The new buzzword in pop culture today is “reboot.” Ever since Ron Moore’s Battlestar Galactica soared to new heights of quality, just about every studio under the sun has wanted a piece of the pie. Not only that, a reboot provides a convenient way for series that have dropped in popularity or otherwise fallen by the wayside to make a strong comeback. In recent years, we’ve seen successful reboots of many franchises, including Transformers, James Bond, and the Batman films. But all is not sunny.

I should first point out that a reboot is not the same thing as a remake. Those we’ve seen for quite some time, and they’ve become ridiculously popular in the last decade or so. Just look at all of the crappy 1970s television that’s been turned into crappy movies!

The other term that’s bandied about sometimes, especially in reference to Battlestar Galactica, is “reimagining.” This is just a stupid alternative term created to avoid using the word “reboot.” Considering what the entire premise is designed for (resurrecting a franchise), they both mean the same damned thing! There’s nothing wrong with using the word “reboot” when applicable, so substituting a more pretentious term is just retarded. (Get it?)

But I digress. While I thoroughly enjoyed the Battlestar Galactica reboot, as well as the semi-reboot that was the new Star Trek film, I’m beginning to worry. We’re seeing reboots with increasing frequency now, and in some cases, they’re completely unnecessary. A recent example is the upcoming video game Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. This is a reboot of the entire Castlevania franchise…but why? Even though previous games in the series have all taken place in the same timeline, each Castlevania game is essentially a standalone title. You don’t need to play any of the other games in the series in order to understand what’s going on. Gamers were never confused by this, so rebooting the series makes no sense at all.

To come back to Battlestar Galactica for a moment, there’s been rumors swirling around for a while that Universal Pictures wants to make a Battlestar Galactica film for theatrical release. While this might sound good on paper, here’s the part that’ll make you bang your head on your desk: it’s not based on the original series, or the rebooted series. It’s going to be a standalone film…in other words, another reboot! Moore’s series just ended its run a few months ago; there’s an interquel telefilm (The Plan) on the way this fall, and a prequel series (Caprica) coming early next year. Those are very fresh in people’s minds, so why confuse them by throwing what’s tantamout to a third Battlestar Galactica universe into the mix? Most importantly, though, is that reboots are generally used to resuscitate flagging series; the Battlestar Galactica reboot was a monster success. Starting all over again is completely pointless!

To close out this post, I suppose I should mention the most negative of the re-words, and that’s “rehash.” A rehash is when someone flagrantly rips off an already existing property or properties and boldly call it their own (e.g., just about everything Joss Whedon has done post-Buffy). Rehashes are something else that’s been on the rise in recent years, and that’s far worse than a glut of unnecessary reboots.