So I just watched the first episode of Strange New Worlds because I'm always behind in watching absolutely everything. As a result, I have not looked at the rest of this thread to avoid spoilers for upcoming episodes but here are my thoughts on the opener.
It was...okay?
I certainly didn't hate it and I certainly didn't love it either. Anson Mount is clear leading man material and has the right amount of gravitas and charm for the role. The set design, costuming (I really like the uniforms) and general look of the show are top-notch, and whilst Ethan Peck doesn't really remind me of Nimoy's Spock much at all I thought he was good in the role otherwise. I have talked plenty about how I don't like the idea of constantly revisiting the TOS crew but that ship has sailed so I'm not going to use it as a strike against anyone who has to fill those extremely large boots.
By 15 minutes in I was starting to sigh a bit at the endless member berries moments they had crammed in (of course it's the USS Archer, etc) since it makes the world seems small and it's just unnecessary but Pike is eminently watchable and I did enjoy just looking at the screen. Again, it looks very nice.
His knowledge about his own future was slightly jarring (I don't know if this was mentioned in Discovery beforehand I couldn't continue) and adds another layer to the problem of prequels where the audience knows where everything is ultimately going but now the actual main character does as well?
The main story of the piece about the problems that generally arise with first contact and the prime directive (or General Order 1) was very middling. It's been done before of course (and actually probably even better in that season 2 Orville episode) and brought nothing new to the table to make this story stand out. The angle about the Federation being responsible for them discovering warp drive wasn't enough to make it stand out and didn't make a whole lot of sense either. They reverse-engineered it from seeing activity through their telescopes? Also, the idea of them not being ready for warp technology didn't really work since they still made it, just with some help from some observations. It's not like Earth was in a great place when Cochrane discovered warp technology. I guess they did explain that they chose to make a weapon instead of a drive but still, it didn't really work for me. And that was my main issue with this episode. I didn't find the writing particularly strong. Nothing about this makes me change my mind on Akiva Goldsman or Alex Kurtzman's ability to write truly compelling Trek.
The whole edited package of Earth's history of the Eugenics war was pretty on the nose as well. I guess they have a video editor on the Enterprise ready to make stirring VTs for alien species to change their warring ways once they see it. Just didn't work.
So yeah, I didn't really think the story was great at all but I liked the performances and some of the crew interactions were nice, and it already feels like Spock and Pike bounce off each other nicely. I do like the idea that they didn't try and cram a more grandiose overarching plot down our throats and it felt more like a classic one-episode adventure which I assume is what the show is going for. Just hoped it might have been a stronger first outing.
I did roll my eyes a few times (they messed up and didn't transport Spock's pants, that's not a potentially dangerous oversight when using transporter technology!) but I didn't feel like there was anything egregiously terrible to make me angry either.
IT WAS FINE OK.
I'll keep watching it.