Review - Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 *So Many Spoilers*

by Mike Lunsford

For the first time in 12 years, Star Trek has returned to it's roots of serialized television with Star Trek: Discovery.  Now, Discovery is not like the previous incarnations of the franchise where you could see the series on network television. CBS decided to air the series exclusively on their online Netflix-esque app called CBS All Access (except for outside of the U.S. where it was on regular Netflix. More on that later). With the first season in the books, Star Trek: Discovery certainly has a bright future before it, as long as it doesn't trip over some of the pitfalls many reboots run across. 

Star Trek fans are notoriously protective of their beloved franchise, especially when newcomers like Discovery are set in the prime timeline and "promise" not to muck around with canon. Trekkies/Trekkers are well versed in the Star Trek's 50 plus years of content. Just ask J.J. Abrams about their ferocity with new interpretations of classic characters, ships, and universes. It can be a no-win scenario...a Kobayahi Maru, if you will. Luckily, for those of you who have been hoping for a new Trek series since Enterprise limped to it's finish, Executive producers and co-creators Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman don't believe in the no-win scenario, just like that one guy...

he doesn't like to lose

OK, enough with the "I'm trying to show you how much of a Trek nerd I am," let's get into the review! I watched and reviewed the first 3 episodes of the show earlier this month. I have completed all 15 episodes and the series and am ready to give my full review on DISCO Season 1 (DISCO is a much better abbreviation than what CBS used: "ST:D" Really guys?)  

For those of you who want to see the show and DON'T want any spoilers, here:

The series is good. Most Trekkies/Trekkers gave DISCO a favorable review (about 87% of Star Trek fans polled by yours truly said they enjoyed the show). Is it flawless? No, it does need to clean up some issues with story work like pacing, world building and a few other small knit-picky items but overall, it is probably the best first season of any of the Star Trek TV shows.  3 out of 5 stars. 

From here on out, TONS of spoilers, so bail out now if you don't want them. 

What I Liked

• Storytelling
  
  When crafting this series, Fuller and Kurtzman could have gone the safe route and went to a "story of the week" template that had worked so well for Star Trek in the past. This series was mostly one linear storyline involving the war with the Klingons and the redemption of Michael Burnham after her mutinous acts aboard the U.S.S. Shenzhou. There is a sub-story line involving the always fun Mirror Universe for 4 episodes, but that ties together with the main thread. Whether this storytelling design was a new direction or a purposeful imitation of other streaming services success stories is unknown. I'm sure the success of series like Netflix's Marvel team-ups helped make that decision an easy one. At any rate, it was a welcome change and made for more of an investment in the overall series. I can think of seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation that had some snoozer episodes. Now that you can view them on Netflix or Hulu, these crap-fests get completely skipped (looking right at you Shades of Grey). 

Shades of Gray...you suck so hard.

Season 1 of DISCO didn't have any skippable episodes. Well...maybe the time travel one with Harry Mudd...but that one was still pretty fun and felt the most like the original series. And what's a Star Trek series without a time travel episode? 

Another great point of storytelling with this season was it's unique take on humanity, at least unique to Star Trek.  The unique take can be summed up in one quote: "before you can learn to be good, you must do wrong." (courtesy of Michael Swanson)  This was a common bond between Burnham, Lorca and Tyler, each for their own reasons whether it was their fault or not. Burnham did what she thought was right twice in the series and it made for a bookend effect for the series: her decision to commit mutiny against her captain to avoid a war cost her everything. She was stripped of her rank, imprisoned and became a whispered about boogieman within Starfleet. In the season finale, she "did what she thought what was right" again and this time, it was the right decision. Instead of committing a war crime of mass genocide, she refused a direct order and ended up showing that by defying Starfleet orders, she kept Starfleet's ideals intact. 

• Acting/Writing/Directing
  
  I was thoroughly impressed with the cast of DISCO. Whether they were given incredible direction, the best scripts imaginable or this group of actors is leaps and bounds ahead of other sci-fi shows, the overall product was excellent. Some particular stand outs were:
  

- Jason Isaacs as Captain Gabriel Lorca

Lorca was the man. In hindsight, yes he was a mirror universe Terran, but he was a damn good captain in the prime universe. Yes, he was strict, he was downright mean at times but he kept that ship and her crew alive. He was more militaristic than previous Starfleet captains we've encounted (except maybe Edward Jellico). In fact, as a veteran, he reminded me more of a commanding officer in the modern military than any other Star Trek captain.

