This week in PREVIOUSLY ON…Jason and Rosie react to the latest trailers for season 2 of Fallout on Amazon and an “Official Production Start” from Blue Eye Samurai season 2 creators and executive producer, The Duffer brothers, sign a 4-year deal with Paramount as they exit Netflix, and Sony only made HOW MUCH from K-Pop Demon Hunters?! Plus, Rosie has a lovely chat with Celia Rose Gooding, Uhura in the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds series on Paramount+
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On today's episode of News, we're talking about Fallout season two.
We're talking about Blue at Samurai, We're talking about the
Duffer Brothers, big.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Move, all that and more.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Mmm.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hello, my name is Jason Concepcion and I'm roseay Night,
and welcome back to xt revision of the podcast where
we dive deep. It's your favorite shows, movies, comics of
pop culture, company from iHeart where we're bringing you three
episodes a week, plus news and this is news.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
This is news. In today's previously on episode, as always,
we are catching up on the figures geek news of
the week, including the Duffer Brothers are moving from Netflix
and they have signed well, I'm sure is a very
expensive deal with Paramount and Sony only made twenty mil
from K Pop demon Hunt as well. That's going to
(00:55):
be a big conversation that we can give you some
quite shocking details into.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
But first, Fallout season two and the rest of news. Okay,
we get the season two official teaser trailer for the
second season of Fallout, and of course it is New Vegas,
which is tremendously exciting.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Great, there's so many great I'm just very very hyped.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Listen. I love Fallout. It's one of my favorite video
game series ever. Fallout three, New Vegas and Fallout four
are up there for me as constantly replayable game experiences.
And we loved season one. Yeah, it was a big
surprise tonally everything about it.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
It was just such an unbelievably brilliantly made show. Yes,
I think, Yeah, I love this trailer. There's so much
stuff here is just instantly fun to kind of go oh,
I recognize that. I recognize that, like they've done a
great job on the production design. We get to see
a tease of Justin Thurreau here playing a character we
(02:05):
were talking about last time, one of our big villain characters. Also,
I'm loving that. I feel like this trailer. I feel
like the stuff we're seeing for season two. The Gulu
Sea shippers are going crazy for it. I feel like
they understand that that is a ship that the people
are interested in, So I feel like the tension is there.
(02:28):
I'm I know the TikTok guys are going to be
going crazy for this season, and that's a classic weird
ship that I support. So yeah, looking just great. I mean,
I think this is a really interesting situation because season
one took us all by surprise with just how fantastic
it was. So I don't think they're going into this
with kind of a It doesn't feel like it has
(02:48):
necessarily the same strain on it as something of the
Last of Us, where people were like, this is always
going to be fantastic. It is fantastic, Okay, how does
season two stay fantastic? I feel like everyone was like, whoat,
it can make a great TV show, video games can
be great TV shows, and for season two, we're all
just like, hope it's.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
More of the same.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
So I feel like they're coming in with a good place. Also,
I found it very interesting Christmas.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Type drop.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
So they're dropping in September seventeen.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Yeah, that means that.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
They are ready for people to be watching and rewatching
and talking about this through that kind of pre Christmas
to New Year's. I think that this is them basically saying,
this is us going up against Stranger Things. That's what
it feels like to me, because I think Stranger Things
is going to be around the same time.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Speak of speaking of oh.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Look at that, speaking of the showrunners and creators behind
the Netflix mega hit Stranger Things, which will your final
season in the coming months, The Duffer brothers, at the
end of their Netflix deal, have signed a four year
film and television dealing with Paramount for an undisclosed.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
But surely huge.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Here is what they had to say. Matt and Ross
stuffer a quote, we couldn't be more thrilled to be
joining the Paramount family. David, Josh and Dana are passionate
about bringing bold, original films to the big screen. To
be part of that mission is not just exciting, it's
the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. And to do so
at a studio with such a story to Hollywood legacy
is a privilege. Is a privilege we don't take lightly.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Blah blah blah, blah, blah blah blah.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I do you mention stranger things in here. We're also
excited to reunite with our friends Cinny and Matt, who
among the very first to believe in an unusual little
script we wrote that became stranger Things. Remember that we
do things. So I think that this is a huge
in it and very intriguing deal. It'll be interesting to
see what they do. It'll be interesting to see what
(04:53):
the project. There were other projects that they were linked
to at netflick what happens to all the time I'm.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Wondering about does this I think this means that Stranger
Things is probably done done. There's no Stranger Things spin offs,
There's no nothing like that, at least not till after
this four year deal at Paramount. I'm not one hundred
percent surprised at this, because while Stranger Things was a
game changing show for Netflix, it was its first ever, huge,
(05:23):
big binge hit that really put it on the spot.
It was kind of this nostalgia forward zeitgeist busting series
that allowed them to merchandise, to make video games, to
do all the stuff they're doing now that makes them
billions of dollars. But it has also been like a
very prolonged rollout. The kids have aged up very much.
(05:47):
Millie Bobby Brown literally has a daughter. Now, that's how
far we've come. She just announced that her and bon Giovi,
John bon Giovi's son, have adopted a baby girl, so
like they are literally parents now. I think that there's
also been a lot of controversy around Stranger Things, about
its original script, about the original nature of the idea,
(06:09):
whether it was truly their idea or not. I also
think that Stranger Things has become a shorthand for some
of the stuff that people don't like about streaming, So.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
I understand why Netflix and the Duffer Bros.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Were likely to well unlikely to continue that partnership after
you know, ten years plus. But at the same time,
you know what a four year deal right now in
streaming that means hu huge.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
It's a huge deal, but also.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
It's like you could probably gonna make one show in
that time, so you've really got to hope that you've
got another big a few different big ideas that you
can kind of find homes for there, maybe bring in friends,
maybe make new shows.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
But I don't know.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
I think four years is a massive thing to announce.
But Paramount is also not in a great place right now,
so I'm interested to see where this leads and like,
what would the Duffer brothers even do even do like
a new series.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
I guess maybe in.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
A new space that would be and maybe.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
I'm sure the first to this deal was like, what
do you got, like, open up the books, Let's see
what kind of unattached project ideas, you.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Know, Let's see a quick break and we'll be right back,
and we're back.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
K Pop Demon Hunters continues to be a mega mega
mega hit as it has entered theaters and apparently.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Never seen before the it's a situation where it's going
into theaters and if you can believe it, I mean,
this is crazy news. But we are recording this on
Friday morning. They are expecting the K Pop Demon Hunters
sing along screenings, which are only going on for this weekend.
(08:04):
They are expecting them to be the biggest thing in
the box office this weekend. They think it's it will
be by far, it will be yeah, which is absolutely crazy,
and you'll probably think in whoa Sony animation another smash
hit like spite of us incorrect, Jason tell.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Us war Sony is only going to make something in
the realm of twenty million dollars, yes, from this licensing
arrangement with Netflix, with Netflix having no obligation to pay
any kind of revenue sharing royalties on the on the
ticket sales. Now people are ripping Sony from.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
This really crazy stuff.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I take I take the completely opposite.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Tell me.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
First of all, here's no, you can't predict hits.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
You can if we could, If we could.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Predict hits, then this would be a very, very different world, right,
and if you could predict it, you should be the
CEO of name your entertainment company.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
The biggest company in the world.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Right.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
So it what has happened here is K pop Demon
Hunters is a historic.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Zeitgeist geist movie like.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Gripping in a way that very few other things have
ever been in the history of streaming, streaming to theaters.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Like this doesn't exist.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, So to for me to like criticize Sony for
not like seeing this vision, I don't really. It's free
money to me. Also, it's like twenty million dollars free money.
