Star Trek Discovery
Netflix exclusive- Airing weekly
Background
Some point in 1995 I was sent home ill from school. Back in the day, we only had 4 channels so there was nothing on tv. So I pressed play for the VCR, never realising what I would watch would fundamentally change who I was.
Prior to this point I was a passive viewer of all things Trek. However, there was something about this Deep Space Nine two-parter presented as a mini movie that caught my attention. Namely a character called Dr Julian Bashir, who would become my first ever crush.
I have, ever since, found myself involved in the world. I dressed up for my shift in the cinema back in 2009’s opening weekend of JJ Abrams’ reboot and I even wrote a fan fiction about DS9 way before I even knew it was a thing.
I was very sad when Enterprise ended. Not only the fact that it marked the first time in recent television history that there would be no space based shows on tv, but the horrific way in which the final season went was a nightmare. It was almost as if someone uttered the phrase ‘jump the shark’ about the third season and the creators went ‘hold my beer.’
However, in the new age of Netflix we have had a resurgence. There’s a new Starfleet crew about to boldly go … most likely somewhere all the others have been before.
S1 ep1: A Vulcan Hello
From IMDB:
While patrolling Federation space, the U.S.S. Shenzhou encounters an object of unknown origin, putting First Officer Michael Burnham to her greatest test yet.
Characters
It was a fine first outing for the new show. There’s some good characters and the creators have chosen to make the protagonist the ship’s First Officer instead of the usual Captain. It’s surprising how much of a difference this makes and I can’t put my finger on what it is.
Michael is an awesome character, played by The Walking Dead alumni, Sonequa Martin-Green. A human raised on Vulcan after a traumatic event killed her own parents. It’s an interesting way of representing the human/Vulcan conflict and I am looking forward to seeing how it pans out.
Knowing that Michael is ready for her own ship, but declines add tension to the first episode and I predict it’ll be the case for some time.
Another addition to the crew is Doug Jones of Hellboy playing Lt Saru; an alien race unseen before now in the universe. He is a wonderful breath of cautious air. However, other than the three core characters, we are relatively sparse of people we learn anything about.
Visuals and Music
It’s dark and glossy, with those JJ lense flares. It’s attractive and inviting with just a hint of horror.
The music is a riff of the Original Series’ iconic melody with it’s own identity. It’s incredibly beautiful and something I will look forward to hearing week in week out for the foreseeable future.
Plot
This is where my biggest issue comes in and the part that I will always have issues with, unless something massive changes. The writers have a futuristic world filled with possibilities and the freedom to do what they wish. However, they’ve planted themselves smack bang in between the timeline of two existing shows, meaning the technology, uniforms and cultural progression is all off.
One of our main characters is an alien that we’ve never heard of before, or after, this. While I enjoy his character, a simple relocation within the timeline would make this much better.
While on the subject of the timeline; the Klingons, that have been missing for 100 years…conflicts with the meeting of Enterprise with the Klingons in the pilot episode Broken Bow.
It just frustrates me, as it becomes convoluted for the sake of it. For a show about a crew that goes where no mankind have been before, I really wish the creators and writers would perhaps take it on as their own mantra.
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