Also known as “Paramount studios cost cutting colony”. We’ve already had one time travel episode filmed using modern day Earth. Heaven forbid the studio actually spend money on a new set.
Also, anyone else spot the fast forward/play/rewind buttons on Pike’s “video call”? 🙄
I commented on this in the episode discussion thread:
And the whole “they picked the format of an old-timey midwestern American town” thing just screamed, “we drove to NoCal to shoot in a small town to save on budget.” Or, possibly, Paramount’s backlot. I miss the creative sets they had for Federation colonies in TNG and DS9, even if they were mostly one small courtyard with a fountain and lively market surrounded by a huge, gorgeous matte painting. Fake or not, they were always much more imaginative than trying to pass of some rural 21st-century town as a 23rd-century colony on an alien planet. like, why are there huge roads and parking lots everywhere?
While I agree it was probably cost cutting, I also saw it as a homage to TOS and how they would often do the same.
there’s a difference between “capturing a style” and “looking cheap"
The battle uniforms were nice, so at least the budget went somewhere!
I’m hoping as Discovery winds down, and this show is a continued success, Paramount will throw more money at it.
