Star Trek Discovery — Series 3 Episode 1 — That Hope is You, Pt 1 — A Review

7th November, 2020.

I’ll admit it: I love a good bang in the evening.

From fireworks: before you give me the meaningful look.

England — the largest nation of the UK — is currently under lockdown: so quite who’s holding an informal, back-garden display?

I don’t know.

At any rate … ?   And in something of a tradition?

I wanted to watch TV, tonight, start on my review of the episode at hand, then carry it in, tomorrow.

But, just so you know?

I’ve started watching the recently released third series of Star Trek: Discovery.

Right now?   I thinking this could be interesting.

~≈🤔≈~

8th November, 2020.

Hmmm … 

It’s a Sunday: a Sunday after I watched that episode of Star Trek Discovery, and I’ll admit it.

I’m mildly distracted,

The main door of my building has a problem.

The inside handle’s hanging off.

Frustratingly … ?

My landlord’s website is refusing to accept my details: other wise I’d’ve reported it online.

Distracting, isn’t it … ?

At any rate … ?

It’s the Sunday after the Saturday before.

And I wanted to tell you about last night’s episode of Star Trek: Discovery.

~≈🤔≈~

Episode 1 — That Hope Is You — opens with a summary of Such Sweet Sorrow (Pt 2), the season two climax.

The scene shifts: to an unknown human, waking up in his office to wait for who knows what.

The scene shifts again: to a smuggler’s ship run by a man called Book (David Ajala), desperately fleeing from an alien called Cosmo … until his ship’s computer alerts him to a temporal anomaly … that hits him, and forces him to crash land on the nearby planet, Hima.

In the immediate aftermath?

Book finds that the anomaly was caused by Michael Burnham coming out of a worm hole that’s landed her some nine-hundred and thirty years from home.

And lord knows how many lightyears from a crew, and a ship, that should have been directly behind her.

She needs to contact them, find out more about about a future that’s seen the Federation collapse … 

And needing to find someone who can help her contact the USS Discovery … 

~≈🤔≈~

Now … 

First things first.

I’m going to quickly apologise to my YouTube followers: for not turning my earlier Star Trek: Discovery reviews into videos: in the same way I covered Star Trek Picard.

That’s something I intend to change.

I can, at least start making video going for from now.

Which leaves the next question.

What did I make of this episode of Star Trek: Discovery?

For starters?

The little things … 

There’s a scene where Michael gets interrogated by a villainous Orion, and his equally nasty Andorian partner … that is very funny!

Michael’s been slipped a Mickey that makes her very chatty … and the combination of the script, Olatunde Osunsanmi’s direction, and Sonequa Martin-Green’s comic timing, makes for something that put a smile on my face.

There’s a potential — potential — romance, there: between Burnham and Book (David Ajala) that could be interesting.   Whether the writers turn it into a romance is a whole other area.

There’s a possibly eco-friendly message going on, with the mention of the trance worms.

There’s an exciting chase going on: with at least one Lurian involved.

Who seems very chatty, I should add.

However, the thing that’s attracting me at the moment … ?

Isn’t so much the new or established characters.

It’s good to welcome Commander Burnham back: and to see her facing what looks like a whole new set of challenges.

What is attracting my eye?

Is the world building … !

As anyone who’s seen my reviews of Watchmen will realise, I like nicely done world building.

It’s part of what attracted me to the late Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld: and drew me away From Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers Guide series.

Frankly, Sir Terry was prepared to put in the work.

Watchmen’s the same: managing to extend the original graphic novel’s world, very well indeed.

To the point where I’m informally judging anything else by its very high bar.

Is series three of Star Trek Discovery doing that?

In this first episode?

Yes: I think it is.

The first two series of Discovery are very good: and, I think extending the franchise’s background, very well.

I think they’re slightly caught: as the show’s producers have to be careful not to disturb much.

But moving the crew forward nine hundred odd years, to a time when the Federation’s collapsed, the Temporal War’s ended, there’s an ecological disaster — the Burn — to explore, and resolve?   Something I suspect will be resolved when — if — the crew take the news of how to avoid it back to their own time?

Frankly?

The world building in this episode of Star Trek: Discovery, as with Watchmen, is good.

I’ll be back for more, next week.