Why doesn’t CBS call Star Trek: Discovery a reboot?

Star Trek: Discovery is making some changes to the Star Trek universe, so why not just call it a reboot?

There’s no denying that Star Trek: Discovery is changing the Star Trek universe. The show is allegedly part of the Prime timeline, but the changes being made may not truly fit that timeline.

We aren’t talking about the changes to the uniforms or the changes to the Klingons either. Changes to uniforms, ship design, and alien races are part of every version of Star Trek. Remember when the Cardassians had crazy chin mustaches?

By the time Star Trek: Deep Space Nine came around though the Cardassians had of course evolved.

If you’re basing the need for something to be called a reboot because it changes the way things look then you’re going to need to call Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek: The Next Generation reboots as well. If those are the standards then the case could be made for Star Trek having many reboots.

No what I’m referring to is the tossing aside of the Gene Roddenberry rule, that the crew shouldn’t be in conflict with each other. Basically Roddenberry didn’t want the conflict on Star Trek to be similar to the conflict we have between us today with our friends, family, and coworkers. Roddenberry wanted to show a future where petty things between people were no longer a focus for humanity. Of course this isn’t always followed in Star Trek and there are many places in each series where you can say the rule wasn’t followed. This time however the rule is being thrown out completely, and that’s a distinctly different future than the one in the Star Trek Prime timeline.

It would be so much easier to just call this a reboot, but there’s a reason why CBS isn’t marketing the show that way. The last Star Trek reboot, while a fun movie, had problems with the Trek fanbase. Fans were not always thrilled with the product on the screen and throwing away 50 years of canon.

CBS needs the Trekkies to make this show work. CBS is counting on diehard Star Trek fans subscribing to CBS All Access to see the new Star Trek show. CBS knows that the average person isn’t going to subscribe for this new show, so the fans are their ticket to success.

This of course also raises the question of why CBS would mess with the Star Trek formula if they are counting on Trekkies, but only CBS can answer that.

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What do you think? Is Star Trek: Discovery a reboot? Let us know on Facebook or in the comments below.