So, there's a new Star Trek show.
It's essentially a "coming of age" story in the Star Trek universe, directed at younger people. And it's amazing how the world is depicted, because it shows typical everyday life, but with ETs all over the place. It's not like the other Star Trek series that are about far away adventures, military conflicts and so on. That's also in there, but the focus definitely is "how the future will look like on Earth". It's relatable and fun to watch.
--- Caution: Spoilers Ahead ---
And here's an even more interesting aspect: The show emphasizes the role of the Betazoids, who are the telepaths in the Star Trek universe. And the Betazoids went through shit like no other species.
In summary, there was this galaxy-wide cataclysmic event, the Burn, that threw civilizations centuries back because all warp drives exploded (watch Discovery to see what happened). After the Burn, the Betazoids were attacked by another species, so they went isolationist and established a "psionic barrier" to protect themselves.
In the new show, the Betazoids start to negotiate the return to the Federation, and it becomes clear that they are suppressing their telepathic capabilities. The psionic barrier becomes a key element – it's not only a symbol for the loss of trust, it's also a symbol for the concept of a prison planet. The younger generations want to break out of this prison and join the galactic community again.
But the show also is militaristic propaganda. It somehow reminds me of Starship Troopers, where the purpose of the individual is to die for the collective. The show seems to want to talk about that, because there's a rival to the Academy, the "War College", which represents the shadow side of the Federation (similar to Section 31).
It's a promising setup...