STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS
ENTERPRISING SITUATION
AS THE STAR TREK RENAISSANCE CONTINUES, STRANGE NEW WORLDS RETURNS…
WORDS: DARREN SCOTT
Babs Olusanmokun as Joseph M’Benga.
THERE’S SOME SURPRISES IN THERE…” TEASES Star Trek: Strange New Worlds showrunner Akiva Goldsman of the show’s second season. Luckily for all the spoilerphobes among us, he’s not giving up anything too major. “Yeah, there are more Gorn in season two,” he’s happy to reveal.
“I think one of the big swings is out there, right?” he laughs when SFX tries to push for more hints and teases. “We do a crossover with Lower Decks and that’s fun. We had a really good time doing that and got to work with our extended family from the other show, both on camera and off. And of course Jonathan Frakes directed it. So in many ways it’s a Star Trek melting pot, that episode. And there are more, but far be it for me to spoil…”
FUTURE CROSSOVERS
Frakes, we tell Goldsman, did reveal details of the animation and live-action episode in SFX earlier this year.
“Here’s the thing: Jonathan should never ever, ever have a state secret. There’s not a thing Jonathan won’t tell you. I would say it’s because you could ply him with drink, but really, no plying required. I will say to you that there are full-on animated pieces of the episode. But the hero portion of the episode is on Enterprise, in the Strange New Worlds universe.”
“ The pitch was
‘We’re going to do what we did last year, but more’, and we did
”
Not only are they faced with the challenge of blending animation with live action, they’re also mixing two different styles of show. Is it difficult to integrate drama with comedy?
“Yes!” Goldsman laughs. “It is! It’s also difficult to integrate anime with non-anime because tonally they’re different. Really, it’s a credit to Tawny [Newsome, as Mariner] and Jack [Quaid, as Boimler], because the way you play a character in animation and the way you play a character in live action requires a different level, a different sort of modulation of performance. You have different tools at your disposal – the number of muscles in a human face, compared to the absolute lack of detail in a drawn face, especially the way we do it on Lower Decks. Think how that changes the demonstration of emotion.