It's kind of like you're getting free money because Netflix
is shouldering all the burdens.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
So so my my feeling on this is that I
think the only thing Sony did wrong here I don't
think they had a good person in the room who
could kind of read the popularity of K pop in
popular culture, because I do think that in twenty twenty one,
(10:04):
when this was sualta Netflix, I think at least one
person should have said, Hey, even if we're selling this,
maybe let's not do like a base line like one off.
Maybe we should like hypothetically it could be really popular.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Maybe we should write in a little.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Bit of royalties, Like they essentially wrote it off as
a tax situation and you know, gave it to Netflix.
We don't know how much of the one hundred million
dollar budget was paid by Netflix and how much was
paid by Sony. We know a majority was paid by Netflix,
so that means Sony could actually just be getting back
to twenty million that they potentially put in. But I mean,
(10:44):
as you said already, the fact that I just could
you could even.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
That, Okay, K pop is super popular, why aren't there
any other massive K pop themed properties animated properties?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Is true.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Also, another thing that I think we need to take
into consideration here is that there was a musical, a
K pop musical that went to Broadway that from what
everyone said, was absolutely fantastic, got great reviews.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
It couldn't stay on Broadway.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
So sometimes there are different things where people will say, oh, well,
you're not sure about this, not sure about that. I
went to a sing along screening at Netflix, which was wonderful.
Joelle was there, a bunch of our friends with her,
and EJ, who is the singing voice of Rumy and
who wrote the songs, was there, and you know, she
was saying like yeah, she never saw this coming, Like
she just thought that she was just writing some songs
(11:33):
for a movie. She never knew it was going to
be a number one Billboard smash hit and all that
kind of stuff. Though again, I will say I think
there could have been a bit more foresight about the
deal that was made here. And if you read Park,
if you read any of the trades, there are a
lot of conversations now going on about Sony Animation and
about this decision. But Jason, I think you sum it
(11:55):
up most, which is like, you could never know that
it was going to be this popular, that it would
jump from streaming to being the number one movie.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Weird the scenes doesn't happen. You don't see this in
the industry. This is like why didn't you guys predict
the lightning wage strike. I don't disagree that probably their
lawyers should have been a little bit more hardcore on
the deal points. Yeah, but again, some of this stuff
is so like pie in the sky, like this sin
theater run.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
It's so natur a sky that they were going to
get the theater run. I do think stuff like merchandising,
stuff like that. I think if you've been in this
business long enough, if you've tried to sell a show
or a comic book or whatever, you know that there
are these different ways.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Even if just look back at the history.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Of like Alec Guinness's famous two percent back end on
Star Wars that was like included all the merch and stuff,
I feel like there should have been some kind of
conversation about it. And I feel like in the post
twenty twenty one kind of landscape that we're in, the
strikes all these different stuff, the animation being seen as
(13:00):
not a viable property to make money from, especially on streaming.
I get it, but I also understand why there is
such a big conversation around this.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Sure, especially when I think so listen, their lawyers are
going to get in like whoever did these dealsactre get
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
That's that's real.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Like and Sony Animation is going to continue to hemorrhage
like U workers as they continue to you know, downsize,
and they could have used the money.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
All I'm saying is, like the.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Star Wars comparison, it's very easy with twenty twenty hindsight
to go, oh.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Everything, Oh no, exactly, That's what I'm saying. Like, and
also I think when something is so beloved and like
the quality is so high, which K pop Demenhunters is.
The songs are great, that's what makes it so magical.
But like, and it's obvious when you love it that
you can see the quality, But you would never know
back then that you could see that. You know, it's
(13:54):
unlikely that there was someone in the room, And even
if there was someone in the room, it's unlikely that
a bunch like c Suitet Execs are going to be
like listening to like, oh, but the pop songs are
real bangers, you know, Like it's I totally understand that
kind of issue.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Agree, you know, the good songs come out all the time,
they don't become hit so exactly one of those just
crazy lightning straight.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
But yeah, and I can't I also just say, like,
I cannot recommend enough seeing I've watched the movie a
ton of times on streaming because it's brilliant and I
have lots of kids in my life who love to
watch stuff like that. But also seeing it in the
theater was pretty unbelievable because especially the finale of the
movie is a group of fans coming together to sing
(14:36):
this song that saves the world, so having the sing alongs.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
With people singing along.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
It didn't surprise me that out of seventeen hundred screens,
they sold out eleven hundred of them. And also as well,
the crazy thing is, seventeen hundred screens should not be
able to get you in number one in America right
now when some movies are showing on forty three hundred
screens or something weapon is showing on three thousand screens.
(15:02):
So the fact that they were able to kind of
harness this massive popularity and move really quick on getting
it into cinemas, I got to give Netflix credit for
the way that they have handled this movie because since
it's like they have understood from the moment that it
(15:23):
started to become when it's become, they made it the FYC,
they put it in theaters so they saw I think
we could see this run go on for a few
more weeks. I doubt it will be out of the
as off the warm week is my gut saying.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
The influence of Taylor Swift a little bit okay. Speaking
of animation offerings from Netflix, Blue Eye Samurai season two
official trailer has dropped and it includes some futurette footage
from creators Ambernozomi and Michael Green just about the project
(15:59):
and listen, this was one of the best things on
Oh Yeah, No Question last year and I can't wait
for season two.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Can't wait.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
I also think great idea to do this kind of
in production post. Keep it in people's minds. Animation takes
a long time to make, streaming takes a long time
to make.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Like crazy, crazy.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Amounts of work are going into this, so keep people excited.
This is my mum's most anticipated show. She loved season one.
It was kind of a game change of her. It
opened her mind up to add or animation outside of
your standard kind of Gibbli space. So this was a
huge show for She's watched it multiple times. That kind
of tells you the massive reach that this has. That's
(16:45):
like a woman who is in her sixties in London
from up north, this is the show she cares about most,
coming back, even more so than like a Shogun. Even
though she liked it, she found it pretty dense. She
found this just really great. I think it does have
that broad reach and yeah, I mean it's also just
the stunning show, So yeah, good job. Some big wins
for Netflix are in this News.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Yeah, let's go.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
To some ads from our sponsors before my chat with
Celia Rose Gooding from Strange New Worlds, and we're back. Yes,
(17:29):
we are talking to Ahura herself about her legacy, her
massive new episode, and kind of the nature of Starfleet
and what it really means to be in the world
of Star Trek. Selia Rose Gooding, thank you so much
for joining us on X ray Vision.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
How are you doing. I'm good.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
Thank you for having me, Rosie. I'm so excited to
do this.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
It's gonna be so great.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
I was supposed to be here with that incredible super
producer Joel as well, who's another big fan, So I
just want to shout her out. I have one very
special question from her, which I will insert somewhere in
here because she's a total powerhouse. But yeah, shout o Joelle.
