Meet Star Trek Science Advisor, Voice Actress Dr. Erin MacDonald

This is Fred Richani. In this interview, we chat with Dr Erin MacDonald PhD an astrophysicist she’s also a writer speaker producer voice actress and Science adviser best known for her work as the official Science adviser for Star Trek. She also voices Dr Erin MacDonald in Star Trek Prodigy and the video game Star Trek Online, how does it feel to really be further entrenched in the Star Trek universe where now you’re not just a Science adviser, which is awesome. And in itself, but to actually be part of the lore and the Canon of Star Trek. It’s insane. It’s crazy. I it’s I don’t think it’s sunk in I don’t think it’ll ever sink in yeah, the only other person to ever play themselves on Star Trek is Stephen Hawking.

So like no, pressure and I just laughed because when I was in grad school all. I wanted to do was work at Starfleet Academy, but that wasn’t a thing. I was 200 years too early and now I do work at Starfleet Academy so somehow. I made that work. How did this all line up for you because obviously you have a PhD you’ve done some amazing work. You also have a collaboration with Great Courses on Audible that’s gotten a lot of positive feedback added that to my listen list and everything, but what came first for you was it a love for space and astrophysics was it entertainment.

And when did those two Fields kind of merged for you as far as making it your full-time thing. I think, you know, we’re all as kids. We’re all kind of inspired by Science like space and dinosaurs are just objectively cool. And it’s what we want to immerse ourselves in all the time, but then for me. I just love television, I loved television. And I would watch The X Files in secret and would see this red-headed woman, you know, be awesome. And fight aliens with Science and I just wanted to be Dana Scully and that was all consuming I saw the film contact and Ellie aroy was the coolest woman as well.

And so that’s what put the bug in my brain that like I could go do that, right? We talk a lot about representation on screens. And I was lucky enough, you know, to have that. And so that’s what set me down the path of becoming scientist and then, you know, as my life goes on and we can get into more detail as much as you want, but really then coming full circle and realizing that like no, I’m not meant to be Dana scul. I meant to create the characters that then inspire people to go into Science. So, I’ve always loved television I’ve always loved Science fiction.

And I love teaching really at my core and using Science fiction to teach pretty freaking. Awesome. And you mentioned all those kind of like 90s references and everything else. Were you also into Magic School Bus. Yes. And M is where it’s at every time I put on a space dress. I’m like I did it for sure. So I mean, you have a lot of responsibilities obviously take things very seriously in all the different fields that you work in, but it hits different when you’re also catering to kids, right? I mean Star Trek proy that does cater to a very young audience and everything. So, is there any added pressure in addition to kind of the high pressure situations you’re now where you feel like okay, I really got to get this, right?

Not just for me not just for the people I work for but also the kids that are watching that could be posibly influenced by this? Yeah, it’s actually why I just loved working on start Trek Prodigy so much because I work on all the Star Trek shows and my job, you know, varies to some degree Discovery is a very heavy Science Show. And so there was a lot of focus on getting all the Science, right? And then with something like Star Trek Prodigy. It wasn’t just the Science side of it. It was the educational aspect like you said. And so I loved it and we you know, the writers came up with this wonderful character Rock talk.

They wanted her to be a young girl who wants to be a scientist. And so, you know for the first kind of few sessions I had with the writer room they were like tell us about Erin, you know, as a little kid and like and your journey, through Science all the different Sciences you tried. How did you land on space like all of these things really getting into the minutia of it to help, you know, create this character and so I just yeah, I take it seriously, but it’s not intimidating for me because I know I engage with kids so much. I know how smart they are and I think a show like Prodigy knows how to talk to kids at the right level.

And yeah, I just I love it. And obviously, of course, you’ve been a Science adviser for one out 4 Star Trek, which is already a huge honor. But when you found out that you were actually going to be part of the voice cast of Prodigy which includes Kate gr an allar cast are you still pinching yourself to this day. Yeah, 100%. I mean, I honestly wasn’t going to even I went through the voicing I did all of like the photo stuff. So, they could create the likeness of me and I saw the, you know, early storyboards of it. And I wasn’t going to believe it until I saw it on the screen like this is none of this is going to be real until I’ve seen it.

But yes, I mean Captain Janeway is my captain. And so now I exist in a universe with Captain Janeway and the fanfiction has become real man, that is wild and a little birdie told me that you’re also a Mass Effect fan. Yes. Yeah, I have a massive tattoo of the Normandy sr2 from Mass Effect 2 which is my favorite game of all time and I will you’re gonna havean because I will talk about mpect all day. Hey, you’re a true fan there. So G inolved With The Star Trek video game. Of course involved with the Star Trek series as a voice actor pretty huge, right there.

I know you have a lot of different logs on the fire right now, but and I know there still technically a video game strike going on and you we can’t talk too much about different projects, but have you zeroed in on any video game projects down the road either with your production company or just kind of independently since I know you’re a huge gamer. Yeah, if I could honestly my dream job would be to write a mass effect TV show. That would be that’s it. Like that’s it. I know that universe so well, I it was one of the first ones that actually got me down the path of like giving my convention talks, which is what ultimately led to me.

