Star Trek: Discovery in Review

Article by R. K. Wigal

Star Trek: Discovery is a huge disappointment.  To me, it's as bad as J.J. Abrams' movies, if not worse. It is dark and, initially, the characters do not appeal to me. Neither the rigid captain who refused to listen to the advice of her first officer, nor the insubordinate first officer, nor the seemingly cowardly science officer appeared to have any real bond with one another. One has to wonder how such a dysfunctional crew could last for any length of time in space. The graphics, especially those of the Klingon vessel, are ill defined, not to mention the ship itself being pockmarked with myriad coffins, assuming you can see them. Of course, the first episode had to end in a cliff hanger.  There's no better way to suck the audience into subscribing to CBS's streaming service so they can see what happens in the second episode and so CBS can rake in the cash. Just as I made it a point not to see "Star Trek Beyond," I will not be watching any more of this series. To me, it is not vintage Trek!

My friend, Dennis Howard, had this to say:  "The new-look Klingons have such heavy prosthetics on their heads that you can't read any emotions from their faces, which is a real shame especially for Klingons."

Another friend, Jade Tanner, went even further:  "I thought the same thing Dennis Howard did. Glen Hetrick and Neville Page (both award winning creature concept designers and make-up artists) were part of the design team for these 'new Klingons.' I also watched them in a show called "Face Off" which is a special effects make-up contest. They are both judges on that show and I don't know how many times they have ripped contestants about baked in expressions and mask looking appliances and designs. And here they turn around and do it themselves!!! They need to take their own advice in their designs.

"They said they wanted to push the design further. Truthfully, when I first saw the picture of the Klingons that surfaced on the internet several months back I didn't even realize they were Klingons. I thought it was a completely, totally new species. Might as well be with some of the changes they made with the race. Also, when did they start putting their dead on the hulls of their ships?

"I may wait until all the episodes are on CBS access and then do the free trial and binge watch the series. I do like to try and give a series at least one season before I judge it as irredeemable. Maybe one of the other writers can save and turn it around (wouldn't envy any of the writers having to follow this episode). But I definitely will not be paying for it! That's so un-Trek like to charge."