How might you have rebooted TOS?

[Shazam!]

In my mind, the future from which "Spock Prime" came isn't really the Trek we've been watching for the past 40 years, but a timeline almost identical to it.)

LOL I kinda rationalise that in a similar way. To my mind, Trek XI is the Star Trek film that happened in the same way that The Avengers/The Saint/Mission: Impossible movies happened ie. the TOS movies, TNG, DS9 etc never existed and someone decided to make a movie of some old 60s TV show.

 

[Kagan]

How would I have done it?

I think a couple of page back that middyseafort put forth the ideas that I lean upon: 1) use Roddenberry's original pitch manual as the source of material on a reboot or 2) create a Smallville-like show...maybe the long lost Star Fleet Academy idea.

However, I contend that the reboot didn't happen on May 8, 2009...rather it happened looonnnnnggg ago. TOS was not the primary source for this reboot. The TOS Movies, starting with TWOK, through the other four series was the source. Other than dropping a few names (Christopher Pike, George Kirk, etc) and gold, blue, and red uniform shirts: TOS was not a source at all.

If I had rebooted, I wouldn't have made Scotty and Chekov clowns; they weren't in TOS. BSG-Reboot made their characters serious individuals in pursuit of a cause.

 

[Wingsley]

^ Yes, I'm concerned about the tone surrounding this JJ Abrams movie.

STAR TREK wasn't just a dramatic series about characters' experiences as individuals. It was about a futuristic world that they lived in, and the laws, principles and other notions that governed/guided their lives. Look back on "Balance of Terror". Would NuKirk be as smart and cautious as TOS-Kirk was in dealing with the Romulans? Or would NuKirk charge out there, guns a-blazing, and get a war started?

And, in other stories, would NuKirk respect the Prime Driective? And what about other adventures, like TNG's "The Measure of a Man" or "The Enemy"? How would NuKirk handle those situations?

We may never know, because I suspect this JJ "reboot" is showing us a new Universe where all those ideals have been abandoned. Fans of the new movie seem unconcerned about this, but I see those ideals as a major glue that has bonded the characters, the stories and the overall appeal of the STAR TREK franchise for 43 years now. Take those notions away, or otherwise ignore them, and NuTREK seems to disrespect an enduring keystone of the franchise.

Getting back to the original question, if I were rebooting STAR TREK, whether the reboot was tied to TOS or not, the atmosphere of the story would continue to honor the professionalism and wisdom of the characters that TOS gave us. There would be a Prime Directive, and the stories would be more about exploration and diplomacy, not vendettas.

 

[Kagan]

STAR TREK wasn't just a dramatic series about characters' experiences as individuals. It was about a futuristic world that they lived in, and the laws, principles and other notions that governed/guided their lives. Look back on "Balance of Terror". Would NuKirk be as smart and cautious as TOS-Kirk was in dealing with the Romulans? Or would NuKirk charge out there, guns a-blazing, and get a war started?

Honestly, there were times that TNG and VOY was handicapped by the Prime Directive legalism. Yet, I was unnerved when NuSpock advised against saving Nero and his crew....that just wasn't the spirit of TOS. TOS-crew had a much more balanced view of the Prime Directive...they didn't ignore it; they weren't handicapped by it...instead it was a tool.

 

[Anwar]

It was a plot device whenever the episodes needed one.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

STAR TREK wasn't just a dramatic series about characters' experiences as individuals. It was about a futuristic world that they lived in, and the laws, principles and other notions that governed/guided their lives. Look back on "Balance of Terror". Would NuKirk be as smart and cautious as TOS-Kirk was in dealing with the Romulans? Or would NuKirk charge out there, guns a-blazing, and get a war started?

Honestly, there were times that TNG and VOY was handicapped by the Prime Directive legalism. Yet, I was unnerved when NuSpock advised against saving Nero and his crew....that just wasn't the spirit of TOS. TOS-crew had a much more balanced view of the Prime Directive...they didn't ignore it; they weren't handicapped by it...instead it was a tool.

What does Spock being pissed off at Nero have to do with the Prime Directive?

 

[Wingsley]

^ Absolutely nothing. The point I made went over some peoples' heads, apparently.

I was pointing out that, to an extent, the plot of the NuTREK movie recycled some elements of past TREK movie plots, the whole we've-got-to-save-humanity-from-the-vendetta thing is getting old. Take away the vendetta and what do these new characters have to stand for? It's just hard to imagine these new characters behaving with the same kind of professional atmosphere that we saw in TOS, and living in a world governed by rules like the Prime Directive for instance; instead I see the new trend as slowly drifting toward forgetting those ideals. In TOS, Kirk and Spock never ignored the Prime Directive; instead, they showed concern about how it would apply to the situation. They had to weigh whether the situation could exempt non-interference. Sometimes it did.

So no, this isn't about the Prime Directive, but rather about wondering if JJ Abrams has created a new Universe and characters in that Universe who would give a shit about rules like the Prime Directive.

Let's go back to "Balance of Terror" again. Let's set aside what happens in the new movie with Nero. If NuKirk took the NuEnterprise to the Earth Outposts along the Neutral Zone, what would he do? I don't see him using the same caution and living with the kind of self-doubt that TOS-Kirk did in playing cat-and-mouse with the Romulan warbird. Instead, I see the JJ Abrams mentality resulting in shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later.

That's what concerns me.

 

[Anwar]

Keep in mind NuKirk only just became the Captain (right out the Academy?! Seriously I know he's a hero but...), Kirk in BoT had been Captain long enough to consider the bigger picture better.