Give it a try. It’s still Star Trek, but the quality of the plot, storytelling, and direction varies immensely. The diversity angle is a bit forced at times and less well done than even on TNG. It often feels like the shown doesn’t really know what it wants to be and doesn’t really get what Star Trek is about.
I watched it all regardless of the varying quality. There are some gems in there, but also an endless string of missed opportunities and failures. Many seasons start out strong but stumble at the end. The message can be very ham fisted and predictable.
I liked the first season most because it dared to tell a very different story in the star trek universe. The backlash lead to them introducing more traditional Star Trek stuff in a half asses way. I think they should have stuck to the initial trajectory.
It’s not bad, just not as good as it could have been. It never really finds its own, IMHO.
It's ok. Just don't expect it to be Star Trek.
Strange New Worlds feels like Star Trek.
It felt pretty Star Trek to me.
It's "Trek" in the same way that (hopefully this reference isn't too obscure) Stargate Universe was "Stargate." The show wasn't bad, especially post-Klingons, but it didn't feel similar to any of the other series to me. I did enjoy the new time era, but hated all the sappy 'motivational speeches' and the way they were filmed that seemed to be a cornerstone of every episode.
Different opinions I guess.
It can be pretty divisive, but I enjoyed it. In a few ways, it diverges pretty significantly from the traditional Trek look and feel, and has to explain away a fair number of inconsistencies, but it has its own unique identity and a pretty solid cast. The main character is probably the source of most of the division, and I found myself liking her a lot in some cases and getting incredibly annoyed by her in others. It’s a very emotionally-charged show, which works for some people (I tend to like having my emotions played with) and it’s visually gorgeous.
So I’d say it’s definitely worth a watch, but with medium expectations. One of the nice things about how the plot is structured, is that there are a lot of twists and complete “fork in the road” type devices, so if you’re tired of a storyline, just give it a few episodes and everything will change (at least for the first couple seasons). I’d say go for it.
I'll second the medium expectations vote. I tried watching the show week to week, but it just got boring. Sometimes it would be good, but it would take too long to get there. Being able to binge the show was a much better experience. If there was a bad episode, I could quickly just watch the next episode and forget the last.
I have plenty of positive things to say about Discovery, but it takes a while to get to each of them while watching.
Watch Season 1 and 2 and then switch to Strange New Worlds
Honestly, you can just skip straight to SNW, and you'll thank yourself for it.
Discovery is a Star Trek show written by people who are embarrassed at the idea of being associated with Star Trek. Strange New Worlds is Star Trek show written by people who fucking love Star Trek.
Yeah, I think I made it halfway through season 4 before I faced the fact that I didn't feel anything about these characters and I should've stopped trying to invest emotionally in them earlier.
Tilly, I liked Tilly.
This is the way
Unlike some people here, I enjoyed seasons 3-5 more than seasons 1-2.
S1: the Mirrorverse section overstayed its welcome. Feels wrong that it would have so much influence over the prime universe. Also, it felt wrong for a Starfleet crew to have this much internal conflict. Some of the more standalone episodes were enjoyable, though.
S2: a recurring problem with most of the series begins crystallizing here: why does each season need a universe-ending threat to motivate the plot? It got tiresome in this season, but kept happening for every subsequent season. Felt too contrived. But the less extreme internal conflict made it more enjoyable, as did the addition of captain Pike.
S3: I read somewhere that one of the pitches for a new series before Discovery was made was basically what Discovery became in its third season. I loved the "rebuilding the Federation" aspect of this. Really helped bring into focus what the Federation and Starfleet meant. I didn't enjoy the "universe-ending threat" aspect, and think the season would have been better without it.
S4: Another "universe-ending threat"? This season had some interesting individual episodes, and the final resolution is great Star Trek, but it would have been better if they had come up with a different way to get there. But there's also more "rebuilding the Federation" that was enjoyable.
S5: slightly less universe-ending here, which gave us a little more room to breathe. Some enjoyable character interactions that were less common in previous seasons. Some really wonderful, quintessentially Star Trek episodes. The ending to the season arc was a bit disappointing. The series ending felt tacked-on (because it was).
I honestly think this series would have been better if it essentially started with the premise of season 3 and skipped seasons 1 and 2. And if they dropped the season-length universe-ending threats in favor of something more subtle, leaving more room for character-building.
And I honestly had more problems with Picard (especially season 2) than with Discovery, even though I found it harder to get into Discovery at the beginning.
Hard agree with everyone here that says SNW is a cut above Discovery and Picard. And Lower Decks and Prodigy are also really good (and really good Star Trek) in their own ways.
I enjoyed both but Discovery isn't as much of a throwback as Picard was.
If you do watch it, Strange New Worlds (SNW) is worth checking out also. If I recall correctly, SNW resumes Pike's and Spock's story after Discovery season 2 (same cast) and Discovery seasons 3-5 forks off with the rest of the Discovery crew.
Lower Decks (animated) also extends the Discovery story. Have not seen it myself, but there have been headlines Discovery may or may not be cannon based on Lower Deck's trying to fix continuity issues or something as the last episode goes all multiverse. Even if true, it doesn't sway my enjoyment of the story and characters.
I finished Strange New Worlds...only bad episode was the singing one. Just waiting for a new season.
Well Discovery S1-2 will then be a prequel for you then for SNW since its the same actors for Pike and Spock. If you enjoyed those you should enjoy Discovery. I also watched Discovery after SNW since I wasn't tracking all the recent series at the time.
Be aware that there's two huge "this isn't Star Trek at all" plot points going on in Discovery. Both of change the vibe substantially from traditional Star Trek.
One causes an improbable Federation captain. One causes a lot of events to improbably revolve around a single character.
After experiencing both big reveals, I love everything about one of them and still dislike the other.
Sadly, the one I liked was wrapped up by the end of season 1, while the one I didn't care for dragged on through season 3.
I'd say definitely check it out if only just for Saru. He stole my heart for #1 favorite Trek character of all time, and that includes Quark lol
Also the Discovery became my favorite ship for its cool-factor
I really enjoyed Season 1 Episode 7. But I also stopped after finishing Season 2. Just didn't seem like I'd enjoy going forward anymore.
This is all subjective but S03 is when I started liking the show. I didn't care for the mirrorverse or weird Klingon plot lines.
Maybe the very first episode. That's it.
