WEBVTT
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Hey nerds, I'm Wil Wheaton
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and this is "The Ready Room,"
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your official behind the scenes hub
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for all things Star Trek Universe.
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This week, we'll be talking about
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everything that happened
in the newest episode
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of Star Trek: Discovery "People of Earth."
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So, if you haven't watched that
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and you want to avoid spoilers,
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then do us all a favor and
go stream the episode first.
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Seriously, it's great,
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you're gonna be really glad you did.
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My friend directed it and
it just so happens that
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we have him here today to talk about it.
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That's right, the one
and only Jonathan Frakes
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is in "The Ready Room" today,
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joined by seasoned Discovery writers,
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Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt
who wrote the episode.
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And if that wasn't enough,
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you are getting two interview
segments for the price of one.
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The price is still free,
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but you know, two is
more than one and better
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because a little later,
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I'll be talking with
Star Trek: Discovery's
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master of music, Composer Jeff Russo.
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And of course, just as cake is eternal,
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so too is our exclusive clip
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for next week's episode
of Star Trek: Discovery.
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But first, this latest
episode showed us that
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Earth hasn't exactly aged well
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in the last 900 years or so.
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Let's see what the Disco
crew had to say about
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our little blue marble's very big changes
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in this brand new "Moments of Discovery."
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Control room,
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engage.
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Approaching visual range, sir.
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There she is.
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Any Star Trek series,
when they return to Earth,
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it's kind of a fun thing for the fans.
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It's fun for the audience to say,
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"Oh, that's where I live."
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We think Earth is our home.
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We come to Earth and they say,
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"Well, you don't belong here."
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Leave immediately, you
are not welcome here.
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So, they go back to Earth
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thinking that they're going
to find the Federation there.
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And instead what they find is that
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the Federation left a long time ago.
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[heavy machinery revving]
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Alert, alert!
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Shield's up, red alert.
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The Earth Defense Force is basically
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their global protection, if you will.
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Put them through.
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Being met with military force,
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we have to explain ourselves.
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Well,
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how do we tell them that
we're from the past, right?
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That's a toughie.
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Your ship is not in our records.
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Discovery was on a long-term
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classified scientific expedition.
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They're fairly isolationist
when we meet them.
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They are not interested in connecting with
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those they perceive as other than them.
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It's a conflicting moment, I think,
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for a lot of the crew of
joy that we've made it,
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but also a lot of confusion
as to where we fit
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in this new world.
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There's pride in being Starfleet
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and now, that's been taken away from us.
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It's a scary place to be.
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We will prepare for your arrival.
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We are beaming a board now.
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Their tech was more advanced than
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what we had in the past.
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All scary things, very, very, very scary.
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So, the leader of the
United Earth Defense Force
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beams aboard our ship
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and is not very good humored.
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As acting captain, I have
to sort of bow to her
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and hope that she answers
some questions for us.
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Like, where's the Federation?
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Why aren't you in it anymore?
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What happened there?
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Many of our crew consider
Earth their ancestral home.
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Yes, Captain, all we want is to check in
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with Starfleet command.
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You have been away a long time.
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I think it's shocking for them to discover
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the state of Starfleet
and what it's become,
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especially because it's so important
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as our moral compass, as our code.
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I do not understand.
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Earth is no longer part of the Federation?
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Why should we be?
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We can take care of ourselves.
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It took a while for us to
understand why that was
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because Earth was going
through its own thing.
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There were several
things that had happened
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that we weren't even aware of.
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I'm afraid you won't find
what you're looking for here.
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The Federation and Starfleet
haven't been on Earth
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for a hundred years.
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A lot of it is related to the Burn
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and what happened after the Burn,
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the Burn being our mystery for the season.
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Michael really brings
us together and says,
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okay, we know what we're doing
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and we need to make ourselves known here
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and we need to push into this world
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and continue our mission.
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Are there others
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like you?
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There's no one like me.
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Well, I know how that feels.
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It's a great example of
how Star Trek can use
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its worlds and future vision
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to explore things that
are very relevant today.
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I am now joined by a man I've
known for a very long time,
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going all the way back to our days
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on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
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More recently, he's brought
his immense directing talent
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to Star Trek: Discovery,
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including this week's
episode, "People of Earth."
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In addition, I am so thrilled and honored
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to have that episode's
writers with us today,
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Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt
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who have been with
Discovery since Season 1.
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Welcome all of you to "The Ready Room."
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Thank you.
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Thanks for having us.
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Good to be here.
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Episode 3 is all about the state of Earth
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when Discovery first arrives there.
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So like, our guys don't really know
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what to expect from Earth in the future,
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they're sort of like the
audience in that regard.
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And when they get there,
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they do not get the warm welcome
that they were expecting.
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Earth has become very guarded,
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jaded,
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xenophobic.
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You realize this is supposed
to be fiction, right?
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[Bo Yeon and Erika laugh]
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I felt like this was
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so clearly
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and powerfully
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a metaphor for what is happening
in the world right now.
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I'm interested to hear
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what conversations you
had in the writer's room.
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And Johnny, I'm interested to hear
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what conversations you had
as you prepped this episode
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to establish and develop
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what this particular version of Earth
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was going to look like.
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Yeah, well, you actually hit on something
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that was very much a motivation in us
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going to Earth in Episode 3 of the season,
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which was we're so far in the future
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that everything could be different.
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And by going to Earth, it
sort of allows the audience
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to have a reference point
of something we knew before
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and sort of seeing how
it's changed in the future.
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But at the same time,
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when we started to think
about it, the instinct was,
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let's go down to Earth,
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let's see what life is like on Earth.
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And the more we got into that,
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it was like such a rabbit hole of
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how could we possibly do
justice to life on Earth
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a thousand years in the future,
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not even our future, but
the future of Star Trek.
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And you can sort of go
down these rabbit holes of
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figuring out what the
technology would be like,
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what the city was going to be like.
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And ultimately we were like,
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no, what we want is to show
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what humanity has become in the future.
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Really focus on
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how the attitude of Earth
humans would have changed.
