Has your perception of Trek changed in the last 10 years?

Less of a kool-aid drinker canon/continuity freak these day. More into enjoying it.

 

This.

Life's too short to be watching something simply to nitpick at it.

 

I'm a lot more of a casual fan of it these days than I used to be. I used to think that TOS through DS9 was about the best televised sci-fi out there, but I've caught up on a lot of older, very good sci-fi shows like B5 and Farscape, and now I think of Star Trek as just one of many good sci-fi franchises out there.

Like BillJ, I also have increasingly noticed that for its reputation as "social commentary" and presenting ethical dilemmas, that Star Trek often drops the ball in that regard, and the Prime Directive is a big part of it. Now, I tend to enjoy the "space opera adventure" angle of it, or just appreciate the characters and stories without taking the preachiness too seriously.

 

When I was little I bought the Federation's propaganda--but as I got older, I came to see the less pleasant side of what the Federation had really become...its hypocrisy, its darker side. As a result, I would say I don't really enjoy all of the series anymore, and am mainly focused on Deep Space Nine, because it did such a good job of deconstructing a lot of what I think just wasn't realistic about Star Trek's vision of humanity--yet without turning into a completely bleak, hopeless nuBSG. I think it had just about the right balance to make it believable yet still something you could really engage emotionally with, without wearing you out.

 

I'm somewhere in between the views that Trek was tired and cliched, and simply something good to watch and enjoy.

Star Trek was one of the few sci-fi that said humanity 'made it' -everyone is happy and well fed and gets along. That was always the main theme.

The problem is, it didn't always take risks and missed some good opportunities. Tried to send messages with just analogies only.
Today's shows are edgier than ever and get better ratings as a result.

Have some one curse when they get mad. Or drink something typical like beer and eat fries or something.

Or listen to something other than jazz or classical music or opera for a change. It's the 24th century lol.

"The Outcast" from TNG was obviously an attempt at sending a message, but it was way too safe and quiet and boring, so you have to wonder if anyone got the message.

 

I'm still a huge fan of Star Trek.

But about five or six years ago, I started to wonder if I was a fan of the show or a fan of the minutiae. A realization set in that I wasn't having fun any more, I was just going though the motions.

The obvious stupidity of some episodes/movies still bothers me to an extent, but I no longer wrap myself in disgust when a cloaking device shows up in Enterprise or when some other odd detail from one series doesn't match another. I know when I watch Seinfeld, I don't bitch and moan when he shifts from being a Mets fan to being a Yankees fan or the structural features of his apartment change even though he has never moved during the course of the series.

Nowadays, I hold Trek to the same standard that I hold other shows I watch: does it entertain me? In my opinion, it's the only standard that matters. Probably why Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise and the Next Gen movies have mostly fallen off of my radar.

 

Uh, its not real. There is no "Federation" or "Federation propaganda". What it has become, be it unpleasant, dark or hypocritical, is from what writer/producers have done. Oddly enough, to many, DS9 is the darkest and most unpleasant of the Treks.

Treks vision of humanity is pretty broad. Depends on which series/episode you watch.

 

Duh, I'm aware it's not real. What I mean is I saw the Trek universe the way the propagandists in-universe tried to portray the Federation (not to mention the perspective parroted by some starry-eyed fans), but as I got older I saw the hypocrisy inherent in it.

 

There are no "propagandists". Just characters speaking words written by writers, characters who "believe" what they "say". They aren't spinning facts to make the UFP look better in the eyes of its citizens or outsiders. Any "hypocrisy" is just inconsistent writing or a change in direction. If you don't like the ideas presented in Star Trek you might consider not watching.