- Sonequa Martin-Green is fantastic. I don't really know her (stopped watching Walking Dead around season 4; will return to it at some point), but was initially hesitant at her casting. I had no reason to be. (I wasn't hesitant to have a female main character who also isn't the captain/leader--I think that was probably the best idea they had. I just didn't think/remember much of Martin-Green from WD.) Not sure if I buy her as being raised by Sarek yet. And as good a fit as James Frain seems to be, I'm somewhat weary of the role being recast.
- The opening titles/theme... I like it, but it doesn't feel like Star Trek outside of the shared motif elements. It feels like... James Horner. Again, not a bad thing. And, of course, he wrote the scores for Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock. But this doesn't feel like that James Horner... it feels like A Beautiful Mind/Bicentennial Man James Horner. Which again, isn't bad. And I guess really nails the emotional, "wonder" aspect. It's just jarring. And so is the parchment-coloured titles background. I like that they're doing something different. But it might be too bold to ditch the star field.
- For how well the title theme evokes "discovery", these opening episodes sure don't. What the hell? I don't think I'd say I "disliked" them, but we were pretty much trapped on the bridge for 90 minutes outside of the opening and later green screen sojourn. Wait--did I just somehow watch the season finale out of order?
- They do feel very cinematic in scope though, and I hope that holds up and isn't just first-episode syndrome as in earlier Trek series. Pretty sure it's not, since this is no longer the network television era. But on that note, what's with the 40-minute episodes? Are these being cut to go to air later? Way to take advantage of the medium. Also, I wish I'd known these eps were clearly a two-parter, because we actually watched them on different days and the break was hella abrupt.
- In terms of tone, it's initially far from ideal for Trek, but I would have greatly preferred this to J.J.-verse. (That said, I would probably prefer Friends to the J.J.-verse, and I despise Friends.)
- Undecided on the Klingons. They're Klingon-ish. They keep referencing Klingon things. (Except the "Black Fleet", what the hell? I just read it was previously a non-canon thing, but that came out of nowhere and sounds like a bad viking metal concept album.) But it's too soon to say whether this is a positive re-imagining. I'm rather amused they seem even less traditional than J.J.'s Kelvin Klingons. But they definitely feel very alien, which in general is a tremendously positive sign for the series IMO. Those costumes may be trying a little too hard to ride the line between retro Trek and this modernization. You look like a Christmas tree ornament, dude.
- Seeing Michael's battle-dazed colleague sucked out of the ruptured hull actually had some emotional heft. It could have had far more had we had an episode or three to get to know him. (A certain scene in season one of The Expanse come to mind.)
- Bummed Tol'vir or whatever his name is bought it at the end. Was really hoping he'd be around for the season. Though I'm sure a more relatable Klingon nemesis is about to step in. Almost certainly that guy who blew him off at the holo-gathering. Albino-dude had better stick around and become someone awesome.
- In retrospect, weren't the earlier series clever to give us alien names that were as exotic-sounding as they were easy to remember? I bet anyone could recall the names of Worf, Data, Odo, or Quark after the first episode. Honourable mention for Phlox, though by point it was close to self-parody. (I was going to give Voyager some love and list Neelix, but then I couldn't think of his name until "Tuvix" popped into my head and I actually thought that was the regular character's name for a minute....)
- Tall scaredy-alien seems interesting, but he's just going to be annoying and underdeveloped, isn't he? (You know, like almost the entire cast of Enterprise.)
- Michelle Yeoh is great, and I didn't mind her swift exit, but I didn't buy her relationship with Martin-Green. Needed a season rather than just an opening episode. And that was a conscious choice on her part to smoke Tevye after he iced Yeoh's character, right? Seemed pretty hypocritical after her speech about the importance of capturing him. I get logic vs. emotion is going to be a recurring theme for her, but that was a bit on the nose.
- In all, I'm quite concerned. But I have faith in Martin-Green, even if I'm not so sure of her character. Isn't it kind of ironic that Spock was conceived as half human to be more relatable, while Michael Collins (or whatever her name is) is essentially the inverse in an apparent attempt to tie her to Star Trek's legacy, 50 years later? I appreciate the attempt at contrast, at least.
- It's still better than Enterprise. (And J.J.'s Teen Trek, but that didn't need to be said.)
Edit: I feel the need to defend my dig at Enterprise. In my mind, Enterprise's problem is that it was born of the growing pains between the episodic network television era and serial storytelling. In the end it was just a weakly plotted rehash of classic TOS/TNG that jumped onto the serial bandwagon too late. Perhaps if it had lasted another couple of seasons it would have redeemed itself. But boy, if you thought Voyager veered into self-parody at times.... At least it was internally consistent, being firmly grounded in the network era. As for character development, there was more of it in one episode of DS9 than there was in a season of Enterprise. That is, unless you belonged to the holy trinity. But even then, mushy-moralled Archer failed to impress compared to his forebears. (And I adore Bakula. It was the writing of his character that was the problem.)
