[Locke]

First of all your primary take-away from that should have been:

"Locke is regularly right."

Secondly, I agree with you. The thing is, ST:TNG isnt exactly avant garde brilliant stuff. It was a weekly serial show that largely followed a 'Monster/Villain/Problem of the Week' format.

But it had a world and characters that you cared about. You knew when it was going to be a Picard episode or a Data episode or a Geordi or Worf or Riker episode or an ensemble episode or *shudder* a Crusher or Wesley episode...

But you cared about the world, you cared about the characters, you cared about the ethos.

Thats what Star Trek has really lost. Its a team, everyone plays their part and thats how they develop solutions to problems. One of the principle themes of Star Trek was about working together for common good and communal goals.

And STD appears to have wound that clock all the way back to essentially needing a 'Jesus figure' to save everyone. All the time.

At which point the actions and contributions of the rest of the crew/characters really doesnt matter. Which is entirely counter to what Star Trek is all about.