Inspired by gregorum's post concerning issues with startrek.website, which is ironic as lemmy.world is a bit glitchy right now and isn't letting me upload and had to use my alt here.
You're kind of right. Discovery S1 was trying to be a dark, prestige drama. It felt a lot more like BSG than Trek. I haven't watched it since it premiered but I don't remember hating it, though I didn't love it either.
They fired their show runner pretty early, so there is another tone shift from S2 onward. The tone becomes a lot more like the new-Trek movies, and later much more like Strange New Worlds. Take a look at screenshots from Season 4 compared to Season 1 to see just how much it shifted stylistically.
The real issue isn't aesthetic or tonal, it's that the writing is excruciating.
