3 /10

When Star Trek The Next Generation began I was apprehensive but soon grew to love the show. With the other shows that followed (Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise) I enjoyed each one immensely. So I was excited about Discovery. I watched the first episode and wasn't impressed. But a single episode is often not enough to judge a show on so I gave it a chance. After a few more episodes left me with no desire to watch any more I gave up. I've heard that season 2 is better but I'm not going to sit through a whole season of mediocre to bad episodes just to get to the good ones.



So why don't I like it? For starters I found the main character unlikable. I know it's not the actor's fault since I loved her character in The Walking Dead. As I watched the show though I just found her to be un-relateable and lacking in any warmth. The show seemed to follow the same pattern. Superior officer makes a decision. Main character arrogantly says they're wrong. Main character is proven right. I know she's supposed to be educated by klingons but Spock, Tuvoc etc all had enough warmth without being so annoyingly perfect. Every other show had a protagonist (Janeway, Archer etc) who showed strength while also showing enough moments of warmth and weakness for the audience to connect with them. Even Picard who came off as stuffy and rigid at first quickly showed there was a lot more to him than that.



Now the Klingons. Why oh why did they make them like that? No good reason has been given for changing them from the other shows (budget and technology constraints were the only reasons they were different in the original). Why did we end up with klingons who look ridiculous and speak in a ridiculous slow, stilted way. They literally sound like actors talking through bad latex masks, which admittedly is what they also look like despite no doubt cutting edge makeup.



Most importantly there's the theme and general feel of the show. The bright optimism of the star trek we know has given way to bleak pessimism. Many things about the show's look are certainly familiar. Uniforms, ship designs etc are spot on. But the general bleak feel. Other star trek series managed to deliver action and suspense without trying so hard to be "dark and gritty". If I want to watch dark and gritty sci-fi I'll watch shows like The Expanse or Altered Carbon which do it so much better. Or the excellent reboot of Battlestar Galactica which pretty much popularised the darker, more serious type of sci fi tv series so popular now which Discovery seems to be trying to become. For that matter, perhaps Discovery should have pitched itself as a reboot rather than pretending to fit in to the continuity we know. That would at least explain the technology appearing so much more advanced than what is seen in shows set centuries later.



To sum up, this show hasn't delivered the Star Trek experience we know. It's been said again and again (and with good reason) that if you want to watch a show that feels like star trek, you're better off with The Orville. Which, while more or less originating as a star trek parody, has delivered storylines and characters far more like what Trek should truly be. For my part though, Discovery simply doesn't fit in to the Star Trek universe I've grown to love.