We were already into the first two episodes of Star Trek Discovery, and outside of it's title making for an unfortunate abbreviation, and some background belly-aching about how the diverse casting is somehow insidious (how little has changed in 50 years?), I didn't know a lick about it.
Well I've enjoyed it so far. Tonally, it has more in common with the recent films than the previous series, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. There are the bright lights and hey-wow! graphics, but also there is a strong driving thread throughout that carries us straight from one episode to the next. It is a continuous story, rather than "episodic", so to speak, ending on a cliff hanger so we have a real urge to find out what happens next. People have criticised the movies for their lack of depth and action emphasis, but here there are enough philosophical conflicts to imply it is going to at least be a little smarter. The main one is how our protagonists deal with their first interaction with the Klingons; a culture that only respects immediate attack, whilst the heroes have a culture of never being the one to attack first. It's nice seeing Michelle Yeoh (who's title credit "guest starring" gives you a good idea of how long she's going to last), and Sonequa Martin bounce off one another to justify their differing answers to the dilemma.
The other, not so far addressed is a fairly blatant war crime that the heroes commit to save the day in the second episode. I won't spoil what it is, but I'm somewhat concerned that none of the characters even seem to notice something is morally iffy at the time.
There are some cool characters in this. I like how much we are shown of the Klingons, and their own cultural conflicts. I also like the big, tall, fleshy pink thing that is one of the senior officers (forgive me, I'm not at the point of remembering character names yet). I even like how there is a daft punk style robot in the background, because really when was the last time we had a cool robot in a show that wasn't a creepy, sexy woman? I look forward to seeing how they will play into the story, assuming this thing doesn't get too wrapped up in following just the most senior officers.
So far the series has a lot of promise and I'll keep up with it. If you haven't already realised it was out, I strongly recommend giving the new Star Trek a try.
First Two Episodes
We were already into the first two episodes of Star Trek Discovery, and outside of it's title making for an unfortunate abbreviation, and some background belly-aching about how the diverse casting is somehow insidious (how little has changed in 50 years?), I didn't know a lick about it.
Well I've enjoyed it so far. Tonally, it has more in common with the recent films than the previous series, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. There are the bright lights and hey-wow! graphics, but also there is a strong driving thread throughout that carries us straight from one episode to the next. It is a continuous story, rather than "episodic", so to speak, ending on a cliff hanger so we have a real urge to find out what happens next. People have criticised the movies for their lack of depth and action emphasis, but here there are enough philosophical conflicts to imply it is going to at least be a little smarter. The main one is how our protagonists deal with their first interaction with the Klingons; a culture that only respects immediate attack, whilst the heroes have a culture of never being the one to attack first. It's nice seeing Michelle Yeoh (who's title credit "guest starring" gives you a good idea of how long she's going to last), and Sonequa Martin bounce off one another to justify their differing answers to the dilemma.
The other, not so far addressed is a fairly blatant war crime that the heroes commit to save the day in the second episode. I won't spoil what it is, but I'm somewhat concerned that none of the characters even seem to notice something is morally iffy at the time.
There are some cool characters in this. I like how much we are shown of the Klingons, and their own cultural conflicts. I also like the big, tall, fleshy pink thing that is one of the senior officers (forgive me, I'm not at the point of remembering character names yet). I even like how there is a daft punk style robot in the background, because really when was the last time we had a cool robot in a show that wasn't a creepy, sexy woman? I look forward to seeing how they will play into the story, assuming this thing doesn't get too wrapped up in following just the most senior officers.
So far the series has a lot of promise and I'll keep up with it. If you haven't already realised it was out, I strongly recommend giving the new Star Trek a try.