Okay, source of conflict coming from outside I can see. That's a bit different. And yes, that stricture did start to drag on things after a while.
Re: Prime Trek I'm guessing the main reason you don't see much of the nu-cast at conventions is they don't need the money (or maybe the main actors appearance fees are too expensive).
Just because some of us aren't too keen on yet another TNG spinoff doesn't mean we don't love Star Trek.
I am not advocating a War-driven STAR TREK, either, but I am prepared for it. One thing, though - the STARFLEET look just isn't very combatty ... you know? It looks like some fashion statement, or other. The MACOs on ENTERPRISE definitely had the right look for that. The other problem has been the staging. Hand-held cameras and gritty realism of war need to be in play, even though, in reality, futuristic war wouldn't ever require boots on the ground, it's just not fun to watch it, that way. Finally, in support of the idea, though, there are many different faces of war: The traumatised civilians, the medical emergencies, the friendly fire, the collaborators, the unlikely romances ... on and on. If the coverage were such, it could be a really entertaining concept. There is much material to mine from a series based on a war, but Rick Berman-styled STAR TREK was never up to the challenge, really. I suspect a new film crew would feel otherwise. So ... if STAR TREK: War! came to television, I'd feel compelled to give it a shot, sure ... but the wonderful thing about war is that it can end. After the Path to Healing has been followed, exploration could resume, or any other kind of STAR TREK story.
True, but that's not exactly what I said was causing stagnation. It was the same format over and over, regardless of if they made it on a space station, the Delta Quadrant, or a prequel. Yeah, a couple of them varied things up a little bit with story arcs, but for the most part the storytelling style became the same. Even though there was still variety between the stories, they kept going to the same wells on that variety instead of coming up with something new or breaking the mold. A new series won't really be able to get by if they use that same type of storytelling. Yeah, at that point they could just make something new, but we know that doesn't happen that often. The Star Trek brand is likely to be on TV again at some point, it's just a question of when. And when it does, if it just follows the same format of the shows before, a lot of people aren't going to care. It's going to be new and different, probably something that will turn off several folks around here. I can't really disagree with this. I don't think there's any one thing that caused the decline, but I think that the format staying the same for all those years was part of it.
No. Multiple cold wars like in TNG I'd be fine with as it'd bring the diplomacy angle to the table and lead to episodes like The Defector. But focusing the entire series on a war only worked for DS9 because it served as a critique of TNG. A full scale war standing on its own wouldn't work nearly as well as Trek.
I'm not against war in Star Trek in principle. There are many who I would call "Rodenberry Purists" who insist on Star Trek always having a utopian outlook and lambaste DS9 for the Dominion War. However TOS portrayed many combat situations and showed Starfleet as a military organization that was responsible for defending the Federation and was a tool of foreign policy when dealing with rivals like the Klingons and Romulans. In fact the Klingons were intended by Rodenberry as stand ins for the Soviets and were shown to be engaged in a long Cold War (that sometimes turns hot) with the Federation which ends in Star Trek VI. TNG continued this, even heavily referencing a previous full scale war with Cardassians. Therefore there was nothing particularly wrong or groundbreaking about DS9 showing a full scale war. DS9 was serialized enough and had enough access to computer visual effects that it could finally show a war on screen. However, I wouldn't want an entire series to revolve around a war, Star Trek isn't straight up military Sci-fi, its not Halo or Starship Troopers. Confining Star Trek to warfare severely limits the scope of the stories you can tell. What you need in Star Trek are intelligent adversaries who are tied to the larger political environment of the galaxy. TNG and DS9 had some great episodes in this vein such as... TNG Unification part I and II Redemption part I and II The Defector DS9 Home Front part I and II Improbable Cause The Die is Cast
I always thought during TNG a war between the Romulan Empire vs the Klingon empire would eventually break out but it never materialized. I think if they played the angle like in the last episode of TNG where the Klingons and Romulan were at war (klingons beat them) with the Federation trying to play peace keeper while juggling everything else going on in the quadrant would be interesting.