Guess whats gonna be in Star Trek: Discovery that, by accident or design, contradicts something established in previous Trek adventures. Winners get no-prizes. I'll go first: I expect the technology of the USS Discovery NCC-1031 to be extrapolated from what we have today, which is far ahead of much of what they imagined on Kirk's old Enterprise. Wireless technology, animated touchscreens, holograms, a computer voice that speaks normally without typewriter noises. It will not conform to what we see on the USS Enterprise in "The Cage" I also expect them to have/learn much more knowledge of Klingons and their culture (which I expect to be TNG-based) than was apparent in Kirk's time.
Kelvin or Franklin style is how I expect the interior of the ship to look. Perhaps with some more TOS-style colors. As for continuity, I expect it to be kinda like Enterprise where aliens that Starfleet shouldn't know about yet show up. Also I doubt many of them will look how we're used to seeing them.
I think the technology will even be more advanced than the TNG era in some areas. Think about the padds, they seemed futuristic back then when the shows were new but our 21st century tablets seem to be able to do much more. I specifically remember a scene where Bashir talked about taking several books with him and it showed him putting several padds into his luggage. And there were other scenes where characters had piles of padds on their desks, those things weren't treated as portable computers or multi purpose items. Each padd seemed to be a single book or file and all we ever saw people do was read or write on them. Maybe the padds weren't their versions of ipads, maybe they were kindles but even then one should be able to hold thousands of books. The communicators offered audio communication only which seems to be a bit ridiculous. Even if audio only is sufficient in many cases it often would have been helpful kf someone had turned on the camera after saying "You should see this!". Holodecks seemed to be new in TNG but a more advanced technology should be available for Discovery. I'm thinking about a virtual reality system where the crew lies in chairs and visual and sensory data put into their brains directly, creating a realistic experience without putting on a physical costume ans walking into a room.
Don't forget that in TOS they were just pen and paper, so basically just a clipboard. Obviously there's no way that will still be used. Or when Picard is asking Riker what he sees and Riker just answers "Trouble." Come to think of it, in Heart of Glory they acted as if it was amazing to transmit the image from Geordi's VISOR to the viewscreen, but now that technology is used all the time in the military. It would make sense to show members of landing parties having cameras on them somehow. Well Voyager did that in Equinox and referred to it as a poor man's holodeck so I imagine Starfleet should be able to do it. But personally I would rather they avoid anything to do with the holodeck. As J. Michael Straczynski said in his TOS-reboot pitch, if you need a holodeck for excitement while exploring the unknown something is wrong.
It's going to be just like Enterprise, in that Discovery won't violate any ACTUAL continuity, only misguided fanon assumptions.
To be fair, the multiple padds were also implied to be a choice not a requirement, and we also don't know what they were made of or how light they were etc ( they could be very environmentally friendly, unlike our own) they also appear to have colour e ink screens with video capability. By the same token, communicators do the same job as phones....but in such a radically different way. Subspace is not 3G. I believe seeing what geordi sees is what supposed to be amazing, and don't forget all the information being transmitted at once by the Visor, again across subspace, using a piece of tech we never see or imagine being charged. Later on, when geordi is bugged by Klingons and Romulans, they can only manage a shonky video only feed from something attached to the visor, not geordi vision.
Discovery will technologically pick up where Voyager left off, borderline magic. To be honest, I'm hopeful that technology will not be showcased at the expense of story telling, character advancement and universe building. Tech should be present, but in the background, like "wallpaper." Away from tech, it would really take little things to enhance continuity. Total absence of the Romulans, if TPTB can't creatively build a few new nemesis species that will indicate a problem.
But the thought that in 400 years, tablet technology has regressed to the point where it's only possible to store ONE NOVEL on each pad - in contrast with the hundreds of books that will fit on a present day Kindle or iPad - is inconceivable. The state of computer technology in the 24th century is such that one pad should be able to essentially store every novel ever written. Certainly more than ONE!
All of this is why I wish Discovery was set in the Kelvin Timeline, or even a new third timeline apart from the Original and Kelvin timelines. That way they could do whatever they wanted and not have to try to fit itself within established continuity. Regardless, I am very excited for new TV Trek. As for my predictions: Romulians, sentient androids, updated uniforms, Kelvin Timeline style bridge and technology and many other things. I'm fine with all of this as long as it's good TV.
I predict that one of the american writers of the show will use imperial measurements in an episode instead of the metric system. OWEEE!! My cannon has been VIOLATED!!!!
If they don't run into civilisations based exactly on various earth cultures every third week, I'm writing me a letter of complaint to these fellows! I wanna see Nazi planets, cowboy planets, toga planets, mafia planets! And I want 'em now!
Nothing wrong with that, by the 23rd century likely the quaint "system international" will only be used intermittently. There's a limit to "do whatever they wanted" and still have it be Star Trek.
vulcans in starfleet before spock because as well know spocl was the first vulcan in starfleet it says so right there.
There maybe trouble ahead on this front if they take their ship sizes and even design cues from the Kelvin universe but it's set in Prime.
Well the only Starfleet starship design we ever saw in TOS was the Connie. I know TOS-R added the Antares, but thanks largely to the Reliant and Franz Joseph a lot of fans have this idea that all pre-TMP Starfleet ships are basically just kitbashed Constitution-classes. There's nothing in TOS to say that there's no Kelvin-type ship, and there's nothing about the Kelvin that couldn't exist in the TOS continuity.
And this is where I point out that the USS Discovery is larger and (thanks to that huge secondary hull) has far more internal volume than the original Enterprise. Whether it's a continuity error is up for debate (unless Kirk ever said the Enterprise is their biggest ship, no), but it will definitely cause butthurt.
Well I don't see why. The Defiant is smaller than Voyager and Voyager is smaller than the Enterprise-E. However I'm hoping that with Fuller gone the design has been completely changed.
I'm not saying go all RDM Battlestar Galactica on everyone. I just meant that setting it in an alternate timeline it would give them a little freedom with the aesthetics of show - the ships, the uniforms, the computers, etc. I love TOS and I don't want anyone to think I'm dissing it, but if DSC really is set in the TOS (about a decade before as mentioned) there will be an expectation from a portion of the fanbase to fully adhere to the look and feel what we saw in The Cage, and anything more advanced than as depicted in any episode of TOS will be seen as an error. Remember how everyone got upset with how ENT looked more advanced the TOS? But of course, there has to be boundaries for what they could do. I have a love-hate relationship with the Kelvin timeline films, but I do enjoy the look of the films. No, not the lens flares and the fancy effects, but how they were able to create a look that captured the spirit of TOS, but still making it look futuristic by today's standards. That's my hope for DSC. However, I know nothing I write here matters. The show will take place in the original timeline. I'm fine with that. It makes business sense for CBS to do it that way. I just hope people don't get in an uproar the moment something is 'just a little more advanced' than what they saw in TOS.