Maybe I think too much like someone who does theater for a living. But the joy of TOS for me is in the scripts, and the Kirk/Spock/McCoy ensemble, and the way they work like a well-oiled machine. No wasted parts, no excess lines or rambling sub-plots -- simple, economical story-telling.

When I think of TV I've seen since, only a few shows like Buffy, or SG-1, come up to that sort of graceful economy. Almost all the later generations of ST struggled to get a story out. Not to say there weren't good episodes of the later shows. Or bad episodes of TOS. And the depth of story and character explored in, say, Wiseguy really shows how much the hermetic 50-minute structure constrained the original Star Trek.

In any case, the SFX aren't an issue to me. With a few wincing exceptions they managed to avoid "look at me" syndrome, instead presenting the information needed then getting out of the way. I'll take that anytime over the long CGI extravaganzas that substitute for actual drama and conflict on the unlamented Enterprise.

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"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."