Star Trek: Discovery review

So after months if not years of anticipation, Star Trek is back on television.

I'd been mourning its loss since the end of Star Trek: Enterprise and though I love the J.J. Abrams films, I missed the days when ST: Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and to a lesser degree Voyager occupied my Thursday nights. Sadly by the time Enterprise rolled along, franchise fatigued had well and truly set in for both audiences and the writers. That show limped to a premature and lack lustre end, becoming the first series since the original to not complete a seven season run.

The years following Enterprise's cancellation were dark times for Star Trek fans as the chances of seeing a new show dwindled. Even the movies featuring the Next Generation had fizzled out after the disastrous entry that was Star Trek: Nemesis, a film that almost killed the career of Tom Hardy and ended any further other outings for the crew of Enterprise D.

While the 2009 reboot is divisive, particularly among the diehard Trek fans, J.J. Abram's Star Trek was exactly what we needed. Sure, I almost fainted in the cinema like the rest of the audience when Quinto's Spock and Uhura got it on, but Pine's Kirk was so damn likeable and Urban's Bones so utterly perfect, I was able to get past the fact this was something new and it was more importantly, it was fun.

There is no doubt in my mind that if not for the success of those films (yes even Into Darkness), Star Trek: Discovery would not exist.

Thanks to Netflix, I was able to view the first two episodes yesterday and I have to admit, I've been going out of my way to avoid reading spoilers and news about the show for as much as I could. The reports of the trouble nature of the production, the delays in airdates and Fuller's exit made me fear this was going to be a complete and utter (insert expletive of choice here).

I became cautiously optimistic when I learned Michelle Yeoh and Jason Isaacs had been cast, the lead character was one played by Majel Barrett in the Menagerie and finally because its freaking STAR TREK! Hell yeah, I'm a fan.

So here is my mostly spoiler-free review of Star Trek: Discovery.

First of all, this does not look like a television show. The production values are absolutely top-notch and far above what is expected for television. Thanks to Game of Thrones, audiences are accustomed to seeing movie level effects on their screen and Discovery does not disappoint. From the scenes in the desert, the first view of the Klingon warship and the space battles that follow, we are treated to a visual feast.

The interior scenes definitely have a J.J. Abrams aesthetic but doesn't have the look of an 'Apple Store' which is a definite improvement. If anything, it looks like a marriage between the USS Kelvin and the NX01 Enterprise. It’s a look I can get used to.

As expected Michelle Yeo is perfect as Captain Georgiou it's a wonder why she wasn't cast as a starship captain well before this. The actress has always projected an air of dignity and grace which serves her particularly well here. I had no problem thinking I'd been watching her run the Shenzhou for the last seven years and I'm going to wish we'd seen her in that capacity as the show progresses.

I'll be honest, I didn't much care for Number One aka Lt. Commander Michael Burnham played by Sonequa Martin-Green to begin with.

Yes, I realise she is Vulcan and so she is inevitably the smartest one in the room but as someone who's read a lot of fan fiction over the years, this character would have been labelled a Mary Sue right off the bat. I further disliked the idea of her having any relation to Sarek, mostly because he seems to be the go-to Vulcan every time you need a one that isn't Spock to play a part in the narrative. Voyager 's Tuvok proved other Vulcans can be just as interesting so I hope the payoff regarding the necessity of this relationship is worthwhile.

However, during the second episode, I started to see the subtlety of Martin-Green's performance by the cracks in Burnham's demeanour as events spiral more and more out of her control. When the walls finally come down on her perfectly crafted facade, the emotional tidal wave that sweeps her feels genuine and heartbreaking. At that point, I was fully invested in what happens to Michael Burnham. It’s quite a hat trick really and kudos to Sonequa Martin-Green for a stellar effort.

The Klingons are the thing I have most difficulty with on Star Trek: Discovery.

I won't lie, I loved these guys in Next Generation and DS9. I didn't care much for their redesigned look in Into Darkness and I like it even less here. I would have prefer they kept the look of them from the previous series and just applied better make-up techniques. They appear way too brutish for my liking and the less said about the costuming the better, they 're dressed like flamboyant cast members of The Tudors - too much gold!

Also, they messed with the bath'let - they should be consigned to Sto-vo-kor for that alone.

Next up, the language of the Klingons. I do hope the production team decides to improve how it's spoken because at this point, it's little more than watery gurgles which is quite off-putting. The language is meant to be harsh and guttural, not sounding like someone talking from the bottom of a pool.

Finally, while I get the allegory the producers are applying here with the Klingon's chant of 'America First'...oops sorry I mean 'Remain Klingon' and the vilification of one Klingon because colour, I just wish they didn't use it to define my favourite Trek aliens after the Vulcans.

Not that I hated everything about the new improved Klingons, I did like the changes to their society and culture, particularly the adorning of coffins against their ship's hulls and the fractured nature of the Empire. Long-time fans will cheer hearing the Klingon Death Cry and the invocation of Kahless. Best of all, the Klingons in this show are a force to be reckoned with. Their superiority is only hindered by their lack of unity and when that changes, the Federation who have clearly grown complacent from things going their way for too long are going to feel it. It makes the stakes, when the two forces go into battle, feel real and the audience feels it blow for blow.

And that is all I've got, without going into spoiler territory, my impressions of Star Trek: Discovery. There's a lot to love and it’s definitely worth the time but there's also room for improvement, so I'll be watching when the third episodes rolls alongs.

Also, because it’s freaking Star Trek!