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And so, that's kind of how we ended up
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telling this story on board of Discovery
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with the two sort of factions of humans.
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Yeah and we've obviously seen
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sort of the darker glimpses
of Starfleet and Federation.
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And I think it was...
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We had to keep reminding ourselves that,
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even in a post-Federation world,
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this is still Earth that
went through Federation.
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So, these people are much
more enlightened than we are.
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And so, there's not like Federation,
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they suddenly devolved into
this xenophobic thinking.
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I think we really wanted
to tell the story that
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whatever happened with the Burn,
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this mystery of the season,
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it created a lot of PTSD for people.
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And being so disconnected
from the rest of the planets,
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Earth sort of became this sort of,
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it started othering others
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in order to protect itself.
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And I don't think it's...
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I think it is sort of the
fear was the greatest weakness
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that even people who went
through the Federation
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couldn't really protect themselves from.
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What was your prep process
like for this, Johnny?
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Well, I was just about to bring up
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the one time we visit Earth in the show is
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ironically, a place you
studied, at Starfleet Academy.
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And the visual metaphor of
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the tree around which
they had all studied.
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I scouted locations all over Toronto
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and there was never a
tree, a literal tree,
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that was going to play
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900 years old.
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So,
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as we all want to do, Wil,
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we had a green screen.
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Action.
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Some places can survive anything.
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Oh my God, there it is, I used to study
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under this tree
So did I.
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Me too.
Oh, my gosh.
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It's so big now.
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I had a bunch of actors
walking up to a green screen,
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had a visual effects supervisor saying,
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"Well, I think it will be this big.
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Let's go for it."
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And the tree, by the way,
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which they created, is spectacular,
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but it's a tree we would
never find in nature.
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And frankly, I mean, there are people
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who will watch the show and
not know that you could show
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that the tree was in fact never there.
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It's a really beautiful scene.
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There's a thing that-
A wonderful scene,
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very emo.
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It's extremely emotional.
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And each actor, I could see as
you played in their coverage,
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each actor has a specific
memory they're drawing on
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that is extremely important to them.
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And that raises something
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I've noticed in your episode specifically.
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The character moments
really shine through.
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Those moments of growth,
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those moments where Star Trek stops being
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about the size of the galaxy
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and it becomes about the size
of the heart of the person
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who's on the camera at that moment.
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I love those moments
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and I feel like they really
stand out in your episodes.
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Do you look for them?
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Do you lean into those
moments when you see them
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or am I projecting?
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You may be projecting, but
that's absolutely what I do.
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I think it's the most important,
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it's what makes people watch the show.
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It's what makes people watch any show,
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is how we feel about the characters.
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I noticed when we were working together
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on Next Generation, I've noticed it,
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I saw it on Powers,
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I saw it when you directed me on Leverage.
266
00:11:03.490 --> 00:11:05.730
You communicate to actors in a way
267
00:11:05.730 --> 00:11:07.580
that not every director is able to
268
00:11:07.580 --> 00:11:10.080
and it comes from your
experience as an actor.
269
00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:12.980
And you have the ability
and the credibility
270
00:11:12.980 --> 00:11:16.750
to speak to Star Trek
actors as a Star Trek actor.
271
00:11:16.750 --> 00:11:18.420
There's something very special
272
00:11:18.420 --> 00:11:20.470
about you directing Star Trek: Discovery.
273
00:11:20.470 --> 00:11:24.120
Now, I understand one
of Discovery's actors
274
00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:26.130
was actually flirting with retirement
275
00:11:27.817 --> 00:11:30.230
and you actually played a role
276
00:11:31.330 --> 00:11:33.830
in maybe altering that
direction a little bit.
277
00:11:33.830 --> 00:11:35.560
This seems like a story that
278
00:11:35.560 --> 00:11:37.610
I think we would all really love to hear.
279
00:11:38.690 --> 00:11:39.800
This is a wonderful,
280
00:11:39.800 --> 00:11:42.940
Phumi Sitole who played Ndoye,
281
00:11:42.940 --> 00:11:44.985
who was that wonderful,
282
00:11:44.985 --> 00:11:48.190
the leader of the Earth Federation
283
00:11:48.190 --> 00:11:49.440
or whatever that group is called.
284
00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:51.810
She's South African
285
00:11:51.810 --> 00:11:54.710
and she wrote to me after the experience.
286
00:11:54.710 --> 00:11:55.690
I sent her a thank you
287
00:11:55.690 --> 00:11:58.260
and said how great she was in the cut.
288
00:11:58.260 --> 00:11:59.950
And she explained that she was about--
289
00:11:59.950 --> 00:12:01.210
that was her last audition.
290
00:12:01.210 --> 00:12:03.930
She was done, she was giving up acting,
291
00:12:03.930 --> 00:12:06.850
she hadn't had much luck getting work.
292
00:12:06.850 --> 00:12:09.300
And the experience she had on the set
293
00:12:09.300 --> 00:12:12.467
specifically with Sonequa
and Doug and Chris Heyerdahl
294
00:12:14.650 --> 00:12:17.970
and the experience that the show gave her
295
00:12:17.970 --> 00:12:20.923
reinforced her love of the craft.
296
00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:25.110
That's wonderful.
And made her decide to stay
297
00:12:25.110 --> 00:12:28.480
in the union and she is
eternally grateful to Star Trek
298
00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:29.970
for all the right reasons
299
00:12:29.970 --> 00:12:31.133
and we to her.
300
00:12:32.470 --> 00:12:33.303
[Wil] Wow.
301
00:12:34.770 --> 00:12:36.200
She didn't tell anybody
302
00:12:36.200 --> 00:12:38.240
that this job had changed her life
303
00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:39.470
while we were doing it.
304
00:12:39.470 --> 00:12:43.157
And she was such a pro and she
was so fabulous in the show.
305
00:12:43.157 --> 00:12:44.140
So good.
And then, she relieved
306
00:12:44.140 --> 00:12:45.470
all this to me afterwards
307
00:12:45.470 --> 00:12:48.237
and I was so proud, never been prouder.
