While I agree uping tech to be consistant with RL advances is necessary, if you increase tech to much it can become a Deux Machina situation where evey problem can be resolve through the superior technology rather then the character's ingenuity and inventiveness. You have to disable some part of the ship every episode just to give the stories a chance. oH... and definitely have Romulus go *BOOM*. Shame to blow the poor thing up and then not take advantage of all the great stories that could potential spawn from it. In fact, having a Romulan refugee/expatriot/whathaveyou could be inspiring tales. Where do their loyalties truely lie? Is there even a Romulan Star Empire left to be loyal to? Oooh Oooh Oooh... maybe the fractured Star Empire is under going a civil war with various camps alighning more or less with remaining Instellar Supper Powers... the Klingon camp, the Federation freinds, the Cardassian allies, the Gorn or even Tholian! buddies. I definitely agree on multi-episode arc. Even my kids know to look at the clock. (Nope. We're twenty minutes in. She can't be the killer.) I think that's referred to as 'Space Opera'. Babylon 5 was good for that if I recall correctly, Why isn't that syndicated? Hmmph. Also a big fan of A.Richards list of 'Guest Appearences.'