Bryan Fuller spills Disco info.

[Tosk]

So I came across a quick snippet of Fuller on the D-Con podcast talking about his time aboard Discovery.
I have not listened to the whole episode, so I cannot say how much of this (if any) is expanded upon.

Some fascinating stuff stated! At the time that he left the show, he says he had done the following:

1. Cast Michelle Yeoh.
2. Was fighting to cast Sonequa. (They didn't want to wait for her, he says he advised they push production until she was ready.)
3. Cast Anthony Rapp, but he was supposed to play an Andorian doctor.
4. Cast Wilson Cruz, but he was going to play Paul Stamets.
5. Was talking to Richard Armitage about playing Sarek.
6. Had Gillian Anderson set to play a Starfleet captain.
7. Had Hugh Dancy in "a great role".
8. He had Klingon concept designs such as Laurence Fishburne as a Klingon. (He does not say whether or not Fishburne was actually cast or even approached.)
9. He had approved the Starfleet uniform design, which they then dumped in favor of what we got.
10. ...And he had rejected the Klingon design which they kept in the show!

We been blaming Fuller for the Klingons all this damn time.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I've seen prototypes of his uniforms, and some made it to screen in the last episode of season one and they were... meh.

The Klingon design bit is funny though.

I can totally see Lawrence Fishburne as T'Kuvma!!

 

[C.E. Evans]

I'm curious by what could have been the original Starfleet uniform design for the show. The ones we got are my least favorite uniforms of any iteration of Trek, including TMP.

 

[Turtletrekker]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Tosk]

I've seen prototypes of his uniforms, and some made it to screen in the last episode of season one

Could you be more specific? I don't recall there being any alternate uniform designs in the season one finale.

 

[CommanderTrip]

Could you be more specific? I don't recall there being any alternate uniform designs in the season one finale.

I was curious about this myself. I believe it is touched apon in this thread - image 2 shows the alternate "grey" design which I believe are the ones in question. You can see it in a further post that shows "Ten-Eyed Saru" Makeup tests.

star trek discovery uniforms, costumes, and clothing

it's been a while since there was a dedicated thread for discovery's costumes by gersha phillips. was hunting around online and found concept art for a few costume designs that we saw in the series: some we didn't: and some we kind of saw in season one, but will clearly be seeing more of...

www.trekbbs.com

 

[Dukhat]

I always felt that Fuller got a bad rep and that much of the rumors surrounding his choices were just bs or other people blaming him for things that weren’t his fault.

 

[Tallguy]

I always felt that Fuller got a bad rep and that much of the rumors surrounding his choices were just bs or other people blaming him for things that weren’t his fault.

Interesting. I don't follow it all that closely but I always got the impression that the Professional Haters (Robert Meyer Burnett, for example) took the line of "It was at least going to be OK before Fuller got the boot."

 

[Sakonna]

I was curious about this myself. I believe it is touched apon in this thread - image 2 (grey uniforms) I believe are the ones in question, and you can see one of these in a further post that shows early Saru makeup tests.

Wow, I thought it took me awhile to warm up to the original Disco uniforms, but those gray uniforms are much worse! Thank god for what we got!

That original Saru design is truly a thing of nightmares. It's interesting to contemplate how differently I would have felt about a character that looked like that. I could see it being potentially interesting - the softness of the Doug Jones performance and the monstrousness of the face might have made an interesting juxtaposition.

Or maybe it would have been like putting sriracha on pistachio ice cream, two flavors that just could never meld.

 

[Daedalus]

I remember him saying about TOS-inspired uniforms. In fact, I feel like this concept art was closer to his vision.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

I can't remember specifics though. It's been ages.

 

[The Wormhole]

Could you be more specific? I don't recall there being any alternate uniform designs in the season one finale.

IIRC, during the medal ceremony in the S1 finale thee are background extras wearing what looks like a blue variation of the uniforms from The Cage and WNMHGB.

 

[Vger23]

Wow...fascinating. I'd really love to hear a full story on all this stuff.

Someone needs to write the book!

 

[Cap'n Calhoun]

I'm very curious who made the decision to use the rejected Klingon design and why. I feel like people are going to default to blaming Kurtzman (as they do for everything), though I believe Berg and Harberts were the showrunners at the time. Once they left the redesigns were toned down and then just discarded, though the fan response was surely a factor there too.

And, frankly, it could be something as simple as the higher-ups at CBS saying "We need to stop redesigning these and just get them made!", even if that would be odd in combination with the uniforms getting redesigned again.

To be clear, I'm also not assuming the Klingons we got are worse than what Fuller would've approved. It's been previously stated by Harberts that Fuller wanted a drastic redesign on the Klingons, so it's possible that had he stuck with the show we would've just got a different controversial redesign.

Bryan Fuller Named The 'Star Trek: Discovery' Lead And Redesigned The Klingons [TCA 2017] - SlashFilm

Before he left the series to focus on American Gods, Bryan Fuller provided a makeover for the Star Trek Discovery Klingons and named the lead character.

www.slashfilm.com

 

[Cap'n Calhoun]

Someone needs to write the book!

I don't suppose Mark A. Altman's working on The Sixty-Year Mission: The Next Ten Years?

 

[Tallguy]

I don't suppose Mark A. Altman's working on The Sixty-Year Mission: The Next Ten Years?

Other than (inexplicably) the third season of Picard it's hard to get Altman to acknowledge that anyone is making Star Trek. Especially not Discovery.

 

[Tiran O'Saurus]

Someone needs to write the book!

Chaos On Multiple Bridges (Discovery and Shenzhou's)

 

[F. King Daniel]

Could you be more specific? I don't recall there being any alternate uniform designs in the season one finale.

You can see the second uniform from that thread when Michael is giving her big speech at the very end, mixed in with the standard Disco blues in the crowd.

I've definitely seen the actual gold one somewhere, I remember thinking it was very washed out and bland and much preferring the popping bright Enterprise uniforms in season two.

 

[Phily B]

I remember him saying about TOS-inspired uniforms. In fact, I feel like this concept art was closer to his vision.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

I can't remember specifics though. It's been ages.

"Here's what you could have won"

 

[Lord Garth]

I remember him saying about TOS-inspired uniforms. In fact, I feel like this concept art was closer to his vision.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

I can't remember specifics though. It's been ages.

Unpopular Opinion, but I prefer what we got. As far as the bridge and the uniforms. The TOS elements just don't mesh well with this design. I thought they were better off getting rid of them.

As far as the redesign of the Klingon themselves, that was the one thing I didn't like, even though it wasn't a deal-breaker. On the other hand, I loved the new ships and architecture.

 

[Daedalus]

Unpopular Opinion, but I prefer what we got. As far as the bridge and the uniforms. The TOS elements just don't mesh well with this design. I thought they were better off getting rid of them.

As far as the redesign of the Klingon themselves, that was the one thing I didn't like, even though it wasn't a deal-breaker. On the other hand, I loved the new ships and architecture.

The more I rewatch, the more I get used to it all. I would've liked way more diversity in uniforms depending on where you serve in the fleet, but we basically got that by S2.

I guess I'm a little bit taken by these Klingons now. It's like a culture within a culture.