Story by Brent Jago
Photo via CBS
This isn’t your parents’ Star Trek ‘episode of the week’ and it isn’t J.J. Abrams’s high-budget lens flare soaked romp, but it meets somewhere in between.
Star Trek: Discovery – taking place roughly a decade before the original series, centres around ‘First Officer Michael Burnham’ (played by the beautifully human and compelling Sonequa Martin-Green) at the beginning of the Klingon/Federation war. The dynamic and banter between the crew of the USS Shenzhou feels genuine and real, conveying the impression that this crew has been serving together for a number of years and know each other very well. Also, Michelle Yeoh gives a warm yet commanding performance as ‘Captain Phillipa Georgiou’ in being added to the list of great on-screen Starfleet Captains.
The first two episodes (which feel like an extended pilot split in two) move at a breakneck pace in getting the ball rolling right away and don’t really leave you any time to breathe. You start to feel like you’re settling in at the beginning of episode two only to be greeted with a nice big action scene and CBS hasn’t skimped on the CGI budget. This is one of the best looking sci-fi television shows out there, with attention to detail in sets, costumes, make up and a standout being the always fantastic, Doug Jones, totally unrecognisable as ‘Science Officer Saru’.
It’s great to have Star Trek back at its home on television, the return of long-term storytelling and character building. It’s a good start, though not a perfect one, but if these first two episodes are a taste of what’s to come, then put us down for the remaining courses.
We’re excited to see where this series boldly goes.