308
00:12:48.237 --> 00:12:51.540
Wow, and you know, in casting her,
309
00:12:51.540 --> 00:12:53.740
and we wanted to mention her as well
310
00:12:53.740 --> 00:12:54.600
and give her a shout-out
311
00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:59.040
because in trying to portray
this very changed Earth
312
00:12:59.040 --> 00:13:03.600
and sort of slightly more
sort of guarded Earth,
313
00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:05.960
it was so critical who we cast
314
00:13:05.960 --> 00:13:09.140
as the captain of the United Earth Defense
315
00:13:09.140 --> 00:13:10.970
because I think it would have been so easy
316
00:13:10.970 --> 00:13:13.470
to cast someone who seemed too tyrannical
317
00:13:13.470 --> 00:13:15.530
or too cold, too aloof,
318
00:13:15.530 --> 00:13:17.480
someone we couldn't really identify
319
00:13:17.480 --> 00:13:19.130
as someone who is from Earth.
320
00:13:19.130 --> 00:13:21.720
And with Phumi, it was just so...
321
00:13:21.720 --> 00:13:24.340
She had sort of guarded empathy
322
00:13:24.340 --> 00:13:26.570
sort of just simmering just beneath her
323
00:13:26.570 --> 00:13:29.740
sort of captainness of it all.
324
00:13:29.740 --> 00:13:32.090
And she had the vulnerability
325
00:13:32.090 --> 00:13:34.390
and needed to be authoritative
when she had to be
326
00:13:34.390 --> 00:13:38.113
and it was just the perfect
piece of casting that we did.
327
00:13:39.210 --> 00:13:43.643
And she really made the
episode work, I think.
328
00:13:44.789 --> 00:13:46.660
Well, the casting worked
because the writing worked,
329
00:13:46.660 --> 00:13:48.080
let's be fair.
330
00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:49.360
[Bo Yeon and Erika laugh]
331
00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:50.193
That's true.
No, seriously.
332
00:13:50.193 --> 00:13:51.120
I don't mean to blow smoke,
333
00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:54.420
but the writing of the character
was written in a way that
334
00:13:54.420 --> 00:13:58.330
she was both empathetic
and a bit of a hard-ass
335
00:13:58.330 --> 00:14:01.700
and frankly, felt sorry
for the people on Discovery
336
00:14:01.700 --> 00:14:04.410
that they had missed the last 900 years.
337
00:14:04.410 --> 00:14:07.070
It was hard for her to
wrap her head around
338
00:14:07.070 --> 00:14:09.540
and I think in what she learned on,
339
00:14:09.540 --> 00:14:11.250
on our ship, I said,
340
00:14:11.250 --> 00:14:16.250
on Discovery was that she
could find room for forgiveness
341
00:14:16.630 --> 00:14:18.133
for Heyerdahl's character.
342
00:14:19.960 --> 00:14:23.353
They say, if it ain't on the
page, it ain't on the stage.
343
00:14:24.400 --> 00:14:27.840
Let's talk about her relationship.
344
00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:30.240
Let's talk about that
relationship specifically.
345
00:14:31.541 --> 00:14:35.360
This episode has this really fantastic
346
00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:36.290
classic
347
00:14:36.290 --> 00:14:39.440
Star Trek storytelling choice
348
00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:41.230
where we find out that
349
00:14:41.230 --> 00:14:44.450
these two warring parties,
350
00:14:44.450 --> 00:14:45.570
oh, hey, guess what?
351
00:14:45.570 --> 00:14:46.980
When you take your masks off,
352
00:14:46.980 --> 00:14:49.240
you're exactly the same.
353
00:14:49.240 --> 00:14:51.473
You're exactly the same people.
354
00:14:53.520 --> 00:14:55.130
Common ground.
355
00:14:55.130 --> 00:14:58.600
Hello, world, pay
attention to this message.
356
00:14:58.600 --> 00:15:01.620
Hello, America, pay
attention to this message.
357
00:15:01.620 --> 00:15:02.840
They are fighting each other
358
00:15:02.840 --> 00:15:05.670
over a limited resource
that they both need
359
00:15:05.670 --> 00:15:08.080
and they are exactly the same,
360
00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:10.380
but they've hated each other for so long
361
00:15:10.380 --> 00:15:13.390
that they've forgotten to find
that common shared humanity.
362
00:15:13.390 --> 00:15:16.570
That's such a beautiful Star
Trek story, it's so incredible.
363
00:15:16.570 --> 00:15:20.470
Will you talk about
where this idea came from
364
00:15:20.470 --> 00:15:22.750
and how you all worked together
365
00:15:22.750 --> 00:15:25.370
to make that storyline work
366
00:15:25.370 --> 00:15:29.453
because you are walking a real
high wire with that choice?
367
00:15:31.480 --> 00:15:32.970
Well, this goes back to something that
368
00:15:32.970 --> 00:15:34.360
we were talking about earlier,
369
00:15:34.360 --> 00:15:38.213
which was this notion of disconnectedness.
370
00:15:40.730 --> 00:15:42.255
In [Episodes] 1 and 2
371
00:15:42.255 --> 00:15:44.605
we have such sort of these epic stories
372
00:15:44.605 --> 00:15:47.730
of Burnham landing in the
future, being stranded,
373
00:15:47.730 --> 00:15:49.870
and then the crew of
Discovery crash landing
374
00:15:49.870 --> 00:15:52.890
and having to sort of find their bearings.
375
00:15:52.890 --> 00:15:55.510
And in 3 we did want to sort of
376
00:15:55.510 --> 00:15:57.400
help the audience sort
of ground themselves
377
00:15:57.400 --> 00:16:00.150
in a very classic Trek story.
378
00:16:00.150 --> 00:16:01.170
With the whole crew.
379
00:16:01.170 --> 00:16:04.520
Yes and having Burnham
now rejoining the crew,
380
00:16:04.520 --> 00:16:06.090
we could see everyone
how they work together
381
00:16:06.090 --> 00:16:07.323
now in this future.
