A pure CT cleaned up would NOT do so well. The big complaints are still the big complaints, 40 years on, and they are the biggest benefits that MGT has over CT: lack of meaningful choices in CT Char Gen, computers the size of small apartments, and table-heavy combat. Likewise, the lack of a unified task mechanic is a major issue.
A game somewhere between CT and MT would have been better - the increased number of cascades vastly improves character gen in terms of getting a character one likes and in terms of meaningful choices. The combat system is far less table heavy (and can be entirely front-loaded). MT's not without warts - the ship and vehicle design system is clumsy and convoluted.
Liftoff is looking pretty sweet. The intent was a MGT beginner box — not a new edition — but it's looking like a new edition, a beginner's edition. An edition streamlined for newbs.