That too for LD, especially in later seasons, the main characters are much more interesting than the average ensign and get a lot more to do. For example, Rutherford was previously injured in a ship racing accident and wrote an insane AI program, Boimler has a "dead" transporter clone in Section 31, Mariner is the captain's daughter, and Tendi is from an Orion pirate family. Not only that but whatever they are doing that episode usually has some impact on the "main" plot, like how Rutherford ends up acting as a diplomat in one episode or how they attempt to steal the Cerritos.
In the new shows, they actually call the mirror universe the mirror universe, which is something that they don't do in previous appearances- in DS9 they always call it the alternate universe.
Seven being gay (or at least not straight) is a good one- I think it's something a lot of people had as a bit of a fan theory but it's something you would never see on Berman Trek.
I feel like some of the writers finally came around- for example In Discovery S3 the emerald chain wants to co opt the name of the Federation because the Federation is still viewed very highly.
I also appreciate that we see the motivation behind being a badmiral
That too for LD, especially in later seasons, the main characters are much more interesting than the average ensign and get a lot more to do. For example, Rutherford was previously injured in a ship racing accident and wrote an insane AI program, Boimler has a "dead" transporter clone in Section 31, Mariner is the captain's daughter, and Tendi is from an Orion pirate family. Not only that but whatever they are doing that episode usually has some impact on the "main" plot, like how Rutherford ends up acting as a diplomat in one episode or how they attempt to steal the Cerritos.