Star Trek Captain Philippa Georgiou Malaysian connection

Michelle Yeoh on the cover of Entertainment Weekly magazine as Captain Philippa Georgiou.

When the latest incarnation of Star Trek launched last September, Star Trek Discovery certainly sent where no Malaysian has gone before. That being Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh stepping onto a Federation starship as Captain Philippa Georgiou. More politely addressed as Tan Sri Dato' Seri Michelle Yeoh within Malaysia by her honorific titles received by royalty, she is widely known internationally for her prowess in martial arts action movies such as Hong Kong's Police Story 3 (1992) starring alongside Jackie Chan, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) with Chun Yun Fat. She has also been a Bond Girl in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies and other western film productions like Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) and Luc Besson's biopic The Lady (2011) as  Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Prior to Star Trek, Michelle Yeoh's geek pop culture contributions include Babylon A.D. (2008) with Vin Diesel and more recently a surprise cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017).

Interview of Michelle Yeoh on her role as Captain Georgiou.

Michelle Yeoh's stint on Star Trek Discovery began in the pilot episode "The Vulcan Hello" as Captain of the USS Shenzhou in the year 2256, approximately 10 years before Star Trek The Original Series (TOS). As Philippa Georgiou, she is a highly decorated Starfleet officer and mentor for the last 7 years to Lt. Commander Michael Burnham, the new series lead character as portrayed by Sonequa Martin-Green of The Walking Dead fame. Although human, Burnham was raised on Vulcan under tutelage of Ambassador Sarek, father of the infamous Mr Spock. The relationship between Georgiou and Burnham on the Shenzhou is much like surrogate mother to daughter with the Captain nurturing the younger officer's humanity from Vulcan stoicism and instilling Federation ideals.

On the bridge of the USS Shenzhou (left to right): Saru (Doug Jones), Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Phillipa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh).

Michelle Yeoh has infused her character with cultural elements outside the typical American mold of television. Most notably of which she does not speak English with an American accent as would have most principal cast of US productions. Whilst most Malaysian and Asian viewers are quite used to her accent and tone inflections, indeed it is uncommon for American viewers to hear foreign accents outside stereotypical racial roles. Hence it became a statement on Star Trek progressiveness in television for its equality and inclusiveness, a theme that has resounded since TOS first aired over 50 years ago with a racially diverse principal cast. Read more about netizens initial reaction of her accent on Netshark.com; side observation on our part that some Americans have difficulty understanding English spoken outside their native accents.

A Wayang Kulit puppet seen on Captain Georgiou's ready room.

The producers of Star Trek Discovery have subtly included cultural references of Georgiou's Asian heritage. Although us Malaysians here have probably yet to encounter anyone local with such a surname, perhaps that will change in another 200 years. Months ago, screenshots of Captain Georgiou's ready room / office on the starship Shenzhou highlighted a Wayang Kulit puppet in the background (see picture above). Wayang Kulit is a traditional puppet shadow-play originating from southeast asia. Whilst widely known by Malaysians, the traditional performance is now a diminishing art form amongst younger generations. Find out more about how the artists at Fusion Wayang Kulit (FWK) are infusing modern pop culture into this traditional art to revive interest for the current generation.

In the latest Star Trek Discovery episode and season one finale "Will You Take My Hand?", Michael Burnham asks Philippa Georgiou of her homeland. In reply Captain Georgiou replies that he grew up in Malaysia.

Upon further probing by Burnham, she more specifically pinpoints Pulau Langkawi, translated to English as Langkawi island. In response Burnham mentions of "beautiful beaches".

In what would likely be seen as a few throwaway lines elsewhere in the world, these mentions of Malaysia and Langkawi has certainly gotten Malaysians buzzing on social media. Considering that western entertainment media typically references locations that more widely known to American audiences, e.g. New York, San Francisco, London, etc., hearing not just one but two references associated to our country in an established sci-fi franchises like Star Trek clearly resounded in many Malaysians. Here are some reactions to our Instagram photo posted yesterday and shared to Facebook:

Response by Malaysian Trekkies on Facebook Group Starbase MY - Star Trek Fans Malaysia.

