Spoilers Hypothesis: Episodes 1/2 added late in production...

[eschaton]

Hey guys, long time lurker, first time poster.

After watching Epsiode 3 last night, I was struck that I didn't really need the background from the first two episodes to follow the plot at all - and that Episode 3 worked just fine as a TV pilot itself. Quite honestly, if I hadn't watched those two episodes I think I would have been a bit more sympathetic to Burnham's character from the getgo. Regardless, it had me wondering why in a serialized show the first two episodes seemed so tacked on (so far).

I remember back in May, it was announced the season was being expanded from 13 to 15 episodes. Coincidentally, the season ended up including 13 regular episodes, and two episodes of "prologue" which deals with Burnham's backstory and only involves one other main castmember (Saru).

This has me wondering - was the prologue actually added to the show last?

To be clear, I'm not saying I believe that all of the scenes in the prologue were filmed late. Instead I am positing that the writers intended much of this content to be shown via a series of flashbacks over the course of the season which would flesh out Burnham's backstory. They decided that the flashback-heavy show structure was jarring, pulled them out of the show, and added some new content to make a coherent two-part prologue to the show.

This would help to explain the curious decision of CBS to have The Vulcan Hello - a relatively low-energy outing with little to hook new viewers in - as the "teaser" presented on TV. The original plan was to have Context Is For Kings be the pilot, which would work better to hook in new viewers. However, once they switched to having a two-part intro, they were unable to negotiate for another live hour on CBS, leading to a less than optimal result from a subscription-gaining perspective.

Anyway, thoughts?

 

[Tuskin38]

the credits for the first episode say Bryan Fuller wrote the teleplay, so the story was started back when he was still involved.

 

[GeekUSACarl]

hmmmm

On one hand, I can see why Ep 1 and 2 would have and could have been there from the get go, they wanted to show of the visual "look at me look at me" stuff.

On the other hand, I can see where you are coming from, we wouldn't need much from ep 1 and 2 so far except for the information they gave in ep3

On the OTHER hand ( yeah I have three hands ) they set up the white Klingon character in ep 1 and 2 and that may come into play later, and the importance of ep 1 and 2 may come into play kinda, trickling throughout the episode.

There is drama to watching all of Michael's eff ups that can't simply be told,

 

[Blooded]

I've seen this theory a few times, and for me it doesn't hold up. In fact, the format of the first two episodes finally explains to me why it took so long for the casting of some Discovery characters to be announced after filming had commenced; it was because they hadn't needed to fill those roles yet.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I think it would've been interesting to have started the series with episode 3 and leaving Burham's actions and even Starfleet and the Klingons mysterious.

 

[eschaton]

the credits for the first episode say Bryan Fuller wrote the teleplay, so the story was started back when he was still involved.

Couldn't he have written those scenes, but intended them to have been shown elsewhere during the series?

Also, if the prologue isn't the added two stories, where are they? Clearly they won't be post-conclusion, as I'm expecting the ending of the season will have a well-thought out climax. Perhaps they had two mid-season stories which needed to to be expanded across two episodes? Or two standalones initially on the cutting room floor which they wanted time for? But if you think they're trying to hew to the arc (rather than be semi-episodic) adding to the beginning makes a certain level of sense.

 

[eschaton]

On the OTHER hand ( yeah I have three hands ) they set up the white Klingon character in ep 1 and 2 and that may come into play later, and the importance of ep 1 and 2 may come into play kinda, trickling throughout the episode.

The proper sci-fi response is "on the gripping hand."

Regardless, they could have filled in that story via flashback, as they could have virtually everything in the first two episodes.

 

[MvRojo]

Couldn't he have written those scenes, but intended them to have been shown elsewhere during the series?

Also, if the prologue isn't the added two stories, where are they? Clearly they won't be post-conclusion, as I'm expecting the ending of the season will have a well-thought out climax. Perhaps they had two mid-season stories which needed to to be expanded across two episodes? Or two standalones initially on the cutting room floor which they wanted time for? But if you think they're trying to hew to the arc (rather than be semi-episodic) adding to the beginning makes a certain level of sense.

The producers said that while Fuller was there, they had worked out the beginning and where they wanted to end up at the season finale. So I think the middle wasn't concrete yet, so there was flexibility in terms of how they got to the pre-determined endpoint.

