Star Trek Social Club

Your acting during the debate episode was incredible. My only question is this: How did you decide what your character would sound like? His "accent" gets "awkward young adult Klingon" across very well in my opinion, and I personally think you nailed it

Hello Karim,

Fantastic that you’re the providing the first Trek cast member AMA in the fediverse! Incredible way to get into the franchise.

I hope this will be a good experience on your side and that you might consider having your own account on Mastodon or Pixelfed.

A few questions please…🖖🏼

— In your study of previous Klingons in the franchise, have you considered B’Elanna Torres journey to accepting her Klingon heritage? Do you see some parallels in her discomfort with Klingon culture, its norms and expectations with Jay-Den’s search for a path to his own identity while still respecting his culture of origin?

— Was there a specific moment, in your preparation process for the role, when it suddenly came together for you and you knew who you need to be as Jay-Den? Could you share when that was?

— What other languages, if any, do you speak beyond English? If you are bilingual or multilingual, do you find that helps with the Klingon dialogue and phrases?

— How are you finding Toronto and the surrounding area? Have you got out much around the region? Other than what appears to be the Escarpment in S1E4, have you been out on location shoots?

Thanks for doing an AMA on Lemmy! If you could play any race in the Star Trek universe which would you pick and why?

Just want to say: While I'm not a huge fan of the highschool drama part of the show, I love all the characters so far <3 You're all doing a great job!

Have you been privy to any of the discussions about what it means for the show to be set a thousand years later than most of the franchise, like where it makes sense for a previous entry to guide the interpretation, and where it maybe makes as much or more sense to let things go a little crazy. The interplay probably has to drift more toward storytelling realities within the brand than it does gaming-out what would "really" happen over a millennium of Star Trek time.

Honestly, when I think about it, the post-Burn era seems downright conservative in terms of societal change, certainly at least within Starfleet. That's obviously necessary for it to be recognizable as a property, but it's kind of funny to think that it's as static as it seems, like closer to the difference between 426 and 1426 than between 1026 and 2026 CE, and I'm probably understating how different the first two were.

Loving Academy, long may it continue.

Do you have any power to get us a series, and I’ll take a mini-series, with Seven of Nine as Captain and Raffi as Number Two? If not, do you know who does and do you have any dirt on them?

what does it feel like to play the first autistic and queer Klingon? (AFAIK)

Is it hard to do that voice? Do ya drink a lot of tea on set or are ya naturally baritone.

Hi, Karim!

First off, so freaking cool of you to do this on Lemmy!

Second, I've noticed that Academy seems to be showcasing a lot of the rarer species in Trek and giving fans little glimpses into how they have been since their original debuts. What star trek species would you be most excited to see again in the show? I'm personally hoping for a Denobulan to make an appearance (hopefully more than one!).

And a twofer, cause I'm greedy: what is your favorite/least favorite part of working on the show?

wow. this is beyond exciting.

I've loved your interpretation of a Klingon. What informs how to bring such an odd alien and culture to life? What new things are you trying to introduce and what things are you trying to pay homage too?

What was your top reference going into acting in Star Trek? What personal twists you added to that?

Just want to say thank you so much for answering all these questions! Loving Academy so far and wish I dropped in earlier to ask you a question!

Hi Karim! Great job playing Jay-Den!

If you were a cadet at Starfleet Academy, which electives would you pick?

Hey! It's awesome to have you here. I've been really enjoying the show so far, and your performance has been one of my favourite parts. You bring such nuance and depth to the character, and I can't imagine it is easy to give such a compelling performance when you're playing a character as reserved as Jay-Den.

In preparation for this role, how much (if at all) did you study mannerisms of past actors who played Klingon characters? Were there any particular aspects that served as inspiration for how you want to play Jay-Den? Or perhaps things that you strove to avoid, due to wanting to bring something distinct to this character?

(Or inspirations for your performance beyond Star Trek)

How did your understanding of the character (and how you played him) develop once you were on set? Were there any particular interactions with members of the cast/crew that shaped how you portrayed Jay-Den?

Smaller question: Favourite episode of Starfleet Academy?

hello Karim,

saw the videos of your voice training Its amazing seeing you comfortably hit the lower registers.

If asked by the show runners to do a song, what would you sing in its original Klingon version?
(I hope its Crash Test Dummies. "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" would love to hear you do a cover of it Klingon or English!!!)

What's your take on the current discourse surrounding your show? I haven't watched it yet but "the Internet" has been right about precisely 1 singular show they were hating on, so it's already got a glowing recommendation.