Having just watched the first two episodes, I want to chime in on behalf of those people who have seen every episode of every series, but who are not "purists" about Star Trek. Frankly, these first episode were much better than my admittedly low expectations. On the positive side, there are at least three characters that are fleshed out, given backstories, and show some development. There is a story arc, one that reminds me of the one with the Cardassians in DS9. Finally, and I don't know how to say this any better, but there is a welcome dearth of stupid bangles -- no holosuites, no tribbles, no Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis romance. On the negative side, there is a lot more action than discovery, and while in many people's eyes that made "First Contact" a winning entry in the series, there is something that fails about that approach when one is forced to watch commercials every seven minutes. This lack of puzzles is echoed by a crew member who says something like "we were supposed to be on a journey of exploration not a war," which was my sentiment throughout the JJ movies, and so I hope there is more "discovery" in the rest of the series.
Two things make me optimistic going forward. First, the teaser for coming episodes indicates we are getting to the "journey of exploration" starting in episode 3. Also, Sonequa Martin-Green is really rather good, as is Doug Jones, and they appear to both be in the continuing arc along with Jason Isaacs. I'm old enough to remember how lame the first episodes of DS9 seemed to be -- a lot of stuff about baseballs -- and yet it is the series of which I am most fond. It is hard to start a series like this, but the foundation that is laid here could sustain. But "Discovery" got quite a bit more right in terms of creating a unique feel within a familiar context than I expected based on the ever-changing group of people involved in creating it.
Two things make me optimistic going forward. First, the teaser for coming episodes indicates we are getting to the "journey of exploration" starting in episode 3. Also, Sonequa Martin-Green is really rather good, as is Doug Jones, and they appear to both be in the continuing arc along with Jason Isaacs. I'm old enough to remember how lame the first episodes of DS9 seemed to be -- a lot of stuff about baseballs -- and yet it is the series of which I am most fond. It is hard to start a series like this, but the foundation that is laid here could sustain. But "Discovery" got quite a bit more right in terms of creating a unique feel within a familiar context than I expected based on the ever-changing group of people involved in creating it.