Next-Genned
OK, so why do I loathe Star Trek, Next Gen so much? It's simple, and yet so complex.
The series was SUCH A DIFFERENT creature that calling it Star Trek was a misnomer. Yes, there was an Enterprise and a Star Fleet. But they'd been reduced to the pencil pushing ambassador shuttling, nice-nice making, tea vs coffee version of themselves.
The Next Generation should have been a continuation of the traditions of the original series and the movies, with the addition of better special effects and a broader spectrum of stories. Instead, we got guys in miniskirts, an Empath that pointed out the OBVIOUS, and Pinocchio on the bridge.
I guess that I expected the atmosphere to be more of an "Explore new worlds" REALLY REALLY FAR AWAY FROM UTOPIAN MOMMY, than the "We're cruising around town seeing what's new" version I got. I mean, they had the biggest baddest version of the Enterprise ever built.
Why did it always seem like they were never able to warp to somewhere beyond the reach of help? Why were they never out of communication range, and in the middle of situations that training didn't cover? It's because the series had a number critical flaws. The biggest one was, the Federation became a Big fish with big tech toys in a small fishbowl galaxy.
Oh, and who in their right minds would put children on a deep space exploration mission? Of course you can't go places and do dangerous things with KIDS in the car.
At this point my simple explanation of why I loathe Next-Gen is getting complicated, so I'll shut up now.
