Chris

Serialisation is just what happens now on streaming services. It doesn’t matter which universe we’re in and whether it’s a new one or a well established one like Star Trek. You’re just not going to get a season full of stand-alone episodes. The nearest you might get in the forthcoming SNW series is an arc that is nearer the foreground in some episodes than others, and then only if they’re being uber-traditional and resisting the logic of streaming services which strongly favours binge-watching (even shows that are premiered weekly, because they remain on the service indefinitely afterwards).

The vast majority of TNG episodes have an ‘A’ plot and a ‘B’ plot. Even the stories that are remembered for being action-heavy are actually quite well diluted with introspective sub-plotting (so in “The Enemy” for example, Picard facing off against Tomalak in orbit over Galorndon Core is balanced by Geordi riffing off Enemy Mine on the surface with a crashed Romulan scout). The touchy-feely introspection in Picard really is nothing new. Nor is variation in the pace of the storytelling.

It seems you don’t know what “fanwank” means - by definition it isn’t anything new or challenging. It’s mindless porn, designed to appeal to the basic cravings of unimaginative fans who demand the same old egg and chips week in, week out. It’s exactly why fan-made episodes of TOS are almost universally awful (with the possible exception of Star Trek Continues, which manages to steer just far enough away from tribute act territory, some of the time at least, to make it possible to simply enjoy the detailed recreation of the look and feel of the original despite the derivative plots and the not-in-game-footage acting). Whether you like Picard or not, it absolutely isn’t fanwank in any shape or form.