 

[JoeCabby]

After watching the 3rd episode, I'm thinking they should have started with episode 3 and then during a mid-season break show the 2 part prologue to explain the start of the war and Burnham's character.

 

[dahj]

This has me wondering - was the prologue actually added to the show last?

Well, no, all the footage in the initial trailers came from the pilot episodes, meaning it was the first thing both filmed and finished in post-produciton for those sweet sweet special effects.

 

[Noname Given]

Hey guys, long time lurker, first time poster.

After watching Epsiode 3 last night, I was struck that I didn't really need the background from the first two episodes to follow the plot at all - and that Episode 3 worked just fine as a TV pilot itself. Quite honestly, if I hadn't watched those two episodes I think I would have been a bit more sympathetic to Burnham's character from the getgo. Regardless, it had me wondering why in a serialized show the first two episodes seemed so tacked on (so far).

I remember back in May, it was announced the season was being expanded from 13 to 15 episodes. Coincidentally, the season ended up including 13 regular episodes, and two episodes of "prologue" which deals with Burnham's backstory and only involves one other main castmember (Saru).

This has me wondering - was the prologue actually added to the show last?

To be clear, I'm not saying I believe that all of the scenes in the prologue were filmed late. Instead I am positing that the writers intended much of this content to be shown via a series of flashbacks over the course of the season which would flesh out Burnham's backstory. They decided that the flashback-heavy show structure was jarring, pulled them out of the show, and added some new content to make a coherent two-part prologue to the show.

This would help to explain the curious decision of CBS to have The Vulcan Hello - a relatively low-energy outing with little to hook new viewers in - as the "teaser" presented on TV. The original plan was to have Context Is For Kings be the pilot, which would work better to hook in new viewers. However, once they switched to having a two-part intro, they were unable to negotiate for another live hour on CBS, leading to a less than optimal result from a subscription-gaining perspective.

Anyway, thoughts?

Yeah, I'd say that's a fair assessment. They we're originally going to do it all in Flashbacks over the run of the series but as they got more production time (CBS wanted this to look good and not be rushed) and broke the season story out - they approached CBS with idea of letting the audience see this indecent unfold 'Live' and be an re-introduction/prologue to the universe of the 23rd century 'Pike era' - and CBS liked the idea, and that's why CBS upped the order from 13 to 15 for season one.

It's also why the actual first episode we see discovery in is: "Six months later".

I also like the way it gives more emotional impact for the audience to the scenes where Burnhan see both Saru and the former U.S.S. Shenzhou re-haired Helmsman are now posted to the U.S.S. Discovery. We the audience just saw exactly what those members of the U.S.S. Shenzhou went through with her -- just as if it had happened to them last week.

 

[captainkirk]

I don't think the whole prologue story was added later, but I would bet that it was originally only going to be one part and they were given the chance to make it twice as long, which did it no favors. That makes me suspect there's another episode down the line that will be similarly padded out.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

How many Fuller pilots tell us about a dead girl who is brought back to life by an enigmatic man, who gives her a new purpose? No, these were the pilot.

 

[cultcross]

If anything, I'd say the early parts of the show are Fuller's intention realised and we'll see less of his influence as we go along, rather than the other way around.

 

[Campe]

Way back last November, Yeoh, Rapp and Jones were the first actors cast. If they wanted to add Georgiou to the equation later as opposed to straight off the bat, I'm not certain they would have cast her first.

Source: startrek.com

 

[eschaton]

I don't think the whole prologue story was added later, but I would bet that it was originally only going to be one part and they were given the chance to make it twice as long, which did it no favors. That makes me suspect there's another episode down the line that will be similarly padded out.

This is an interesting halfway hypothesis. Certainly there were a lot of scenes which added nothing (the EVA flight - although pretty - the scenes on the Klingon ship, the flashbacks, and the Sarek katra vision). If you took all of these out, you might have whittled it down enough to have a single-episode pilot.

 

[captainkirk]

This is an interesting halfway hypothesis. Certainly there were a lot of scenes which added nothing (the EVA flight - although pretty - the scenes on the Klingon ship, the flashbacks, and the Sarek katra vision). If you took all of these out, you might have whittled it down enough to have a single-episode pilot.

Especially as part two is shorter than a regular episode. It's almost as though they couldn't quite stretch it out to full length.