History Trivia / StarTrekDiscovery

* SerendipityWritesThePlot: It's widely assumed that part of the reason for the drastically redesigned Klingon makeup was the need to make [[spoiler:actor Shazid Latif, who plays Ash Tyler, completely unrecognizable when in makeup as Voq]], although many fans [[IKnewIt figured it out anyway]].

* IKnewIt:
** A number of fan theories were proven correct throughout the first season:
*** That [[spoiler:''Discovery'' and her crew emerged into the MirrorUniverse at the end of "Into The Forest I Go"]].
*** That [[spoiler:Ash Tyler turned out to be Voq, surgically altered and turned into a ManchurianAgent]].
*** That [[spoiler:Captain Lorca was from the mirror universe all along]].
*** That [[spoiler:Captain Georgiou would return in some fashion]].
*** That [[spoiler:the Captain Pike-era U.S.S. ''Enterprise'' would appear]].
** From the second season, that [[spoiler:the Red Angel would turn out to be a {{Time Travel}}ing Michael Burnham]].
** In the "Terra Firma" two-parter from the third season, that [[spoiler:"Carl" would turn out to be the Guardian of Forever]].

* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/JasonIsaacs as heroic (if slightly grey and potentially PTSD-ridden) Starfleet Captain Gabriel Lorca. [[spoiler:Subverted when it's revealed his character is actually the MirrorUniverse Lorca, and as evil as they come. DoubleSubverted as Jason Isaacs voices Prime Universe Lorca in ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'', who is an exemplary Starfleet captain.]]

* LateExportForYou: Outside the US and Canada, Creator/{{Netflix}} launched each episode one day after its US premiere on Creator/ParamountPlus. That is, until 2021, when Paramount+ claimed the rights back from Netflix, causing it to be pulled from the service ''almost immediately'' before the premiere of season 4. This meant international audiences will be unable to access the fourth season (or past seasons) through legitimate channels until Paramount+ launches in their regions in 2022, likely well after the fourth season is complete in the US.
** This was fortunately subverted when Paramount [[https://intl.startrek.com/news/star-trek-discovery-season-four-lands-on-paramount-pluto-tv-internationally announced]] that the fourth season would air on Creator/PlutoTV worldwide, following the backlash surrounding the removal. Additionally, all markets which already have Paramount+ will see the episodes made available there on the same timetable.
* LyingCreator: Much like the whole [[spoiler:John Harrison/Khan Noonien Singh]] thing in ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'', the showrunners, actors, and studio keep going to crazy lengths to [[TheUntwist obfuscate plot twists in the face of viewers' eagerness to crowdsource theories]] from the show's ChekhovsArmory, including creating a fake Website/{{IMDb}} profile for [[spoiler:Javid Iqbal as a pseudonym for Shazad Latif (Voq and Ash Tyler)]]. So much so that they're actually starting to [[https://io9.gizmodo.com/star-trek-discoverys-horrible-new-twist-made-a-great-c-1822293414 take flak for it]] from [[https://geekdad.com/2018/01/star-trek-discovery-episode-12-recap-reactions-ruminations-vaulting-ambition-whatever/ professional and semipro critics.]]

** Although the existence of Capt. Robert April, the very first captain of the ''Enterprise'' (pre-dating Pike) was first revealed in ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'', and later referenced in many novels and comics, for a long time the owners of the ''Trek'' franchise did not recognize April as canon, due to having originated in the animated series, which was not considered canon, either. An on-screen reference to April in an early episode of ''Discovery'' marks the first time the live-action franchise has acknowledged his existence. In the second season, another on-screen reference explicitly named him as Pike's predecessor as the captain of the ''Enterprise''.
** In “Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2”, Pike at one point refers to Number One as Una, a name used in the ''Literature/StarTrekLegacies'' trilogy to refer to her, given that she was no longer a first officer by the time of the novels.

* ActorSharedBackground: Captain Phillipa Georgiou, who is revealed to be from Malaysia, just like her actress Creator/MichelleYeoh (although from different places in Malaysia: Georgiou is from the island of Pulau Langkawi, while Yeoh is from the mainland). Averted with [[spoiler:Emperor Phillipa Georgiou, who is ''not'' from Malaysia, despite having the same accent]].

*** Aurelio, a scientist for the Emerald Chain

** Stamets and Culber are gay. So are Anthony Rapp and Wilson Cruz, the men who play them.
** Season Two introduces Lieutenant Commander Jet Reno, who mentions that her wife died during the war with the Klingons the previous season. Reno is played by Creator/TigNotaro, who is also gay. This leads to a quite amusing scene where Stamets and Reno flirt while drunk.

