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The author's favorite SF story is about a black woman who goes back in time to the pre-Civil-War South, and is enslaved. Thinks SF should be about race and gender.

Really hates SF about people overthrowing an oppressive government. SF about politicians who appear to be the good guy, turning out to be evil.

The author's favorite SF story is about a black woman who goes back in time to the pre-Civil-War South, and is enslaved. Thinks SF should be about race and gender.

I think he was using that more to point out that the Sci-Fi genre encompasses more than Star Wars / Star Trek pop-culture ideas.
When he returns to the thesis, he says Hollywood studios, not known for thinking outside the box, opt for the "Star Wars" template -- lots of whiz bang, plenty of quirky alien characters, CGI to the max, plenty of explosions and little thought of any kind. and I'm inclined to agree; the only good sci-fi movie I've seen in [fairly] recent years is Serenity. (Star Trek Into Darkness was a poorly done ST II: Wrath of Kahn remake; Green Lantern could have been really good, if they didn't try shoehorning two and a half movies into a single one.)

Really hates SF about people overthrowing an oppressive government. SF about politicians who appear to be the good guy, turning out to be evil.

Well, there's some SF like that, but there's a lot that's about exploring an idea.
Minority Report, for example, is about what police/law-enforcement would be like if there was precognition.