Note: No Spoilers unless you're one of those who won't even watch a preview clip so you know nothing at all going in.

Just watched the first episode. Overall impression, good. Almost very good.

Anson Mount is excellent as Pike, and as much as I hate to admit it Ethan Peck is very good as Spock (but he's no Nimoy, no one is).

The story was good too, not great but good. A few instances of a bit of eye-roll on my part but nothing really bad. Already much better than ANY episode of STD (through the 2.5 seasons I suffered through before giving up anyway). No more detail than that to avoid spoilers

I am however still annoyed by the complete disregard for what the Enterprise should look like just a few years before Kirk takes command. No attempt at continuity there at all. Kirks' Enterprise in the OS was austere, Pikes' Enterprise is opulent. Of course they want to update things for a modern audience but they could have done so with an update to the old design rather than a complete overhaul that bears zero resemblance to the "real" Enterprise. It's a big "Screw You" to all of us old timer Trek fans.

Ignorance of rank structure. A big pet peeve of mine. TNG got it right, why can't these new shows? Pike is Captain of course, his second in command (Number One) is a Commander. The helmsman and navigator are Lt Commanders? Seriously? Ridiculous, previous helmsmen/navigators throughout Trek series have been Ensign, Lieutenant Junior Grade or Lieutenant. And then to cap it all off when circumstances warrant a temporary second in command (Executive Officer) they put a Lieutenant in the position.... I guess because no Ensigns or Cadets were available? Just utter laziness/stupidity.

And of course for modern sensibilities and a touch of woke-ness Pike is the only white male human to be seen, Spock being the only other white male in the main cast. Then you have the navigator, helmsman, communications officer, head nurse, security chief and executive officer as all female. Chief medical officer is a black male and I apparently later on the chief engineer will also be male but an Andorian. Oh and "Nurse" Chapel is portrayed much more like a full fledged Doctor in episode one rather than a nurse, apparently she gets a lobotomy sometime before Kirk takes command. Admiral Robert April is also briefly seen and although the character has been identified as a white male in the Animated Series as well is in Trek publications (such as "The Star Trek Encyclopedia" from 1994 where Gene Rodenberry's picture is used to represent April) he is portrayed as a black male here.

Will I watch more? Sure, but later. I had already cancelled my Paramount+ subscription a few weeks ago because we just weren't using it, its paid for through May 10. But I'll reactivate my account when the new season of "Seal Team" is released and get caught up on "Strange New Worlds" then.

I watched the first episode and had much the same thoughts as you. From the nerd standpoint, as you said, things are just too opulent, and for me, the tech seems too advanced. Again, I understand updating it to look futuristic to modern audiences, so it's not that, it's what they can do, especially relative to the previous shows, like how precise the transporter can be.

They also mentioned the Gorn, which were an unknown race during the original series until they attacked an outpost, and that was a key component of the episode they were in. It's almost like the production team didn't really know anything about the show, and just looked through some Star Trek stills and picked stuff out to include, without really understanding its place in the story. "Hey, look, that lizard-man thing! It's pretty famous, we should work that in somehow. What's it called? A Gorn? OK, let's just make a reptile reference and use the name, and people will get it."

One instance in particular, if I understood it correctly. Did they..............

That was my understanding, and unless I missed something, it didn't even make sense to me how that would even have helped.

I think they beamed the liquid into his system not actually just his eye but I know how they depicted it

Not sure how much of this would be regarded as spoiler, if any, but just to err on the side of caution:

Yep, sure was fast acting.

I hate the general trend in all entertainment media of having scenes where the danger MUST NOT be resolved until the very last second. Like the trope of the bomb never being defused until the countdown reaches one that "Galaxy Quest" parodied. It's silly and insults the audience.

All very good observations, thanks.