** Gray is confirmed to be trans, like Ian Alexander.

** Several actors portray the [[spoiler:MirrorUniverse counterparts of their usual characters]] during the latter half of the first season.

* ActingForTwo: Several actors portray the [[spoiler:MirrorUniverse counterparts of their usual characters]] during the latter half of the first season.

** Kenneth Mitchell plays four different characters over the first three seasons, three of them Klingons: General Kol in Season 1; Kol's father, Kol-Sha, in episode 2.03, "Point of Light"; and Tenavik, a Timekeeper [[spoiler:and L'Rell and Voq's son]], in episode 2.12, "Through the Valley of Shadows". In Season 3, he plays the Emerald Chain human scientist Aurelio.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** The first thing we see Starfleet doing is covertly saving a species from extinction, showing that this series' depiction of the Prime Directive will be far from the highly conservative model that TNG and ''Voyager'' descended into.
** The exact same scene shows Georgiou and Burnham using a phaser weapon for peaceful and beneficial purposes, defying the otherwise action- and battle-heavy DarkerAndEdgier tone of the series. Even better, it's a bit of a CallBack to Zefram Cochrane's warp ship being [[Film/StarTrekFirstContact built out of a decommissioned ICBM in a nuclear silo]].
** The CallBack to the original series, which mentioned Captain Decker, Captain Pike, and Commodore April. It also mentioned Captain Georgiou, which showed it wasn't all white men.
** In ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'', Sulu was depicted as gay in homage to Sulu's original actor, Creator/GeorgeTakei. However, some people, including Takei himself, disagreed with this, arguing it would've been better if they'd created a brand new character who was LGBT.[[note]]Elsewhere, Takei has commented that he always played Sulu as straight.[[/note]] This series introduces Lt. Stamets and Dr. Culber as the franchise's first confirmedly LGBT couple.
** After the [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks hotly-contested]] redesign of the Klingons, Sarek and other Vulcans look just as they have in other ''Trek'' films and series, and "The Wolf Inside" reveals Andorians ''and'' Tellarites who also look much like their previous depictions. Season 2 also partially backwheels the Klingon redesign: starting with the premiere, the Klingons have hair again, making them look a lot more like the "traditional" Klingons of ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' onwards. The writers {{handwave}} it by saying that Klingons, in this era, shave their heads during wartime[[note]]not unlike the stated rationale for Nero and his Romulan crew being bald in ''Film/StarTrek2009'' while seeking revenge for the loss of Romulus[[/note]]. Additionally, the makeup has been reduced so they look more humanoid and less Orc-like.
** Possibly unintentional, but given that many Trek fans were highly critical of how the first half-dozen episodes did not feel, to them, like ''Star Trek'', with many pointing to the BigLippedAlligatorMoment-esque use of the F-word in one episode as an example, it is ironic that immediately after the episode in question, succeeding installments were notable for feeling more like traditional (though slightly darker-than-average) ''Star Trek''.
** In a similar vein, as the DarkerAndEdgier first season proceeds, the tone and message of the series gradually works its way back to being more idealistic and optimistic, addressing a prime criticism of many past ''Trek'' fans.
** Bringing back Georgiou (as the [[EvilIsCool dictator of the Terran Empire!]]) and keeping her around as an agent of Section 31, to the delight of those who felt the(original) character had been wasted by killing her off so early.
** In a similar vein, in Season 2 the iconic [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries D7-class Klingon battle cruiser]] is no longer covered in Gothic-looking spikes and tendrils as seen in "Choose Your Pain" (that ship was retconned to being the ''Sech''-class in other material).
** In "An Obol For Charon", Pike orders that the Enterprise's holographic communicator be taken out and declares that "we'll be going back to good old-fashioned view screens" due to said communicator causing conflicts with the primary systems. The holographic communicator was badly received by fans due to it being far more advanced that any communication technology seen in the franchise [[CosmeticallyAdvancedPrequel despite this being a prequel]].[[note]]A holographic communicator saw some use in ''Deep Space Nine'', but there it was basically a prototype that was treated as rather cutting-edge technology, and Sisko and other Star Fleet personal would comment on how unfamiliar they were with the technology.[[/note]] Between this and the problems caused by the turbolifts' voice commands[[note]]since the MonsterOfTheWeek scrambled the UniversalTranslator, nearly no one can use the lift[[/note]], it's likely they are setting up Pike to institute a BoringButPractical policy on Federation ships [[ForegoneConclusion once he becomes a Fleet Captain]], explaining TOS' apparent lower level of sophistication.
