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Title: The Vulcan Hello (24 Sep 2017)
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| Episode cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Sonequa Martin-Green | ... | Michael Burnham | |
| Doug Jones | ... | Saru | |
| Shazad Latif | ... | Ash Tyler / Voq (as Javid Iqbal) (credit only) | |
| Anthony Rapp | ... | Paul Stamets (credit only) | |
| Mary Wiseman | ... | Sylvia Tilly (credit only) | |
| Jason Isaacs | ... | Captain Gabriel Lorca (credit only) | |
| Michelle Yeoh | ... | Captain Philippa Georgiou | |
| Mary Chieffo | ... | L'Rell | |
| James Frain | ... | Sarek | |
| Chris Obi | ... | T'Kuvma | |
| Maulik Pancholy | ... | Dr. Anton Nambue | |
| Terry Serpico | ... | Brett Anderson | |
| Sam Vartholomeos | ... | Danby Connor | |
| Arista Arhin | ... | Young Michael Burnham | |
| Emily Coutts | ... | Keyla Detmer | |
While patrolling Federation space, the U.S.S. Shenzhou encounters an object of unknown origin, putting First Officer Michael Burnham to her greatest test yet.
The USS Shenzhou encounters the Klingons.
I enjoyed this first episode for how it sets up a quite intriguing premise, showcases the best visuals in a Trek show and introduces characters, but it does have issues.
The story is pretty compelling, particularly towards the end of the episode as the tension increases, but the dialogue is a bit flat and exposition heavy for my liking. I understand they need to give background information on characters but this for me is never done with any subtly. Some of Captain Georgiou's very American sounding dialogue is not suited to Michelle Yeoh's delivery and felt awkward.
Visually its great and what I would expect from a Trek show made in the television streaming era. I have watched all other Trek shows and classify myself as a fan, but not one who takes it so seriously that I would reasonably expect a modern show to stick to the kind of visuals used in years gone by. If that means inconsistency in the look, so be it. As difficult as it might be for the die hard fans to accept, none of it is real anyway. It has to be said though, the holographic communication technology is a step too far.
On the subject of going over the top with visuals, the look of the Klingons is a bit too far away from the established creature design for my liking, especially given that there are characters in the franchise with mixed human and Klingon heritage. This makes concept of a union between the two species feel less plausible by seeming so physically incompatible. All that being said, this version does look far more alien and like they are actually from another world compared to the original designs.
As for the characters, it's early days but they seem to be quite good, particularly Burnham and Saru. I'm not sure if Burnham really needs the Sarek connection, but it will be interesting to see where they go with this. For me characters are the most important aspect of the show, so if they do not develop in an interesting or memorable way, I will struggle.
I get the feeling that some of the details of the established canon will be smashed to bits with this show, which is a shame because as much as producers say they need to update things for a modern audience, any decent writer should be able to create stories that are clever enough to be fresh without messing with what happened before. That being said, I think this will only be a major issue for the those who take Trek far too seriously. The most important aspect for me will be when the show is over and we look back on the full narrative, does it fit within the franchise and is it consistent with Roddenberry's vision?