Reboots and retcons - change is scary

[lithera]

I've been thinking about this in the back of my head for over a year now and the reaction to the new Star Trek movie (and partially Wolverine) brought it forward again. I, generally, have nothing against retcons or remakes. I, generally, would prefer something original to something being redone and if it /is/ being redone I would like it to be redone for a reaon (preferably other than to make money).

Key examples here are Superman and Star Trek - both rebooted due to the passage of time, mostly. Actors pass away when you have properties that last this long. While the attempt at a Superman reboot will likely lead to another attempt in a different direction, the Star Trek reboot is a much better platform to go forward on. In the Superman movie, the best parts (and for the most part the only parts I enjoyed) were the homages to the previous movies. It is not a good thing if you're looking to move forward, to have all of the best parts of your movie intimately tied to the past. The rest was okay or out and out creepy. The Star Trek movie managed to pay homage to everything that Trek has been so far and yet at the same point go forward from there by not getting tangled up in past continuity issues.

This is leads to a reaction I don't really understand. I'm not going to try to argue good and bad because everyone has their own criteria for that and it is too subjective for me to manage. What I don't get is the idea that something new will somehow ruin something old forever, given that both of them are of a like quality. The new Star Trek movie has been described as throwing away 40 years of established canon. The X-men movies have twisted the comic stories around on themselves somewhat in terms of who and what and when. Just because they've decided to go a different way with these things, it doesn't invalidate what you love about what you were first exposed to.

A new movie that goes out of its way to say it is in a different timeline or universe does not AT ALL lessen the awesomeness of TOS or TNG or any Star Trek you've ever loved. This is just something new to love or not love. Logan meets Rogue on a snowy road in the middle of nowhere in the movie and that doesn't lessen the awesome of her throwing herself into harm's way to save Mariko and earning his trust in the comics. These things can co-exist as awesome in different ways.

There is a truly violent backlash some times when someone comes in with a new idea and it isn't just in fandom. It is across all parts of everyday life. New ideas can be very scary, especially when they might change something established that you hold near and dear to your heart. Just try to keep in mind, folks, that just because it is new and has something to do with something established, it might not change your enjoyment of it at all. Breathe and think about it before you freak out, please. It might just open it up to someone who never would have been able to jump into it before.

Comments

[candidgamera.livejournal.com]

That's true, but the characters' points of view aren't the ones at issue in an old-canon, new-canon discussion. ;)

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Of course. I see where the desire for the old universe comes from. I understand the perceived loss but I also don't think it really has to be a loss, though I can feel for that point.

*grins* I generally have a problem with the idea that a retcon or a reboot ruins everything that has come before and some how invalidated it. That's the main issue I have with the reaction and not just in fandom discussions. It isn't like I'm going to destroy all of the copies of what came before. I'm saving my Laser Disc copy of Star Trek V for the zomibe invasion.

[candidgamera.livejournal.com]

Well, you're not a canon nerd. ;) You don't understand. :)

[lithera.livejournal.com]

*laughs*

This arguement, for me, is reminiscent of many others I've had on a lot of other platforms from Watchtower to marriage equality. I rarely believe that something new, especially in the name of making something more accessable, is a bad thing. (Given that the quality of the new is at least equal to the old. Quality issues can mess the whole thing up really fast. Good and bad are so subjective.)

[candidgamera.livejournal.com]

I don't see the analogy as apt, but it should be noted, I am in favor of this new Star Trek on the whole; I just think one has to jump through a few mental hoops to preserve the original canon. Which bothers me despite my enjoyment.