Is discovery worth it?

[Dijeirusan]

So my question is: is discovery good Star Trek? Or is it some generic sci fi show?

It's far from generic. The reason many die hard fans are riled up by it is because it doesn't play it safe and doesn't stick to the Star Trek formula. I also don't think the trailers did anything close to making it look generic either.

To answer your original question, whether it's worth it or not, yes it is. It's the blueprint for Star Trek going forward.

 

[Albinator]

Discovery is some of the best Trek ever produced. I had my reservations going in, the trailers just looked and felt SOOO different from everything we've seen before (even JJ-Trek). The first couple of episodes didn't entirely win me over, but by the 4th episode it was already better than all of Voyager and Enterprise.

It will never match the nostalgia and rewatch value of TNG and DS9 for me, but in terms of quality it is already among the best of the franchise, made all the more impressive by the fact that it's the first season, where Trek has often struggled to find its feet.

I have no doubt that if it continues improving, it will be considered a classic.

 

[Albinator]

My personal opinion is that it's worth it. The writing is solid, the characters for the most part are interesting, the overall plot has everyone guessing and the VFX are absolutely gorgeous. That being said, it's different from the normal Star Trek (at least the one I grew up with). I would love to live in the world/universe that TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY and/or ENT establishes. I'm not so sure I'd want to live in Discovery's world. Sure, the tech is better and they're visiting strange new worlds and all of that, but everyone seems just as flawed, duplicitous and petty as the people in the real world.

I recall similar complaints about DS9 when it first aired. It was too dark, too serious, too morally grey, the characters were flawed and often two-faced, the main characters outright hated each other. It wasn't a love-fest like TOS or TNG. Characters like Major Kira, Odo, and Quark confused the hell out of people who'd grown to think that Riker, Geordi, and Data were what Star Trek was supposed to be. There was a lot of criticism as the show went on about how Sisko wasn't what a Starfleet officer should be (i.e.: he wasn't a righteous do-gooder).

Now it's widely considered the best of 90s Trek.

 

[nutshell]

So I am trying to decide if discovery is worth watching. I will wait till the whole first season is out if I do watch it. But I was turned off by the trailers, they made it look like some generic sci fi action show. So my question is: is discovery good Star Trek? Or is it some generic sci fi show?

Discovery is some of the best Star Trek I’ve seen in TV.

 

[Vger23]

see to me that doesn't sound like star trek. From the beginning it was about creating a positive view of humanities future, where we have overcome our problems. this is part of the reason that i'm skeptical of watching it.

The payoff with this show is that they are showing the arc of the characters (and Starfleet in general) BECOMING the version we respect and love because of the experiences they go through.

I find this to be far more realistic, rewarding, and relevant than just having a bunch of fully-developed highly professional "always do everything right" characters handed to us on a platter.

Discovery is a journey..,not a destination. as others have said, that's up to personal tastes. I personally see no value in watching a show where it's a foregone conclusion that the main characters will do the right thing every single time. I'd much rather see characters go through hardships and experiences and have those experiences shape their values and morals. It gives me something to root for, and it's more like real life and the journeys we are all on.

But if you're expecting this to be TNG or VOY, you'll be deeply disappointed. I for one celebrate that it's different. Others lament it for its straying from the "true faith."

Whatever works...but if you're a Star Trek fan, you should at least check out the first several episodes, keeping in mind that it gets better as it goes, and also keeping in mind that it took TNG and DS9 each two full seasons (26 episodes per season) to find their legs/identity.

There's a very vocal, VREY MINORIY group of "fans" that want the show to fail. Don't listen to them. Give it a watch and make up your own mind. I was HIGHLY skeptical , and now I feel as though I may be watching the best Trek since the original. But I was patient and gave it a shot.

 

[Vger23]

I recall similar complaints about DS9 when it first aired. It was too dark, too serious, too morally grey, the characters were flawed and often two-faced, the main characters outright hated each other. It wasn't a love-fest like TOS or TNG. Characters like Major Kira, Odo, and Quark confused the hell out of people who'd grown to think that Riker, Geordi, and Data were what Star Trek was supposed to be. There was a lot of criticism as the show went on about how Sisko wasn't what a Starfleet officer should be (i.e.: he wasn't a righteous do-gooder).

Now it's widely considered the best of 90s Trek.

In fairness...TOS was never a love fest. I think TOS was pretty damn gritty and dramatic for its time. DSC and DS9 were made in the same mold, which is different from TNG and VOY's homogeneous "we all get along and do the right thing all the time" formula.

 

[Borgminister]

Sounds like it might not be for you.

