I guess I am going to be open to some flaming here, but that’s ok. My thinking on Trek is somewhat different than what has been written by other Trek fans but it is shared by a lot of my friends who are sci-fi fans all.
Point one: To me, Trek has a “spirit” or “mood” that is essential to it working properly. That is a mood of underlying optimism and also of wonder – the feel that we are going “where no one has gone before”. TOS captured this well (after all as the original series it established it). TNG while having its bad moments overall kept to this. So did Voyager (an underrated series in my estimation). Without this optimism and sense of wonder and exploration Trek just does not work.
Point Two: Based on the above point, to me Trek started to run off the proverbial rails with DS9, starting in the second half of Season 2.This is because Deep Space 9 started becoming more and more moody, dark, “edgy”(a catchphrase for overwrought characters) and instead of a sense of wonder and exploration we got power politics, genocide, murder of main characters, shipping,and an overall foreboding feel to the show. I know many think DS9 was some sort of pinnacle of Trek and its ratings were healthy – and had they left the dark, moody slop with DS9it’s possible Trek on TV may have survived. But they didn’t as we will see.
Point Three: Enterprise after starting with an honest attempt to create again the wonder and exploration degenerated late in Season 2and through Season 3 into dark, moody, shipping infested slop. IMHO they were trying to boost it by giving it some “DS9” spirit – the result was actually robbing the show of any chance of having an identity of its own. Enterprise died (and yes the finale was insulting). But the final depths were still to be plumbed….
Point Four: Star Trek Nemesis (spit). This is the worst piece of Trek ever committed to any sort of medium. It tried to capture the Wrath of Khan character dynamic but TWOK still had a sense of wonder (Kirk’s whole reaction to the Genesis experiment) and all in all was still optimistic. Nemesis was DARK (death, mass murder, rape, more death), moody slop. The fact that most of the cast performance screamed “I’m here for a paycheck” didn’t help. It especially didn’t help that the character of Shinzon came off as a Trek version of Doctor Evil from Austin Powers (kudos to Mike Stoklasa of RedLetter Media for this observation which is on target).
My point so far is Trek killed itself by getting away from its own core values (Optimism, wonder, bonds of friendship, etc.). It became dark and moody which won’t work in the Trek universe premise.
Enter Abrams and Orci.
What Trek 09 achieved should not be underestimated. The “alt timeline” plot device was the only way to get Trek back in its moorings and it worked well. Our characters really are going “where no one has gone before”again. The underlying optimism is back.The friendships feel right and the characters feel right. I can forgive some visual style choices when they got the ESSENCE right. They stripped Trek down to its core elements and now we have a good place from which future Trek can proceed.
Point one: To me, Trek has a “spirit” or “mood” that is essential to it working properly. That is a mood of underlying optimism and also of wonder – the feel that we are going “where no one has gone before”. TOS captured this well (after all as the original series it established it). TNG while having its bad moments overall kept to this. So did Voyager (an underrated series in my estimation). Without this optimism and sense of wonder and exploration Trek just does not work.
Point Two: Based on the above point, to me Trek started to run off the proverbial rails with DS9, starting in the second half of Season 2.This is because Deep Space 9 started becoming more and more moody, dark, “edgy”(a catchphrase for overwrought characters) and instead of a sense of wonder and exploration we got power politics, genocide, murder of main characters, shipping,and an overall foreboding feel to the show. I know many think DS9 was some sort of pinnacle of Trek and its ratings were healthy – and had they left the dark, moody slop with DS9it’s possible Trek on TV may have survived. But they didn’t as we will see.
Point Three: Enterprise after starting with an honest attempt to create again the wonder and exploration degenerated late in Season 2and through Season 3 into dark, moody, shipping infested slop. IMHO they were trying to boost it by giving it some “DS9” spirit – the result was actually robbing the show of any chance of having an identity of its own. Enterprise died (and yes the finale was insulting). But the final depths were still to be plumbed….
Point Four: Star Trek Nemesis (spit). This is the worst piece of Trek ever committed to any sort of medium. It tried to capture the Wrath of Khan character dynamic but TWOK still had a sense of wonder (Kirk’s whole reaction to the Genesis experiment) and all in all was still optimistic. Nemesis was DARK (death, mass murder, rape, more death), moody slop. The fact that most of the cast performance screamed “I’m here for a paycheck” didn’t help. It especially didn’t help that the character of Shinzon came off as a Trek version of Doctor Evil from Austin Powers (kudos to Mike Stoklasa of RedLetter Media for this observation which is on target).
My point so far is Trek killed itself by getting away from its own core values (Optimism, wonder, bonds of friendship, etc.). It became dark and moody which won’t work in the Trek universe premise.
Enter Abrams and Orci.
What Trek 09 achieved should not be underestimated. The “alt timeline” plot device was the only way to get Trek back in its moorings and it worked well. Our characters really are going “where no one has gone before”again. The underlying optimism is back.The friendships feel right and the characters feel right. I can forgive some visual style choices when they got the ESSENCE right. They stripped Trek down to its core elements and now we have a good place from which future Trek can proceed.
It is still my favorite. I do prefer seasons 4 and later over the ones with Kes (1 thru 3).
) I loved Janeway---a much better captain than Picard could ever be! (I always thought TNG was too static...why did picard remain captain after being made into Locutus? he would have been flying a desk after that! why didn't Riker finally leave the enterprise and take a promotion...as the eps with Lt. COmander Shelby showed...he was standing still. not realistic portrayal of an officer with ambitions)
) everything else gets pre-empted! 
