After a two-part pilot, we plunge into another infinite universe. By the time Spock gets to the alternate universe, the universe isn't as bright as it once was. The alternate universe is dark, and the time before Kirk is even darker.
Michael Burnham is the first rebel of the United Federation of Planets, but instead of leaving her ass in jail, she's recalled from her journey to another prison by a secret spaceship, a base for top-secret experiments in space near the Klingon border.
The story could be summed up in three parts. The first introducing Michael to the new ship and crew, the action insert to salvage valuable data, and the conclusion with the captain.
Everything has changed since the days of the Enterprise. It's no longer a parrot TV production with a near-reset story. These are very short big budget movies in which we enjoy space travel and the actual ships in space quite a bit.
Every dollar spent is visible and in every scene. The original Star Trek series also had the quality of all the scenes pretty much up to par, but Discovery is way above that. You'll definitely enjoy the interior and exterior shots on good TV.
The music in the series is also perfect. After Enteprise, for which the opening theme song was composed, we revisit the musical opening theme that characterises the world of Star Trek. As the universe is dark and everyone is lost in it, the next opening theme is full of dark sounds and is similar to the classic Star Trek (The Next Generation) theme music.
The third episode is much better than the first two in the pilot. We're introduced to a new ship and a new crew, with some returning members from the suicide mission from the first two episodes.
The new characters are well cast, but as modern times dictate, each has some inner demons that we gradually learn about. Michael is the obvious one, she's very much tainted by being raised by Sarek on Vulcan. The others we'll learn about as we go along. Saru (Doug Jones) is becoming more interesting and the new character Cadet Tilly (Mary Wiseman) is the complete opposite of Michael. Tilly is terribly chatty and cares a lot about what people think of her.
The last chapter is Capt. Jason Isaacs is an old hand at acting, he's been in Harry Potter, Peter Pan and many big movies and his experience shows. For now, he stands out as an actor above the rest of the cast. Rather, he is becoming the true captain who loves Michael and his crew. He doesn't listen to the leadership and gives his crew and the mysterious mission for the United Federation of Planets an importance that can (and certainly will) break many rules that normal humans and friendly aliens can't afford to.
The third episode out of 15 is a big surprise. It's about life, it's about space, and mysterious surprises await us at every corner.
There are bound to be better episodes, but the initial introduction to the crew is what we've come to expect. I'll be watching with anticipation to see how it plays out and what rabbits in the bag the creators come up with.
Thank you Karoline Koblížková for proofreading
Original edition of this article October 4, 2017 – Kritiky.cz