382
00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:12.200
But the sort of theme that
we keep returning to is
383
00:16:12.200 --> 00:16:15.020
how does disconnectedness affect us?
384
00:16:15.020 --> 00:16:17.580
And it seemed like the perfect way
385
00:16:17.580 --> 00:16:20.740
to tell that story was for
386
00:16:20.740 --> 00:16:22.550
sort of a faction of humans from Earth
387
00:16:22.550 --> 00:16:24.620
that sort of broke off a while ago,
388
00:16:24.620 --> 00:16:29.050
getting cut off as a result
of this mysterious Burn event
389
00:16:29.050 --> 00:16:33.400
and showing how when you're
not willing to reach out
390
00:16:33.400 --> 00:16:35.470
and speak and communicate
with someone else,
391
00:16:35.470 --> 00:16:39.670
it's so easy to just assume
all the worst things about them
392
00:16:39.670 --> 00:16:40.780
and sort of focus inward
393
00:16:40.780 --> 00:16:43.540
and want to protect
yourselves at all costs.
394
00:16:43.540 --> 00:16:45.650
And that was sort of the...
395
00:16:45.650 --> 00:16:47.230
What we were going for was
396
00:16:47.230 --> 00:16:50.550
having Discovery be the sort of
397
00:16:50.550 --> 00:16:53.900
unique vessel that could allow
398
00:16:53.900 --> 00:16:56.060
that line of communication to be reopened
399
00:16:56.060 --> 00:16:58.450
between these two groups.
400
00:16:58.450 --> 00:16:59.660
Jonathan, you make some choices
401
00:16:59.660 --> 00:17:02.540
in the framing of that big reveal
402
00:17:02.540 --> 00:17:04.330
when he takes his helmet off
403
00:17:04.330 --> 00:17:06.610
and you keep them in the same frame,
404
00:17:06.610 --> 00:17:11.460
like they are forced to exist
together in the same frame.
405
00:17:11.460 --> 00:17:14.430
Yeah, I just wanted to
go back one second to
406
00:17:16.200 --> 00:17:17.960
the moment before that,
407
00:17:17.960 --> 00:17:21.140
which makes the writing
even better is that,
408
00:17:21.140 --> 00:17:23.050
frankly, comic moment during
409
00:17:23.050 --> 00:17:26.300
Georgiou kicks his helmet off his head.
410
00:17:31.430 --> 00:17:32.883
Diplomacy is so slow.
411
00:17:34.860 --> 00:17:36.160
Yeah.
412
00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:38.920
That's one of the best
moments in the show.
413
00:17:38.920 --> 00:17:40.840
Then they carry on and they discover that
414
00:17:40.840 --> 00:17:42.810
with your mask off, we are one,
415
00:17:42.810 --> 00:17:44.360
all the great Star Trek things.
416
00:17:44.360 --> 00:17:47.460
But the twist of Georgiou,
417
00:17:47.460 --> 00:17:49.550
let's go, let's wrap this thing up.
418
00:17:49.550 --> 00:17:52.266
We're in the fourth act, I got this.
419
00:17:52.266 --> 00:17:54.066
I know how to move this story along.
420
00:17:54.910 --> 00:17:55.820
A real quick sidebar,
421
00:17:55.820 --> 00:17:58.550
how much fun is it to
direct Michelle Yeoh?
422
00:17:58.550 --> 00:18:01.670
She's amazing and she loves it.
423
00:18:01.670 --> 00:18:03.170
She loves Georgiou
424
00:18:04.100 --> 00:18:06.350
and she loves her crew
and she loves to work.
425
00:18:06.350 --> 00:18:07.360
She's a...
426
00:18:07.360 --> 00:18:08.743
Well, she's a blast.
427
00:18:10.202 --> 00:18:13.290
I agree.
Yes.
428
00:18:13.290 --> 00:18:14.390
This has been great.
429
00:18:15.500 --> 00:18:16.950
It has been really...
430
00:18:16.950 --> 00:18:18.120
Johnny, it's lovely to see you.
431
00:18:18.120 --> 00:18:20.373
Bo Yeon and Erika, it's
lovely to meet you.
432
00:18:21.500 --> 00:18:24.410
I thank you all for your
creative contributions
433
00:18:24.410 --> 00:18:28.370
to Star Trek: Discovery,
seasons past and present.
434
00:18:28.370 --> 00:18:29.970
And thank you so much for giving us
435
00:18:29.970 --> 00:18:32.770
a little bit of your time
today in "The Ready Room."
436
00:18:32.770 --> 00:18:34.124
Our pleasure.
437
00:18:34.124 --> 00:18:35.750
Thanks for having us.
438
00:18:35.750 --> 00:18:36.583
Great job, Wil.
439
00:18:36.583 --> 00:18:38.970
I'm glad you finally met
Bo Yeon and Erika too.
440
00:18:38.970 --> 00:18:40.023
Me too.
441
00:18:55.130 --> 00:18:57.130
My next guest is responsible for
442
00:18:57.130 --> 00:18:58.720
a good chunk of the music
443
00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:01.380
that is currently stuck in my head.
444
00:19:01.380 --> 00:19:03.110
He now serves as the Composer
445
00:19:03.110 --> 00:19:04.780
for both Star Trek: Discovery
446
00:19:04.780 --> 00:19:07.240
as well as Star Trek: Picard.
447
00:19:07.240 --> 00:19:08.580
Please join me in welcoming
448
00:19:08.580 --> 00:19:11.170
the supremely talented, Jeff Russo.
449
00:19:11.170 --> 00:19:13.330
Jeff, thank you for making
some time for us today.
450
00:19:13.330 --> 00:19:14.847
Oh, it's a pleasure.
451
00:19:14.847 --> 00:19:17.330
Thank you for having me.
452
00:19:17.330 --> 00:19:19.770
Let's start out with the biggest question
453
00:19:19.770 --> 00:19:22.090
I'm sure many of us have.
454
00:19:22.090 --> 00:19:23.700
You've been the composer
for Star Trek: Discovery
455
00:19:23.700 --> 00:19:25.200
since the very beginning,
456
00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:27.730
but I imagine this particular season
457
00:19:27.730 --> 00:19:31.110
was quite a different experience
for you than the first two.