She's great and she organized this incredible interview, so I
appreciate her for putting the podcast together as usual and
(18:14):
making it great. So let's start with kind of the
broad feeling for you of the way that this show
expands the law of the show and the lawa of
Star Trek, for sure, but it expands on her so much.
This is something we've never really gotten to see, these
kind of more personal, intimate moments that are actually about
(18:37):
her rather than another man on the ship. You know,
in the original series, as much as we love Nachelle,
she absolutely smashed it. How does it feel to get
to be expanding that story and get to be expanding
that legacy.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
Yeah, it's an honor to be able to expand on
an already iconic legacy. I think even with the little
screen time and the little got to know about the
character of Uhura, she still had such an incredible impact
just by her sheer presence on the bridge, and so
to give her more context and more background and sort
(19:11):
of explain how she became the person that she becomes,
it's an honor to be a part of that journey.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Yeah, it's such an iconic franchise. But I think something
that's been done so brilliantly since the beginning is the
way that it reimagines itself for the current time and
it becomes a story about the time we are in
Your episode of strange Nuance really feels like that, It
really feels like it's unbelievably prescient. And could you talk
(19:42):
a little bit about where we meet her in this
episode and kind of what she is facing as the
crew kind of makes this, you know, fun documentary framing,
but there's something deeper there.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
Yeah. I think episode not to to my own hornor
Nazi by, but I think that Episode seven is one
of the most classically Star Trek episodes of the season
because it is it's exactly as you said, it's incredibly pressing.
It's social political commentary. It is putting a lens to
(20:17):
society and to institutions, but also to the individual in
a way that I think is very classically Trek. We
find Uhura in the middle of a really interesting time emotionally.
She is just coming off of an incredibly intense mission.
(20:38):
She has been really like still coming to terms with
her identity in Starfleet. She has made peace of the
fact that she is where she is meant to be.
Now she is coming to terms with what she is
meant to do where she is, and in the episode
(20:59):
we see her having issues with command and trying to
figure out what it means to be an incredibly empathetic
human being but also a soldier carrying out the missions
of a system much greater than hers and working within
a system that may have a different motive than hers,
(21:21):
or different intentions than hers. I think one of her
greatest strengths is her heart and her empathy and her
ability to put herself in the shoes of other people. Unfortunately,
that is what she's sort of hanging up on in
three oh seven, where she is really trying to hold
(21:46):
space for the Jakaru and understand that it is its
own entity, while also seeing it as something that's being
taken advantage of by a by a race of people
who she is tasked to help. But even in that
we layer in the nuance of this is a desperate people.
(22:10):
They are facing war against a sister planet that has
so much more power than them, that is so much
more backing than them, and so of course desperate times
call for desperate measures, and that is why the Lutani
are in a really difficult position where they are trying
(22:31):
to gain some footing in this war, and the way
they go about it is by taking this alien warhorse
species under their against their will, into their sort of
war machine. And we are having to balance both of
(22:53):
those things of understanding the desperation of the Lutani, but
also holding space for the agency and the autonomy of
the Jakari and that species, and then whoa someone who
is always trying to mahold space for the agency and
autonomy of people all the time is being she's fighting
(23:14):
her own impulse.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Yeah, she's being very I think this is an episode
where one like you said one of the most classic
Star Trek conundrums of all time, how do you help?
Speaker 4 (23:26):
And what are you allowed to do?
Speaker 5 (23:28):
And I think.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Something that I found so profound about this episode is
that when it comes to her, like it feels like
it shouldn't all be on.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Her, but it feels like the institution.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Yeah, you know, like it feels like you'll get the
Hura gets her big episode and suddenly it's about all
this work that she personally. And of course it's because
it's about you, right, it's about her. But I thought
it was very interesting that your big episode was an
episode about a black woman having to do.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
All the work. When you talk a little bit about
kind of that side of the.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
Episode, yeah, I remember reading the episode and feeling really frustrated. Truthfully,
I remember reading the script and being like, what you mean,
Like she wouldn't do this sort of stuff. She would
ask questions, she would constantly be holding space and the
writer Alan McElroy he had to sit me down and
(24:25):
hold my hands and say. The whole point of this
is we see her making a decision that she may
not necessarily agree with. Unfortunately, sometimes we are tasked with
making decisions that as soon as we make them, we
immediately wish we made a different one. Yeah, and what
(24:46):
it feels like to sort of move through that. And
as a black woman, someone who is carrying so much
grief and so much history to she projects her own
experience onto the Jakaru, which is very classic. She is
(25:07):
I think Uhura as a person operating in a system
bigger than her and out of her control. She can
project that experience onto the Jakaru, which is a very
vulnerable minority alien group being forced to operate in a
system much bigger than it with intentions that they may
not necessarily agree with. And so when we think about
(25:30):
the parallels between Uhura as a black woman and the
Jakaru as an alien species, they are both being tasked
with objectives that they don't necessarily understand because they are
not being informed on the wholeness of what's happening here.
Laura is not a commanding officer. She's not a captain,
she's not a commander, she's an ensign, and so she
(25:53):
isn't even a lieutenant. Yet she is still someone who's
taking orders and filling out someone else's idea of what
the proper course of action is. And so when we
sort of zoom out from that reality and see her
as just a black woman in an institution.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
Bigger than her.
Speaker 5 (26:12):
Of course, she's being tasked to sort of put her
feelings to the side and just get the work done
and execute and execute and execute. And at the end
of the episode, we see her sort of challenge herself
in the way of nobody should ever have to just
blindly follow orders, even and esespecially when those orders go
(26:38):
against your gut, because every time follows her gut, she
saves the day.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Exactly.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
It is only when she sort of puts her intuition
to the side and follows the orders of someone else,
that's when things go haywi or that's when things go icky.
And so I'm still ill grappling with the decisions that
Uhura makes the episode. I am such an empathetic actor,
(27:06):
and I really had a very h a tense is
the word. Yeah, it was definitely like trying to cut
through a well done stake of like, I'm going to
get to the bottom of this, but I'm gonna have
to shake the table a little bit gruid analogy. Thank you,
(27:29):
I know you follow me there, But yeah, it was
it was definitely a challenge and emotionally the sort of
processing that I had to do in order to get
that episode behind me in order to show up for
the next day. That was definitely one of the one
of the biggest emotional lips I think Uhra has had
in the series so far. But it is I'm glad
(27:51):
it's in the I'm glad it's a very classically Trek problems.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
It really is.
