10 Greatest Star Trek Bottle Episodes

This one, according to producer Aaron Harberts, was designed to save money - let there be no doubt about that! The time loop was a handy way to keep all of the action in a set amount of spaces, without having to consistently add new locales. This also allowed the episode to play with the form.

In a move similar to The Next Generation's Cause And Effect, this episode locks the characters into a time loop, gradually becoming aware, or at least having Stamets retain his knowledge, along with Rainn Wilson's returning Harry Mudd.

The episode, for all of its cost-saving, ends up being one of the more enjoyable - and certainly one of the more silly - episodes in Discovery's first season. Hindsight adds a slightly savage satisfaction in seeing Lorca bumped off the mortal coil again and again, but to expand there would venture into spoiler territory.

Anthony Rapp commented that the episode was a frantic one to film, with many moving parts. The party scene took four days to complete, so even with the show sitting firmly in the 'bottle show' camp, it wasn't necessarily the quickest turnaround of a script in Star Trek history.