Spoilers Star Trek Discovery Season 1: Overall Review Thread

[INACTIVEUSS Einstein]

I really enjoyed the final episode of the season, in contrast to how much I loathed the whole "head world", "dead people in your subconscious", telling you that the universe is ending and only you can prevent it shite in that earlier episode. Not even an ascended being like Danial Jackson, or anything, Stamet's mental image of his beloved just somehow knew about an impending catastrophic astrophysical event, because no reasons. Seriously, what a fucking mess, that kind of thing belongs in some cheesy high school fantasy, not a science fiction show.

It basically returned to an understandable, relatively "sensible", humanist Star Trek story in the finale, and felt like part of the universe, which some other episodes didn't - it was relatively well plotted, and actually felt like a natural continuation of the themes raised in the first couple of episodes, even if L'Rell's ascension was convenient, etc. It addressed some real issues that effect millions, such as how fear can warp our society, hinting that giving up ideals means a different kind of extinction. Fuck me, they even managed to have Orions in it, and not utterly fuck with their appearance for the sake of it.

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But, the rest of the season was all over the place. Writing of characters was sometimes natural, and other times completely forced, with the cast doing a decent job of working with bad material. VFX shots looked remarkably low budget and video game like, barely showing what was going on in space, despite DSC apparently having massive financial stability due to Netflix's international distribution. The supposed leaked CGI footage looked far better and cleaner than anything we saw in the show, spinning dinky toy and all. Plotting, even ardent fans admit, was atrocious at times; contrivance, random arbitrary things being thrown in like a soap opera, just to add forced interpersonal drama, unnatural progression and motives that defied good sense. There were cheesy remote control CGI shurikens killing a half a dozen people one minute, and then genuine moments the next. What has been going on behind the scenes that created such chaos, and will it be resolved next season, or can we expect more?

To quote another forum member:

"Discovery in so many ways gives with one hand and takes with the other."​

That was a reference to how they put remarkable work into Federation props like phasers, but then things like Klingon ships were utter embarrassments. But it could just as easily refer to the scripts. Some of the writing this season has been downright terrible, only to be followed by a relatively strong episode. I gave up treating it with a good faith "grace period" when we had the terrible cliched "the standing sets are the corridors of my mind" moment, with a dead character acting like a mythological messenger - only for the show to return with reasonable ideas other times. Voq's story was frankly absurd in a lot of ways, yet Ash Tyler was my favorite character largely on the back of Shazad's likability, I probably liked Stamets and Saru the most after him. Burnham's very interesting character premise was explored a little early on, but then largely didn't offer any unique Vulcan perspective later, which I would have appreciated; Sonequa did a good job with what she was given.

Pros:

- It brings some colorfulness back into Star Trek, with new props and alien designs
- Some of the character's premises are interesting
- It has a strong cast
- It has a reasonable budget
- It occasionally hints at an interesting wider world
- It's the first Star Trek show in more than a decade
- It showed hints of good ideas

Cons:

- The excellent actors and decent concepts for characters were not utilized well
- It makes some ridiculous and unnecessary breaks with visual continuity (i.e. Klingon ships)
- It's plots are soap-opera like, with little believably, sometimes seeming extremely contrived
- It's ethical and philosophical outlook seems inconsistent, occasionally seeming arbitrary
- It seems to ape visual trends in 2000s era science fiction, like Stargate Universe

As a season, I can only give it 5/10 at the most.

 

[CaptainMurdock]

The style of the TMP uniforms isn't drastically different than TOS either. If characters in the 60s wore the TMP tunics on TOS sets, it wouldn't look off. Design-wise, they keep the retro look of the 60s TV show.

Agreed. With the traditional TOS color scheme, the TMP uniforms look like a good evolution. And making the turbolift doors red also help.

 

[XCV330]

For me it's the 2nd best 1st season of Trek (TOS Season 1 edged it out, slightly)

 

[Vger23]

...
Beyond that, I love that it has appealed to colleagues and relatives who previously weren't fans. Some have gone on to watch other series, while others have just stuck with Discovery, but it is so exiting to be able to talk about the show with people.

...

I'd hate to see Discovery toss aside its identity and become a generic Trek series in a misguided attempt to appeal to people who will never come around to it.

Still, they've delivered so far, and I hope they can continue to do so.

I feel very much aligned with these two points.

1. I have friends and family who are finally watching Star Trek with this season of DSC. And they are all enjoying it as much as I have. It's something that I haven't really experienced since the BOBW hit the airwaves in 1990. I'm grateful for that, because sharing Trek is a LOT of fun.

2. I agree that I'd hate to see DSC slip back to the old ways of doing things. I love Star Trek, but after 750 hours...one of the reasons DSC appeals to me is that it IS different and not dependent upon the same tired formula and structure. For better (and sometimes worse), it is trying to approach things very differently. That's a huge "plus" for me.

