My wife has a thing for Scott Bakula. That’s not vital to the review, but I just thought I’d mention it.
I no longer feel the urge for more Star Trek. When there were just three seasons of oft-rerun Trek, the thought of more Trek sounded good. Now there are dozens of seasons and a pile of feature films, and I cannot say the world is hurting for lack of Trek. Still, the thought of seeing the early days, when mankind was first encountering aliens, unsure how to react in the face of such strong unknowns…
But as it turns out, that is not this story. Humans have known the Vulcans for a long time, and the Vulcans have a lot of knowledge about what’s out there. So the sheer adventure, the sheer mystery, is gone.
The series doesn’t fit into the feel of Trek history as I see it. Rather than being a bold race who reached out from their planet, the humans are a race whose reach for the stars is enabled and controlled by Vulcans.
Bakula is a captain in Kirk mode — he’s not there to oversee the ship, the ship is there to provide support for his own direct involvement. He seems more like a good lone wolf inappropriately given a captain’s rank. The vulcan science officer and the supporting humans didn’t really grab me; the only character I found myself perking up for was the ship’s overenthusiastic alien doctor.
They’ve already set up a big villain for the series, and seemingly in an attempt to bring us a different big villain, they have made it a time-control villain. In less than precise hands, time control lends itself to very poor stories, and trying to dictate the ongoing villain before the series has had time to find itself seems less than wise.
I don’t anticipate needing to watch this… but my wife may feel the need to get a Bakula fix, so I may well end up seeing it anyway.
