Star Trek will be out of date soon!

[Nightdiamond]

I think some of the preaching that Star Trek sometimes did is a little outdated.

Like the "higher arts" are popular, while TV watching is obsolete (primitive), all religious beliefs are bad, every single earth human being is nearly a saint, etc.

Mostly because of the threads I see when people question those ideas based on the contradictions they've seen on all the shows.

Otherwise it's just funny--women wearing beehives, food shaped like cubes etc.

Star Wars tries to relate to modern people more, while throwing in some advanced technology. People want to make money, the "force" is a cool, mysterious religion, people curse and use catchphrases all the time.

Trek tends to point to a future utopia-like time where the people don't really seem to have much in common with modern people.

Hamburgers and fries don't seem to exist, the only music is classical or jazz, and for relaxation, people go see a play.

[KamenRiderBlade]

I don't think they need a reboot so much as they need to use the original universe of TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT and move forward in time.

There are plenty of stories that can happen if they jump 300-500 years from the end of ST: Nemesis.

[Rarewolf]

Melakon wrote:

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I would think the OP also has trouble watching something like 2001: A Space Odyssey, since it seems to be impossible for him to suspend disbelief.

I've never seen it. I did consider watching it in 2001 for the fun of it, never got around to it.

Josan wrote:

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The X-Files is dated. How on earth did they manage having to suffer with those clunky cellphones and that primitive internet 20 years ago.

I don't think its dated badly. Sure technology moves on, but I can't see anyone doing a period drama set in the 90s just yet. 70s and the 80s have more worth a revisit - fashion (or lack of it!) the 90s is just between then and now.

Nothing dates quicker than the future.

[Nerys Myk]

Carcazoid wrote:

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Star Trek is not dated at all. It exists in an alternate reality.

It's exists in a fictional reality. As such, it changes with the times. Any contradictions with the real world can be brushed aside, ignored and never mentioned again.

[BillJ]

KamenRiderBlade wrote:

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I don't think they need a reboot so much as they need to use the original universe of TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT and move forward in time.

There are plenty of stories that can happen if they jump 300-500 years from the end of ST: Nemesis.

The tech already seems like magic, moving it forward only goes to remove it even further from the average viewer.

[Lance]

All it takes is a bit of 'suspension of disbelief', and a bit of imagination, to overlook the apparent asthetic short-comings of Treks of the past. It might look considerably more primitive, but on reflection those electronic clipboard things that they occasionally used in TOS could, technically speaking, easily be iPad-like tech.

On the other hand, to get back to what the OP was actually asking... going into the future, any Trek revival would naturally have to adapt to gadgets with more modern-type applications. The only narrative excuse one might make is that, sometime after the 'World War 3' occasionally mentioned in the TNG era, Earth technology took something of a retrograde step back. Or maybe they simply discovered that broad based devices which work on an Earth atmosphere simply won't cut it in deep space, so they were forced to return to something that operates in a more primitive way? The successful operation of our current mobile technology relies on communication devices in orbit around our planet, so it seems perfectly reasonable to me that explorers to some distant, never visited world would instead need to use devices which are more like old-fashioned person-to-person walkie talkies.

[Ronald Held]

It is not dated. It is a different universe where technological progress occurs at a different rate than ours.

[Nerys Myk]

Ronald Held wrote:

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It is not dated. It is a different universe where technological progress occurs at a different rate than ours.

I never bought this concept. For the most part, the folks in charge tend to treat it like its the future of our world. That why when the characters visit the present, it's pretty much the reality outside our windows. The contradictions and predictions that don't fit are ignored.

[RPJOB]

Nerys Myk wrote:

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I never bought this concept. For the most part, the folks in charge tend to treat it like its the future of our world. That why when the characters visit the present, it's pretty much the reality outside our windows. The contradictions and predictions that don't fit are ignored.

You mean our world has orbital nuclear platforms, genetic supermen, interplanetary spacecraft that look like submarines and the rest? Wow, who knew?

What Trek tends to do is ignore what they have shown us about the 20th century except for things like Khan coming from that time.

What are they going to do when we don't have sanctuary districts and Vulcan spacecraft landing in Montana? Or when we don't discover warp drive or dilithium?

[BillJ]

Nerys Myk wrote:

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I never bought this concept. For the most part, the folks in charge tend to treat it like its the future of our world. That why when the characters visit the present, it's pretty much the reality outside our windows. The contradictions and predictions that don't fit are ignored.

I like to think of it as both. I like to hang onto Trek "history" but I also like to see it grow to match the social and technical trends of the time.

[Nerys Myk]

RPJOB wrote:

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You mean our world has orbital nuclear platforms, genetic supermen, interplanetary spacecraft that look like submarines and the rest? Wow, who knew?

What Trek tends to do is ignore what they have shown us about the 20th century except for things like Khan coming from that time.

What are they going to do when we don't have sanctuary districts and Vulcan spacecraft landing in Montana? Or when we don't discover warp drive or dilithium?

Those would be the parts that are ignored when the real calender catches up with Star Treks continuity. Not always, but most of the time. You know, like I said in my second paragraph.

[Josan]

Rarewolf wrote:

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I don't think its dated badly. Sure technology moves on, but I can't see anyone doing a period drama set in the 90s just yet. 70s and the 80s have more worth a revisit - fashion (or lack of it!) the 90s is just between then and now.

Nothing dates quicker than the future.

You seem to have missed the point of my post especially since you only quoted part of it which means you've got it out of context. But oh well, thanks for playing.

[jayrath]

When you can travel faster than light to another star with forcefields surrounding your ship, and destroy an asteroid with a death ray, please come back and beam into my living room, or call me on a cell phone from the other side of earth without benefit of cell towers or satellites, and then tell me Star Trek is out of date.

[King Daniel]

Trek's datedness is part of it's charm, IMO. It won't be ruined by warp speed being invented tomorrow or aliens coming down from space any more than it was when Khan never took over in the 90's, or when someone somewhere first realized that there's no way aliens are all going to be humans with a few pointless forehead bumps.

It's FUN before future history!

[KamenRiderBlade]

BillJ wrote:

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The tech already seems like magic, moving it forward only goes to remove it even further from the average viewer.

Nothing wrong with moving the setting forward IMO.

The tech can be adjusted and explained properly so that it doesn't seem like magic.

Plus a large chunk of the fanbase wants to know what happens in the original universe's time line.

There's also the issue with the writing staff relying on way too much technobabble since the start of TNG.

Babylon 5 along with most Japanese Sci-Fi Anime are generally technobabble light with solutions based on practical / logical things that people can do.

Babylon 5 didn't have plots focusing on Tech failing.

Another thing the writers need to avoid.

Alot of the drama can be done with out reliance on Trek Tech to explain / fail / deus ex machina their way through the plot.