00:00First off, I'm reading the script, and my husband is there, and he said,
00:04So what are you reading? Star Trek. He's like, Star Trek?
00:08I'm playing the chancellor of a school. And he said, Starfleet Academy?
00:13And I said, yeah. And then we're going on, I said, wow, you know, somebody called me captain.
00:20And he said, you're the captain? And so then I was like, wow, maybe I should do this.
00:30Well, thanks for joining us. Alex, you've been at the helm of Star Trek for many years now,
00:39but Robert's been around even longer. Do you get advice from this guy? Do you pick his brain?
00:45Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's like, what a treasure trove of amazing people to be able to talk to about,
00:51you know, we stand on their shoulders, right? So the first thing that we did with Bob was ask him
00:57when we first started talking, what did you feel about the Doctrine? Where do you imagine him going?
01:03So, yeah, we want to know everything Bob has to say.
01:06So, Noga, you know, you found all this great young talent, paired them with Holly.
01:11Yeah.
01:12What is that, you know, having somebody like Holly kind of taking, you know, being in charge of the school,
01:17what does that do to kind of anchor the show, would you say?
01:19Oh, man. I mean, well, when we were writing the character initially, we, we, Alex Kurtzman and I said to each other,
01:26okay, just imagine it's Holly Hunter playing the role. Imagine, imagine. And that's how we wrote it.
01:31And then we asked Holly Hunter if she would like to play the role, and I can't believe she said yes.
01:38I still can't believe, I still wake up every day and I'm like, Holly Hunter said yes. Wow.
01:42But, you know, what's so cool about it is what Holly, the captain that Holly plays is a captain
01:48unlike any I've seen in Star Trek before, because not only does she have to be the captain of a starship
01:56and a group of people, but she also has to be the chancellor of a school. So she has to have a unique
02:02energy and a unique ability to connect with the cast and the kids. They're not kids, they're young
02:08adults, but the cadets. And it's really interesting how life reflects the art and art reflects the
02:15life. For, for Holly, you know, was it an easy yes for you? Uh, how, how did you decide to, to take
02:22over this school? You know? Yeah, it w it, it was easy. I mean, and, and that's one of the, it's one of
02:28the great fortunate experiences to, to be unequivocal. It's like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll do this. Um,
02:36that's, that's a more of a rarity because generally it's like, I was like, well, this is, uh, but this
02:44was, first off, I'm reading the script and, and my, my husband is there and he said, well, so, so what
02:51are you, what are you reading? Star Trek. He's like, Star Trek. And, and I, and, and I said, hey, you know,
02:57um, I'm, I'm, I'm playing the chancellor of a school and he said, Starfleet Academy. And I
03:05said, yeah. And then we're, we're going, I said, wow, you know, somebody, somebody called
03:12me captain. And he said, you're the captain. And so then I was like, wow, maybe I should
03:18do this.
03:18And for the younger folks, Carice and George, uh, you know, you're stepping into this world.
03:25Do you remember much about the first day on set when you're stepping onto these beautiful sets?
03:30I cry a lot in general. Um, we're actually in therapy for that, but I literally, I shed so many
03:36tears when I first walked onto that set, the scale of everything, you automatically feel like you're a
03:43part of something bigger. And I, that's what I felt when I walked in. I was like, I feel like I'm a part
03:46of a dream. Someone's dream, my dream for sure. But like, this is like, that's what Star Trek is
03:52though. It's like, it's hope and it's a dream. It's an attainable dream. That's what it felt like.
03:56The set is such a massive part of the storytelling. And as soon as you see it, you hear the war trumpets,
04:02like, you know, you're going somewhere and something is a big, big story. And I think something
04:07that our show does so well is it works with the intimate or so it focuses on the intimate to allow
04:13the scale to be, uh, like relatable, right? And the, the set is one of those huge scale things that
04:19we, we have these, it was the biggest set in North America at the time. And the fact that we, we had
04:24that huge scale, but we had really like intimate scenes within that scale. Uh, it was a, it was an
04:29exciting thing to, to play. Yeah.
04:31And I remember clearly walking onto the Voyager sets more than 30 years ago and how impressed I was
04:38with how, how real this vision of the future seemed when we were on them. But, uh, the scale
04:45of the sets of Starfleet Academy are something I never imagined. As George said, we're on the biggest
04:51soundstage in all of North America, which means any Hollywood soundstage is not as big as the one
04:57as our main set is on. And it's the largest set ever built for Star Trek. So it, it, the, the scale of it
05:04is, um, it, it's both, uh, a little intimidating, but very inspiring and makes us and really makes
05:11you feel that we're doing something that is based on a great tradition, but we're carrying it further
05:17and farther than it's ever gone. And, and for the younger cast, um, how much work you, when you walk
05:23onto set, does the set accomplish some of the job for you? I mean, imagine that's, that's helpful.
05:28Yeah. It was also really cool because we kind of got to see it come together in stages. Like when
05:34we all first arrived in Toronto, it was still wood and all of the lighting wasn't there yet.
05:40And so then finally seeing it all come together and have all of the stages be so massive and so
05:47detailed was, I mean, it made all of our jobs a billion times easier because it's kind of hard to
05:54pretend to be in space if you've never been in space, but to have these amazing sets, it was like,
06:00oh yeah, we're here. We're in space. We're on a ship. It's, I keep saying this, but it's,
06:04it's the biggest set in North America. It's huge. So like there's classrooms and like multiple levels
06:13and nooks and like there's just cafeterias, hallways, um, uh, dorm rooms. Like it's real. We're really in
06:22school. Like it's, it's own character, honestly. Yeah. Well, Alex, if you wouldn't mind picking
06:27one question from crypto and then we'll see if you all could, uh, could answer it. Yeah.
06:32What's the best cosplay you've seen at Comic-Con this year?
06:36I saw a really good Gamora that, yeah, yeah, yeah, that our cast makes into this. Man, Gamora,
06:43a lot of Tron people are like coming out the wazoo and looking amazing. I've seen some Starfleet cosplays
06:49through that. I'm like, I don't know how you got that. It almost was illegal for you to have that.
06:53But yeah, I would, yeah, yeah. Gamora and, and Tron for sure have been the best I've seen.
06:59I saw a really good Orion too. Oh my gosh. I don't know how they get their hair that color.
07:05I also see incredible cosplay and not always sure what it is.
07:10Finally, we asked the other group this too, uh, fun question. Best cosplay you've seen so far?
07:15I know you, maybe you haven't gotten to see much, but you guys have been here a few, a little.
07:19No, I've been in the streets. I've, I've been, I've been outside, yo. There is, ah, it's so hard.
07:26It's like asking my favorite sibling, you know, like how do you choose? They're all so good.
07:30I saw Gamora walking around in real life. She was awesome. I saw a zombie, uh, Captain America that was
07:39out of this world. Um, it's probably a tie between those two. Yeah.
07:43Have you seen any Klingons? I did see a Klingon walking by me, but I couldn't say anything
07:49because they didn't announce it yet. So I was just kind of like, what's up, bro?
07:52I had to hold it in. I had to hold it in. I was like, oh.
07:56Was there anything, kind of anything you took away from getting to being a cadet, you know, and
08:01stepping into this world? Um, yeah, I mean, it, it's changed everything about my life. Um, I am a single
08:09child with a single mom and she, you know, worked full time. Um, and I, I'm just one of those kids
08:16who had a dream and, um, this is my first job in front of the camera. So it has flipped my life around
08:25in every way that you can imagine. Um, I'm just, yeah, I'm, I'm in that place where I'm soaking it in. Yeah.
08:39There you go.
08:58There you go.
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