ValueSubtracted

Nope - after they were cancelled, they were allowed to go back and film some additional scenes to add to the end of the finale to give it some closure.

I think that makes certain assumptions about how Zora engages with the world, which may or may not be correct. I'd really like to rewatch "Calypso" as it's been ages, but Paramount+ seems to have...misplaced the Short Treks in my country.

But it took how many months of retooling to give us the last season?

Less than one, as far as I'm aware. They got permission to write and film an additional three days' worth of footage, which became the epilogue to the episode. Everything else is exactly as they orginally shot it, from what they've said.

It would have been interesting to see Walking Dead L'ak, but it was also kind of nice to see Moll accept the situation and start to trust Burnham.

I think that's a good thing - not just for the reasons Kurtzman highlighted, but because Starfleet being in a "rebuild" phase gives them a nice excuse to put cadets to work.

I also just enjoy the 32nd century setting, so I'm glad to stick with it a while longer.

I really like his answer to a question about Academy's setting:

So you’re setting this —

In the “Discovery” era. There’s a specific reason for that. As the father of a 17-year-old boy, I see what my son is feeling as he looks at the world and to his future. I see the uncertainty; I see all the things we took for granted as given are not certainties for him. I see him recognizing he’s inheriting an enormous mess to clean up and it’s going to be on his generation to figure out how to do that, and that’s a lot to ask of a kid. My thinking was, if we set “Starfleet Academy” in the halcyon days of the Federation where everything was fine, it’s not going to speak to what kids are going through right now.

It’ll be a nice fantasy, but it’s not really going to be authentic. What’ll be authentic is to set it in the timeline where this is the first class back after over 100 years, and they are coming into a world that is only beginning to recover from a cataclysm — which was the Burn, as established on “Star Trek: Discovery,” where the Federation was greatly diminished. So they’re the first who’ll inherit, who’ll re-inherit, the task of exploration as a primary goal, because there just wasn’t room for that during the Burn — everybody was playing defense. It’s an incredibly optimistic show, an incredibly fun show; it’s a very funny show, and it’s a very emotional show. I think these kids, in different ways, are going to represent what a lot of kids are feeling now.

Oh wow, I'm glad you were able to attend - how was the crowd?

I guess we will never find out where it actually came from

This was something that caught me off-guard, but the more I think about it, the more appropriate it seems. Some things are just unknowable.

As far as season finales go, I think this was their best one to date. The action was split pretty nicely between the chaotic events on the bridge, Saru's mission, and Burnham and Moll inside the portal. I thought the thoroughline of the clues left by the science team came together quite nicely, as well - there was a good amount of emphasis on how concerned the scientists had been about exactly who was going to find this thing. Burnham's ultimate decision to chuck the whole thing into the black hole caught me by surprise, but seemed pretty well-reasoned.

As far as series finale's go...I think they did pretty well with what they had. The several-decade time jump often works really well to cause some self-reflection, and it was nice to see an Admiral Burnham who was so settled down. And hey, we got our "Calypso" tie-in that managed to answer very few questions, but at least they closed that circle.

It really does feel like the end of an era. This show kickstarted the barrage of Trek we've (hopefully, mostly) enjoyed over these past few years. Of all the series that have followed it, Discovery has consistently been the one I've looked forward to watching the most, as it's been the most willing to surprise and challenge me along the way. It's been, as they say, a long road.

The Academy series remains on track to start filming this summer.

I think it'll probably get five seasons, but I wouldn't hold my breath beyond that.

TFW you're a little too accustomed to genre conventions...

Edit: And I think we all get that from time to time. When's the last time you expected the transporters to work during a high-stakes mission?