Polce, now a staff producer and composer at Paramount, separately worked on music forCrazy Ex-Girlfriend.
“We took it very seriously, as we do as people from New England.
We are rule followers and we do things.
The Enterprise crew break out in song and dance in the ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ season 2 musical episode.Paramount+
We do our research, we do our homework.”
Hanley previously composed music for animated shows like Disney’sDoc McStuffinsand Cartoon connection’sDC Super Hero Girls.
She also won an Emmy for her work on Netflix’sWe the People.
‘Strange New Worlds’ actor Bruce Horak as Klingon General Garkog in ‘Subspace Rhapsody’.Paramount+
“It’s aStar Trekmusical, so my head exploded when it came up.
Kay’s head exploded,” Polce adds.
“Can you imagine somebody who’s a completist forStar Trekhearing that there is a musical?
Carol Kane, Christina Chong, and Ethan Peck feature in ‘Subspace Rhapsody,’ the musical episode of ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ season 2.Paramount+
I mean, their heads went fully nuclear.
So, we needed to make extra certain that we did an honorable and forthright and virtuous swing.”
Hanley and Polce break down some of the big musical moments from “Subspace Rhapsody.”
Celia Rose Gooding’s Uhura in ‘Subspace Rhapsody’ from ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’.Michael Gibson/Paramount+
Hanley’s first instinct was to make the Klingon bit in the vein of K-pop.
She showed Polce her favorite K-pop music video, which she won’t disclose.
“It’ll just lead to a bunch of, ‘Well, did you copy that?'”
The cast of ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ perform ‘Subspace Rhapsody’.Paramount+
“What we wrote doesn’t sound anything like this particular K-pop band.”
“But it got us in that world,” Polce notes.
“She pitched it to me and my head exploded.
Then she pitched it to the showrunners and the writers, which we were both a little apprehensive about.
They were immediately like, ‘Oh hell yes, we’re going to do that.'”
“To be fair, I don’t believe it was the data pipe,” Polce clarifies.
“I think it was some of the folks on the core Gene Roddenberry side.
It wasn’t so much like, ‘No, no, no.’
The alternate plan was an operatic song for the Klingons.
“We shot both,” Polce confirms.
“The opera is shot, and that’ll hopefully come out someday.
Congrats to everybody for having the chutzpah and theaudacityto make that.
I mean, the whole thing is audacious.
Why not just continue hedging bets on aStar Trekmusical once you’ve already begun?
You’ve got Spock singing for crying out loud!
Just keep going.”
There were clear standouts.
Uhura actress Celia Rose Gooding, for example, could obviously handle more advanced material.
“It turns out hecouldsing, and he sings beautifully.
So, Spock ended up getting this beautiful song.”
“It’s a Spock lament over getting broken up with,” Polce explains.
“As you know, Spock is half human and half Vulcan.
The Spock we knew from the originalStar Trekwas very stoic.
There was no laughter, there was no joking.
“Searching for Y is human, I’m the X.
We thought people were going to be like, ‘Oh my God!
It’s so clever!’
But they didn’t.
They were like, ‘This is the moment Spock rejects his humanity and becomes fully Vulcan!'”
Despite whether the actors had musical skill or not, all of them were gonna go for it.
The power ballad
Gooding made her musical talents known much earlier on inStrange New Worlds.
In season 1, Uhura activates a piece of alien technology by singing specific notes.
The piece sees Uhura at first lamenting over what she perceives to be her weaknesses and succumbs to loneliness.
For “Keep Us Connected,” Polce remembers Hanley wanting to start with a Gregorian chant.
I don’t even know what’s happening.’
I’m not boxing her in.
Let’s go.”
“In terms of the lyrics, I’ve never had a harder assignment,” Hanley says.
“It was so challenging.
It was glorious work and fulfilling work, but it was a lot.”
“We had some lovely brother-sister texts going back and forth about the lyrics.”
“There’s so much happening and it’s, who’s going to sing what?”
“We had to really figure out why each of them is singing.
The chorus was probably the hardest one that we had to do.
We just did not agree for a really long time on that chorus.
A lot of times I think of songs as a jigsaw puzzle.
“There has to be a saccharin element to the finale.
If ever there were a time for jazz hands and hat-tipping and kicks, that’s the finale.”
Both credit teleplay writers Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff for assisting in the creation of this number.
“I think we would just ask [the writers], can you just give me some ammo?
It doesn’t work without the whole sandbox.
Everybody was important at every moment of this thing.”
“Subspace Rhapsody” is now streaming on Paramount+.
