Spotlight Pick:
Photo Courtesy of Amazon's Affiliate Program. I have to say, I was bored by the first season of the series. Too much time was spent on board room intrigue instead of super hero action. When they did get to the action the fights just kinda slogged along. I quit watching half way through the series, and only went back to finish it once Marvel's Defenders referred back to the end of Iron Fist.
Finn Jones actually did a great job playing the martial arts based super hero in Defenders and Luke Cage, once he was able to focus on super heroism instead of a corporate soap opera. Now that the show has recruited Black Panther's Clayton Barber to choreograph the fight scenes, there's every reason to believe that the second season will be better than the first.
I love Star Trek. No.... Wait.... I understated that a bit, let me try again. I LOVE STAR TREK!!!!!
I own all the movies and many of the television seasons on Blue-ray. I've attended I don't know how many Star Trek conventions, and collected autographs from a multitude of Trek stars. I even have a variation of Kirk's uniform hanging in my closet. I'm a hard core Trekkie (Yes I use the term Trekkie, the whole Trekkie Vs Trekker controversy is stupid).
When I heard CBS was starting another Star Trek series set in the Shatner as Kirk timeline I was thrilled. Then I heard it would be on their online streaming service and I was less thrilled. After months of fuming and hoping they'd eventually put it on TV, I broke down and joined CBS.COM.
I'm only five episodes into the series and I have to say it's not good Star Trek. I wanted it to be, but it's not. I'm going to watch the rest to see if it improves, but it has some major hurdles to overcome.
SPOILERS FOR SEASON ONE AHEAD!
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Arguably the biggest problem with the series is the tech. OK, I loved seeing the Kirk era hand phasers and communicators again. I think I released a squeal of girlish glee when Michael pulled her pistol for the first time. The problem is that the show takes place a decade before Kirk's five year mission begins, but much of the technology they use looks like stuff Picard would envy.
Rather than talking to people on monitors, holographic images of who they're talking to are projected right onto the bridge. It looks cool, but we're supposed to believe that they went back to 2D image communication ten years later. Holy head scratchers Batman.
Initially, I felt the same way about the spore based method of travel, the show is based on, which makes warp drive look like a skateboard in an Indie race. However, there are hints of enough problems with the technique that it's conceivable that it was abandoned by Kirk's time.
The technology isn't the only bone I have to pick with the show though. One thing I've always appreciated about Star Trek is the ability to watch an episode, get a complete story, come back two weeks later, get another whole story, and not be lost. Sure, watching each week helped you get to know the characters, but you didn't have to know Kirk's role in Spock's mating ritual to watch them steal a cloaking device from the Romulans.
Discovery is structured as a series of interlocking chapters of a single long story. While the novel-esc approach worked well for Babylon 5 and the reimagined version of Battlestar Galactica, it just feels wrong when applied to Star Trek, DS9's Dominion war aside.
Another deficit of the series is the tone. The series takes place during a war with the Klingons. The premise sounds like it'd make a good series, but when everything is about the war, there's no time for exploration. Ironically, the feeling of "discovery," Star Trek is historically known for, is lost.
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