Star Trek Discovery Retrospective: Season 1

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Season 1


The first season. The first two episodes don’t even feature the titular ship, so as a viewer I was a bit confused. The first two episodes serve as more of a prologue than a proper pilot to the series, being set on the USS Shenzhou under captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh). The main characters of Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), the Kelpian Saru (Doug Jones) the first member of his species seen in the franchise (a species created for this series), and recurring characters Keyla Detmer (Emily Coutts) and Voq- later Voq/Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif; credited in the first 4 episodes as Voq under the pseudonym Javid Iqbal-which the fans quickly saw through) are established in these episodes. Even as a prologue “The Vulcan Hello” and “Battle of the Binary Stars” ask a lot of the viewers, trying to get them invested in a main character who has gone from loyal first officer to mutineer, assaulting her captain, starting a war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, getting her captain killed, and then killing the Klingon leader T’Kuvma. Credibility is already stretched. Episode 3 “Context is for Kings” then jumps ahead 6 months, introducing the USS Discovery and the rest of the main characters Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs), Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz), Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and Joann Owosekun (Oyin Oladejo). It also establishes the spore drive and the mycelial network (which also really stretches credibility and suspension of disbelief and honestly comes off as more fantastical than science fiction-and really rather silly). The rest of the first half of the season mostly focuses on the Klingon-Federation war, the Voq/Ash Tyler story and Burnhams redemption arc. Then just as abruptly the show jumps to the mirror universe for most of the back half of the season (WTF?), which when seen in hindsight with the mixed fan reaction at the time could be viewed as desperation on the part of the showrunners (major fan service?). Then the show conveniently jump back to the “prime universe” for the last 2 episodes of the season and nicely wrap up Burnhams redemption arc and the Klingon war arc (by having mirror Georgiou in the guise of Captain Georgiou take Discovery to plant a bomb in the middle of the Klingon homeworld-WTF??). The nice little bow in which Burnham's redemption was wrapped up, with her (a convicted felon, mutineer, who got her captain killed and started a war the Federation almost didn’t win, and who kidnapped Emperor Georgiou from the mirror universe) being pardoned, given her rank and commission back and going back to being first officer with little repercussions really stretches credibility. Also shoehorning the show into the decade between The Cage and TOS while making NO effort to match visual canon was and still is a point of contention with the fans. Perhaps the most glaring example of this (and sorest with fans) was the radical redesign of the Klingons, which due to backlash would be toned down for season 2. Setting the show in the little explored mid 23rd century is one thing, but if you're not going to at least try to make it look the period, then why bother? Add to that the whole Voq/Tyler storyline, and the somewhat convoluted use of the mirror universe to "bring back" Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) who died in episode 2 (as her mirror universe counterpart, Emperor Georgiou). Season 1 had a decidedly darker tone than previous treks, not just in the war storyline but also the moral ambiguity of many of Captain Lorca’s command decisions (even before we learn that he is actually Terran Lorca from the mirror universe). In my opinion the darker tone really doesn’t fit Trek well, nor does it serve this series well. Alex Kurtzman has repeatedly said that with Discovery (and in fact with all new Trek) he wanted to do something new. A dark tone and a “Federation at war” story arc are not new for the franchise. Star Trek Deep Space Nine had a decidedly darker feel than contemporaries The Next Generation and Voyager and spent the last two years at war with the Dominion. Star Trek Enterprise also did the dark tone and war arc with the Xindi war arc encompassing the entirety of season 3. The series did break new trek ground by being the first series in the franchise to focus on the first officer as the main character NOT the captain, by having the first African-American female lead for a Star Trek series, as well as the franchise’s first gay couple (Stamets and Culber), something which makes Ash Tyler/Voq killing off Culber all the more disappointing.



That's all for this week. Next week: Season 2

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