First Thoughts on Star Trek: Discovery

MILD SPOILERS AHEAD

From the moment we heard about the production and frustrated that they had nothing to show us at STLV50 – the production has been a target of naysayers and purists who spun each delay and production issue into a prediction of doom.

Even the few early posters on Variety had a strong negative vibe for a new series.

I can safely attest they’re wrong. Discovery was much more than I’d hoped for.

The first two episodes were little more than a 2-hour cold open.  Y’know that 2-min opening for TOS episodes that set up the full episode?  This was a 2-hour movie designed to set-up a series – and we didn’t even see the Discovery.

What did we get?  Some of the most complex dialog from a Klingon we’ve ever had.  A number of reveals about who they were.  Racial Purity.  Knaw on that bone for a second.  If you’re going to argue about the look of the Klingons, take a moment and carefully listen to what T’Kuvma says.  It’s pretty deep, and he lays some complex background as to what drives them.

The Sarek-Michael relationship is based on an incident where Sarek brings her back from the brink of death, not through a mind meld, but by sharing a part of his Katra with her.  It’s no wonder she was able to ascend to the Vulcan Science Academy, and later it opened an entirely unknown to trek fans form of communication.

Canon wasn’t abused.  One point Azurian made on Twitter was that Klingons had a cloak.  They didn’t – but one house has an invisibility advantage that certainly didn’t look like a traditional cloak, in fact, 2 times where it was used, both effects were different, and both ships were neutralized.

Others have stated that a lot of Discovery feels like it was designed in the Star Trek Online Universe.  The 6+ ships that fight look like forebears of the Nebula, the Cerebus and the Miranda for a start, and frankly if these don’t become skin options, someone isn’t paying attention.  From body armor to weapons (The Shenzhou had phase cannons, photon torpedoes, and phaser arrays) – this could have easily existed before TOS.

Twitter posts: Why don’t we know of this timeframe?  How dare they insert new history in the mythology? Cry CANON! and let slip the arguments on twitter!

CBS is teasing us.  They’ve reset the universe.  It’s prime,  but not the prime we know. And we’re about to go on another 50-year journey.  In the 80+ hours of TOS + movies, there is no possible way that we’ve seen everything, or that we know the full story.  Sure some of us will argue where the Enterprise was actually built,  or how and when the Augment virus changes the Klingons, but in the end, we’ve only had a glimpse at this universe.

Discovery is smart. It’s innovative, opening doors to things we thought we knew.  And its first two hours have put to bed any notion it’s not Trek.  It’s the quality Trek I’ve wanted for the last 30 years, but only saw glimpses of in the occasional episode.

 

8 thoughts on “First Thoughts on Star Trek: Discovery

  1. What did you not like about it? What constructive criticism do you have? I’m not asking you to bash the show, but I am interested in hearing realistic feedback. Or do you genuinely think it’s perfect in every way?

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    1. Perfect? No…. but leaps ahead of what I expected as to quality, then yes.

      The ship was really dark, and at times, despite being in close proximity to two light sources, it was hard to see the ships exterior. That kind of lighting is accurate, but I’d like to see more of the ships 😉

      In terms of story, it’s too soon to pass judgement on what I like and don’t care for – but so far I’m impressed. As a fan I want to know more about the 5 new species in the first 2 episodes, but I’m willing to wait. The first 2 hours wasn’t about the quest for new worlds and civilizations, it was about developing our leads relationships.

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  2. Still Does not change my view, I will not pay for yet another sub-service just to watch it. I already Pay for 2 TV services (Hulu, and Netflix) the budget just doesn’t allow for a proprietary streaming service that Just Shows CBS. especially since they have a deal with Netflix to play it everywhere else in the world. What I can say is when it finally makes it Netflix I will gladly sit and watch it and form my own opinion of it.

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    1. I pay 200$ a month for cable now – $6 more wouldn’t be a stretch. I suspect that as more people abandon the traditional cable services, these kinds of fee based services will grow. I’m sorry you can’t afford it.

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  3. I agree, it’s better than I expected. The redesign of the Klingons still irks me though. They pretty much wanted space orcs and elves, and having them sound like elephants when they speak doesn’t help, especially when he suddenly speaks perfect English later on.
    That said I’m intrigued enough by the storyline so far to watch. When episode 2 ended I was actually looking for more. The story is good enough to make me care about her character and that’s what matters most.

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  4. I disagree. Discovery is pretty bad, like cringeworthy bad. I don’t mind a little reimagining of Canon on rare occasions but it takes things that were set in stone and beats them to death. It’s poorly written, the actors and actress’s read off some of the worst scripts I’ve ever heard, the Klingon’s don’t look like Klingons, and they have a warp drive that runs off drugs and uses a human as its computer, which is btw unethical as hell. And people can stand there and say such things are “good?”

    Yeah no sorry, Discovery is crap, a money grab on CBS’s part to save face after the Axanar blunder. I hope the world is smart and doesn’t give it a 3rd season, otherwise they’ll just be destroying canon at that point.

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