We have no inkling on whether dear Tan Sri Yeoh influenced selection of Pulau Langkawi entering Star Trek canon, although Georgiou's association with Malaysia had been unofficially hinted some time ago on Trek chatter. Since Michelle Yeoh's actual hometown is Ipoh, perhaps Langkawi simply served better as an exotic sounding name that had more syllables. Indeed it could have been spoken as "Langkawi island" instead of "Pulau Langkawi", noting that most of Star Trek's audience do not speak the Malay language and therefore would not read "pulau" as "island". Nevertheless with Burnham's mention of "beautiful beaches" it does help serve as somewhat of a tourism plug for Langkawi.

For our readers elsewhere in the world, Malaysia is a tropical country in southeast asia just north of the equator. West Malaysia comprises a peninsula stretching between Thailand and Singapore, whilst East Malaysia spans along the northern shores of Borneo island. Total land area of Malaysia is 330,803 sqkm, roughly 13% smaller than Japan.

Langkawi is an island just off the northwest coast of peninsula Malaysia bordering Thailand. It measures 478 sqkm, approximately two-thirds the size of Singapore. As an island resort, Langkawi does offer "beautiful beaches" associated with island attractions and geoforest parks. Direct access to the island by air is provided via an international airport, and good for travel most times of the year from sunny tropical weather. Discover more about Langkawi from the official tourism website.

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These are not actually the first time Malaysia has been mentioned in Star Trek, but the third. The first was way back in year 2000 in the seventh season of Star Trek Voyager on an episode titled "Inside Man". As a member of Project Pathfinder, Lieutenant Reginald Barclay (a recurring Starfleet character played by Dwight Schultz) was experiencing transmission problems sending his hologram to the USS Voyager stranded in the Delta Quadrant. His apparent obsessive paranoid soon annoys his supervising officer who then tell Reg to take a leave of absence and offered use of his cousin's beach house in Malaysia during that time off. It seems even 18 years ago Malaysia was somewhat associated to "beautiful beaches", which is most certainly true in the current 21st century.

Reginald Barclay (right) offered to take a vacation on the beach in Malaysia during Voyager's episode "Inside Man".

 The next mention of Malaysia came two years later in Star Trek Enterprise during the middle of the series first season in the episode titled "Silent Enemy". In this instance, Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula of "Quantum Leap" fame) had requested Ensign Hoshi Sato (Linda Park) to track down the parents of his tactical officer Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating). After locating them, Hoshi inform Archer that Reed's parents are located in Kota Baharu, Malaysia. Again for those not familiar with Malaysia, Kota Bahru (correctly spelt) is capital city for the northeastern state of Kelantan in West Malaysia. In today's day and age, this city of 300,000 people does not come to mind as a first choice for western expatriates to make home; Reed's parents seem to hail from England. Perhaps in 150 years later (of which Star Trek Enterprise takes place), Malaysia's My Second Home (MM2H) Programme has effectively attracted nationals from all over the world for long-term residence / retirement in our outlying cities and "beautiful beaches".

Ensign Hoshi Sato (Linda Park) informs Captain Archer (Scott Bakula) on the whereabouts of a colleague's parents in the Star Trek Enterprise episode "Silent Enemy".

Find all the references of Malaysia in Star Trek at Memory Alpha powered by Wikia.


START SPOILERS, beware reading further if you have yet to watch any episodes of Star Trek Discovery.

Avid followers of the series would be well aware that the Philippa Georgiou in this final episode is not the same version of the person starting the series. The original Captain Georgiou (also played by Michelle Yeoh) was killed by Klingons at the end of the series pilot in episode two "Battle at the Binary Stars". Michael Burnham bears the guilt of being unable to save her Captain or bring back her body (which was subsequently eaten; gross!).

Philippa Georgiou & Michael Burnham face off against Klingons in Episode 2 "Battle at the Binary Stars".

In true scifi fashion, Philippa Georgiou returns to Burnham and the Discovery, albeit another version from the Mirror Universe. This Georgiou is far from the compassionate nurturing mother-figure of the Prime Universe, but a ruthless dictator of the Terran Empire. Burnham saves the Terran Georgiou from certain death and brings her over to the Prime Universe. Through desperation on the losing side of the war with Klingons, Terran Georgiou in this final episode "Will You Take My Hand?" is appointed by Starfleet Command to take guise as the Prime Universe Georgiou to Captain the Discovery on a critical mission to end the war.

Here's the actual scene from the Episode "Will You Take My Hand?".

