10 Reasons To Stop Hating Star Trek: Discovery

It is said that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. If you think you detest Star Trek: Discovery, then you clearly still care about it, and that's at least some common ground with those who say they like it. And if you're reading this article looking to be convinced, then you already have been either way.

Aside from leaving no one indifferent since its debut in 2017, Discovery has pushed the boundaries of Star Trek on television and often to great success. On occasion, however, those boundaries have pushed back. Admittedly, this writer hasn't always been the show's number one fan. Not all of the critique has been misplaced — Discovery is certainly different in tone, style, and weekly format to that which went before. This has been as novel and exciting as it has, at times, felt frustratingly lacklustre.

In any case, Discovery deserves far more than any brazen dismissal as 'not this' or 'too much that'. We're coming up to the series' fifth and final season now, so it's probably the right time to pause for a look back at some of the best things it has had to offer. Well, in the least, those that should hopefully temper the hate.

It is a bit of a truism by now to say that Star Trek: Discovery was responsible for the return of the franchise to the small screen, but it's one worth the reiteration. Nevertheless, it can't just be lauded for that fact alone — a Star Trek by another name could have ushered in the new era. What Discovery did in that sense is not nearly as important as how it did it, but it is the 'how' that seems to divide most fans: the tone was 'off'; it was too dark and.pessimistic; it was serialised; it was emotionally overwrought, and so on and so forth.

With the retrospect of about 6 years and the hindsight of knowing the plot — and putting aside what happened to the Klingons (that look is burned into our retinas more than that time Lorca watched the suns rise in a trinary system) — we can safely say that Discovery's season one did the 'how' a lot better than we thought.

It was dark (in tone) because it needed to be — the Captain was from the shade-y-verse, and the mood is always set from the top. There was a war on as well! Speaking of eyes, the whole season was a feast for them (more on that later), and for anyone tempted by a 'this is not Star Trek,' Discovery was pretty faithful to the original from the very beginning, all whilst attempting something new.

For the new, we got a bounty of beautiful ships for the canon; for the familiar, there were some very recognisable tricorders and phasers, Harry Mudd, time travel, Spock's parents, the mirror universe, the Enterprise (!!), and, yes, even those Klingons count.

Still need convincing? Let's take a visit to the props department…