Seriously, no way to buy this? We have to add another streaming service?!? This sets a dangerous precedent, and it’s sad that most people are just fine with that. I was so excited to hear about another Star Trek, and then I read it’s only on CBS All Access, ffs... I caught a few episodes recently and even though I would buy S1 were it available, I will not subscribe to another streaming service. It’s such a blatant attempt to use the popularity of ST for a cash grab, and people fell for it.

Sadly it’s a decent show, what I saw of it, and if not for the need to pay for a streaming service I’d likely be a loyal viewer, but alas greed seems to have gotten the upper hand...

Update: I found out yesterday yet another new Star Trek series is coming to CBS All Access, it’s going to be about the later years of Captain Picard, as much as I want to watch it, I won’t support CBS’s greed, such a pity......

We loved the first season. Characters, story, acting... all pretty good.

What I hate is the distribution chosen for this show. Caught a few episodes on Netflix while out of the country. Excited to sit down and watch the rest, realized that we couldn't, unless we signed up for CBS streaming... Are you *bleepin* kidding me?!?!

Hell, I'd buy the season if it was available. But no way I'm encouraging CBS to start yet another pay service that is going to pile onto my monthly bills, and have me searching around for the show I want. Just ridiculous.

I'll find other ways to view it, and buy the season whenever it's available. I'm all for supporting this show. Just not this BS that CBS is pulling.

You would think that given no production deadline, the show runners would have time to respect good writing and get their scripts in good order.

I don't want to give away anything, but in EVERY episode, at least one character (usually more) does something completely stupid, either to force drama where it wasn't motivated or to motivate a bunch of special effects that are not in service to the story. The so-called story is in service to the special effects.

There are major problems in the writing. The entire season is building toward a focal point, but when the moment comes, the ending is telescoped. It happens in about three minutes. It’s the very definition of anti-climactic. I would use this season in film school as an example of how *not* to break fifteen episodes.

Plus, they hit the reset button. And it's completely unbelievable. I've talked to a lot of Star Trek fans, and a lot of other people, and not a single person thought the ending was satisfying. Or believable.

I could go on and on about how bad the writing was. Here's the clincher: A friend of mine worked on the show. He said the actors were always asking, "Why is my character doing this?"

When that happens, your show is in trouble, because it means the writing is implausible. My friend, who has worked in TV for decades, said it happened more on this show than any other show he's ever worked on.

The production designs, the costumes, the special effects, the music--it was all fabulous. There's no doubt the show is a spectacle. That makes it all the more tragic that good writing wasn’t respected as much as other production elements.

Good writing is where it all begins.

Like other reviewers, I really did not want to watch this show when it came out. Between the fact it was only available on its own streaming service and that it seemed very non-trek, it just did not seem worth my time. Yet I knew at some point I was obligated as a fan to watch this, I was just in no hurry.

Time passed, season 1 was long done, I had read nothing about what happened in the show, and then one day I got a free 2 month trial of cbs all access. I decided it was time to rip the band aid off and watch it (surely 2 months would be long enough to slog through this awful show). Then I began watching.

The show just kinda drops you into the story with no real introduction. At first I was a bit confused, didn't quite get the characters, and couldn't follow what everyone was talking about. Saw some weird looking "klingons" I didn't like, and had even more trouble following the long subtitled speeches. Yep as I expected, aside from the being pleasantly surprised by the title music/sequence, I was not enjoying this. I made it through the 2 part first episode over the course of 2 nights, and even though I was feeling much less confused at that point, I still wasn't getting it.

Then everything changed after watching the second episode when Discovery was introduced. I found myself way more engaged and interested in the plot. I wanted to keep watching so I watched another episode. Yes this was better. The next night I continued, and I watched 3 more episodes, only stopping because I needed to get some sleep before work. The next night I binged the rest of the first half of the season. Wait what? I liked this show? How did that happen?!

I finally ended up binging the crap outta this show until the end, and by the end I wanted to start over and see if I could better appreciate the first episode. And you know what? I did! I ended up watching the whole show again in the span of 3 days. And liked it even more the second time around.

Anyways, moral of the story: keep watching and give this show a chance! Yes, it is a bit different and takes some getting used to, but this is a Star Trek series after all, and it's a really good one at that!

Can't wait to own it on blu ray when it comes out.

Violence, f words.... this not star trek. Worst purchase yet.

I’m sure by now you have seen the groups of people taking any bit of time and place they can to trash the show. They will say the show is too dark, too violent, too non-canon, too futuristic, and not Star Trek enough. I’m here to tell you that Trekkies, like much of other fandoms too resistance and afraid of change, likes to have selective and often times rose tinted memory.

They want Star Trek to stick to the tired old formula of episodic exploration where the ending of every episode resets everyone to zero like some typical police procedural such as NCIS or Law and Order. They balked at a show that dared to break from tradition and tell a long game of serialized stories in the way that many streaming shows are formatted nowadays because people’s viewing habits of changed since the days when a Star Trek show was consistently on the air.

This show is not too dark nor too violent. What has happened here is a show that has finally not turned away from consequences. That going out into space is dangerous, that life out in the unknown exploring can be dangerous. It no longer is coddling you to reality because darkness and death are parts of life but they are also things we can overcome and bring hope to fight against. This show doesn’t shy away from pain, grief, and trauma, not should it. If Star Trek was always meant to be something for us to hold ourselves up to, then staying strong through adversity is an important lesson Discovery teaches.