So in this context, viewers know that Burnham is testing Terran Georgiou on her guise as Prime Georgiou in front of the bridge crew. Therefore it could be said that Georgiou's replies may reflect the Terran counterpart instead of the Prime version. However, Burnham did not openly challenge her replies so it could be surmised both Malaysia and Langkawi may be consistent to the origins of the Prime Georgiou. And surely such background information should be readily available from Starfleet service records that Terran Georgiou would have studied prior to her assuming guise of Prime Georgiou.

Terran Georgiou posing as the Prime Georgiou on covert mission in the season finale.

As the episode plays out, we can be somewhat relieved that this Georgiou survives the season, albeit departing from the crew of the USS Discovery. It certainly leaves ample room for callback of Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh to reprise Georgiou in later seasons of Star Trek Discovery. And we will wait and see whether more Federation idealism rubs into Terran Georgiou steering her towards who was the Prime Georgiou. Though it was a fun ride watching the "evil" side of Michelle Yeoh as the Terrain Emperor since we are more used to seeing her in heroic character roles.

END SPOILERS

Another series on Netflix featuring Michelle Yeoh is Marco Polo. She portrays a martial arts warrior named Lotus in Season 2. This mega-budget series inspired from Marco Polo's journey in China during the rule of Kublai Khan was actually filmed in Malaysia at Pinewood Studios, Iskandar Johor. The production value is very impressive.

Whilst Philippa Georgiou's martial arts prowess was somewhat limited in Star Trek Discovery (why use swords when phasers are available), classic Michelle Yeoh kung fu action is part of Marco Polo:

For more out-of-this-world fantastical martial arts, watch the official sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon also available on Netflix titled Sword of Destiny. It also stars Donnie Yen and directed by Wo-Ping Yuen. Unlike the first movie, Sword of Destiny is in English as a Netflix Original Film.

Back to Star Trek, check out our resident Vulcan Mr Smock and Malaysian Trekkies Mr Enginer and Mr Thomas reviewing the finale episode and this first season of Star Trek Discovery:

Watch this video till the end as Smock will explain how to win a Netflix tote bag and complimentary subscription thanks to the nice people at Netflix. Help share this blog post as well and follow to get our latest posts as soon as they are transmitted.

Netflix goodies to giveaway. Watch our video review to find out how.

The entire first season of Star Trek Discovery is now streaming on Netflix and available to binge-watch at your leisure. Netflix also offers the entire Star Trek saga comprising over 700 episodes including the above-mentioned ones with references of Malaysia. Read out previous blog post that revealed the most popular Star Trek episodes watched by Netflix viewers. Also check out our rundown of Star Trek Discovery back when the series was just launched.

To connect with Malaysian Star Trek Fans, join the Facebook Group Starbase MY - Star Trek Fans Malaysia.

LIVE LONG & PROSPER #LLAP

Disclaimer: Star Trek and other trademarks are copyright to CBS and/or Paramount, referenced here for fan service announcements without intent to infringe. 

Star Trek Discovery launches a new vision for the franchise that is familiar yet different

Star Trek has been a huge impact to the scifi geek community worldwide. The franchise has spawned 5 television series, 13 movies and 1 animated series. Star Trek started out as a television series in 1966 for 3 seasons before being revived as a movie in 1979, thanks in no small part to the blockbuster success of Star Wars. More movies then followed together with multiple TV spin-offs: The Next Generation (TNG), Deep Space Nine (DS9), Voyager, Enterprise. The last series Enterprise ended in 2005, leaving fans devoid of Star Trek on TV for over a decade... until NOW. Star Trek fans, or Trekkies, of all generations can join on adventures where no one has gone before with the release of Star Trek Discovery early this week!

Star Trek: Discovery is co-created by Bryan Fuller (Star Trek DS9 & Voyager) and Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek 2009 reboot & Into Darkness, Transformers) for CBS, a US media corporation currently custodian of the Star Trek franchise. The series lead goes to Sonequa Martin-Green (The Walking Dead) as Starfleet Commander Michael Burnham. The support cast includes Doug Jones (Hellboy) as Lt. Saru, Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) as Captain Phillipa Georgiou, James Frain (The Lone Ranger) as Vulcan Ambassador Sarek, Shazad Latif (Spooks) as Lt. Ash Tyler, Anthony Rapp (A Beautiful Mind) as Lt. Paul Stamets, Jason Issacs (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) as Captain Gabriel Lorca, Mary Wiseman (Baskets) as Cadet Sylvia Tilly and Chris Obi (American Gods) as Klingon leader T'Kuvma. Since the departure of Bryan Fuller in November last year, Executive Producers Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts currently serve as showrunners for the series, i.e. the ones with overall creative authority and management authority, or figuratively the joint-Captains of Star Trek Discovery.

