Star Trek: Discovery wrapped up its first season on Sunday, and despite some missteps along the way, I've found myself quite enjoying the series. A second season has already been ordered, and I'm hopeful that with all the behind-the-scenes drama out of the way, Discovery will fully come into its own. As Star Trek: Discovery is much more serialized than previous Star Trek series, they've made quite a lot of use out of cliffhangers, and the first season finale was no exception, but, we'll discuss those final moments a little further down because, you know, SPOILERS.
With the Klingon war now concluded, the U.S.S. Discovery is on route to Vulcan to pick up their new captain when they receive up an emergency distress call from another Federation ship, which turns out to be the U.S.S. Enterprise, which at this point is under the command of Captain Christopher Pike. Executive producer and co-creator Alex Kurtzman spoke with Variety and commented on the appearance of the Enterprise and how it might play into the second season.
The show is called ‘Discovery.’ It’s not ‘Enterprise.' So yes, the Enterprise will play a part of Season 2 but it will absolutely not overshadow Discovery. And I think with Enterprise’s arrival in the finale we recognize that the audience has a lot of questions about our synchronicity with the original series, which really means or synchronicity with canon. So the promise of the Enterprise holds the answers to a lot of those questions, including Spock’s relationship with his half-sister who he’s never mentioned. Which does not necessarily mean you’re going to see Spock, just that we owe an answer to that question.
Despite Star Trek: Discovery taking place roughly ten years before the events of The Original Series, it's visually quite different from anything we saw in that series. From a practical real-world point of view, the choice to modernize sets and costumes is understandable, but when directly faced with the U.S.S. Enterprise, a ship whose visual design we know very well, I'm curious to see how far the Discovery team will depart from "canon."
The ship itself is certainly recognizable as the Enterprise we know, albeit with a few added bells and whistles, and Alex Kurtzman hinted to Entertainment Weekly that if and when we see the interior, it will likely be a spruced up version.
Here’s what I’ll say: We have to stay consistent design-wise with the Enterprise, obviously we can’t mess around with that. That being said, the technology and the look of the Discovery is so far past TOS merely as a function of the time in which these [shows were made]. Our goal is to be interpretive in a way that feels it’s protective of what the Enterprise would look like if, in theory, if we were to build any Enterprise sets. But if we built it like it looked in The Original Series, there would be a massive visual disconnect. Figuring out a way to bridge that gap would theoretically be the work of a production designer — were there to be any designs like that.
We don't yet know if we'll see Captain Pike when Star Trek: Discovery returns, but all Alex Kurtzman could say in that regard was "if we bring in characters from The Original Series, they have to adhere to canon. So anything that’s been mentioned in TOS, either storyline or character-wise, we have to stay consistent with." As for Spock himself, who is currently serving aboard the Enterprise, Discovery showrunners Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts told THR that they aren't exactly ruling out Spock's involvement, but that following in the footsteps of Leonard Nimoy or Zachary Quinto would be a tall order. "[W]e realize how incredible Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto's performances were and what [Star Trek movie director] J.J. Abrams and the original series were able to pull off with that character," Haberts said. "Finding another actor that could even come close to what Leonard Nimoy did with the original portrayal, we'd never want to go down that road." Production on Star Trek: Discovery's second season will get underway in April.
What are your thoughts on Star Trek: Discovery's first season and what did you think of the Enterprise making an appearance?