 

[Long Syntax]

Characters left me wanting. The only characters I did somewhat like were MU villains (Capt. Georgiou, Capt. Lorca) - with the exception of Saru mostly because of Doug Jones I guess (I initially wasn't a fan).

Special effects and props were fabulous. However some of the tech I found silly, including the spore drive and the breathalyzer security door locks.

Writing and story arc - too much happening... no time to stop and smell the roses so to speak. The writing was generally disjointed and seemed to be trying to find its rudder after the Fuller departure.

It seems I was waiting for DSC to draw me in and it never got there.

I gave it a meh rating of 5 which is a little less than my avg rating for each of the episodes.

 

[Refuge]

Characters left me wanting. The only characters I did somewhat like were MU villains (Capt. Georgiou, Capt. Lorca) - with the exception of Saru mostly because of Doug Jones I guess (I initially wasn't a fan).

Special effects and props were fabulous. However some of the tech I found silly, including the spore drive and the breathalyzer security door locks.

Writing and story arc - too much happening... no time to stop and smell the roses so to speak. The writing was generally disjointed and seemed to be trying to find its rudder after the Fuller departure.

It seems I was waiting for DSC to draw me in and it never got there.

I gave it a meh rating of 5 which is a little less than my avg rating for each of the episodes.

Interesting your comment about Saru, I came to that realisation myself. I started off thinking he was a bit of a gimmick, then terribly wasted. I mean his species sense death etc. I thought was going to be like a security advantage to the crew. Instead he became like an insecure gazelle. By the time it was shown how the Mirror crowd ate them, poor Saru became the object of food jokes. Yet a kind of dignity and strength has grown. When Mirror Georgiou was taunting him, I was moved to care and give him respect.

 

[Longinus]

This review is very good. I can pretty much agree with every word in it.

 

[ItIsGreen]

I voted it a 10 in the poll, but this was a knee-jerk reaction and if I were able to I'd amend it to an 8.

Beyond being pretty, I didn't think very much of the opening two-parter. The first couple of episodes after that were a little ropey but the quality steadily improved for the remainder of the season. Having said that, it's not perfect by any means. I thought the finale wrapped things up a little too quickly (and neatly). I didn't like how they handled Lorca once he was revealed to be from the MU, and I thought the Tyler/Voq thing was a bit far fetched.

But overall I thoroughly enjoyed it, I prefer the serialised format over the old episodic style and I thought the acting was fantastic from the whole cast. I think it gave a great accounting of itself and was easily the best first season since (and dare I say, even including?) TOS. Very interested to see where season two goes - can't wait!

 

[Long Syntax]

This review is very good. I can pretty much agree with every word in it.

Really good review and found myself agreeing with most points the author made. The only point I saw as a stretch was:

"The fact that Admiral Cornwell was going to use an alternate-reality dictator as a proxy to enact genocide? Not picked up on in the slightest, and perhaps will never be mentioned again."

I'm not sure that decision can be placed solely on Cornwell. Although she may have been the messenger, I would think that decision was made at a higher pay grade than even her - a ufp council or even president.

 

[Longinus]

I'm not sure that decision can be placed solely on Cornwell. Although she may have been the messenger, I would think that decision was made at a higher pay grade than even her - a ufp council or even president.

Sure. Which makes it much worse. It is not just one loony admiral.

 

[Refuge]

I have a bias because I like Cornwell. Little did she know she was going to be carrying the can, lol, so Michael could save the day.

 

[Longinus]

I have a bias because I like Cornwell. Little did she know she was going to be carrying the can, lol, so Michael could save the day.

I liked her, but now we can add her to the pile of characters who're ruined for the sake of 'shocking twists.'

 

[GeekUSACarl]

I have a bias because I like Cornwell. Little did she know she was going to be carrying the can, lol, so Michael could save the day.

I still say from their perspective destriying the Klingon home world was the right choice.

I wish, Cornwell stuck to it and Saru and Mike simply defied her orders.

 

[Noname Given]

GR didn't go back and retool the TOS era. He never did prequels. He just did sequels that evolved from TOS. The movies and TNG are believable evolutions of TOS.

Discovery, no matter what mental gymnastics you do to try and make it work, is an awkward fit into the Post-Cage TOS era, a few short years before Kirk's adventures.

Um GR completely retooled the show after the first pilot failed to sell the Network on the show (Both the look <-- Because NBC wanted to sell color TVs as they had a stake in RCA); AND the cast - partly because Hunter wouldn't return; and partly because the Network wasn't comfortable with the EP's current mistress in a Lead Role.

 

[DS9-31]

I voted 1 off gut emotion.

