Like most of us, I am greatly enjoying Strange New Worlds. One of the small benefits of the series, in my mind, is that it has finally broken one of the strangest of fan habits – the insistence on literalism for TOS visuals, especially on things like ship designs and controls. Is there anyone still holding out for a “refit” of the beautiful SNW Enterprise so that it “really” looks like a set from the late 1960s? The updated look is a big part of what makes the TOS world seem relevant and alive for contemporary viewers, instead of just a nostalgia trip (as it was in the tribute episodes that showed TOS sets within a TNG/DS9 context).
Given that they have made the biggest remaining move of recasting Kirk, the idea of continuing past SNW into Kirk’s Five-Year Mission seems unavoidable. Given that Paramount seems to be contracting their streaming footprint, it is admittedly unlikely that anything like this would ever get made. But something like the Kelvin Timeline tie-in comics where they redo TOS stories and intersperse them with new ones could actually be a good format – reintroducing new viewers to classic stories while retrospectively granting more cohesion to TOS.
Obviously there would be drawbacks to redoing the old episodes. Fans would howl at any changes to the scripts, and of course there would be questions about whether any of this was worth anyone’s time or talents. And maybe it wouldn’t be! But redoing the most stone-cold classics of TOS in a more modern style could literally be the only way some new fans would engage with those stories. Young people are very intolerant of entertainment that seems old or outdated. Looking back at my childhood, I never liked TOS in large part simply because it looked too old and the acting style felt weird. If we really think that these stories are classics that deserve to endure for the long haul, a remake could be a way to inject new life into them.
What do you think? [UPDATE: You all have convinced me this is a bad idea. I will keep that in mind if I ever become head of Paramount.]
I think that instead of doing a TOS remake they should move forward in the TOS era but with another ship and it’s adventures. Imagine following Una Chin-Riley as Captain of, say, the USS New Jersey? Or a non-Constitution like the Reliant? Contemporary to the Enterprise under Kirk, on its own missions, and she takes Lt. Ortegas and (now Commander) La’an Noonien-Singh as her XO. That way we get new stories but still they get the nostalgia factor and the writing constraints of a lesser technological level.
Or, keeping up SNW’s traditions of reviving projects from early in Star Trek’s history, we could finally get M’benga leading a medical frigate in the vein of the Hopeship pitch.