 

[Albinator]

In fairness...TOS was never a love fest. I think TOS was pretty damn gritty and dramatic for its time. DSC and DS9 were made in the same mold, which is different from TNG and VOY's homogeneous "we all get along and do the right thing all the time" formula.

TOS may not have been a "love fest" the way you may think of it, but the characters were all pretty agreeable, got along, and were fairly homogenized in their own right. They may have disagreed at times, bickered at times, but they always wanted to do the right thing, and ultimately were all friends at the end of every episodes. There was rarely any moral ambiguity in the show at all, never among the principle characters.

 

[Albinator]

The payoff with this show is that they are showing the arc of the characters (and Starfleet in general) BECOMING the version we respect and love because of the experiences they go through.

I find this to be far more realistic, rewarding, and relevant than just having a bunch of fully-developed highly professional "always do everything right" characters handed to us on a platter.

Discovery is a journey..,not a destination. as others have said, that's up to personal tastes. I personally see no value in watching a show where it's a foregone conclusion that the main characters will do the right thing every single time. I'd much rather see characters go through hardships and experiences and have those experiences shape their values and morals. It gives me something to root for, and it's more like real life and the journeys we are all on.

Better or worse, I think the decision to show Burnham's fall from grace in the premiere (as opposed to revealing it in flashback or in dialog over the course of the season) was to give her a good starting point to grow from. I agree it wasn't the strongest execution, but narratively it was the right call. Many critics dumped on the fact that the lead character was a failure, or a bad officer, or unlikeable, but her failures and flaws-- at least to me-- made her more human and likable rather than the other way around. It's easy to sympathize with her. We've all been in a situation at some point where we made a bad decision for the right reasons, and had to pay the consequences.

 

[Vger23]

"My people were biologically determined for one purpose alone: to sense the coming of Discovery-haters. I sense them coming to this thread now."

 

[alex08060]

Well USS Discovery is currently at the mirror universe and they are attempting to find the USS Defiant to get back to the federation. So it is definitely Star Trek, the issue is that it will lead up to TOS instead of TNG timeline. But it is still good and they did say in season 2 it will be back to exploring with the war being over. It will be interesting to see the Romulans unofficially or even meet Q.

 

[johnjm22]

If you're a Star Trek fan and like to see where the franchise is going I think it's worth watching. Personally I don't like the show at all, but I still watch it.

It has the worst combination of faults; it's corny but takes itself seriously.

 

[donners22]

I rate it as easily the best start to a Trek series, and one of the best seasons of any Trek series so far.

It's worth trying a few episodes at the very least.

 

[Bandini]

Best show on air at the moment.

 

[φ of π]

It always amuses me when I see the word "filler" used to describe an episode, or episodes, in a TV season. It seems this term has come into use since so many shows have become serialized and center around a single story arc. From what I have seen, the word "filler" is generally used in reference to standalone episodes (episodes that don't push the overall arc story forward) that the person using the term simply doesn't like. If it was a good standalone episode then it was a good standalone episode. If it was a bad standalone episode, then it was "filler".

Some describe "filler" as episodes that occur when a show's writers run out of ideas for the overall season story arc and present an episode(s) as a "placeholder" in order to fill out whatever the number of episodes needed to complete a season. I don't think there is a professional screenwriter working in TV today who does not have enough ideas to fill out a 15 episode or 24 episode or even 100 episode season. Hell. the X-Files managed to extend a story arc over 9 seasons and 2 movies. Now, we might not like all of the arc episodes, but that's a separate issue. What I'm saying is that writers don't write "filler" episodes because there is no need to do so.

Yep. That pretty much sums up my opinion.

Good missable episodes are "bottle" (DS9's Duet) and bad missable episodes are "filler" (VOY's tsunkatse).

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I sat down to watch Episode 1, open minded and hopeful. Barely five minutes in, I had to pause it, get a notepad and start writing down all the things that grated on me, of which there are many. Not been able to watch any more, there are just too many things wrong with the feel of it that I can't get into it.

 

[Bandini]

I sat down to watch Episode 1, open minded and hopeful. Barely five minutes in, I had to pause it, get a notepad and start writing down all the things that grated on me, of which there are many. Not been able to watch any more, there are just too many things wrong with the feel of it that I can't get into it.

You hated the sand planet that much that it was impossible to watch ?

Sounds objective.

 

[KennyB]

It has the worst combination of faults; it's corny but takes itself seriously.

Seriously? Cause "Spock's Brain" was so high brow?

 

[Tuvix5675]

You are not clear if you are talking about money or time. If you don't want to pay the subscription fee there are websites where you can watch or download it for free, but you will have to wait a day or so for the new episode to post.

 

[SPCTRE]

is discovery good Star Trek?

it is a very entertaining TV show and it is a Star Trek show, which makes this an excellent time to be liking Star Trek