Star Trek actress – Chase Masterson interview

Chase Masterson was an actress on Star Trek Deep Space Nine for five years and is currently an activist with the Pop Culture Hero Coalition anti-bullying organization. She and coalition member Raymond Litster spoke to me about their campaign and anti-bullying work in general.

1:02 – Chase talks about her anti-bullying non-profit coalition

1:42 – Raymond talks about how he got involved in the coalition. Chase also talks about how she was bullied when she was a child.

3:50 – Chase didn’t have resources to escape bullying when she was young.

5:28 – Raymond sees bullying every day. Bullies take out their angers on friends, family and so on.

8:32 – They’ve been promoting the coalition since 2013 and they do about 17 conventions a year. Their link is Popculturehero.org and they are @superheroirl on facebook, twitter and instragram. They also have t-shirts and baseball caps available.

10:12 – Chase Masterson is on twitter. Raymond is on twitter @rrlitster

Links of interest

Pop Culture Hero Coalition

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: Chase Masterson and Raymond Litster

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, sci-fi, star trek, deep space nine, bullying, anti-bullying, conventions

Star Trek graphic designers – Michael and Denise Okuda interview

Michael and Denise Okuda worked as graphic designers on Star Trek The Next Generation. They’ve also worked on a number of other Star Trek media projects and have written various books on Star Trek. In my intro I say they wrote a book on Star Trek but in fact they’ve worked on many Star Trek books that are popular among fans.

2:09 – Michael Okuda talks about he first got involved in Star Trek. Denise Okuda started as a registered nurse before she got into Star Trek graphic design.

4:24 – Michael talks about how he approaches his work. You don’t want to create designs that draw the audience eye away from the cast.

6:29 – Denise was video coordinator for Star Trek Deep Space Nine.

8:29 – Michael talks about the difficulty of the graphics associated with alien languages.

10:12 – Michael was always inspired by Saul Bass especially for his ideas of Corporate Identity Design.

12:09 – Star Trek has always been on the cutting edge of the technology of graphic design.

14:13 – Denise noted that the less money a production has, the more creative designers have to be.

17:56 – Michael loves the design of the Apollo module.

19:31 – Filmmaking is a team effort and the designer is working for someone.

21:29 – Denise talks about the large Star Trek prop auction that she and Michael helped with. Michael talks about some Star Trek II ship miniatures he found in a box.

26:09 – They talk about their current projects. Michael Okuda is working on a Clint Eastwood project.

 

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Michael and Denise Okuda

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, art, graphic design, Star Trek, The Next Generation, Star Trek II, ship models, The original series, costumes, Saul Bass, Roddenberry, Max Headroom, Undiscovered Country

X-Men actor – Shawn Ashmore interview

Shawn Ashmore is a Canadian actor best know to comic book fans as iceman of the X-Men film series. He’s done horror, drama and animation work. I spoke with him at Shore Leave 2018.

0:57 – Shawn talks about he started acting as a hobby with his twin brother when they were kids. At age 14 he decided to take it seriously.

2:33 – He feels that a well-written script has done most of the work for an actor. He likes to break down scripts and create a personal history for the character if it’s not done already. He used music to inspire him in roles. Costumes also help him create the feel of the character.

4:38 – All the leather superhero costumes really adjust how he approaches a character. He also played Terry Fox who was a famous Canadian runner. Wearing his running outfit was emotional for Shawn.

6:49 – Shawn was an X-Men reader so he enjoyed being on the film. He felt a chill when he saw Patrick Stewart in the wheelchair and it felt like X-Men.

8:49 – Stand By Me was the film that made him want to be an actor. Lawrence of Arabia, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and lassic horror films have inspired him. He’s a fan of storytelling and great characters.

10:57 – He’s always found fans who’ve liked works of his that he might have felt didn’t reach the level he wanted it to.

11:39 – He watched a lot of Next Gen and wanted a transporter.

13:21 – He’s on twitter and instagram.

 

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Shawn Ashmore

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: X-Men, movies, marvel comics, horror,