I mean, I love Star Trek, but I love it because it has heart unlike most other scifi, not because it is "smarter" than other scifi. 99% of other scifi shows/movies spend all their time trying to be "smart" about how war will mechanically work in space or the far future... and completely bungle representing the human condition with any degree of heart or depth.
Star trek can be as dumb as it wants, it will always be better than 99% of other scifi just for the reason that it has heart and isn't obsessed with technology for technologies sake.
I mean.. look at the current crop of techbros who watch dystopian scifi's and think "this looks COOOOL, lets make that!", it really speaks to how flawed most scifi is at actually engaging with humanity beyond a superficial, aesthetic or "big picture ideas" level.
Red Dwarf from this article does look like it has heart too though, I will definitely have to give it a try.
Red Dwarf is great - series 2-6 were its peak for me. It played with sci-fi concepts in an intelligent way and the humour came from the people.
It was originally pitched as 'The Odd Couple in Space' I believe if that gives you a feeling for the dynamics between the main 2 characters, a stuck up deadpan snarker and a slobbish loveable rogue
I kept hearing about Red Dwarf and gave it a try. It's quirky and goofy at times, but endearing. The special effects suck and they know it. The nice thing since it's a British show, there's not a ton of them in relation to its age. Only 74 since it began in 1988!