I have to wonder if, despite Great Man theory being garbage, it wasn't just thanks to Roddenberry. A lot of the 90s Trek made after his death (later seasons of TNG, DS9) were better than anything he was directly involved with, but still... he set the tone and the basic parameters for the 24th-century series with early TNG, and I don't think the producers went against that until the later movies at the earliest. Even DS9, the "darker" Trek, was still very clearly about people from a utopian society trying to hold on to their values in a more troubled galaxy.
Fun take: DS9 was made in spite of Rodenberry’s original vision for Star Trek. Roddenberry planted the seeds and his death actually allowed the workers to build from the core that had been established.
Attempts to “stay true” to Roddenberry resulted in Rick Berman fucking around and finding out on repeat with Voyager. Berman obsessed over the letter and not the spirit of Roddenberry and managed to almost kill Star Trek altogether.
I have to wonder if, despite Great Man theory being garbage, it wasn't just thanks to Roddenberry. A lot of the 90s Trek made after his death (later seasons of TNG, DS9) were better than anything he was directly involved with, but still... he set the tone and the basic parameters for the 24th-century series with early TNG, and I don't think the producers went against that until the later movies at the earliest. Even DS9, the "darker" Trek, was still very clearly about people from a utopian society trying to hold on to their values in a more troubled galaxy.
Fun take: DS9 was made in spite of Rodenberry’s original vision for Star Trek. Roddenberry planted the seeds and his death actually allowed the workers to build from the core that had been established.
Attempts to “stay true” to Roddenberry resulted in Rick Berman fucking around and finding out on repeat with Voyager. Berman obsessed over the letter and not the spirit of Roddenberry and managed to almost kill Star Trek altogether.