On Enterprise:
Season two is definitely the low point of the series. Brannon Braga and Rick Berman had stayed well past their primes. They simultaneously wanted writers to "do something new" while not deviating an inch from the Berman formula. A few example of how bereft of new ideas they were:
"Oasis" is a remake of DS9's Shadowplay
"Carbon Creek" is similar to parts of the Trek novel Strangers From the Sky
"Marauders" is Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven
"Precious Cargo" feels a little like TNG's Perfect Mate
"Dawn" is Enemy Mine and Hell in the Pacific
"Judgment" is a Star Trek 6 homage
"Doctor's Orders" is a remake of the Voyager episode One.
"Stratagem" takes the cake though. It has a plot from a 1940s Roald Dahl short story Beware of the Dog that was later used in a Blackhawk comic from the 50s, the 60s James Garner movie 36 Hours, the Mission Impossible episode Operation Rogosh, the made-for-tv movie Breaking Point, the Star Trek novel Time Trap, and the G.I Joe episode There's No Place Like Springfield.
^ Truthfully, even though those episodes aren't very original, some of them are still pretty good. Season two does have a few episodes that I really like. Minefield, Dead Stop, and First Flight are all quite good, imo. If you can hold on till season three you will be rewarded with some better episodes.
On Babylon 5:
The series has a reputation for great writing, but I just am not seeing it. J. Michael Straczynski has a tin ear when it comes to dialog. I do have to say that the last episode I watched, season three's "Passing Through Gethsemane" was pretty good. The direction by Adam Nimoy was much more creative than what you get in the first two seasons of the show which really helped. Secondly, Brad Dourif was the guest star and as far as I'm concerned that man can do no wrong. Thirdly, the sci-fi idea at the center of the episode - memory wipes and new identities for criminals - actually lead to some nice character moments. The problem, yet again, is Straczynski. He's got a nice episode going, but he doesn't respect his audience's intelligence and feels the need to spell things out for them at the story's climax. What should have been a powerful moment gets tarnished by the fact that a character has to point a giant blinking arrow to say "See, this is exactly what I was talking about in that scene from 15 minutes ago!" The pacing was off a little too; especially at the end. It just feels like he has too much story to tell but is afraid to cut out even the smallest scenes featuring the series' regulars even though it hurts the episode overall.
On Picard:
I actually dislike
Picard a lot more than I do Discovery. I didn't go in with high expectations, but I did have a little hope that they might do something special with the series. The main problem is the writing, of course.
- You have a show that wants to utilize a serialized format but write a plot that goes in 5 different directions in a ten episode span.
- You have a show starring an octogenarian, but they insist on a lot of action sequences.
- You want to exploit the fact that you have one of the most popular characters in Trek history while simultaneously writing the character as if he is guilty of something and needs to be taken down a peg or twenty.
- Nostalgia. You bring back Riker just so you can have him bake a pizza. You bring back Troi so she remind the audience that she is still dispensing useless advice 30 years after the show went off the air. You bring back Seven of Nine, who has one of the best character arcs in Trek, and turn her into a shitty Sarah Conner clone. By all means bring these characters back, but you have to have writers who know why they were interesting to begin with and who know how to use them in interesting ways now.
- You cap off the season with a high concept/Big Idea ending but there are no writers capable of truly exploring big ideas.
I think they should have done a 180 from Discovery. Minimize the action scenes and eliminate the frenetic camera movements. The show should have been a character study of Picard. Introduce the fact that Picard is dying from the very beginning.
Make this an exploration of the human spirit. Show me an episode with 40 minutes of conversation between a dying Picard and the newly resurrected Data about the meaning of life and what it means to be human. Give me an episode with Picard sitting in a park full of children in full "Remains of the Day" mode second guessing his relationships with Beverly Crusher, Vash, and Nella Daren. Give me an episode where he tries to fix the mistakes of the past. Maybe he has second thoughts about some of his Prime Directive decisions. Does he ever think of his family from The Inner Light? Does there memory assuage some of the pain he feels for sacrificing family life in the name of duty? Picard is about to shuffle of this mortal coil and Q doesn't make an appearance?
One last thing: this is likely Patrick Stewart's last major role - let the man act. Give me Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Milton. Give me Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." Give me a final scene with Patrick Stewart reciting a piece from Tennyson's "Ulysses"
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
'T is not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.