Star Trek: Discovery - Season 1 (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Creators: Bryan Fuller, Alex Kurtzman
	Actors: Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones (Hellboy 1-2), Shazad Latif
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: October 2017 - February 2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: In a Future where Earth is leading the peaceful Federation of planets, The USS Discovery encounters hostile Klingons. The XO of the ship, Michael Burnham (Martin-Green), applies methods she has learned during her Vulcan upbringing to resolve the conflict.
Review: I am not much of a Trekkie, I had never watched a series of that Universe but I enjoyed the overview provided by the six movies with the original cast, the four with the cast of The Next Generation and the three of the latest reboot. Discovery seemed like a good opportunity to see what could be done nowadays with that franchise for a small screen, at times when it is not anymore alone on that market, having to suffer from comparisons with the unforgettable Battlestar Galactica or the more recent The Expanse for example. One cannot deny that the show looks good. The sets are vast and filled with details, many characters in costume and make-up, special effects, camera movement... And the story is quite rich. Too rich maybe, at least sometimes it feels so. The series tries to show everything that is expected from it: spaceships, heroes, enemies, war, parallel universes, alien species, connections to the other movies/series in the Universe, exploration of new worlds... Unfortunately I found that the latter, at the heart of the original Star Trek story, is here undermined to the benefit a sometimes too present character development. Indeed I liked the presence of veteran martial Arts star Michelle Yeoh, the character of Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) and the connection with Sarek, Spock's father, but I have had a hard time liking the main character played by Sonequa Martin-Green which I found to be overplaying it., while not fully fitting in the Star Trek Universe. This may be purely personal but I don't like her. So the series may be expensive and expansive, I was not attracted by it. It didn't help that it was released episode by episode. Binge-watching a series you don't really like is easier than waiting weeks to at last see its resolution and fulfill a sense of completeness. To get more involved I also tried watching the associated show After Trek, gathering cast and crew after each episode to talk about it, but I found it far too self-gratifying and quickly stopped.
Rating: 3 /10