The show is not too futuristic. People will harp on this in many reviews. They do not want to accept that time has changed, that the outdated sets can be redesigned to fit in a specific moment in time. They say the tech is too advanced yet if Discovery is a top of the line science vessel that’s suppose to be the cutting edge of science, why is it shocking if it’s designed differently. Starfleet can’t even keep its own uniforms straight in any of the older series anyways and we are suppose to believe that techs can’t be also constantly evolving and changing between ship to ship? I mean, how many different classes of federation starships are we up to now?

And as related to that, you will hear of this show not being canon, of not following canon. People will harp on this greatly, perhaps more than anything else, they’ve held canon to be so sacred as untouchable thing, even though canon has consistently been retconned and changed and modified from show to show and Discovery only is the next one in line. The show doesn’t break canon, in fact, everything people will claim makes it non canon are things that one can easily explain away. Certain people simply don’t want to because they don’t like to change their minds and want something to nitpick. Mostly to feel superior and to validate themselves in their own Trek canon knowledge like it’s a competition.

Star Trek Discovery IS a Star Trek show, just because it takes storytelling differently from the old format and dares to break from tradition that it is being punished by a selective amnesiac fandom. A fandom that has forgotten its own history or better yet is trying to rewrite it. A fandom that has forgotten years spent yelling about TNG not being Trek, about DS9 not being Trek, about VOY not being Trek, and practically tossing ENT under the bus like some unwanted red headed step child to never speak about again. Well, I didn’t forget those days. I didn’t forget the days when Star Trek could have great story and bad story, I’m not the one wearing rose tinted glasses like some and hold up older Trek shows as some paragon on greatness. Every series had its great heights and every series had its lows.

This show has great performances, a great long game, and a different way of looking through the universe that expands the world we already known. Certain people want Trek to always tred the same old roads, they blast Discovery for boldly going beyond the boxes certain sects of fandom have set. Fans don’t want to change, they want complicity. They will say this show is not Star Trek because it has no hope, yet the characters stand strong to hope even through all the trauma and adversity. If nothing else, that is Star Trek at its core.

I will not tell you if you will like it or not - as with all Trek shows, it has its great moments and not so great moments, but I would hope that any viewer will take the chance the watch the show and decide for themselves.

Whats the matter CBS, you can't find room on your regular network that you have to create ALL ACCESS and then have the gall and audacity to CHARGE people to watch it?? We as consumers already pay too damn much for cable services that are ripping us off on a daily basis. You don't have the GUTS to put your Star Trek program on regular TV and instead push it off to your ALL ACCESS. I guess you don't really want to entertain your viewers on your regular channel and so you push these programs that might do some good on your regular channel off into oblivion and then charge us to watch. I'll buy the DVD when it comes out this way I don't have to pay YOU at CBS more money. AS for Star Trek Discovery I'll tell you this Gene Roddenberry has been rolling over in his grave and screaming, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY MISSION AND PHILOSOPHY OF WHAT STAR TREK REALLY MEANS!!! Yes you're creating these series just to make more money off of a very successful TV Series and "some" movies. Have the guts to show it on your regular channel and let the viewers decide but don't force us to pay through the nose for another ALL ACCESS service. You have some shows on your regular cable channel that should be tossed and make way for intellectual programs be they science fiction or drama!!!

This isn't Star Trek. It's a Starfleet uniform filled with garbage. Star Trek is a show about a crew of people, who are a team, a family. This crew goes on adventures and finds themselves in moral quandaries, they are forced to ask philosophical questions to resolve the problems before them.

This show is about a bunch of people who constantly break rank, betray each other, and don't really ask questions, they just make questionable choices without reflection. Yes, they fall into some conundrums, but there's limited acknowledgment of them.

Embarrassingly, many of the show's elements were obviously lifted from an indie point and click adventure game from 2014. There is a lawsuit. Look up "star trek discovery plagiarism"

The show is also frustrating in that it needlessly retcons the TOS-era. The technology is greatly advanced compared to what appears in TOS set 10 years later. It makes no sense that they keep making prequel content but want to add new tech. The Klingons also look more alien than they do in 90s-era Trek, which makes no sense as it's set before the less alien-looking TOS Klingons. I suppose you could just say something about artistic license but... it just seems stupid. If you're going to be wildly inconsistent, why call it Star Trek?

I watched this season from beginning to end. I'll admit I was excited here and there. There were times I thought it might end up being good. After all, most first seasons of Star Trek series are rough. But this is different. This isn't 'rough,' it's a disgrace to Star Trek. It's bad. It's lazy. It's often stupid. Star Trek is supposed to be cerebral.

Without spoiling anything, even if you found a way to enjoy the climax of the season arc, the finale is lazy nonsense with an Aaron Sorkin-esque speech thrown in to tell us there actually was a moral of the arc, followed by a dash of fan service.

Just watch any other Star Trek series instead. Even Voyager and Enterprise are better than this. I recommend the 1080p remastered TNG, as well as the unfortunately not remastered DS9.