Jason Mantzoukas Meet: Star Journey Wonder

Screen Rage chats with Star Journey: Prodigy's Jason Mantzoukas approximately the delights of voicing Jankom Pog and playing Tommy Lee's part in Pam & Tommy.

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Prodigy Episode 15, "Masquerade"

As Star Journey: Prodigy's Jankom Pog, Jason Mantzoukas is making a difference to motivate a brand-new group of onlookers to memorize almost Star Journey as the adolescent Tellarite himself grasps the beliefs of Starfleet. With Star Journey: Wonder season 1 distorting into its final episodes, Jankom is within the thick of the activity.

Jankom Pog's primary concern is how to impair the Living Develop, the Starfleet-destroying weapon introduced on board the USS Protostar. Star Journey: Prodigy's high school heroes are frantic to keep the Protostar absent from Bad habit Chief naval officer Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), who is in hot interest of the Starfleet dispatch and its ragtag high school group.

Screen Tirade had the delight of meeting Jason Mantzoukas almost the delights of voicing Jankom Pog, the development of Star Journey: Prodigy's young characters, what to anticipate from the season 1 finale, conjointly what it was like to be the voice of Tommy Lee's (Sebastian Stan) penis in Pam & Tommy.

Jason Mantzoukas Talks Jankom Pog And Star Trek: Prodigy

Screen Rage: You've been in so numerous incredible TV appears and motion pictures, and you're exceptionally recognizable. Do you get recognized presently as the voice of Jankom Pog?

Jason Mantzoukas: it's funny, people love [Jankom Pog]. And people love the show. I don't know that I get recognized for it because it's not often that you get recognized just by a vocal performance. Because usually by the time people see me, they're like, "Yeah, you're that guy!" You know what I mean? But, boy, I'm loving hearing from people who are loving the show and are like, "Hey, I'm watching your Star Trek show. It's incredible." Or the one that I like even more is, "Hey, me, and my kids are loving your Star Trek show." That's very exciting to me.

That's the finest. That's truly what the appear was all around, to bring Star Journey to families and to entire unused eras. That's great that it's truly working.

Jason Mantzoukas: Oh yeah. Oh, it's, it's thrilling to me. And I get excited because it's happening across such a broad spectrum of people. People who I'm like, "Oh, I'm so glad you found that you found the show." That's great.

What's your favorite thing around Jankom Pog and almost playing him?

Jason Mantzoukas: Honestly, I think what's most fun about the character is as a 16-year-old Tellarite, I get to be very contrarian. Jankom doesn't want to go along with the plan. Jankom is always going to offer a contrary point of view, which is an opportunity to participate in what it is to be a Tellarite, but also leads to a lot of comedy. Frankly, I love those beats, where Jankom can be funny. And so being contrarian allows for those beats a lot. But I also have really enjoyed, over the course of these 20 episodes, the coming-of-age story that is also at play. What's wonderful about this show is not that it's just beautiful, incredible adventure, call to adventure, storytelling but that it's a coming-of-age story for these young characters who did not go through the Academy, are not part of Starfleet, [and] are not an actual crew. These are kids who escaped a work camp who were sold into slavery, and who have now stolen this ship, and are on an adventure. Not just an adventure of the week where we're going to this planet to do this thing. But the adventure of self-discovery. So the idea that Jankom has no idea who he is, only to learn that he as a Tellarite, and one of the founding members of the Federation, maybe he's royalty. He thinks for a few episodes that he's royalty, only to then be brought down by the Tellarite he meets who says, "Oh, Pog is what we call a runt." And then Jankom is heartbroken. So I think what's fun about it is helping Jankom discover who he is. That story, I think, is terrific.

At this point in season 1, Jankom and his companions are attempting to interface with Starfleet. So in case it were you and you had the Protostar, would you need to deliver it to Starfleet right absent? Or would you keep it and zip around the world?

Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, for mem 100% zip around the galaxy. Oh, yeah. I mean, if I had this thing, I'd be joyriding all over the place. Now. I think I would maybe try and tell Starfleet, "Hey, I've got your ship. I'm not a bad guy. Don't try and come and get me." But I absolutely think I would take it for a spin. Because I mean, that ship is incredible. If I'm in possession of something that can go above warp nine, you can bet that I'm going to do it.

And I wouldn't fault you. I would do the same thing.

Jason Mantzoukas: Absolutely. Come on. And that's what I love: Jankom's enthusiasm for the ship and what it can do. And his pride in being able to fix it and upgrade it and do all the stuff. That growing sense of self and self-worth, and him discovering his value, I think is incredible. You're talking to a 50-year-old man who voices this character, but from a storytelling point of view, this is a coming-of-age story for teenagers. And so that's what I'm loving about it for Jankom and for all these characters, These are characters who are figuring out, "Who am I? Who am I to my friends? What does it mean to even have friends?" And not only that, "What does it mean to be a crew? And what if this crew is also my family?" There are all of these questions, all of these things are what this show is playing with masterfully inside of a Star Trek adventure story. Wow. Incredible. That, to me, is wild. And it's fantastic.

I moreover adore that Jankom and Rok-Tahk, Rylee Alazraqui's character, are both researchers and engineers. They are approximately STEM. And it's such a extraordinary part show for the more youthful group of onlookers.

Jason Mantzoukas: Yeah. And I think even more importantly, Rok-Tahk is initially told she has to be the Security Officer because she's big and has the brawn to do it. And he's just told, "You're security," but it's only through her discovery and her choice that she gets to say, "No, I'm a scientist." This story is a coming-of-age story. It is young people figuring out who they are and choosing their own path, not just for themselves, but for the group, and for their place inside of the family. And I think that's pretty exceptional. Rok-Tahk learns that she is a scientist and that's where she wants to be. And that's so exciting to me.

Talking of figuring things out, this week's scene of Wonder closes with a character uncovering she's not who she showed up to be. Did you see that coming? Or were you surprised as I was once you perused the script?

Jason Mantzoukas: Oh, I think I was. I'm trying to remember if they had told me beforehand. I'm gonna be honest, I don't remember; they might have told me beforehand. Possibly. But I'll be honest with you, in between [the episode being] recorded because, you know, there's so much delay between recording the show and the show being done, animated, and coming out, when I watched it, I had forgotten. So when it happened when I watched it, I was like, "Oh, right! Yeah!" So it was a surprise to me. But I do think that I had probably been told if I'm being honest. But it was great. It was great.

We have five more scenes coming, counting the finale, which Kevin and Dan Hageman and a few of your individual cast individuals told me is mind blowing. Is there anything you need to indicate around what's coming or something you can't hold up for everybody to see?

Jason Mantzoukas: I concur. It's incredible. There is some very significant stuff that I really can't wait for people to see. Because I think it's going to be truly exciting, explosive information for everybody who's been following this series. But of course, I can't talk about any of it.

This address isn't precisely pointed at the group of onlookers of Star Journey: Wonder but I've have to be inquire you almost one of your other later voiceovers: What was it like playing Tommy Lee's penis in Pam and Tommy? Since that scene blew my intellect.

Jason Mantzoukas: (laughs) It's so funny. It really is. I'm so delighted that that scene has gotten so much attention. So I got a text from Seth Rogen that said, "Hey, do you have like half an hour to do a quick couple of lines for this Tommy Lee show?" We're doing blah, blah, blah. And I was like, "Sure, what's the part?" And he was like, "It's Tommy's dick." And I was like, "Oh, okay." I got in my little at-home sound booth and I did it in not very much time. It was super fun and absolutely insane. And then to see how big that scene got, when I watched it, I was like, "Holy sh--! I did not expect this." So it was really fun. And I thought it was very funny. But wild. Just an absolutely gonzo piece of comedy storytelling.

Following: Star Journey Uncovers A Covered up Association To Data's Endeavor Predecessor