Speaker 5 (27:58):
In a season that is so like out of the
Trek norm.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
I know, it's really interesting that you have this documentary
framework which is so fun and totally new, never been
known before. But the layers that are there and that
especially for horror, is just I think that's the perfect
balance of Star Trek because you can have you know,
the tribles or something, you can have like the cutesy,
weird scary thing. Yeah, you can be doing a neo
(28:29):
noir or Patrick Stewart is you know, doing Shakespeare on
the ship. But you also always have to be thinking
about what like a radical imagination looks like, what a
future looks like. And that's the balance that I think
is part of why everyone loves Strange New Worlds so much,
because it does that balance of character and then those
(28:50):
really surreal, like out there genre episodes and just really cool,
kind of different than we've seen in a while, but
the feel very star Trek. I also think something that's
kind of amazing and is the best, you know, for
a prequel, This is kind of the dream. This is
one of those episodes where now every single time I
(29:11):
go back and watch the original series, I'm going to
be thinking about how this moment ended up informing Ahura,
And I think that's how you know there has been
a successful expansion of a franchise, because to me, that's
the same character now, you know, it's like watching Wicked
and everyone's like, well, this is my canon for the
words it was now like this is party, but you
(29:34):
actually get to really be a part of that canon,
which I thought. I just feel like this episode is
a really great jumping on point for people too, which
is something I think. Another thing I think that Strange
the world's has done really well is you guys have
basically created an accessible Star Trek series. Okay, so I'm
going to ask you, speaking because of the evolution of
kind of Ahura, what my wonderful producer Joelle wanted me
(29:57):
to ask was, could you talk a little bit about
your hair journey as a horror from season one to
season three?
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Yeah, because she is.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
We were really talking about how the more comfortable of
her is, the more we're seeing her with like her
hair out and natural fashions and stuff, and it's very
different to that person we met in the first season
who was that soldier. So could you talk a little
bit about what a Hoa's hair kind of represents and
how you've helped shape that because it's your head and
it's your hair.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
It sure is.
Speaker 5 (30:27):
I think, to be really specific, the relationship that black
women have with their hair is so sacred and everyone
expresses themselves differently, but I think, and this is coming
from the for audio listeners, I am a black woman.
I know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Her is one of the most famous black characters of
all time. Guys, come on, let's go said, Let's go
see Star Trek. The original series forever.
Speaker 5 (30:54):
Let's do it forever and ever and ever long live.
I think our community more than most really express themselves.
And you can tell how we're doing by how our
hair looks on any given day. And I think that
in the first few seasons, the first couple seasons, we
(31:14):
see her very very closed in on herself, very folded in,
very insecure, very unsure. She isn't putting her her she
isn't putting roots down anywhere. She's just sort of like
letting the wind push her wherever it's meant to go.
And in season three, after the musical episode, which I
(31:35):
think was her real turning point of when she decides
that not only is she meant to be here, that
the Enterprise is better when she is there, and that
her crew is better off with her being an active
participant in in her station. And so after that episode
(32:00):
we see her sort of exhale in a way that,
as the person who carries her through this journey, felt
so satisfying. I've been waiting for her to like take
up space in a way that is undeniable, in a
way that is so clear and specific. And so when
(32:21):
we when we time cut, because there's a massive time
cut between the season two finale, season three premiere opener
I don't Know, and then the cut between the first
episode of season three and the second episode of season three.
I think she has done so much therapy. I think
(32:43):
she has.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
Done who is the therapist on the ship?
Speaker 5 (32:47):
Listen find out who knows fingers crossed? But I think
we see her in the beginning of episode two at
a point where she feels comfortable enough to literally let
her hair down, to let her hair out, to take
up space, to just smile, wider, walk taller, think bigger,
(33:11):
And you can see it in how she expresses herself.
She is more glamorous, she is more expressive, she's more excited,
she's more flirtatious, she's more inquisitive. She's just more and
more herself. I think my task, along with the task
of other people reprising roles that exist in the original series,
(33:34):
is to keep the character recognizable, but also fill in
every little gap between where they were and where they're going.
And I think this sort of space her expression is
a gap that needed to be filled. I think in
the original series, She's Glamo is on nine House, and
(33:57):
like she's she's the glamor diva of the Enterprise, and
so it was really important for me to express that
to the hair team, to the showrunners, to the suits
that it's really important that even though she is a soldier,
and even though she is an officer of Starfleet and
(34:19):
there is a sort of military feel to the world,
it is important that she remained joyous in her expression
and she remain unique and enthusiastic and casually glamorous. Like
it's sci fi. She's not spending two and a half
(34:39):
hours in the neighbor to get her Yeah, she's got this.
She'll put on a little space space mask and blast
of eyeshadow on her face she goes.
Speaker 4 (34:47):
To work exactly.
Speaker 5 (34:49):
It's the little ritual of that. It's her honoring herself
and honoring her multiplicity and honoring her expression in a
way that she didn't have the time, the space, the
confidence too in previous seasons. And so, yeah, her journey
(35:09):
in her expression it as someone who loves expression, of
someone who loves drag and costuman hair and big, big
expression outward. Aesthetic wise, it was really important for my
journey through the character to sort of weave a little
bit of my personal taste into that while also keeping
(35:30):
it recognizable and akin to the legacy that Michelle Nichols
left behind for me to just keep putting in my
little basket of character understanding.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
I think it's just wonderful to get to revisit old
characters in new ways. I think it's the way that
we keep storytelling going on. And obviously Star Trek has
such a legacy as a ground bright for sure, and
I think even the fact that you are someone who
is in that space talking to people about this stuff,
(36:03):
telling them why it's important, that's you shaping the Star
Trek universe too.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
Yeah, trying my best.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
Thank you. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
I think it's really exciting. And you don't have to
tease anything that's actually gonna happen, but you can.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Do you have a dream.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
For her that you haven't gotten to achieve yet, or
something you would love to get to see her do
as the seasons kind of roll on towards the end.
Speaker 5 (36:29):
Yeah, I think I don't know if we'll get time too,
because we just finished shooting season four and season five
is quite limited, but I hope that we get to
see somebody from Ohora's home, like some childhood friend or
an auntie or an uncle, because we know that she's
faced so much loss in her family. But I know
(36:51):
that she she wouldn't be who she was or is
without some understand of the importance of community exactly, and
I don't think you learn that in a vacuum. And
so I would love to get to meet who her
community was before Starfleet, who was able to hold her
(37:16):
up in times of great loss, who was able to
be there for her when she made the decision to
go to Starfleet. And while I would have loved for
Who's grandmother, the person who told her about Starfleet, to
be played by the late Great Nashaw Nichols, I do
what opportunity that would have been confect But yeah, I
(37:36):
would love to meet some of either or HER's true
family or some of her chosen family, which is even
as important as the people you're related to by blood.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Absolutely, And also I love that because that is actually
another great star Trek trope, like when somebody's family has
to come on to the Enterprise, it just absolutely changes
all the dynamics on the ship, and there's just so
much fun. So I think that's a you know, very
in that Trek realm that you're already playing and well Salia,
thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
Welcome to such a tree anytime and talk about whatever
you like. But obviously playing an icon is such an
exciting thing to talk about, and I appreciate you taking
the time.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (38:15):
I appreciate your very, very inquisitive questions. I love when
people like care about it enough to talk about the
meat and potatoes of it, not just it's on the surface.
So I appreciate your curiosity and thank you for your time.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
On next week's episode of Extra Vision, we're diving into
episode nine of Foundation season three.
Speaker 5 (38:33):
That's it for news.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Thanks for listening. Bye x ray Vision is hosted by
Jason Cepcion and Rosie Night and is a production of
iHeart Podcasts.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Our executive producers are Joel Monique and Aaron Korfman.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
Our supervising producer is Abuzafar.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Our producers are Common Laurent Dian Jonathan and Bay Wack.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
A theme song is by Brian Vasquez, with alternate theme
songs by Aaron Kaufman.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
Special thanks to Soul Rubin, Chris Lord, Kenny Goodman, and
Heidi are discorded.
