User Reviews

The first two seasons were awesome. Very good writing. Now with the third and especially the fourth season, the writing is horrible. Everything is overly dramatic. Pretty much every cast member annoys me now. I'm guessing the show got new writers after the second season. If that's the case, then they should have end the show there. Where did all the creativity go???

Never have been so bored to death of hearing stupid speeches. Every 10 minutes there's a big speech about what there going in to and how important it is. Yeah yeah we got after 50th speech we didn't need another 100. Make a sci-fi program not political bull crap.

The first season was ok and had a promising start but it rapidly decayed into a sappy soap opera set in the Star Trek universe. The characters in the show and the plot have all the potential needed but the continuing agony of ongoing psychology sessions (they call them episodes) is making me reconsider my future and I'll need counselling, long into the future, for having watched this. Writing this is part of my exposure therapy after season 4 where my brain was set to stun. But seriously, so disappointed that the focus was on giving out life lessons and not writing good Star Trek stories. I get it that you can have positive messages in shows, not a bad thing, but this is just way too much, at the expense of a potentially good series.

In my personal unscientific rating scale 4=Forced myself to watch to the end but didn't really enjoy and won't watch it again.

Did I watch the same program as others that are giving this a one star and complaining? The show blew me away! Of course, I paid for CBS Access and have already watched the second episode so for those that complain of "cardboard" characters, give it a rest...it's the first episodes! I have quickly become invested in the backstory of Michael Burnham as well as the Klingons. And complaining about the CGI? Technology has changed so much over the last 50 years that what is available to movie makers and TV directors/producers is so far advanced from the original series...even from the days of TNG, Enterprise, and the others. Enjoy the technical improvement instead of bashing it. Costumes and makeup are extraordinary. Acting is great, actors well chosen for their roles. And the more episodes filmed, the more we learn about characters...they flesh out. Actors become more comfortable in their roles and have more story line to work with to develop their backstories. (Don't believe me? Watch the first couple of episodes of TMG and observe how wooden the actors were in their roles but they grew in to them quickly). So if you find it unwachable? Don't bother to sign up for CBS All-Access. I hadn't planned to but it's worth the low cost of putting up with commercials just to watch this show every week.

I'm an avid space scifi fan. Saying that, I feel we don't get enough quality space sci fi shows. There's almost too many comedy/drama shows that don't take themselves too seriously. This was a welcome gift in the land of scarce quality scifi TV shows.

It feels like you're watching a movie, not a TV show. It's akin the recent Star trek movies in terms of special effects/production value/writing/cinematography.

The closest quality space scifi show I can liken this to is the Expanse, but since I'm a Star Trek fan I would rate this even higher for the type of show Star Trek is in general.

Surprising this is on CBS and not the syfy channel. But the scifi channel cares about B and C level scifi crap (except the Expanse).

PS:This isn't like the Orville (another show I had high hopes for but turned out it doesn't take itself seriously either). Don't come to this show as a star trek fan looking for some sort of continuity or story-line connection to the previous star trek TV shows (like Enterprise, voyager, DS9, or next Gen). Rather come to this with a goal of starting something new in a similar universe with great writing and movie production value and none of that comedic crap added that makes the Orville so horrible for a space scifi fan like me.

The show started out techno-clever with interesting character interactions.

Now all we have is a bunch of needy characters episode after episode. Even the computer is needy. It is exhausting.

I give it a 6 because I still have hope, but the writing is being sucked into a black hole of neediness.

So many negative reviews out there... After a pilot episode(s)? Come on..... Special effects... awesome. Klingons.... awesome. Acting.... awesome. Music.... awesome.

Death, a believable non-'messiah complex' story, good perspective from both Klingon Empire and Federation point of view, and dynamic action. The things that you usually do not expect from a Star Trek series, but they were there.

These two pilot episode had more moral dilemmas, and checked more gender equality boxes than an entire season of the TNG.

That said, I hope it will not become a war TV series, and that we will witness more Science than Fiction. Hopefully, there also will be some exploration in between exploding Federation and Klingon starships.

I'm sort of enjoying this in parts, but why oh why is the main character, Michael Burnham, bursting into tears or looking tearful in nearly every one of her scenes? Who on earth would write a Commander who is supposed to have had a Vulcan upbringing but is both emotionally unstable and incapable of making the kind of flash, life and death decisions required of command? The whole of everything can be at stake and yet she stands around crying about one thing ot another, agonising with someone while people around her are suffering and dying and the world is coming to an end yet again and you are thinking for God's sake get on with it and stop blubbering. The amount of emotion had me in tears, not of empathy but boredom. The amount of slow moving, soul-searching scenes is a drag on what could otherwise be a good show. The gratuitous violence is too much and unnecessary. I have commented previously in another place about the current annoyingly cynical use of gay or lesbian relationships in every series and film these days. The right to a relationship of your choice and way of life is an accepted thing now, so why is there a pushy political agenda which I think is patronising to gay people in that the producers assume that gay people won't watch anything without a gay person in it? Sci-fi fans are sci-fi fans no matter who they are, and it is partitioning gay people rather than treating them as normal viewers like the rest od us. I also found some action very confusing. The special effects are great, though. We're into Series 3 so I don't expect the crying to lessen. I tend to go and make tea now in the blubbery moments, but one can only drink so much tea in an hour or so.

