Poll How positive are you about Discovery now?

[{ Emilia }]

what about their design (art direction?) do you find underwhelming? things like lighting or creature designs or

I find the look of the show high quality but... uninspired. Compare it to JJTrek with its wonderful clean colors and contrasts. The color scheme for Discovery looks way too blue which is the "safe" SciFi color that looks okay but not memorable at all. No color contrast.
The uniforms looks worse and worse the more I look at them. There's bling-bling every-fucking-where. Even the boots and pants have bling. They just look ridiculous imo. Wannabe-elegant but just clumsy.

The Klingons look ugly but I wouldn't say that I mind the creature design. I think Saru looks pretty good so that's not something I mind at all.

 

[dahj]

The color scheme for Discovery looks way too blue

Maybe they're just using blue as a stand-in colour and they'll add all the others colours (and moustaches) in post

 

[{ Emilia }]

To illustrate my point a little:

JJTrek's bridge. Check out the colours, even the floor is red. You get clean contrasts, a slick futuristic look. There's also white elements and glass. Yes, the movies' white balance tends towards the cold/blue side but that's not an issue, you still get contrasts. Did you ever think "Man, this design looks boring" while watching the movie? I didn't.

And here's the new show, a fucking blue mess. I'm not saying it's low quality. The production value is there, I just find the visual style so unappealing and unimaginative. It's just sooooo playing it safe:

"Hey, make it fucking dark and really blue. That's what SciFi shows do."
"Is this okay?"
"NO, DARKER! DARKER! They need to bump into shit in the darkness and be unable to see their consoles. AND ADD MORE BLUE FFS"

 

[Kor]

I get a strong '60s "mod" vibe from the JJPrise bridge color scheme and the smooth, sleek lines. I wish the set design for STD was more like that.

Kor

 

[{ Emilia }]

I get a strong '60s "mod" vibe from the JJPrise bridge color scheme and the smooth, sleek lines. I wish the set design for STD was more like that.

Kor

The colour scheme of JJTrek actually fits in really well with TOS yet it also looks very slick and modern. The glass, the white, it's so clean and cool.
While Discovery just takes away all the light (and not even in a stylish way) and all the colours but blue.

I mean, if there's one thing JJTrek really did well, it's updating Star Trek's style in a really cool modern way. And they even managed to sort of stick to its roots.

Discovery just looks like "standard SciFi" style to me. Not very creative imo. A rather undefined blue mess.

 

[Shalashaska]

Positive but hesitant, or cautiously optimistic.

Kind of surprised with the amount of "very positive" votes. I mean, if I were to put a bet on it, I'd say the show will be good, if not great right from the get go (which automatically gives it potential to be better than every Trek show aside from the original).

But there's always the chance something goes wrong. The story takes a turn for the worse, or the writing's just not that good. It looks great and CBS seems to be putting a lot of faith and money into the show, but it's hard to tell just how good it'll be from one teaser and a trailer.

 

[Mach5]

JJ-Prise bridge always looked a little to colorful and cluttered for my tastes.

 

[Four Lights]

Assuming - and I know it's still a big assumption at this point - that Discovery is as good as it looks and is being promoted as, can I just ask one thing: KEEP UP THE QUALITY.

TNG at its peak was hitting it out of the ball park every week, yet somewhere along the line they lost their way and we ended up with 12 years of no TV Trek.

Quality, always. Before talk of cash in spin offs, longer seasons, movies or anything else. I don't want to have to endure another decade long drought.

 

[Michael]

Discovery just looks like "standard SciFi" style to me. Not very creative imo. A rather undefined blue mess.

Well, not saying you are wrong with the “dark and blue” trend, because that's definitely a thing, but so is the clean, light and mostly white style that J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009) employed. Just look at movies like Moon, Oblivion, The Martian, The Passenger, Interstellar or Gravity. So I'm not convinced that one is really more safe, imaginative or modern than the other.

I'm very positive about Discovery. I originally became a fan with the original broadcast of Deep Space Nine and was very excited when Voyager aired, but around the time Enterprise premiered I had lost some of my interest in the franchise. With the new movie under J.J. Abrams in 2009 my enthusiasm got rebooted pretty big. This experience with Discovery reminds me of those days in 2009 when we would scrutinize every little snipped of information we got.