458
00:19:31.110 --> 00:19:36.110
So, what has it been like to
score a season of television
459
00:19:36.330 --> 00:19:38.400
while you are quarantined?
460
00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:41.150
Had you ever done
anything like this before?
461
00:19:41.150 --> 00:19:43.600
I had never done anything
on this scale before.
462
00:19:45.322 --> 00:19:47.023
I had done some recordings,
463
00:19:48.130 --> 00:19:50.840
individual recordings on a smaller scale,
464
00:19:50.840 --> 00:19:51.680
but once...
465
00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:53.060
Star Trek sort of requires
466
00:19:54.109 --> 00:19:59.109
a sort of very big orchestral
sound, especially Discovery.
467
00:19:59.140 --> 00:20:00.430
And
468
00:20:00.430 --> 00:20:04.120
in putting together our big orchestra
469
00:20:04.120 --> 00:20:06.980
from an individual recording
at home standpoint,
470
00:20:06.980 --> 00:20:11.980
it has been very, very, very
meticulous and arduous process.
471
00:20:12.310 --> 00:20:15.440
I mean, just recording
every individual player
472
00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:19.100
in their homes and helping
them get up to the point
473
00:20:19.100 --> 00:20:20.040
where they could do that
474
00:20:20.040 --> 00:20:22.580
because part of what happened
at the very beginning
475
00:20:22.580 --> 00:20:25.090
was a lot of these musicians
weren't really set up
476
00:20:25.090 --> 00:20:27.450
for at-home recording.
477
00:20:27.450 --> 00:20:29.960
So, we set up a way to
478
00:20:31.130 --> 00:20:32.080
consult with them
479
00:20:32.080 --> 00:20:36.270
and help them figure out
where to put the mic,
480
00:20:36.270 --> 00:20:39.390
how to treat their room to make it sound
481
00:20:39.390 --> 00:20:41.190
as good as it can sound.
482
00:20:41.190 --> 00:20:43.063
So, when we put it all together,
483
00:20:44.250 --> 00:20:47.200
it still sounded like our
orchestra in a big room.
484
00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:49.550
But it was quite...
485
00:20:49.550 --> 00:20:51.140
It is
486
00:20:51.140 --> 00:20:52.093
quite incredible.
487
00:20:52.950 --> 00:20:55.150
Do you know how many instruments
488
00:20:55.150 --> 00:20:57.360
you captured for this season?
489
00:20:57.360 --> 00:21:01.070
Well, it sort of varies between 40 and 60.
490
00:21:01.070 --> 00:21:01.903
Wow.
491
00:21:02.873 --> 00:21:05.460
The bigger moments have 60
492
00:21:05.460 --> 00:21:07.640
and the bigger episodes have 60
493
00:21:07.640 --> 00:21:11.150
and the smaller moments have 40, 45,
494
00:21:11.150 --> 00:21:13.500
depending on how big of
a brass section I need.
495
00:21:14.350 --> 00:21:17.683
I know that you are as much
of a Star Trek fan as I am.
496
00:21:18.878 --> 00:21:20.800
I'm not sure that you really know,
497
00:21:20.800 --> 00:21:22.040
I'm not sure that you really know.
498
00:21:22.040 --> 00:21:24.620
I sit here, it's so funny and I don't want
499
00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:28.930
to veer off too quickly or too much,
500
00:21:28.930 --> 00:21:30.223
but I will say that,
501
00:21:31.800 --> 00:21:35.740
in my late teens, I became a
fan of the Next Generation.
502
00:21:35.740 --> 00:21:37.810
So, sitting here and sitting with you,
503
00:21:37.810 --> 00:21:41.950
you particularly, is a pretty
big deal to me because I was
504
00:21:41.950 --> 00:21:43.770
such a huge fan.
Dude, that's so cool.
505
00:21:43.770 --> 00:21:45.200
Well, it's funny
506
00:21:46.620 --> 00:21:50.530
in meeting, I mean, virtually
meeting you in this way
507
00:21:50.530 --> 00:21:53.570
and in having any conversation
with Sir Patrick Stewart
508
00:21:53.570 --> 00:21:55.440
that I did, as well,
509
00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:58.690
it is thrilling for me because of
510
00:21:58.690 --> 00:22:02.220
my being such a fan of
that particular show,
511
00:22:02.220 --> 00:22:03.090
of the Next Generation,
512
00:22:03.090 --> 00:22:07.070
which was my entry point
into the world of Star Trek.
513
00:22:07.070 --> 00:22:11.000
And then worked my way
backwards to the films
514
00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:12.610
and in the
515
00:22:12.610 --> 00:22:15.620
series and then sort of worked
my way forward from that.
516
00:22:15.620 --> 00:22:19.020
So, it is particularly
thrilling for me to sit here
517
00:22:19.020 --> 00:22:20.300
and have a conversation with you,
518
00:22:20.300 --> 00:22:22.790
just to get that out.
519
00:22:22.790 --> 00:22:24.770
That's totally cool.
520
00:22:24.770 --> 00:22:26.000
So,
521
00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:29.260
I come to this work
522
00:22:29.260 --> 00:22:31.990
as a fan, a lifelong fan of Star Trek.
523
00:22:31.990 --> 00:22:34.360
Watched The Original
Series as a little boy,
524
00:22:34.360 --> 00:22:35.640
worked on Next Generation,
525
00:22:35.640 --> 00:22:39.020
but like, I am legitimately a
526
00:22:39.020 --> 00:22:43.050
massive Trekkie for Star Trek: Discovery.
527
00:22:43.050 --> 00:22:46.060
I feel the way I felt when
I was a kid when I watch it,
528
00:22:46.060 --> 00:22:47.690
I love it, I care about the characters,
529
00:22:47.690 --> 00:22:49.950
I could go on and on and on
forever about how great it is.
530
00:22:49.950 --> 00:22:52.483
I have a question for you, a fan question.
