touching reminder

I've been watching a shipload of Star Trek: The Next Generation lately. One of the things that really jumps out at me is how iPhone-esque the touchscreens on the Enterprise-D are. They're exactly the same thing.

Sometimes I wonder why I like this series so much when I dislike so many of its regular characters:

• smirktastic space Boy Scout Wesley "Know-it-all" Crusher (though I really admire actor Wil Wheaton's grown-up endeavors)
  
• Dr. Beverly "Dammit, Jim, I'm a puppeteer, not an actor" Crusher (but actress Gates McFadden was a hoot at Dragon*Con)
  
• blessedly short-lived Dr. Pulaski (trivia: actress Diana Muldaur also appeared in two eps of the original series)
  
• Commander "Let me show you my throbbing dilithium crystal" Riker, who struts and frets his hour upon the stage and should be heard from no more
  
• and particularly Counselor "I'm sensing something with a low neckline" Troi, a truly obnoxious character created as a shortcut for writers, who used her whimpered empathic divinations as a cheap substitute for actually showing showing character development
  

I liked Tasha Yar. I'm indifferent to Geordi. And I really, really dig Captain Picard, Commander Data, and Lt. Worf. So it must be the stories, and especially the Trek universe, I love.

Anyway. Touchscreens. Cool.