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 Young people are very intolerant of entertainment that seems old or outdated.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?
While I do agree that TOS looked dated even when I was a kid I don’t know if we should redo TOS just for updating it’s sake. I don’t remember how far into the 5 year mission TOS starts but I would be happy to get episodes before or after it. My main point is that I think society is at a different place and our science fiction should represent that. I think some of the great TOS episodes hit so hard because we understand our society having that problem and it gives us solutions to our own struggles. While many of the social issues of the late 60’s are still prevalent and it seems like American (I’m not American) is backsliding on a lot of things such as Women’s Rights I would still like these issues looked at from where we are today and not where we were in the 60’s.
TL:DR Science fiction is an abstraction of our society and I want our Sci-fi to abstract 20XX and not 1960’s.