I'm talking about the movies in that part not the series. The movies came close to SW.
And it is bad, the acting is bad for me because it doesn't fit sci-fi. Kubrick's space Odyssey looked AMAZING and the acting isn't anywhere near as wooden.
It was not great even for it's time. It was passable and I'm also talking about the movie version of those old series with Kirk and Picard. Star wars came like what... A couple of years after? And looked much better, the next gen movies came after the old trilogy and still couldn't look better...
The final results are what matter. With sci-fi, the special effects are a primordial part. Also I'm not just talking about effects. Old material was acted like a radio play or theatre... Not a fan. That slowly changed with next generation but still wasn't enough.
JJ Abrams movies are "ST if it was actually on our world". And the actors are EXCELLENT, even the haters admit all of them did excellent evocations of the old actors, some of them actually felt like the same actor but younger, which wasn't necessary since that could alienate the viewer but whatever, it worked.
Dude if in universe they talk about hyper advanced races or warlords without mercy or AI and all the have is actors in shitty make up or awful "martial arts" and sword fighting, then the new movies are better by default. It's about immersion
Dude from where I'm from schools are built like prisons by default: tall external walls, a single big black gate for entrance, ugly indoors without any personality, no locker rooms... We Don't have metal detectors though, only Americans have type of issues
Hardcore fans think it's "dumb"