I also think (and I haven’t said this before it just occurred to me) that the writers fuck-up started back in season one with a very key thing.

Intervening years? What intervening years?

True there was some stuff very soon after the last movie with the Romulans but then Picard sat in his vineyard for 15 years until the next TV show came around. Yeah they gave Riker a family but for the most part again kinda exiled on pause. Some more stuff is coming up now like he had command of the Titan at some point etc. but for the most part it feels like they had no idea what these guys did until the “next adventure” (aka now) and that is maybe partly why it feels so fake and weird.

I mean I write sometimes and creating a living breathing world is damn hard. I constantly find myself going “well what do these characters do all day?” “Where are there friends?” Because it is so easy to fall into the trap of them being in a bubble and only existing in written scenes and not much in between. But it makes for a very shallow life and poor motivation and emotional resonance.

Another problem with the nostalgia element is that it doesn’t let the characters grow properly.

Seriously I do wonder these days if people working on franchises get a kick out of seeing how little effort they need to make. It’s like “oh it has trek / Star Wars / marvel etc. in the name and that’s enough”

Dude no it isn’t.