This week in The Ready Room,
I've conjured Babs Olusanmokun, aka Dr. M'Benga,
and Melissa Navia, aka Lt. Erica Ortegas,
to talk Episode 8 of Strange New Worlds.
We'll get an exclusive meeting
with this week's breakout star,
Christina Chong's adorable dog, Runa.
And of course,
we'll get a sneak peek at Episode 9
of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Huzzah, lords and ladies,
make haste to The Ready Room.
Hail, nerds, and well met. I'm Sir Wil of Wheaton.
And this is The Ready Room,
your official behind-the-scenes hub
for all things Star Trek and Elysian Universe.
I am so excited to talk about this week's episode
of Strange New Worlds and its foray into fantasy.
We will be gallivanting head first into a world
of wizards, kings, and epic quests.
So if you're feeling like you're watching me
on one of my tabletop gaming shows right now,
instead of The Ready Room,
then red alert! [siren wails]
Please, as your lawful good host,
I implore you to go stream the fantastical fable
that is Episode 8, "The Elysian Kingdom,"
then returneth, so that we may discusseth.
Woe upon those who would spoil this episode.
A pox upon their houses.
From the costumes to the set design,
to the characters, to the score,
to the magnificent story that ties them all together,
it has been so hard not to talk about this episode.
Today, Babs and Melissa,
or King Ridley and Sir Adya as they are called this week,
join me here in The Ready Room
as I try really hard to just be cool
about the Enterprise's magical transformation.
Then we'll talk all about this week's breakout star,
Princess Thalia's adorable accessory
played by Christina Chong's real life pup, Runa.
Now listen, Queen Grudge is on a break between seasons
and I'm gonna need all of you to keep it a secret
that we caught up with Christina
to chat about her doggo's scene-stealing cameo.
[cat purrs]
Because we really need to let Queen Grudge
believe she is the only animal who exists
in the Star Trek Universe.
All of my fellow cat owners
know exactly why this is so important.
But first my fellow Elysians--
I've decided we're all Elysians this week,
hope that's cool--
Strange New Worlds has already brought us
many places in its first season,
but Episode 8's throne rooms and swamps
and dark passages are bound to rank among the strangest.
And we never even left the Enterprise.
Now I have a little experience
mixing fantasy and science fiction.
I met Wayne Gretzky the day we shot that.
But this was a whole other level of production.
Let's take a look at all the work
and as far as I can tell, actual wizardry,
that went into turning the Enterprise
into the Elysian kingdom.
Control room, engage!
[Director] Cut.
The storybook episode was like
a giant, highly-produced, adult version
of a game of dress-ups.
We had a blast turning the ship
into just a fairytale.
It was really fun for all of us
to play other versions of our characters.
And, you know, it's like we're at a costume ball
and the set looks amazing.
They do such amazing work here.
When I walked through the sets, it was just...
I was in a different place,
I was in a different world,
and it definitely carried me.
All hail!
The king!
What the hell?
Is this some kind of a joke, Captain?
If it is jokes you desire,
I could summon the court jester.
Summon the court jest--!
No!
We got this script about how the Enterprise gets taken
over by an alien entity and turns it into a fantasy world.
And we all sat around just shaking our heads
for a while, thinking why--
what's this all about?
Amanda Row, who was the director of that was great.
She loved the whole fairy tale thing.
And we came up with a way of bringing the fairy tale world
to the Enterprise in a pretty fulsome way.
So the corridor set behind me was
actually completely turned into a forest,
apart from the floor.
The cargo bay became Queen Neve's palatial chamber
with huge red banners and great flaming torches
on stands and massive red carpet.
And so it was completely bonkers.
It was really great fun.
It was very humorous too.
And Bernadette's costumes for that were spectacular.
So when it all came together,
these were great days on set, I have to say.
Full-on TOS.
Welcome to my kingdom.
Now, kneel before me.
Yes, of course.
I always wanted to play an evil queen.
I think that there's so much fun in there.
And, of course, the fantasmal aspects with costumes
and the set and getting to play
in this beautiful, beautiful gown and my crown,
it was all just like,
I'm even doing her mannerisms right now.
It's like, it was really, really fun.
[Queen Neve laughing]
The storybook fantasy episode was my favorite episode
by far to design for.
It was like my inner child,
like, kind of bursting out.
Did you think your crimes would go unpunished, wizard?
I'm not a wizard.
Hemmer gets transformed into a wizard,
which was awesome.
