Like most of us, I am greatly enjoying Strange New Worlds. One of the small benefits of the series, in my mind, is that it has finally broken one of the strangest of fan habits ā the insistence on literalism for TOS visuals, especially on things like ship designs and controls. Is there anyone still holding out for a ārefitā of the beautiful SNW Enterprise so that it āreallyā looks like a set from the late 1960s? The updated look is a big part of what makes the TOS world seem relevant and alive for contemporary viewers, instead of just a nostalgia trip (as it was in the tribute episodes that showed TOS sets within a TNG/DS9 context).
Given that they have made the biggest remaining move of recasting Kirk, the idea of continuing past SNW into Kirkās Five-Year Mission seems unavoidable. Given that Paramount seems to be contracting their streaming footprint, it is admittedly unlikely that anything like this would ever get made. But something like the Kelvin Timeline tie-in comics where they redo TOS stories and intersperse them with new ones could actually be a good format ā reintroducing new viewers to classic stories while retrospectively granting more cohesion to TOS.
Obviously there would be drawbacks to redoing the old episodes. Fans would howl at any changes to the scripts, and of course there would be questions about whether any of this was worth anyoneās time or talents. And maybe it wouldnāt be! But redoing the most stone-cold classics of TOS in a more modern style could literally be the only way some new fans would engage with those stories. Young people are very intolerant of entertainment that seems old or outdated. Looking back at my childhood, I never liked TOS in large part simply because it looked too old and the acting style felt weird. If we really think that these stories are classics that deserve to endure for the long haul, a remake could be a way to inject new life into them.
What do you think? [UPDATE: You all have convinced me this is a bad idea. I will keep that in mind if I ever become head of Paramount.]
What would be the incentive to outright remake episodes instead of creating new ones with the same set of characters? Old fans will mostly hate the remakes, with some begrudging (but far from universal) acceptance if they execute it extremely well. New fans who arenāt familiar with TOS wonāt know the difference, and worse, will see even less reason to use these remakes as a jumping off point into the older series: why go watch something that Paramount obviously thought was so terrible they had to redo it? And people who arenāt Star Trek fans but exist in the periphery where they could get hooked in will see this as an example of creative bankruptcy from a giant studio riding yet another huge IP into the ground for lack of any new ideas.
I donāt think anyone would want this.
Contrast that with releasing a TOS āseason 4ā which uses these same characters and sets, and like all Star Trek leans on similar tropes, but isnāt outright recreating anything. Those existing TOS fans who have been won over by SNW will be at least curious about seeing what more this cast and writing team can do with that time period, and are much more likely to give it a shot. Newer fans who havenāt seen TOS will react largely the same as they would with outright remakes, plus the possibility of them being drawn towards TOS itself as well. And to potential fans on the periphery, this is at least less of a flagrant āweāre all out of ideasā option than outright remakes would be.
Personally Iām extremely intrigued by this recast Kirk, and would like to see more of him (not at the expense of Pike and company). But I definitely donāt want to stick Paul Wesley in exactly the same spots with more or less the same words and actions as William Shatner, just to revel in a sharper picture of a nicer set.
There is a kind of middle ground I can see them considering - remake specific episodes while forging on with new ones, much like the IDW Kelvinverse comic did when they retooled āWhere No Man Has Gone Beforeā. Itād only make sense if they used the opportunity to retcon certain details, though, or else itād seem completely gratuitous (like the Gus Van Sant version of Psycho), even more so than your standard fan service episode. āSpace Seedā with LaāAn might be interesting.
Or they could set some episodes between the episodes we already know - like: āCaptainās Log: having left Shermanās Planet and removed the last of our tribble infestation, we find ourselves with a new assignmentā¦ā
Iām not keen on āin between the episodesā episodes, youād either be viewing them out of order or alternating between two different casts.
Technically thatās already been done with TASā¦ Would a TAS remaster similar to TOS-R be out of the question? basically keep the voice acting (and other sfx since I expect it canāt be isolated) but reanimate it from the ground up?
Sorry, that point-of-view just doesnāt jibe with the immense amount of re-makes and sequels weāve got out there now. If it was common to think a re-make means the whole thing sucks and shouldnāt be watched, re-makes wouldnāt be as successful as they are.
I wasnāt referring to the remake being āso terrible they had to redo itā, but the original.
Paramount has a financial incentive to get people interested in their products, including TOS. Any new Star Trek show is valuable both as a draw for people interested in it, and as an opportunity to get people interested in watching the older, already existent shows. An outright remake of one of those older shows tells a potential convert brought in by your remake that the original version is something they probably shouldnāt bother with.
I know you meant the original. I just feel that, if that was the way people felt about originals after re-makes are made, we wouldnāt have so many re-makes. I think people feel more like, if they bothered to do a re-make, the original must be pretty good.