I get really frustrated reading these takes, but whatever.. people have a right to their opinions. I think too often people are just looking for something to shit on. Mostly I read these takes on Twitter and it drives me bonkers. People have an idealized version of what Star Trek, Star Wars, etc is in their head and nothing current can measure up to nostalgia.
This makes me think of the Transformers franchise.
The original cartoon (I'm skipping the toys and comics here) was tremendously popular, and became a pop-culture icon. Although some people nowadays say that it was never all that great, and that people are looking back it with idealized nostalgia and rose-tinted glasses (I disagree with that, I've checked, and it really was as great as I remember). Then it took a shotgun to kid's childhoods, to mixed response, and followed up with a lackluster season, before ending and fading away.
And then it came back with Beast Wars. Tons of people loved it and even today consider it one of the best pieces of the Transformers franchise, but some people couldn't handle the changes (fans of the series even developed a derisive meme to mock those who disliked the changes).
Beast Wars was followed by Beast Machines, and most people seem to agree that it was terrible and took a dump all over the great Beast Wars, but there are some people who seem to go to bat for it, and argue that it might be the only true art in a franchise full of mass-market mediocrity.
Then there were a number of shows which I never really got into. And Transformers Animated, which drove some people off with some of it's odd animation choices (which I thought were fine), and an annoying human character (which Transformers show doesn't have one?).
And then there was Transformers Prime. The art style turned me off before the first episode even aired, so I skipped it. Until people started saying it was the greatest thing ever. So I gave it a chance and... I can barely even remember what it was about the animation that turned me off. The show's fantastic. Although some people don't like it. I can't understand those people, but I accept that they exist.
Transformers Prime was sadly ended before it's time, and semi-relaunched, but the next thing was absolutely mediocre. Some desperate souls have found some meager bits to enjoy in it, but those people have more fortitude than me.
Jumping to the movies, I thought all of the Michael Bay movies were a crime against humanity, but there are a ton of people who say that the first one was good. How? I just can't see it. Although I do appreciate that we can agree on #2 onwards. Although... somehow the mass of humanity just kept on paying to see them, and apparently enjoyed them.
The latest movie, "Bumblebee", was just sublime though, if you ask me. It was everything I wanted a live action Transformers movie to be. And I'm sure some people might say that's just nostalgia talking, but if you remove all the 80's references and the fanservice intro, there's a solid (if simple) story being competently told in Bumblebee, and that's something that was desperately missing from the previous movies. There's some discussion around Bumblebee as to whether it was actually good or if it was just a breath of fresh air. And I don't know if I care. All I know is that I loved it.
I think something people need to accept about Star Trek and Star Wars is that at this point these franchises will never die. They will constantly be reborn, and maybe they haven't varied as wildly as something like Transformers, but they're fundamentally the same thing. Some changes will always be received positively and some changes will always be received negatively. Maybe that's on the fans, and maybe that's on the current product, but it's going to keep happening, for as long as the franchise is worth money. You might be among the next wave of haters to jump ship, and that's okay.
For the record, I watched the first episode of Discovery, and it didn't feel like it scratched that "Star Trek itch", while it also didn't feel like anything I particularly cared to be watching right now. So I dropped it. And nothing I've seen or heard since then has given me the motivation to overcome the not-insignificant hurdle of trying to watch the show, to give it another chance. Everything I've seen and heard has actually felt like it's confirmed all of my first impressions, and it would be a waste of time for me to try more. Discovery is just not for me.
The Orville is kind of mediocre, from what I've seen of it, but it does feel like it scratches the Star Trek itch, so it has that. And it's kind of amazing to me that parody-Trek could be better Trek than real Trek, but here we are.
I'm significantly excited about the Picard show, but I can't deny that there's a worry in the back of my head that if it's another Discovery, it might be another disappointment.
