Star Trek TNG Reboot Seems Inevitable, Here’s What To Avoid
It almost seems inevitable that a Star Trek: The Next Generation reboot is on the way. The successes that Paramount Studios have experienced with rebooting the original Star Trek series with films in the last 15 years shows that fresh perspectives on older concepts can be sure winners amongst fans and at the box office. But whether a reboot of the Picard-era series hits the theater screens in a run of films or streams as a series on television, creators need to be careful with two things: casting and meaningful, original story arcs.
Casting Has To Be Perfect
The potential for a Star Trek TNG reboot opens up many doors of possibilities, most could be potentially roadblocked if the show is miscast. If the same characters are used from the 1980s/1990s series, fans are going to be comparing how their favorite characters are portrayed with new players. This makes it particularly important to cast a strong presence in the part of Captain Picard, as anyone less than stellar in this role would be a disservice to a reboot.
But that doesn’t mean that a Star Trek TNG reboot needs to be a carbon copy of the show that it would be based on. Fans of the original Battlestar Galactica series from the late 1970s might have been taken aback at first that Dirk Benedict’s epic Starbuck character was recast in the 2004 series reboot with Katee Sackhoff. But Sackhoff’s portrayal of Starbuck made her quickly become a fan favorite, not to mention that the character showed producers and audiences alike that a female lead could be portrayed as someone hard as nails and still come off as very likable.
Stay Within The Continuity Lines
Just as important as cast selection for a Star Trek TNG reboot is how well the series would keep with its continuity and story arcs. TNG was known for its multiple arching storylines across its seven seasons on the air, keeping audiences tuning in week after week. Having multiple storylines to follow can be difficult to balance, particularly when a rebooted series will be compared to the one that it is based on.
Go Somewhere New
The big pitfall to avoid with story arcs for a Star Trek TNG reboot is rehashing old ones from TNG. Fans that tune in will expect a new set of storylines to accompany the new faces, even though the characters themselves are familiar. It’s also important to keep the tropes at a minimum, and avoid the mistakes made with Star Trek: Picard.
Avoid The Mistakes Of Picard
Many of the criticisms surrounding Star Trek: Picard are based on the show seeming to recycle material from other sci-fi shows. The AI storyline was a little too close to Battlestar Galactica and Blade Runner, making it seem wholly unoriginal. Any future Star Trek TNG reboot will need to steer clear of that mistake, along with one other seemingly small one in Picard that made a world of difference.
Keep The Future Bright
Since TNG first aired, it showed space travel as a way of building relationships with others in the vast regions of the universe, all the while trying to maintain existing ones closer to home. The future that is set up in Picard paints a much bleaker picture, far from the utopian ideals of other incarnations of the Star Trek cinematic universe. If a Star Trek TNG reboot does wind up in production, show runners should pay attention to that fact, and make a show that is about hope and not bitterness.
