Spoilers An overview of Season 2 set changes

[Tuskin38]

https://www.space.ca/star-trek-discovery-set-tour-secrets/

So they changed the rear left (when facing the rear) blinky light wall to have somewehre else where people could be

They say the Ready Room has been changed into a science lab, but I assume they actually mean Lorca's secret lab from last year.

The Mess Hall and crew quarters were the same set in Season 1, now they're separate sets.
The new Mess Hall set is on Deck 5 instead of Deck 2 to explain the changes.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

That section has the same framework as the door to the ready room & the turbolift. In one of the S2 shots (ep,1?) with Sarek still there, it looks like it's open.

 

[Tuskin38]

That section has the same framework as the door to the ready room & the turbolift. In one of the S2 shots (ep,1?) with Sarek still there, it looks like it's open.

Yeah they changed it before filming season 2 so there’s a continuity error with the season 1 finale.

 

[David cgc]

They say the Ready Room has been changed into a science lab, but I assume they actually mean Lorca's secret lab from last year.

Well, in the Captain Pike promo video that came out the other day, there's a shot of him mentioning he's going to need a different ready room, since he disagrees with Lorca's standing desk (and standing everywhere else) design. Could be he decides to go without and they remodel the space with a take on the "situation room" nook from the NX-01 and Defiant.

I'm confused on the "only entrance is from the ready room" line. There were turbolifts in season 1, right? There had to be.

Yeah they changed it before filming season 2 so there’s a continuity error with the season 1 finale.

It's not the first time. Wasn't it BoBW where the carpet on the bridge changed color within a few seconds on either side of the cliffhanger?

On the other hand, I remember when Stargate: Atlantis totally remodeled their Puddle Jumper shuttlecraft, they only shot the new cockpit from one angle to downplay the difference in their season two premiere and properly introduced the new set in a subsequent episode, even though it was (like this, presumably) a retcon and not an in-universe change.

 

[The Wormhole]

I'm confused on the "only entrance is from the ready room" line. There were turbolifts in season 1, right? There had to be.

Definitely. Look no further than Context is for Kings, Michael and Landry take the turbolift to the bridge, exit the lift walk through the bridge, observed by Saru in the command chair, and go to Lorca's ready room.

 

[Tuskin38]

I'm guessing they mean a place where people can enter constantly other then just a small tube.

 

[eschaton]

It's interesting to hear how many of the Season 1 sets were redressed, with many Discovery sets doubling as Shenzhou sets, or even the Mess Hall being redressed to be crew quarters. It seems like the season was even more cash strapped than I thought. No wonder it had such a weird claustrophobic feel with 75%+ of filming happening on no more than eight sets.

 

[Tuskin38]

It's interesting to hear how many of the Season 1 sets were redressed, with many Discovery sets doubling as Shenzhou sets, or even the Mess Hall being redressed to be crew quarters. It seems like the season was even more cash strapped than I thought. No wonder it had such a weird claustrophobic feel with 75%+ of filming happening on no more than eight sets.

The other series had the same thing.

 

[NeoStar9]

It's interesting to hear how many of the Season 1 sets were redressed, with many Discovery sets doubling as Shenzhou sets, or even the Mess Hall being redressed to be crew quarters. It seems like the season was even more cash strapped than I thought. No wonder it had such a weird claustrophobic feel with 75%+ of filming happening on no more than eight sets.

Might not even be a cash issue I think but more of a issue of space and just using what you have. You only have so much space to work with. If I recall correctly it was said they ended up expanding how much area Discovery's production was taking at the studio where they're filming to the point the studio itself was being expanded. That information came out I think while season 1 was airing so these changes and the newer sets are likely the result of them getting more space that they didn't have before.

This likely means less doubling up a set for locations they might need often to save them time. Doesn't mean they won't be re-dressed for other things but likely a lot less constant back and forth.

 

[Takeru]

It's interesting to hear how many of the Season 1 sets were redressed, with many Discovery sets doubling as Shenzhou sets, or even the Mess Hall being redressed to be crew quarters. It seems like the season was even more cash strapped than I thought. No wonder it had such a weird claustrophobic feel with 75%+ of filming happening on no more than eight sets.

That‘s not being cash strapped, that's being smart. Why wouldn't they redress the transporter room and corridors for the Shenzhou? They're both federation ships after all. You don't spend money you don't have to.

On TNG sickbay was also the observation lounge in season 1, engineering was used as a big corridor all the time, Ten Forward was also the theater and the battle bridge so many places I've lost count.
Was Voyager cash strapped because most of their sets were TNG leftovers? Only the bridge, ready room and conference room were actually new (but the latter two used Ten Forward windows).

 

[KennyB]

Yup just smart to redress. Hell the TNG conference room was the Enterprise A dining room in TUC......they LOVED those windows!

