Star Trek will be out of date soon!

[T'Girl]

One of the biggest complaints of post-TOS Star Trek from the fans was the excessive amount of "techno-babble" used in the shows. TOS had tablet E-readers (by another name), but they were in the background. Kirk had a phone (by another name), but it wasn't the center of the story. It did not hinder the plot that he couldn't play angry birds.

There's been conjecture for years that the universal translator was a implanted technological device in their brains, supplemented on occasion with a larger external unit. But for purposes of telling a fictional story, the audience just need to be able to understand the different Human/alien characters when they spoke.

When Kirk needed a piece of information, he didn't ask his internet contact lenses, he asked Spock, McCoy or Scotty. He asked a person.

Star Trek really isn't about technology, it's about drama and adventure and ethical quandaries. It's ultimately about people interacting with people.

The City on the Edge of Forever wasn't an episode about a time machine.

 

[Flake]

It is indeed sad if, in the future, the crew are indeed unable to play angry bids to pass the time during Datas poem recitals.

It's is equally unfortunate that they cannot play fruit ninja whilst sitting on the bridge when nothing is happening

Also I just realised the uniforms in tng had no pockets! How on Vulcan did thy manage?!?! I never saw anyone with hands in pockets. This is a critical development, if there are no pockets in the future then how can mankind survive?

 

[BillJ]

Star Trek simply changes with the times. It is about the characters, not the technology they use (even though its pretty cool).

What they need to do is bring in sci-fi writers and people who study trends in technology when laying the groundwork for the next series. Some staples will obviously exist, warp drive and transporters and phasers, but everything else should be on the table to be redeveloped.

 

[C.E. Evans]

It'll be a never-ending process of retcons and inconsistencies whenever Trek's fictional universe doesn't match up with the real world. The goal posts will always have to be moved.

 

[Winterwind]

Every show becomes dated with the passage of time.

TOS is dated. I still watch and enjoy.

Classic Doctor Who is dated. I still watch and enjoy.

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.

Most people watch for the stories and the characters. Not whatever equipment they happen to be using.

 

[sonak]

Star Wars gets away with it because its a fantasy realm, its not in any way shape or form connected to our Earth or galaxy. Its medieval knights in space or something..

Uhura got it right in Star Trek III,"This isn't reality, this is fantasy!" Star Trek has always been more fiction than science.

Yep. I don't see this as an issue at all. Star Trek is as much "space fantasy" rather than sci-fi as SW is. I don't see it becoming out of date, and they can always make it so the Trek universe is in a slightly different reality than our own to explain discrepancies when things like "first contact with the Vulcans" doesn't happen in 2063.


Folks still like the "Terminator" and "2001" series, and those are very inaccurate now.

 

[Melakon]

Methinks criticizing a production made nearly 50 years ago, because it fails to predict our current technological development, is as shallow as refusing to watch a movie or series because it was filmed in black and white.

And who's to say our current scientific marvels will still exist in ST's future after its (maybe or maybe not) World War III and world government?

 

[RPJOB]

“Science fiction is for real, space opera is for fun.”
― Brian W. Aldiss

Star Trek is fun with a tine side order of "This is something to think about". There's no need to change the date of the Eugenics Wars or worry about the fact that there wasn't an orbital nuclear platform that almost started a war when it's launch vehicle failed or rewrite history when the Vulcans don't show up. It's a product of it's time. Let it live there. Making changes is simply a marketing gimmick to sell more stuff.

 

[Gary7]

Very little that is made becomes "timeless". There is always something to succeed it. The pre-2009 Star Trek franchise has already become "dated", just as Star Wars has. There's no real disappointment involved with watching a supposed future time not leveraging tech as good as what we have today, because it's not real. It's a "possible" future, one of many.

Have you seen Fringe? There was an alternate universe depicted and you see airships (dirigibles, or "blimps") docking with the Empire State Building, as was originally intended. It could have happened here... but it didn't. The Star Trek we see is just one interpretation of a future. As long as the stories and acting is compelling, it's fun to watch regardless of how "true to life" the technology is.

 

[marksound]

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

 

[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.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

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]

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.

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

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]

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.

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.