Theres a Federation ship under attack by Klingons, and the Discovery is rushing to join the fight.
Lock on the Bird of Prey!
Basic pattern Beta 9.
Fire at something, for Gods sakes!
The Klingons blast the Discovery.
Lorca and his shipmates lurch hard to one side.
The high-tech sets thousands of lights flicker anxiously, conveying the ships wounds.
The episodes writer, Kirsten Beyer, approaches to give a correction on his for Gods sakes ad lib.
Wait, I cant say God?
Isaacs asks, amused.
I thought I could say God or damn but not goddamn?
Beyer explains thatStar Trekis creator Gene Roddenberrys vision of a science-driven 23rd-century future where religion basically no longer exists.
*
How about for fs sake?
Can I say that?
you could say that before you could say God,' she dryly replies.
The director wants to try the scene again.
Sure, Isaacs gamely shrugs.
Its not my money.
Plus, theres the shows cast.
If this was yesteryearsTrek, Isaacs would be the star.
Real-life tech innovations such as the Motorola flip phone were credited to Trek.
And the pleas never stopped.
I wanted to be part of that representation for a new era.
Fuller sat with CBS executives to deliver his pitch.
The original pitch was to do for science fiction whatAmerican Horror Storyhad done for horror, Fuller says.
It would platform a universe of Star Trek shows.
CBS countered with the plan of creating a single serialized show and then seeing how it performed.
Each of his revelations inspired a rainstorm of excited keyboard clacking.
The protagonist will not be a captain?Discoverywill haveTreks first openly gay character?
Yet behind the scenes, Fullers relationship with CBS was strained.
But perhaps the biggest issue was trying to launchDiscoveryby January 2017, a date some felt was unrealistic.
Its taking world-building to a whole new level, notesDiscoveryexecutive producer Gretchen J. Berg.
It has to be cohesive and it is.
It wasnt just a little, teeny side job he had over there, one insider noted.
It was a massive undertaking.
In September 2016, CBS pushedDiscoverys premiere date to May to give the production more runway.
We didnt want to cut corners to meet an arbitrary date, Stapf says.
It was more important for us to get it right.
Construction on the shows sets was well under way in Toronto, but the show still had no cast.
Her audition was fantastic, Fuller recalls.
I found her incredibly insightful as an actor and delightful as a human being.
Executive producer Aaron Harberts was impressed as well.
We read a lot of people who either went too robotic or too emotional, he says.
She was able to be aloof and logical but still warm and surrendering her emotional side to the audience.
The only way the production could hire Martin-Green was if the shows premiere was delayed a second time.
In October, after months of backstage tension, CBS Television Studios asked Fuller to step down as showrunner.
The company announced he would leave the show to focus onGodsand his reboot of the anthology seriesAmazing Stories.
The good news is Bryan created a really nice template that was unbelievably specifically detailed, Stapf says.
I got to dream big, Fuller says.
I was sad for a week, and then I salute the ship and compartmentalize my experience.
Producers hired Martin-Green a few months after Fuller left.
Ironically, it was the production delays that made her casting possible.
Many months later, Fuller saw theStar Trek: Discoverytrailer.
How did he feel watching that?
She finally gets to lead her own show, this one set in deep space.
Only shes traded Sashas grimy survival clothes for a royal blue uniform and a rifle for a Tricorder.
We were joking that Michael Burnham was having flashbacks of killing Walkers, she quips.
After her scene, its time to give theDiscoverystar aTrektest.
Mr. Spock, she says.
Journey to Babel, from the original series, which introduced Spocks father, Sarek.
Youve got family, youve got sacrifice, theres so much explored in one episode.
Can she do the Vulcan salute?
Martin-Green instantly throws it down, bam, didnt even have to push her fingers into place.
It was just there, I suppose Ive always had it in me.
What does it matter?
If you fall in love with the characters, weve done our job.
That representation also includes Anthony Rapp as a science officer and the first openly gayTrekseries regular.
Hes persnickety and difficult and brilliant and has very strong feelings about why hes on Discovery, Harberts says.
We actually get to see me with my partner in conversation, in our living quarters, Rapp says.
Its treated as any other relationship would be treated.
There are moments when characters really go toe-to-toe, Rapp notes.
Consider him an early contender for fan favorite.
Burnham has a brother-sister kind of rivalry with Saru and a more mother-daughter relationship with Captain Georgiou.
Im still processing it, marvels Latif.
Every writers impulse when you get to work on the streaming shows is to go crazy, Harberts says.
But how does nudity play onTrek?
Eh, it feels weird.
Were trying to push more by having complicated, messed-up characters who arent necessarily embraced on broadcast TV.
Battlestar Galacticashowrunner andTrekveteran Ron Moore says hes optimistic from what hes heard so far.
Its an exciting prospect to take the new way we make television and apply it toTrek.
It will be a whole new way of looking at the series.
Can a traditional TV company transition into the digital world?
Its too much weight to put on any series, butDiscoveryis carrying it nonetheless.
Thankfully, theres one refrain you hear from all involved: a sincere determination to get it right.
Theres a temptation to get overwhelmed.
That thought will calm you down and help you focus.
Sounds like captain material to us.
