'Star Trek: Discovery' Recap - 'The Vulcan Hello'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Fifty-one years ago, Gene Roddenberry's unique and powerful vision of a world where mankind put aside its differences to accomplish wonders and traverse the stars premiered on television, and while this revolutionary television show didn't quite become a ratings smash back in its day, the wonderful and uplifting ideas that it presented inspired a generation of fans and took root in a way no one ever thought imaginable. The end result of Star Trek's inspiration upon its fans helped spawn thirteen motion pictures and four additional television spinoffs, but its legacy is not without its disappointing moments. 

Some of the films simply don't hold a flame to the fundamentals of the franchise and after Deep Space Nine, the quality of the television shows to follow it came into question. After all, the quality of Voyager was a mixed bag from time to time despite a unique concept and stellar cast and Enterprise was a series that unfortunately missed out on the opportunity to tell an incredible story. Those two missteps saw the television side of the business go into hibernation for twelve years, with that break finally coming to an end last night with the premiere of the sixth television series in the franchise...Star Trek: Discovery. 

Now while one would expect that a new entry in this storied franchise would be welcomed by the fans with open arms, that has simply not been the case. After all, there's already been plenty of ire from Trekkies everywhere over the fact that the saga will unfold via CBS All Access, a pay to view service and there's been plenty of skepticism when it comes to the tone and design of the show, as to whether or not it will uphold the uplifting nature of the franchise which means that there was a lot riding on last night's series premiere, 'The Vulcan Hello', and at this point, you're likely all now wondering whether or not is this is a worthy entry in the Star Trek saga and if it does indeed hold a flame to the fundamentals introduced in its predecessors, and the answer to both of those questions is a resounding yes...but bear in mind it accomplishes much of this in vastly different fashion than we are used to.

Granted, the sense of awe and wonder that comes with traversing the galaxy and seeing the sights and beauty that it has to offer is present in this show, but once the Klingons come into the mix, it's clear that this series is indeed going to go to far darker territory, leaving one to wonder, well how in the heck is it going to uphold the vision of a future where life is indeed better and that's where this tense story does the franchise service. Because by introducing what looks to be one grand conflict...the best parts of the franchise are going to be brought to the surface by way of some timely commentary on current events, a Trek staple, and by delivering unto us, an intimate tale of redemption for Commander Michael Burnham by throwing something new into the mix character wise...fear.  ​

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But before we dig in too deeply on that particular element, let's talk about those real world parallels because they were striking, since this iteration of Trek presents us with a United Federation of Planets that is supremely comfortable in its existence. Everything is hunky dory in the Federation in this era and the peace and wonder of a galaxy without conflict brings forth a sense of complacency that is challenged by a Klingon religious zealot named T'Kuvma, who spends much of the pilot condemning the Federation and calling for action against them. How exactly he plans to do that isn't quite revealed in the pilot, but his constant talk of prophecy and a union that he deems to be dangerous to his people is woefully similar to our own world, and it's quite satisfying to see the show find a real world element to address straight out of the gate. 

His actions and prophetic vision definitely draw out fear from the audience and our lead character for that matter as well, since Commander Burnham, the only human to graduate the Vulcan Science Academy and who was also raised by Commander Spock's father, Sarek, has quite the past with the Klingon Empire. In that her family was murdered in a Klingon raid and well...while she has been taught to forget her emotions, it's clear the loss of her family and the fear that resides within her when it comes to what the Klingons are capable of, drives her to do things that quite frankly...we've never seen happen in this franchise when it comes to a lead character and her actions are quite frankly downright stunning and offensive to a degree...at first. 

After all, none of us expected to see a Starfleet Commander commit mutiny in a critical moment the way she did last night, but once you get over the shock, and ponder on her past and her fears...Burnham's actions actually do make sense. She's seen horrible and traumatizing things in a world where such horrors are not supposed to exist. She's run and hid from those emotions and those memories and as they return to the forefront of her mind and wash over her...she's unsure of what to do outside of let her survival mode kick in and because of that, she makes some incredibly poor choices, and since this episode does indeed end on a cliffhanger with the U.S.S. Shenzhou squaring off against a small armada of Klingon vessels, it's obvious that Burnham is going to have to atone for her mistakes at some point and hopefully, set things right for letting her fear get the better of her. 

Of course, this style of storytelling is clearly not for everyone. I've already seen some polarizing responses to the premiere and some folks are clearly disappointed what what the series is setting up, and that's okay. But I'm seeing something special brewing here, because in this universe we rarely see Trek's characters experience true fear or allow their past to come into play and its refreshing to finally see that happen on the small screen and it really does seem that this inaugural season of Star Trek: Discovery is going to focus heavily on Burnham's journey of self discovery and judging from the tone of this series premiere, something tells me that the Commander isn't done making mistakes quite yet, and will be forced to face her darkest fears since the Klingons now surround her and the Shenzhou's intrepid crew. Either way, I personally loved this start to the series. It's great to have Trek back in a serialized form and I truly cannot wait to see what adventures await us in 2356. Until next time. 

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