Well, I've just watched. It's by far, and I do mean faaaar the weakest pilot of any Star Trek series.
First things first - let's not even get into how this all fits into any sort of canon, because it doesn't The events, the characters, the Klingons, the technology, none of it makes any sense. I could spend a lot of time nitpicking it all, but I'm sure plenty of hardcore fans will do that in even greater detail then I could. But that in itself does not have to be a disaster, annoying though it is. Canon is not everything. Some of my favourite Trek books are very much non-canon. It could still be good.
But it's not. The second problem is that, canon or not, it just doesn't feel like Star Trek at all. BenKii nailed it - The Orville is much more Trek than this. This all just about war and action and nothing else. Even the new movies, action focused though they are, still have at least some token themes other than that, but here's there nothing. And why is everything so dark? All the interiors of the Shenzou (or however you spell it) are just the opressive techno-darkness. And that court-martiall in the final scene, in an utterly dark room, with the judges' faces hidden in the shadows like they're some X-Com council? What the hell was up with that? Are court-martials now some shadowy tribunals?
But even forgetting all the un-trekness of it, it's still not good. It's rather boring. The scenes of Klingons talking klingon just drone on and on endlessly with no drama to them at all. And T'Kuvma must be the least interesting Klingon villain in Trek's history. Just compare him to the charaisma, screen presence and fun of having someone like Kor (TOS), Chang (ST VI) or Kruge (ST III). Or hell, even Lursa and B'Etor were more fun They have done the impossible- they have made Klingons boring. And the Federation side is not much better. The previous shows managed to do more for entire cast-full of characters in their pilots than this one did for one single character. I just don't care about commander Burnham, and I certainly don't like her. Even the action is not very good - the battle in the second episode is just about one of the least interesting, most poorly shot battles in Trek history. It's kind of amazing how twenty years ago and more they were pulling off so much better, more dramatic and engaging battles. This is just choppy and chaotic.
But the most disappointing thing about it all is that the whole pilot, the whole double episode comes down to this- Klingons set a trap, Starfleet flies right into it, there's a battle, and now there's a war. Just think about all the strange, weird, high-concept stuff we had in the other pilots. Barriers at the edge of the galaxy! Humanity on trial! Giant sentient space squids! Wormholes to other side of the Galaxy! Hell, even Enterprise had much more of a plot than this to it's pilot, even though it was too dealing with conflict with the Klingons.
In all honesty - if this wasn't Star Trek, I'd probably stop watching right here. Since it is, or at least is supposed to be, I'll give it more of a chance, hoping it has more to offer than just shooting at boring Klingons.
EDIT: Oh, and the intro sucks to. So boring and lifeless, the theme is so forgettable and lackluster... like the whole show, it's just so "meh".
Post edited September 26, 2017 by Breja