As soon as I saw the character sketch,
I just about squealed.
Hemmer was one of my favorite characters
to design for in this episode.
We wanted to create something that really looked good
with his prosthetic, his hair, and this color
and these fabric combinations just is like so magical.
We 3D-printed this medallion here.
This is like a little macrame collar.
This was all done by Jen in the atelier.
She kind of molded this leather.
So in this graphic, it's a vinyl adhesive.
So it gets cut out in this beautiful kind of design
and it's heat-pressed on the fabric.
Bruce is such a wonderful actor
and he really loved putting this on.
Release Caster the Wizard at once.
We don't answer to you, false king.
The Queen's guards was the most complicated
and time-consuming costume we've ever done
on Strange New Worlds.
There's about 150 pieces of leather
that makes up this armor.
Everything's foiled and then broken down.
J.J., our Key Effects Builder, was responsible for this.
J.J., take us through it.
Each of these finger pieces of leather were laser cut
and then assembled, and then brought over
to our breakdown team and painted and foiled.
There was 10 of these outfits made.
We tried to make it as articulate and comfortable
for the actors as possible
because there are fight scenes involved.
There were several stunts.
And as you can see, this is actually foam,
so it's safe for stunts.
So if there was a falling-like action moment
that's exactly what this is built for.
Daddy, you made it.
And here we have Anna, who's our Key Breakdown Artist,
and she ombre’d this magical dress.
And she did all the beautiful beadwork that we see here.
So Anna's gonna take you through some of the processes here.
So this is a silk organza with a plastic weft.
And we did an ombre, double ombre dye
on this, about 21 yards.
It was a massive job.
The beading was quite the labor of love
but it really shows it's nice to have a very handmade piece.
She said it was the most magical thing she's ever worn.
She was so like, swept away.
She just loved it.
Remember I told you you could
write your own story someday.
Maybe that someday is now.
And M'Benga is the king
so we wanted to make something really regal.
We wanted to pay tribute to his Nigerian roots.
This is some coral down here.
And this beautiful brass medallion, it's an antique.
And the fabric was another really cool detail.
Heather, tell us about that.
It's 3D-printed, like our Starfleet uniforms.
Jen Bowen, our Digital Graphics Artist made a print
and got it 3D-printed onto the fabric.
And the crowning glory, this is 3D-printed.
And it was based off a Nigerian king's crown.
If we couldn't 3D-print,
we couldn't have this level of detail, that's for sure.
I don't go on and on about costumes
but I kept telling the Costume Designer,
"Oh my God, oh my God!"
Because everybody just looked sensational.
You did such a good job.
Did you have fun?
I did.
I am now joined by Babs Olusanmokun,
aka Dr. M'Benga,
and Melissa Navia,
who plays Lt. Erica Ortegas
on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Welcome to The Ready Room.
Thank you for joining me, your Highness and Sir.
It's our pleasure.
On behalf of legacy Star Trek,
which is still real weird for me to say,
I would very much like to welcome you
to the Star Trek Universe officially.
I am so curious to know how you are finding
your lives involved in our world now.
It's been a blast.
I don't think it'll ever fully sink in,
but I think the interesting part has been since,
you know, since I got cast, since we've all gotten cast,
like you run into people--
I have family members who are Trekkies and you know,
you hear things like, you know,
this is the Star Trek we've been waiting for.
- Yeah. Since I was born.
- Yeah, yeah. - So, yeah, just-
I mean, it's amazing, first of all, like, you know,
as actors to have this job. - Yeah.
With a legacy, with the iconic legacy it has.
It's really...
I don't think words can describe the feeling
as Melissa had said earlier,
we'll always be sort of,
"We're here? We're doing Star Trek?
I'm on the bridge?"
And this is from every-
I can relate so much. [laughs]
Yeah, yeah.
It's like, right, They're paying me to do this?
You know? - Yeah.
So that I think is really never gonna go away.
And I think that just the responsibility,
there is a level of responsibility
and a sense of responsibility that I believe we all carry
because of what this show is meant to, you know,
so many people from all walks of life,
from all generations,
from globally, you know.
So, it's quite a challenge
and we're excited about it, but
we are hoping we can give people
what they've been waiting for and looking for.
And we're excited about that challenge.
If it matters, I'm one of those people.
I happen to be part of this world,
but I was a fan before I was part of it.
And it is very much the show I've been waiting for
since I was a little kid.
