Yeah, that is sad. I enjoy seeing futuristic aliens and ships too, but I guess I've never really understood why a lot of these shows have to look like movies now. I would be perfectly happy to see them cut those fancy effects way back and spend some of that money on some good writers to make a few more episodes. I've found I very rarely remember how good the CGI monster or alien building looked, but I often remember what the characters said.

No, I'm not as old as I sound! ;-)

for me, the foam rocks and rubber foreheads were part of the fun, like watching a magic show where you know where to look. i would be thrilled if all of SNW looked like the TOS parody from this episode, especially if it brought back 24-episode seasons. probably not a common sentiment though lol

Not judt costs but the production schedule for the actors and crew. 23 episodes is one every 2 weeks with just a couple weeks off for the entire year. This also lead to a lot of garbage filler episodes regardless of the series. I do prefer more that 8-10 episodes but 20+ is a bit much too.