I like to pretend Nemesis isn't real and that Data is alive and well. Doesn't mean it didn't happen, but I can pretend.
You're drifting into no true Scotsmen territory, here. Amusing since the real Scotsman in the command chair was ready to start bouncing photon torpedoes of the planet that was holding Kirk and company hostage. The melodrama, revenge, romance, strife, and action was always there from the start. It was just sanitized like Emeniar and Vendikar.
I wouldn't claim any of these aren't Star Trek. What makes a thing a thing? I can fully accept people like different things. My problem at the moment, or since Star Dust City Rag in particular, is that Discovery wasn't a fluke, this is the new direction of the franchise. Is hard letting go of something you've loved and hoping you'd maybe get some more of it with more modern production values. That doesn't at all mean I need a flagship with the name Enterprise flying around, I just want some thoughtful entertainment. I thought the reasons Star Trek was beloved was self-evident, but it seems many people were getting something very different out of what they we were all watching. I suppose something else some day will come along and scratch the itch. If not on tv, there are always a backlog of great books. I just read Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion and they were pretty great.
I have no doubt people get different things from StarTrek. However, claiming that gore, revenge, or corruption were not part of Star Trek before Discovery is either error or dishonesty. Indeed, I still don't think that any series questioned "Gene's vision" more than DS9. Neither Discovery nor Picard has changed this.
And you get a thoughtful allegory about the current political situation wrapped in a thoughtful character analysis.
This is Star Trek but it's real bad Star Trek that doesn't completely get the point of what Star Trek was ever about. It's trying to be like a gritty scifi show because that's popular now but the problem is it really lacks a lot of good characters. About the only character I liked so far in 5 episodes is the 7 of 9 we got but. I would rather see here adventures than whatever is going on here. If you want a gritty sci fi show watch Expanse, Man from High Castle, Dark Mirror or Firefly, Battle Star Galactica. There's tons of others that do this type of show better. This just depressing and seemingly hates the audience it's going for. I'll keep watching it because I'm a fan of Star Trek but this is really depressing so far. Enterpise gets way better every day compared to this. At least it still had an idea what Star Trek was about.
tbh, I hoped for Star Trek to tackle the Syrian refugee crisis since summer 2015. Sadly Beyond didn't go that way, sadly DSC - even though the aftermath of the Klingon war was ripe to do something with it - opted for blatant fanwank in season 2. So I'm glad PIC finally does it. As it should be. Star Trek is at it's best when it wraps current political situations in entertaining Sci Fi adventure tales
Fair enough. ...and funny enough, I'm not deep into TOS. I'm glad people are enjoying new Star Trek. The only downside for me is I won't get new content in the ST universe that I'd like to see. I want better for the franchise than DSC or Star Dust City Rag (I haven't totally written off PIC yet). I get the sense I'm necessarily working people up here. I'm better off just keeping quiet and listening. What are your favorite aspects of Star Trek (across the franchise)? What are your favorite episodes and why?
Want better for the franchise? Even if I didn't like TNG (I don't) I cannot argue that its success harmed the franchise. Picard may not be for everyone but it is very good for the franchise.
I just find no troubles with seeing the grit that was always there from the start. I do think the series is going to be about Picard finding the solution to the Romulans that eluded him because he couldn't see beyond the tunnel vision of his morality unable to deal with pragmatic if less perfect solutions.
I like Picard but I think some fans are pushing back against the grimdark nature of recent Trek. Discovery is no fun at all. It's nothing but pretentious misery porn. Picard has some humor and heart amongst the darkness but it's easy to miss. All the other Treks, especially DS9, got dark at times but there was always room for optimism and fun. I think Picard is still finding its feet and will bring that back. For now I'm really enjoying the new characters and seeing what the old characters have done since Berman Trek ended. If they do a Pike show they should make it a lot lighter to balance out the dark nature of Discovery and Picard. I don't think Picard will stay dark for long though.
Picard is not grimdark. Discovery is not grimdark. By definition, Warhammer 40000 is grimdark, and nothing in Star Trek is anything like it.