Spoilers Callbacks in the finale!

[Mr. Laser Beam]

That sort of undermines a significant plot point of The Cage... "THE WOMEN!!" Unless the Talosians knew about some kinky stuff in Pike's mind, why would they offer him his choice of women and one alien?

Because of lawyer bullshit, I'm going to have to put this story idea in spoilercode...

Spoiler: idea

Maybe Colt really was an alien all along, but her human appearance in "The Cage" was a Talosian-generated illusion, intended to make her more appealing to Pike as a potential mate.

The fact that in "The Cage", Colt is only ever seen when the Enterprise is already en route to Talos IV, would seem to lend credence to this theory.

It's the only explanation I can think of. Colt is either human or alien - she obviously can't be both. So either DSC is an alternate universe, or (since the showrunners have repeatedly stated that DSC takes place in the prime timeline) there must be some other explanation. So which is it?

Edit:

Wait, Yeoman Colt was the Spiky alien?

There is no onscreen proof that this is the case. Nobody is ever heard actually calling the alien "Colt"...

 

[Timo]

(So there's a yeoman named Colt there? Big deal. Perhaps she's Mia Colt's wife. Perhaps it's just a common surname on Scalaria III, though.)

I'd have to rewatch to come up with any new callbacks. I'll rather rewatch "These Are The Voyages" first, though.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Gepard]

Wait, Yeoman Colt was the Spiky alien? No wonder she made Pike uncomfortable

Oh. No. That's why they did it, isn't it? It's some continuity bookkeeping bullshit. They don't want to retcon his interaction with Colt, but they also don't want him to be a sexist, so they made Colt a weird ugly alien instead. Oh no.

Right at this moment, I want a behind the scenes tell-all book more than anything else in the universe.

 

[Lance]

So, the infamous 'women on the bridge' line was originally about Colt, which is of course not invalidated by her now being a spikey alien, but it's still... a bit of a stretch, from perky young thing to something that looks entirely different. I don't hate the idea, I think having more non-human representation on the Enterprise is a great idea now that they've actually got the effects budget for it. But I'm not sure if the make-up couldn't have been more subtle, like the Trill or something. The Talosians refer to her 'unusually strong female drives', but I guess no-one in The Cage outright states she is human...

If an USS Enterprise series gets greenlit, I'm tending to think they ought to remake The Cage. They might as well. They have a new Vina, they have Talosians, they have a new Commander Una and a new Pike and new Spock and a new Yeoman Colt. I think remounting it to create a version consistent with the details established in Discovery is not a ridiculous idea.

 

[Kemaiku]

Looking through caps of the episode, there's a redshirt beside the comms console that not only looks like her, but has the same haircut (just about) as the original actress in the Cage. I doubt it's the alien.

 

[Yistaan]

Looking through caps of the episode, there's a redshirt beside the comms console that not only looks like her, but has the same haircut (just about) as the original actress in the Cage. I doubt it's the alien.

Then the showrunner made a mistake. No offense to her, but it does seem sad that a showrunner of Discovery can't keep one of the few named characters in the Cage straight in her head (if she made a mistake).

A good indicator will be if John Jackson Miller's upcoming Enterprise War novel features Colt as a human or alien, if it features her at all.

What's next, Dr. Boyce is a Tellarite? Maybe he'll be an Orion, which would put his conversation with Pike in the Cage in a whole new light.

 

[Kemaiku]

Then the showrunner made a mistake. No offense to her, but it does seem sad that the showrunner of Discovery can't keep one of the few named characters in the Cage straight in her head (if she made a mistake).

I'm only speculating though, I had to go back and check through the bridge crew after I got it wrong yesterday. And oddly enough there's a redhead of the right age and hair style, facial structure etc right there. So that's a hell of a coincidence if it's not her.

Edit:
https://dsc.star-trek.info/displayimage.php?album=37&pid=208193#top_display_media

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

A callforward maybe? A damn beautiful ship, all of them.

 

[Kemaiku]

The dock does look a lot like bigger versions of the NX program ones.

Then just the rebuilding of the saucer after an incident Nemesis style.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The dock does look a lot like bigger versions of the NX program ones.

Then just the rebuilding of the saucer after an incident Nemesis style.

I don't hate the windows, but figured this would have been a good opportunity to get rid of them.

 

[Kemaiku]

I don't hate the windows, but figured this would have been a good opportunity to get rid of them.

They didn't want to spend money making a second CGI model just for one scene I'd guess.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

They didn't want to spend money making a second CGI model just for one scene I'd guess.

My hope is, it would be for a whole series. Certainly easier than redoing a physical model, and they did the CGI for a great gaping hole.

 

[Kemaiku]

My hope is, it would be for a whole series. Certainly easier than redoing a physical model, and they did the CGI for a great gaping hole.

Which is probably why the ship was out of the series for so long, taking the cost and rendering time to create the damaged version. They already spent the spare money they had on making the bridge out of metal and extending the finale to a two parter. Making a 3rd model would have been too much.

That and they just made everyone buy two Eaglemoss versions and the $9000 super-replicas. They weren't going to change a thing after that.

 

[Tuskin38]

I'm only speculating though, I had to go back and check through the bridge crew after I got it wrong yesterday. And oddly enough there's a redhead of the right age and hair style, facial structure etc right there. So that's a hell of a coincidence if it's not her.

Edit:
https://dsc.star-trek.info/displayimage.php?album=37&pid=208193#top_display_media

I'm not sure, eyebrows don't match other photos of her.

 

[Kemaiku]

A lot closer than the Mystique-esque alien others pointed out.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

That was Yeoman N'breeznak Colt.

 

[David cgc]

I'm only speculating though, I had to go back and check through the bridge crew after I got it wrong yesterday. And oddly enough there's a redhead of the right age and hair style, facial structure etc right there. So that's a hell of a coincidence if it's not her.

Edit:
https://dsc.star-trek.info/displayimage.php?album=37&pid=208193#top_display_media

I can't deny she look the most like Colt of anyone there, but she's identified in dialog as Lt. Mann, and she has an english accent.

 

[Kemaiku]

Okay fine, she's invisible and wandering the bridge randomly, I don't know.

 

[Unicorn]

Do internal callbacks count? There were a few: Spock and Michael pressing their palms together in a Vulcan salute loops back to their flashback as kids in the first episode, also Pike's "Hit it"...

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Not sure if the "chunked" Enterprise is in any way a callback to the Bring Back Kirk video, but...