Yeah. I find the changing of the Klingons again to be frustrating too. I liked the look they had for the last 40 years, beginning with The Motion Picture where they added the bumpy foreheads. It worked this long. Why change it again? I've just seen episode 11, but has this ever been addressed on the show? At this point in Trek history, shouldn't the Klingons be suffering from the effects of the Augment virus?
I've noticed that most other alien races in Trek have largely gone unchanged. Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites all look more or less exactly as they were when they were first introduced. They did alter the Romulans a little, however, adding what looked like a Frankenstein-like forehead in Next Gen. But that was about it. But the Klingons, they always keep messing with.
The tech issue has always been kind of a thorny one. I attribute that to the fact that what was futuristic in the 1960's is not so much today. Yeah, it's comforting and consistent if they tried to make it match what we saw in "The Cage." But I don't think anyone but longtime fans would want to see that. Today's audiences would look at it and think it was just too hokey-looking.
I've heard some novel writers try to jump through hoops in their books, saying Starfleet was trying different uniforms and ship designs at the same time as Discovery. But it seems like they're reaching.
However, seeing the Enterprise at the very end of the last episode (Yes, even I couldn't avoid that spoiler) suggests that they may be trying to address some of these discrepancies next season.
I attribute whatever problems the show currently has to your typical first season jitters. I remember TNG wasn't batting 1,000 its first couple of seasons either. Also, Bryan Fuller left for reasons that are still unclear (he was either fired, forced out, or left of his own volition, depending on whom you ask). Plus, look at how many exec producers are listed. There's definitely a "too many cooks" factor there as well. Hopefully a lot of those names will be pared down next season.
Speaking of Star Trek: Continues, I don't know how long that will go after what happened with Axanar. Paramount has really clamped down on fan episodes and put strict rules on them in the wake of that. Are they still even doing any more episodes?