You’ll recall the letter-writing campaigns to NBC in the 1960s, the campaign to get the first Space Shuttle named the Enterprise, the campaign most recently to have Strange New Worlds created?Įthan Peck, left, is Science Officer Spock, Rebecca Romijn is Number One and Anson Mount is Captain. When I say it was moving mountains to make that happen, I mean, that was very, very quick to make that available around the world, you know, within what was it, a week.ĭawn Ennis: It's also very on-brand for Star Trek fans.
It just goes to show this show matters, this franchise matters and the powers that be understand that. And the fact that that was heard and that internally mountains were moved to be able to make that possible, I think is just really lovely.
And you know, the fact that so many people spoke up and said, this means so much to us and we want to be able to see it. To me, it's such an awesome example that people's voices really matter. And to their credit, they worked very, very quickly to make that happen. We had some conversations after that came out, how what needs to happen for us to get this out to the world, as much of the world as is humanly possible, right now. They responded very, very quickly to that. To their credit, the folks who make these decisions really heard the fans of the show and heard how important this is and heard that's not a great feeling for people three days before the thing’s premiere. We didn't see that one coming and we found out about the same way as everyone else. Michelle Paradise: We were pretty surprised by that as well. There’s one from 1967’s “Space Seed” and two from the 1990 classic cliffhanger and conclusion, “The Best of Both Worlds,” Parts I and II.Ī decision by network executives that was undoubtedly the worst for much of the world of Star Trek: Discovery fans, to pull the show from Netflix just days before the season premiere, was where our conversation started.
Speaking of rooms, Paradise is fielding these questions in her office, where she is surrounded by several retro posters by artist Juan Ortiz, depicting classic episodes from the original Star Trek television series as well as Star Trek: The Next Generation. Star Trek "Space Seed" Poster by Juan Ortiz Juan Ortiz Penguin Random House And so one of the questions we do ask ourselves in the room is, ‘Who haven't we seen in a room together? Who haven't we seen spend a lot of time together?’ And so those are some of my favorite things to write, not necessarily character-specific, but I guess, scene-specific, like two people in a room.” In the writers’ room, we're always looking for ways to push them in new directions. But even as we were breaking it, it was just so much fun, because we get to see different sides of these characters that we think we know a lot about. One of the things that I really loved about 402, for example, is seeing David and Anthony in a room together Like that, to me, was fantastic. Who's my favorite? Anthony? Sorry, I really will say my favorite characters to write for are all of them when they're in new situations. “I have to say I feel like Stamets is my favorite character,” Paradise deadpanned before bursting into laughter.
Photo by Brendan Meadows/Paramount+ Brendan Meadows/Paramount+ ©2021 ViacomCBS, Inc. Visiting the starship's new bar set is Anthony Rapp who plays Stamets on the Paramount+ original. Some Answersīefore introducing the Q&A portion, here’s a treat: A handful of the cast were offered an opportunity to suggest their own question for Paradise, and this one was chosen: “Who’s your favorite character to write for, and why is it Stamets?”Īnthony Rapp plays the mycelium network scientist, acerbic genius and out gay man who is trying to solve this season’s big mystery: A gravimetric anomaly, five light years across, that moves unpredictably and can swallow planets and anything else in its way. They're actually seeing what this room in Kaminar looks like right there out the window.” Questions and. They're not imagining what Kaminar might look like. And for our actors, to get to be in the environment in which their character is living, is just an incredible thing for them as well. It's just the kind of technology that can give us so many different looks in such vast filmscapes, interior and exterior. In episode three, we're on the moon in that big, cavernous environment where you're up at the top and you look down and everything lights up. “That's the environment where in episode one, we're with Saru and Su’Kal on Kaminar and that watery world. wall in use in episodes one and three,” Paradise said.