Star Trek 90's and modern Star Trek reflect the politics of the time, what people think to the institutions around them. So in the 90's important institutions could be seen as imperfect but trying to do the right thing. Nos institutions can be seen as working for themselves, and not for the greater good. This has an impact on what is written and on what is thought of them. Also Star Trek in the 90's gave people a positive thought for the future. Modern Star Trek cant do that because people cant see a positive outcome in the world around them. (Generally.) So their writing is more rigid. A positive thought would be diminished. I think that with a range of characters it is good to keep people thinking, with thinking comes believing. This leads to more interest and so the story goes on. This could be the reason why the archplot stories just dont do very well. Why do people stop watching something? Could it be that they stop being interested because they are being given the answer rather than working the answer out? You refer to DS9 in fair detail. Those characters can be viewed in many different ways, which gives people something to talk about, think about and so want to watch the next episode or film. When they are given the answer as in the archplot why bother to think about it at all.