The limitations placed on filmmakers make it difficult to portray many things as they should be. Budget is a big element, another is technical, and probably the most important is box office receipts. In the case of television that converts to ratings and sponsor retention.

As a writer, however, I have no such restrictions. If I want to be popular and sell lots of books, I'll probably at least tip my hat to the writer's version of box office and aim my writing at book sales. My writing will take on many of the faces worn by movies. In my case, I am not one of those, and I have a strong background in the sciences. Because of these things, my fiction is not written merely to be entertaining but to have an element of reality rarely found. I do stretch the envelope, but never to the point that it tears.

I have never resorted to FTL because I don't see it on the horizon, not that I think it impossible. Perhaps, one day, but not for the foreseeable future. If I want simulated gravity on my ship, I use rotation or tumble. Force fields (shields), though possible, are again highly unlikely for some time to come. I don't employ space battles of the cliche dogfight variety because that is not how battles in space will happen or even could happen. My aliens are alien and are built around their own backstory supported by their environment in which they evolved. That even includes what they think and how they think it, though I must admit that is the most difficult to introduce and maintain.

Now, having said all that, I enjoyed most of the Star Trek endeavors, loved Star Wars, and was delighted with ET and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In spite of my rigid stance in the telling of a tale, I can discard that mindset and enjoy the hell out of space operas --- as long as they don't overdo it. If they do, I am not a pleased Perseidian Puppy. I can even tolerate 'gravity plating' on ships, as absurd as that is.

i'll take a look

I prefer sci-fi of a "Predict the future" variety. Mankind has slowly spread out beyond the earth, and diverged due to culture and evolution.
Plausible because it is parallel to what has happened here already, with 3 types of homo sapiens, (Neanderthal, Denisovan, Sapiens), and geographical variations (negroid, mongoloid and caucasian)
Now, with the discovery of a radical new form of transport, one group of future men can strike out across space without using self-sufficient "colony ships" that set out into the unknown, hoping that their descendants would find a new planet they could adapt. This type of vehicle allows real scope for exploring social issues, etc.
The one thing that really raises my ire is spaceships manoeuvring in circles as they join battle!

Well done. I have some comments, but they need some time to gestate. I'll be back.