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Deviousness `anmari has been spreading her infectious positivity throughout our community for over 6 years. Throughout this time Ana has been at the core of all things devious, passionately developing an eclectic gallery, helping organise devmeets, participating in chat events and also recently completed dedicating her time as a Community Volunteer. We are absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for May 2013 to `anmari, congratulations! Read More
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Sta.sh
Though I was born-and-raised in the TNG era, I too felt years later that the evolution of Star Trek had lost something from TOS. Even from a visual standpoint, TNG-era was very much about flash in all of its ships and interior designs, whereas Jefferies TOS Enterprise was very much about function-before-form. (Problem with the Akiraprise- though it tried to recreate this, as it should have- is it had so many other things going against it that many people overlooked that part.)
Unfortunately, the glamor of TNG has carried over into the JJverse, which is good in a way, bad in a way.
The JJ aesthetic of trek isn't lost in the creature comforts of TNG, but isn't as bare-bones and functional as TOS or TMP. There's more flash and bling there, but if anything I think it brings the science of Star Trek closer to what we have in the present day. I'm not personally upset by the art direction of Trek, though I do miss the ergonomically intelligent bridge layout from TOS and Early TMP.
Someone left a comment there saying the Galaxy-class could be compared to a luxury cruise liner, commissioned in a time of unprecedented peace and balance-of-power for the Federation. While it was still unquestionably a very powerful design (despite losing three of the original six ships inside of eight years for various reasons, and several others during the Dominion War), it was also an experiment in ship-board life- inviting close family members along in the exploration of deep space in a way never tried before.
I still find the TMP-VI movie Enterprise the best successor of the TOS design, and allowed the spirit of the Enterprise to be cleared of the low-budget constraints haunting TOS for its entire run.
Not that the producers would have explored this, since Roddenberry's idea of the humanist future precluded human nature.
But as far as I understand, the Federation was slow to respond to threats due to its peace-loving nature. The Battle of Wolf 359 was a desperately-needed wake-up call. But while Roddenberry's message and hope for the future are preserved even in conflict, the Federation was still woefully under-prepared and does strike me as a bit naive. Perhaps after the Khitomer Accords, Starfleet though they could have a breath of fresh air but enjoyed the peace too long and became lax.
I have a more cynnical view of life (and of my science fiction) than this, and I saw these themes as being overly optimistic and naiive. The Borg were introduced as a new kind of enemy since the Klingons were "changed" by the writers and could no longer be an understandable threat. Compared to the old Klingons even the Borg were not as bad as they could be. They brought up the threat in First contact for theatrics and to develop a menace to pit the heroes against.
In-universe, I saw the Federation as growing lax and stagnant after the Khitomer peace accords. The doves staved the hawks into oblivion and starfleet turned into a totally scientific arm while cultivating a distaste for weapons and violence. Large starships are called "explorers", the Defiant is called an "Escort". Cruisers no longer exist in TNG, all the designations replaced by non-threatening ones as to not offend the aliens.
Yeah, the Defiant-class was the first true Starfleet "warship" in, like 100 years; at least since the Earth-Romulan War established the Neutral Zone. Then larger and dedicated warships designs after Wolf 359 started coming out- Soverign, Prometheus, and Thunderchild.
Even though these ships weren't built specifically for pure military actions, their designations and roles say that if needed, they could be pressed into those positions if war were to happen. "Explorers", which the Excelsior was re-classed for and the End-D is designated for, don't suggest they can fit the military role if they had to.