I'm still not convinced it's a good idea to feature the Klingons yet again (I got veeeery tired of them in Berman-era Trek), but everything I've seen thus far leads me to believe they tried something new with them. At least that's what I'm hoping for.

All the other factors – like the diverse casting, the art direction and marketing – have me very positive at this moment.

 

[{ Emilia }]

Well, not saying you are wrong with the “dark and blue” trend, because that's definitely a thing, but so is the clean, light and mostly white style that J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009) employed. Just look at movies like Moon, Oblivion, The Martian, The Passenger, Interstellar or Gravity. So I'm not convinced that one is really more safe, imaginative or modern than the other.

Interstellar, Gravity, Oblivion and Moon looked nothing like JJTrek.
Interstellar was very heavy on the blues. Gravity featured no color but blue.
Moon had very muted colors. Oblivion was just blue and grey.
Your examples are... very lacking.

I'm not saying JJTrek's look is completely unique. I'm just saying it's more visually interesting than a mess of blue and shadows.

 

[BillJ]

A little less positive if the Kirsten Beyer/Jason Isaac "God" issue is true.

 

[The Librarian]

And here's the new show, a fucking blue mess. I'm not saying it's low quality. The production value is there, I just find the visual style so unappealing and unimaginative. It's just sooooo playing it safe:

"Hey, make it fucking dark and really blue. That's what SciFi shows do."
"Is this okay?"
"NO, DARKER! DARKER! They need to bump into shit in the darkness and be unable to see their consoles. AND ADD MORE BLUE FFS"

So dark!

Practically pitch black!

The same bridge as above, yet much more lit! It's almost as if Trek ships are known to change their lighting based on the situation.

 

[Tuskin38]

The transporter and corridor shots are also publicity shots for EW, they're probably lit differently from how they would appear in the show.

 

[mos6507]

I find the look of the show high quality but... uninspired. Compare it to JJTrek with its wonderful clean colors and contrasts. The color scheme for Discovery looks way too blue which is the "safe" SciFi color that looks okay but not memorable at all. No color contrast.
The uniforms looks worse and worse the more I look at them. There's bling-bling every-fucking-where. Even the boots and pants have bling. They just look ridiculous imo. Wannabe-elegant but just clumsy.

The Klingons look ugly but I wouldn't say that I mind the creature design. I think Saru looks pretty good so that's not something I mind at all.

I don't find the sort of distinction you do between Disc and JJTrek. JJ Trek is plenty bling-bling. For instance, the Beyond jackets are even busier than the Discovery uniforms.

What I don't like is the overuse of emblems, though. The clasps on the Discovery boots and the top of the phaser having arrowheads is just too much.

 

[{ Emilia }]

So dark!

Practically pitch black!

The same bridge as above, yet much more lit! It's almost as if Trek ships are known to change their lighting based on the situation.

Why the passive-aggressive tone?
You posted some brightly lit publicity shots. I'm currently basing my opinion on the trailer. I'm happy to be wrong when the show airs.

I have some hope that the actual Discovery won't have the same colors. We haven't seen it yet. The uniforms will still be pretty boring of course.

 

[{ Emilia }]

I don't find the sort of distinction you do between Disc and JJTrek. JJ Trek is plenty bling-bling. For instance, the Beyond jackets are even busier than the Discovery uniforms.

What I don't like is the overuse of emblems, though. The clasps on the Discovery boots and the top of the phaser having arrowheads is just too much.

Personally I still find that a long way off from the shiny-everywhere Discovery uniforms.
I do agree that the jacket in the shot above looks dumb. I was talking about regular uniforms.

I also don't really see the point in discussing one specific piece of design. The fact that lighting and colors in the published Discovery stuff looks vastly different in style than JJTrek is pretty obvious. I think the Discovery stuff lacks color contrast and just looks more boring and less stylish. But ymmv.

 

[Spider]

My give-ah-shit-o'meter is up to about 80% right now. That's probably about as high as it will get until I actually see the show.

 

[Vger23]

Hopefully the show will be good enough so that the color and lighting of the interiors and the opinions of the uniforms will be non-issues, and people will just be excited about watching a great show set in the franchise they love.

 

[Prax]

Just saw the new Battleth thing today.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

A little less positive if the Kirsten Beyer/Jason Isaac "God" issue is true.

Yeah, I'd really like to hear an explanation for that as well.