How can you be so gung ho purist about Star Trek because meaning! and substance! not pewpew! and throw overboard the very core idea that this is about us in this world having a better future ahead?
Because I respect the story that Star Trek has told. And I feel that we should perpetuate that story regardless of how our actual future turns out. Are we going to reboot Star Trek without warp drive when we finally reach 2060 and there is no Zephram Cochrane to be found? Are we going to reboot it again with sublight ships when it's finally the 23rd century and we have no faster than light ships, and no Starfleet? That's ridiculous.
The better future ahead that Star Trek depicts isn't about us, but about humanity in general. We can have a bright future without enduring a WWIII in the 2050s. We can have a bright future without Vulcanians landing in Montana. We can have a hopeful future even if there never is a James Kirk commanding a Starship Enterprise with a saucer and two long warp engines. We don't need Star Trek to be an "accurate" portrayal of our future for it to convey it's message that we can be better, and we can have a better future. To give us a message of hope, we don't need Star Trek to look how the early 21st century imagines the future; any more that we needed the Lord of the Rings to look like actual history, to convey the same thing.
So did you expect that Russell T. Davies' 2005 Doctor Who series would look like it did in the 70's and 80's with cheesy special effects and sets & props that cost about $1.50?
I never really watched any Dr. Who other than 9th and 10th Doctors. Though I did notice K9 reappeared in basically its 70's form. Dalek's have basically been the same stylistically, as well as Cybermen. The TARDIS, exterior is essentially the same. But AFAIK Dr. Who tends to evolve with each new Dr. So if they were going to make a new production featuring the first Dr. then I would expect the 1st Dr's TARDIS and equipment to look as it was originally presented.
What has fan fic to do with...anything?
Just noting that some people seems to be saying: "It doesn't matter if it has Star Trek in the title, the story just isn't Star Trek enough."
While others say: "The story doesn't matter, it's got Star Trek in the title, so it is."
(that is of course setting aside the legal aspect and looking at stories alone)
On the contrary, such an expectation is an observant and realistic one...so it's unsurprising that such observations are being borne out as we learn more about Discovery.
If I make a film set during WWII then it better look like that era. If I show people driving around in Nissan Cubes, and chatting on their cell phones, then it's not really a WWII era film now is it? "But it says WWII in the title so it HAS to be."
We know very little about Discovery. I'm hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. I haven't seen anything yet that outright contradicts anything else. The stories told in the episodes will determine where everything fits. And if where everything fits runs afoul (and by that I mean, no convincing explanation to make it work) of existing continuity then I'm dumping the lemon. Just like I've dumped Enterprise and JJTrek.
But if it works, then yeahy! high five. We finally have some more Star Trek after almost two decades.
It's just lazy and cowardly to pander. If you want to make it look how you want, then set it in an era that doesn't have an established look. If you want greeblies, or your kewlingons*, or your iBridge then set in a time period when you don't have to work about running afoul of an established look. But to just hit the "ignore" button is lazy. And "reimagining"/rebooting to pander can be/is cowardly.
I don't know about you, but I think I've pretty much said all I need to say. Unless you all want to go around one more time?
*not that I have anything against the image which purportedly depicted Klingons. They are, after all, an interstellar empire and there could certainly be Klingons that look like that.