531
00:22:55.360 --> 00:22:57.840
It was challenging for me
532
00:22:57.840 --> 00:22:59.640
to separate
533
00:22:59.640 --> 00:23:00.990
my fandom
534
00:23:00.990 --> 00:23:03.210
from my professionalism.
535
00:23:03.210 --> 00:23:04.530
Like I would be on the bridge
536
00:23:04.530 --> 00:23:07.230
and I was just like, "I'm on the bridge."
537
00:23:07.230 --> 00:23:09.110
Or like, I would be in engineering
538
00:23:09.110 --> 00:23:11.260
and I was like, "I
wanna touch everything."
539
00:23:11.260 --> 00:23:13.423
Like, I was so into it.
540
00:23:16.300 --> 00:23:19.030
If I were you, I would be like,
541
00:23:19.030 --> 00:23:22.410
how do I bring back the
fight theme from "Amok Time"?
542
00:23:22.410 --> 00:23:24.483
How do I make that happen?
543
00:23:25.380 --> 00:23:27.140
Have you faced that challenge?
544
00:23:27.140 --> 00:23:29.490
Is that something you would ever wanna do?
545
00:23:29.490 --> 00:23:33.840
Or does it just feel like
that's too SNL for us?
546
00:23:33.840 --> 00:23:38.810
No, I did just that in the
first episode of Picard
547
00:23:38.810 --> 00:23:40.477
with the "Romulan Theme,"
548
00:23:41.516 --> 00:23:42.770
I was like,
549
00:23:42.770 --> 00:23:46.343
what better way to introduce
Romulans into this show
550
00:23:46.343 --> 00:23:49.300
than the way they did
in The Original Series.
551
00:23:49.300 --> 00:23:52.467
So, I touched on Fred
Steiner's "Romulan Theme."
552
00:23:55.800 --> 00:23:58.080
So, the interesting part is
553
00:23:58.080 --> 00:24:00.880
for me to try to separate my fandom
554
00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:03.230
from the professional part,
555
00:24:03.230 --> 00:24:04.660
which is exactly what you say.
556
00:24:04.660 --> 00:24:06.900
So, when I'm watching
557
00:24:06.900 --> 00:24:08.100
and when I'm thinking
about what I'm writing,
558
00:24:08.100 --> 00:24:09.330
sometimes I think like,
559
00:24:09.330 --> 00:24:11.850
"What would I want if I was a fan,
560
00:24:11.850 --> 00:24:13.910
what would I wanna hear here?"
561
00:24:13.910 --> 00:24:16.010
And then, sometimes I have
to remove myself from that
562
00:24:16.010 --> 00:24:17.790
and go, "Okay, I can't
really think of it like that
563
00:24:17.790 --> 00:24:19.780
because we're not that."
564
00:24:19.780 --> 00:24:23.730
We are this other thing, we're
moving ourselves forward.
565
00:24:23.730 --> 00:24:26.220
So, as much as I would love to hear
566
00:24:26.220 --> 00:24:28.593
Sandy Courage's theme all the time,
567
00:24:30.241 --> 00:24:31.910
I only use it judiciously
568
00:24:31.910 --> 00:24:34.810
when I think it's
actually very appropriate.
569
00:24:34.810 --> 00:24:39.380
And the same went for
Goldsmith's theme in Picard,
570
00:24:39.380 --> 00:24:40.213
I would use it,
571
00:24:40.213 --> 00:24:42.140
the same with Fred Steiner's stuff
572
00:24:42.140 --> 00:24:45.160
or any one of the other
573
00:24:45.160 --> 00:24:47.940
many super talented composers
574
00:24:47.940 --> 00:24:50.830
that have been involved in Trek.
575
00:24:50.830 --> 00:24:51.663
So,
576
00:24:53.974 --> 00:24:56.360
I do have to sort of separate,
577
00:24:56.360 --> 00:24:57.430
I do have to separate
578
00:24:57.430 --> 00:24:58.410
and it's hard sometimes,
579
00:24:58.410 --> 00:25:01.540
but, you know, gotta get it done.
580
00:25:01.540 --> 00:25:03.730
Have you stopped to like...
581
00:25:03.730 --> 00:25:05.650
Have you made space in your life
582
00:25:08.300 --> 00:25:09.853
just to love that,
583
00:25:11.410 --> 00:25:14.870
if there was gonna be a
room of Star Trek composers,
584
00:25:14.870 --> 00:25:16.360
you're gonna be in that room
585
00:25:16.360 --> 00:25:18.864
and you're gonna be in that
room with those greats?
586
00:25:18.864 --> 00:25:21.440
That there will be people in 40 years,
587
00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:23.190
50 years, 60 years talking about you
588
00:25:23.190 --> 00:25:25.760
the way we talk about Alexander Courage?
589
00:25:25.760 --> 00:25:27.690
It's frightening to me.
590
00:25:27.690 --> 00:25:28.853
It's frightening to me.
591
00:25:30.500 --> 00:25:31.453
Truly,
592
00:25:33.360 --> 00:25:36.100
I have that moment every day,
593
00:25:36.100 --> 00:25:38.260
like when are they gonna find out that
594
00:25:40.100 --> 00:25:41.780
I don't know what I'm doing.
595
00:25:41.780 --> 00:25:43.510
Those people knew what they were doing
596
00:25:43.510 --> 00:25:45.190
and I'm just
597
00:25:46.310 --> 00:25:47.610
feeling my way through it.
598
00:25:49.130 --> 00:25:50.560
I think about that all the time.
599
00:25:50.560 --> 00:25:52.770
I think about the fact that
600
00:25:52.770 --> 00:25:55.740
I'm literally standing in
the shadow of greatness,
601
00:25:55.740 --> 00:25:58.580
standing in the shadow
of these giant composers,
602
00:25:58.580 --> 00:26:00.270
Alexander Courage, Jerry Goldsmith,
603
00:26:00.270 --> 00:26:01.960
Fred Steiner, Jay Chattaway,
604
00:26:01.960 --> 00:26:05.100
all these people who
have made these themes
605
00:26:05.100 --> 00:26:09.010
that I have adored my entire life.