It's one of the most hectic, schlock filled things I've ever bothered to watch and I haven't even seen the last three episodes. "Vaulting Ambition" did me in. More objectively when looking at each episode I've seen, the show comes out to a 4.

Vulcan Hello - 1/10
Binary Stars - 1/10
Context - 8/10
Butcher - 1/10
Chose Your Pain - 4/10
Lethe - 10/10
Magic - 5/10
Si Vis Pacem - 1/10
Into the Forrest - 6/10
Despite Yourself - 7/10
Wolf Inside - 4/10
Vaulting Ambition - 1/10
..

I'm not sure if those ratings tell you what I like and dislike about the show. The elements for a great TOS era show were all there, but the plot and execution was a nightmare. Sonequa Martin-Green is not that bad of an actress, they just didn't know what to do with her character. All the previous shows, no matter how bad, it felt like a real universe. This felt so rushed and frenetic like it wanted to make sure you were always paying attention.

 

[Bgt]

2/10

I am not even going with the "is it Star Trek or not" or the "It kills the cannon" arguments.
It was a bad and very confused show with horrible writing that treated fans like needy idiots.
Full with cliches and random "peak tv ingredients" (oh lets make it grim and gory and add antiheroes and kill a main character..).

I keep reading how bad TNG S1 was. Yes it was. But..at the end of TNG S1, I had been introduced to the main characters and got the crew bonding and I knew what the show was about.
What DISC S1 was about?
Apart from focused in so many random and stupid plots and fan gimmicks? It was a show that tried to be so "impressive" that forgot to develop any characters or even focus on the Discovery crew, which most of it was like background wallpaper.
"The lady with the silly haircut", "the lady that looks like Margaery from GOT", "the random black guy", "the android-looking person", this is how I know and can describe this ppl. Don't remember their names, personalities or anything. They are like just another part of the decoration.
Not that the rest had any kind of development, when Saru called Michael "my friend" I laughed out loud. So rushed, like Michael and Tyler's love (lol) affair.

And the lead...omg the lead...
Lets add some Vulcan touch, lots of angst, a dramatic past, a bit of antihero, more angst, super intelligence, super strength and keep having her saying preachy and super-cliche voice overs for even more angst.

A wasted 1st season, that I would not care to keep watching without that "Star Trek" in the title.
I have said I will watch the beginning of season 2 hopping it will get improved.
Man.. Enterprise showing up in the season finale made me so pessimist..
ENOUGH already with the fan fiction treatment, make a damn show that can stand on its own or dunno find some good frakking writers that are able to continue the franchise stories from the 24th century with new ideas.

p.s.
Rarely a tv show makes me angry, congrats DISC, you made it. You are the 2nd show achieving this, up there with the 6th season of "The good wife".

 

[Paradise City]

I did find it entertaining. But it's wasn't rigorous, it's promise disappointed and it stalled and started and stalled again. It ended with the abruptness of a computer game. You solve the final puzzle and then the credits roll.

Lorca radiated promise but that was squandered. His demise was more a damp squib than anything gut wrenching.

I don't mind the Federation being driven to a zero sum ruthlessness through sheer desperation. But there has to be some inner-wrangling, some resistance, some turmoil with their founding principles being suspended. None of that was depicted. Even Sarek isn't bothered. It takes an unranked convict to stir the conscience and solve everything. Suddenly everyone is basking in sunshine and rainbows like nothing happened. Philipa Hitler walks away scott-free and they've just installed a new Klingon leader who blackmails her way into power using an ipod! All this is described as a vindication of Federation principles!

I didn't find the angle that Burnham sees Prime Philipa in Philipa Hitler very convincing. Philipa Hitler is too repugnant, traits she doesn't even try to hide. That Burnham is still star struck by her is too predictable. The less said about the passing off of Philipa Hitler as the captain, the better.

The whole Voq/Tyler thing is a complete mess. Is he a sleeper agent against the Feds or just to hide Voq from the Klingons? It shouldn't really be both now. It's just a total muddle as to what was going on there.

The Tyler - Burnham thing. There's some individual scenes that are courageously delivered by the actors. But the relationship as a whole had such a lack of chemistry and any depth that it was frankly comedic. .

I did find it entertaining as such. I didn't regret watching the episodes and there was always something that one could pull out of the episodes to enjoy. But whilst, all the plots showed promise, they where badly fleshed out and the resolutions where abrupt and flat.

As it was an arc thing, I don't know if it's fair game to test it against other first seasons of Trek. Certainly I don't have the fondness for Discovery as I did for the rest of Trek.

 

[fireproof78]

Sure. Which makes it much worse. It is not just one loony admiral.

Starfleet and Federation leadership has rarely been shown to be sane.

 

[You Can't Know]

I gave it a 5/10. Though with how rabid my feelings on this show are, I'm being generous. I feel on a rewatch that rating could go down.

