story outlines and notes
Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:22 am
SPACE MURDER SERIES
they won't necessarily be aired in this order and everything is open to revisions. But I've had a lot of ideas bouncing around and want to get them all typed up somewhere so I don't forget them, and might just discuss some of the concepts outside the actual story.
episode 1: a short story about murder in space
The series starts with the space cops investigating a dead body found in space. When leads come up as dead ends, they wonder: just how did that body get into space?
features:
Introductions
Fun facts on space habitats
Glimpses into everyday life
Immigration
Possibly a trial (I'm undecided still, will make up my mind as I write up to that point. I might cut it just for time; I've barely had time to write what I've already done.)
episode 2: war games
A warship involved in a starfleet war game somehow ended up using live laser fire. When the initial investigation suspects an inside man sabotaged it, two of our inspectors are called back to Starfleet to identify the culprit and determine why he or she did it before anything worse happens.
features:
(simulated) laser combat
a look into starfleet life
episode 3: manhunt
During a routine traffic stop, an officer is gunned down in broad daylight by a suspect in multiple previous murders and robberies, sparking a nation-wide manhunt for the cop killer. Their hunt is complicated by two strange facts though: when the fugitive shot the officer, he never drew a gun, and nobody has reported seeing his face outside these crimes. How is this possible? What legal complications will this bring?
features:
cybernetic implants
a legal battle over rights to the body
habitat surveillance techniques
hostages
(That legal battle might need some expansion. A lot of sci fi discussion on the internet seems to assume some things I just find weird. That in the future everyone will just consent to all kinds of weird things and that future laws will be perfectly inline with technology.
In this one, the suspect asserts that one of his cybernetic implants, an illegal weapon, cannot be forcibly removed by the state, as it would be an illegal invasion of his basic right to his personal privacy and decency. Can the government force him to undergo a very invasive surgical procedure to remove this deadly weapon? If no, how will they safely apprehend and hold him?
It's easy to say "well obviously the rights of his potential victims outweigh his right to be a selfish prude" but I don't see it nearly as black and white, and neither will the relevant laws and officials in-story, doubly so considering how closely A'millian culture holds concepts like modesty and privacy. They consider the forced extraction of just information to be unacceptable to the point that simple witness summons are generally unenforceable! Forced extraction of physical items from the body is surely at least as bad.
If you find such beliefs to be irrational, well, remember, people aren't always rational!)
episode 4: moar murder
A member of the cast meets his or her untimely demise and the surviving members of the team have to struggle with their inability to get involved in the investigation. Another relatively straightforward plot.
features:
a gun
internal politics of the royal inspector's office
brief look at religion
episode 5: emergency
A private spacecraft crashes into the hull of a habitat. We follow the attempts to rescue the people and the following investigation into why the accident happened. Was it due to negligence from the spacecraft manufacturer or was it simply a case of "shit happens"?
features:
a daring rescue by the space fire department
engineering analysises
corporations
episode 6: blackmail in the space army
An old friend from the army comes to one of our agents looking for help. He has gotten a promotion to a respectable post in the Space Fortress, but says he is being blackmailed by someone trying to force him to turn down the job. Worse yet, he claims he can't go through official channels since there's allegedly corruption at the highest levels of government conspiring against him. Are these claims legitimate, or has an old friend simply gone off the deep end?
features:
A space fighter cliffhanger
An investigation off the books, but nevertheless by the book
A look into how the space army operates
The mob
the "illegally raising an army" legal charge
episode 7: blackmail in the space army part two: murder in the space army
The conclusion to the previous episode includes reports to higher government to root out local corruption, but, one question still persists: who was pulling the strings of organized crime? Why did they go through all this trouble to control that post at the space fortress? When a person ends up dead inside the army base, it is clear that the case is not yet closed.
features:
Long range laser fire
A space trip
Our first look at planet A'millia in this series
Higher levels of government
Espionage
A high tech investigation inside the space fortress
(Actually I think it'll probably work fine as one episode, but I want the space fighter cliffhanger! Perhaps it will simply be before a commercial break.)
episode 8: murder?