Behind-the-scenes featurette.

This new series is yet another prequel ("can we not finally move forward in the timeline?" - editor's rant) that takes place 10 years before Kirk and Spock begin their missions in The Original Series. It is is not affected by the reboot films (Star Trek, Into Darkness, Beyond) which have since been classified as the Kelvin timeline. Therefore taking place in the Prime timeline, the adventures of Discovery occur in the time-span between Enterprise concluding in the year 2161 and The Original Series commencing in 2266; let's not get into stardate namenclature, it's just confusing!

Sonequa Martin-Green as Commander Michael Burnham (centre), Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh as Captain Philippa Georgiou (right) and Doug Jones as Lt. Saru on the bridge of the USS Shenzhou.

The main protagonist Michael Burnham is a human black woman raised on Vulcan as a ward of Ambassador Sarek; yes Spock's father. Michael (show creator Bryan Fuller likes assigning female characters male names) has since joined Starfleet at the urging of her adoptive father and progressed to the position of First Officer of U.S.S. Shenzhou, serving under Captain Phillipa Georgiou for the last 7 years. So begins the pilot episode of the series "The Vulcan Hello".

The opening title sequence of Star Trek Discovery is departure from the typical starship flybys of preceding series (Enterprise excepted).

Introducing the Starfleet crew circa 2256:

Senoque Martin Green as Commander Michael Burnham, First Officer of the U.S.S. Shenzhou.

As a result of her Vulcan upbringing, she maintains an air of cool logic with emotions held in check yet not totally suppressing them unlike true Vulcans. Burnham is a Xenoanthropologist and inherently a first contact specialist.

Malaysia's Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh as Captain Phillipa Georgiou of the U.S.S. Shenzhou.

She is a veteran of war and Michael Burnham's Starfleet mentor.

TV trivia: Most US TV productions task their cast to speak English in American accents. As a departure from this norm, Michelle Yeoh as Captain Georgiou retained her polished Chinese-Malaysian accent as a statement on global diversity in the hopeful future. Read more into this from an article on SyFy. Whilst here in Malaysia we are much accustomed to this as her normal accent, Americans may be just tempted to flick on the English subs to catch every word!

"Easter Egg" found! Captain Georgiou keeps a piece of asian culture in here ready room / office. Can you spot it? Read more about this at TheHypedGeek.com. 

Doug Jones as Lt. Saru, Science Officer on the Shenzhou.

Saru is a Kelpian, an alien species that has the ability to sense threats including rather pessimistic premonitions of death.

Jason Isaacs as Captain Gabriel Lorca of the U.S.S. Discovery.

A brilliant tactician with a decisive charisma but he hides some secrets.

Anthony Rapp as Lt. Paul Stamets on the Discovery.

An Astromycologist by training means Stamets specializes in space fungus ("seriously how useful is that going to be?" - editor's rant)

Shazad Latiff as Lt. Ash Tyler, Security Officer of the U.S.S. Discovery.

Mary Wiseman as Cadet Sylvia Tilly.

A final year cadet of the Starfleet Academy working in Engineering of the Discovery.

Listen directly from the Starfleet crew themselves as they introduce the mission of Star Trek Discovery.

James Frain is Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan.

Father to the soon to be infamous half-Vulcan Mr. Spock, and adoptive father to Michael Burnham.

In every incarnation of Star Trek, the lead starship (or space station in case of DS9) is every bit a character by itself. The starship brings our Starfleet heroes to adventures where no one has gone before and often times is an adventure itself.

U.S.S. Discovery NCC-1031.

The lead starship of the namesake series is captained by Gabriel Lorca. Nothing much is known about this starship yet of its capabilities ("although it could be used as a giant space pizza cutter!" - editor's rant). Fan speculation suggests it is one of Starfleet's newer starships and conceivably fast with its lengthy warp nacelles. This speculative video by Hybrid Network might provide more insights:

U.S.S. Shenzhou NCC-1227, Walker-class starship.

The other major Starfleet vessel to feature in this series is the U.S.S. Shenzhou, commanded by Phillipa Georgiou. It is designated a Walker-class starship and apparently an older model, although how then its registration number of NCC-1227 exceeds that of the Discovery's NCC-1031 may indeed suggest otherwise. Unusually the bridge for this class of starship is located at the bottom of the saucer section.

