Star trek Discovery: Pre-release opinion.

The first thing you should know is that I love star trek it is still my favourite franchise even after all these years and when I heard that a new show was in development I was ecstatic. Finally, I could enjoy a Trek TV show that had the great graphics of the JJverse movies that set was set in the prime timeline of the old TV shows instead of the Kelvin Timeline.

First came the concept animation and at first I was a bit perplexed It looked like a cross between a federation and Klingon design and I first thought it could look like that since maybe if it was set in the late 24^th or early 25^th century it could be a collaboration between the two allied powers.

But then I heard that it was confirmed that it was a prequel set 10 years before the original series (2255 in timeline) which disappointed me since one it was a prequel that killed the franchise last time and two since it really through the design into suspicion, like how can the ship look like it was designed in part by a current enemy?

Then the trailer was released which graphically looked great but that’s about it, there is a lot of apparent continuity errors, and this seemed to be continued into the poster and first look images Let me explain them. Let’s start with the ship. The saucer the has two spaced rings in it which is very uncommon in fact as far as I know the only ship from Starfleet with that design trope is the USS Vengeance from the Kelvin timeline, which was a poor design to say the least.

The deflector dish is far more reminiscent of the motion picture deflectors which is set in the 2270s, the weapons there could be seven phasers on the bottom of the saucer alone that’s more firepower than the excelsior a 2280s heavy cruiser that is still In use 100 years after conception, a lot of fire power on a ship comparable to the constitution class in size which had 8 phasers on the saucer in total.  The nacelles are rectangular and have no illuminated bussard collectors, the odd secondary hull the images of the transporter room are all wrong ie not era appropriate.

While I accept that the discovery could've been a lot worse it could have been a lot better they could have literally taken a Constitution class and changed some things. I have seen a lot of people saying that the design was as good as it could be considering they had to modernise designs from the 1960s but if they had issue with designing a lore appropriate ship for that era then maybe they shouldn't have done a prequel.

This was my issue that this show would fall into the same ruts enterprise did with altering continuity well this show has done just that and it hasn't aired yet. For example, if they had done a show set in the early 25th century they could have had near free reign with starship design since the only cannon to go against is soft cannon, Star trek online even could have provided inspiration and a good story premise for the show to follow since those story lines are pretty impressive hell they designed the official Enterprise-F for you.

this is the last chance for star trek and I am just dismayed that what could be this franchise's last hurrah is another prequel at least a post nemesis show would have no continuity issues, more diverse story telling options that include a whole two quadrants to explore politically broken Romulan empire allied federation and Klingon empire maybe talk of both races joining the federation as the Klingon empire did by the mid 26^th century, more chances of special guest stars and would have provided a better end for star trek than nemesis did if the show were to fail, undoubtedly would have more fan support since the casts of TNG, VOY and DS9 are still here and would have aged an appropriate amount for the setting.

All this being said is there hope for this show? I would say yes. Some of the inconsistencies could be explained by one simple explanation that the discovery is an old vessel for the time, this would explain the larger weapon number since the weapons are less powerful, more akin to the NX phase cannons than the constitutions lasers or phasers. The deflector spire which is unusually large is less advanced than the 2240s constitutions design Even the hull could be explained away by it being an older ship and an advancement from the late 22^nd century Daedalus class, warp delta and the USS Franklin designs. 

There is proof of this theory is the uniforms if you line them up in order then you can see the progression and see where the discovery would fit.

Enterprise uniform 2150s

Franklin uniform (first federation uniform) 2160/70s

Discovery uniform  2200s-2250s?

Cage uniform 2254 

But cage is set a year before discovery in 2255, yes but crews only get new uniforms until they make birth. Voyager is the perfect example the crew of voyager kept the 2368-2372 uniform until 2378 when they got back to earth if the discovery is a 2210s or 2230s ship that was launched on a long mission in the 2240s or early 2250s that would explain a lot of inconsistencies, with uniforms providing a timeline. 

In a sentence I am sceptical but hopeful, the image that quelled a lot of my worries was this one. It works, it fits, it feels trek and i hope its good and i can't wait to see what the good cast has done.