Working on Star Trek. The first one I ever did was the Science of Mass Effect. And so yeah, it’s a near dear franchise to my heart, but like you said supporting the Striking actors and yeah, I wish them all the best because it is tough out there. What does a day in life of Dr Erin look like parried say I people are always like yeah. Like how do you how do you juggle it poorly I was say you know, a lot anyone who sort of works in the creative space and especially in LA. And in Hollywood, you know, you’re trying to work on projects you’re trying to stay inspired you’re always wanting to have things going at any one time and it’s hard and it’s a lot of work and the quote.

I always like to come back to is from Lucille Ball who’s a huge Idol of mine who said, you know, I don’t believe in luck luck is hard work and knowing what is a good opportunity. And what’s not and so, it’s always about kind of having all these things on the fire and then knowing when is right? To sort of strike one thing or the other and be like, let’s work on this let’s make a short film right now all this other stuff is quiet I got some time. Let’s do it. And then I burn myself out and then I’m like, I’m gonna work on my book for a little bit.

So yeah, it’s sometimes it feels like it all comes at once, but you know, we just try our hardest and it’s fun. Is there anything in your work where you’ve seen a note or some kind of script that really made you jump out and say, okay. Like we really got to fix this or I mean, I know Star Trek’s been one of those series over the years through decades, it’s always kind of leaned towards Science rather than away from it but is there anything that you’re proud of that you say okay, you know, I did tweak this and it made a difference in the series?

Yeah, I a lot of time. So I’m very proud of the Science we baked into season 3 of Discovery with the burn and how we added to the Canon of dilithium people can read I wrote an article with my colleague who did the biology of the burn. Professor Muhammad. No. We wrote an article with all of like our 10 page Science that we wrote into that you know, is one line of dialogue in an episode. So that I’m proud of the other one, you know, a lot of times with Star Trek like you said it leans toward the Science, but some wacky stories come out of it and the important thing is knowing when not to explain something and just let it happen as soon as you try to explain this your audience is going to be like wait what that’s crazy.

And I tried to do that with the musical episode of strange new worlds when they came to me with that one. I was like, great have fun. You know, I’ll talk to you about the next episode and they said, no, no like this is Star Trek if we’re doing a musical episode, there’s going to be a scientific explanation and a scientific solution to it and I’m you know, I’m pretty proud of how it came out. I watched it and I’m like, man, I think we kind of stuck The Landing with that one. It felt very tricky. And so that one I’m really really proud of too.

Love that. And no, shade to any other Science advisers, but I would assume what makes you so good at your job? Is not just of course your knowledge in astrophysics, but also the fact that you seem to have a great imagination. And an appreciation for imagination with video games entertainment for sure. I think that’s one of the things that is often overlooked in the role of a Science Advisor is that it is a incredibly collaborative creative process. And so I’m lucky that as I build the relationship with the writers and the showrunners over time. We build a trusting relationship that they let me sit in the writer room and help pitch ideas and help kind of refine storyline.

So, yeah, it is. It’s an incredibly creative position and the successful, you know, Science advisers who came before me they did go on to be staff writers and TV show Executives and showrunners. And so that’s definitely a pass, you know that I would like to fall down as well. So what you’re saying is when you watch lowkey and you see all the Antics with the TVA, you’re not throwing your remote at the screen you’re able to turn your brain off and be like, oh, this is pretty cool. Exactly. And I, you know, as long as it feels consistent and you’re finding that right? Level the way I talk about Science fiction is it’s a broadspectrum it’s like heavy metal, right from Science to Fiction.

It’s a lot of different Realms. We could go into there. And so just toning in on what the tone is and where the Science needs to be I’m going to be very different watching the expanse to watching ke that said I am a member of the TVA, you know, how to manage timelines. There you go. And I would be remissed if I didn’t mention your awesome work as a CEO of SpaceTime Productions. It is your production company you did a lot of great work giving marginalized voices of Spotlight, especially in the lbtq community. I would love for you to just kind of discuss. Your mission with SpaceTime Productions as well as any upcoming projects you’re a lot to talk about, thank you.

Yeah, so I started the company like you said and a lot of it was kind of manage just my own work in the entertainment industry. And as we were going through the pandemic and talking to friends and trying to think of what we were doing like I said looking for those opportunities when they come up realizing that like we’re really smart people and we’re just waiting for the fering like all of our ducks are in a row we’ve done everything, right? We’ve got the agents. We’ve got the samples. We’ve got the acting reels whatever it may be we’re just waiting and we should make stuff like we are smart.

We are capable people. So, let’s take the Reigns and let’s take ownership of our own careers. And so that’s kind of where the first short film came from was from those conversations and it was a story that you know, my friends Mary chfo. She played laurale and Star Trek Discovery and her partner Maddie had written this script and it was a love story. It was a time travel Love Story. That happened to be an lgbtq CP story, but one of the things that I really tried to make a mission of as the producer, who’s in charge of hiring people was to create a very diverse set and Have Not only that representation on the screen, but behind the scenes and the amount of times that I was told by people who were working on our short film.