Speaker 4 (39:02):
Moderator m
On today's episode of News, we're talking about Fallout season two.
We're talking about Blue at Samurai, We're talking about the
Duffer Brothers, big.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Move, all that and more.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Mmm.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hello, my name is Jason Concepcion and I'm roseay Night,
and welcome back to xt revision of the podcast where
we dive deep. It's your favorite shows, movies, comics of
pop culture, company from iHeart where we're bringing you three
episodes a week, plus news and this is news.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
This is news. In today's previously on episode, as always,
we are catching up on the figures geek news of
the week, including the Duffer Brothers are moving from Netflix
and they have signed well, I'm sure is a very
expensive deal with Paramount and Sony only made twenty mil
from K Pop demon Hunt as well. That's going to
(00:55):
be a big conversation that we can give you some
quite shocking details into.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
But first, Fallout season two and the rest of news. Okay,
we get the season two official teaser trailer for the
second season of Fallout, and of course it is New Vegas,
which is tremendously exciting.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Great, there's so many great I'm just very very hyped.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Listen. I love Fallout. It's one of my favorite video
game series ever. Fallout three, New Vegas and Fallout four
are up there for me as constantly replayable game experiences.
And we loved season one. Yeah, it was a big
surprise tonally everything about it.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
It was just such an unbelievably brilliantly made show. Yes,
I think, Yeah, I love this trailer. There's so much
stuff here is just instantly fun to kind of go oh,
I recognize that. I recognize that, like they've done a
great job on the production design. We get to see
a tease of Justin Thurreau here playing a character we
(02:05):
were talking about last time, one of our big villain characters. Also,
I'm loving that. I feel like this trailer. I feel
like the stuff we're seeing for season two. The Gulu
Sea shippers are going crazy for it. I feel like
they understand that that is a ship that the people
are interested in, So I feel like the tension is there.
(02:28):
I'm I know the TikTok guys are going to be
going crazy for this season, and that's a classic weird
ship that I support. So yeah, looking just great. I mean,
I think this is a really interesting situation because season
one took us all by surprise with just how fantastic
it was. So I don't think they're going into this
with kind of a It doesn't feel like it has
(02:48):
necessarily the same strain on it as something of the
Last of Us, where people were like, this is always
going to be fantastic. It is fantastic, Okay, how does
season two stay fantastic? I feel like everyone was like, whoat,
it can make a great TV show, video games can
be great TV shows, and for season two, we're all
just like, hope it's.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
More of the same.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
So I feel like they're coming in with a good place. Also,
I found it very interesting Christmas.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Type drop.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
So they're dropping in September seventeen.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Yeah, that means that.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
They are ready for people to be watching and rewatching
and talking about this through that kind of pre Christmas
to New Year's. I think that this is them basically saying,
this is us going up against Stranger Things. That's what
it feels like to me, because I think Stranger Things
is going to be around the same time.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Speak of speaking of oh.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Look at that, speaking of the showrunners and creators behind
the Netflix mega hit Stranger Things, which will your final
season in the coming months, The Duffer brothers, at the
end of their Netflix deal, have signed a four year
film and television dealing with Paramount for an undisclosed.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
But surely huge.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Here is what they had to say. Matt and Ross
stuffer a quote, we couldn't be more thrilled to be
joining the Paramount family. David, Josh and Dana are passionate
about bringing bold, original films to the big screen. To
be part of that mission is not just exciting, it's
the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. And to do so
at a studio with such a story to Hollywood legacy
is a privilege. Is a privilege we don't take lightly.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Blah blah blah, blah, blah blah blah.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I do you mention stranger things in here. We're also
excited to reunite with our friends Cinny and Matt, who
among the very first to believe in an unusual little
script we wrote that became stranger Things. Remember that we
do things. So I think that this is a huge
in it and very intriguing deal. It'll be interesting to
see what they do. It'll be interesting to see what
(04:53):
the project. There were other projects that they were linked
to at netflick what happens to all the time I'm.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Wondering about does this I think this means that Stranger
Things is probably done done. There's no Stranger Things spin offs,
There's no nothing like that, at least not till after
this four year deal at Paramount. I'm not one hundred
percent surprised at this, because while Stranger Things was a
game changing show for Netflix, it was its first ever, huge,
(05:23):
big binge hit that really put it on the spot.
It was kind of this nostalgia forward zeitgeist busting series
that allowed them to merchandise, to make video games, to
do all the stuff they're doing now that makes them
billions of dollars. But it has also been like a
very prolonged rollout. The kids have aged up very much.
(05:47):
Millie Bobby Brown literally has a daughter. Now, that's how
far we've come. She just announced that her and bon Giovi,
John bon Giovi's son, have adopted a baby girl, so
like they are literally parents now. I think that there's
also been a lot of controversy around Stranger Things, about
its original script, about the original nature of the idea,
(06:09):
whether it was truly their idea or not. I also
think that Stranger Things has become a shorthand for some
of the stuff that people don't like about streaming, So.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
I understand why Netflix and the Duffer Bros.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Were likely to well unlikely to continue that partnership after
you know, ten years plus. But at the same time,
you know what a four year deal right now in
streaming that means hu huge.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
It's a huge deal, but also.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
It's like you could probably gonna make one show in
that time, so you've really got to hope that you've
got another big a few different big ideas that you
can kind of find homes for there, maybe bring in friends,
maybe make new shows.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
But I don't know.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
I think four years is a massive thing to announce.
But Paramount is also not in a great place right now,
so I'm interested to see where this leads and like,
what would the Duffer brothers even do even do like
a new series.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
I guess maybe in.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
A new space that would be and maybe.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
I'm sure the first to this deal was like, what
do you got, like, open up the books, Let's see
what kind of unattached project ideas, you.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Know, Let's see a quick break and we'll be right back,
and we're back.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
K Pop Demon Hunters continues to be a mega mega
mega hit as it has entered theaters and apparently.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Never seen before the it's a situation where it's going
into theaters and if you can believe it, I mean,
this is crazy news. But we are recording this on
Friday morning. They are expecting the K Pop Demon Hunters
sing along screenings, which are only going on for this weekend.
(08:04):
They are expecting them to be the biggest thing in
the box office this weekend. They think it's it will
be by far, it will be yeah, which is absolutely crazy,
and you'll probably think in whoa Sony animation another smash
hit like spite of us incorrect, Jason tell.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Us war Sony is only going to make something in
the realm of twenty million dollars, yes, from this licensing
arrangement with Netflix, with Netflix having no obligation to pay
any kind of revenue sharing royalties on the on the
ticket sales. Now people are ripping Sony from.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
This really crazy stuff.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I take I take the completely opposite.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Tell me.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
First of all, here's no, you can't predict hits.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
You can if we could, If we could.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Predict hits, then this would be a very, very different world, right,
and if you could predict it, you should be the
CEO of name your entertainment company.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
The biggest company in the world.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Right.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
So it what has happened here is K pop Demon
Hunters is a historic.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Zeitgeist geist movie like.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Gripping in a way that very few other things have
ever been in the history of streaming, streaming to theaters.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Like this doesn't exist.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, So to for me to like criticize Sony for
not like seeing this vision, I don't really. It's free
money to me. Also, it's like twenty million dollars free money.
