There’s a time-honored acting tradition thatStar Trek: Strange New Worlds' Christina Chong employs on set to help with a particularStar Trekproblem. As an acting job, landing aStar Trekshowcomes with its own unique challenges that other television series might not face. While extensive prosthetic makeup doesn’t come into play for Chong’s human USS Enterprise security chief, Lieutenant La’an Noonien-Singh,Christina Chong does find that her lines inStar Trek: Strange New Worldsmay not be the easiest to deliverat any given moment.
Dubbed"technobabble", the esoteric scientific language onStar Trekpresents a challenge for actors. The science of theStar Trekfuture has been developed behind the scenes, so every line oftechnobabble inStar Trekis intentionally placed.Star Trekscripts don’t allow for variation in the way that technical jargon is delivered,because each word actually means something. Get it wrong, and viewers will notice. Add to that the fact thatStar Trek: Strange New Worldsshooting days are long, and there’s even more incentive to make sure each line is delivered not just letter-perfect, but also on time.
Strange New Worlds' Christina Chong Solved Her Star Trek Acting Problem With 1 Simple Trick
The Tradition That Helps Strange New Worlds' Christina Chong Deal With “Science Schmience” Lines
At Creation’sTrek to Chicagoconvention, Christina Chong explains that she makes delivering difficult lines easier for herself and herStar Trek: Strange New Worldscastmates by hiding snippets of the script on the USS Enterprise bridge console. Far from being unprofessional,Chong’s method of keeping lines close at hand makes sense whenStar Trekcalls for an exact delivery, at an exact moment, to make the USS Enterprise bridge crew look like the highly competent team that it is.
Christina Chong: “I put my lines on the bridge.I cut them up really small. … There’s just some lines that are hard to remember, the science schmience…. When you’ve got only one or 2 lines through a 5 page scene, you’ve gotta stay focused, and make sure you come in on time. I have been known to not come in on time a few times. I’ve put the lines there for when I’m off in my mind. It’s not for me, it’s for them.”
Christina Chong explains that placing lines on the bridge makes it easier for everyone on theStar Trek: Strange New Worldsset, not just herself, especially if Chong’s La’an Noonien-Singh isn’t necessarily the focus of the scene.Star Trek’s technobabbleishard, even for actors who may have been fans of the franchise before being cast, or have some osmotic knowledge of how the technology ofStar Trekworks.Developing creative accommodations that make the job of being aStar Trekactor easier is a smart step— andStrange New Worlds’Christina Chong isn’t alone.
Star Trek: Voyager Actors Also Hid Their Lines On The Set
Sneaking Technobabble Onto The Star Trek Set Is Practically A Tradition
At this point, sneaking technobabble onto the bridge set of aStar Trekshow is practically a tradition.Star Trek: Voyager’s Harry Kim actor, Garrett Wang, admitted to writing his lines over black tape on the USS Voyager bridge console; otherStar Trek: Voyageractors hid their lineson set after noting the genius of the idea. BecauseStar Trekbridge sets are constructed in such a way that memory aids for difficult lines can be crafted and hid out of sight, there’s no reasonnotto take advantage of the opportunity to make sure filming goes smoothly.
Set designers' jokes made their way onto console screens inStar Trek: The Next Generation,Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, andStar Trek: Voyager, because the resolution of standard definition television sets in the 1990s wasn’t clear enough to make out specific details.
Today,Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’Christina Chong has to make the script-on-the-bridge trick even more unobtrusive than theStar Trek: Voyagercast did, becauseit’s harder to hide anomalies from modern HD television screens. By using cut-up paper instead of writing lines out with marker, it’s also a much less time-consuming chore, since the scripts are already printed.Strange New Worlds' Christina Chong participates in the continuingStar Trekacting tradition of having a guide to tricky technobabble lines close at hand, and ensures that smooth filming days are in store for theStar Trek: Strange New Worldscast.
