I believe there’s an objective answer to whether Star Trek: Discovery was a successful show, and the answer is yes.
The internet has been rife with this question recently. I’ve been seeing an awful lot of chat and discussion about whether Star Trek: Discovery was, or rather is, successful, and there are many people with a lot of different opinions on it. Whether it’s a good show is a matter of opinion, so I’m going to take that out of it. But I do believe you can objectively say it was a successful show.
Where I’m Coming From
I’m going to be very upfront so you understand where I’m coming from. I’ve enjoyed the later seasons. I didn’t like the first. I’d say the first two seasons were really rough for me. Once I got over some of the storytelling aspects, I eventually got into it, and I liked three and four, and I’m assuming five is going to be amazing as well, because four I really did like. I liked how it got back to a lot of its roots and became very Star Trek, in that we were dealing with aliens and people had to think through things.
Is it my favorite show? Absolutely not. Is it the one I like the least? No way. That honor and distinction is held by Star Trek: Enterprise, which I’m not a fan of. But at the same time, I see the value in it. I love seeing Easter eggs where we have Admiral Archer referred to, or the USS Archer, because it’s talking about Captain Archer, who is our captain of the NX-01.
Viewership
Discovery was the most watched series on Paramount+ in its inaugural year of 2021. Analytics company Parrot Analytics listed it as the 15th most in-demand streaming series of 2021, and it was also frequently ranked in the top 10 original streaming series for U.S. viewership during its season run.
First off, who cares why. Everybody’s going to jump in the comment section and say, oh, well, it’s because of this, and the pandemic, and whatever else. Who cares? The bottom line is this is an objective question, so we’re going by just what the facts state. You can’t doubt that the viewership was there. When it comes to viewership, absolutely, the series was a success.
Critical Reception
The fourth season of the show received an 88 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 7.70 out of 10, based on 17 reviews. I think that’s understating the number of reviews. They’ve got tons more since then. But when it opened, the critical review and reception was, I think, factually successful, if you look at something as rotten or not.
Now, you can argue Rotten Tomatoes isn’t a good meter. I know MatPat just put out a video talking about how it’s a broken system. I don’t necessarily know that that’s 100 percent the truth. As a metric, it’s the one we have at the moment, and it’s one that’s worth using. By that metric, critically speaking, the show is a success.
Again, we’re looking for objective reasons. None of this has to do with my opinion or your opinion, because your mileage obviously may vary. Objectively speaking, the critical reception was good.
Awards Are Awards Are Awards
Star Trek: Discovery has been nominated for various awards, including the Critics Choice Super Awards and the GLAAD Media Awards, and it has won the best special makeup effects award at the Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Awards.
Some might argue those aren’t necessarily as prestigious as some other ones. I’d argue back that awards are awards are awards. The show is, and has been, an award-winning show.
There are people who want to make the joke, and I’ll use a parallel example, that Suicide Squad is the Oscar award-winning Suicide Squad because it won for makeup and hairstyling. At the end of the day, objectively, factually, it still won. This show has won awards. A lot of awards. Could you argue other series from Star Trek have won more, or different, or whatever? Sure you could. But we’re talking about Star Trek: Discovery, and Star Trek: Discovery comes along with a very good stable of well-respected awards.
It Made a Profit Before It Aired
Star Trek: Discovery was financially successful for CBS, now Paramount+, as Netflix reportedly paid more than 100 percent of the cost of the show to obtain international distribution rights. That means the show had made a profit before it even aired on CBS All Access in the United States.
The links to everything I’m citing are in the description of the video above, so you have a better idea of what these numbers and facts mean and where they come from. One thing I hate is when people sit here and say, oh, it was terrible, and then they only cite their own articles. Self-referential citations aren’t conducive to an objective argument. So when I say Discovery is so far coming out to be a successful series, I’m saying it based on certain criteria.
Yes, there was drama surrounding Netflix, and there were some complaints. Are we getting into any of the things like potential lawsuits that happened over releases and who would have which regions? No. That isn’t germane to this discussion. On paper, the show turned a profit immediately, and on paper the series was successful.
We know Star Trek: Discovery, and Star Trek in general, had a rocky start. People want to sit here and say, oh, well, the first season of this and that. The first season of TOS wasn’t a huge success. In fact, it was canceled after three seasons. That’s huge. Other series have been allowed to finish their run. Star Trek: The Next Generation and a lot of others were able to come to a satisfying conclusion, whereas the original series was canceled early because it wasn’t as, quote unquote, successful.
Equity and Representation
The series has been recognized for its commitment to gender equity, receiving the ReFrame Stamp for having gender-balanced hiring.
Dude, absolutely, hands down. I think nobody’s going to argue that the series is pioneering LGBTQ equality, as well as a lot of others, as I think some of the other shows have done. Star Trek has always been a bastion of equality. Truthfully speaking, we’ve had diverse casts of characters since time immemorial when it comes to Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry fought very hard to have women represented, and minorities at the time, as well as different ethnicities. During the height of the beginning of the Cold War, you had a Russian on the bridge. All of those things added to the diversity and inclusivity of the series, and I think nobody can really argue that. Anybody who tries to hasn’t really watched Star Trek. Like, do you even Star Trek, bro?
The Toys
Some people are going to say, well, the toys haven’t been successful, and this and that and the other. That’s mainly because I think, frankly, they did a poor job. I don’t know that any of the toys have ever looked as good as some of the original ones you got. I know my original Next Generation figures were amazing, and I loved everything about them, and I don’t know that any of the Discovery material has ever been as good.
I also know there were some licensing issues back in the day with Les Moonves, and some other contract type stuff. It’s definitely one of those if you know, you know type situations.
Once It Broke the Mold
I may not like the series as much as other people do, and I definitely didn’t like the beginning of it. I thought seasons one and two were a mess, myself. Your mileage may vary. The show got much better as it went forward. Three and four were powerful seasons that I absolutely enjoyed.
That really comes down to when they finally broke free and got out of the original mold. The minute they got out of “hey, this is what the expectations are,” I feel like you got a better series. I’m okay with filling in the blanks. I think that’s a good way to go.
I’m excited for what they’re doing with Strange New Worlds, and the groundwork for all of that was laid in Star Trek: Discovery. Anyone who says otherwise, again, I don’t know what you’re watching.
Did you think the show was good, or not even good? Tell me your metric for success in the comments on the video above. Keep it polite and respectful, because everyone’s entitled to their opinion, all art is subjective, and we’re all fans of the same thing: Star Trek.
