Summary
- K-Pop was an unexpected and audacious choice for the Klingons’ musical number in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, but it perfectly aligns with the show’s theme of revealing inner emotions.
- The decision to go with K-Pop over Klingon opera puts the Klingons on the same level as the rest of the USS Enterprise crew, creating a more relatable and balanced dynamic.
- Fans who prefer the traditional singing Klingons can look forward to the inclusion of a Klingon opera version of the scene on the Blu-ray release of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2.
In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ musical episode, “Subspace Rhapsody”, the Klingons break out into a K-pop style choreographed musical number, and not Klingon opera. Kay Hanley and Tom Polce, who wrote the songs for Star Trek’s first-ever musical, say that they did have options for the Klingons’ performance, and explain why they picked k-pop over Klingon opera.
In an episode of The Melodology Podcast, Kay Hanley and Tom Polce give their first interview discussing the making of Strange New Worlds‘ musical. Polce reveals that one concept for the Klingons’ scene was opera, calling it a “no-brainer,” before crediting Hanley with the out-of-the-box K-pop idea, and confirms that both versions were filmed for the episode. Check out Polce’s quote, and the discussion of creating the Klingon scene starts at 46:03 on The Melodology Podcast episode 18, linked below.
“When Kay pitched the K-pop thing … it was just going to be that. We did it, we delivered it, and … some folks [thought] we may have just got a little far past where we need to go here. Why don’t we have a little something in our back pocket, as a just in case? And of course that’s going to be the Klingon Opera. So we wrote a little thing for that [that was] very straightforward. It’s Baritone … Klingon Opera — in English, not in Klingon — and it came out great. And I’m pretty sure … that will be available [on] a DVD release…. It lives.”
Why K-Pop Was The Right Choice For Strange New Worlds’ Singing Klingons
K-Pop as a musical style for the Klingons was unexpected, and that’s exactly what made it the right choice. Star Trek has a long history of Klingon opera existing within the universe, so it should make perfect sense for a Klingon crew affected by the musical subspace improbability field in Strange New Worlds’ musical to be singing opera, but k-pop puts the Klingons, led by Hemmer actor Bruce Horak, on the same level as the rest of the USS Enterprise crew, most of whom are embarrassed by the inner emotions that the field forces them to reveal.
As Tom Polce describes in the interview, it “speaks to the audaciousness” of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to include this twist, which cheekily trades “Klingon” for “Korean” in its definition of K-pop. For audiences who want to see the more traditional take on singing Klingons, the Klingon opera version of the scene will be included as an extra on the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 Blu-ray, scheduled to be released December 5, 2023.
Source: The Melodology Podcast
