A good example of how to deal with years of Canon is what ‘Doctor Who’ has done...use what you works and ignore the rest...there is always a tie to tie things together later if needed.
Wow that sentence got away from me!
Trek fans prevent that. There’s a ridiculously obsessive crowd of fans in Trek that demand every frame be worshiped as tight canon. They’re the ones that still wind up hassling Takei and Koenig for pushing the “wrong” button. Once Roddenberry decided to placate that crowd in TNG and really try to tighten up the canon the bad path was set. Just look at the incredible whining that came when the Enterprise communicators were revealed to be smaller than the TOS ones. I think that hew and cry right there was why any smart writer that gets tied to Trek would want to reboot, the canon crowd cannot be pleased, best to cut them off.
Spot on. Regeneration is a built-in “refresh” that allows different actors to play the same role.
The other nice bit about regeneration (aside from the fact that actors can leave the show without the whole thing coming to a halt) is that it allows the production crew to improve the set as the budget improves (”Hey guys, let’s state that the Tardis also regenerates! Now, we can spend the extra 20 pounds the BBC gave us!”). Also, the regeneration schtick makes for some interesting contract negotiations (”You wanna raise? How about we snuff you instead and replace yer arse?”).
A good example of sheer balls in a franchise would also be the Gundam Universes. When those cats get tired of something, they say, “Aw, screw it. Let’s just start a whole new universe that also features giant robots blasting things. Okay, who’s ready for lunch?”