Reboot.

Labelling any fictional universe, any story, any work as a ‘franchise’ couldn’t be considered anything, but demeaning to those that love it. Yet I am lost for words when I try to determine how the Star Trek series of movies and TV episodes could be called.

After 2002′s ‘Nemesis‘, it was all but clear that the beloved The Next Generation (TNG) crew was long overdue for retirement. One might say that it was apparent well before that movie hit the cinemas; even 1998′s Insurrection lacked the feel and canon that defined the TNG series, the last Star Trek that Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek’s creator, participated in. At the same time, ‘Enterprise’ the latest TV series to hit TVs just after the turn of the century was demonstrably, obviously so far from universe, æsthetics and philosophy of the ‘franchise’; there was little of the sophistication, little of the idealism, little of the sense of responsibility that defined the Star Trek TV series that came in the previous two decades: TNG, Deep Space One and Voyager — The Original Series being the exception, having been created at a time when science fiction on TV was clumsy at best and it being Roddenberry’s first outing — that first attempt, largely devoid of the technical sophistication of its successors, deficient of skill and execution, still included enough of the brilliance of Roddenberry’s universe that would make it successful in the long term; akin in some ways to early adventure computer games: it wasn’t so much the execution/implementation, it was about the concepts, the ideas.

In 2002 the Star Trek universe was dying; lacking direction, vision and the charismatic crew to bring it forward it was more of a rotting ‘franchise’ than art. It made little money to Paramount and there were few ways out of the decay. So, yes: Star Trek needed a reboot. And a reboot it got.
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