Honestly, I'm SICK TO DEATH of that universe. It gave us some good shows and 2 EXRUCIATINGLY shitty ones. Not to mention that every odd movie was generally garbage anyway. They simply ran out of ideas because the universe was being strangled by the bloated carcass of it's canon that was perpetuated by its obsessive compulsive fans.
We've already gone to the past (i.e. ST: ENT) and the ball was dropped. Go too far into the future and and the stories would be too disconnected from humanity. I.e. I'm guessing humans, 1000 years in the future will be nothing like us today (socially, physically, philosophically) and as an audience it would be difficult, if not impossible to relate to it. Not to mention a whole new slew of ridiculous technobabble that would accompany it.
Being a fan of ST since I was a kid, now at the age of 27, it had lost its magic; Star Trek was boring. I now see a reborn franchise that is robust and takes us away from the cheeseball dialogue about flux capacitors.
Star Trek prime? Who gives a shit?
So, long time lurker, but this post provoked me to register.
I give a shit about the original universe. I'm surprised to see a Star Trek fan give it up so easily. One couldn't have fallen in love with the message, characters, or ambiance of Star Trek without the plot or the back story. To climb about and claim to not give a shit seems rather irresponsible.
What happened to the franchise during the last couple of years had not much to do with canon. It was direction-less and uninspired because of the people who were creating, not the world they had to play with.
The aftermath of the Dominion War, a continued exploration of the universe, heck, yes, even a prequel could have all been done with taste and energy. It wasn't and it wasn't because of canon issues.
This is all besides the point; I'd like to see that universe be explored further. That's what hooked me onto Star Trek. Now while I will give the new universe a chance, until it has a full universe to latch onto and explore, it is just one movie. If things go well, this universe could expand give us a whole new canon that is just as valued by its fans as the previous one.
Let's not throw the baby with the bathwater.
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As for me personally, I want to see if the new universe has a place for a man like Picard. Not necessarily his character...I think it would be extremely difficult to replace Patrick Stewart. But I'd like to see a captain that thinks, is sophisticated...maybe not in the immediate aftermath of this movie, but certainly at some future point in time. This new ST universe would be badly served if it didn't have a place for a character like that.