An operatic hologram? That fits the “Trek” universe

We expect a lot from our robots, holograms and AI entities.
We want them to drive our cars, edit our prose, mow our lawns. And one (albeit a fictional one) sings opera.
That’s happened in the “Star Trek” shows — first in “Voyager” and now in “Starfleet Academy,” which starts Thursday (Jan. 15) on Paramount+.
“The notion that an artificial intelligence has hobbies is idiotic to begin with,” Robert Picardo granted in a Television Critics Association session. “The notion that he loves opera is really taking … it out there.”
But his character (simply called The Doctor) sang in “Voyager” (shown here); 30 years later, he’s doing it again, in the second episode (also Jan. 15) of “Starfleet.”
That’s part of the show’s two-tiered approach: The academy students may seem like stereotypes — rich bully, reluctant hero, steel-willed female, etc. — but the faculty members don’t. Eccentric characters are played by top pros, including Holly Hunter, Paul Giamatti, Gina Yashere and Picardo.
In “Voyager,” he was cast as the holographic doctor. Then producers talked about giving him some personal traits.
“I never wanted to sing on the show,” Picardo said. But they “misunderstood (my) suggestion that I listen to opera in sick bay while I was working. I thought it was funny that a character with no emotion would choose an incredibly emotional human art.”
Instead of just listening, the show had him sing. Picardo — an a cappella singer in his Yale days — obliged. In the second “Starfleet” episode, he also does a spirited operatic duet.
He does more — he utters a curse word and uses light slang. “Starfleet” is set in the 32nd century (800 years after “Voyager”) and the Doctor has lightened up. “He now is teaching cadets, so he has to speak in their language.”
There’s one catch to having the same guy play The Doctor, 30 years apart: Holograms never age; actors do.
“I wondered how the fans would accept the fact that their hologram is … 20 pounds heavier and 30 years older,” Picardo said. The explanation here is that he had his program adjusted to seem more distinguished. “Think about it: If generations of human colleagues grew old and died around you, you would start to feel a little weird never changing.”
Other actors also eased into their “Starfleet” roles.
Giamatti said his dad, who had seen the original “Trek” episodes, got him started. on reruns. “He thought, ‘You’re a weird child; you might like this.'” He did and had an early desire to be a Klingon; now he’s a villainous one.
Yashere is best known as a comedian and as writer-producer-co-star of “Bob (Hearts) Abishola.” But she’s also an engineering grad who worked for Otis elevators; now she wears prosthetics and spout techno-terms. “I’m used to electrical/electronic speech,” she said. “But ‘Star Trek’ is another level.”
Hunter struggled with such words. “I had to ask, ‘What does that mean? How do I pronounce that?’ … And I just drilled them in my head repeatedly.”
She grew up on a Georgia farm, which sort of fits the role. The script said her character, the chancellor, is sometimes barefoot. “I loved that. So that kind of opened up this whole idea of what she might be like physically.”
The original “Trek” had the fornal, heroic style that was once in vogue. “The guys were so like pieces of granite,” Hunter said.
But now she has the freedom to loosen up. She offers a flurry of words, movements and empathy. At the age of 400-plus, the chancellor has her own approach to Starfleet education.