606
00:26:09.010 --> 00:26:12.490
So, to think that I could be thought of
607
00:26:12.490 --> 00:26:15.910
in the same breath as
any one of those people
608
00:26:16.785 --> 00:26:20.650
is extremely humbling to me.
609
00:26:20.650 --> 00:26:23.300
And it's sometimes hard to believe,
610
00:26:23.300 --> 00:26:25.123
I pinch myself a lot of times.
611
00:26:26.538 --> 00:26:27.467
Actually, I turn to my right
612
00:26:27.467 --> 00:26:29.150
and I'm looking at a screen
613
00:26:30.510 --> 00:26:32.160
with Michael Burnham and Georgiou
614
00:26:33.753 --> 00:26:35.215
standing up, I'm writing a scene
615
00:26:35.215 --> 00:26:37.535
right in between, we're doing this
616
00:26:37.535 --> 00:26:39.004
and I'm writing a scene.
617
00:26:39.004 --> 00:26:41.370
And I look at that and I go,
618
00:26:41.370 --> 00:26:44.290
I still can't believe
that this is something
619
00:26:44.290 --> 00:26:45.283
that's happened.
620
00:26:46.800 --> 00:26:49.030
And I have these
conversations with friends.
621
00:26:49.030 --> 00:26:51.240
I was in a band for a long time
622
00:26:51.240 --> 00:26:54.910
and we toured all through the nineties
623
00:26:54.910 --> 00:26:57.910
and when the singer in my band--
624
00:26:57.910 --> 00:27:01.480
and we've been partners for
a really super long time--
625
00:27:01.480 --> 00:27:02.610
when he found out that I was doing this,
626
00:27:02.610 --> 00:27:04.080
he called me and he was like,
627
00:27:04.080 --> 00:27:07.720
he called me and sent me
a photo of him holding up
628
00:27:08.610 --> 00:27:12.480
a VHS cassette that he had in a box
629
00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:15.930
that I had left on a tour bus
that was the Next Generation
630
00:27:15.930 --> 00:27:17.290
'cause I would tape them
631
00:27:17.290 --> 00:27:19.600
and take them on the tour bus and watch,
632
00:27:19.600 --> 00:27:21.010
that's all I would do.
633
00:27:21.010 --> 00:27:21.843
And he was like,
634
00:27:21.843 --> 00:27:25.530
if you could go back and
tell your 26-year-old self
635
00:27:25.530 --> 00:27:28.540
that you'd be doing that,
what would you think?
636
00:27:28.540 --> 00:27:29.820
And it's incredible.
637
00:27:29.820 --> 00:27:31.390
It really is incredible to me.
638
00:27:31.390 --> 00:27:35.190
So, I live this like dual sort of like,
639
00:27:35.190 --> 00:27:36.340
okay, I have to be a professional,
640
00:27:36.340 --> 00:27:37.280
I have to be professional,
641
00:27:37.280 --> 00:27:39.180
but I'm a fan and I'm a fan.
642
00:27:39.180 --> 00:27:41.833
So, it's pretty intense,
643
00:27:41.833 --> 00:27:43.920
it's a pretty intense feeling.
644
00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:46.870
Literally every episode of "Ready Room,"
645
00:27:46.870 --> 00:27:51.330
I struggle to maintain professionalism
646
00:27:51.330 --> 00:27:54.460
and to stay with my questions
647
00:27:54.460 --> 00:27:57.660
and not turn into the "Chris Farley Show"
648
00:27:57.660 --> 00:27:59.110
where I just wanna tell everybody
649
00:27:59.110 --> 00:28:02.203
how much I love them and how
great and amazing they are.
650
00:28:04.084 --> 00:28:05.710
It's such a challenge,
651
00:28:05.710 --> 00:28:08.150
especially for Discovery,
652
00:28:08.150 --> 00:28:11.323
which I love like I have
never loved Star Trek.
653
00:28:13.360 --> 00:28:16.293
Let's finish off being fans, okay?
654
00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:20.710
'Cause I haven't been able to do this.
655
00:28:20.710 --> 00:28:22.190
I haven't been able to talk to anybody
656
00:28:22.190 --> 00:28:23.660
about Discovery Season 3
657
00:28:23.660 --> 00:28:25.563
because nobody's seen it, right?
658
00:28:27.330 --> 00:28:28.373
I'm watching it,
659
00:28:29.310 --> 00:28:30.820
I'm caught up to where we are,
660
00:28:30.820 --> 00:28:33.690
we've seen three episodes
so far of the season,
661
00:28:33.690 --> 00:28:36.810
we've seen this new weird future,
662
00:28:36.810 --> 00:28:41.700
we've had a great kind of
like Old West style shootout
663
00:28:41.700 --> 00:28:45.430
and we are definitely in new territory.
664
00:28:45.430 --> 00:28:48.263
So, just fan to fan, okay?
665
00:28:49.120 --> 00:28:51.910
What are you so excited about this season?
666
00:28:51.910 --> 00:28:54.700
What is the thing you just really hope
667
00:28:54.700 --> 00:28:57.140
we get to explore
668
00:28:58.352 --> 00:28:59.680
in the storytelling?
669
00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:02.930
Well, when I first started on this season
670
00:29:02.930 --> 00:29:04.880
and I started seeing scripts
671
00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:08.143
and I started seeing where it was headed,
672
00:29:10.170 --> 00:29:12.680
I was very excited
673
00:29:12.680 --> 00:29:15.400
to see them be able to take
674
00:29:16.675 --> 00:29:20.490
the ideas that they had
from a thousand years prior
675
00:29:20.490 --> 00:29:22.630
and move them into a future
676
00:29:22.630 --> 00:29:25.180
where it would take
677
00:29:25.180 --> 00:29:27.010
that mindset
678
00:29:27.010 --> 00:29:30.190
and put it in a place
where it is apparent that
679
00:29:30.190 --> 00:29:32.970
that mindset does not exist.
