Well after four episodes, I am now comfortable to share my thoughts.
First, I am 49 years old and watched the original series in re-runs in the late 70s. It honestly was not my cup of tea, I was too young to enjoy many of the stories and the only episodes that really interested me were the ones with Klingons or Romulans battling the federation. I was more interested in Space 1999, Lost in Space, and Ultraman back then.
Later I went to see each movies when they came out and loved most of them. The only movie I was not really into was Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. I really like the original cast and if there had never been The Next Generation, I would probably consider anything other than the original series as a poor imitation. However, there was The Next Generation and I loved that series. Yes there were some slow and boring episodes about some alien species living on some planet wearing multicolored hippy robes and expousing liberal ideologies; but, there were also the Borg and tons of other more interesting plots. I loved the new cast and I equally liked all the movies with this cast.
I watched the first season of Deep Space Nine and decided that I hated the series. It was so negative and the story of a space station was not Star Trek (trek being the operative word). Then we got Voyager and I liked this series and the cast.
I liked Enterprise but I had a real hard time accepting it as a prequel when all the technology (ex. Touch screens) was way more advanced than what I saw in the original series. Still, I liked the cast and the stories so I liked the series.
Next we got JJs Trek re-imagined, I liked the look and the stories and the cast so I am ok with two versions of the original cast. To not be ok with this is like saying that re-imagined BSG was bad and the campy original BSG was gospel. I can like them both and in BSGs case, I think the re-imagined series is so much better than the original.
Now discovery is out and I refuse to pay anything beyond my insane cable bill to watch it. So I have watched each episode “by other means” the day after it airs.
I get what a lot of people are saying about the series and I have many issues with it as well. First, it’s another prequel that looks more technologically advanced than the original. Second there are many things that don’t make sense like the “head of security” acting like an idiot and getting killed in the process. Or the research Lieutenant who mouths off to the Capitan on several occasions and is not pounded into insignificant dust for disrespect (that’s the 24 years of my military service talking). I completely agree that the whole saucer section spinning crap is just an “it looks cool” gimmick. Also, the decision to call the series Discovery when it is actually about the war between the federation and the Klingons makes no sense.
All that said, I like the series. I like the characters and I like the story so far. Yes there are issues with it and I could say the same for all the series. Each series has problems with continuity and the whole, last minute solution thing really does nothing for me. But I do find Discovery entertaining. I am not a Star Trek guru. I do not know the cannon of the Klingon war enough to be upset about some of the complaints that other people have. I guess in a way, it’s like watching a movie based on a book without ever reading the book. If I like the movie, then it has served its purpose. If I go back after the fact and read the book, I may learn to hate the movie but until then, I can blissfully enjoy it.
So for Discovery, I enjoy it for what it is to me. I expect this series to fail not because it’s a bad series, but how it’s being distributed and many of the decisions being made by CBS. That’s just how I see it.
