What They Say:
In the series premiere, new worlds and civilizations are explored by new members of the “Star Trek” universe.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Growing up in the 70’s meant that one learned about Star Trek through reruns or other people. I had a combination of both as my father talked about watching the show while stationed in Greenland in the late 60’s in the USAF with what little they were able to get from the outside world. I grew up watching the reruns and really finding episodes that scared me, delighted me, confused me at times, but also taught a lot with the basic morality plays and the recent reflection of society at that time. I had mixed reactions to the films in the 80’s as a teen and I found myself enjoying the different approach of The Next Generation. It was Deep Space 9 that made me a different kind of fan though as seeing long form serialized storytelling take shape that delved into politics, religion, and culture on a regular and consistent basis combined with the way the Federation had to deal with war and the impact on choices made and morality was defining. Then the franchise lost me with Voyager from the first episode and I was less than enthused with the kind of looking back that Enterprise did and barely finished the first season before giving up.
And while I enjoyed the three feature films from the Kelvin timeline and appreciated the way it kept the original timeline so we could return to it someday after a much-needed rest, I’m definitely glad that we’re back to it with Discovery. Even if it is another look back instead of looking forward, which is what always defined what Star Trek meant to me. This series has had a lot going against it from almost the beginning and made worse by departing talent even if we had some intriguing talent on board, and a strange setup in terms of character and perspective. The worst, however, is that for those of us in the US we’re only going to see this one episode broadcast while the rest goes to the CBS streaming service. Sadly, that means that I won’t review anything beyond this episode. But I really wanted to get a feel for it as it’ll determine whether I try and acquire the show on home video down the line as I know Paramount being Paramount will milk us pretty hard for it.
What the show does in its first few minutes is difficult but it does achieve some decent things to it. While the Klingon moment is what you expect in setting up the opponents for the season and what the flavor of Klingons we have is like, the bigger piece is just getting to know the Federation side as we get some time with Michelle Yeoh’s character, which we know is just in guest starring mode, and Sonequa Martin-Green as the first officer, referenced as Number One here, in Michael Burnham. We get a decent taste of their personality and approach that has Burnham feeling more out of the TNG era in a way than the TOS era, but even Yeoh’s Georgiou doesn’t feel too far removed from the TNG era. What really sold me in a way through was the opening sequence that changes gears from most past Trek series with its technical breakdown of ships and gear to theme music. Only Enterprise broke rank before, and not in a way that worked for me, but this one feels like it first in perfectly with modern stylings for opening sequences.
What gets things moving in earnest is a satellite relay audit where the satellite was damaged, seemingly intentionally, in an effort to get the attention of the Federation. It’s a fun sequence seeing the bridge crew hash out how to deal with the anomaly they discover nearby that obfuscates itself from view through sensors. This gives us a taste of a kind of loose and familiar crew with an eye toward exploration and discovery as you’d expect mixed with some decent caution and wariness from others to provide a good balance. Burnham’s the one that wants to get into the thick of things, even if there are risks – and sometimes especially because there are – to figure it all out. What she discovers there, a centuries-old ship that’s really intricate in design is the kind of thing that makes Trek exciting for me when it doesn’t do something familiar in design. That said since this is Klingon I’ll leave it to the diehards to figure out how this fits into continuity. To some degree, you have to give on areas like that considering how the original series evolved over time from the 60’s sensibility to the films and then on to the other TV series, which is why I prefer that they would have moved forward in the timeline than to go back in the timeline.
Watching the fallout from this is certainly interesting as Burnham’s return sets a lot of things into motion when it’s revealed that she encounter a Klingon in there, something that hasn’t been seen in a hundred years. This also comes with a flashback piece that shows Burnham as a child on Vulcan and her difficulties in working through the schooling due to her emotions. It’s a nice reconnect to what was introduced in the Kelvin timeline movies with how Vulcan’s are taught as well as being a moment to bring Sarek into the picture with his connection to Burnham. It was also cute to see her in a Vulcan bowl cut! These little details are the kinds of things I had hoped for, beyond a good budget to make the show look good, in how a Trek series can be done today compared to even ten years ago.
The slow rising tensions are interesting to watch as it moves forward and as more details come out, especially as they’re trying to figure out what it is that the Klingons may do. There’s a lot of things going on aboard that ship and while it is interesting it also slows things down a lot with it all being in Klingon, which I can appreciate but at the same time hope they shift away from as the series goes forward. While I dislike that Burnham gets such instant communications with Sarek I do like that we get to see what she learns there is more than likely the right path in dealing with the Klingons. The problem is that it runs counter to the Starfleet mission in how to interact with other species. We’ve seen it elsewhere in various series over the years in this franchise, those often being some of the best ones, as it challenges the beliefs of the cast. Seeing how far Burnham goes here to do what she believes is right certainly feels more out of the TOS era, which is amusing. As the show goes on it’ll be easier to disconnect from those kinds of feelings and views of the show.
In Summary:
Star Trek Discovery admittedly left me at the end of the episode wanting more. And wishing it was binge available because I get the sense that the serialized storytelling for this incarnation of Trek will work better than weekly consumption. That makes it easier to wait until it’s all out to check out and what we do get here has me wanting to see more as I like how they’re handling it and that they’re not cheaping out on it overall. There are areas such as the Klingons that will frustrate me in trying to connect it all properly within the larger continuity but that’s something that I don’t mind as I’m curious to see what this exploration gets. I didn’t go into the show predisposed to hate it by any means nor to love it since I’ve had two bad Trek series after DS9. This may be one that if they can pull off this season right will come in a close second.
Grade: B