And if it matters at all,
not only have you all consistently
hit my unreasonably high expectations,
you have managed to exceed them,
every single time.
And I'm not saying that like for any other reason,
than it is absolutely true. - Thank you.
Let's talk about this episode that we just watched,
'cause it's just great.
Babs, this episode evokes such
a classic Star Trek situation with elaborate costumes.
You're in this amazing fantasy Ren Faire kind of setting.
Until he finds Hemmer,
Dr. M'Benga is the only one who is aware
of all this weirdness that's going on.
So as an actor, you are put in the role of a straight man,
you're the audience's connecting character
while all your castmates get to play these enormous,
just magnificent characters.
This is not to say that M'Benga is not magnificent,
but you get the difference.
Would you talk a little bit about being the straight man
in that situation?
Absolutely.
First of all, it was, you know, when I received the script,
which was a night or so before we started shooting.
No kidding?
We were hearing about this script like in-
- For months. - Yeah.
Like you know, hushed whispers,
around for months. - For months.
And everyone was like Babs and I
had big roles to play.
And we're like, where is the script?
Where is the script?
Where is the script? [laughs]
So you only had like a night
to really get excited about it?
Yeah, no, it was- - Wow!
I was already excited about it because you know,
they were speaking about it.
I looked forward to it,
but I was also waiting for the material, right, you know?
And it finally arrived and it arrived
in the form of a beautiful gift
by the two writers,
Onitra Johnson and Akela Cooper, you know?
Like they just wrote this,
what I consider a true gift.
And yeah, it was fantastic.
I was excited.
I was the guy who was aware that something was wrong
on the ship. [laughs]
And to be able to hold it together in the face of, you know,
Sir, you know, and you know. - Yeah.
So that's kind of my follow-up question.
Like I would've had such an unbelievably hard time.
I would imagine that it's just like
cut, break, every single time
just because everything that's going on is so,
it's not just like silly,
but it's just delightful. - Yes, yes.
Like how could you not have fun doing that?
Yeah, we had a lot of fun.
It was just ridiculous, it was ridiculous.
I could not hold it together through certain takes.
- I didn't help. - Yeah, she didn't help.
Anson didn't help.
It was very unusual for me
not to be able to hold it together,
but it happened several times.
But I think in terms of, you know,
with the work, you know,
and being this straight man,
of course, to convey the story
because I found, because M'Benga found himself
in the midst of this storybook.
The reality is I did have to
embody the character of King Ridley at times,
just to, - Yeah.
just to make sure I could compel these cast of characters
to do what I needed them to do.
Right, so. - Yeah.
There was a balancing act in that way.
So it was a straight man,
but it was also a man that would fall into the world
and the life of King Ridley.
I really enjoyed watching him
figure out what was going on,
recognize this is the story
and then just commit to being part of the story.
And when he finally teams up with Hemmer,
it was great because I felt like it gave me and the audience
an opportunity as a member of the audience
to kind of like finally be in on it.
Yeah.
And I could watch the two of them.
- Yeah. Kind of work together.
Melissa, your [laughs]...
Your comedic beats with Anson
absolutely destroyed me!
Your comedic timing was flawless.
It reminded me in a way of
working with Patrick Stewart in the '80s, right?
I've talked to Anson a handful of times.
I have found him to be warm and kind and gentle,
but also unintentionally,
the most intimidating person
I've ever been around in my life
and Patrick was sort of the same way.
And then there was that day
where I experienced the first joke,
the first smile,
the first crack of humor.
And I have heard about it from your castmates.
Oh, he's amazing and he's funny and he's wonderful.
This is the first time I actually saw it happen.
Is this some kind of a joke, captain?
If it is jokes you desire,
I could summon the Court Jester.
Summon the Court Jes- - No.
Hold the Jester.
I need a moment.
The two of you killed me.
I would watch these two,
just go on a road comedy forever.
I would love to hear anything you wanna share
about that experience of working with him
in such a profoundly different role.
Yeah, Anson is so funny and he improvs
and he was just wonderful.
Like he became Sir Rauth and it allowed us really
to play in the world.
And so, you know,
we're in the transporter room,
we're on the bridge,
we're in the corridors,
but we were really transported to another world.
And so much of that is thanks
to everybody just embodying, you know,
their new characters.
But Anson was just a delight. - Yeah.
And always surprising.
That first day there was something that Anson did
on the bridge that just
had Babs and me, just,
we could not stop laughing.
