Movies - TV
Star Trek: Discovery Never Quite Worked – Because It Rejected Core Star Trek Ideas
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
With the 2017 launch of "Star Trek: Discovery," the franchise pushed into new territory, which meant that massive redesigns and new ideas were imminent. However, the show focused so much on the characters and their emotional reactions to constant violence that it failed to establish the core ideas and values commonly associated with the franchise.
The show felt off from the start, with many uncharacteristic changes to its premise. The introduction of Michael Burnham as Spock's adopted sister raised eyebrows, since Spock never mentioned a sister in previous TV shows or movies, and the ability for the ship to teleport anywhere in the universe seemed implausible, even by the standards of Trek's usual fantasy tech.
This new technology essentially eliminated trekking from "Star Trek" and also removed a sense of cosmic scale and potential for a variety of missions, which rankled Trekkies. Another major part of "Star Trek" was also missing: the workplace power dynamic, wherein different experts answer to managers and captains while solving complex sci-fi problems.
"Discovery" never depicted its characters having a regular day — the drama ran too high, and the incidents came too quickly, eliminating the need to establish protocol and a group dynamic among the crew and a need for diplomacy. It was all violence and sadness, and while those elements have their place in "Star Trek," they shouldn't have been the show's basis.