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Reading this article is kind of frustrating because the author doesn't seem to understand the difference between between being a geek and being a science fiction fan. I'm sorry, but going through that checklist is like watching a blind man trying to describe an elephant. All you seem to perceive are parts of the shows, and not the things that make them come alive. Being geeky is a trend, liking all the things that other people like. Science fiction is a genre of storytelling. Sci Fi is about ideas, and whether you like them or not each episode of The Orville has an idea at its centre, without which there is no plot. That's Sci Fi. Meanwhile, Discovery is mostly about blowing things up and everything being dark and scary because dark is supposed to be cool. There isn't a science fiction idea introduced until episode four.
The greatest part of this article is that the author is flat-out convinced his trek fan buddies are all idiots who are getting it wrong. It flat-out couldn't be that Discovery abandoned every single tonal element of the show to be a weird game of thrones in space thing and he's jacking off to very serious television.
It's also interesting that he makes such a big deal about who Seth Macfarlane is rather than spending more than a second on considering the quality of the show; you get the distinct impression ol' family guy guy could have made the definitively best show in the history of television and it still "couldn't be good considering who made it".
Not only is discover a bad trek, it's not even that good of a TV show. It was made purely to make critics like this one like it - I.E. it panders to people who love heavy-handed death filled drama and have long since lost the part of their soul that likes to be genuinely entertained. And it worked, because to please critics a show doesn't actually have to be good; it just has to feel like AMC or HBO.
So the author of this article sees that the critics aren't seeing what a great many of long-time Trek fans are seeing ...and then sides with the critics. Not only that but he hasn't even watched four of the six episodes of The Orville and instead bases his entire judgment of the show on what said out of touch critics have reported along with his own personal beef with Seth MacFarlane's very existence. Nice.
The author's list of tropes utterly minimizes everything that Star Trek is (and more so everything that Gene Roddenberry worked his entire life meticulously creating). I find it difficult understanding how the author can even consider himself a "small f" fan of Trek with how casually dismissive of the series' fandom and history he comes off as in this article.
ST:D is taking a flame torch to established Star Trek canon and lore. The militaristic and vitriolic setting and characters are the antithesis of what Roddenberry envisioned for Star Trek as well as the mandate he set forth for the series prior to his passing. There can be war in a "utopian" Trek without every scene looking so dark and broody you wouldn't be surprised if Batman started battling Superman on the bridge of the ship (DS9's Dominion war proves that). There can be interpersonal struggle and deep moral quandaries without making 99% of the characters edgelords who seem to despise each other. As a lifelong Star Trek fan I hope STD gets its act together, meanwhile I'm all in with The Orville.
wow, this writer is a jerk. We don't like discovery because it has lost the essence of what Star Trek was, instead replacing it with this all-too-common serious television. I don't want to watch game of thrones in space and that is clearly what the show makers were shooting for. Star Trek always represented a new horizon for humanity, it was what we could achieve if our own internal species conflicts were resolved, it was our potential realised. Instead of following this the lame duck Discovery has decided to revolve almost entirely around conflict, whether that be internal conflict, crew conflict or this morally suspect captain. It's no longer about our potential, its about our current problems in space setting. It's just not Star Trek.
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"You'll Enjoy Mr. Barlow. And He'll Enjoy You!"
