Wednesday, 23 June 2021

Is There a Musical Episode of ‘Star Trek’ in the Works?

Musical episodes have been a television trend for over two decades. The television episode often credited for kicking off this trend is “Once More With Feeling” from the late 90s/early 2000s science-fiction show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” The episode aired in 2001, and it was incredibly well-received by both critics and fans.

Soon, several more popular television shows started airing musical episodes. Doing a musical episode became so commonplace that it’s now its own TV Trope.

There’s never been a musical episode of “Star Trek.” However, it is something that the writers and showrunners have considered. In a recent appearance on The Pod Directive, current Trek showrunner Alex Kurtzman talked about his thoughts on a “Star Trek: The Musical” episode.


Kurtzman Wants a Musical Episode

Alex Kurtzman attends the "Star Trek: Discovery" Season 2 Premiere at the Conrad New York on January 17, 2019 in New York City.

Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images

Kurtzman dropped by The Pod Directive to chat with hosts Tawny Newsome and Paul F. Tompkins. At one point, the topic of a musical episode came up in a joking manner. However, Kurtzman revealed that he’s completely serious about making one.

“Nothing would make me happier. I’ve thought about this. And if we ever did [more] “Short Treks,” that would be the perfect format for it. The thing is, if you’re going to do a musical, it would have to be as brilliant as “Once More, With Feeling” From “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” It has to have a concept that makes a musical necessary, or you have to come up with a really, really good reason for people to start breaking out in song. And we have yet to really explore that. But nothing would make me happier. I would die to see that.”

Newsome and Tompkins agreed that they would be delighted to watch a musical episode of “Star Trek.”

This isn’t the first time that Kurtzman has expressed his desire to create a musical episode of “Star Trek.” In an interview with Gold Derby in August 2020, Kurtzman said that he’d thought a lot about how to make a musical episode of “Short Treks.”


A Trek Musical Episode Has Been Pitched Before

Ronald D Moore attends a photocall at Destination Star Trek London at ExCel on October 19, 2012 in London, England.

Martin McNeil/Getty Images

Kurtzman isn’t the first “Star Trek” producer to pitch a musical episode. In fact, the idea of a Trek musical episode has been around since “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” One of Trek’s most influential writers, Ronald D. Moore, started circulating the idea for a musical episode of TNG back in the 90s.

In an interview with IGN in 2003, Moore revealed that he wanted to do a musical episode long before they were mainstream.

“Oh, and I was agitating for a musical, man. On record, I wanted to do a musical version of Trek well before “Buffy” or “Chicago Hope.” I wanted to do a musical episode, and nobody would f***in’ do it.”

Moore has hinted that he’d pitched a musical episode for “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” as well. In an AOL Q&A with fans, posted to Memory Alpha, a fan asked what story ideas Moore never got to do that he still wanted to pursue.

He answered, “the DS9 Musical.”

So, the idea of a “Star Trek” musical episode has been around for an incredibly long time. Though one isn’t solidly in the works yet, it sounds like it might happen in the future.

Follow the Heavy on Star Trek Facebook page for the latest breaking news, rumors and content!


No comments:

Post a Comment