See Batman Begins for evidence of a good revamp. I'm hoping ST does as well (or heck, even half as well). One of the most popular ST films is the 4th one, where you didn't have to be a supergeek to like. The Muppets and Fraggle Rock (and Dark Crystal) might have the same issues. When no one is watching your property, you gotta rethink how to get people back in.
People will tune in to see the latest movie if it is done well. One thing people hated was Batman and Robin because it really was that bad. If they had made that film really good, we wouldn't have the new Batman reboot starting with Batman Begins.
Put Paramount has been putting crap out for years with the Star Trek franchise. Rick Berman, heading Star Trek at the time, told Paramount no about making Voyager and wanted Deep Space Nine to go on it's own for a while because he thought adding another television show with the current one and making movies from The Next Generation series was adding too much trek into people's lives. But the people at Paramount threatened to make Voyager without him and Berman decided to play by their rules in order to keep his job. And we all know how Voyager turned out in the end, crap.
Then came the Enterprise series. It was the second trek series to get canceled and Paramount never figured out what happened. Paramount should have had a good 5 year gap between the Voyager series and Enterprise series to give the fans a breather. The 10th trek movie bombed at the box office in 2002 and Paramount never figured out why that happened. Maybe because the film was bad and was a horrible product shelled out to the fans.
So now they're going with a reboot of sorts, since it worked so well with the Batman franchise. The people at Paramount don't care about the qaulity of the product, they just want to make money however easy as they can. They just didn't figure out they were making bad Star Trek movies and television shows, and I think they are making the same mistake with this new trek movie that comes out in May of 2009. If Paramount would put out quality products, (films), the fans will come. They always do.
Because I would think the "hardcore" people like the original characters best. Remember Kirk-vs-Picard debates? I do.
Yes but that debate started 20 years ago with people in their 40's who grew up on the old series and did not care for the Next Generation series. Even several of the actors of the original series, like James Doohan who played Scotty, did not give the series a chance until they finally sat down and wathed it and liked it. (Although his arguement sounds like mine with this new trek movie)
Now you get silly debates about a Borg cube vs the Death Star from Star Wars or the Enterprise D verses the Death Star and so on from Star Trek fans and Star Wars fans, which I find outright geekish! It's not about Kirk vs Picard anymore. I think most people can say that Kirk and Picard are different in handling things but they're both good captains.
But my problem is I've already seen too much from Kirk and company, so I ask myself "what's the point"? If someone wants to see more of Kirk and his buddies, either go back and watch the original series, the original movies, or read the many novels featuring the original crew. Or heck, write about the original crew in your own little fanfiction universe. I don't need Kirk and Spock again, especially if they're being played by younger actors.
... because TNG and later have this irritating problem of being more pessimistic than TOS. Roddenberry tried to get his public out of being depressed over Vietnam, etc. The 90's saw a move away from that, starting with the Borg. Utopia was shown for the unrealistic stuff it was. However, people NEED a pick-me-up every now and again.
TNG was very optimistic about the future of people. The show said Earth was a paradise, all the humans working on the Enterprise and other ships were good people with very little or no flaws who worked to better themselves. But there were episodes that still displayed problems we're still facing today. "The Outcast" is one episode. (I'm not going to give details of the episodes but you can read up on those episodes!) Other episodes are ones that have Q in them like the one where he gives Picard a second chance at things, or the episode where Q shows Picard really cares for someone which was "Vash" in the episode "Q-Pid", to shows that showed Worf trying to deal with being a parent or dealing with his loyalites of his race or loyalities to the crew he served, etc. Although some of those episodes might have been doom and gloom at the beginning and middle acts, the end acts always showed an optimistic outcome.
But yeah you had the Borg who were about assimilating everything and everyone, and Picard even addressed that his people seemed doomed, but was reminded that there is always hope and people can get through a tough problem. (Sounds similar with what we're facing with the economy right now).
The Next Generation series was very optimistic just like the Original Series. You just got to find episodes and how they relate to today's problems.
Even Deep Space Nine, which was more shades of gray than any other trek series, always showed that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and no matter how bleak things look, there are always greener pastures on the other side of the fence.
To be fair, some thought ST was in DESPERATE need of a reboot, considering what we'd been getting. IMHO, the best TNG one was First Contact, and even that's not agreed upon.
It all depends on what Paramount puts out. If they out out a good product, the fans will go and see it, kind of like the Muppets. If Disney put out a product that featured the Muppets but was horrible, the fans wouldn't buy it as many have stated with their frustration in the last few years on here.
Back to the Future doesn't need one because (it's arguable) it was never ruined. Gremlins' charm is it's "murderous muppet" sensibility. And no remake can make Jaws make sense. They tried a video game, and from what I hear that was stupid too.
With the way Hollywood is these days, you just never know. Although I watched Jaws and Jaws 2 over the weekend on cable, and they were great!
Guess this little rant shows how much of a trek geek I am! Don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing!
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And no remake can make Jaws make sense. They tried a video game, and from what I hear that was stupid too.