I get the hate for those movies, but I honestly enjoyed them all.
They are what got me to watch TOS, finally. Then I did a full watch through of the series. They were great for revitalizing the fan base and making new fans.
I honestly love having the movies as a different universe/timeline. Saves us from tone whiplash, like Shakespeare TNG Picard vs Rambo Movie Picard.
I personally liked Ruon Tarka. He felt like a good foil for our protagonists. Sympathetic, believable, but still squarely in the wrong. I did not, however, believe Book siding with him for so long.
But I agree the coolest parts of S4 were at the end, trying to actually learn about the 10-C for first contact.
I honestly would love to see a “Utopia-Realized Level Federation” series, even a limited run, where all the plots are philosophical, artistic, interpersonal, or scientific.
That’s fair, and I think Starfleet HQ fits that bill. But I think (at least in my opinion of architecture as an art form, which I think starship design falls under, since people live and work there), I’d be frustrated to work on a Saturn class if that big hole did nothing, and made navigating between any two places on the ship more of a pain. That said, with personal transporters, maybe it’s not an issue (assuming this ship isn’t near any action that could make personal transporters inoperable). Maybe it would work well as a sort of diplomatic vessel, where having all these rooms with windows facing into the ring (like a giant round table) could be artistically conducive to discussion. Maybe they have a bunch of huge holo emitters in the ring, and they use it to project the current speaker, or just cool holo-art when not in session.
I’ve read through two threads recently on DIS, and I have found nobody talking about S4. Did everyone just give up at S3? Did we all forget about “growing the beard” and how long it can take a show to get it’s legs?
S4 is my favorite season of DIS. Species 10-C was some of the coolest new sci-fi for Star Trek in a while. The overarching plot was interesting in that it had high stakes, but it didn’t feel oppressive like other seasons. It still had a sense of hope and optimism. A lot of the characters got to expand their roles and relationships, feeling more like an ensemble.
I know there was some stuff that didn’t hit well in that season, but I can’t recall the details off hand (like I can for S1-S3). In my memory, the good outweighed the bad.
I am hopeful that S5 meets at least that mark, and hopefully glides into a graceful ending for the show. If I had my wish, S5 would make a switch to a more episodic style (rather than a big season-long central plot).
I saw a lot of hate for the Saturn class, and the arguments made sense assuming classic Starfleet designs and concepts.
I, however, love it because it begs the question: why? What is that for? And my mind jumps to all sorts of cool technobabble uses for such a weird ship design.
Some weird portal experiment? Evacuation ship made to maximize shuttle bay access? A specialized science ship designed with tons of inward-facing sensors? The mind boggles with possibilities.
The people who hated in it see wasted space. I see an unopened techno-mystery-box.
Yeah, as much as I actually loved those movies (they were the gateway drug that got me back into Star Trek after only watching random episodes on syndication), I think their window of relevance has passed. Making another one would be pointless, unless maybe if it was some crossover with Strange New Worlds. But I imagine that would confuse general audiences horribly.