His desire to bring the fight to the enemy was the reason that the Federation was standing a chance in their war with the Klingons. It's no coincidence that when Discovery left for the mirror universe, the tide shifted and the Federation began losing the war. All of that said, Captain Lorca, still managed to show a great deal of positive traits in spite of his Terran origins. He was never afraid of a fight and never left a man behind, which we saw in the episode "Choose Your Pain."

In fact, it was that loyalty that brought another one of my favorite characters in the show...

- Shazad Latif as Lieutenant Ash Tyler

Tyler... you poor bastard. You were subjected to some of the worst torture Star Trek has forced any character to endure. I really enjoyed watching his journey, albeit brief as he joined the show after 5 episodes. The man was tortured, raped, and turned into a human/Klingon sleeper agent who killed a fellow crewman Manchurian Candidate-style. I really rooted for Tyler and loved the relationship he had with Michael Burnham.

Now, there are some fans out there who were telling everyone online that they "knew all along" the big secret that Ash was hiding, that he was Voq. Cool. In fact, I have an award for you. You can print it off and hang it on your fridge!  

I bet your parents are so proud!

All jokes aside, it wasn't like it was a jaw-dropping reveal. It made sense if you watched the series closely. Those who predicted the Ash/Voq thing were just paying attention. L'Rell basically told Voq what she was going to do. Back to the acting, though; Latif really got to show off his chops as he experienced PTSD flashbacks to the procedure that made him and fought the Voq personality that was forcibly implanted in him. His departure at the end of season 1 was upsetting for me as I was hoping to see more from this character. I'm sure he'll pop back up at some point in season 2. 

- Doug Jones at Commander Saru

Let's all just give a standing ovation for this dude. Doug Jones continues to play awesome character after awesome character in sci-fi and horror projects. We almost never see his face either because he is always covered in prosthetics. He's been the Silver Surfer, Abe Sapien in Hellboy and Hellboy 2, Nosferatu, the Faun and the Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth, and the Amphibian Man in The Shape of Water. He managed to portray a nuanced character in Commander Saru and we never once actually got to see his real face. That's impressive. Well done, Doug. 

- Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham

Boy, I bet Sonequa is happy about leaving The Walking Dead right about now. She's the lead of a brand new Star Trek series moving into it's second season!

Her story was one of redemption. After a failed mutiny attempt, Burnham was a prisoner of Starfleet. Through what was once thought of as fate but ended up being the master plan of Lorca, Burnham ended up on the Discovery. This turn of events allowed her to show that she was, in fact, a changed person and that her moral compass still pointed true. 

Honorable mentions definitely go to Anthony Rapp as Lieutenant Paul Stammets, Mary Wiseman as Cadet Sylvia Tilly and of course, Michelle Yeoh as Captain Philippa Georgiou (and the Terran Emperor). All of these actors were wonderful and fun to watch, but the above mentioned stole the show. 

Effects

At heart, I am still a 7 year old kid watching Wrath of Khan and Search For Spock in my basement. I love space battles and the way DISCO handled them was pretty impressive. Now, I do miss the old practical models that were used in the original movies and TNG. I get that much more can be done with computers now to make things look realistic. Maybe I'm just old fashioned. At any rate, The space battles, the phaser/disruptor blasts, the transporters, all of the effects both visually and auditory were wonderful. Many of them were callbacks to the original series or the previous television. It was just enough of a balance of modern aesthetics and callbacks to Star Trek's rich past. 

oh...and the motherfu**in' ENTERPRISE SHOWS UP AT THE END!!!! Sorry...fanboyed there for just a minute.

What Was Missing

• Timeline
  
  This show was insistent that it was in the prime universe, the same as the original series, the movies (other than the Kelvin universe new ones) and the previous TV series. In the end, it may very well be...but there are a lot of inconsistencies. Why set it "10 years before Kirk?" It doesn't really seem to give you any distinct advantage. Ultimately, this is just me being knit picky. It really didn't bother me that much. I did wonder why there was never a mention of the spore drive in any of the other series...that seems like something that would be worth noting, but you know Starfleet R&D, they're pretty hush hush and don't think about consequences.

terraforming? Yeah, we got that down. No way it could be used for bad things. It's the future! People are good now! And it'll TOTALLY stay secret and not cause any issues.

