We are currently halfway through the first season of Star Trek: Discovery, so now feels like the right time to talk about my feelings on it so far. I'm rather glad I didn't do a first impressions on this series because wow talk about a show that is bad at first impressions. Though it's hard to place why exactly the pilot was bad-the main issue being its poor pacing and lack of vital plot points that carried over to the rest of the series-but it still somehow felt hollow. Like a robot that just learnt what this pesky thing called 'human interaction' is, and tried to write a script around it. Thankfully-as many others can attest-the show does get much better with each passing episode. The best thing one can say about the show and the element that certainly feels the most "Star Treky" of it, is its desire to push boundaries. Star Trek has always been a franchise about embracing the new, doing what had never been done before, all the way back to the original series when it was the first show to feature an interracial kiss. Because Star Trek is both a thinking man's sci-fi, as well as a liberal's sci-fi. In the case of this show, one: having a black female protagonist who isn't the captain, two: featuring an onscreen homosexual kiss, three: using the f word...well two out of three ain't bad.
While I compliment the show on it's forward thinking approach and giving us things that had never been done in Star Trek before, there are somethings that I just don't need from Star Trek. I don't need to hear someone say 'fuck', but more importantly I really don't need to see Klingon boobies...seriously guys, why on Earth did you make Klingon boobies a thing? Funnily enough this does come from one of the more interesting sub-plots of the series, tackling the subject of male rape, as one of the characters Ash Tyler was a prisoner on a Klingon ship and now suffers from PTSD from the torture he experienced. It's a subject that is almost never explored in any medium, so for a series as important as Star Trek to tackle it, is a very bold move.
In my mind the ensemble of a Star Trek series has always been the most important, and thankfully this series has a great and interesting crew on board. Captain Lorca is a much more controversial captain than the usual pure good captains we've had in the past, he's a man that though still believes in Federation values, is also a man that wants to win, he's not naturally trusting, is harsh when someone screws up and one way or another will always get what he wants. Saru is an alien who comes from a species of cowards, meaning they often take the path of least resistance, but as seen in the series, while he is a genius and wants to do the right thing, he will go to extreme lengths to protect himself, even when it's not logical. Tilly-though hasn't been given any significant character development, her initial characterisation as a bubbly optimistic but still inexperienced cadet makes her a fun character. Stamets I've already briefly touched upon as the first openly gay character in a Star Trek show, and the relationship between he and his partner is very much played down to Earth and relaxed, you really get the sense that they've been a couple for years and this is their version of settling down. On top of that he's also a genius but easily frustrated engineer who has no problem letting you know how smart he is.
You might notice there is one character I failed to mention, and that is our protagonist Michael Burnham. And there's a very simple reason why...she's just not that interesting. She's a human raised by Vulcans who later went on to be the first Starfleet mutineer, that is an insanely interesting backstory! But she herself just simply isn't! The human raised by Vulcan's angle ends up making her just a stick in the mud, not purely logical like a Vulcan and not emotionally vulnerable like a human, instead just a neutral blob with no defining characteristics. Even the mutineer angle feels like it's basically been dropped, starting out as a reason for everyone on board the U.S.S. Discovery to distrust her, but after several episodes she's basically one of the crew with no explanation.
The series also suffers from some major continuity issues between itself and the other Star Trek shows, mostly how so much technology and aesthetic designs will somehow disappear within 10 years as if they never existed. The main theory behind this is that the show exists within the Mirrorverse, a universe in Star Trek where everything is dark & gritty, and if so that would actually be amazing. It would explain the continuity issues, the focus on a darker tone, be a very original premise, and considering the mid-season ends on a cliffhanger of the ship being lost in space (and possibly time) it's looking more and more likely.
Overall while the show had a rocky start, I'm glad I stuck with it, because it is truly getting better and better, the characters are interesting, the plots are engaging, and production design is beyond incredible! Without a doubt the best looking Star Trek series we've ever had! So if you were someone who watched the pilot and dropped it immediately, i'd recommend giving it another try.
-Danny
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