#and troi has a mild accent that she uses to say emotion words

[fictionadventurer]

This might be sci-fi heresy, but I just realized that I treat Star Trek: The Next Generation like the sci-fi version of Hallmark movies. A story more about the concept than the characters, where nothing can go wrong that won’t be more-or-less restored to the status quo by the time the episode ends. With a cast full of generically pleasant people who have personality traits that exist at La Croix levels of sorta-there, and who are otherwise more defined by their role in the story. With the sound design always pitched to the same level of relaxing calm. I mean, individual episodes can be intense and gripping, but the general atmosphere is, “I will put on this show to relax and not have to pay too much attention.”

#i don't mean this as a bad thing #mostly #it's nice to have a sci fi show that's not intense #and i'm especially loving the later seasons where there are several episodes like #we are just living our days and happen to be on a spaceship #and the lack of characterization is exacerbated by the fact that i just pick and choose an episode or three at random every six months or so #but like #everyone is vaguely competent and vaguely pleasant and pitches their voice at the same level of measured calm #and worf's voice is a bit deeper and he talks about honor #and riker smiles a bit more #and troi has a mild accent that she uses to say emotion words #and o'brien is irish #and beyond that there's not much that differentiates these people from each other #i can care intensely about these people in the context of an individual episode #but at the next episode they have to start from ground zero in making me care about them as people #except for data #data forever and always has my full and complete investment in his emotional development and well-being #but beyond that i'm watching this more as a collection of short stories that can have some interesting concepts #and happen to have some familiar faces filling the roles #much like hallmark movies #hence this post #but i also love it for all those reasons because i can just pick and choose episodes from random seasons #and jump in and not be lost at all because there's no continuity to get lost in #the standalone episode is a lost art #but there is beauty in a well-crafted short story #and it's just such a soothing show #there is no other genre show that i've gone to with the thought #this is the perfect thing to relax me so i can fall asleep #and i've done that at least twice with tng #and that's all i have to say i think