Television Review: Star Trek: Discovery, Season 1

Show: Star Trek Discovery, Season 1

Company:  CBS Television Studios

Date: 2017

Plot: STAR TREK: DISCOVERY follows the voyages of Starfleet on their missions to discover new worlds and new life forms, and one Starfleet officer who must learn that to truly understand all things alien, you must first understand yourself. The series features a new ship and new characters while embracing the same ideology and hope for the future that inspired a generation of dreamers and doers.

I’m new to Star Trek. Well, I say new – it was the release of the film in 2009 that drew me in. But I’ve wanted to watch the series on Netflix for quite some time and, finally, got around to it.

It took me a while to get into it: connecting with the characters was tricky to start with and without that empathy and emotional connection, it’s hard to care. But from about episode 5 onwards, you suddenly start to see the humanity of the main characters and as soon as I gasped out loud at an event, I knew I was enjoying it. While not the strongest show I’ve watched, I liked it.

Michael Burman is a complicated main character – and the reason why it was hard to get into the series. She cuts herself off from those surrounding her, operating on Vulcan logic rather than her human emotions. But as she softens, as she learns to love those around her and lets herself be loved in return, she is an awesome character.

Ash Tyler is also a complicated character! I loved him to start with, and loved that he let his emotions get the better of him. But then with everything that happens (no spoilers here), I kind of wanted him to stop being emotional…which sounds awful, I know, but I wanted him to do something more proactive. Still, I loved his character.

Lorca was also complicated. I had a feeling there was something off about his character, but have to admit that I never guessed where his story was going, which made for some interesting watching. It stopped the show being predictable.

I won’t have room to go into all the characters here. Tilly is a refreshing character; bumbling, innocent and sees the good in everyone, no matter what boundaries they put up. Saru starts off very prim and proper but, like Michael, you warm to him. Paul Stamets takes the position as favourite – I just loved his character and the direction they took him in as the series unfolded. I think there could be a lot more to come from him in the second series.

The lack of connection to start with meant the pacing felt slow. The tension did increase though and there are a few twists and turns on the way I certainly didn’t see coming. I didn’t think the finale was that spectacular – it had some important messages in it, but I found earlier episodes to be more action-packed and tense. It did show a lot of character development from the beginning of the series though.

Overall, I enjoyed the series. I’m looking forward to the second; the character development and the evolving relationships means there won’t need to be as much scene-setting. Not having any true expectations for this helped: I went along with it rather than hoping for specific things. I don’t know how it compares to the original series, but, personally, I’d recommend it if you’re a Star Trek fan.

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