“As a huge Trekkie myself, I am always tempted to use the theme, to install all these little Easter eggs,” reveals “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” composer Nami Melumad. about the most exciting parts of the show’s score; the orchestral melodies that duck and dive between robust action drama and beloved old-school flourishes like the instantly recognizable original series theme. For our recent webchat she adds, “I think for all composers who work on ‘Trek’ you have to be very aware of when you’re choosing to use the ‘Star Trek’ theme. You want to bring it when it’s earned, otherwise, if you just continue to use it all the time, it loses its effectiveness. It’s like the icing on the cake, it’s like something we’re all always so looking forward to.” We talked with Melumad as part of Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&A event with 2024 awards contenders. Watch our exclusive video interview above.
“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” was co-created by Emmy nominee Alex Kurtzman (“Star Trek: Lower Decks”) alongside Oscar winner Akiva Goldsman (“A Beautiful Mind”) and Jenny Lumet. The sci-fi series is a prequel to the legendary 1960s “Star Trek,” following Captain Pike (Anson Mount), Science Officer Spock (Ethan Peck) and First Officer Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn), Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), Security Chief La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), Cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), Helmsman Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) and Chief Medical Officer Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), who reprise their roles from the second season of “Star Trek: Discovery.”
The 10-episode second season features various genres and storytelling formats as the U.S.S. Enterprise crew explore new worlds around the galaxy during the decade before “Star Trek: The Original Series.” The sophomore season deftly shifts from romantic comedy and time travel (“Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”), a court-room drama (“Ad Astra per Aspera”), horror (“Lost in Translation”), existential sci-fi (“Among the Lotus Eaters”), broad comedy (“Charades”), a crossover episode with Paramount+ stablemate animated series “Star Trek: Lower Decks” (“Those Old Scientists”), war (“Under the Cloak of War”), a musical (“Subspace Rhapsody”) and action-adventure (“Hegemony”).
“I do try to honor past scores as well,” Melumad says about giving the score a sense of nostalgic wonder. “I’m listening to Jerry Goldsmith. I’m listening to Dennis McCarthy. I’m a huge Michael Giacchino fan, and having worked on a show like ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ as well, and having done 20 episodes for ‘Strange New Worlds,’ it’s been a lot of fun. It is balance between honoring the tradition and also bringing new and exciting elements, because because we’re doing a new show. I feel overall, our show really honors the legacy of ‘Trek.’ Everything they’re doing from costumes to characters to production design, the writing and the the format of one mystery every time in a big arc. All of this is honoring the original series so much, that music is also just one more element that does that same thing. It’s like honoring what was done in the past and building on top of it.”
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