We´ll see at the end of the season... maybe it just goes downhill... crazy captain... Michael has to self-destruct the ship in the end - and everything left of that technology goes next to the Bundeslade in the Pentagon ;)

Insanely powerful forms of technology can exist prior to later shows but just not become widespread due to downsides. Even warp travel is banned in some parts of space because it leaves tears in subspace that some cultures frown upon, so what if this instantaneous form of travel has a habit of gruesomely mutating chunks of the crew unless they are dosed up on a near lethal cocktail of drugs? It's likely to be outlawed the moment the Klingon war is over, but could have happened prior to the fluffy, comfortable later shows.

@krashd said:

It's likely to be outlawed the moment the Klingon war is over, ..

You're proofing my point. It has to be abandoned somehow, otherwise they'd create a new universe / timeline. And (to me) that's a major letdown because prequel.

But maybe it could somehow explain improvements to warp drive that made it so much faster in later shows than the earlier ones?

@Wolf359 said:

That's the problem with prequels. The moment he said that I didn't even care, because we've never seen it in previous shows, so it can't be something new. If he would have said that in a sequel though, that would be interesting and I'd be eager to find out in future episodes if it's a new propulsion system for the ST universe.

He could have been lying to Michael. After all, there's a few clue's pointing to lorca being part of section 31

Frankly when they do prequels they always find a way to screw it up. Even tho Enterprise they a least tried to make look like it could have been before Kirk and Spock. They didn't include some wild advance tech. If you can travel instantly to anywhere. Why would you even bother to use a space ship.

@Nygma-0999 said:

Frankly when they do prequels they always find a way to screw it up. Even tho Enterprise they a least tried to make look like it could have been before Kirk and Spock. They didn't include some wild advance tech. If you can travel instantly to anywhere. Why would you even bother to use a space ship.

normally I'd agree but in this case ; I mean clearly they didn't have cgi tech in the 60s. Or the other way around: tbh I'd be pissed if Discovery would look like Kirk's Enterprise from 5 decades ago. it's ok they show new tech like holograms because that tech will be around in 300 years.

I like the show, 3rd episode was very good. If the show only would take place in the 25th century., that's my only complaint. "Enterprise J" one can dream.

All hail "Star Trek: Unit 31." (We have the expertise of the Muppet Labs and the soul of "Unit 731.") As a movie villain would say: "Nightmares are dreams, too." Ensign Ro Larrin, you have signed on to The Dark Side of Starfleet. Now hand me that prototype "Agonizer."

It's all a pretty big retcon though, really. Statements and implications in TOS and the TOS novels were that the Constitution class starships were top of the line and very rare: "only 12 like it in the fleet," Kirk says to Captain Christopher, for example. There "obviously weren't" a bunch of ships like Discovery, Shenzou, etc, running around 10-20 years earlier. The Enterprise series was bad enough, NX-01 (and later NX-02) were already larger and more advanced than existed at the time according to Spock in "Balance of Terror" for example. Discovery has taken that mistake and... basically, run it up to warp speed.

Yes, basically if the writers/producers had what amounts to a hard-on for bigger, fancier ships, they should have set it AFTER the other shows. Maybe the Klingons have turned warlike again, if they "have to" use the Klingons again. (And RE-DESIGN THEM again, too!) But they could have made it the Sphere Builders, or some other entirely new opponent.

@Knixon said:

It's all a pretty big retcon though, really. Statements and implications in TOS and the TOS novels were that the Constitution class starships were top of the line and very rare: "only 12 like it in the fleet," Kirk says to Captain Christopher, for example. There "obviously weren't" a bunch of ships like Discovery, Shenzou, etc, running around 10-20 years earlier. The Enterprise series was bad enough, NX-01 (and later NX-02) were already larger and more advanced than existed at the time according to Spock in "Balance of Terror" for example. . Discovery has taken that mistake and... basically, run it up to warp speed.

Yes, basically if the writers/producers had what amounts to a hard-on for bigger, fancier ships, they should have set it AFTER the other shows. Maybe the Klingons have turned warlike again, if they "have to" use the Klingons again. (And RE-DESIGN THEM again, too!) But they could have made it the Sphere Builders, or some other entirely new opponent.

Exactly.

But obviously someone higher up the ladder at CBS decided that a 25th century show is not worth the risk, so they went with "ten years before Kirk & Spock wink wink".