 

[F. King Daniel]

I love how, as everyone was transfixed by the Enterprise flying up and the TOS music was playing, an engineering team swapped out the blinkies in the back bridge alcove for different blinkies and pipes in like, 30 seconds.

 

[Rahul]

Re-dressing sets was never the problem, that's just being smart with ressources:
The original Shenzhou brig from the pilot is the same redressed set as Lorca's weapons' chamber as the Tellarite Bounty Hunter's bridge in "the escape artist" as Spocks quarter in season 2. This one is a good redress.

The problem was, in S1 they didn't have enough alien sets or sets outside the ship to redress: Other Trek shows had for example a big cave set that doubled for various planets, and a few alien corridors that were redressed to look like many different alien or human starships, stations or buildings.

On DIS, all the redresses OTOH were stand-ins for the same three starships. That made the whole season feel so repetitive and small: All you ever were seeing were the same eight sets, standing in for the same few locations. No alien ships. No strange planets. Nothing outside of the main ships most of the time. That was the problem.

On the other hand, I remember when Stargate: Atlantis totally remodeled their Puddle Jumper shuttlecraft, they only shot the new cockpit from one angle to downplay the difference in their season two premiere and properly introduced the new set in a subsequent episode, even though it was (like this, presumably) a retcon and not an in-universe change.

Dang! they must have done a pretty damn job - I watched the show (once, no repeated viewings where you start to notice stuff like this), and I never noticed!

 

[WarpFactorZ]

one filled with secret sets,

= Enterprise bridge and interiors (save Spock's quarters), no doubt.

 

[Noname Given]

It's interesting to hear how many of the Season 1 sets were redressed, with many Discovery sets doubling as Shenzhou sets, or even the Mess Hall being redressed to be crew quarters. It seems like the season was even more cash strapped than I thought. No wonder it had such a weird claustrophobic feel with 75%+ of filming happening on no more than eight sets.

They have said they blew most of the series budget on the first two episodes and after were struggling on how to have costs later in the season as a result. It still came out to them spending around $8 million per episode so it wasn't like CBS/Netflix 'cheaped out'. I guess the production staff just didn't manage/budget very effectively. Hopefully they do better going forward, but time will tell.

 

[eschaton]

They have said they blew most of the series budget on the first two episodes and after were struggling on how to have costs later in the season as a result. It still came out to them spending around $8 million per episode so it wasn't like CBS/Netflix 'cheaped out'. I guess the production staff just didn't manage/budget very effectively. Hopefully they do better going forward, but time will tell.

IIRC Fuller left American Gods in part because he had obscene requirements for the second season's budget they were unwilling to meet, which certainly suggests he's just not good at the budgetary portion of show-running.

I was a bit surprised to see in the VFX compilation that in the opening episode so much of the desert scene (including all of the rocks) were CGI. I mean, they did on-location filming in fucking Jordan. If they just needed some random sand dunes and nothing else, they could have gotten that somewhere in the Southwest I'm sure.

 

[Noname Given]

IIRC Fuller left American Gods in part because he had obscene requirements for the second season's budget they were unwilling to meet, which certainly suggests he's just not good at the budgetary portion of show-running.

I was a bit surprised to see in the VFX compilation that in the opening episode so much of the desert scene (including all of the rocks) were CGI. I mean, they did on-location filming in fucking Jordan. If they just needed some random sand dunes and nothing else, they could have gotten that somewhere in the Southwest I'm sure.

Yep, I 100% agree - But that said, I'm sure the original idea was that going to a location like that would really send the "This IS CINEMATIC!" message to the audience that they wanted and the fact it was part of the opening scene for the series, someone felt it was worth it.

But yeah, I too think they could have gotten the same effect for that opening scene with less budget outlay, but who knows.

 

[XCV330]

Yep, I 100% agree - But that said, I'm sure the original idea was that going to a location like that would really send the "This IS CINEMATIC!" message to the audience that they wanted and the fact it was part of the opening scene for the series, someone felt it was worth it.

But yeah, I too think they could have gotten the same effect for that opening scene with less budget outlay, but who knows.

It wouldn't have surprised me if they also got a break from a certain fighter-pilot and monarch there who is not only major trekker, but had a walk-on on Voyager and is slowly having his Star Trek theme park built.

 

[Noname Given]

It wouldn't have surprised me if they also got a break from a certain fighter-pilot and monarch there who is not only major trekker, but had a walk-on on Voyager and is slowly having his Star Trek theme park built.

Still - flying cast and crew (and all the other production staff and equipment needed <--- Because I doubt they were renting the cameras locally) to Jordan is much more expensive then a spot in Death valley or some other in U.S. (or Canadian) desert location.

I believe they said they blew a lot of cash for that opening scene, but the producers (obviously) thought it was worth it for the final product.

 

[F. King Daniel]

They built a new stretch of Discovery corridor for season 2, with a little junction section featuring a console (visible in trailer 1, Pike walks through with Saru and company). It connects the ends of the existing n-shape corridor.