The end of S2 is my least favorite part of DISCO by a wide margin. Though the Burn cause comes close.
Discovery Season Two: What Happened?
- Thread starter Tiran O'Saurus
- Start date
According to Akiva as soon as he was brought on the intention was to bring back Spock and do an Enterprise story. The time period demanded that expectation.
Actually, bringing Pike onto the show was one of the first decisions Goldsman made regarding season 2 saying "what's the point in being in this time period if we don't see Pike?" Bringing Spock onto the show, at least adult Spock wasn't decided until after Harberts and Berg left, as in an interview done while they were still running the show, Jonathan Frakes specifically said we would only see Spock as a child in flashback scenes in S2.
I was just posting about this over in the Disco Rewatch thread, but I'm currently into season 2 and it's more obvious than ever that the story in the first 5 episodes does not match the back nine. There is a very consistent message threaded through about the science vs faith theme which I quite enjoyed. Mount's performance as Pike the believer really anchored it.
At the end of episode 205, a couple of things stuck out to me that were later reshoots or ADR to start shifting the plot line away from what Harberts and Berg had planned. The scene on the Section 31 ship between Pike, Leland, and Cornwell (who suddenly appears from nowhere) is obviously tacked on. Also, the way Alan van Sprang plays Leland in the scene is markedly different from the rest of the same episode. Prior to this, he acts natural and - most significantly - human. But, this sequence has him suddenly noticeably cooler and more dispassionate. It makes me think that Leland being taken over by Control was not something the original showrunners had intended.
Burnham's final voiceover here and at the start of episode 206 are also slightly odd to me. They seem out of place in a way that I can't quite explain. I think they were added in post to help paper over the transition.
In doing a little more reading last night, I saw that the firing of Harberts and Berg resulted in a long pause in production which ended up shifting things like Jonathan Frakes' directing slot back an episode. This indicates to me that the writing changes were way more significant than we probably know. The production wouldn't had to have gone on pause for so long if it were just some tweaks to the story. I also have to wonder if the Airiam stuff was part of the original plan, given how quickly it pops up and then has to resolve with her death just two episodes later with very little set up to her character.
At the end of episode 205, a couple of things stuck out to me that were later reshoots or ADR to start shifting the plot line away from what Harberts and Berg had planned. The scene on the Section 31 ship between Pike, Leland, and Cornwell (who suddenly appears from nowhere) is obviously tacked on. Also, the way Alan van Sprang plays Leland in the scene is markedly different from the rest of the same episode. Prior to this, he acts natural and - most significantly - human. But, this sequence has him suddenly noticeably cooler and more dispassionate. It makes me think that Leland being taken over by Control was not something the original showrunners had intended.
Burnham's final voiceover here and at the start of episode 206 are also slightly odd to me. They seem out of place in a way that I can't quite explain. I think they were added in post to help paper over the transition.
In doing a little more reading last night, I saw that the firing of Harberts and Berg resulted in a long pause in production which ended up shifting things like Jonathan Frakes' directing slot back an episode. This indicates to me that the writing changes were way more significant than we probably know. The production wouldn't had to have gone on pause for so long if it were just some tweaks to the story. I also have to wonder if the Airiam stuff was part of the original plan, given how quickly it pops up and then has to resolve with her death just two episodes later with very little set up to her character.
IIRC, Airiam was always going to be killed. Sara Mitich, who played Airiam in the first season developed an allergic reaction to the makeup. So in S2, Mitich was recast as Lt Nilsson, another actress took over Airiam who stuck around just long enough to be killed off so that Nilsson could replace her on the bridge and thus Sara Mitich would keep her bridge post.
I knew about the recasting of Mitich due to her reaction to the makeup, but it seems strange to me the show would go to such lengths to justify keeping her around on the Bridge by killing her previous character.
Again, going off memory from several years back now, but I believe the actress who took over as Airiam in S2 confirmed she was only contracted for a certain amount of episodes, and this was while Harberts and Berg were in charge, which would indicated there was a plan all along to remove the character during the season.
Part of the "Game of Thrones" style the show was supposed to go with. Unlike previous Trek we never knew who'd survive.
Unfortunately we've lost some good characters.
Among them Ellen Landry. She died so soon. I'd have loved to have seen the insight on a character who's almost a collaborator. Unknowingly yes, but she is one of the small percentage of the crew who is all-in with Lorca, and exactly what the re-affirmation of Starfleet was about in the ending. Don't be like them.
Sadly, this went over the head of many Trekkies: those who thought Lorca was a great captain (and still do!). He's the bad guy people...an excellently portrayed, charismatic one who's supposed to make you think about your ethics and morality.
Just finished re-watching S2 this morning and yeah, it’s a massive downgrade for me from S1.
But I’ve always wondered if Culber was always supposed to return or if they re-wrote stuff to bring him back because of the backlash over killing him off. The whole subplot with Tilly and the network felt very tacked on.
But I’ve always wondered if Culber was always supposed to return or if they re-wrote stuff to bring him back because of the backlash over killing him off. The whole subplot with Tilly and the network felt very tacked on.
In interviews done immediately after the episode aired where Culber was killed, Wilson Cruz was quick to reveal there was a plan to bring Culber back.
gotcha. I don’t remember that.
I DO remember this but I think it was sort of plan 1A.
I always felt things changed gears with 207 and the probe, but I suppose that it was really 206. Presumably the plan was always to return to Kaminar using the characters and assets from the Short Treks episode and resolve the Kelpian/Ba'ul conflict that was set up there, but I bet Saru getting a good look and clearly identifying the Red Angel as a humanoid in a suit was added. I would assume that would have been left more nebulous originally to continue the science vs faith theme, which was pretty much completely abandoned after this episode.
A couple interesting anecdotal points... 206 still has Aaron Harberts and Gretchen Berg, along with all of "their people", in the credits. The WGA database even has the credits for 205 and 206 submitted months after episodes 201-204, and even following 207-209.
Ah, I didn't even think to go back and look at the credits. I guess that fits into the hypothesis that 207 is where they fully switched over to the new storyline, but went back into 205 and 206 to paper over the transition the best they could.
PS: thanks for posting the WGA database link, although... it's probably a time sink/rabbit hole I didn't need to know existed, lol.
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