During wartime, a mutineer is given a second chance to prove herself when she is recruited to serve on board the Starship Discovery.
Long before I had actually watched this show, I had heard nothing but negative criticisms of the series. Fans were angry about unnecessary changes made to the Klingons. Fans were upset that the USS Discovery's technology seemed to be too far ahead for a "Star Trek" starship from Captain Pike's era. To make a long story short, everything which I had read about this show indicated that it had probably damaged the "Star Trek" franchise; and, I was fairly confident that I would hate the series as a consequence. In the end, I was rather surprised when I actually found myself liking it.
The series didn't give me the best first impression of itself. The first two episodes had some rough spots. All of the above criticisms which I had heard about the series seemed to have been confirmed by those first two episodes. While the special effects and sets were impressive. the lighting and camera angles did not seem to be those of traditional "Star Trek." By all appearances, the series appeared to have been created by people who had little more than a superficial understanding the "Star Trek" franchise.
However, starting with the third episode, my overall appraisal of the series improved noticeably. The writing and the acting were both excellent. While the show was slow to introduce viewers to the Discovery's bridge crew, all of the characters seemed to be well developed and interesting. The storytelling was filled with a lot of surprises and twists which put me in mind of those from "Babylon 5." Generally speaking, this series was an excellent science-fiction series which was well worth watching.
Even though the show was entertaining, the series did leave me with some reservations because of its conflicts with "Star Trek" canon. Changes were made to the Klingons. While the viewer does eventually become used to the new appearance of the Klingons, the viewer is still left wondering why the changes were made in the first place. There was nothing antiquated about the way the Klingons appeared in the previous entries to the "Star Trek" franchise from the 1970's onwards. Furthermore,other aspects of the way the Klingons were depicted in this series conflicted with their depiction in the previous "Star Trek" TV shows and movies. Also, the franchise's previous series, "Star Trek: Enterprise," had gone to great lengths to smooth over continuity problems between previous TV shows and movies; but, this series completely ignored those efforts, creating a fresh set of conflicts within the "Star Trek" canon.
Overall, this series is very entertaining and well worth watching. Fans of the broader "Star Trek" franchise will have problems with this series; and, those fans are best advised to make peace with this series by thinking of it as an entirely separate parallel canon. For those fans, the conflicts between this series and the rest of the "Star Trek" canon will prove to be a source of disappointment, especially considering how well the series was done in other regards. For everyone else, the series' surprises and plot twists will keep those viewers riveted to their screens and looking forward to the show's next episodes. There is much to praise about this series; but because of deviations from the established "Star Trek" canon, it might have been better off if the series had been started completely from scratch rather than as a new entry in the "Star Trek" franchise. The show is well worth watching; but, hardcore "Star Trek" fans will have to do some soul searching to find ways to live with the show's continuity problems with the rest of the franchise.
Long before I had actually watched this show, I had heard nothing but negative criticisms of the series. Fans were angry about unnecessary changes made to the Klingons. Fans were upset that the USS Discovery's technology seemed to be too far ahead for a "Star Trek" starship from Captain Pike's era. To make a long story short, everything which I had read about this show indicated that it had probably damaged the "Star Trek" franchise; and, I was fairly confident that I would hate the series as a consequence. In the end, I was rather surprised when I actually found myself liking it.
The series didn't give me the best first impression of itself. The first two episodes had some rough spots. All of the above criticisms which I had heard about the series seemed to have been confirmed by those first two episodes. While the special effects and sets were impressive. the lighting and camera angles did not seem to be those of traditional "Star Trek." By all appearances, the series appeared to have been created by people who had little more than a superficial understanding the "Star Trek" franchise.
However, starting with the third episode, my overall appraisal of the series improved noticeably. The writing and the acting were both excellent. While the show was slow to introduce viewers to the Discovery's bridge crew, all of the characters seemed to be well developed and interesting. The storytelling was filled with a lot of surprises and twists which put me in mind of those from "Babylon 5." Generally speaking, this series was an excellent science-fiction series which was well worth watching.
Even though the show was entertaining, the series did leave me with some reservations because of its conflicts with "Star Trek" canon. Changes were made to the Klingons. While the viewer does eventually become used to the new appearance of the Klingons, the viewer is still left wondering why the changes were made in the first place. There was nothing antiquated about the way the Klingons appeared in the previous entries to the "Star Trek" franchise from the 1970's onwards. Furthermore,other aspects of the way the Klingons were depicted in this series conflicted with their depiction in the previous "Star Trek" TV shows and movies. Also, the franchise's previous series, "Star Trek: Enterprise," had gone to great lengths to smooth over continuity problems between previous TV shows and movies; but, this series completely ignored those efforts, creating a fresh set of conflicts within the "Star Trek" canon.
Overall, this series is very entertaining and well worth watching. Fans of the broader "Star Trek" franchise will have problems with this series; and, those fans are best advised to make peace with this series by thinking of it as an entirely separate parallel canon. For those fans, the conflicts between this series and the rest of the "Star Trek" canon will prove to be a source of disappointment, especially considering how well the series was done in other regards. For everyone else, the series' surprises and plot twists will keep those viewers riveted to their screens and looking forward to the show's next episodes. There is much to praise about this series; but because of deviations from the established "Star Trek" canon, it might have been better off if the series had been started completely from scratch rather than as a new entry in the "Star Trek" franchise. The show is well worth watching; but, hardcore "Star Trek" fans will have to do some soul searching to find ways to live with the show's continuity problems with the rest of the franchise.