It's kind of like you're getting free money because Netflix
is shouldering all the burdens.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
So so my my feeling on this is that I
think the only thing Sony did wrong here I don't
think they had a good person in the room who
could kind of read the popularity of K pop in
popular culture, because I do think that in twenty twenty one,
(10:04):
when this was sualta Netflix, I think at least one
person should have said, Hey, even if we're selling this,
maybe let's not do like a base line like one off.
Maybe we should like hypothetically it could be really popular.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Maybe we should write in a little.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Bit of royalties, Like they essentially wrote it off as
a tax situation and you know, gave it to Netflix.
We don't know how much of the one hundred million
dollar budget was paid by Netflix and how much was
paid by Sony. We know a majority was paid by Netflix,
so that means Sony could actually just be getting back
to twenty million that they potentially put in. But I mean,
(10:44):
as you said already, the fact that I just could
you could even.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
That, Okay, K pop is super popular, why aren't there
any other massive K pop themed properties animated properties?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Is true.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Also, another thing that I think we need to take
into consideration here is that there was a musical, a
K pop musical that went to Broadway that from what
everyone said, was absolutely fantastic, got great reviews.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
It couldn't stay on Broadway.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
So sometimes there are different things where people will say, oh, well,
you're not sure about this, not sure about that. I
went to a sing along screening at Netflix, which was wonderful.
Joelle was there, a bunch of our friends with her,
and EJ, who is the singing voice of Rumy and
who wrote the songs, was there, and you know, she
was saying like yeah, she never saw this coming, Like
she just thought that she was just writing some songs
(11:33):
for a movie. She never knew it was going to
be a number one Billboard smash hit and all that
kind of stuff. Though again, I will say I think
there could have been a bit more foresight about the
deal that was made here. And if you read Park,
if you read any of the trades, there are a
lot of conversations now going on about Sony Animation and
about this decision. But Jason, I think you sum it
(11:55):
up most, which is like, you could never know that
it was going to be this popular, that it would
jump from streaming to being the number one movie.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Weird the scenes doesn't happen. You don't see this in
the industry. This is like why didn't you guys predict
the lightning wage strike. I don't disagree that probably their
lawyers should have been a little bit more hardcore on
the deal points. Yeah, but again, some of this stuff
is so like pie in the sky, like this sin
theater run.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
It's so natur a sky that they were going to
get the theater run. I do think stuff like merchandising,
stuff like that. I think if you've been in this
business long enough, if you've tried to sell a show
or a comic book or whatever, you know that there
are these different ways.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Even if just look back at the history.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Of like Alec Guinness's famous two percent back end on
Star Wars that was like included all the merch and stuff,
I feel like there should have been some kind of
conversation about it. And I feel like in the post
twenty twenty one kind of landscape that we're in, the
strikes all these different stuff, the animation being seen as
(13:00):
not a viable property to make money from, especially on streaming.
I get it, but I also understand why there is
such a big conversation around this.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Sure, especially when I think so listen, their lawyers are
going to get in like whoever did these dealsactre get
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
That's that's real.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Like and Sony Animation is going to continue to hemorrhage
like U workers as they continue to you know, downsize,
and they could have used the money.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
All I'm saying is, like the.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Star Wars comparison, it's very easy with twenty twenty hindsight
to go, oh.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Everything, Oh no, exactly, That's what I'm saying. Like, and
also I think when something is so beloved and like
the quality is so high, which K pop Demenhunters is.
The songs are great, that's what makes it so magical.
But like, and it's obvious when you love it that
you can see the quality, But you would never know
back then that you could see that. You know, it's
(13:54):
unlikely that there was someone in the room, And even
if there was someone in the room, it's unlikely that
a bunch like c Suitet Execs are going to be
like listening to like, oh, but the pop songs are
real bangers, you know, Like it's I totally understand that
kind of issue.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Agree, you know, the good songs come out all the time,
they don't become hit so exactly one of those just
crazy lightning straight.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
But yeah, and I can't I also just say, like,
I cannot recommend enough seeing I've watched the movie a
ton of times on streaming because it's brilliant and I
have lots of kids in my life who love to
watch stuff like that. But also seeing it in the
theater was pretty unbelievable because especially the finale of the
movie is a group of fans coming together to sing
(14:36):
this song that saves the world, so having the sing alongs.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
With people singing along.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
It didn't surprise me that out of seventeen hundred screens,
they sold out eleven hundred of them. And also as well,
the crazy thing is, seventeen hundred screens should not be
able to get you in number one in America right
now when some movies are showing on forty three hundred
screens or something weapon is showing on three thousand screens.
(15:02):
So the fact that they were able to kind of
harness this massive popularity and move really quick on getting
it into cinemas, I got to give Netflix credit for
the way that they have handled this movie because since
it's like they have understood from the moment that it
(15:23):
started to become when it's become, they made it the FYC,
they put it in theaters so they saw I think
we could see this run go on for a few
more weeks. I doubt it will be out of the
as off the warm week is my gut saying.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
The influence of Taylor Swift a little bit okay. Speaking
of animation offerings from Netflix, Blue Eye Samurai season two
official trailer has dropped and it includes some futurette footage
from creators Ambernozomi and Michael Green just about the project
(15:59):
and listen, this was one of the best things on
Oh Yeah, No Question last year and I can't wait
for season two.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Can't wait.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
I also think great idea to do this kind of
in production post. Keep it in people's minds. Animation takes
a long time to make, streaming takes a long time
to make.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Like crazy, crazy.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Amounts of work are going into this, so keep people excited.
This is my mum's most anticipated show. She loved season one.
It was kind of a game change of her. It
opened her mind up to add or animation outside of
your standard kind of Gibbli space. So this was a
huge show for She's watched it multiple times. That kind
of tells you the massive reach that this has. That's
(16:45):
like a woman who is in her sixties in London
from up north, this is the show she cares about most,
coming back, even more so than like a Shogun. Even
though she liked it, she found it pretty dense. She
found this just really great. I think it does have
that broad reach and yeah, I mean it's also just
the stunning show, So yeah, good job. Some big wins
for Netflix are in this News.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Yeah, let's go.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
To some ads from our sponsors before my chat with
Celia Rose Gooding from Strange New Worlds, and we're back. Yes,
(17:29):
we are talking to Ahura herself about her legacy, her
massive new episode, and kind of the nature of Starfleet
and what it really means to be in the world
of Star Trek. Selia Rose Gooding, thank you so much
for joining us on X ray Vision.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
How are you doing. I'm good.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
Thank you for having me, Rosie. I'm so excited to
do this.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
It's gonna be so great.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
I was supposed to be here with that incredible super
producer Joel as well, who's another big fan, So I
just want to shout her out. I have one very
special question from her, which I will insert somewhere in
here because she's a total powerhouse. But yeah, shout o Joelle.
She's great and she organized this incredible interview, so I
appreciate her for putting the podcast together as usual and
(18:14):
making it great. So let's start with kind of the
broad feeling for you of the way that this show
expands the law of the show and the lawa of
Star Trek, for sure, but it expands on her so much.
