Fan since the early '70s and I feel the same way. The Discoprise is THE tos Enterprise (as seen in 2020) in my book.
It's easier to accept the Discoprise as being the TOS Enterprise visually updated than it is to accept Discovery as being ship that is supposed to being from the same era as TOS to be perfectly honest.
At the end of the day the original Enterprise was thought up in the 60's. I think its understandable that the show runners gave it a high resolution visual update and a moderate size boost. I like the Discoprise, the length of the nacelles or the angle of the struts doesn't really enter into my universe. It is the TOS Enterprise from the time before Kirk took command, we may see some slight visual changes made during SNW run or not, I don't mind either way really. I like the Discovery as well, its very much a two of a kind test platform and works fine as that. Both ships are recognisable Starfleet designs which is good enough for me.
I don't view the Discovery as being from the same era as the Enterprise in the strictest sense. The Enterprise was commissioned in 2245, Discovery was commissioned in 2256. We don't know how long the TOS Look overlapped with the TMP-TUC Look. I see Discovery as being one of the first Movie Era ships. Given its highly-experimental nature, that makes sense. Nahn also even said, "So this is where Starfleet puts all its pennies..." Even before DSC, I never bought that the look of things changed so completely overnight from TOS to TMP. There had to be overlap. One more thing: in Real Life, the design for Discovery was going to be the design for the Enterprise in Planet of the Titans, a Star Trek movie that would've been made in the 1970s but was scrapped. That ship was designed obviously after TOS but before the Enterprises from the aborted Phase II and then TMP. So even in the real world, Discovery was designed between the original Enterprise and the TMP Enterprise. It looks odd, but it was designed in the '70s. Almost everything was odd. I'm technically from the '70s. I'm odd too. So I know.
I think the early part of Discovery Season 2 when they're investigating the red lights was actually a pretty good way tohave the ship traveling to new places each episode as part of the serialized story.
I've always seen the USS Discovery as being like a concept car or new experimental airplane hence the more futuristic look of the ship compared to it's contemporaries.
I would rather not see any TOS crew or characters. The exception being some of the Flag officers, they could be cameos. The show starting with Spock saying his goodbyes to Michael, and the Enterprise being sent off for it's 5 year mission. I would like the show to go its own way with little reference to TOS events - but the big pay-off needs to be how the show ends. The end of the 5 year mission. The Enterprise returning to Earth. Pike's handing over command to a young Kirk. Spock declining to move on and up with Pike, and their farewell. How this show ends, matters more than any other, as we know what happens next.
I totally agree. I could buy a concept like that for SNW. Have an overarching mystery that propells the ship on various weekly adventures. Definitely. And, as @Lord Garth said, the ship was commissioned after the Enterprise. With the speed that technology advances at, I have no issue that it looks significantly different.
I would love to see a young Kirk make a guest or recurring appearance. It would be especially amusing if we see Kirk on the Axanar Peace Mission but I think the timing would be off on that by a couple of years.
That's one of those DS9 kitbashes, right? Connie saucer, Excelsior engineering hull, Sovereign nacelles. Star Trek: Phase 0
Eh, even compared to other shows which were airing at the same time as it, TNG went out of its way to be as episodic as possible.