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The difference that stands out to me between the two is that the TOS films were about change, whereas the TNG films were about everyone staying in place. In the TOS films, most everyone had moved on after the end of the series to something different, and they happened to find their way back to one. When they started, Kirk was an admiral at a desk job, Spock had left Starfleet, and McCoy was off in space as a frontier doctor. By Star Trek II, Chekov had left for another ship. The Star Trek III was entirely about this, with the Enterprise itself about to be decommissioned and Scotty as the new engineer of the Excelsior. And by Star Trek VI, Sulu was promoted to captain of the Excelsior. So it really was all about change and everyone moving on, coming back together, and moving on again. It was dynamic.

By comparison, in the TNG films, everyone stayed in the same place. There really was no reason for Picard to not have been promoted beyond captain, but he remained a captain. Riker stayed First Officer well past the point he should have had his own ship. And everyone else for various reasons could have gone on to something else. The only one who bucks this trend and is like the TOS films was Worf, who went off and came back, but that was only because DS9 added him as a character. Therefore, what if the TNG films allowed for people to develop and have lives, but come together for the story? What would that look like and how would it play out?
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