Is that like...
the same booty all over again? Fascinating...
So, OK, wow, I'm finding it virtually—nay, literally—impossible to keep up with this thread! There are still posts from a hundred pages back that I've always meant to address specifically, but haven't been able to find the time, and probably never will. (If I quoted you in this post, my purpose is neither to single you out, nor to ignore others.)
My understanding is that "Prime" means the main, ongoing, current "home base" continuity, that which isn't considered to be an alternate timeline or parallel reality like the Mirror Universe or
Kelvin Timeline. It doesn't mean no changes, no updates, no retcons, no redesigns, no recastings, no reevaluations of authorial intent, no errors, no contradictions...and it doesn't mean that any of those things are
required to be explained, though they
can and may be, whether explicitly or implicitly, within the narrative or behind the scenes.
Note that something can be canonical but not Prime (again, see MU and KT), or Prime but not canonical (see many comics, novels, games, etc.), and can even go from being considered either or both to being considered
neither and then back again (see TAS). If a future canonical production decides to regard itself as Prime and DSC as a parallel universe or fever dream, then that is how it shall be...until the next fellow comes along, at which point it may all be reshuffled again.
But I don't believe there is
any wholesale, whole cloth "reboot" going on here with respect to continuity, visual or otherwise, such as it be. As has been the case
from the first pilot onward, they simply consider themselves free to add, remove, or otherwise alter whatever elements they so desire as they go along, on a rolling basis, which is more or less
inevitable in any fictional continuity that runs long enough and changes custodianship enough times. In this, they
may give consideration to the intent of previous custodians, but they
won't consider themselves inviolably bound by it except where they
want and
choose to be, and even less so (
i.e., not at all) by the assumptions and expectations of fandom. And why should they?
None of this is qualitatively different from how serial fiction has
always worked.
This show is an in-continuity prequel to TOS and what followed, both informed by
and informing what is depicted therein. One can certainly say it functions as a sort of "reboot" in the sense that it provides a relaunch of and reintroduction to the Prime continuity following the still-ongoing-in-parallel diversion of the
Kelvin films. It
is a kind of restart, a new beginning and jumping-on/off point, with a new vision and interpretation of things. But no more so than TMP or TNG or ENT or the framing story of ST'09 in turn were. Not in principle, and not in practice.
I could have missed something, and stand to be corrected, but so far as I know,
no one involved in the production of DSC has
ever used this phrase. It seems to me it was devised and is being propagated by fans, either as an indictment or a defense, depending on the fan. Some such as Ted Sullivan and Akiva Goldsman have indeed spoken of "updating" the look and compared it to what was done with the remastered TOS and TNG, yes. But neither those efforts nor DSC were ever intended to set up some separate continuity divorced from previous incarnations. They were just tweaks, refinements. And despite the fact that I myself personally prefer to watch the originals, it would be silly to claim them as some sort of deal-breaking transgression that compromises the sacrosanct integrity of the fictional world or whatever. That would be some serious drama queen shit. (And no, the irony is not lost on me that it's entirely possible I may have said plenty of equally ridiculous things in times past.)
I don't follow. The interiors changed entirely with the TMP refit, too. And then the A's interiors changed with every film she was in, even reverting from having TNG-style touchscreen controls and carpeting (yet
also revealing innards highly reminiscent of TOS) in STV
back to physical knobs and buttons (and
now with a more TOS-like paintjob to the exterior) for STVI.
What is so fundamentally different about this?
-
MMoM
