I enjoy Star Trek because the real focus is on humanity, not drama or storytelling for its own sake. I share the belief that with the increase of technology and education, basic human vices such as hunger and greed can be erased and a future such as that can come to pass. That's why I too am disappointed with Star Trek's turn under Rick Berman and Ira Steven Behr, as the focus shifted from man's actualization and the exploration of morality to drama and space battles. I don't have a real problem with DS9; I'm going to probably watch it all the way through. But the Roddenberry element in DS9's successors seems extremely diluted, if present at all. Roddenberry is what made Star Trek work; he was fully in charge for seasons one and two of TOS, season one of TNG with dwindling involvement until his death, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The idea that humanity can truly change and better itself while exploring its own nature and desires is appealing, moreso than "arm weapons; here come some bugs!" But I'm not ragging on other science fiction in general -- just the turn Star Trek took in emulating it.
It's apparent in a lot of places. The Enterprise-D's bridge was spacious, illuminated, and curved. The uniforms openly displayed the neck; both these aspects reflected humanity's faith in itself -- Starfleet crewmembers did not don armor, and neither was their bridge an overly technical war machine. It was a vessel of exploration, built for the comfort of humanity and providing a base from which to grow. This is tossed aside with the Enterprise-E, which is a nasty little hovel filled with angles, squares, normal chairs and dim blue lighting. The D had family aboard and welcomed children there to grow rapidly through experience; one can't imagine friendly children hopping about the E's corridors. Recall "Yesterday's Enterprise," and the look the warship version of the Enterprise had in that episode. That was done for a reason -- to contrast the peaceful, mature stance of humanity in the real timeline to a warlike, defensive group in the aberration. Yet the Enterprise-E now establishes this configuration as the rule and not the exception. The uniforms have changed to look like pure thermals, and are also very bland. Whereas the Starfleet of yesteryear had colored shirts to reflect responsibility and allow ease of identification, the Starfleet of Rick Berman looks like damn platoon of clones. The individuality that Star Trek afforded its characters (well, TOS Redshirts excluded) was pushed aside for the new conformist look.
I watched "All Good Things..." yesterday again, and I was sort of disgusted. It did have a nice note -- that Picard considered a paradox and totally circumvented normal human thinking to achieve the solution -- but this was like a murmur lost in dramatic overture. Old Picard's a buffoon not worthy of very much respect, while Data has taken up a chair at a university? And then we have the putrid backdrop of the state of affairs in that timeline. All the work of Picard and Worf is completely lost; instead, the Klingons are now stupidly aggressive. The Enterprise-D is bastardized with dim lights, and the character of Riker has ironically reached the bottom of the bad slope he slipped down starting in the later seasons (Riker went from activous, bright, and ambitious in season one to some fat dude with a beard who occasionally yelled at an alien or got pissed at someone else). The episode is one frantic dramatic explosion to the next, the only highlights being De Lancie's usual great performance and the scenes from the timeframe of Encounter at Farpoint. The humanism was there, but otherwise it looked like a big mess with Picard walking around with a question marked stamped to his forehead. The Picard we left with the television series was not "Picard, considerate of past decisions (We'll Always Have Paris)", "Picard, redefining human experience (The Inner Light)", or "Picard, reaffirming his faith in ideals (Family)." It's "Picard, who happened to solve a paradox probably baffling to most of the audience with blank expression on his face for most of the feature)." He didn't grow!
I hope Star Trek XI is made, and Picard gets to ride again. Despite the complete rut Star Trek is in (William Shatner remarked correctly that they should simply fire everyone in an administrative or creative role in the show, barring the excellent make-up artists and scenery guys), perhaps they'll take heed of the criticism and give Picard a good run. It is not befitting of the crew of the golden age of Star Trek to end their canonical appearances by foiling dumb Romulan intrigue and losing Data. Growth is not purely reacting to terrible circumstances; all they did was restore Starfleet to its former position in the TNG movies. Growth is about achieving something new, or enduring a terrible circumstance and learning from it. But what have we to learn with the movies? Kirk's death was stupid, and that El-Aurian guy was evil. In First Contact, Picard learned that he has an irrational hatred of the Borg (something explored well enough in the TV series and rehashed just to give him something to do). Insurrection had a lot of promise with the exploration of the moment premise, but the writers neglected to explore their own damn theme, and Picard was left with a neat experience and no real substance. And in Nemesis, they simply foil a plot. Where is the advancement of the human spirit?
So I'll be hoping Star Trek XI will be a good one, and that perhaps in the future, a new generation of true Star Trek lovers can take over the series once more. Those people who say "the idea has run its course" underestimate the creative power of the human mind. The same things were said about TNG; it proved to be the golden age of the franchise. Criticism was also made about DS9; the Dominion War arc, though not totally Roddenberry-esque, was still a good piece of drama. And I'll neglect Voyager and Enterprise, since the idea that's being described as having run its course really isn't present in those series. "Morality plays" are often described as being sappy, but Roddenberry was not afraid of making a statement and advocating ideals. IDIC, advancement, etc. number among them as core doctrines.
Dang, I really come off as crabby. But as someone who started to like Star Trek only a year and a half ago, these are my observations.
