I think the look of the technology doesn't need to be updated as much as they did in the prequel sequels although if they hadn't updated the look in TMP I wouldn't have had my favourite ship in the refit so it's fine. It frustrates me more when the canon technology is portrayed doing things seen only 100 years later, sometimes even contradicting express limitations from TOS or even TNG.
The thing the modern shows struggle with the most for me is the naval feel. Sometimes the ships have more of the feel of a high school outing than a professional space force. I don't mind so much if scientists outside the chain of command like McCoy, Romaine, Troi, and Stamets are a bit flakey but the command officers should behave like officers while on duty and save shenanigans and hugging for their downtime.
I agree completely.
• The supposed "prequels" jacked up their technology because that makes it
easier to write. They want every magical crutch to lean on. Some of the best adventure stories ever written were from the days of sail, but those things took skill and discipline to write.
• From JJ-Trek onward, the writers don't understand Starfleet as a military service, because they don't like the military. And they don't know anything about military culture for the same reason. But if Starfleet has officers with ranks, armed ships, and
they are the ones who fight our wars for us, then Starfleet can only be a military service. You don't have a duty to
lay your life down and die for Jet Blue flights out of Myrtle Beach.
• I think this ties in with what I was
saying about JJ-Trek and onward being the children of Postmodernism and Therapy Culture, instead of the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. The prequels' self-indulgent, emotional, insubordinate, and entitled characters make for crummy Service personnel, even if the plots are always written to vindicate them. In real life, such people are generally incompetent because it takes self-discipline to develop skills.
I read an article somewhere recently by a veteran theater professional who said that today's young actors are in the same loosy-goosy mold as what I'm saying about current-Trek characters. They've ditched "the show must go on" work ethic, and have replaced it with "I'm taking a mental health day." They are also highly inclined to
mob and cancel anyone who crosses them.
So it appears that the JJ-Trek and
Discovery officers are just reflecting what has happened in real life: they're a generation of
narcissists. It's all about Me, and you can go to hell. And boy am I a great Starfleet officer!