Just finished “Lower Decks” and agree on all points. It was really fun to revisit TNG-era Trek, and they completely nailed the look and feel of Trek, while still being a manic animated comedy.
Spoilers
Cleaning the cum filters on the holodeck was a brilliant, if gross, throwaway moment. The other throwaway line that stuck with me was when Boimler embraced his shockingly fabulous girlfriend, and Mariner says flatly “Computer, end program.”
They did an amazing job of sending up the source material while being completely faithful and respectful to it.
Doesn’t give enough credit to the James-Horner-inspired soundtrack (0:57 above, 0:33 below).
I’ve read/heard interviews with Mike McMahan (creator) and Chris Westlake (composer) where they both said they didn’t want the show’s music to be in on the jokes. So the music is very TNG-like while the show itself is silly, and it’s an amusing dichotomy. This episode is where that approach really pays off, though.
Also, due to the pandemic, every measure of music for season 1 was recorded remotely by each musician in their own home/studio, then all of it was mixed together in post-production. I assume the same is true for season 3 of Disco. That is really hard to do and requires a ton of pre- and post-production work, and they knocked it out of the park.
No kidding. Did they have somebody lay down a beat track and then distribute that to everybody first? I can’t imagine how umpteen separate musicians keep in time and in tune.
Of course, I don’t understand how anybody hits a curve ball, either. But it happens.
They almost certainly used a click track to keep everyone on tempo. I think they produce and use click tracks for typical studio recording sessions anyway, but I might be wrong on that. While they’re recording the music they have the episode playing on a screen that the conductor can see, and that screen shows the measure numbers and beats. So it would make sense that once the composer has written the music, a click track would get produced and aligned with the episode. Then all they have to is have the orchestra show up and press record.
The real magic in what Lower Decks had to do is how they turned all the individual recordings into a full orchestral sound, not to mention the logistical nightmare of pulling all of that together. It’s easy to take the behind-the-scenes people for granted, but they certainly did a lot more heavy lifting than usual with this. That’s probably continuing for a while, since the voice actors are already starting to record voice work from their homes for season 2.
Again, not sci-fi, but another show I am thoroughly enjoying is Cobra Kai. Like Ted Lasso, I was wary of the premise, but it’s executed really well. The main premise is that it’s a sequel to “The Karate Kid”, and it’s a very good updating of a John Hughes-esque 80s movie. They have the surviving original cast, who have their own kids now who provide the teen drama aspect of it.
However, the underlying premise of the show is that “The Karate Kid” was told entirely from Danny Larusso’s perspective and, in fact, he was the bad guy all along. Johnny Lawrence was a good kid caught up in bad circumstances who was tormented by Larusso and, ultimately, lost the karate championship when Larusso used an illegal kick to the face to win.
I’m almost done with Season 1. Season 2 is up and Season 3 drops in January.
I’m just amazed that it turns out Hudson’s a big fan of musical theater. I guess I should have figured given how much he loves Kansas, but still, you think you know a guy a little bit…
