Sorry, but it's time to pontificate a little. Please don't flame me into crispy bits.
Of all the science fiction shows, movies and books out there, I'd have to say that my favorite of all time is definitely Star Trek. Why? Because, unlike the vast majority of science fiction shows and movies today, Star Trek, at its very best, presented an optimistic view of the future.
In Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future, mankind had put aside his conflicts. Poverty and disease were eliminated, and finally, there was peace among the human family. Mankind, instead of going out to conquer the universe, used cooperation with his fellow humans and alien friends to advance forward, bringing benefits to all. The other societies they had met, by and large, were also peaceful, having advanced enough to the point of realizing that war and conquest are foolish and self-destructive enterprises.
Such an optimistic approach was why it appealed to so many people, so broadly across the board. And that, I suggest, is why the franchise has fallen so out of favor with the world.
Star Trek has become my least favorite science fiction show, and this is why.
As Star Trek entered the 21st century, it became less and less about peaceful exploration and more and more about warfare, to boldly kill where no man has killed before. Gene Roddenberry, even before he was about to die, saw his dream changed, from a show about the exploration of the universe, to about evil James Bond-like villains trying to blow earth up, and the mighty Federation (which, in Roddenberry's opinion could not have more than a few hundred ships) was changed into a mammoth with tens of thousands of starships. No more was Roddenberry's dream of the future viable, or appealing, in the eyes of the producers, and even many fans.
As fans begged for more action, with bigger and more powerful starships to blow stuff up with, the producers, naturally, gave their fan base exactly what they asked for--and in the process, the very thing that made Star Trek so broadly appealing was lost.
As the year 2000 came and went, it was plainly evident that Star Trek, after coming off it's very highest ratings around the time of
First Contact, was losing its soul. The new generation of fans, not valuing the notions that Gene Roddenberry's hippy generation valued, rewarded the producers with applause as they continually changed Star Trek into an action-oriented show. The
Enterprise no longer was about peaceful exploration, but now carried a contingent of heavily armed soldiers aboard in order to fight with new enemies that seemed to crop up every episode.
As the fans of the original series and the excellent TNG series saw the show changing in front of them, they stopped watching, and instead turned to the past shows to once again relive the fresh, optimistic view of the galaxy again. The very notion of entertainment should be obvious--what better way to escape the real world's troubles than to step into another, better one for a while?
Sadly, Picard, in ST:Insurrection, was more right than maybe the writers thought--indeed, who
could remember when the people of Star Trek were explorers?
