The Shock of the New

The perennial debate over whether the newest incarnation of Star Trek is worthy of the name rears its ugly head, and so here is my latest take on it:

I have fond memories of watching the original series, before anyone had ever imagined that there could be a sequel of any kind. However, I suppose I am peculiar in that I do not wish every kind of Trek to be exactly like the original, and — forgive me — while I think that the literalistic New Voyages series is wonderful, I do not believe it is the only legitimate approach to Trek.

When the first Trek movie was released, I remember how fantastic it looked, not how different it was from the classic series.

When the Star Trek: The Next Generation hit the airwaves, I was proud of Trek’s TV resurrection rather than irritated that Picard was nothing like Kirk.

When Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was aired, I was delighted that there were two new Trek series to watch for weeks on end.

And so on.

Maybe I’m not enough of a fan to some, but I prefer fresh new takes on classic ideas over exact imitations of that which cannot really be copied. I am enough of a rationalist to abstract out the essence of a thing, without demanding that it is the literal repetition of it.

The only way to preserve something so that it is exactly the same as it was is to imprison it under glass, hermetically sealed, in a museum, forever. And that is something that, fan or not, I do not wish for Trek.