This is something we've never really gotten to see, these
kind of more personal, intimate moments that are actually about
(18:37):
her rather than another man on the ship. You know,
in the original series, as much as we love Nachelle,
she absolutely smashed it. How does it feel to get
to be expanding that story and get to be expanding
that legacy.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
Yeah, it's an honor to be able to expand on
an already iconic legacy. I think even with the little
screen time and the little got to know about the
character of Uhura, she still had such an incredible impact
just by her sheer presence on the bridge, and so
to give her more context and more background and sort
(19:11):
of explain how she became the person that she becomes,
it's an honor to be a part of that journey.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Yeah, it's such an iconic franchise. But I think something
that's been done so brilliantly since the beginning is the
way that it reimagines itself for the current time and
it becomes a story about the time we are in
Your episode of strange Nuance really feels like that, It
really feels like it's unbelievably prescient. And could you talk
(19:42):
a little bit about where we meet her in this
episode and kind of what she is facing as the
crew kind of makes this, you know, fun documentary framing,
but there's something deeper there.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
Yeah. I think episode not to to my own hornor
Nazi by, but I think that Episode seven is one
of the most classically Star Trek episodes of the season
because it is it's exactly as you said, it's incredibly pressing.
It's social political commentary. It is putting a lens to
(20:17):
society and to institutions, but also to the individual in
a way that I think is very classically Trek. We
find Uhura in the middle of a really interesting time emotionally.
She is just coming off of an incredibly intense mission.
(20:38):
She has been really like still coming to terms with
her identity in Starfleet. She has made peace of the
fact that she is where she is meant to be.
Now she is coming to terms with what she is
meant to do where she is, and in the episode
(20:59):
we see her having issues with command and trying to
figure out what it means to be an incredibly empathetic
human being but also a soldier carrying out the missions
of a system much greater than hers and working within
a system that may have a different motive than hers,
(21:21):
or different intentions than hers. I think one of her
greatest strengths is her heart and her empathy and her
ability to put herself in the shoes of other people. Unfortunately,
that is what she's sort of hanging up on in
three oh seven, where she is really trying to hold
(21:46):
space for the Jakaru and understand that it is its
own entity, while also seeing it as something that's being
taken advantage of by a by a race of people
who she is tasked to help. But even in that
we layer in the nuance of this is a desperate people.
(22:10):
They are facing war against a sister planet that has
so much more power than them, that is so much
more backing than them, and so of course desperate times
call for desperate measures, and that is why the Lutani
are in a really difficult position where they are trying
(22:31):
to gain some footing in this war, and the way
they go about it is by taking this alien warhorse
species under their against their will, into their sort of
war machine. And we are having to balance both of
(22:53):
those things of understanding the desperation of the Lutani, but
also holding space for the agency and the autonomy of
the Jakari and that species, and then whoa someone who
is always trying to mahold space for the agency and
autonomy of people all the time is being she's fighting
(23:14):
her own impulse.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Yeah, she's being very I think this is an episode
where one like you said one of the most classic
Star Trek conundrums of all time, how do you help?
Speaker 4 (23:26):
And what are you allowed to do?
Speaker 5 (23:28):
And I think.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Something that I found so profound about this episode is
that when it comes to her, like it feels like
it shouldn't all be on.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Her, but it feels like the institution.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Yeah, you know, like it feels like you'll get the
Hura gets her big episode and suddenly it's about all
this work that she personally. And of course it's because
it's about you, right, it's about her. But I thought
it was very interesting that your big episode was an
episode about a black woman having to do.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
All the work. When you talk a little bit about
kind of that side of the.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
Episode, yeah, I remember reading the episode and feeling really frustrated. Truthfully,
I remember reading the script and being like, what you mean,
Like she wouldn't do this sort of stuff. She would
ask questions, she would constantly be holding space and the
writer Alan McElroy he had to sit me down and
(24:25):
hold my hands and say. The whole point of this
is we see her making a decision that she may
not necessarily agree with. Unfortunately, sometimes we are tasked with
making decisions that as soon as we make them, we
immediately wish we made a different one. Yeah, and what
(24:46):
it feels like to sort of move through that. And
as a black woman, someone who is carrying so much
grief and so much history to she projects her own
experience onto the Jakaru, which is very classic. She is
(25:07):
I think Uhura as a person operating in a system
bigger than her and out of her control. She can
project that experience onto the Jakaru, which is a very
vulnerable minority alien group being forced to operate in a
system much bigger than it with intentions that they may
not necessarily agree with. And so when we think about
(25:30):
the parallels between Uhura as a black woman and the
Jakaru as an alien species, they are both being tasked
with objectives that they don't necessarily understand because they are
not being informed on the wholeness of what's happening here.
Laura is not a commanding officer. She's not a captain,
she's not a commander, she's an ensign, and so she
(25:53):
isn't even a lieutenant. Yet she is still someone who's
taking orders and filling out someone else's idea of what
the proper course of action is. And so when we
sort of zoom out from that reality and see her
as just a black woman in an institution.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
Bigger than her.
Speaker 5 (26:12):
Of course, she's being tasked to sort of put her
feelings to the side and just get the work done
and execute and execute and execute. And at the end
of the episode, we see her sort of challenge herself
in the way of nobody should ever have to just
blindly follow orders, even and esespecially when those orders go
(26:38):
against your gut, because every time follows her gut, she
saves the day.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Exactly.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
It is only when she sort of puts her intuition
to the side and follows the orders of someone else,
that's when things go haywi or that's when things go icky.
And so I'm still ill grappling with the decisions that
Uhura makes the episode. I am such an empathetic actor,
(27:06):
and I really had a very h a tense is
the word. Yeah, it was definitely like trying to cut
through a well done stake of like, I'm going to
get to the bottom of this, but I'm gonna have
to shake the table a little bit gruid analogy. Thank you,
(27:29):
I know you follow me there, But yeah, it was
it was definitely a challenge and emotionally the sort of
processing that I had to do in order to get
that episode behind me in order to show up for
the next day. That was definitely one of the one
of the biggest emotional lips I think Uhra has had
in the series so far. But it is I'm glad
(27:51):
it's in the I'm glad it's a very classically Trek problems.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
It really is.
Speaker 5 (27:58):
In a season that is so like out of the
Trek norm.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
I know, it's really interesting that you have this documentary
framework which is so fun and totally new, never been
known before. But the layers that are there and that
especially for horror, is just I think that's the perfect
balance of Star Trek because you can have you know,
the tribles or something, you can have like the cutesy,
weird scary thing. Yeah, you can be doing a neo
(28:29):
noir or Patrick Stewart is you know, doing Shakespeare on
the ship. But you also always have to be thinking
about what like a radical imagination looks like, what a
future looks like. And that's the balance that I think
is part of why everyone loves Strange New Worlds so much,
because it does that balance of character and then those
(28:50):
really surreal, like out there genre episodes and just really cool,
kind of different than we've seen in a while, but
the feel very star Trek. I also think something that's
kind of amazing and is the best, you know, for
a prequel, This is kind of the dream. This is
one of those episodes where now every single time I
(29:11):
go back and watch the original series, I'm going to
be thinking about how this moment ended up informing Ahura,
And I think that's how you know there has been
a successful expansion of a franchise, because to me, that's
the same character now, you know, it's like watching Wicked
and everyone's like, well, this is my canon for the
words it was now like this is party, but you
(29:34):
actually get to really be a part of that canon,
which I thought. I just feel like this episode is
a really great jumping on point for people too, which
is something I think. Another thing I think that Strange
the world's has done really well is you guys have
basically created an accessible Star Trek series. Okay, so I'm
going to ask you, speaking because of the evolution of
kind of Ahura, what my wonderful producer Joelle wanted me
(29:57):
to ask was, could you talk a little bit about
your hair journey as a horror from season one to
season three?