680
00:29:32.970 --> 00:29:36.540
So, it will be the first time that
681
00:29:36.540 --> 00:29:40.380
the Star Trek ethos can be put in a place
682
00:29:40.380 --> 00:29:41.620
where it doesn't exist.
683
00:29:41.620 --> 00:29:45.580
We've always known Star Trek
to be in a static place.
684
00:29:45.580 --> 00:29:47.540
Like, yes, there's good, there's evil
685
00:29:47.540 --> 00:29:48.740
and there's this and that,
686
00:29:48.740 --> 00:29:51.260
but it's always existed at a time
687
00:29:51.260 --> 00:29:55.030
when that feeling existed amongst
688
00:29:55.030 --> 00:29:56.600
many people
689
00:29:56.600 --> 00:29:58.150
a thousand years in the future.
690
00:30:00.330 --> 00:30:03.320
It does feel a little
bit like the Old West
691
00:30:03.320 --> 00:30:06.290
where you don't know what's gonna happen.
692
00:30:06.290 --> 00:30:07.950
You don't know how this
person's going to feel,
693
00:30:07.950 --> 00:30:09.790
you don't know what Starfleet is,
694
00:30:09.790 --> 00:30:12.410
you don't know what's happened.
695
00:30:12.410 --> 00:30:13.870
And they
696
00:30:13.870 --> 00:30:17.520
have frozen in time this ideal
697
00:30:17.520 --> 00:30:19.520
and the idealism that they had
698
00:30:19.520 --> 00:30:22.360
and they've now brought it a
thousand years to the future.
699
00:30:22.360 --> 00:30:24.440
So, to me, the exciting part is
700
00:30:24.440 --> 00:30:26.510
they get to exercise that
701
00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:31.373
in a place where it is not
currently being exercised.
702
00:30:33.030 --> 00:30:35.383
Not that it matters,
but I completely agree.
703
00:30:36.870 --> 00:30:39.510
That very much mirrors
what I am excited about
704
00:30:40.667 --> 00:30:42.100
for this season.
705
00:30:42.100 --> 00:30:44.610
Jeff, thank you for your work
706
00:30:44.610 --> 00:30:46.140
and thank you for your time today,
707
00:30:46.140 --> 00:30:47.160
really appreciate it.
708
00:30:47.160 --> 00:30:50.327
It's a pleasure, really is a pleasure.
709
00:31:09.010 --> 00:31:11.060
Unlike the United Earth Defense Force,
710
00:31:11.060 --> 00:31:13.550
I'm not about to hoard
our valuable resources
711
00:31:13.550 --> 00:31:14.800
from the outside world,
712
00:31:14.800 --> 00:31:17.740
which is why I'm sharing
with you this exclusive clip
713
00:31:17.740 --> 00:31:18.997
from next week's episode of
714
00:31:18.997 --> 00:31:21.480
Star Trek: Discovery, "Forget Me Not".
715
00:31:21.480 --> 00:31:22.905
Let's watch.
716
00:31:27.387 --> 00:31:29.190
[Dr. Culber] Medical officer's log,
717
00:31:29.190 --> 00:31:30.023
supplemental.
718
00:31:31.460 --> 00:31:35.270
Our trip to Earth was eyeopening,
719
00:31:35.270 --> 00:31:36.860
a reality check,
720
00:31:36.860 --> 00:31:38.253
such as reality is.
721
00:31:39.760 --> 00:31:41.950
It's starting to hit everyone
722
00:31:41.950 --> 00:31:44.123
just how little we have to hold on to,
723
00:31:45.550 --> 00:31:48.403
the personal moments we
use to define ourselves,
724
00:31:49.460 --> 00:31:50.343
birthdays,
725
00:31:51.200 --> 00:31:52.093
anniversaries,
726
00:31:53.450 --> 00:31:54.363
graduations,
727
00:31:55.620 --> 00:31:56.453
funerals.
728
00:31:57.860 --> 00:31:59.360
We've jumped past all of them.
729
00:32:01.170 --> 00:32:02.243
They feel lost,
730
00:32:03.650 --> 00:32:04.493
disconnected.
731
00:32:09.510 --> 00:32:13.163
I tell them, I've been
alone, I've been lost.
732
00:32:17.140 --> 00:32:18.310
Both are survivable
733
00:32:19.680 --> 00:32:21.613
and surviving can become living again.
734
00:32:24.943 --> 00:32:26.863
You know if you ever
needed to talk, I'm around.
735
00:32:30.350 --> 00:32:31.183
I'm fine.
736
00:32:32.271 --> 00:32:33.104
[Dr. Culber] But first, they have to
737
00:32:33.104 --> 00:32:33.937
accept help.
738
00:32:35.700 --> 00:32:37.430
For a crew of overachievers,
739
00:32:37.430 --> 00:32:39.893
that kind of vulnerability
can be hard to hold.
740
00:32:43.190 --> 00:32:45.053
Five words keep everyone going,
741
00:32:46.140 --> 00:32:47.943
"When we find the Federation."
742
00:32:49.390 --> 00:32:51.090
It's become a mantra for the crew.
743
00:32:53.070 --> 00:32:55.033
In some cases, it seems to help.
744
00:32:55.973 --> 00:32:56.973
All right.
745
00:32:58.090 --> 00:32:59.660
Thank you all so much for spending
746
00:32:59.660 --> 00:33:01.310
some time with me in
"The Ready Room" today.
747
00:33:01.310 --> 00:33:03.030
This was awesome.
748
00:33:03.030 --> 00:33:04.780
Next Thursday, I will be joined by
749
00:33:04.780 --> 00:33:07.000
the U.S.S. Discovery's own power couple,
750
00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:08.890
Anthony Rapp and Wilson Cruz
751
00:33:08.890 --> 00:33:10.480
in a special double interview
752
00:33:10.480 --> 00:33:11.980
to talk about the latest breakthroughs
753
00:33:11.980 --> 00:33:14.020
with Hugh Culber and Paul Stamets.
754
00:33:14.020 --> 00:33:16.300
Until then, I'm Wil Wheaton.
755
00:33:16.300 --> 00:33:18.377
Live long and prosper.