The Shenzhou in atmospheric flight.

It's no spoiler that Klingons feature heavily in this series and looks to provide the over-arching plot. At the start of the serious, relations between The Federation and The Klingon Empire is icy, unlike most of the TNG era where both are staunch allies. There are 24 Great Houses in the empire and whereby a formidable leader T'kuvma steps forth attempting to unite them all against the Federation.

Chris Obi is Klingon T'Kuvma.

Outcast albino Klingon V'oq serves T'Kuvma as his devote right hand.

What, those are Klingons? We have seen the smooth forehead Klingons from TOS evolve to their bumpy forehead versions in TNG, explained as side-effects of genetic engineering gone wrong in the Enterprise series. Then Klingons in the JJ Abrams Kelvin timeline sported another variant. Now here is yet another variant of Klingon in Star Trek Discovery looking even more alien. And not just in physical look but also dress (ouch, spikey!) and cultural look (organic ships?). No clues yet as to whether this will be explained over the course of the series in a logical explanation acceptable to fans. Read more about the new Klingon look in this article by USA today.

REMAIN KLINGON: A cool Klingon trailer version for Star Trek Discovery as seen from their perspective!

There are many more Klingon characters and look towards which ones to be the major antagonists as the series progresses. Oh, in Klingon scenes, our Klingons now fully speak Klingon! Worry not there are subtitles provided... in fact each episode contains Klingon subtitles for our English-speaking characters!

Star Trek Discovery is now available to us here in Malaysia via Netflix. New episodes will be released on Mondays at approximately 3pm Malaysian time. There are 15 episodes for this season with the first 8 scheduled until 6 November 2017. After a mid-season break, the remaining episodes commence on January 2018.

The first two episodes of the series has been released this Monday 25 September 2017. Here are initial reactions for episode 1 "The Vulcan Hello" & episode 2 "Battle at the Binary Stars" during a mini-viewing party for Malaysian Trekkies by Outpost (no spoilers):

This two episodes can be seen as a pilot to the new series, introducing some key characters and the tone for the season. For a more in depth look into Star Trek Discovery, watch our video review hosted by Vulcan cultural officer Mr. Smock with local Trekkies Thomas Kuan and Chow F.C. aka Mr. Engineer:

Here are snippets of what to look forward to in the coming episodes including the U.S.S. Discovery in action (beware MAJOR SPOILERS if not yet watched first 2 episodes):

Now for some goodies to our valued readers!

OUTPOST GIVEAWAY

Thanks for Netflix, we have more GOODIES to GIVEAWAY! Up for grabs we have 3 complimentary 3-month subscriptions for Netflix so you Trekkies can watch Star Trek Discover legit. Also 1 lucky winner with receive a Netflix tote bag, notebook, lanyard, and pen.

To stand a chance to win this Outpost Giveaway, just follow these few simple steps:

• Like our Facebook Page Outpost Productions.
• Like / Wow / Love this Facebook post.
• Share the Facebook post to your timeline (set privacy to public) with reasons why your friends should watch Star Trek Discovery, .e.g. I want to watch Star Trek Discovery to see Michelle Yeoh as a Starfleet Captain.
• Include in your shared post hashtags #StarTrekDiscovery #Netflix #OutpostGiveaway.
• Join local Trekkies on Facebook Group Starbase MY - Star Trek Fans Malaysia
• Fill in your details in the form below which include permalink to your shared post.

This contest will be closing on Monday 2 October 2017, 11.59pm. winers will be notified. So make sure to follow us and stay tuned!



Other Terms & Conditions:
a. Participants must be resident in Malaysia.
b. Giveaways comprise 1 tote bag with Netflix gift card (main prize), and 2 Netflix gift cards (consolation) for total 3 winners.
c. Winner of tote bag must be able to arrange self-collection of prize within 2 weeks of notification. Collection point will be in Klang Valley.
d. Only 1 entry per person.
e. Submission to Join the Facebook Group Starbase MY - Star Trek Fans Malaysia must be received before closing deadline.
f. Selection of winners are final
g. We reserve the right to amend these terms and conditions without prior notice.

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER

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Disclaimer: Star Trek and other trademarks are copyright to CBS and/or Paramount, referenced here for fan service announcements without intent to infringe.