While engaged in hot persuit of a suspect, an agent is forced to use her weapon, killing the suspect. We follow two investigations: one of the suspect (just because he is dead doesn't mean he's been convicted!), and one of the agent, as well as the personal story of her reaction to having taken a human life.
It's in many ways a mirror of episode four.
features:
counselor troi
religion again
episode 9: lost in space
A spacecraft has gone missing, with one of our vacationing agents aboard. What happened? How will they recover the ship and its passengers? Will things get ugly inside?
features:
space pirates
stealth in spaaace
international jurisdiction
delta-v restrictions
episode 10: coercion
In episode one, we saw hints that the royal inspector's office was best known for investigating other police organizations, but this is the first time we actually see that go down as we watch the agents look into accusations of excessive force. Puts the rights of the accused and the rights of the victim together - where is that balance in their society? What are the consequences of this?
features:
police deception
enhanced interrogation
the imperfection of the "gut"
the blue wall
episode 11: foreign affairs
When a Starfleet ship ventures too close to another nation, it is captured and its crew detained on charges of espionage. Is this legal under international law? What were they actually doing there anyway? How will they get those people home?
features:
international relations
space navigation
foreign courtroom drama
our first real look inside another country
episode 12: safety inspection
Two agents go undercover in a routine safety inspection of a chemical company. When one of them is nearly murdered on the streets during the job, is that related to the inspection, or was it a random mugging?
features:
more civilian life
(this might be the simplest of the plots. There's very little in this idea that's specific to space or the setting at all.)
episode 13: corporate murder
When a company's missile test results in the destruction of a rival company's space liner, murder is naturally the assumption, but is there any way to prove what really happened? Could it have actually been a mistake?
features:
a would-be megacorp
asteroid destruction (analysis wankers take note)
hacking
(Note: This is adapted from something I posted in one of the RPG discussion threads)
they won't necessarily be aired in this order and everything is open to revisions. But I've had a lot of ideas bouncing around and want to get them all typed up somewhere so I don't forget them, and might just discuss some of the concepts outside the actual story.
episode 1: a short story about murder in space
The series starts with the space cops investigating a dead body found in space. When leads come up as dead ends, they wonder: just how did that body get into space?
features:
Introductions
Fun facts on space habitats
Glimpses into everyday life
Immigration
Possibly a trial (I'm undecided still, will make up my mind as I write up to that point. I might cut it just for time; I've barely had time to write what I've already done.)
episode 2: war games
A warship involved in a starfleet war game somehow ended up using live laser fire. When the initial investigation suspects an inside man sabotaged it, two of our inspectors are called back to Starfleet to identify the culprit and determine why he or she did it before anything worse happens.
features:
(simulated) laser combat
a look into starfleet life
episode 3: manhunt
During a routine traffic stop, an officer is gunned down in broad daylight by a suspect in multiple previous murders and robberies, sparking a nation-wide manhunt for the cop killer. Their hunt is complicated by two strange facts though: when the fugitive shot the officer, he never drew a gun, and nobody has reported seeing his face outside these crimes. How is this possible? What legal complications will this bring?
features:
cybernetic implants
a legal battle over rights to the body
habitat surveillance techniques
hostages
(That legal battle might need some expansion. A lot of sci fi discussion on the internet seems to assume some things I just find weird. That in the future everyone will just consent to all kinds of weird things and that future laws will be perfectly inline with technology.
In this one, the suspect asserts that one of his cybernetic implants, an illegal weapon, cannot be forcibly removed by the state, as it would be an illegal invasion of his basic right to his personal privacy and decency. Can the government force him to undergo a very invasive surgical procedure to remove this deadly weapon? If no, how will they safely apprehend and hold him?
