[Captain Tom Coughlin]

Not to mention the fact that Star Trek really isn't any one thing. DS9 often took Trek and turned it upside down.

[samwiseb]

Originally Posted by Captain Tom Coughlin

It started as a response to this

I know, I read it. I just didn't see the relevance then or now. Janeway, 9/11 reactionary tendencies, ST shouldn't be 'dark' sci-fi (I didn't read anyone saying it should be), etc. I don't even know which of us his "sheep following the herd" comment was directed at, and don't care to ask.

[Captain Tom Coughlin]

Oh, I see.

[samwiseb]

Originally Posted by Captain Tom Coughlin

Not to mention the fact that Star Trek really isn't any one thing. DS9 often took Trek and turned it upside down.

It was certainly a different thing to Meyer and Bennett than it was to Roddenberry or Berman. Some people get a free pass. I predict in 20 years or sooner, ST fandom will forget that Abrams ever didn't.

[Captain Tom Coughlin]

I always found it strange when people complain about the way Meyer focused on the more military aspects of Trek as if he invented them. It was Roddenberry who made Starfleet the defense arm of the Federation way back in TOS in the first place.

[samwiseb]

Certainly the military aspects of Trek were never portrayed quite as believably before (or since) the Meyer/Bennett phase.

[Captain Tom Coughlin]

I agree. I've never fully found the mixed mission nature of Starfleet to be overly believable, but Meyer made it come close.

[kevin]

Meyer definitely doesn't deserve credit for inventing the militarisation in TWOK, only for bringing it to the foreground tonally over Roddenberry's emphasis on exploratory function.

[horatio]

Meyer militarized Trek precisely in order to be able to open up a space where he could create conflicts, be it Kirk vs. his son the scientist or vs. the conspirators, and close this space via undoing this very militarization in the end (a new planet is born out of the hands of scientists, Kirk is making peace).
This is a neat trick which worked for two movies but it is not a formula which you could apply repeatedly.