and does "not my Star Trek!" demonstrations, and DS9 never reaches TNG's viewing levels, but as in our timeline, it gets regularly praised as the best and most ambitious of the Treks from this point onwards.
(JMS in the FAM timeline still is convinced they stole the idea of a space station from him. But B5, too, has some changes in this timeline, incuding Susan/Talia being more blatant from the get go instead of just sailing under the radar until "Divided Loyalties", and Delenn as well as the rest of the Minbari do get to be androgynous as originally planned, with Delenn only becoming female when she becomes half human.)
Voyager: has both minor and larger differences. For example, Harry Kim is definitely Korean and talks about it, because the American-Soviet-Korean basis on Mars is now a thing in the FAM timeline. Does Alt!Voyager use the premise of two originally hostile crews forced to work together for more and longer? I'm torn on this, because I do think in the FOMverse, there would be the identical problem that part of Voyager's writing and producing staff has been working non-stop in ST since the early TNG days and there is such a thing as creative exhaustion, plus they want to do the harmonious crew thing because of a perceived backlash on the more argumentative folks on DS9 (and they want to get the TNG ratings back here, too, and here, too, ST is no longer the sole SF game in town, and new very different SF shows have arrived, Farscape etc.). Then again, the Mars base might have served as an example of how to keep at least part of the crew at odds for longer. Because Janeway isn't the first female lead on a ST show any more, and female commanders and captains are now no longer unusual for the viewing audience, the writers can be more relaxed with her, having less to prove. But I'm afraid Janeway/Chakotay still doesn't happen, because of the Captain/Crew member problem. Hence also no Janeway/Seven. But Seven is officially gay (or bisexual) here already. (Still the same costume, I'm afraid.) One thing that is definitely different is that the Voyager crew is far often forced to trade for food and supplies because their technology starts to break down. This is a viewing audience which is familiar with at least some of the Mars supply situation (though not the worst details) and its difficulties, and thus wouldn't buy that the Voyager can basically endlessly resupply and repair this far from home.
Enterprise: Instead of a Southern guy, the main engineer is a grumpy Russian. This becomes awkward a bit once the coup happens and Soviet/US rivalry is back on, but that's minor because instead of the Xindi storyline in s3 being the effect of 9/11 happening, here we get an entire season where one early colony wants to become independent from Earth (mirroring events on Mars), and there a hugely controversial storyline where Archer tortures one of the rebel leaders whom he suspects of being responsible for a terrorist bombing of Headquarters on Earth. (Given what happened at the end of s2 of FAM, this is also regarded as exploiting a rl tragedy by some fans, buy others as a valid attempt to engage with problems of the present as ST often does.) Most of the remaining fans do love the fourth season (which is basically identical) and are pissed off by the finale .
...and that's how far the FAM timeline has carried us, and so I can't say what will happen further. :)
The other days
