The teaser opener really blew me away kind of like when I saw the Kelvin scene in '09 for the first time. Right into the crisis and got all my emotions pumped and left me wanting more.
The writers really assembled a good quality cast for these very interesting characters, and they didn't leave one of the characters untouched. I can already tell we'll get good stories out of all these characters and there won't be any Maywhethers/Harry Kims that are just ignored. Each of them has a great and unique backstory and I think it will be very interesting to see where this story arc takes these characters and how they develop.
Just this first episode, the story had so many layers, a few different narratives going on, but still a very cohesive story that came together in the right places -- with a plot that made sense overall. No technobabble solutions, just people working as a team through the situation. This has always been one of my favorite parts of Trek.
The FX and ships and everything were phenomenal. They managed to capture the feel of the era, yet still show us something that is acceptably modern and believable and still feeling like something from the 2250s. This was a delicate balance that I think they achieved nicely. Defiant in In a Mirror, Darkly looked good, but this makes it look cartoonish in comparison. This looks like a 2250s era ship with 2016 production values. Absolutely stunning and realistic.
What struck me was the technology --the tricorders, communicators, bridge consoles, etc. Unbelievable! If you take smartphones, computers, etc. from our era and extrapolate out 200 or so years, this is exactly what I'd expect to see - - yet it still looks like something you'd see in the Kirk era. Wow!
Take the best character development pieces of Deep Space Nine ("Yeah, Damar, what kind of people give those orders", also Sisko's series long journey as the Emissary, Bashir and O'Brian's friendship, etc.), the best action scenes of TNG ("Mr. Worf. Fire", ), Starfleet working as a team (The junior battle bridge crew in The Arsenal of Freedom for example), the stories of human ingenuity, morality, and the camaraderie of TOS, and the pioneering spirit of both Enterprise and Voyager --- take all that, roll it up together, bring it to 2016 with modern storytelling values, and this is what you get. This first episode was a solid, welcome, and deserving addition to the Trek legacy. The fact that they didn't use the reset button to get out of this situation is a sure sign that Trek has evolved -- and I think everyone would agree, for the better.
Except all of that doesn't matter and this show is shit and will fail miserably because a good, multilayered story, with believable characters (with real development and consequences to their actions), solid pacing, great action, and good effects just doesn't matter. The fact that it takes place in the same universe as 6 other series overrides all of that, magically makes it suck, and will somehow cause talented and successful writers to suddenly not know how to spell the word "cat" apparently.
