This is my go-to. I have the old DVDs ripped onto my Plex server so that I can hit shuffle on all the old seasons and just watch episodes at random.

The ground sections absolutely feel tacked on. They were what would end up killing my interest. That, and the F2P model in general makes for a bad experience in my opinion.

I’ve tried to get into STO multiple times over the years and I’ve always found it to be frustratingly buggy. It’s not unplayable, but it has enough bugs in it that I get annoyed and stop playing at about the same point each time.

The ship combat works decently well and is fun, but the ground combat is really rough in my experience.

I deleted my Facebook account during Covid. I wasn’t really using it anymore, but I really didn’t need to see anyone’s shitty takes on the virus.

I deleted my Twitter account when it was purchased by a Nazi shithead who has no business being as rich as he is for how dumb he is. I never really latched onto Twitter anyway, so that was no major loss.

I never used Instagram, but the idea seemed neat when it came out. Over time, it’s become less and less appealing.

I never had any interest in Snapchat. Still don’t.

Same for TikTok, but I don’t agree with the idea of the government banning it. The correct response would be to enact robust privacy laws, but that’s never going to happen.

I do still have a Reddit account, but I’m using it less and less. Pretty much only for some niche hobbies. I’ve never felt like Reddit fit with the other social media platforms.

I have a Mastodon account, but I don’t really use it. It still has the same problem Twitter did in that I don’t care about what’s going on there all that much. I want to follow topics, not people.

I did set up a PixelFed account that I use quite a bit, but only for posting pics of my minis and seeing other people’s pics of their minis.

Lemmy feels a lot like early Reddit, and I’m liking it a lot.

If you’re looking for the hopeful view of humanity’s future, I’d start with Season 3 of The Next Generation. It has that in spades, while also skipping over the first two seasons where it is really trying to find its footing. If you really like it and want to see how it all started, go back and watch the first two seasons.

If you like TNG and want a more character-driven experience that doesn’t focus nearly as much on exploration, Deep Space Nine is fantastic. Just like TNG, the first two seasons are kind of rough as they try to figure things out. They’re also a fair bit slower (some call them dull) than the later seasons, but if you like character and world building, they’re pretty decent. It really gains steam with season 3.

If you want to continue the theme of exploration, Star Trek Voyager is good. I don’t enjoy it as much as TNG and DS9, but Voyager has the advantage of the show runners and writers having fully figured out what life is like in that time period without the stumbles of the first two series. I’d say it remains fairly consistent throughout, but I personally don’t find that its highs are as high as TNG and DS9.

She did such a fantastic job making a character that I absolutely despised. It never once felt like she was acting. I hated her so much that I was concerned that if I met her in person I’d reflexively hate Louise Fletcher instead of Kai Winn just because she felt every bit as real as the actual actress.

I’ve tried multiple times to get into the game. While the ship combat is fun, the away mission combat is a complete mess. In general, the game feels really unpolished and I just don’t have the energy to put up with bugs anymore.

I really hope they put ST in the hands of someone who actually seems to like ST for what it is. I don’t think that’s what will happen, though.