Star Trek Discovery

I watched the first two episodes last night, and I have to say I loved it.

Has anyone else seen it yet? What did you think?

 

In Australia we get it on Netflix.

TBH, if I didn't already have Netflix, I'd have splashed out the A$5 per month just for this.

Is CBS not going to show it on free-to-air?

 

We have all the series available on Netflix here.

 

Yes, I've been a fan for a long time. I am only now getting through Deep Space Nine and Enterprise. But I've always particularly loved TNG and Voyager. So I was really quite excited about Discovery, and I'm pleased my expectations haven't been dashed.

I thought the new films did a really good job of recreating the Original Series.

I'm amazed that you've met such people. From The Original Series onwards, it seems such an ingrained part of the culture of the US and other English-speaking countries that I wouldn't have thought people would have been able to miss it.

 

Ah, right. I think CBS might have it exclusively in the US, and that Netflix is doing it elsewhere.

 

It sounds like "yet" was the key word there. You'll be boldly going where you haven't been before, then?

 

I did have one issue with it, and it seems to be the new fashion, as I find it a problem with Narcos too.

I like the idea of non-English-speaking protagonists speaking their own language, rather than speaking to each other in English with a ridiculous accent. This is a good thing. And I am fine with subtitles.

But both Narcos (for Spanish) and Star Trek Discovery (for Klingon) have subtitles in white with no black strip or other framing. So you'll often have subtitles like those in bold between the lines below.

________________________________________________________________________
You can't read this, can you? It's in white on a white background, which is deeply stupid. You can only read it if you highlight it, because then THE BACKGROUND IS A DIFFERENT COLOUR AND THE WRITING BECOMES VISIBLE!
________________________________________________________________________

So in Narcos, you have a Colombian drug dealer talking about something that's really important to the plot while wearing a white shirt, and because I'm really not very far beyond "Dos cervezas, por favor", I have no idea what he is saying (unless he is ordering beer).

Similarly, in Klingon you have a Klingon leader giving a speech about something that's really important to the plot while standing near a load of bright white lights and flaming torches, and because I'm really not very far beyond "cha' HIq, nuqneH"*, I have no idea what he is saying (unless he is ordering beer).

Honestly, it cannot be beyond modern technology to put a black strip behind white subtitles whenever they're necessary. I realise a lot of people can speak Spanish and/or Klingon, but not everyone can, and if you're going to have dialogue that's important to the story, it really does need to be understood by viewers.



*

 

Other than that, though........

I thought the visuals were fantastic. The ships look great; the uniforms look great; everything looks kind of believable in a Star Trek Universe context; the various non-humans look great (although the Klingons may be slightly overdone); and the general special effects are convincing. The titles had a hint of Westworld about them, which can only be a good thing.

I like the characters so far. And I like that we're being introduced to them fairly gradually. While I was excited that this was the first series to have a Star Fleet captain (Philippa Georgiou) who I have once accidentally walked backwards into and knocked over in a pub (I have never walked backwards into Kirk, Picard, Janeway, Sisko or Archer), I was also very impressed by Michael Burnham. I've never seen the actress (Sonequa Martin-Greer) before as far as I'm aware (although she seems to have been in a few things I haven't seen, like The Walking Dead), and she really was excellent. But as a character, I think she seems interesting, and I enjoyed the background on her in last night's episodes. I was also impressed by the Lt Saru, and I think the exposition bit with him was very good too.

My one mild concern is with the Klingons. I don't want this to get moved into purgatory, but I do think there's a risk that we could get a bit of a one-dimensional pseudo-allegory for today's world. Religious extremism uniting an entire people behind terrorism against what they see as a decadent society might not be the most helpful thing. (#wej Hoch tlhInganpu').

But other than that.... I really liked it, and I think it's very promising. I always thought Encounter at Farpoint was terrible, but TNG grew to be a brilliant series. These first two episodes of Discovery were vastly better than that, so I have my fingers crossed.