This thread could be partly considered a continuation of my "Remakes, how I hate them" thread from a while back, only this time it's more about another point I didn't address as much the last time.

When it comes to established series/franchises, it is frequent for producers and writers to "reboot" the story (not as a remake, thankfully) and make it accessible to newcomers, with little references to a story's previous entries.

Now, do you agree with this idea? Should we make it easy for newcomers to get acquainted with a series and spare them the severe brain hemorraging that would ensue if they made any attempts at a thought and went on to search all the information they need about a series on the bloody Internet?

Because, it does leave me wondering: many of these newcomers do have Internet access, right? So they can, you know, make some research, a wonderful privilege available to them. Because the reboot concept seems catered to people who couldn't do that if their lives depended on it. Sure, research can be long, but come on, it doesn't take forever, surely they can dedicate a little of their time to it.

After all, when I'm introduced to an already existing series/franchise, I don't need them to start flushing years of history and development down the drain for my sake if I didn't get to follow it from the beginning. I can catch up.

So people, your thoughts?