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Yeah, because she is.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
We were really talking about how the more comfortable of
her is, the more we're seeing her with like her
hair out and natural fashions and stuff, and it's very
different to that person we met in the first season
who was that soldier. So could you talk a little
bit about what a Hoa's hair kind of represents and
how you've helped shape that because it's your head and
it's your hair.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
It sure is.
Speaker 5 (30:27):
I think, to be really specific, the relationship that black
women have with their hair is so sacred and everyone
expresses themselves differently, but I think, and this is coming
from the for audio listeners, I am a black woman.
I know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Her is one of the most famous black characters of
all time. Guys, come on, let's go said, Let's go
see Star Trek. The original series forever.
Speaker 5 (30:54):
Let's do it forever and ever and ever long live.
I think our community more than most really express themselves.
And you can tell how we're doing by how our
hair looks on any given day. And I think that
in the first few seasons, the first couple seasons, we
(31:14):
see her very very closed in on herself, very folded in,
very insecure, very unsure. She isn't putting her her she
isn't putting roots down anywhere. She's just sort of like
letting the wind push her wherever it's meant to go.
And in season three, after the musical episode, which I
(31:35):
think was her real turning point of when she decides
that not only is she meant to be here, that
the Enterprise is better when she is there, and that
her crew is better off with her being an active
participant in in her station. And so after that episode
(32:00):
we see her sort of exhale in a way that,
as the person who carries her through this journey, felt
so satisfying. I've been waiting for her to like take
up space in a way that is undeniable, in a
way that is so clear and specific. And so when
(32:21):
we when we time cut, because there's a massive time
cut between the season two finale, season three premiere opener
I don't Know, and then the cut between the first
episode of season three and the second episode of season three.
I think she has done so much therapy. I think
(32:43):
she has.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
Done who is the therapist on the ship?
Speaker 5 (32:47):
Listen find out who knows fingers crossed? But I think
we see her in the beginning of episode two at
a point where she feels comfortable enough to literally let
her hair down, to let her hair out, to take
up space, to just smile, wider, walk taller, think bigger,
(33:11):
And you can see it in how she expresses herself.
She is more glamorous, she is more expressive, she's more excited,
she's more flirtatious, she's more inquisitive. She's just more and
more herself. I think my task, along with the task
of other people reprising roles that exist in the original series,
(33:34):
is to keep the character recognizable, but also fill in
every little gap between where they were and where they're going.
And I think this sort of space her expression is
a gap that needed to be filled. I think in
the original series, She's Glamo is on nine House, and
(33:57):
like she's she's the glamor diva of the Enterprise, and
so it was really important for me to express that
to the hair team, to the showrunners, to the suits
that it's really important that even though she is a soldier,
and even though she is an officer of Starfleet and
(34:19):
there is a sort of military feel to the world,
it is important that she remained joyous in her expression
and she remain unique and enthusiastic and casually glamorous. Like
it's sci fi. She's not spending two and a half
(34:39):
hours in the neighbor to get her Yeah, she's got this.
She'll put on a little space space mask and blast
of eyeshadow on her face she goes.
Speaker 4 (34:47):
To work exactly.
Speaker 5 (34:49):
It's the little ritual of that. It's her honoring herself
and honoring her multiplicity and honoring her expression in a
way that she didn't have the time, the space, the
confidence too in previous seasons. And so, yeah, her journey
(35:09):
in her expression it as someone who loves expression, of
someone who loves drag and costuman hair and big, big
expression outward. Aesthetic wise, it was really important for my
journey through the character to sort of weave a little
bit of my personal taste into that while also keeping
(35:30):
it recognizable and akin to the legacy that Michelle Nichols
left behind for me to just keep putting in my
little basket of character understanding.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
I think it's just wonderful to get to revisit old
characters in new ways. I think it's the way that
we keep storytelling going on. And obviously Star Trek has
such a legacy as a ground bright for sure, and
I think even the fact that you are someone who
is in that space talking to people about this stuff,
(36:03):
telling them why it's important, that's you shaping the Star
Trek universe too.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
Yeah, trying my best.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
Thank you. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
I think it's really exciting. And you don't have to
tease anything that's actually gonna happen, but you can.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Do you have a dream.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
For her that you haven't gotten to achieve yet, or
something you would love to get to see her do
as the seasons kind of roll on towards the end.
Speaker 5 (36:29):
Yeah, I think I don't know if we'll get time too,
because we just finished shooting season four and season five
is quite limited, but I hope that we get to
see somebody from Ohora's home, like some childhood friend or
an auntie or an uncle, because we know that she's
faced so much loss in her family. But I know
(36:51):
that she she wouldn't be who she was or is
without some understand of the importance of community exactly, and
I don't think you learn that in a vacuum. And
so I would love to get to meet who her
community was before Starfleet, who was able to hold her
(37:16):
up in times of great loss, who was able to
be there for her when she made the decision to
go to Starfleet. And while I would have loved for
Who's grandmother, the person who told her about Starfleet, to
be played by the late Great Nashaw Nichols, I do
what opportunity that would have been confect But yeah, I
(37:36):
would love to meet some of either or HER's true
family or some of her chosen family, which is even
as important as the people you're related to by blood.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Absolutely, And also I love that because that is actually
another great star Trek trope, like when somebody's family has
to come on to the Enterprise, it just absolutely changes
all the dynamics on the ship, and there's just so
much fun. So I think that's a you know, very
in that Trek realm that you're already playing and well Salia,
thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
Welcome to such a tree anytime and talk about whatever
you like. But obviously playing an icon is such an
exciting thing to talk about, and I appreciate you taking
the time.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (38:15):
I appreciate your very, very inquisitive questions. I love when
people like care about it enough to talk about the
meat and potatoes of it, not just it's on the surface.
So I appreciate your curiosity and thank you for your time.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
On next week's episode of Extra Vision, we're diving into
episode nine of Foundation season three.
Speaker 5 (38:33):
That's it for news.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Thanks for listening. Bye x ray Vision is hosted by
Jason Cepcion and Rosie Night and is a production of
iHeart Podcasts.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Our executive producers are Joel Monique and Aaron Korfman.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
Our supervising producer is Abuzafar.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Our producers are Common Laurent Dian Jonathan and Bay Wack.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
A theme song is by Brian Vasquez, with alternate theme
songs by Aaron Kaufman.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
Special thanks to Soul Rubin, Chris Lord, Kenny Goodman, and
Heidi are discorded.
Speaker 4 (39:02):
Moderator m
Hosts And Creators
Jason Concepcion
Rosie Knight
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