'Star Trek: Discovery' Review Roundup

Forbes

"Tonight saw the return of television's beloved sci-fi gem, Star Trek. But, what's seen in the first episodes (and its sister hour now available on CBS All Access) is not a fair representation of the series that is to come.

As we now know, Star Trek: Discovery's premise is built around the beginning of the Federation/Klingon war.

What follows tonight's war movie-esc pilot is a wholly different show that makes one wonder where the original developed series by Bryan Fuller ends, and the post-Bryan Fuller series begins.

The new Trek is not bad, but it's off to a strange start." - Forbes

Variety

"When Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) first meets Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs), his room is dimly lit. He mutters something about an eye condition requiring low light, but, as with most of his statements, there appears to be information the captain is deliberately refusing to share.

Lorca's lair is far from the only interior on "Star Trek: Discovery" that is shadowy. As Burnham frequently negotiates dark corridors and murky settings, one thing becomes clear: "Discovery" is trying, with some success, to convey that this is not your father's "Star Trek."

It might be your mother's, if she is a fan of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," which is widely considered to be the best of the "Trek" TV efforts. (To forestall nerd debates, yes, each Federation series has its merits, but "Deep Space Nine" and "The Next Generation" top most critics' lists.)" - Variety

Nerdist

"As the first Star Trek television show in more than a decade and the first major new series entry following the venerable sci-fi franchise's 50th anniversary, Star Trek Discovery is under an incredible amount of pressure. For the creative team behind the production, which has weathered the departure of a showrunner and production delays, it needs to both boldly go where no Star Trek series has gone before and simultaneously feel like the familiar spacefaring adventure that has enthralled viewers for half a century.

For CBS, it needs to beam up scores of subscribers to its CBS All Access service, the subscription streaming service where all 15 episodes in the series will exclusively air following the network debut of the two-part season premiere. Most all of, for the fans, Star Trek Discovery needs to adhere to a deceptively simple Prime Directive: "Please be good." After seeing the first two episodes at the show's Los Angeles premiere, I am pleased to report that it largely succeeds in its mission, offering an ambitious and auspicious start to what feels like a welcome return to form for Star Trek." - Nerdist

Mashable

"Star Trek history was made Sunday night, and not just because of Sonequa Martin-Green — who, as Michael Burnham, became the pioneering black female protagonist this franchise deserves. (Seriously, the camera can't get enough of her, delivering epic hero shot after epic hero shot.)

It's more than that. For the first time in the history of Star Trek, we're not getting an introduction to the main location of a show in its first episode. The equivalent of the Enterprise, or the Voyager, or the space station known as DS9, doesn't show up yet. Your cozy familiar template for a spacebound show that introduces all its characters at once is deader than Kirk's hairpiece." - Mashable

EW

"This is one of the single most florid pieces of production design in Star Trek's long history. The show could use more stuff like that! The second hour opts for less clever decadence, sending the forces of Starfleet into a pitched battle with a Klingon fleet. There really are a lot of spaceships, but the strategy gets a bit hazy. There are odd decisions made by commanding officers who should know better: A ship left unprotected for collision, an explosive snuck onto another ship via corpse delivery. There are a lot of writing credits on these first two episodes, including Bryan Fuller, the gloriously strange TV creator behind Hannibal and American Gods. Fuller departed Discovery early in production, and I'm loathe to attribute any specific story points to him. But there are gloriously strange flourishes, and then there are bizarre narrative shorthands. We get tragic flashbacks for Burnham and for T'Kuvma, overly dramatic and inert. And at one point, Captain Georgiou casually mentions she's lived a life of hardship but never lost hope, a line that sounds like a Wikipedia character summary." - EW

IndieWire

"It's one of the series' boldest choices, one that would fall apart without the right star. But Martin-Green's performance inspires the use of words like "revelation," bringing grace and strength and joy and darkness to the role in a way that makes Burnham feel fully realized after only a few episodes.

By the end of the two-part series premiere, the Federation finds itself in a less-than-peaceful situation, a conflict resolved before James T. Kirk and the Enterprise began their five-year mission, but one that will undoubtedly drive much of the action as "Discovery" moves forward with a take on space exploration that's relatively new to the "Trek" franchise." - IndieWire

THR

"The first two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, which premiered Sunday — the first on CBS before the launch of the second on CBS All Access — essentially established one thing for me: Sonequa Martin-Green is a star I'd gladly watch navigate from one end of the TV universe to the other.

That's a positive for Discovery, because it feels like a star vehicle to a degree well beyond the beloved franchise's normal ensemble trappings. And Martin-Green, who never really stood out for me during her long run on AMC's The Walking Dead, looks to have the intelligence, command and sheer presence a good Star Trek series needs at its heart." - THR