Recently, we held a giveaway of two ST50 scarves. In order to enter the giveaway, we asked you to send us an email and tell us either your favorite part of Discovery or why you aren’t watching. And here are some of your answers!
Ashira:
I love the diversity of the crew including main characters and background characters. It’s great to see the universal idealistic future closer to representing our ideals. I also love the complex morality being set up – that they don’t assume that authority is always right or that Starfleet values are the right ones.
Heather:
My favorite part of Discovery is their willingness to try new things! Even if they’re not always hitting the mark perfectly so far, I’m glad to see them make new and fresh mistakes, rather than just another rehash of Berman-era Trek.
Tim:
I am enjoying this redemption story. Burnhman has gone from universally-hated traitor to (albeit-slightly) respected research and bridge officer. Lorca is a user and he uses her for her skills. He understands making a decision with consequences and he’s clearly been making them for years, but he sees beyond the accusations and brings along Michael because she is so much more…. That’s why my favorite part is Burnham – we are still discovering her character arc. She won’t be like so many bit characters who appear only once, serve their exposition purpose and are dismissed away and she will also not be slowly discovered and extended over several seasons like Garak- will will know her fate in just a few more episodes and I really want to see where she goes.
Maryam:
My favorite part of Discovery is actually turning out to be the re-imagined tech, the same sex couple representation and our complex female protagonist Michael Burnham who is vulnerable and tough.
Adrienne:
I’m loving Discovery because of Michael and Tilly. I love it when women talk science. And they are so fun together. I wouldn’t mind if the show was less dark and had a few more humorous moments. But that won’t keep me from watching.
Louise:
Favourite part of Discovery: the women, who are immediately strong and complex. They are whole people, they are racially diverse, and in Tilly, there’s a woman with a body shape that is relatable to me (and makes me want to cosplay for the first time in my life). Second favourite part of Discovery: the epic and poetic episode titles!
Shyaporn:
Discovery is excellent on all levels – acting, writing, art direction, photography, effects. It is cinematic in its scope and vision and it’s great to see the franchise branch out into a true arc story format; it always for very deep inspection of the characters, their motivations and growth. The caring homages to the rest of the franchise are touching as well. But my favorite thing so far is that Michelle Yeoh leaned into her Malaysian accent, embracing a future where diversity overcomes the modern stigma of regionalism. The Robotech protoculture/spore drive is pretty cool, too…
Samati:
I love Star Trek: Discovery because it brings us back to true Star Trek; science, team work, the importance of diversity to problem solving and how going in guns blazing first doesn’t always, if ever, solve the problem.
Kat:
Why I watch: for Jason Isaacs, a long time favourite of mine. Although I miss his “normal” accent.
Atiya:
My favourite part of Discovery is that it is keeping the franchise alive and bringing new creativity and discussions to the Trek universe. While I don’t love a lot of aspects of the show and often have to watch episodes twice to get over the shock of Trek being so different (I grew up in the TNG, DS9, Voyager times when all the shows had a similar look and feel), I am happy that Trek still feels like a relevant medium for us to explore and discuss ideas in an abstract way for example radicalism (especially the Vulcans), racial superiority (Vulcans and Klingons) and human nature to explain away negative actions with the claim it is for the greater good (Lorca in particular).
Katie:
Even if I had been hoping for a more Utopian show with current events, I’ve been surprised how encouraging it is seeing the crew fight for their ideals. I’m excited to see how these themes continue and am finding the development of the idealistic Federation to be more encouraging and compelling than I was expecting, especially when compared to Enterprise.
Amy:
My favorite part of Discovery so far is Doug Jones on stilts as Lt. Saru. I hope that eventually it will be Micheal and Sylvia’s friendship, but so far, it’s Doug Jones on stilts.
Jenna:
I really, really love the friendship that is developing with Micheal and Tilly. It reminds me of late DS9 Jadzia and Kira but we didn’t get nearly enough of that friendship.
Katy:
Watching dynamics between a crew that is not necessarily a team. So much of Star Trek assumes trust between the captain and the crew, but Discovery is steeped in secrets and mystery!
Emma:
My favorite part of Discovery so far has been getting to see the interactions between a female captain and a female first officer, something that’s been sorely lacking in Star Trek. Too bad it didn’t last very long – I really liked Captain Georgiou and wish we’d gotten more with her.
Sara:
My favourite part so far has been the portrayal of science and scientists. I’m a software engineer and seeing Burnham actually work on what looks like code was awesome. And the head scientist is a biologist who actually does biology!
Ruth:
Discovery feels like the most fully realized Trek since DS9, and not just because of the ‘dark’ tone. All the characters feel necessary and have depth. All the WOMEN (and there are plenty of them!) have a purpose that is beyond just being pulchritudinous; beyond tokenism. The cast is diverse in ways we could only dream about before. I just love it!
The most common reason you gave for not watching Discovery was, unsurprisingly, the additional cost of CBS All Access. But we also heard from a few of your who saw a few episodes and stopped watching or are watching but not really enjoying it. Some things mentioned included the dark tone of the show and the lack of friendless and kindness among the crew.
Thanks to everyone who sent in their comments on Discovery, and congratulations again to our giveaway winners, Stephanie and Shyaporn.
I have yet to watch this show. I’m not going to pay for streaming, for one thing. Also, knowing myself as I do, I know the retconning is going to irritate the bejeezus out of me.
That said, a friend has burned the episodes to disk and sent them to me. If I run out of preferred activities in my limited leisure hours, and if I can convince myself to put on my “alternate universe” glasses, I may yet take a look at the show.
We’ll see.
I really disliked the first couple of episodes, they reeked too much of jingoism for my taste. I eventually decided to keep watching after all the episodes up to 9 had been released, and I’m enjoying the show a lot more. They eventually manage some sort of balance between serious and dark plot and interpersonal relations that make it work. Darkness works in Star Trek when it provokes discussions about moral dilemmas or puts things in perspective (eg. DS9). The first couple of episodes reminded me more of a Section 12 “win at all costs” mentality, which is thankfully undercut by Michael a few episodes in.