All this politics is brand new to me! Having grown up with the Berman shows, I'm so, so disappointed knowing what it could have been had the actual creators (writers, designers, actors, etc) been allowed to fully express themselves.

I was not a fan of Discovery because the first season felt like a generic sci Fi series with a star trek coat. It felt way less fun, too. I enjoyed how it started to tie things together, and so creatively. It felt like it Enterprise season 4 correction to what the show was supposed to be. But Discovery just remained so dark and serious (much like every Fuller episode of past series I guess!)

Strange New Worlds is pure gold to me. But now I can't help but wonder if there are hidden fights and people being held back from potential. Shout out to Lower Decks as well!

I think star trek still does best when it's somewhere halfway between episodic and serialised. Like ds9 is.

But I'm all here for every other thing you've mentioned, including LGBTQ+ representation. And I'm thoroughly enjoying NuTrek.