Explored better in Gotham. A movie needs a singular villain we already know who needs no introduction. This is why people are tired of origin stories. What we need is Kevin Smith as a known bad guy so he can get it out of his system.

You missed out on the Cold War. LOTS of SCIFI after 1984 portrayed the Communists as enslaved hive mind barely human creatures. Thats where the Borg came from, and trying to "Awaken" Borg to their Humanity or Individuality became the ST go to. It was already boring in 1989.

/star-trek-tos-apollo-pity-op-ed/?post=27fe-453d-8b6db498e2fc#thread-posts

Its the books that are the problem. Those ideas are 5000 years old. Einstein and Asimov believed in a "something" just because the Universe is too tidy, just not the books. If the Universe was truly random, it would have ended already. Hawking itted to it with his BS "infinite universes before and after, and this is the only stable one" Doesnt fly . The Universe is STABLE. Physics doesnt allow it. Something outside of Physics keeps the Universe stable. Even Hawking couldnt understand how a Big Bang which should have spread particles evenly, did not. Anti matter should have obliterated matter, and even if matter survived (it did) no particles should have combined with other matter to form not just atoms but molecules. It did. By current Physics, the Universe should not exist but it does. Allow for a "Something" but ignore the books. I do.

Jefferies himself hated the refit. Its hard to realize now, but the people who made TOS were mostly WW2 vets and served on boring ships or as Gene, flew bombers. No frills. The most exciting thing was ice cream. Now, everyone is used to technical marvels and spectacles. Has anyone here owned a car from the 60s? Anyone grow up in a military family during the Cold War? You have to put things in context. I myself am nostalgic for MCM design, & the Space Race of the 60s. The President's bunker in T3 really got to me. I reel to reel and punch card computers. The 60s were relevent when I was a kid. Kids these days are born with iPhones. They have no context.

TOS was made by WW2 vets and was social commentary on the 60s, Civil Rights, and the Vietnam war. The kids these days dont have that struggle and are free to write what they want. BSG was a commentary on the Bush Forever Wars. I tried explaining this to the kids on Reddit and got banned for "trolling" Youre just going to have to accept that the world has moved on. The kids these days cant connect. The have no context.