I am commenting on Season 4. The shows written by Anne Cofell Saunders and Terri Hughes Burton are the worst. Talky, talky, talky. Express feelings, feelings, feelings. Episodes proceed slowly, go nowhere. There is a season-long story arc, but no episode proceeds very far along in that grand story. There are way too many characters, and almost every episode stops dead to make sure that a number of minor characters get their moments to explain what they are feeling right now. The worst is when there is a real emergency, but no urgency.

I thought it was very good. The Klingons are different to other TV shows/Moves so expect that. Overall I am looking forward to watching more and it just a shame that the older trek fan base it giving the show a hard time because its nothing like the outdated TOS and it also seems that they want a show that will not fit in with today's society. Yes I get that this is set after Captain Archer and before Kirk and that the technology used on the U.S.S. Shenzhou that doesn't line up with canon, such as the holograms Captain Georgiou uses to communicate with Admiral Anderson. That kind of holographic technology shouldn't exist for another century, when Star Trek: Deep Space Nine introduced it on the U.S.S. Defiant. This also may be a clue that the destruction of the U.S.S. Kelvin that occurred in 2233 affected the timeline of Discovery, which takes place in 2256. Time will tell.

I just finished watching season 4 episode 1 and I don't know what to make of it. The show's script and dialogues feels like it's for an audience of 12 years old. The special effects are nicely done but the technology is borderline "magic" not believable.

WTF is going on with everyone crying all the time?

Everyone is an emotional wreck in this show. These people should have never made it into Starfleet. There ain't no crying in Starfleet!

More than half of every episode is dedicated to people crying and explaining their feelings. They do it before and after every event that takes place and then the do it some more just so you know how the feel. Stop crying and talking already and do action. Pew! Pew!

The main girl is the worst of them all. She whispers and cries in every episode and she is suppose to be the damn captain. Nobody wants a crying captain.

She cries more than Carrie Mathison of Homeland and i didn't think that was possible. Space!

Where to begin...

For starters, it claims to be in line with the original series and its timeline yet nothing on display lines up with it or even visually resembles it. Instead it tries to replicate the look, feel, and energy of the JJ Abrams/Kelvin timeline movies(lens flares aplenty!) but it even fails at that.

The characters are mostly bland, stereotypical, and unlikeable.

It feels like everything that the original series tried to say has been thrown out the window to appeal to one-sided politics, Gene Roddenberry was trying to present hope and optimism for the future but here as far as Discovery is concerned the future is to be pretty but cold and uncaring.

As for the acting it ranges from good to okay mostly, very talented performers such as Jason Isaacs, Michelle Yeoh, Anson Mount, and Doug Jones all try their hardest but only in tiny glimpses are able to make the rough material work.

I would have to agree with other commenters that you are just better off with The Orville instead, far better Star Trek series.

I haven't watched the older star trek series because they never enticed me in any way. I am however a major Sci-Fi fan in all regards and to that end, without any pre-conceived notions as to what the characters should look like (the klingons look badass) and that there are females in command (like how can someone seriously write a negative review about that?) the first two episodes were really good.

It's not game of thrones level in writing, budget or effects as is to be expected, but for a sci-fi it's very good and what the genré needs to catch the eye of the general public.

9/10 stars for the production, an additional star for the effort of bringing in fresh people.

I just watched the first two episodes and I'm sold. If you're looking for the more cerebral Trek with an alien-of-the-week allegory about life or politics or society, then this show will not be giving you that sort of Trek experience.

Some might say that IS the Trek experience, but I'm not one for being so beholden to tradition.

Instead the show focuses on the people, not necessarily the situation. Michael is a solid and interesting character, and while the show is more dark and gritty, in alignment with the newer Trek movies, it's not bleak.

The three things people complain about:

The Klingons - I just have to stop and say that I love the new redesign of the Klingons. That tired 90's Michael Bolton haircut was doing nobody any favors. In some respects through the course of the various series, the Klingons lost their edge and mystique, they became a caricature of themselves. They were overdue for some changes.

Continuity with the Original Series - Yes, none of this looks like it takes place before the low-budget 1960's version. But it does fit with the JJ Abrams version, and that's the one that's making money. For what it is, it looks great.