Season 1 was very disappointing overall for me. When I heard there was going to be a new Trek show, I was overjoyed. My only hope at the time was that it wouldn't be another prequel. We didn't need three in a row. Surely not. But it was, of course, but at least it could hit on the aesthetic, the nostalgia, and tell great stories in this richly created universe... right? Why not? Tell 12 cool new adventures in the world of Pike and Spock that were contained enough not to be ~universe ending~ and what not. Have them be random planet ending, ship ending, etc. But nope. They kept going for the bigger and bigger stakes til it all felt meaningless and out of place.

It had ideas, but failed to convey them in any meaningful way, executed most of the plotlines poorly, and the writing in general was a mess. I didn't love any particular character. A few were compelling and interesting but not enough to where I'd be emotionally pulled in and hurt by their departure. Lorca perhaps stands out as one of the better characterizations but then his story ends as a one note cardboard villain who gets bested far too easily for a plan you'd think he'd worked on for a very long time.

The inconsistencies in character choices made more for plot reasons by the writers to drive forward whatever story they were telling at the time came off as just that. Too often it felt like characters weren't making decisions that A) made sense or B) made sense for the character, at least not with what we'd already been shown of the characters with their previous choices.

So much was anti-climactic. The shock values they tried to throw at us were too blatantly telegraphed. Nothing was a real surprise. It seemed as if they thought their audience was stupid.

Then there's the pointless nudity and cursing that added what exactly to the show? It was more cringe than anything else. But I guess that's more toward comments they made of how this would somehow be "edgier" and more "real."

Focusing on one character and making this season her story arch also left so many of the other characters severely underdeveloped. The whole story structure was, in a word, weird. Watch any CW super hero show, or watch Buffy, Babylon 5, etc. You can tell a season long story arch and develop that storyline while still telling meaningful and thought provoking stories each episode that don't 100% have to be related to the main through-line.

Then there's the Klingon War. We saw next to none of it. Got to feel next to none of it. They introduced it, jumped ahead, didn't deal with it, fought a big bad, and then jumped ahead again. Really odd choices. The Klingon look in general was a slap in the face. Not only did they look atrocious, it was disgraceful to what's come before. It was as if they looked at stills from Star Trek 09, decided all Klingons were bald, and then elongated their heads for reasons unknown. Had they simply given them all hair, problem solved, long heads and all. The look was only a portion of their failing with the Klingons. These Klingon's had no honor. They could've been any alien race. They weren't Klingons. They just weren't written as such, not with any care.

With the Enterprise showing up at the end of this season, I can only cover my face and wonder how they'll go about messing with what's already been established yet again. There's so little reason to introduce the Enterprise. Be your own show. Go boldly where you haven't gone before... Just thinking about what they'd do with that ship and her crew... If the interior of the Enterprise looks anything like the interior of the Discovery it'll be a let down. The uniforms. Even recasting who should be aboard. Everything.

Discovery failed aesthetically to fit into the time period the showrunners set it in. That's an opinion, I know, though it feels like a fact. You wouldn't dress everyone up in WW1 attire and claim it's a story taking place during the revolutionary war. To set this show before TOS, to make it a prequel at all, was a crippling decision boxing the writer's in in so many ways. Same for the designers of the show. The interiors, the uniforms, the technology, these are all problems because it's set when it is. Set it after VOY and it's not a problem. Have all the holographic communication you want with Picard six feet under.

Had they just come out and stated this wasn't in the prime universe that we know and love, this show would be so much more palatable. But they say it is, so it is, and that's tragic. The writing, the execution, the lack of good stories each week, the hilariously awful short cuts in logic, storytelling, decision-making, character development... the focus on one character who is not compelling, that speech in the finale...

Hearing this could've been an anthology where we'd end up with an entirely new cast of characters and a new setting is such a let down knowing that's no longer in the cards. It feels very Heroes-like to me. Only Heroes did such a good job with its characters its first season they wanted to continue telling stories with them. This season of Discovery wasn't good. If all we have to look forward to is one big "universe ending" disaster after another to stop with a spore ship that doesn't exist ten years down the road, with characters no one's ever heard about... I don't know.

There's no reason they can't tell little self contained stories that are compelling in their own right while dealing with a new season long arch. But will they?

As for this season and this show, I wouldn't be back for another season if it didn't have Star Trek in the title. But it does, and I'm a sap, so I'm hoping they can course correct in a positive way. Realistically I don't see how they will, but there's a chance they could and this franchise is too important to me not to watch another season. I want it so badly to be good. I'd love nothing more if I felt it was.

 

[Ovation]

blackmails her way into power using an ipod

Clearly a Samsung tablet, not an iPod. We can’t let the future continuity guardians down with sloppy reports like this. C’mon man.