If you’re interested in just how articulate and insightful online analysis is becoming, as well as why contemporary Star Trek sucks, I certainly think this is worth watching. Essentially a Trek Culture video essay on the differences between modern Trek and what went before, it goes into a fairly surprising level of detail about shooting styles and narrative structure, concluding that, whereas the Star Trek of the 80s and 90s was about telling coherent stories, these days it’s all about drawing viewers in and keeping their attention. As the guy points out, a good example is the advent of the ‘spore drive’, which got rid of the need for any sense of scale, distance or time between narrative events. Viewers are just bombarded with one plot point after another, with no time to breathe. I must say I thoroughly agree with the conclusions he draws, and think it’s a very good summation of why Trek no longer feels like the intriguing, cerebral science fiction show it once was. It’s also great to see just how advanced this kind of online video analysis is becoming, as it covers all kinds of complex structuralist details which I wouldn’t have expected to come across on Youtube not that long ago.