It's easy to say "well obviously the rights of his potential victims outweigh his right to be a selfish prude" but I don't see it nearly as black and white, and neither will the relevant laws and officials in-story, doubly so considering how closely A'millian culture holds concepts like modesty and privacy. They consider the forced extraction of just information to be unacceptable to the point that simple witness summons are generally unenforceable! Forced extraction of physical items from the body is surely at least as bad.
If you find such beliefs to be irrational, well, remember, people aren't always rational!)
episode 4: moar murder
A member of the cast meets his or her untimely demise and the surviving members of the team have to struggle with their inability to get involved in the investigation. Another relatively straightforward plot.
features:
a gun
internal politics of the royal inspector's office
brief look at religion
episode 5: emergency
A private spacecraft crashes into the hull of a habitat. We follow the attempts to rescue the people and the following investigation into why the accident happened. Was it due to negligence from the spacecraft manufacturer or was it simply a case of "shit happens"?
features:
a daring rescue by the space fire department
engineering analysises
corporations
episode 6: blackmail in the space army
An old friend from the army comes to one of our agents looking for help. He has gotten a promotion to a respectable post in the Space Fortress, but says he is being blackmailed by someone trying to force him to turn down the job. Worse yet, he claims he can't go through official channels since there's allegedly corruption at the highest levels of government conspiring against him. Are these claims legitimate, or has an old friend simply gone off the deep end?
features:
A space fighter cliffhanger
An investigation off the books, but nevertheless by the book
A look into how the space army operates
The mob
the "illegally raising an army" legal charge
episode 7: blackmail in the space army part two: murder in the space army
The conclusion to the previous episode includes reports to higher government to root out local corruption, but, one question still persists: who was pulling the strings of organized crime? Why did they go through all this trouble to control that post at the space fortress? When a person ends up dead inside the army base, it is clear that the case is not yet closed.
features:
Long range laser fire
A space trip
Our first look at planet A'millia in this series
Higher levels of government
Espionage
A high tech investigation inside the space fortress
(Actually I think it'll probably work fine as one episode, but I want the space fighter cliffhanger! Perhaps it will simply be before a commercial break.)
episode 8: murder?
While engaged in hot persuit of a suspect, an agent is forced to use her weapon, killing the suspect. We follow two investigations: one of the suspect (just because he is dead doesn't mean he's been convicted!), and one of the agent, as well as the personal story of her reaction to having taken a human life.
It's in many ways a mirror of episode four.
features:
counselor troi
religion again
episode 9: lost in space
A spacecraft has gone missing, with one of our vacationing agents aboard. What happened? How will they recover the ship and its passengers? Will things get ugly inside?
features:
space pirates
stealth in spaaace
international jurisdiction
delta-v restrictions
episode 10: coercion
In episode one, we saw hints that the royal inspector's office was best known for investigating other police organizations, but this is the first time we actually see that go down as we watch the agents look into accusations of excessive force. Puts the rights of the accused and the rights of the victim together - where is that balance in their society? What are the consequences of this?
features:
police deception
enhanced interrogation
the imperfection of the "gut"
the blue wall
episode 11: foreign affairs
When a Starfleet ship ventures too close to another nation, it is captured and its crew detained on charges of espionage. Is this legal under international law? What were they actually doing there anyway? How will they get those people home?
features:
international relations
space navigation
foreign courtroom drama
our first real look inside another country
episode 12: safety inspection
Two agents go undercover in a routine safety inspection of a chemical company. When one of them is nearly murdered on the streets during the job, is that related to the inspection, or was it a random mugging?
features:
more civilian life
(this might be the simplest of the plots. There's very little in this idea that's specific to space or the setting at all.)
episode 13: corporate murder
When a company's missile test results in the destruction of a rival company's space liner, murder is naturally the assumption, but is there any way to prove what really happened? Could it have actually been a mistake?
features:
a would-be megacorp
asteroid destruction (analysis wankers take note)
hacking
(Note: This is adapted from something I posted in one of the RPG discussion threads)