Spoilers Let’s talk about the destruction of Trek utopia…
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DS9 is WAY better.
I remember having similar thoughts about DS9 when it first aired, and then I came to appreciate it. Sisko was a broken man who was still reeling from past loss, and was committing extortion within the first 20 minutes of the 1st episode, there was still racism, bitterness, mistrust, theft and crime, money (jk), hubris. But it all created a richer & more relatable setting which was in an ideal position to speak to current struggles of society, rather than handwaving them away by saying, "We got over that. 'Cause it's the future." PIC can do the same, but in its own way.
What unsolved problems?
Most of this series inst even set in Federation space let alone a federation starship! So yes its going to be bleaker. Its never been sunshine and rainbows outside the federation boarders.
What Picard says is "We NEED to get over that. We have to EMBRACE the Future" - does anyone pay attention to the actual episode.
Only to the extent necessary to drive the chosen narrative, apparently.
Nor inside the Federation's borders either
I didn't say I didn't like TNG, I was refuting the idea that it's a "masterpiece".
Stop assuming shit.
24th Century Trek in my order of preference:
PIC
DS9
TNG
VOY
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TNG Movies
PIC
DS9
TNG
VOY
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(insert gap)
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TNG Movies
Depends on what you mean by "solved." The PIC take is that human nature isn't actually different. You can build structures which let people make better decisions, and as long as you work to maintain those structures properly they will function properly. But you don't ever get to stop doing that work. As Q said, the trial never ends.
Exactly. When I bitch about TNG being treated as the Gold Standard for Trek shows, that doesn't mean I'm bashing TNG. I watched the show religiously back in the day, enjoyed it very much (after the first season or so), have written at least four TNG novels, and will cop to feeling a genuine pang of nostalgia when Will and Deanna popped up a few weeks ago.
TNG was a great show. I only object to people assuming that "STAR TREK" equals "like TNG." I prefer more variety in my Trek, as opposed to insisting that, say, vanilla is the only "real" ice cream. One can enjoy vanilla and chocolate-chip mint, depending on what you're in the mood for.
That even applies to antiheroes. Look at the Godfather movies. The Corleones are in many respects morally repugnant people who do horrible things but to the extent positive and heroic messages are conveyed they're conveyed by the Corleones who are the protagonists in a world of people even worse than they.
Somebody has to be the "good guy" and the narrative is under their direction.
Haven't seen ep 8? It answered any lingering questions I had on this.
My takeaway from Trek was never that the Federation instills hope but that hope exists inside of humanity itself. The federation is overall good, but flawed like any political organization and it takes good people to correct those flaws again and again. If the Federation reaches perfection, then Trek is dead, IMO.
And, honestly, any "utopia" in which everybody is evolved and civilized all the time, and never swears or smokes or loses their temper or makes bad decisions or whatever, sounds more like some sort of dystopia to me.
Of the sort that Captain Kirk would probably blow up.
Of the sort that Captain Kirk would probably blow up.
I'd launch a trilithium probe into that utopia's Sun and in a Vulcan heartbeat. 
Well, I have to agree with that. I really like DS9 and its characters.
But still I see TNG as a masterpiece and so also the first three seasons of Voyager.
I'm not assuming anything. I just got the impression that you weren't too fond of TNG.
Now when that is sorted out, I must state that I still find TNG a masterpiece and that Star trek reached its highest point with TNG, DS9 and the first three seasons of Voyager.
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Where exactly does Seven say that?
There is a huge gulf between "I don't think TNG is a masterpiece" and "I don't like TNG."
Now, I personally do not like TNG. I prefer shows like SG-1, Farscape, or Seaquest over TNG. None of those I would classify as "masterpieces of fiction," though they have their moments.
TNG is a fun show, at times. But, I would not call it a masterpiece. But, then, there are few shows I would use that moniker about. I think that TOS' "Balance of Terror" qualifies.
