In order to play the super smart Michael Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery, Sonequa Martin-Green went down a lot of scientific rabbit holes.
Summary
- Playing Captain Burnham required examining scientific “rabbit holes” for Sonequa Martin-Green.
- Star Trek: Discovery season 5 premieres April 4 on Paramount+ with new enemies and allies.
- Martin-Green praised the writers for making technical jargon easy to grasp in life or death situations.
Sonequa Martin-Green plays Captain Michael Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery, and playing the super-intelligent Burnham required Martin-Green to go down a lot of scientific “rabbit holes.”Star Trek: Discovery season 5 premieres Thursday, April 4, on Paramount+. In Discovery‘s final season, Captain Burnham leads the USS Discovery on an intergalactic treasure hunt while encountering new enemies Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis) as well as a new Starfleet ally, Captain Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie), who is no fan of Burnham.
Star Trek: Discovery season 5’s world premiere was held at SXSW with cast members Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Wilson Cruz, David Ajala, Mary Wiseman, Blu del Barrio, and executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise promoting the final season. At a panel following the premiere, Sonequa Martin-Green was asked by host Scott Mantz how she was able to memorize Captain Burnham’s techno-babble. Read her response and watch the video of Star Trek: Discovery‘s SXSW panel below:
Well, oh my goodness, there’s so many things I can say about that. Big ups to these two [Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise] and the rest of our writers… We affectionately call it techno babble, science speak, and space talk. These are the three names we’ve given them. And it’s always life or death circumstances and stakes. But what I love about the way it’s written is that you can grab ahold of it really easily… Because it’s all that story, all that richness, all that life is the subtext… And I think all of us [actors] sort of do this, but I have to know at least a little bit of what I’m saying… And that did take me down into a lot of quantum mechanical rabbit holes and astrophysical rabbit holes. And then, 45 minutes later, I’m like, ‘I gotta get outta here!’
Techno Babble Is A Proud Star Trek Tradition
Sonequa Martin-Green and Discovery are some of the best at Star Trek techno babble
Techno babble is a staple of Star Trek, and the cast of Star Trek: Discovery excels at it. The USS Discovery was originally a science and research vessel staffed with a crew of geniuses at the tops of their respective fields. Michael Burnham is also a genius with a background as a xeno-anthropologist, but saving the galaxy repeatedly on Star Trek: Discovery required Burnham to exhibit a vast knowledge of quantum mechanics and astrophysics. Other Discovery characters who are brilliant at math and science are Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman), Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz), and Commander Jett Reno (Tig Notaro).
Few Star Trek actors can deliver techno babble with the startling speed and clarity of Sonequa Martin-Green on Star Trek: Discovery.
Star Trek‘s original master of techno babble was Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in Star Trek: The Original Series. Nimoy’s successors as Spock, Ethan Peck in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Zachary Quinto in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movies, live up to Nimoy’s prowess. One of the best ever at techno babble is Brent Spiner as Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation, with LeVar Burton’s Geordi La Forge close behind. Meanwhile, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Terry Farrell struggled with techno babble as the brilliant Trill Jadzia Dax. However, few Star Trek actors can deliver techno babble with the startling speed and clarity of Sonequa Martin-Green on Star Trek: Discovery.
