She pulled off the memorable moment despite feeling "completely overwhelmed."
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds served up its third-straight home run of season 4 with its hilarious Hangover homage in episode 3’s “Human Best Friend.” However, one of the most delightful sequences from the comedic genre piece was anything but a walk in the ole ballpark for actress Rebecca Romijn.
Despite feeling “completely overwhelmed” in the beginning, though, Romijn’s Strange New Worlds character Una Chin-Riley, aka Number One, absolutely killed it singing Klingon while on shore leave in “Human Best Friend.” Romijn talked about belting out singing-sensation Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in perfect Klingon during an interview (per Cinemablend) by saying, “It honestly was the biggest challenge of the season for me.”
Romijn, who has played the beloved character since Una first appeared during the Star Trek: Discovery season 2 episode “An Obol for Charon,” continued by saying in the same sit-down:
“I did not know it was a challenge I ever wanted. In fact, at first, I was completely overwhelmed. But because Klingon is an actual language that probably at least 20 people in the entire world can speak fluently, including college professors, I worked with a dialect coach to make sure I could get all of that correct pronunciation, translation, all of it […] I was pretty happy to see how it came out.”
Una is first revealed singing a Klingon power ballad when Scotty (Martin Quinn) and Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) take a seat at the bar during an early scene from Strange New Worlds’ “Human Best Friend.” Both characters smile proudly as their commanding officer leans into the spirit of shore leave and sings “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”
“She’s pretty good,” Scotty tells Ortegas. However, I think Una was phenomenal, and it’s all due to Romijn’s commitment to her acting craft. Learning the Klingon language, let alone singing a legendary song perfectly in a Klingon tongue, is no easy feat, and the actress pulled it off in a way that all Star Trek fans should be immensely proud of.
I also couldn’t help but laugh at Erica’s observation at the sheer amount of Klingon power ballads that Una had signed up to sing — 15, one after another! “Warrior’s songs,” Scotty explains to Erica. Now, for those who didn’t watch the end credits, please go back and do so.
The images of what happened to the crew of the USS Enterprise while they were under the influence of the planet’s inebriating atmosphere are shown while Una belts out “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in Klingon again, which allows Romijn’s hard work to be shown off even more than it was during the actual scene.
What did you think of Romijn’s rendition of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" in Klingon? Personally, I was blown away, but now share your thoughts and comments about her performance with us on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.
Live long and prosper, Trekkies!
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