Possible spoilers ahead for those who may not have seen the first two episodes of Star Trek Discovery. Now that I've watched both the premier and second episodes twice now I would like to comment on the direction of the show. Today is the 30th anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation which began my love of this franchise. I have always enjoyed the original series movies and those episodes of the original that I've watched but TNG was the beginning for me. 30 years later while my love of Trek diminished slightly when Enterprise was cancelled it was renewed with the rebooted original characters in new movies. Now we have Discovery, which has had many ups and downs and twists and turns due to the original showrunner leaving and CBS executives wanting the show to go in a different direction than originally laid out. All that being said the core of Trek is still here with Discovery and hopefully will remain so during the entire 15 episode first season, and possibly more thereafter.
So as for the first two episodes, color me very impressed and intrigued to see more as it progresses. Admittedly being a fan of Trek give you a certain bias when it comes to watching anything new because you have so much to compare it to that has come before it. Obviously with a renewed focus on the Klingons the events here should lead to the creation of the Neutral Zone border between the Empire and the Federation that will exist in the 10 years between Discovery and the original series. How we get to that, with them being at war, will be interesting to see. I did like the mentioning of the events at Donatu V which was a battle fought in the time of the show Enterprise that was stalemate between the two factions. What was not known is that the Klingon houses/leadership must've have splintered since leading to a period of isolation for the Empire while they contemplated the nature of being Klingon.
I do like the plot device of having things revolve around Michael Burnam rather than the Captain, but am not sure her duality of being human but raised by Vulcans will feel that different from other similar characters. I enjoyed seeing the communicators and phasers of that time still being used but the phaser rifle was totally updated and doesn't fit. While I do like the look of the uniforms, I don't like them being bisected with that zipper not being centered and also that the division colors of red, gold and blue are now gold, silver and bronze. I do also like the look/design of many of the ships seen during the battle scene with the Klingons in that they almost all are mono-hulled. Meaning that unlike Kirk's Enterprise with it's cigar shaped secondary hull, they all retain a very flat top to bottom size like the NX-01 Enterprise of Captain Archer. I am sure their will be other things that will show up that will harken back to their original versions but also new/updates things that will give this show it's own signature feel.
Anyway, I feel one thing that is being ignored, possibly purposely, and remains to be seen if will come into play, is that before Kirk's five year mission, were five year missions for Captain Christopher Pike, and before him Captain Robert April. Meaning that the 10 year gap could easily be eclipsed with the original series Enterprise showing up and April in command.
So as for the first two episodes, color me very impressed and intrigued to see more as it progresses. Admittedly being a fan of Trek give you a certain bias when it comes to watching anything new because you have so much to compare it to that has come before it. Obviously with a renewed focus on the Klingons the events here should lead to the creation of the Neutral Zone border between the Empire and the Federation that will exist in the 10 years between Discovery and the original series. How we get to that, with them being at war, will be interesting to see. I did like the mentioning of the events at Donatu V which was a battle fought in the time of the show Enterprise that was stalemate between the two factions. What was not known is that the Klingon houses/leadership must've have splintered since leading to a period of isolation for the Empire while they contemplated the nature of being Klingon.
I do like the plot device of having things revolve around Michael Burnam rather than the Captain, but am not sure her duality of being human but raised by Vulcans will feel that different from other similar characters. I enjoyed seeing the communicators and phasers of that time still being used but the phaser rifle was totally updated and doesn't fit. While I do like the look of the uniforms, I don't like them being bisected with that zipper not being centered and also that the division colors of red, gold and blue are now gold, silver and bronze. I do also like the look/design of many of the ships seen during the battle scene with the Klingons in that they almost all are mono-hulled. Meaning that unlike Kirk's Enterprise with it's cigar shaped secondary hull, they all retain a very flat top to bottom size like the NX-01 Enterprise of Captain Archer. I am sure their will be other things that will show up that will harken back to their original versions but also new/updates things that will give this show it's own signature feel.
Anyway, I feel one thing that is being ignored, possibly purposely, and remains to be seen if will come into play, is that before Kirk's five year mission, were five year missions for Captain Christopher Pike, and before him Captain Robert April. Meaning that the 10 year gap could easily be eclipsed with the original series Enterprise showing up and April in command.
One thing also missing is more backstory to flesh out how we get to this point and that may possibly show up as this series unfolds. Hopefully it will catch on with a wider audience than just Trek fans and after all 15 episodes/chapters have played out we will understand it better and see if it will continue into another season. After all I read and saw I truly feared this was going to fail miserably but my hope is to see it flourish and lead to more great Trek on television again.
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