RUSSO will get on my case for this, but the other night I caught a snippet of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and it reminded me yet again that the only real Star Trek is the one with Kirk & crew.

The moment that summed up the boring, Eurocrat-ness of it all? This fiery exchange (they’re talking about whether they should release a weird, genetically-altered 12-year-old from cryonic suspension, not that it matters; Picard is anti-thawing, the lady doctor is pro-thawing; this was by far the most heated exchange I saw):

CAPTAIN PICARD: But the risk is–

LADY DOCTOR: Minimal!

Those are the real lines. Patrick Stewart, and whoever the chick was, had to wring emotion and drama out of those lines. I assume they’re great actors, but this is simply impossible. At least when The Original Series was embarrassing, it was campy….