Something that was in Balance of Terror and a few other episodes was a time lag in communications. For the most part communications in the 23rd/24th centuries were in real-time and I think that not being able to talk interactively with higher command or whoever would add more to Discovery than it would potential take away. A lag of hours or days would semi-isolate the ship, and would make the principal characters the responsible parties in major policy decisions. What would you like to see included?
Given casting information indicates there's two admirals and a Federation ambassador travelling aboard Discovery or Shenzhou, the issue of communications with Starfleet Command being instant or lagged seems moot. There's authority figures on site anyway.
Alien ships that don't look like insects or skeletons. The sleek, clean lines of a D7 or a Romulan BOP pleeeease. That would make me very happy. Yes Tenacity, I'm down with the time lag, too. It adds the spice of dramatic tension to some great episodes.
There's a thread on which previous character should be in the first episode to "hand off" to the new crew. I now want it to be Robau.
One problem with this idea is that once the TV show establishes that communications are lagged, then they might be hand-tied in the future when they want to tell a story that includes instantaneous communications with Starfleet/a star base. But there is a way around that issue that could let the writers have the best of both worlds. Here's my possible way that the DSC writers could have it both ways as the story suits them: Let's say that subspace communications (whatever the hell that is, exactly) could travel instantaneously, but has a limited range. A possible way Starfleet gets around that limited range range problem is by setting up a system of subspace communication relays -- i.e., signal repeaters, not unlike mobile phone towers. These stations could be set up distances from each other that are within the limited range of the subspace communications, along a signal to be instantly relayed for one point to another, even if those points are further apart than the limited range of a subspace message. So that's how the writers could give the Discovery crew instantaneous communication back with Starfleet if the story calls for it.... ...HOWEVER, what if the story would be better told by the writers if there was a lag in communications? How could they reconcile the idea of a lag with the previous precedence of instantaneous communications? Well, there's a way to do that, too. Let's say that the Discovery (or someone else) is in a part of space that is lacking enough subspace communications relays, and they a thus too far from a relay station for the subspace signal (with my hypothetical limited range for it) to reach it. Other non-subspace signals (still FTL, but not instantaneous) could still reach the relay -- and once part of the relay would be sent along instantaneously -- but there would be a time lag to and from that original entry point onto the relay.
A character that says, "Hold that thought, I gotta hit the head." Or a scene of dialogue that takes place in the bathroom. BSG did it.
As long as proper urinal conversation etiquette (or adjoining stall conversation etiquette) is observed, they I'll be OK with that. I mean, these people are supposed to be enlightened, so I hope their common-use restroom etiquette is equally enlightened.
Enlisted crew complains about the quality of their toilet paper. Nonhumanoid crew complains that humans are bunging up the toilet with paper.
In the advanced future, the bathrooms will (of course) all be uni-sex. And next to each commode will be the three seashells.
Ha! Hopefully the entire first two seasons focus on establishing where the crew and how uses the bathroom. Nyotarules, I sincerely hope that in the Star Trek future, we'll have long done away with toilet paper long before the 2300's. It's one of the few things there isn't an "app" for.
Toilet paper seems to be one of those things that won't change for centuries, it's like eating with forks and knives
Transporters. It's just a slight adjustment. Its what O'Brien spends most of his time doing on the Enterprise. PICARD: Chief, there, seems to be a slight problem in my lavatory. Not getting the "clean" feeling. O'BRIEN: On it, sir. Just needs an adjustment to the scan parameters.