Star Trek: Discovery - a review (sort of)

I despair at modern times, I really do.

Star Trek: Discovery, the latest Star Trek outing, has seen a barrage of negative reviews spewing forth across the internet. True, there has been plenty of praise as well but what annoys me about the moaning and complaining is that it's all too easy these days.

I doubt the backlash was anything like this the last time anything Trek related came on TV (although the JJ Abrams movie reboot and sequels have had its fair share of criticism), but c'mon guys. Does everyone have to crap all over something with such fervour and dismay? Everyone has an opinion (of course), and they are certainly entitled to is – but I think the internet just magnifies it in such a horrible way.

Sure, there were a few problems with the show. It isn't perfect, but no show ever is.

I'm sure the original Star Trek (regarded with great reverence by fans) had its critics - and it only managed to last for three series. From what I've read, Star Trek The Next Generation only really got into its stride after series two.

Sometime a show needs time to get bedded in, but unfortunately people demand perfection from the get-go these days. They're not willing to give the time, because they don't have the time to invest in it (or think they don't).

Which is a shame.

I'm not going to say Discovery is a bad or a good show, certainly not at this stage. I do have both gripes and likes, but I think they pretty much balance each other out:

Gripes
- confusing timeline (is it Kelvin? is it a new timeline? I have no idea)
- intergalactic instantateous space travel via ... er, alien spores? (seriously, what??)
- too much Klingon subtitles (if I wanted to read, I'd get a book)
- it's trying too hard to be Star Wars (although this explanation https://youtu.be/KoW8Sq8-hr4 of Discovery kinda makes sense)

Likes
- a decent bit of ethnic and gender equality (finally! although Voyager was years ahead of it's time obvs)
- hollywood movie-quality sets, effects and costumes
- well-rounded and interesting characters (even though we're only just getting to know them)

The most recent episodes of Discovery didn't fill me with great excitement, but I'm going to stick at it for now. Because maybe – just maybe – given a bit of time if could just be a truly great piece of television.