Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Cast Shares The Trick To Recording A Great Ship Log
There are few parts of "Star Trek" more instantly recognizable than a captain's log entry. The clever method used to shape narration and foster character introspection began as early as the franchise itself did, with William Shatner's James T. Kirk known for his dramatic entries into the spoken journal. While much of the original "Star Trek" run was campy, full of women in body paint, and featuring sets that looked like they were held together with string and super glue, the captain's logs gave the show an air of seriousness, bringing its themes of unity and non-prejudice back to the forefront.
The captain's logs live on long after Kirk's original mission concluded, with Anson Mount's Captain Pike most recently taking on the responsibility of summing up the silly, serious, and morally complex adventures of the Enterprise crew in just a few lines. In the new season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," though, it's not just the captain who gets to give us the TL;DR. In a roundtable discussion attended by /Film's Vanessa Armstrong ahead of season 2, castmates were asked about this season's "personal log" narration, which will give both Celia Rose Gooding's Uhura and Melissa Navia's Erica a shot at the classic voiceover.
'I suddenly could not remember one log I'd ever heard'
Unsurprisingly, stepping up to deliver the type of monologue the "Star Trek" is known for seemed like a bit of a nerve-wracking task for the new Enterprise crew. "I was so excited to get a personal log because that's one of those Star Trek aspects that reaches beyond a particular show, like so much of Star Trek does," Navia shared. But when the time came to dig into the scene, the actor suddenly got the Trek equivalent of stage fright. "As I was doing it, I suddenly could not remember one log I'd ever heard," she says. "I'm like, how did they say the numbers? Do they say dock? Do they say point?" Suddenly, Navia says, "It's like I've never seen it or heard it before, but I had."
Navia cites Mount as someone who has noted how acutely aware the cast is of the big shoes they're filling. "It was one of those moments where — Anson has spoken to this before, at all times we're kind of like, 'We're doing Star Trek. This is crazy.'" Gooding also says she felt the pressure to get the log reading just right, especially to cover her bases when it comes to ultra-committed fans. "I remember going to the writers and being like, do we say point or do we say plot, do we say dash, do we say slash?" she shared at the roundtable event. She went on: "Give me the word-perfect so I don't have fans who know a lot more about this franchise than I do in my Twitter DMs telling me I messed up."
'You're the only person who can do it the way you do it'
Suffice it to say, from what we've seen of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" season 2, the Enterprise team steps up, and the personal log voiceovers work well and sound great. Despite worrying about nailing the narration, Gooding also says it was "amazing" to be able to participate in a part of "Star Trek" history. "Those little franchise-wide opportunities that we have as characters, those are the things we get so excited about," she noted, "because we really get to put our own stamp and specialness in something that we can say is particularly and specifically ours in a franchise that is so global."
Navia also teased the way her voiceover tied back to her character's arc in a future episode, noting that with the storyline "we get to really play with when you love what you do and it kind of becomes monotonous." She notes that in cases like that, "you have to remember why it is that you love what you do, and why you do it, and why you're the only person who can do it the way you do it." The same can be said for the series' voiceovers: we quickly grow used to them, seeing them as a loveable but predictable part of the show's fabric, but when a new narrator comes along and puts a fresh spin on it, we're struck all over again by why we love this show. The captains of "Star Trek" may be the franchise's most recognizable characters, but it's always been the crew who make the mission. "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" has a fantastic crew, and you can put that down on the record.
"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" streams new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.