I had the giggles and I'm just like-
- Terrible- - This is not--
Oh, it's the best, I love that!
- Very professional. - Yeah, very professional.
And I don't even think Anson realized
just what he was doing
that was making us just lose our minds.
But he also, he helped, his commitment to the role.
And that's, you know, humor is like,
when you fully commit to it,
you know, the audience feels it,
we feel it, the crew felt it.
And so everything that everybody loves
about this episode is a testament
to the whole cast and the writers, of course, so.
Yeah.
Babs, M'Benga gets
one of the few multi-episode arcs this season,
as we discover his hidden daughter, Rukiya,
and her medical condition,
and M'Benga's dedication to finding a cure
for that condition.
I am a dad.
And all of your scenes with her this season
have landed on me in a particular way.
There is a thing we parents understand
about doing whatever it takes for our children.
And I really very strongly feel that.
It was surprisingly emotional for me
in an episode that was delightful
and hilarious and wonderful,
this incredibly meaningful,
incredibly emotional moment
that we, as parents, all have to go through
where we have to kinda let our children go be themselves
and find their place in the universe.
And I just wondered what all of those scenes
have been like for you throughout the season,
but especially in this episode,
letting her go and then getting to see her come back
as a woman.
That was the moment when I fell apart.
I was like, oh, how sad, but when she comes back
and he gets to see,
that was when I just, I couldn't hold it together anymore.
And I would love to hear any thoughts you have about that,
that whole part of his story.
Once again, it was,
all of it was a real beautiful gift, you know?
Dr. M'Benga being introduced in Episode 1
and then not really in Episode 2.
And then to see what the writers brought for me
in Episode 3.
I felt honored, you know,
to begin that journey.
This is something that has been a fight
he's been having for so long, you know,
saving his child.
And of course, there's a lot that goes into it
and carrying the moment for, you know,
those out there that are dealing with, you know,
a loved one that's very ill.
I had those people in my thoughts, you know,
apart from all the other work.
It was a journey.
And I wanted to bring as much truth
and love as possible to the piece.
If it matters just as a dad who is a Star Trek fan,
I felt all of the things I imagine
were appropriate to feel in that moment.
And just thank you for bringing that to life.
I'm noticing,
you and I share this appreciation for Star Trek.
I've heard you call it a gift many times.
And I feel very much the same way about all of this.
This has been a gift that has continually returned to me
that I continually get to open going on 35 years now.
And those moments are so rare as an actor.
And they're so rare in Star Trek.
And this part of his relationship
and this part of his story
is one of those things that Strange New Worlds
has the potential to emotionally carry through
going forward.
Does that emotional truth stay with him?
Does it continue to inform his character?
Absolutely.
Absolutely, it will.
It can't not, right?
There's nothing that he will do going forth
that doesn't have that behind it.
It will be, he will--
it's the principle upon which he will live
and interact with others.
And you'll see him
a bit differently on the surface.
- Yeah. But that'll always be there.
And...
Yeah, so what we'll see in the next season
that we're already shooting, - Yeah.
as you say,
is essentially
exploring another side of Dr. M'Benga.
A more,
a more-- a darker side of him.
- Okay. And perhaps,
we can say an exploration of his,
how should I say?
Contentious relationship with the Klingons.
Well, I am very much looking forward to that.
Melissa, Lieutenant Erica Ortegas
is a character that I love more and more and more,
every single time I get to see her
and learn more about her.
Now I do not expect this to be nearly as cool for you
as it is for me,
but she and I,
and you and I,
share this thing that very few people in the world share.
We have piloted the Enterprise.
There's not a lot of other people who have done that.
We are in a very small club, you and I.
We're in a club with George Takei.
We're in a club with Anthony Montgomery.
There's just not a lot of people who can say,
"Yep, I drove the Enterprise, all right."
Have you yet really wrapped your mind
around the enormity of that?
Yes, so, when it comes to piloting the Enterprise--
So that's another one of those ways that like,
when people are like, "Oh, you're on Star Trek.
Well, you know, who do you play?"
And then I'm like, well, "I'm the helmsman, I'm the pilot."
And they're like, "You're piloting the Enterprise?"
And like, you know. - Yeah.
It doesn't matter what level of fan you are.
They're like, what?
And I'm like, right. - Yeah.
I've told my mom.
I was like, mom, all you have to say
is like that I'm the pilot of the Enterprise on the show.
