J Bowskill

This is darker than anything that has come from the Star Trek stable before and has a grown up, visually stunning, feature film quality feel. Season 1 introduces the new story and characters and like any new show takes three or four episodes to build momentum and for the characters to find their feet. They have been very clever including a lot of identifiable style cues and sounds that make it feel far more familiar than Enterprise did- for me the nostalgia was very rewarding while getting to know the new characters. The writers have also introduced a lot of complexity in personalities- the values of the federation are there but the people are flawed, they have history and they don’t fit exclusively into the good guy/ bad guy boxes which makes the story unpredictable adding significantly to its diversity and interest. The central character is Burnham who has a coldness that comes from her Vulcan upbringing- as Season 1 progresses you see this coldness thaw and in Season Two her disconnect from Spook is skillfully explored coming to a very satisfactory conclusion at the finale. I also liked that although Burnham is the central character it’s not just her show with support from the others. There are many other brilliant characters who have strong story lines and who could also quite conceivably carry a spin off and the story opens up these possibilities beautifully without betraying the Star Trek Canon. This is very clever, stands well on its own but will no doubt thrill the fans too. I for one can’t wait for season three.