CBS All Access - It was announced when the show was first introduced that it would be exclusively on CBS All Access. No one should be surprised by this point about that. Streaming is where everything is heading, and with cord cutters ditching the traditional cable model and pushing for the past 10 years for a la carte pricing, you had to see this kind of thing coming. I'm a cord cutter and this kind of model appeals to me. I love being able to pick and choose my entertainment like this. I like being able to add and subtract services as needed. I added Starz so I could watch American Gods, and subtracted it when the season was over. And it was painless to subscribe and unsubscribe to because it's all in my Google Play account. CBS All Access works the same way. When the season is over, I just have to click "cancel" and done. No fights with salespeople!

The problem with Trek has always been in it's limited appeal. It has a small, but strong and vocal audience. The shows kept getting canceled because there just isn't enough audience to sustain it for very long. If CBS wanted to cater specifically to that audience of aging Trek fans, then they would have tried to keep it as true to the original series as possible. Obviously they've decided to make it appeal to a wider, modern audience. The thing you hear about people who were never Trek fans until the JJ Abrams movies is that the show felt boring and unwelcoming. It felt exclusive, not inclusive. Like you had to have a degree in thermodynamics to "get it". You don't, but that's the stigma the show had regardless. Besides, you go back and watch any of the previous series in 2017 and they seem campy and hokey by today's standards.

A cerebral show designed to look perfectly like it fits 10 years before Shatner's Kirk would get at least some of the die-hard fans, and probably last one season on network TV. And CBS would probably never touch a Star Trek TV series again. This has obviously been designed to appeal to a modern, non-Trek audience, and to be more accessible to new fans by focusing on character and story more than the allegorical and metaphorical aspects. And it works, in my opinion. We have a much more engaging story, more emotional, and more intimate in some ways than previous series.

It's great SciFi and a welcome reintroduction of Trek to a modern audience. I recommend giving it a chance.

The higher ratings are garbage from either Hollywood paid marketing firms or an intentional effort to push some stupid social messaging.

Here is the bottom line, ST is a formula, it was built on a formula, its survived on a formula and it exists because of the formula. This garbage deviates so far from the formula that its like some film students 3rd year attempt to reimagine it.

As another reviewer mentions, Star Trek was always a message of hope, it was bright, positive, and had encouraging messaging, this has a dark theme, underlying negativity, dreadful background music or effects constantly playing to bring the vibe down very low.

What worked so well with the earlier versions of ST is they allowed the audience to use their own imagination, they told a story and allowed viewers to interpret.

This tries to define each and every nuance, this tries to reinvent and lay it all out.

StarTrek did an excellent job of intermixing races genders species, and it was a show from the 1960's, so far ahead of its time but sent the proper messaging.

This version force-feeds some obnoxiously unrealistic version that appears to be written to appeal to an audience that is not the typical StarTrek fanbase, and its not winning any new fans!

At the end of the day, the people who watch StarTrek appreciate how it was created and how it flowed, what this is, is not that, and its boring enough to not draw in any new viewers.

Im calling this another fail by CBS and by Hollyweird who continue to try and push their foolishness on everyone!

I really liked what I saw. We have a range of possibilities presented in the first episodes. Dense and complex characters to develop various stories. Very well filmed with sensational special effects that leave every space lover in awe. I recommend accompanying this new Star Trek Series, because it definitely has all the virtues and principles of the Star Trek Universe. Live long and prosper!!!

I have to agree with several others; although I found Seasons 1 - 3 decent and watchable, Season 4 is just full of people crying and being emotional.

That is not what Star Trek is about, we don't want to see that, it's supposed to be a sci-fi show with drama and thrills, it's not Loose Women for 'crying' out loud, (forgive the pun).

If Season 5 is anything like Season 4, (that's if they make a Season 5 after the poor ratings of S4), then I won't be watching it.

The writers and producers have ruined what could have been a new lease of life for the Star Trek franchise.

Apparently TV shows are made for younger kids these days. This show is so well produced that it's a shame it's become so boring, having gone way too far with teaching social correctness to young kids and sacrificing a good scifi story for a vision of the future with fleet crew members straight from daytime soap operas, too preoccupied with their emotional fragility to be competent. Ninjas vs Diabetics? In a sword fight? On a starship? Please. Stop it. I wish instead they'd capitalize more on the bold ideas, story elements and humor past shows have had... that appeal to all ages.

2 words love it, i think the show was great, new idid remember Kirk, said it , the acting was good not bad the video was really good best i seen so far for TV. the ships were good , KLINGON were a bit diff , but hey i like them .i hope the show Will not be channel be fore it time please 7yrs would nice.

It's not anywhere as good as The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, or even Enterprise.

Show went from being OK at best for the first season, to pretty bad in the second, to cringe in the third and has now achieved "unwatchable" status. In fact I just stopped watching s04e02 mid episode during another interminable self endulging motivational speech.

Cringe...

I've been with this 'show' for maybe far too long - but depressingly I have decided that it is not what it should be.

It has the name - but no where near the straight forward expected content.

I'm fully ok with leaving this show in the trash - because it isn't my fault but I know who's it is.