Star Trek Discovery: Status Report

Star Trek: Discovery debuted a few weeks ago, but the after-launch buzz has been pretty subdued. There’s a few reasons for that. It is a busy nerd season, what with NYCC and new movie trailers dropping every other day. Also, the show is behind a paywall, preventing a general “did you see last night’s episode” Monday morning chatter. But also, as the show progresses, it isn’t flashy, not the way the premiere would have you believe. It doesn’t lend itself to controversy or jaw-dropping surprises thus far. I have plenty of opinions and feelings about the new show — because let’s face it, Star Trek fandom is one of feelings and character connection as much as any other objective measure — and they run the gamut from love to hate, with a fair amount of shoulder-shrugging ambivalence in between. Are you watching? Read on and agree/disagree with me. Not watching and wondering if you should? Read on, read on!   Warning: Spoilers for Episodes 1-4   Klingons

Love Their shiny black aesthetic. They all look like they’ve been painted black and then spray painted gold. Their pointy, sharp edged look has “reverse” evolved (this is the past to our favorite Klingons) to look like Egyptian sarcophagi and random ancient assyrian armor. On top of that, they’ve got a death cult with the leader riding around in a ship covered in coffins. This is goth high heaven. Their philosophy has also shifted, honor is still important but so is some impulse to cultural individuality. These Klingon…