Star Trek: Discovery Review

This Is A Spoiler Free Star Trek: Discovery Review

I’ve been interested in this series ever since I saw the first trailer for the show some time ago and being a Star Trek fan, I’m always open to taking a look at what new things they come up with every re-boot of the show.

This version of Star Trek sees us follow a female led command and also two female main characters. Which is not a first for a Star Trek TV show, but still something that’s a little different compared to the majority of the male led series.

Our story for Star Trek: Discovery focuses on Michael Burnham who is played by Sonequa Martin-Green. Strangely this female character is given a male name, which I’m sure will spark discussion in the Star Trek community but also just for any general viewer. I’m sure there’s some meaning for this that the writers intended, but I do find it a little confusing. Our other main character of interest is Captain Georgiou who is played by Michelle Yeoh, she’s in command of the ship and also Michael and the two do have some conflict in the early episodes of the show.

The main narrative of Star Trek discovery seems to be centred around the threat of the Klingon empire and the borders of the zones between Star Fleet and the Klingon’s. Early on in the first episode there’s a discovery made of some type of Klingon presence where something dodgy is going on within the Star Fleet borders. both Michael and Captain Georgiou go to investigate and the matter soon turns into a massive conflict. As a story, I feel the Klingon’s are one of the most interesting of the races to choose and while we’ve had many versions of them in the past, the direction the narrative is taking could become interesting over time.

I do enjoy seeing the new Klingons in the show and thought that their costumes and overall look was interesting. For some reason I never felt the same threat or level of tension  from the Klingons here as I did in the Original Series. But I feel for this modern Star Trek show, as some character development happens, we might get some tense moments from the Klingon’s in future episodes.

The new special effects are my favourite thing in the series. While I suppose they aren’t as awesome as the Hollywood blockbuster Star Trek film’s that Paramount puts out, for a TV series they’re still very impressive. I do think these are the best special effects we’ve had in any Star Trek series and I loved the look of all the Star Fleet ships and also the Klingon vessels in the show.

The set design seemed to be also well done, with the inside of Captain Georgiou’s ship looking impressive and like something I would love to explore more in the series. I guess with new special effects, sets are also much improved with things like shield’s looking very nice in the show.

Where I think the show may have fallen down a little though was with some of the early dialogue and with some of the acting. While everyone in the show performed their characters well, no one really stood out to me or had any real impressive dramatic moments and for a show trying to make an impact this is important, as audiences need reasons to keep coming back each week.

But overall Star Trek: Discovery was an interesting show to take a look at. I adored the special effects in the show and loved seeing Star Trek back again on the TV screen. There’s some interesting plot developments in this season and it’s interesting seeing what the Klingon’s and Star Fleet get up to. A lot of shows sometimes do take a few episodes to define their tone and find a good pacing and this is possible with Star Trek: Discovery, there might be some great things to come from this series in the episodes to come, once we get past all the character introductions and down to the business of Star Fleet and exploring and all that comes with that.