How it was the best set that they’d ever worked on. They felt so safe and seen and represented and we have like pronoun pins, you know, and people are comfortable and feel valued and that was that drive where I was like this is what I want to do and this is the type of thing that I want as a producer, so long story medium flashing forward? I then made my next short film with a friend of mine Jesse Earl, she goes by Jesse jender on YouTube and similarly Star Trek fans were sitting around and just like I have an idea for a story I’d really like to make a short film out of and I was like, let’s do it.

Let’s do it. No one can stop us. So and film is called identities, which just came out. So that is streaming on the nebula service people can watch it now. It was written and directed by Jesse Earl and we had a nice appearance from John de Lancie. So he was nice enough to be in our film and once again, I was just incredibly proud of the representation that we got behind the scenes and the compliments. We got for creating such a safe set fantastic much respect to you and your crew for that. And also too. You mentioned one of your goals is to eventually be a showrunner.

I mean, that’s you’re setting the precent, right? You’re leading by example and hopefully KN on wood you get to that spot soon enough in your career and you know, you could kind of set the tone. For everybody else. Thank you know, there’s so many parameters and variables that we can’t control in this industry, but when you can control it and you can make stuff and make great things. That’s it’s time to seize that, you know, so, thank you. I appreciate it. For sure. Absolutely. Well, before we go just want to let everybody know they can visit aonp mcdonald.com to follow all your awesome work. Before we go Dr Erin, we always like to ask our guests some kind of quick and Rapid Fire questions just to get to know them better.

Are you ready? Yes. Let’s do it. I love it. All right. Favorite late night snack? Oh, Pizza favorite color besides red obviously green dark green. Yeah. There you go. Favorite video game besides the Mass Effect series. Oh, that’s mean Dragon Age Inquisition. Oh, that’s one of my favorite. I love that. Oh my goodness. Yeah. No spoilers, but that s that soless is very sassy and very shady I have opinions we’ll have to on another time for that one. So I’m guessing you’re G be excited to play the next Dragon Age coming out. Oh God do not break my heart Dragon Age franchise. So long for this game my God 10 years.

And yeah, and it had some space elements, too. So, right up your alley. I know i’ love. I love that franchise but yes, in those answers you very much got to know me as a video game. My okay, back, okay back to Mass Effect without any spoilers for me hasn’t played the games yet. What is your favorite Mass Effect game out of the four that have come out? Mass Effect 2, but I do think people gave Mass Effect Andromeda two harsh of a time and they need to go back and give it another try it’s really good. Was there anything wacky whether advising Star Trek or another show that you said, okay, this is a little too crazy.

If you’re allowed to talk about it? No there nothing’s crazy. They’re fun challenges. But I will say the sinking feel I had when I walked into Prodigy still fairly new into the Star Trek Science advising and not wanting to screw up my career and the opportunity. And they said, we’re really sorry, but our ship has a star for an engines. I hope you can Science that and I yeah, fun challenge, but daunting what’s your most awkward moment as a voice actor, you know, most of my voice acting work. I’ve been doing during covid time. So it’s been very isolating in a booth and not really being able to do it.

But I will say because I did get it to voice Dr Erin. We’re really creating the Dr Erin Multiverse and start Trek is what we’re doing, but I got to play my character in Star Trek online under Captain Harry Kim, which was pretty great. And then I did get to say, you know, the line, I’m a doctor not an engineer engineer not a doctor and that was pretty fantastic. So there you go. Yeah, check that out on your Sizzle reel good stuff. I iconic start trck line. Yes. What’s the best piece of advice you have for Success? I kind of shared that the Lucille Ball quote about knowing?

What is a good opportunity. And what’s not and a lot of hard work. But I would also say, you know, the piece of advice I got when I started working in the entertainment industry, was don’t go into this industry to meet your Heroes go in it to meet your peers and create great stuff together because then you will become the heroes and I think that is incredibly true and just not trying to work with these directors or writers or actors that you idolize, but make the next ones, you know, you are the Next Generation. And so that’s yeah, that’s what I would advise great advice.

And we’ll get you out of here another high note. Why should people watch Star Trek Prodigy. Oh, Netflix. It’s amazing. If you’re if you are intimidated by Star Trek as a franchise I get it feels like you have to go back to 1966 and start watching it from the beginning. Start with Prodigy. It’s accessible. It’s fun. It’s kind it is all the best elements of Star Trek. And when you finish that you will have gotten through Star Trek 101. So that’s what I recommend amazing. Well, Dr Ain, thank you so much for the time. It was a pleasure to learn about your journey. And of course, all the awesome work involved in Star Trek.

Before we let you go, where can we find you online and where can we find you next? Watch Star Trek Prodigy. And I don’t really have stuff immediately coming out they all just came out as these things do, but people can find me online. I’m Dr Aron MDR r e r n m a c on Instagram and on Blue Sky which is a very fun place. If people aren’t there yet. They should go there. And yeah that’s it.