Be aware that there’s two huge “this isn’t Star Trek at all” plot points going on in Discovery. Both of change the vibe substantially from traditional Star Trek.
One causes an improbable Federation captain. One causes a lot of events to improbably revolve around a single character.
After experiencing both big reveals, I love everything about one of them and still dislike the other.
Sadly, the one I liked was wrapped up by the end of season 1, while the one I didn’t care for dragged on through season 3.
It can be pretty divisive, but I enjoyed it. In a few ways, it diverges pretty significantly from the traditional Trek look and feel, and has to explain away a fair number of inconsistencies, but it has its own unique identity and a pretty solid cast. The main character is probably the source of most of the division, and I found myself liking her a lot in some cases and getting incredibly annoyed by her in others. It’s a very emotionally-charged show, which works for some people (I tend to like having my emotions played with) and it’s visually gorgeous.
So I’d say it’s definitely worth a watch, but with medium expectations. One of the nice things about how the plot is structured, is that there are a lot of twists and complete “fork in the road” type devices, so if you’re tired of a storyline, just give it a few episodes and everything will change (at least for the first couple seasons). I’d say go for it.
It’s ok. Just don’t expect it to be Star Trek.
Strange New Worlds feels like Star Trek.
It felt pretty Star Trek to me.
It’s “Trek” in the same way that (hopefully this reference isn’t too obscure) Stargate Universe was “Stargate.” The show wasn’t bad, especially post-Klingons, but it didn’t feel similar to any of the other series to me. I did enjoy the new time era, but hated all the sappy ‘motivational speeches’ and the way they were filmed that seemed to be a cornerstone of every episode.
I couldn’t watch anymore after the episode where an alien got really sad and that caused all the dilithium in the universe to explode at the same time. 🙄
I enjoyed both but Discovery isn’t as much of a throwback as Picard was.
If you do watch it, Strange New Worlds (SNW) is worth checking out also. If I recall correctly, SNW resumes Pike’s and Spock’s story after Discovery season 2 (same cast) and Discovery seasons 3-5 forks off with the rest of the Discovery crew.
Lower Decks (animated) also extends the Discovery story. Have not seen it myself, but there have been headlines Discovery may or may not be cannon based on Lower Deck’s trying to fix continuity issues or something as the last episode goes all multiverse. Even if true, it doesn’t sway my enjoyment of the story and characters.
I finished Strange New Worlds…only bad episode was the singing one. Just waiting for a new season.
only bad episode was the singing one
It’s okay to be wrong
I joke. Theater nerds live for that episode (and the fantasy episode from s1)
I gotta say, I really wanted to love the musical episode, but I actually felt like it was mid at best.
The songs weren’t memorable, and they mostly were just a character talking about their feelings. There was very little use of music to advance or explore the story. It was basically a standard episode with songs just kind of shoehorned in where they could. Compare with Once More With Feeling from Buffy, which I think demonstrates a much better understanding of musicals as a form.
Also, the idea that Klingons would be ashamed of singing is just insane. Klingons are the most dramatic culture in galactic history. Opera is canonically one of their favourite art forms. I refuse to believe that Klingons wouldn’t find the entire scenario rad as fuck.
