Story: The Vulcan Hello
Televised (sort of) Star Trek is back! 12 years after Enterprise was cancelled before it was able to go it's intended Seven Seasons, and three big budget films later, Trek finally returns to the small screen, where it has aways truly shined best. This new series is launching in an all new venue, exclusively on CBS All Access, and CBS is hoping that Trek can help their streaming service compete with the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HBO Go. Based on these opening two episodes? They have a definite chance. They've already cited Trek's premiere with their largest uptick in sign-ups so far, and since the show has already proved to be smart, entertaining, and in most ways well produced? I expect that number to stay steady.
The new show launches with two episodes that are a bold start for a new Trek series. We are introduced to our main character, Cmdr. Michael Burnham, the First Officer of the USS Shenzhou, as well as her Captain Georgiou and fellow senior officer, Lt. Cmdr Saru, and we quickly learn their rapport. We are also introduced to a group of Klingons who hope to unite the Empire, which has apparently been in in disarray for 100 years, which means not long after the time of Enterprise, as this show takes place 10 years or so prior to TOS.
The basic plot involves the Shenzhou coming into contact with this Klingon ship, and the engagement leads to conflict between the first officer and her Captain, as Georgiou is following the Starfleet way, wait for orders, hope for peace...but Burnham believes (based on a conversation with her mentor Sarek) that the only way to get respect and keep the Klingons at bay is to attack first. This all comes to a head when Burnham decides to take matters into her own hands, and she incapacitates the Captain, and then begins to give orders to attack first...but she is stopped quickly when Georgiou comes to and returns to the bridge to put her first officer in the Brig...and then 24 Klingon ships arrive to greet the Shenzhou.
As the first half of a Star Trek pilot, this is solid. It has some clunky bits (the dialogue in the opening scene between Georgiou and Burnham is especially clunky, but the point of the scene is to establish the relationship between the two, so I give it a bit of a pass), but overall there is a lot I do like. Certainly no Trek TV series has had such stunning visual effects before, but luckily beyond that there seems to be something especially Trek about it.
NEXT TIME: We Come in Peace
Written By: Akiva Goldsman & Bryan Fuller
Series: Star Trek: Discovery
Year: 2017Televised (sort of) Star Trek is back! 12 years after Enterprise was cancelled before it was able to go it's intended Seven Seasons, and three big budget films later, Trek finally returns to the small screen, where it has aways truly shined best. This new series is launching in an all new venue, exclusively on CBS All Access, and CBS is hoping that Trek can help their streaming service compete with the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HBO Go. Based on these opening two episodes? They have a definite chance. They've already cited Trek's premiere with their largest uptick in sign-ups so far, and since the show has already proved to be smart, entertaining, and in most ways well produced? I expect that number to stay steady.
The basic plot involves the Shenzhou coming into contact with this Klingon ship, and the engagement leads to conflict between the first officer and her Captain, as Georgiou is following the Starfleet way, wait for orders, hope for peace...but Burnham believes (based on a conversation with her mentor Sarek) that the only way to get respect and keep the Klingons at bay is to attack first. This all comes to a head when Burnham decides to take matters into her own hands, and she incapacitates the Captain, and then begins to give orders to attack first...but she is stopped quickly when Georgiou comes to and returns to the bridge to put her first officer in the Brig...and then 24 Klingon ships arrive to greet the Shenzhou.
As the first half of a Star Trek pilot, this is solid. It has some clunky bits (the dialogue in the opening scene between Georgiou and Burnham is especially clunky, but the point of the scene is to establish the relationship between the two, so I give it a bit of a pass), but overall there is a lot I do like. Certainly no Trek TV series has had such stunning visual effects before, but luckily beyond that there seems to be something especially Trek about it.
NEXT TIME: We Come in Peace