“Star Trek: Discovery,” like most TV shows, is being tinkered with, adjusted, and re-written, even as shooting occurs. Laypeople may assume that a TV script is completed and approved before shooting even begins and that it remains permanent throughout production, but in live-action TV, that’s hardly ever the case. As such, actors can film scenes just to see them cut, just like they might on a feature film. Indeed, a fan of “Discovery” revealed that they had seen a shooting script for an earlier episode, and they were shocked at how many drafts it had gone through (one can discern drafts by the colors of the pages they’re printed on).
When asked about the script for the episode in question, Averbach-Katz was able to tell the story of “Na-Na Riot,” the battle song that Ryn and Booker were to sing during a phaser fight.
“The script is constantly being re-written, and even on the day you’re trying alt lines out as well. I didn’t have to deal with many major re-writes. HOWEVER, in the scene where book and I make out last stand, we were supposed to sing a song called “Na-Na Riot” … both of us had come up with our own versions in our head (because they hadn’t given us any clue what it sounded like) but they cut it the day of shooting! It would have been legendary.”
Such a pity.
Averbach-Katz doesn’t say if “Na-Na Riot” was inspired by the indie rock back Ra Ra Riot (the thin-voiced “Dying is Fine” and “Water” guys), but given that band’s mellow sound, it’s safe to assume that it wasn’t.
There wouldn’t be a musical episode of “Star Trek” until “Subspace Rhapsody” in 2023, three years later.