Something to think about...

When you have franchises that run a long time, you obviously run into questions of continuity. For instance, in the James Bond franchise, you may note that with Daniel Craig's entree in CASINO ROYALE, the series was officially rebooted. That means we are no longer talking of Bond as being the same guy as in the past and we may state that the films DR. NO to and including DIE ANOTHER DAY do not belong in the same movie universe.

Here we see all the actors playing Bond in the official EON Productions of the franchise: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig (so far, this is written in 2015, of which note) but let me ask you this question then: were the adventures of the famous secret agent really the adventures of only one guy? 

When Bond marries Tracy Vincenzo in ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE but Tracy is killed by his arch enemy at the end of the same film, Bond later on is referring to having once been married. In the teaser of FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, he also pays respect to his late wife at her grave. Felix Leiter said in LICENCE TO KILL about (Dalton's) Bond, "He was married once, you know," but Pierce Brosnan refers to a relationship with Paris Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies, something that previously we never knew of.

a documentary about the franchise

When Lee Tamahori directed Brosnan in DIE ANOTHER DAY, he said something of the name 'James Bond' being some sort of code name for an agent in that position and that this would also explain the different faces. That would be one idea (that has been discarded by the producers). However, what would you say then in the case of the science fiction franchise of  STAR TREK?

 
The CLASSIC STAR TREK CREW

In the original series we saw William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols, James Doohan, Walter Koenig and George Takei as the characters that in 2009's reboot were played by Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho and Anton Yelchin.

The J.J. Abrams Star Trek Crew.

Here, in this franchise, there is no question of talking about other characters. These are the same characters, but the film plays in a different timeline so it is no surprise that new actors give the characters new faces and the film a totally new look. One could also think of the same question when it comes to Doctor Who but then he is a Time Lord and he regenerates and that is the solution for him.

All the Doctors (MINUS John Hurt)

It might also apply to comic book characters like Superman (for instance, why has Clark Kent in the comics seemingly not even aged since his first appearance in 1938?) or Spider-Man (the same can be said about his appearance in the comics since 1963).

For films or series that run a limited amount of time, the continuity is generally not a problem because it has a beginning and remains consistent to its end. But when you have series that run like James Bond or Star Trek, for a good 50 years already, I think there is only ONE PRACTICAL SOLUTION to this continuity problem. And that is that one needs to discard the continuity issue on a larger timescale and just look at the character in the particular film, episode or comic book one is seeing him or her in. That would also explain a good number of things in franchises like SPIDER-MAN or JAMES BOND.  

Will the real Batman please stand up?

The Marvel Comics Group has often taken pride in its continuity and in their films they also do so very heavily for the moment. DC Comics have always taken another position in that they have often done other versions of their heroes in different worlds, different dimensions, what have you. Also in their films, they do not adhere to one shared movie universe. (Although the series ARROW and THE FLASH do exist in one world.)

So what you do when you watch a film, an episode or read a comic book of a long running franchise, is you just focus on the time span in that film, episode or comic book. That is the time in which it plays, nothing else matters. If new rules will be applicable, this will be stated to be so. For STAR TREK it has been stated officially that everything from Classic Star Trek up to Star Trek Enterprise belongs to one and the same timeline. Everything that comes after, is a rebooted timeline. For James Bond, CASINO ROYALE with Daniel Craig rebooted the franchise so everything that came before is off the table. Good thing too. Does anyone want to remember Barry Nelson as James Bond?

Gimme a drink ! Now! No, thank you.

Barry Nelson, played Jimmie Bond in the 1954 telecast Casino Royale which now is hardly ever seen. His Bond was an AMERICAN !!  Or David Niven in the spoof film version of 1967?

Wodka Martini, shaken not stirred? I don't think so.

Best to forget this perhaps????? I guess this might indeed be something to think about...