• The final few episodes
  
  The series was going somewhere... and then it just kind of cobbled together this last few episodes. I enjoyed almost every episode of DISCO with the exception of finale. It was just okay. The fact that the Enterprise showed up at the end nearly saved it. I got giddy for a moment when I saw her, but at the same time it seemed like, what professional wrestlers would call "cheap pops." I mean, it worked on me but I still felt the first season could have had a better conclusion.
  
  This is a common trip up with reboots: grand ideas that aren't fully fleshed out or written with an appropriate conclusion. Look at Star Trek: Into Darkness for example. That movie started off strong and was really going somewhere. Then, Benedict "Whitest Person Ever to play an Indian Sikh" Cumberbatch shows up and the rest of the movie is a Wrath of Khan/Nemesis rip off. But I've gone into this before...
  
  

• "You Klingon Bastards..."
  
  Let's also talk about the Klingons... the main villains took a lot of flack for their different look and disregard for what was considered their canon origins. Did I dislike them? No. Did I love them? Also no. I was relatively lukewarm to them. They had a great concept: they were SO MUCH MORE ALIEN than they ever were. They didn't look remotely human, their language sounded much more guttural and unspeakable by the human tongue.
  
  In the past, the Klingons were a stand in for the Soviets as the Federation was a stand in for America. This time around, it was more obvious that the Klingons were Muslims. Their cultural and ideological beliefs were so different than the Federation's that there was no way we could find a peaceful middle ground, much like the issues "the West" has with the Islamic countries of the Middle East. The Klingons even mock the Federation's "we come in peace" mantra, thinking that integration into the United Federation of Planets would steal Klingon individuality. Their attacks on the Federation after Discovery was in the Mirror Universe were very reminiscent of jihadist groups and their terror attacks. Overall, the depth needed for Klingons was lacking. All we knew was that they don't want to unify. No reason is really given. I would hope that the more we see of the Klingons, the more detail we'll get into their motivations.
  

• CBS All Access
  
  CBS, bro... let's talk for a second. Haven't you done enough to screw over Trekkies with your big brother Paramount already? You pretty much squashed every fan film that has ever been attempted. You continue to hold onto the rights to this series like Gollum from Lord of the Rings and bite the fingers off of any hobbit who might be interested in doing something fun with your precious. CBS All Access sucks. What sucks even more is that every other country has access to DISCO via Netflix. This just seems like a cash grab and you're taking advantage of our love of Star Trek. You know we'll pay it...you jerks. You could just make it available to all countries on Netflix and way more people would have watched it. But in the end...well...go ahead and say it Philip J. Fry:

Why is it worth your time? 

Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 was something that Star Trek is often not: fun. I love Star Trek more than just about any other franchise, but it can be boring and stuffy. DISCO gives it some new life and a different approach. Unlike the Kelvin universe movies, this feels like it wants to tell the right kind of stories and not just make Star Trek an action film franchise. Not only that, Trekkies for the most part enjoyed the first season. I am a member of a Facebook group of 38,000+ Star Trek fans who, when prompted, gave an overwhelming positive response to the show. 87% of those polled either loved the show or really enjoyed it. And they're picky, too! 

I give Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 3 out of 5 stars. Of any of the previous series that have held the name Star Trek, this is the best first season of them all. Maybe if Rainn Wilson didn't bug the crap out of me, I would have given this 5 stars. Just kidding. As much as I hate Rainn, he was an excellent Harry Mudd. If the finale had been stronger, if All Access wasn't a pain in the butt to deal with and if they had found a way to slip in that sick fight music that was used when Kirk and Spock fought on Vulcan, this would have been 5 stars. In all seriousness, there is so much to like about Star Trek: Discovery that the things that don’t work aren’t enough to make you stop watching.

Mike Lunsford is the editor-in-chief of GGR: The Great Geek Refuge. He is also a podcaster. He also doesn't believe in the no-win scenario.