CBS is truly going where no other cable access station has gone before; especially putting Star Trek: Discovery on their premium All Access channel. However it’s safe to say that the new prequel series is setting some records and, for the most part, succeeding in providing an out of this world thrill ride.
Star Trek: Discovery takes place 10 years before the original Star Trek series that debuted in the 60’s. The series depicts the cold war of the unified Klingon houses against the United Federation of Planets and mainly revolves around Michael Burnham (The Walking Dead’s Sonequa Martin-Green) who starts off as first officer of the USS Shenzhou and is eventually placed on the advanced titular starship USS Discovery, which is captained by Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs). 
It takes a minute for you to get settled in after the first episode; you’re introduced to a multitude of characters of different backgrounds and species working together to keep the peace throughout the Federation of Planets; it’s understandable that the developers want the viewers to understand what’s going on and who they’re about to be introduced to in the series. However after the first episode you’re thrusted into the beginning of a war that has been highly mentioned and alluded to in the Star Trek series but never really told until now. The space battle in the second episode is almost breath taking in terms of visual effects and depth as we have never really seen such a battle 
take place, save for the recent J.J. Abrams Star Trek films.
Sonequ Martin-Green does an exceptional job portraying the main character of Michael Burnham, a female human that was raised by Spock’s father Sarek. In a sense she must play a dual role of a human raised as a Vulcan, a role I believe wouldn’t be easy to portray, however in our eyes Martin-Green does the role and lore justice.
One of the major complaints that we have is the CBS All Access; in order to watch the series you must have a subscription which has angered many die hard Star Trek fans; however in retrospect CBS has observed a record high subscription rating since debuting Star Trek: Discovery. While we did have some issues with the first pilot episode in terms of visuals and story plot, that was quickly put to rest once we watched the second and third episode.
Star Trek: Discovery has undoubtedly placed a divide amongst Star Trek fans; some hate it due to the portrayal of the Klingons and even the time period that the series takes place in, while others applaud the series for its visuals, lore friendly story elements and a well rounded plot. While I myself am more of a Star Wars fan, I was pleasantly surprised with the series after watching the first two episodes and cringed at the thought of waiting a whole week for the next episode to air (let’s face it, Netflix has spoiled us in terms of television series).
Star Trek: Discovery’s first three episodes are out now with new episodes debuting every Sunday on CBS All Access.
[penci_review]
