The only part that makes me a bit sad is the 'complex and highly allegorical story' being stopped.
I was actually happy reading that because I have always hated Star Trek's allegories with a passion.
"Why are the green bunnies abusing the blue bunnies?"
"The green bunnies think they are better than the blue bunnies, they think the blue bunnies are less intelligent and need the green bunnies to tell them what to do, some even think the blue bunnies aren't actually bunnies, they think they're some kind of ape bunnies who learned how to talk!"
"But that's wrong, my sensors show that except for the color of their fur there's no differences between the bunnies!"
"The green bunnies don't care!"
"That's EVIL!"
"Yes, it is! But see, you are an enlightened human and we humans have learned from our mistakes, a long time ago in the dark ages of the early 21st century we were quite similar to the bunnies ... "
Excuse me while I barf into my cereal.
I'm not bothered by them dropping the complex story either, often more simple stories are more focused, more personal and actually better. Some of Star Trek's most memorable episodes are quite simple when it comes to the story.
"Data is ordered to do something he doesn't want to do and a court has to decide if he has rights", "the Borg attack and kidnap Picard, the Enterprise crew has to stop the borg and also save the captain", "Kira interrogates a suspected war criminal while Odo investigates who he really is".
Those aren't complex stories, some surprises and twists are thrown in but at their core they're quite simple.
Right- two of my favorite series of all time are "Twilight Zone" and "Black Mirror"...both anthology series...both exceptionally well written and well acted.
But both had/have the advantage of being set in the present or near future of earth, real locations could be used without problems for many episodes, costumes can be bought in stores etc.
For Star Trek that's not possible, if Discovery's second season had skipped forward a few decades that would have required all new props, costumes, heavily rebuild and redressed sets, new ship designs, new visual effects etc., you have to update everything. That's way more expensive.
I also think part of the reason Trek looked as good as it did was that at least fornthe later shows they knew they'd run for several years and initial costs would amortize over time.
Would DS9s promenade have been as expansive as it was had they known it would be used for 13 episodes before the series moves to a new location? Or would we have gotten a smaller version with a small Quark's (forget three levels) a sickbay and then a sharp turn with blinking lights just around the corner.
When they moved from TNG to Voyager would engineering have been rebuild so extensively that it looked like a new set or would they have paid for a new warp core and the rest would have been "new carpet, paint he walls gray and move the pool table to the location of Geordie's 'cubicle'" with only the window disappearing? Would there even have been an engineering? Because if you only do 13 episodes you have a pretty good idea what sets you need, so you only build the ones you need, not the ones you might need down the line because there is no down the line.
