did I mention I love Star Trek: TNG? I love it so much. I love that 26-episode seasons leaves enough room (and, perhaps, desperation) for some extremely silly plots. I love that they weren't expecting an HD remaster so there's all kinds of jank like tape on the sets or alien makeup that doesn't quite make it down to the collar line. I love that Data is so extremely there for the autistic fans even if that's not how it would have been characterized in 1987.
(I love when people are patient with him. I wish they let him finish his infodumps more often.)
And I love that fundamentally it's a show about negotiation. The central conflict of almost every episode is not "oh no! an enemy!" but "oh no! a moral dilemma!" There are times when the Enterprise has to use force but they do not start blasting just because an alien looks scary or verbally challenges them or is a member of an "enemy" species. (Except the Borg but that's kind of a special case; I think they're not a species but a viral phenomenon that happens to species.) A lot of episodes are resolved just by getting everyone together on a conference call to hash it out.
I love that it continues the Star Trek tradition of being aggressively progressive for its era.
I love that everyone's sweater keeps riding up on them to the point where it's acceptable, maybe even a Character Element, to readjust your clothes during a take.
I love that this is, in a way few TV programs ever manage, a show about adults.
...I still do not love that the Enterprise-D has a large number of children and other civilians onboard and never thinks to drop them off on a safe planet before charging into active war zones. I know it's on a scientific/diplomatic mission and not a warship, but after about the fourth or fifth time your not-a-warship takes a torpedo to the saucer, maybe you'd rethink bringing your whole family along?