And she's like, that's it, and they'll know?
I'm like, they'll know.
So, yeah, so there's not a day that goes by
where I'm not like, this is,
I'm the pilot of the ship.
You know, this is serious. [laughs]
Outstanding.
Thank you to both of you for making time
to be here with me today.
You're part of something that's very special.
And the two of you are bringing
something incredibly special to that.
Have just an awesome epic rest of your season.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
In an episode with a sniveling Captain Pike,
a delightfully evil Uhura,
Spock as a dark wizard,
Commander La'An as a spoiled princess was "mwah!"
And quite sparkly.
Even more delightful is that Christina Chong
got to bring her real-life dog, Runa, into the story,
as Princess Thalia's matching pup.
Now here in The Ready Room,
we make it our business to only cover
the most important and hard-hitting of Star Trek news.
So obviously, we made sure to get an exclusive interview
with our newest furry cosmic companion.
Check it out.
And what of me, my Lord?
And Runa?
Give mommy kisses.
Mmm.
Runa, do you wanna say, or should I?
Okay, I'll do it.
So during quarantine,
I decided to start up a social media account for Runa.
I started, you know, creating this character for her,
that she wants to be in Star Trek.
She wants to get an audition for Star Trek.
She'd done a little short film in London before this.
In make up one day, somebody said,
"Why don't you ask if she could like be in it?"
I was like, "Well, yeah.
Well, yeah, why don't I just ask?" [laughs]
Absolutely. Good plan.
Fantastic.
So I said to Chris Fisher, our Producer-Director,
and I was like, "What do you reckon the likelihood is
that they'd put Runa in the fantasy episode?"
'Cause I mean, anything goes, right, in the fantasy episode.
Sure.
And he was like, "I'll pitch it.
I'll pitch it to Henry."
And I was like, "Yeah, right."
He's not gonna pitch it to Henry.
You know, anyway.
A couple days later I'm on set
and he's like, "Oh yeah, I pitched it to Henry."
I was like, "What, really?"
And he was like, "Yeah, yeah, sounds good.
He's gonna see if he can make it work."
[Thalia gasping]
The fantasy episode was my favorite episode
of the whole entire show
because who gets to play a fantasy princess,
the childhood dream princess dress,
which is sparkly and glittery and twirls,
and gets to have her little dog in it,
in her own little princess costume.
That was just a dream.
[Thalia laughing]
It was so fun to do those fittings.
It was my first dog costume,
but I hope it's not my last.
This skirt is six feet across.
It's been ombre'd so Anna in the atelier,
she did this beautiful blue color.
All of these flowers have been 3D-printed and crowned.
So that's why these beautiful, reflective colors
are being shown through.
Matching dress.
So cute, I can't even deal with it.
You know what?
In TOS, there was this scene where
they dressed up their dog as an alien
and had a unicorn horn.
And we were gonna do that,
but we'll save that for another episode.
Oh, that's disappointing.
We were playing these new characters.
So we were all kind of like secretly hoping
for some feedback from the director.
So then Amanda comes up to me
and I was like, "Oh, it's here, it's coming."
She comes up to me, "Hh, Christina,
I just wanted to come over and compliment Runa.
She's doing so well."
And I was like, "Mmm-hmm, great, mmm-hmm." [laughs]
My Princess Runa applauds you.
Clap, clap, clap. Clap, clap, clap.
There's only two episodes left of this season
of Strange New Worlds.
Woe is me.
Fear not, this fairy tale may have ended,
but we have a sneak peek at next week's episode
because of course, we do.
Check it out.
[door opens]
[objects clanking]
[object bangs]
Sorry.
Is that for Lt. Duke?
I didn't realize you were so jumpy.
Well, that doesn't look great.
Next week's episode looks to be quite different
in tone from this week.
So let's revel in M'Benga's bittersweet closure
and hold on to our fun fantasy world as long as we can.
Y'all, I'm sincerely grateful
you could be with me today in The Ready Room.
This was just really fun and enjoyable for me.
Next week, I finally get to speak with Bruce Horak,
known to you this week as Caster the Wizard,
but known to all of us every week
as Chief Engineer, Hemmer.
I've been waiting all season long
to sit down and chat with him.
Together, we'll get into Episode 9,
"All Those Who Wander,"
and what it's like to be Star Trek's preeminent Aenar.
Until then, parting is such sweet sorrow.
I'm Wil Wheaton.
Live long and prosper.