Superman said:
...a RENEWAL.
This is the word we've all long sought to define what this film will be.
The designs and even the characters are being renewed. Not rebooted, not revamped. We have Nimoy as the original Spock. Maybe Shatner as the original Kirk.
We've all used the religious term "canon" over the years to discuss continuity. Now we have to borrow another religious term.
The Catholic Church didn't need reform, it needed renewal, the point made by those who worked during the Catholic Counter-Reformation.
The same applies here. Trek XI is a renewal of TOS, of Star Trek in general.
\S/
Semantics.
There IS one thing I'd like to point out though...
The really funny thing about all of this, is that the very fact that the majority of the fan-base is already poo-poo-ing this film is proof of my point that since VOY and ENT, the fans have gotten more and more disappointed with Trek.
Back in the days of TOS, TNG, and DS9, this forum was alive with serious topics about character and episode arc, ship tech, etc... and the fans were genuinely involved in the characters and storylines.
But here, we have a film that is instantly being described as being sucky, and a reboot, and Paramount beating a horse that's already a pulpy mess of goo. This just proves my point that it's time to take that horse to the glue factory already, and get it all over with.
It's clear that since ENT, most of Trek fandom has died. If that were not the case, this movie would be more enthusiastically welcomed. I don't know how many of you here remember watching an old TV special, for the 25th anniversary of Trek, but there was one fan who was quoted as having said;
"Anything that has Star Trek on it, is gonna draw me to it like a magnet." . Well, slap me with a platypus, and call me Aunt Jemima, but I seem to not see that level of enthusiasm for Trek here anymore.
The fact that actual TREKKERS are slamming this film so vehemently means that Trekdom is dead. We are going to have to treat this movie like ENT, and just go into it knowing that the only way we'll be able to judge it, will be based purely on the writing alone, because we know that no matter our hopes, or the relentless mewling from TOS fans to keep the 1701 untouched, that this film WILL have a wholly new look. So we may as well suck it up, and see if the STORY is worthy of Trek.
Just my two cents.