** Similarly, for those who felt the [[CosmeticallyAdvancedPrequel Kelvin Timeline]] bridge of the ''Enterprise'' was [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks too much of a departure]] from the ''TOS'' design, Pike's version of the ''Enterprise'' achieves the nearly-impossible feat of striking a balance between modern aesthetics of technology and the iconic bridge design by largely keeping the same layout, geometry and even color scheme [[PragmaticAdaptation wherever possible.]] So far, the design seems to have pulled off the nearly-impossible feat of satisfying both ''TOS'' purists and newer fans.
** Captain Lorca was extremely controversial among ''Star Trek'' fans. While some loved the introduction of a morally complicated Starfleet captain who's not afraid to make dishonorable choices in the name of the greater good, [[BaseBreakingCharacter others hated him for that exact same reasons]]. Captain Pike, by contrast, was ''unanimously'' [[EnsembleDarkhorse well-received by nearly the entire fandom]] for bringing back some of [[TheKirk that iconic Star Trek idealism]] and threading the difficult needle of a Captain who is [[GoodIsNotDumb optimistic but not naive]] in his devotion to the Federation's long-honored values. The reception for Pike was so positive it led to CBS giving him his own SpinOff, ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds''.
** After stumbling afoul of the LGBT fanbase by employing the tired old BuryYourGays trope, Season 2 finds a way to bring the deceased character BackFromTheDead. While this is trading one trope for [[DeathIsCheap another]], it at least allows the gay couple to be onscreen again.
** A common complaint about the series is that Spock's foster sister and the spore drive have never been alluded to in previous canon. Season 2 is able to [[spoiler:declare them all ClassifiedInformation, after the addition of a couple more elements (the Sphere data, Control, TimeTravel, the Red Angel) pushes it all over the edge]]. The same trick is used to explain why Section 31, operating openly during this series, has become a nebulous conspiracy by the time of ''[=DS9=]''. (Some critics have argued that these revisions were unnecessary: Spock is -- canonically speaking -- the type of person to not mention his parents until [[Recap/StarTrekS2E10JourneyToBabel they come onboard]], or mention he has a half-brother until ''he'' [[Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier comes onboard]], so it's not ''that'' surprising for him to now also have an estranged foster sister. Similarly the spore drive itself was clearly shown in season 1 to be AwesomeButImpractical, requiring a sapient navigator who has to either take an [[NoTranshumanismAllowed illegal genetic treatment]] or suffer progressively worse injuries from use.)
** Yet another complaint about season one was the lack of attention paid to the BridgeBunnies and other background characters. Season 2 starts rectifying that in the season premiere, and goes so far as to give most of an episode to Airiam, the {{gynoid}}-looking character (revealing she's a full-body replacement {{cyborg}} in the vein of ''Franchise/GhostInTheShell''). [[spoiler:Unfortunately she has to make a HeroicSacrifice at the end of it.]]
** Season 3 is essentially a do-over for ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', with a single Starfleet crew stuck in hostile territory without any of the Federation's infrastructure or support, and a much more serious depiction of how dire their circumstances are without any ResetButton. Mirror Georgiou's continued presence also acts as a constant challenge to Starfleet's idealism, rather than how the Maquis were instantly absorbed into the crew.
** "Terra Firma" is set in a vision of the Mirror Universe before ''Discovery'' arrived, meaning we get to see Mirror Michael, Tilly, and Stamets after many fans were disappointed they were already dead. The episode also serves as ADayInTheLimelight for Mirror Georgiou, and demonstrates that she ''has'' undergone CharacterDevelopment after spending time in the prime universe.
** A minor one, but a lot of fans talked about how uninviting and cold the ship has looked, especially compared with the TOS and TNG, so in season four, Michael’s Captain quarters has varying shades of orange.

* YouLookFamiliar: Kenneth Mitchell plays four different characters over the first three seasons, three of them Klingons: General Kol in Season 1; Kol's father, Kol-Sha, in episode 2.03, "Point of Light"; and Tenavik, a Timekeeper [[spoiler:and L'Rell and Voq's son]], in episode 2.12, "Through the Valley of Shadows". In Season 3, he plays the Emerald Chain human scientist Aurelio.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Ex-showrunner Bryan Fuller has claimed that he intended for the uniforms to be more reminiscent of the original series and wanted to make each season as some kind of anthology, but Creator/{{CBS}} pushed for a new uniform design and a serialized storyline. [[note]] The original uniforms can be seen on background extras in the Starfleet ceremony scene in the first season finale.[[/note]]