Originally Posted by
Carry2
My point is that the specific premise of Star Trek as a setting should actually make it very difficult or unlikely for the crew of the enterprise to get embroiled in strange and unexpected situations as frequently as they do. The prime directive forbids interference in external alien cultures, while the Federation being a post-scarcity panglossian utopia makes it difficult to generate drama from the inside. (Roddenberry's standing order of 'no disagreements among the crew' in TNG was basically this in microcosm.) Freaky alien stuff really has to come to them, because they're supposed to have a standing policy of not touching freaky alien stuff. I love Star Trek anyway, but I'm a little more conscious of it's flaws with the benefit of hindsight.