A new Star Trek series but 90% of the dramatic tension comes from each of the characters believing themselves to be the Outsider archetype.
If YOU’RE the new Spock, and I’M the new Data, and HE’s the new Seven of Nine, and SHE’S the new Odo, and THEY’RE also the new Spock…. then who’s piloting the ship?!
Sometimes a family can be five autistic-coded characters flying a starship through space.
A Vulcan, an android, an ex-Borg, a Founder, and an autistic human? I’m on board for that.
Seriously, I’m on board. I’ll make a self insert just for this show. :-)
And then when the bog standard Relatable Everyman character joins the cast he realizes that HE is now the awkward Outside archetype who makes humorous social miscalculations.
I can’t stress enough that the narrative must not present the Relatable Everyman as a relatable everyman. He is not the audience proxy, the de facto protagonist, OR the token normie. He is the Outsider and he is presented as such, and he gets special bittersweet episodes dedicated to exploring his attempts to figure out his place in his community.
‘Relatable Everyman’ doesn’t come on until S4, and all their attempts at humor and flirting and friendship making are jarring and confusing and uncomfortable. Their jokes don’t seem to land. All their social norms get chucked out the window. They spend a lot of time confused and alone until the benevolent crew deigns to try and teach the Everyman how to fit in.
Exactly.
I also want to emphasize that Mr. Everyman isn’t treated as a joke. He isn’t just some pathetic doofus among impressive titans who ends up the butt of every joke. The narrative must have genuine compassion for him and present his struggles with sympathy and optimism. His social accomplishments are celebrated but assimilation should not be the ultimate goal of his character arc; for as much as his differences cause pain and humor and complications, the crew comes to accept and appreciate that his uniqueness is valuable in its own way. Every now and then he has a particular quality that helps to save the day, but ultimately Mr. Everyman is part of the family and forcing him to change would be unthinkable.
1. Everyone on the ship engages in perfectly normal levels of social activity, which is to say, they work together and then they retreat to their quarters after work for solitary pursuits, or get together for one-on-one interaction, like playing a board game, because in the future everyone loves board games. The Neurotypical Outsider (NTO), an extrovert, tries desperately to get everyone together to play a game and is always trying to spend time with everyone off duty. Everyone politely blows them off because that level of social neediness is kind of embarrassing. The NTO shows signs of being deeply unhappy, maybe even depressed. The ship’s doctor discovers that extroverts literally require the presence of social interaction with others almost constantly to support their mental health. No one wants their friend to suffer, so they apologize for how they’ve been blowing off the NTO and agree that they will get together for a weekly board game as a group, and that everyone will try to spend at least half an hour socially interacting with the NTO after work every day. Also, the mysterious comet turns out to be a generation ship from an ancient race of aliens.
2. On a diplomatic mission, the aliens serve the crew a food containing a substance that is bitter to humans. The autistic human refuses to eat it on the grounds that it tastes awful, but the NTO bravely chokes it down and pretends to like it. The autistic human does not understand how this is possible and questions it, leading to the NTO admitting that they lied. Danger! It turns out that on this world, lying is a crime punishable by death! The NTO pleads that they were just trying to be polite, that where they come from refusing someone’s hospitality or admitting that their food is awful is incredibly rude. The crew present character witnesses of what a great person the NTO is and how they’ve been such a good friend and helpful crewmate. The aliens admit that they have never encountered the concept before of someone lying for the benefit of others; on their world lying is always assumed to be malicious and intended for selfish gain at others’ expense. The captain gives a beautiful speech about how every culture in this universe is different and we must make allowances for the differences of others in order to find wonderful friendships. The NTO is released. Everyone has learned an important lesson today. Also, the problem with the warp core is discovered to be caused by space squirrels that phase in and out of reality.
3. The NTO’s parents are diplomats and the ship is tasked with taking them to a conference. It turns out that they are even more extroverted than the NTO, loud-mouthed to the point where they freak out the autistic human who has perfectly normal sound sensitivities, who shouts at them in response and then they yell at the autistic human for shouting at them and cause a meltdown. They are vaguely racist to the Vulcan, condescendingly tolerant to the android, and outright blatantly racist to the ex-Borg. The NTO tries desperately to play all this off as if it’s harmless jokes or ignorance because the NTO loves their parents and does not want to suffer their disapproval, but is in truth utterly sickened by it. Finally the NTO musters up the courage to challenge their parents and tell them how obnoxious they are being and how they do not approve of this treatment of their crewmates and friends. This is as they reach the conference planet, so the parents flounce off in a flurry of “well I nevers” and entitled anger. This makes the NTO miserable, even though they know they did the right thing by standing up to their parents. Then the parents call from the planet to apologize for their behavior, but it turns out, they still have no concept of what they did wrong– they assume the problem is that the NTO has to work with “these people” so of course has to stand up for them because it’s not like Starfleet lets its officers pick their own ships, and they totally don’t get that the NTO was genuinely offended on their friends’ behalf. However, the NTO accepts this apology and doesn’t challenge it because they want their parents’ approval. Then they feel guilty, but the other members of the crew reassure them that they understand, because they are Starfleet officers and thus contractually obligated to have terrible relationships with their own parents. The episode ends with the crew telling the NTO amusing anecdotes about their own conflicts with their parents. Also, the aliens who have been trying to shoot the ship down as it goes to the conference location turn out to be highly advanced energy beings who were just testing the Federation’s commitment to peace.
Tags:
#autism #story ideas I will never write #Star Trek #embarrassment squick #fanfic #oh look an update
Brinens and Things 
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