Following the Instagram livestreamed Star Trek: Discovery Emmy “For Your Consideration” panel on Sunday, there was a brief Q&A session. Audio for that and the panel itself was released today via Variety’s Remote Controlled podcast. This extra bit from the event had a few other interesting moments, highlighted below.

Kurtzman and Martin-Green on Discovery’s connection to Roddenberry’s legacy

Discovery co-creator Alex Kurtzman spoke glowingly about Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s vision and how it was still relevant today:

I think Roddenberry gave television history – our history – such a gift in creating a world in which diversity of all kinds – color, sexual preference, was an assumption. His greatest contribution was that it never had to be addressed, because it just was, as it should be. You are an officer first. You love who you love. There is no judgment. That has been removed from the equation. There is no need to talk about it to the degree that we obviously need to talk about it a whole lot today because in the future that he wanted to envision – and the future that we all want to believe in, and really want this show to be about – there should be no strife over these things. There should be no question about it. In a world that is so divided, Star Trek has always presented the most beautiful, optimistic vision of hope. And I think that is why it has endured for over fifty years because we need hope now more than ever. And I think the reason we bring so much of ourselves to the craft of everyday work, and why even with its challenges it is so rewarding, is because there are very few shows that get to so organically talk about everything we are dealing with on a day-to-day basis without ever having to bludgeon you over the head with it.

Show star Sonequa Martin-Green picked up on Kurtzman’s comment and talked about how it is still important for a diverse group to see themselves in Star Trek’s future:

It’s about being able to see yourself being your highest potential. And it is about being able to see yourself in positions of authority. It is about seeing yourself taking ownership of the role you have in the greater whole, in the greater community, and seeing how important you are. I know for me being the first black woman to lead the show, whenever I think about the youth it brings tears to my eyes, but to be able to see yourself. There are so many representations of self on the show. And you can see yourself leading and guiding and fighting and sacrificing. Because it is not always pretty. You also get to see us – you get to see these people – who are diverse, yet equal, true indivisibility. You get to see us failing and falling and getting back up and pressing forward and digging into ourselves and each other. And so, I think that is what is most powerful about it. And that is Roddenberry’s vision. That is how you have a legacy of equality and diversity, that these people are allowed to be their full authentic selves. They are allowed to make mistakes. But we see them be champions and their own heroes, individually and collectively. And that is the most powerful thing. And in that way – which is so incredible – we become part of the solution, when we are surrounded by the problem.

Rapp on how playing Stamets has changed his life

Anthony Rapp, who showed up after the main panel wrapped up, but just in time for Q&A, talked about what it meant to him to be cast in Discovery;

It has been one of the great privileges of my life and I have Aaron [Harberts] and Gretchen [J. Berg] to thank because they just gave it to me. I didn’t even have to audition. So, thank you. It has changed my life in really amazing, incredible ways. Trek almost did have some kind of someone at some point probably be openly gay, I guess, or they were trying to or thinking about it, but they never made it happen. So, the fact that that it has been able to happen and that we have been able to be part of that is really meaningful.

Wilson studied for tenchnobabble

Many Star Trek actors have struggled with the shows “technobabble” dialog, inducing Tig Notaro who will appear in Discovery Season 2. At the FYC event, actor Wilson Cruz revealed how he did some research to help him retain some of the more difficult bits of dialog:

It was really hard at first because the medical jargon and the science jargon and the futuraristic jargon was a lot. At first, I was “I am just going to memorize these words,” and that wasn’t going to work. I figured out…work out what the root of these words were and maybe and figure out what this means, because I was not a science person. I know this is a shock to you. And once I understood what the science was – what the words were based on real science – I was “Oh, I can memorize that.” I can memorize the concepts and then get to the words.

Doug Jones is grateful for so much dialog

Actor Doug Jones responded to a question about how he felt about having more to say in Discovery than he’s had in other roles:

The writers already know, the less dialogue I have, the more I am happy. I keep begging them to kill me off [laughs]. The best part of the layers of character are revealed so much through the verbal dialogue. I have spent so much of my career creating visual dialogue for characters, that Saru has been a glorious blend of visual and verbal dialogue, come together like I have never been able to play before. I am very grateful.

Discovery FYC around LA

In addition to events, online videos and screeners, CBS also has an outdoor campaign going in Los Angeles to attract Emmy voters. This includes a custom mural in a popular coffee house in the hip Silverlake neighborhood.

BE BOLD! 🖖🌟#StarTrekDiscovery is taking over @Alfredcoffee Silverlake. Be sure to go by and visit so that you can check out our new mural! #StarTrekDiscoveryFYC #CBSTVStudiosFYC #butfirstcoffee pic.twitter.com/sosUtS6s6V — CBS TV Studios (@CBSTVStudios) June 11, 2018

And if you are driving down Melrose Blvd in Hollywood, you can spot a special Discovery billboard aimed at Emmy voters.

When you stop for gas at Melrose and Highland in Hollywood, you may want to consider voting for #StarTrekDiscovery for the #Emmys #FYC pic.twitter.com/oECeHXLc1S — TrekMovie.com (@TrekMovie) June 6, 2018

Voting for the nomination round the Emmys began yesterday, June 11th. Nominations will be announced on July 12th, which will be followed by another round of voting, with winners announced at two events in September.

Listen to full panel and Q&A (via Variety)

Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on Space and streams on CraveTV. It is available on Netflix everywhere else.

Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery news at TrekMovie.