Whilst at Star Trek London, I had the great pleasure to meet and chat with Chase Masterson - known in the Star Trek Universe for her role as Leeta, the Bajoran Dabo girl, in Deep Space Nine.
Alongside her career as an actress, Masterson is a talented jazz singer - a number of her CDs can be found on her website - and a dedicated philanthropist, having been actively involved in numerous charities worldwide, including Caring for Babies With AIDS and Doctors Without Borders. She has also been mentoring children for over four years at Homeboy Industries, helping kids move away from gang culture.
She is currently working on a Big Finish audio series, Vienna, which is a spin-off from her character in the upcoming Doctor Who audio adventure The Shadow Heart, starring Sylvester McCoy. She is also working on a film adaptation of Karel Capek’s classic science fiction play, RUR.
Masterson is a genuinely lovely person, and it was an absolute pleasure to chat with her.
BJ: Hello, Chase Masterson! How’s it going?
CM: Very well, thank you, it’s been an amazing weekend.
BJ: It's an amazing event! What's the fan reception been like this weekend?
CM: It’s just a huge blessing to have this kind of support, and I want everybody to know how much we appreciate it.
BJ: And how was last night? I hear you performed at the 25th Anniversary for The Next Generation.
CM: It was a fun party! I sang for a really nice sized crowd, and it seemed very, very well received. I sang selections from my new CD, Jazz Cocktail, which is available through my website, and I feel very very very good about the whole thing!
BJ: Fantastic! Who would you say was most inspirational for your jazz career?
CM: There are several women jazz artists who I really respect. Julie London, Sarah Vaughan... Marilyn Monroe was a really great singer. Of course Ella Fitzgerald. Quite a few great female artists back in the day. That’s the music I love, golden era music of the 30s, 40s, 50s and early 60s.
BJ: It was a fantastic era for music.
CM: Yeah, sure was.
BJ: So yes, we’re here for the largest Star Trek convention to take place in the UK for over a decade, and it’s certainly drawn quite a crowd!
You’re known in the Trek Universe for playing Leeta in Deep Space Nine; how did you feel about your character’s development throughout the series?
CM: I really liked Leeta, I wish there was more grittiness in her storyline, but I loved what I got to do, and I think that it was a really great love story that she and Rom had. It was a pleasure to be a part of all of this.
BJ: In your opinion, what drew Leeta most to Rom? Was it the ears?!
CM: Haha, no not the ears! Rom was the guy who was pretty on the inside, and not on the outside but that didn’t matter. I think that’s something that the writers and producers wanted to make a statement with, and it’s an important statement; it’s what’s on the inside that counts. There wasn’t as much of an interesting relationship with Leeta and Bashir; it was more of a Barbie and Ken kind of thing. Boring. Leeta and Rom were more Lucy and Ricky, there was just more drama, more comedy and fun!
BJ: Yeah, there was a fantastic, comedic dynamic to the Leeta/Rom relationship. Now the show has had an undeniable impact on it’s fanbase, and on the world, and it means a lot to many people (as is evident by the Starfleet officers who are starting to queue up behind me!).
What does the Star Trek Universe mean to you?
CM: Well, the whole basic tenet of Star Trek; the infinite diversity in infinite combinations, the prime directive, everything that Star Trek has meant for the last 45 years is quite beautiful. I love that this audience appreciates that and sees it and loves the show for all the right reasons. It’s not a show that they love for sex or violence or anything gratuitous like that; there are really good messages here.
BJ: It makes my cold, misanthropic heart almost hopeful for the future of humanity!
CM: Yeah, almost! We’ll see...
BJ: We just need to get the world governments on board with this...
CM: You know, I think things are starting to happen in a way that is better than ever before in history. The Internet is making people feel more connected, and that will lead hopefully to more peace.
BJ: Absolutely, already through the use of cyberspace and social networking, people can be brought together, rally support and aid charitable causes greater than ever before.
I understand you do a lot of good work for charity, like with Homeboy Industries.
CM: Thank you! I’ve been mentoring kids at Homeboy Industries for about four and a half years, and it’s one of my favourite things in the whole world. They’re an amazing group that helps kids come out of gangs, and these are Los Angeles gangs that are bad, dangerous things to be a part of, and these kids get sucked in when they are very young and they are now turning their lives around. It’s really quite wonderful to be a part of that.
That’s at homeboy-industries.org.
BJ: It sounds like a truly fantastic cause.
CM: It really is.
BJ: And finally, I hear you’re also doing a Doctor Who audio series?
CM: Yes! I’m doing Doctor Who Big Finish, you can check that out at BigFinish.com. I did an episode opposite Tom Baker in the Doctor Who audio adventures, and did an episode opposite Sylvester McCoy. Then they spun off my character that I played opposite Sylvester McCoy - her name is Vienna - into her own series. It’s going into production next week, the series is called Vienna, and it’s going to be a huge amount of fun!
BJ: Can you share any details about Vienna, or is it completely bound by non-disclosure agreements?!
CM: Vienna is an incorrigible and charming assassin. She is a bounty hunter; she does what she does for a living - she’s rather dry and actually pretty fun about it. The whole thing is full of great english comedy, it’s got some good messages to it, and I just adore this project! I hope everyone tunes in.
BJ: Fantastic, I’m looking forward to it!
CM: I’m also doing a new project called RUR. It’s a beautiful piece of science fiction literature that we’re turning into a film. The original RUR is a classic play from the early 1900s, and it has been used as the basis for Metropolis, I Robot, Blade Runner, and a lot of other seminal, classic science fiction. It’s actually the first time we ever heard the word ‘robot’.
We’re doing the fundraising campaign on IndieGoGo.com/RUR, so check that out if you’d like!
BJ: Ah brilliant! The name rings a bell - think the original was written by a Czech playwright... Can’t think of his bloody name*! But yeah, certainly sounds like a fascinating project, I’ll be sure to check it out!
Thank you for your time, great meeting you. It’s been an absolute pleasure.
CM: Thank you! Great to meet you too.
Vienna is scheduled for release in February 2013, with Masterson’s character making her first appearance in the upcoming Big Finish instalment of Doctor Who: The Shadow Heart in November this year.
You can check out the RUR IndieGoGo page here, and Homeboy Industries here.
*It was a good 40 minutes later, whilst on the underground half-way home, that it hit me; Rossum’s Universal Robots by Karel Capek! My fellow passengers weren’t particularly excited about my revelation...
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