I’d say TNG mostly stopped exploring new frontiers halfway through season 1. Farpoint promised exploration, but soon the ship is ferrying diplomats and scientists and answering Federation distress calls. The worlds are new to the audience, but not the characters.
Comment on Star Trek and The Orville, which is better/worse?
ramble81@lemm.ee 9 months ago
The other way I look at it: TNG was following the premiere ship in the galaxy, with plenty of places to explore, so it was always encountering “new frontiers”.
The Orville on the other hand was more a premise of “what happens when space travel is commoditized and you have more than enough ships and now need competent bodies to staff it?” For that it feels more “real” that you’re getting people who do it as a job, not a calling, which explains the random humor and diversions and a look at new discoveries through fresh eyes rather than “wow, more new as this is normal for us”.
transwarp@startrek.website 9 months ago
startrekexplained@startrek.website 9 months ago
Ironically though because of its higher budget, The Orville ran into more alien “strange new worlds” and species than TNG did.
MajorHavoc@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Lol. I too have noticed that fewer planets in The Orville are “basically earth but in 19xx”, than in TOS.
NuPNuA@lemm.ee 9 months ago
There have been a few, off the top of my head I remember “what if current earth, but justice system is social media”, “what if current earth but horoscopes are state Religon”. Not that these are bad ideas.
ramble81@lemm.ee 9 months ago
And they all look like southern California